American short stories

a practiced a strong puritan faith, still participated in the salem witch trials condemning hundreds of people to be put on trial. Because of this Hawthorne criticized puritan ethical standards and would focused his stories around human perception of sin and morals. Many of his stories contain strong uses of allegory and symbolism giving a more deep perspective on human nature. Because of this Hawthorne’s literary works leave readers considering human emotions and the unnecessary snare that they…

piece is written as a story by Ann Petry, and is about Harriet Tubman helping take slaves to Canada. The second piece is called Sympathy. It is a poem written by Paul Dunbar, about how the African American population feels before the civil rights movement. They both are great pieces of art that are similar and different in many ways. Harriet Tubman is a very intriguing story. Being not entirely factual, it is written more like historical fiction than a biography. The story begins by talking…

Ray Bradbury: The Art of Science Fiction Since the beginnings of science fiction, outrageous ideas of time travel, robots and outer space have found their way into imaginative stories. Ray Bradbury was one of the first authors to combine the idea of science fiction with his own unique writing style. Bradbury’s childhood experiences greatly influenced his unique writing style and genre, winning him many awards. Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. His father,…

The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, takes place in the 19th century. The story begins just after the main character Jane gives birth to her first child. Shortly after she suffers from what is now known as postpartum depression. She tells the story through a series of diary entries which she keeps a secret from her husband as this disobeys her medical instructions. “The Yellow Wallpaper” explains the importance of American feminist literature, as well as attitudes…

character tries to convince the reader of his sanity after just killing an old man out of paranoia. He struggles with an internal conflict and obsession over the old man's blue- gray eye. He struggles with this fixation throughout the short story. Both stories are based around the main characters psychological obsession and where it leads them. The main character defends his sanity after killing an old man. “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been, and am; but why will…

In the short story, the setting was never clearly said. It is assumed that the safari is taking place in Kenya because of Wilson said something about Nairobi that they are somewhere in the plains. That author, Hemingway, set on a safari around 1935-1936, thus, it makes perfect sense that he chose a setting based on his safari. The setting, in Kenya, is somewhat foreign to Francis. He is used to living the “American life” with all the conveniences and luxuries that come with it. Along with lions…

“The Lottery” can be said to be one of the most well known short stories in American literature, and is described as a chilling tale of conformity gone wrong. Shirley Jackson, the author of “The Lottery” writes a story of a small town in modern-day America with a peculiar yearly tradition. Jackson centers her story on a small town, in which once every year on June 27th, its citizens randomly draw the name of one townsperson to be sacrificed, death by stoning, in order to ensure a good harvest.…

Edward Estlin Cummings who is also known as E.E Cummings was an American poet. He also was many other things such as a painter, essayist, an author and a wrote many plays. E.E Cummings poem “Since feeling is first” published in 1926, is a short lyric that includes punctuation that is unpredictable, unconventional syntax which was a style that, Cummings used as his trademark for most of his writing. The short lyric is very seductive, and implies that passion that is felt so strongly overrides the…

offered an insight to the American Civil War by giving the readers a glimpse at an important event that took place during this time period through his short story “An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge”. The story revolves around a young man who devoted his life into the war effort, however, ended up dying because of an unwise action he got tricked into doing. In the story, Ambrose used personal observation, story telling skills, and startling facts to help him build up the story line leading up to…

Ernest Hemingway in his short story “Hills like white elephants”. The type of writing that Hemingway uses in order to accomplish his work is the iceberg theory, where the information that is given is used to seek the hidden meaning. Hemingway uses literary elements such as: allegory, diction, motif, and plot to unfold the decisions of a young woman when handling the pressures of an unborn child. The presence of the white elephant doesn’t prompt itself throughout the story, nor does the words…