Bolesław Prus

Upon first glance, the differences between James Joyce “Araby” and Countee Cullen “Incident” seem very clear. Joyce wrote a short story with a gloomy and depressing tone. The time and setting of short story “Araby” is in Dublin, Ireland during the 19th century. Cullen wrote a poem with a jaunty and lighthearted tone for the most part. Cullen “Incident” has a setting and time in Baltimore, Maryland during the 1920s. However, they both ironically wrote using the same point of view and theme, the loss of innocence. Who knew two very different authors from two different ways of life and writing styles could essentially write about the same topic. Although the main character in the short story "Araby" and the speaker in the poem "Incident" both experience a loss of innocence the events leading up to their loss is not similar. The character in the short story "Araby" lost his innocence by developing a crush on a girl not knowing the feelings and attractions that came with having a crush on someone. The unnamed narrator in the short story developed a crush on his friend Mangan's sister. The narrator's friend and crush both live across the street from him. The narrator is being raised by his aunt and uncle who are both also unnamed. The narrator is so obsessed with the girl that he watches her stealthily everyday waiting for her to leave in the mornings so that he can follow her on part of his way to school. The narrator admits that he "Had never spoken to her, except for a few…

“Fat” by Raymond Carver is the first short story in a collection called Will You Please Be Quiet, Please. Carver intrigued me because of his unique style of writing and captivated me from the first short story I read. This short story is a conversation between the narrator and her friend Rita, as she serves a fat man in the diner where they both work. The story, whilst seemingly is a ‘slice of life’ everyday mundane observation, slowly becomes more uncomfortable and unsettles dark secrets that…

Raymond Carver is best known for his work as a short story writer, he started the minimalist movement, releasing popular collections of short stories like "Cathedral", the Pulitzer Prize nominated "Where I 'm Calling From" that came out shortly before Carver 's death, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love", & "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?". Carver helped bring life back to short stories at a time when they were thought to be going away. He was born on May 25, 1938 in the state of…

Metaphor, simile, irony, and symbolism, these are just a few of countless figurative language uses that are used in short stories, poems, novels and any other literary work. The use of any of these literary languages is to figure out what the author is trying to say. The author might also add a certain tone to the story, or a central theme to help the reader understand. In the short story, “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin there are two main uses of figurative language used to allow…

Magical realism is “… characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusions of fantastic or mythical elements into apparently realistic fiction” (Edison). Characteristics of this genre include plentitude, hybridity, metafiction, and an unreliable narrator. A story that shows magical realism is “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez. Márquez is recognized as one of the best authors who combines reality with fantasy: “… García Márquez, combining radically different realities, what…

Death is not the End "The act of dying is one of the acts of life." That how Marcus Aurelius describes death. Whether people acknowledge it or not, most of humans fear death. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, death is not the end. In the poem, “because I could not stop for death,” Emilia Dickinson explains that death is an investable stage of unending human life. In addition, the story “because I could not stop for death”, by Steve Fischer discusses the influence of death in…

“The Lottery” is a short story written by Shirley Jackson in the month of June in 1948. The story is about an annual tradition, called the lottery, held in an anonymous small village. All of the villagers gather for the annual event and Mr. Summers conducts a quick roll call. Each one of the residents of the village draws a piece of paper from the black box. As this happens, the villagers start to talk with one another how some nearby villages have stopped following the tradition of the lottery.…