You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Act 6 Literature Blows My Mind’ category.
I read the Story of an Hour, and I have to say that it for sure was interesting. It’s about a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who’s sister Josephine comes to tell her that her husband has died in an accident. The sister tells it carefully, because Mrs. Mallard has problems with her heart. After some time alone, Mrs. Mallard and her sister go to the down stairs and right then Mr. Mallard comes in of the door. He hadn’t even been where the accident had taken place. And apparently, Mrs. Mallard has an heart attack and dies of joy.
Since the story goes mainly around Mrs. Mallard, I’m going to tell about her. She’s young and has some kind of strong features, even though she now had quite of a blank expression on. And I’m not sure if I really understood, but it seems that she seemed a bit delighted by the so called death of his husband. She thought that she was free and could do anything that she wanted. Not that she hadn’t loved her husband, because she had, but it didn’t really matter.
I don’t know but to me it seems that she’s a bit cold hearted, even if it’s joy that she dies of.
The story I’ve picked is called The Lottery from 1948, written by Shirley Jackson, and the short description in the literature list marks it as telling about human nature; shocking ending.
In the beginning, there is a village – ordinary and quiet, quite appropriate for the time period; there are children and adults miling about, waiting for some sort of lottery. The author doesn’t reveal much of the atmosphere – there are boys stacking rocks on a pile and being playful, the way boys are under normal circumstances, women gossiping, girls being shy; nothing else suggests there’s anything out of place, anything horrible waiting to happen. Despite this, I somehow found myself knowing what was going to happen from the very start.
After a while, Mr. Summers, who runs the town coal business, steps up with the traditional black lottery box. It is said that none of the villagers, not even Old Man Warner, the oldest, remember what the box preceding it looked like, or, for that matter, when, where and how the lottery tradition had started. None of the villagers remember the details, don’t even really care about them that much. From the description, it’s an obvious and painful example of human nature and the tendency to follow any and all traditions, rather than rebel against them.
Slowly, people are gathering around and settling down, and soon, Mr. Summers is calling for every man – head of the family – to draw a paper from the box, much like an actual lottery. However, the emotions of the villagers slowly shift and then change their course altogether, and by then every reader probably starts to sense something is different. People are fidgety, biting their lips and averting their eyes – not what one would call excitement with the promising possibility of a prize. As more and more people step up and take their paper slips, the atmosphere grows heavier. For a moment, focus is on the Old Man Warner, telling off a fellow villager who brings up cancelling the lottery. “Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon,” is a saying that used to go around – “There’s always been a lottery,” Warner says, and the villagers’ motive is revealed. They believe that by following the tradition, they’re ensuring good crops for the following year. Of course, in truth, the lottery is nothing more than a lie that someone with too much power had started and led people to believe.
In the end, it’s the Hutchinson family who comes out of the lottery as the ‘winners’. They all go to draw again – Bill and his wife Tessie, their three children. It’s Tessie who ends up with the paper with a black spot on it – as we see just a second later, she’s the one who gets to be a senseless sacrifice. Everyone, the women, even the children, take stones from the pile the boys had collected earlier, and as Tessie starts running, they take off after her. We can only imagine what happens after that.
The Lottery, in my opinion, is a very engaging and original story, especially for the author’s time period; one might even say it’s bold. It really highlights what I believe it set to – the nature of humans and the way they tend to mindlessly follow the herd. When Tessie says “It’s not fair,” as she starts running, it really drives the point home – if it doesn’t touch her directly, she can fool herself and say it’s for the public good, but the mindlesness of the whole thing only catches up with her when she’s the one who has to die.
“The hand that feeds me” (1998) by Michael Z. Lewin is a story about justice and loyalty. It’s not said in the text, but I think that the narrator is a dog or another animal who lives in the streets. The story begins, when an old man gives meat for this dog. Later, three guys murder the old man, and that dog wants to catch those three guys and avenge to them.
At the end, the dog does everything to catch those three murderers. He takes a leather jacket and cans of beer from them to an evidence, and brings them next to the old man’s bloody body. Then it just sits next to the old man, and wait for justice to happen.
The story has a beautiful point, and it made me feel sorry for that dog. It’s sad, but also emotional. That dog is the hero of this story. I think that the moral of the story is about loyalty and that you’re always in responsible of your crimes.
What also came to my mind right after reading this story is the proverb; “Dog is a man’s best friend.” After reading this story, I think I have to admit that.
The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story belonging to the genre of horror that focuses on the psyche of the protagonist that is also the narrator of the story.
The story opens in an unspecified place, when the narrator starts claiming that he is not mad and to uphold his sanity, he tells a story which he believes will prove him sound of mind. The story is set in a house occupied by the protagonist/narrator and an old man. The time of the events is unknown, but we can assume that the story took place in 1840, when E. A. Poe first wrote it. The story that the narrator tells takes place in eight days.
The Tell-Tale Heart has a few characters and is the narrator that plays the leading role. The portrait that the writer gives to the readers is so carefully detailed that it´s possible to go deep into the narrator´s mind. He is an unnamed person whose gender is not revealed, but may have intended him to be a man, because of his habit to wrote from a male perspective. The figure of the antagonist can be attributed to an old Man, a common harmless elderly that is sais to have a hideous “evil eye” that unnervers the narrator. Then there is the neighbor, that is the person who hears noises coming from the narrator´s house and reports it to the police, and the three policemen, who search for the narrator’s house after the neighbor reported hearing loud noises.
Though this is a short story, there are different themes in it and they can be summed up in three different points:
.A man owns a perverse another self that can lead him in doing evil things that have no reason to
The narrator says in the second paragraph that he committed a senseless crime.
Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.
However he also admits that his murderer-side has been provoked by the “evil eye” of the old man, that drove him crazy.
.The fear of being discovered can bring to a spontaneus admission.
At the end of the story the narrator cracks under the pression of the policeman, ´cause his sense of guilt is making him hear the heart of his victim beating under the cobble wood, where he hid the body.
.The evil within is worse than the evil without.
Besides his repulsive eye that makes him ugly, the old man is a harmless and nice person. We are not informed about the appearance of the narrator, but, on the other hand we know that he is inwardly repulsive, having his soul stained by planning and committing a murder.
In this story something that can be noticed is that the narrator doesn´t have a name maybe because of the will of the writer of making this story more humanly accessible. In other words the story wants to represent all those people that acted blinded by rage, and then, had to pay their deed.
Something that may be interesting: in 2009 the english band Florence + The Machine recorded a song based on the Tell-Tale Heart story, called Bird Song, where the protagonist, killed a bird that was singing her secret in all the neighborhood and at night the “tweet tweet” of that bird haunted her dreams, forcing her to run around confessing her crime without the chance to stop.
I get the feeling all the time that the story is from 1920-1930, but then again, did men shave their feet during those years? Claire is a typical housewife, she makes the breakfast usually, takes care of the house and so on. Claire is the storyteller and at the same time the protagonist. For me it was hard to keep up with the story in some situations. She’s been harassed in a car and then right after she’s at the funeral where she was heading.
Near the place where Claire, her husband and her son lives has been a murder. Claire’s husband had something to do with the murder, I didn’t quite catch what it really was. I mean he and he’s mates were fishing and they found a naked body but they didn’t report from it (am I right)? That really doesn’t make sense. But yeah anyways, Claire knew the girl from her childhood and decided to go to the funeral, on her way to the funeral some guy tried to harass her, but as I said earlier, I didn’t catch what happened.
The story was quite interesting even thought it was hard to follow. I’d really like to know Claire’s husbands job and the era where the story belongs =D.
So yea I read this horror story about marriage. To me it didn’t really feel like horror or I just expected to get really scared.
This story was written Stephen King who is popular of his horror stories.
The story itself was hard…. Okay I have to admit that it was REALLY hard to understand but I think that it is because I´m tired of all school works and I had training today and all kind of stuff. Feels like my brains are already sleeping….
Anyway story is about a couple who have been married for a long time. They really argue a lot!
Feels like every little problem is like a big deal. They slowly stop enjoying life and everything becomes boring.
Mary usually is the one who tries to make things up and forget and let go in argues.
The biggest problem I think is that they cant have a child, as Ray ( the husband) said in the story, that the life have had gone in diffrerent way if they had a child ignoring the argues. The reason that they cant have a child is that Mary had some biological problem.
In the story they want to sell house because they cant afford it. And of course that process didnt happen without verbal fighting. They tried to replace child with a dog but as time past it only made it worse. The idea of getting dog was to make Mary forget about the not having a baby.
I think this story has one great thing. The couple is staying together no mather what and how many fights they have they still try to make eachother smile and in a good mood.
Stephen King’s short-story Premium Harmony is an excellent story. As a reader I must admit I can’t figure out what was the moral of the story. Well I still liked it.
It’s a story about a man and a woman who have been married for a while and who argue a lot. All of a sudden the woman called Mary dies. And soon also their dog as Mary’s husband, Ray, forget’s the dog to their car for a little bit too long.
In a way the story is extremely random and some parts really make the reader confused, not knowing what to feel. For example the part where Ray found their dog Biznezz dead and thought there was something amusing to it. That a dog “baked” and dead in a burning a hot car can be amusing.
Another slightly shocking fact was when Ray followed the ambulance to take his dead wife away – and he was able to find positive sides to it, as being able to smoke indoors from now on. Oh and not to forget, he also was checking out other ladies right next to his dead wife’s body.
Stephen King is an awesome writer and once again managed to portray interesting characters in a genius way. However, the “horror” part of the story left me a little bit disappointed, having expected more.
The name of the story which I read about was called ‘Premium Harmony’ and was written by the famous Stephen King. The story contained loads of words which were new to me, thus making it quite pretty “uncomfortable” to read ,also had go through it several times so as to understand the essence of it and manage to get some kind of imagination and scenes to it. Personally, I prefer to read novels than short stories as in my opinion, writers of short stories just do not put that kind of thrill and passion than what is found in novels.
I decided to write the analysis of Premium Harmony but to be fair, which it was quite very hard to do. The story was about a couple, who had been married for ten years and stars on telling about the beginning of their common lives which looked at first, very promising. But as time flowed by, it brought some hard challenges into their lives which they find very hard to manage with. They quite often, get into some arguments but as their life get in a kind of ‘routine’ things get more boring and hard which made is more serious each time a new argument was brought up which resulted in making their life harder for both of them as quoted ” When they argue, they’re like greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit. You go past the same scenery time after time, but you don’t see it. You see the rabbit’.
Another big issue with in their couple was that during those ten years, they did not have the chance to have any child due, according to me was to some biological problem which from the story, the doctor concluded was from the woman herself. Ray, the husband, thought that if they would have had children, life might have gone into a different way but even though having all those arguments in their couple, Ray showed that he still loved her wife and care about her and got the idea of offering her a dog which according to him, would kept her happy and forget about the thought of not having a child but slowly after, their lives was getting worst due to some mortgage problems which made thing worst.
Life was just getting harder for them as not only they had to bear with their usual arguments, but also, they had to worry about their financial issues. So, the story also talked about how they were planning to sell their house due it was not possible for them to afford it and also about their plans to make it better so as it looked in a kind of good state for buyers to be interested with. So till the end of the scenes, it shows us about some other arguments between the couple while going to do some shopping for the maintenance of the house, gift for the wife’s niece and cigarettes for Ray who during that small trip was annoyed and also irritated by the dog he offered to her as it did not showed enough recognition back to him.
The Essence of that scene, according to me, was that Stephen King tried to show to us that even due rough times in the life of a couple, not matter how hard it can get, even through their arguments and disaccord, the couple stayed along together and is always kind of trying to make each other happy even if they do not say it loud and also show that one should not quit on the first problem they face as a couple.
In this story Mary and Ray are a pair , they alway quarrel about little and things.In the story Mary has the role of the responsible one who tries to fix the problems.
I think that Mary is the one who is right , because she every time tries to agree, but he’s so stubborn so, it’s hard. I don’t actually know about Mary’s appearance ,but she sounds like a long nerves-woman.Of course she too is not totally innocent because she also wants to act in hers own way. Maybe Mary want too much from Ray , but maybe it’s because she trusts him so much.
I read the story of Happy Endings and part C about the story. The Story was written by Margaret Atwood and the story tells about John and Mary and their love. The whole story has 6 different parts. And each part has a totally different story, although the beginning is the same.
John is older man who is fall in love with Mary who is only 20-years-old. They have a relationship even if Mary doesn’t really like about John. Sadly Mary is in love with James, who is the same age than Mary, and “wild and free” with his motorcycle. John has a wife, two children and own house.. He was completely different than James. John is jealous about James, although he wouldn’t want to be. And one day, he saw Mary and John together, and it was too much for him. He was tired of himself, and his middle-age… He bought a gun and shot Mary, James, and finally also himself…
Analysis about John:
John was a major part of this story. John seemed very calm and middle-age “bald as an egg” as he told about himself. Although he was maybe a calm guy, he had always got used get what he wants. He was also resentful because he was a middle-aged neither a young nor handsome like James was. John wanted to be faithful to his wife Madge, even if his heart said something else.. This story is a pretty classical love story, which is associated with “third wheel”..
This last blog task was a quite difficult.. 😦
“Premium Harmony” is a short-story with a rather shocking ending. Like usual stories, it doesn’t even have that one sprinkle of glamour in it. It’s about a regular couple in their late thirties arguing about meaningless things. Stephen King didn’t write about people with superpowers or deeply in love. He chose an ordinary theme – marriage.
Ray and Mary is a normal couple who’ve been married for ten years. Like most of the couples who’ve been married that long – Ray and Mary has also lost that “sparkle” in their relationship. The passion that used to be there has become like a unpleasent full-time job.
What makes this story so amazing is it’s mundaneness. It’s notable how flawed these two really are. They both have addictive personalities; Ray, addicted to cigarettes and Mary to junk food. They bicker about the smallest things. Even if it’s not directly mentioned it’s obvious that in the end Mary’s addiction, together with her unhappiness, kills her. It is here that Ray displays yet another flaw, his inability to love, as seen by his lack of reaction.
Again King managed to make a great story. He unfolds the most common events in a powerful manner that leaves the reader in a state of shock. While the husband is thinking about how annoying his wife is, she dies in a heart attack. This leaves us to think how fragile the human life really is – You never know what will happen tomorrow.
I read the story of Lamb to the Slaughter. It was written by Roald Dahl. The story tells about Mrs Maloney who is gladly waiting for her husband to come home. His husband comes home and all he is interested in is drinking whiskey. Mrs Maloney is confused. Then Mr Maloney tells his wife The News. The News isn´t mentioned at all but it seems a shocking experience for Mrs Maloney, because she takes th leg of a lamb and she beats her husband to death with it. Later the police came but Mrs Maloney had a good alibi by going to the grocery store pretending nothing happened.
My analysis on Mrs Maloney:
In the story is not mentioned how she looks like. I guess just like an ordinary wife. In this story she plays the role of the murderer because she murdered her husband. But she is also the victim because of the bad news her husband told to , and beacause of the fact her husband had just been killed. The motivation of Mrs Maloney is not quite sure because in the story is not told what the husband said to her. When she went to the grocery store she acted quite normal and that was also one reason why the police didn´t asumed she was the killer. The docters who did research on the husbands body, claimed the husband was killed by a metal object. Later Mrs Maloney offered the leg of the lamb to the police men and detectives. She heared them talking about how close propably the murder weapon actually is.
Firstly Carapace, a novel about a young woman (the name wasn’t mentioned), whose mother one day told her that there was a man from Australia, who was kind of interested in the young woman and that his intentions for her were serious.The young lady wasn’t sure what to think and do about it, as she was not quite sure about the situation either as she somehow liked this one guy, called Vijay, who she met in a disco. The way in which she was describing him revealed,that she had some kind of positive opinions about him. He lived on the beach and worked there as well, so when she told him about the man her mum introduced to her, Vijay was just making fun out of it. Although that the guy from Australia was coming to meet her, she still continued on meeting up with Vijay but what would come of Vijay, the young woman herself wasn’t sure what to really think of.
One day while they were on the beach and talking, she told him that she had to go back home but asked him to call her afterwards.When Vijay returned home, he called her as planned but the young woman told him that she was busy ironing (what an excuse though,yes she was ironing, but still!). She put the phone back down and told herself : “He won’t ring again as he thinks I know his number by heart” The important climax and question was
did she? What was going to happen next?
The protagonist in the story is a quite independent woman but who,unfortunately, is still unsure about loads of things, which, for example, is about her own life (which is one of a big concerns though).From my opinion, I think she kept on hanging out with Vijay as she liked him,at least just a little bit. But the intriguing thing was, why she kept on talking about Anura (the guy from Australia)?
She seemed to be quite a peaceful person also, but had certainly lost her way of her future. She seemed to be unsure from my point of view, about loads of things, even though they weren’t mentioned. I think she would take the wrong choice by leaving Vijay, as they went along so well and their feelings were natural while on the other side, she would be with some rich guy with fancy clothes but with no mutual attachments. And if she decided to do it just to please her mum, that would be totally wrong. In this matter, she has to do her own decisions even though her culture might be of a great turnover in her choices. (the culture was not mentioned, but the names sounded unfamiliar as to the European cultures, from my opinion)
I think she needed to ‘grow up’ her mind more, to be more confident and sure about herself and her choices. The thing is, she hated decision making. But what was the pure mystery for me in the story, was about the ‘serious intentions’ of Anura. Was he coming to propose, or something else? Her personality told me that she was a kind person, so I sincerely hope she doesn’t let anyone do her own choices.
I am quite sure that the young woman’s mother’s ideology affected her. Unfortunately,she respected those choices. But still, this was a big one though. I truly hope that she opens her heart and mind, and gives a long thought about it! If she makes the wrong choice,well, she might regret it for the rest of her life…
(Sources of the picture :http://weheartit.com/entry/28959465)
The canon of English literature is enormous. Here are some contemporary and classic American, British and Canadian short stories for you to choose from. Hopefully, you are an avid reader – let your imagination go wild!
When reading
- First enjoy the ride and let the story take you on a journey.
- Underline words you are unfamiliar with as you read.
- Go through the text again and try to guess the meaning of the words from context.
- Look up any unfamiliar vocabulary from the dictionary.
- Write down any questions or ideas that may have come up when you were reading the story. Underline parts that have made you feel something, whether it be disgust or delight. This is about your experience as a reader, there is no right or wrong!
Short Stories and Authors
- “The Last Question” (1956) by Isaac Asimov
- science-fiction, philosophy
- “Happy Endings” (1983) by Margaret Atwood
- modern, plotlines, storytelling
- “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie” (1985) by Beryl Bainbridge
- family relationships, gender roles
- “Visiting Time” (2004) By Emma Brockes
- crime and punishment
- “The Colorful Life of Calum McCall” (2007) by Ron Butlin
- loss of innocence, the symbolism of colors, imagination vs. reality
- “So Much Water So Close to Home” (1981) by Raymond Carver
- crime, suspense, murder
- “The Story of an Hour” (1894) by Kate Chopin
- gender roles, women’s independence
- “The Curse” (1953) by Arthur C. Clarke
- science-fiction, apocalypse
- “The Babysitter” (1969) by Robert Coover
- postmodernism, media, modern American society
- “The Landlady” (1959) or “Lamb to the Slaughter” (1953)by Roald Dahl
- dark humor
- “Carapace” (1992) by Romesh Gunesekera
- colonialism, heritage, love
- “The Lottery” (1948) by Shirley Jackson
- human nature, shocking end
- “Premium Harmony” (2009) by Stephen King
- horror
- “The Hand That Feeds Me” (1998) by Michael Z. Lewin
- crime, loyalty, justice, animals
- “To Build A Fire” (1908) by Jack London
- the wilderness, survival
- Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories
- classic horror
- “The Modest Proposal” (1729) by Jonathan Swift
- satire, Ireland and society
- “Lucky” (1996) by Jane Rogers (audio file)
- love and crushes
- “The Chrysanthemums” (1937) by John Steinbeck
- California, American classics
- “Harrison Bergeron” (1961) by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
- Science fiction, dystopia
- “Everyday Use” (1973) by Alice Walker
- roots, identity, culture
- “The Weekend” (1978) by Fay Weldon
- sexism, gender roles
- “A Haunted House” and other short stories by Virginia Woolf
- modern, British
Write a literary analysis on one short story according to the following instructions:
- Feel free to choose a character(s), a specific theme or a literary device to analyze. Read these instructions before starting your essay:
- Don’t forget to provide direct quotes to prove your theory+ a bibliography!
Crypt of Creativity 