Short Stories - 648 Words

Elizabeth Smith ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Ashford University April 24, 2012 Instructor: Benjamin Daw When learning the ropes of literature you must pay close attention. My understanding to literary themes is going beyond what the title to the short story is. The short story theme I am going conduct on is â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ by James Thurber (1973). In this short story the literary elements being used is plot and symbols and the theme being full of distractions and disruption. The narrator is giving a third person point of view in sharing the thoughts of the characters. Walter Mitty the daydreamer is very humorous in the different plots of his drifting off. In the start of the story the plot, symbols,†¦show more content†¦Shortly Mitty awakened and continued down the street, remembering his wife’s list. After completing the list Mitty he rested in the chair in the lobby at the hotel, and was reading the paper that said â€Å"Can Germany Conquer the World through the Air? Stirring at the pictures of the bombing planes, the fourth daydream followed. In this daydream Mitty was a captain in a war plane facing heavy enemy artillery, Captain Mitty â€Å"The cannonading has got the wind up in young Raleigh, sir, â€Å"said the sergeant. (Clugston, 2010). Again awakened by his wife, who found him in the hotel â€Å"I’ve been looking all over this hotel for you†, said Mrs. Mitty. Asking him did he get all the to get list and what was wrong, she looked at him and said I am going to take your temperature at home. The final daydream followed and Mitty was facing a firing squad bravely. With the lighting of the cigar ette Mitty faced the squad proudly and was the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last. After reading this short story I realized every daydream he had was coming from a description of an object he hears. The daydreams Mitty had gone through to me caused all his drifting off to be harmful with his wife. The symbols brought forth failures and being successful to Mitty and yet allowed him to be different people in a very humorous, strange way. When reading this short story that Mrs. Mitty was the one to give orders to what Mr. Mitty needed to do. References Clugston, R.W., (2010). Journey intoShow MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. Because of its shorter length, the characters and situations are fewer and less complicated than those of a novel.† In the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s DictionaryRead MoreShort Stories1125 Words   |  5 PagesThe themes of short stories are often relevant to real life? To what extent do you agree with this view? In the short stories â€Å"Miss Brill† and â€Å"Frau Brechenmacher attends a wedding† written by Katherine Mansfield, the themes which are relevant to real life in Miss Brill are isolation and appearance versus reality. Likewise Frau Brechenmacher suffers through isolation throughout the story and also male dominance is one of the major themes that are highlighted in the story. These themes areRead MoreShort Story and People1473 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Story Of An Hour Author: Kate Chopin I. On The Elements / Literary Concepts The short story Story Of An Hour is all about the series of emotions that the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard showed to the readers. With the kind of plot of this short story, it actually refers to the moments that Mrs. Mallard knew that all this time, her husband was alive. For the symbol, I like the title of this short story because it actually symbolizes the time where Mrs. Mallard died with joy. And with thatRead MoreShort Story Essay1294 Words   |  6 PagesA short story concentrates on creating a single dynamic effect and is limited in character and situation. It is a language of maximum yet economical effect. Every word must do a job, sometimes several jobs. Short stories are filled with numerous language and sound devices. These language and sound devices create a stronger image of the scenario or the characters within the text, which contribute to the overall pre-designed effect.As it is shown in the metaphor lipstick bleeding gently in CinnamonRead MoreRacism in the Short Stor ies1837 Words   |  7 PagesOften we read stories that tell stories of mixing the grouping may not always be what is legal or what people consider moral at the time. The things that you can learn from someone who is not like you is amazing if people took the time to consider this before judging someone the world as we know it would be a completely different place. The notion to overlook someone because they are not the same race, gender, creed, religion seems to be the way of the world for a long time. Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intruding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narr ator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. InRead MoreGothic Short Story1447 Words   |  6 Pages The End. In the short story, â€Å"Emma Barrett,† the reader follows a search party group searching for a missing girl named Emma deep in a forest in Oregon. The story follows through first person narration by a group member named Holden. This story would be considered a gothic short story because of its use of setting, theme, symbolism, and literary devices used to portray the horror of a missing six-year-old girl. Plot is the literal chronological development of the story, the sequence of eventsRead MoreShort Story Analysis1076 Words   |  5 Pageshappening in a one-page story. Short-short stories often have the affect of making the reader feel uneasy. The reason behind this, is because the stories are so short the writer needs to jump directly into the story with something interesting or alarming to grab the reader’s attention. Often, the more uneasy the writing is, the more it leaves an effect on the reader. Clearly, some stories are more uneasy than others. Sudden Fiction is a book filled with endless short stories within an average of