American short stories

wrote many novels, short stories and he was an all-American journalist. His stories were mostly known to be fiction and he was a good enough author to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954. In his two stories, “Cat in the Rain,” and “Hills like White Elephants,” he uses the theme of marriage between husband and wife and what each person wants and how their wants throw some conflict with what their spouse would like. In both stories, it would seem as if the husband in the story chooses to…

The short story “The Doctor and The Doctor’s Wife” tells a story of a group of indian men working for a doctor to cut washed up logs. The opening paragraph explains the background of the working men and what they plan to do. After finding the washed up logs the men come to an argument of who the logs belong to. Does the story reinforce troubled times the Native-Americans had to endure during the colonial period, or does it relay the trouble men had to go through to take care of their families?…

uses her main character, Phoenix Jackson, to symbolize and represent the hardships that African Americans, women and others faced during the early and mid-1900’s in her short story “A Worn Path”, and also shows that hard work and perseverance can help achieve any goal one has in mind. Phoenix is a very strong character that embodies the true meaning of perseverance and never giving up. Throughout the story, she faces obstacles living and non-existent. Along her journey, she faces trees,…

The short stories “Araby” by James Joyce and “How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro have strikingly different tones established by the two authors. The stories both consist of a narrator with a love interest, however the authors’ use of diction, imagery, and setting create a difference in tone of the two stories. In “Araby,” Joyce begins the story in a setting with a very dark, gloomy tone. Joyce accomplishes this by mentioning how the priest, the former tenant of the house, had died in the…

Desiree’s Baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin. In the story there are a man named Armand that believed to be a white man. One day Monsieur Valmonde found a abandoned baby whom he raised. She was courted by the son of another wealthy family named Armand. They marry and have a child. When the people see the baby they have the sense that it is different and they realize that the baby’s skin is the color of one-quarter African. Armand immediately assumes that his wife is part black so she…

infer the tone and theme of the story. David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” conveys specific details, and it is easier for the reader to understand the story. Although the authors’ writing styles differ, both of the narratives are centered around the issue of abortion. Sheri in “Good People” should have had the opportunity for this procedure since Lane A. Dean Jr. did not want the baby, yet due to the religious stance she might be forced to have the child. Hemingway's story is more open to…

Would you rather almost die and yet come out alive as a changed person with a hopeful beginning, or go through a short trip to maturity with no hope? These two situations display themselves in the two stories titled “€œContents of a Dead Man 's Pocket,” written by Jack Finney, and “€œMarigolds,” written by Eugenia W. Collier. The former tells of Tom Benecke, a salesperson, who risks his life by climbing out of his eleventh-floor apartment to retrieve a sheet of paper important to his desire to…

One’s Identity In her collection of short stories entitled “Interpreter of Maladies,” Jhumpa Lahiri illustrates the difficulties that immigrants face when displaced and distanced from their culture. Each story serves as a different viewpoint on cultural experience, which allows Lahiri to bring together a detailed image of cultural displacement and the challenges it poses when forging one’s identity. The importance of cultural ties is emphasized in the stories, as is the natural longing to…

exist; however, the decisions that individuals choose to embrace when presented with obstacles will determine their life. In the short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway reveals the importance of decision-making. This drama exposes a significant decision about an abortion that a girl is having a difficult time to reaffirm during the 1920s. An American man and a girl named Jig wait in a railroad junction for the train that will take them to Madrid, where the abortion will be…

Response In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a story where the author focuses on black heritage. She uses the story to explain what black heritage mean to some in reality. She uses characters to show what culturally defines them. The author grew up in Georgia and was the first college student just like Dee. I thought this story was very interesting and a good reading. The author incorporated good details that grabbed the reader's attention. I think the theme of this short story is to…