A Green Crab's Shell by Mark Doty

"Greensleeves" by Alan Spence is a short story describing the life of an elderly lady living alone on the top floor of high rise flats in Glasgow. Spence creates a character readers feel sympathy for through isolation and lonliness, themes that run prominently throughout the story.

Thesis: In the short stories The Charmer, Love Must Not Be Forgotten, and The Address, one’s past experiences have a profound effect on their development as an individual.

"The Charmer" by Budge Wilson is a short story about a Canadian family that finds misfortune and conflict within their lives. Conflict being the predominant theme which directly affects all the participants in the family. The story is written in third person and narrated from the young girl Winifred's point of view. Budge Wilson uses Zack's smothered childhood, charming personality and irresponsible behaviour to create emotional conflict between members of the family.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli is about a nine year old boy named David Limpert, who is a loner. His mother died in an accident when a janitor didn’t put up a wet floor sign. She fell down the stairs head first, and never woke up. Before the accident, David and his mother had made plans to watch the sunrise the next morning, but they never got to do that. David swore that he would never look at the sunrise again. He also swore to never break a rule again.

The author of Green Gulch conveys that when in a group, one can be overwhelmed by pressure that brings them to savage extremes. After being lost, a young boy joins a group of kids he has never seen before. The group is nice and offers to bring the boy home. They stop at a sanctuary of a pond. There is a turtle in the pond that is violently murdered by the boys after one decides to throw a rock. Then, the group turns on the new boy. They beat him maliciously and leave him stranded on the road to get home. As, the boy look backs he can’t think of what went wrong, “They stood in a little group watching me, nervous now, ashamed a little at the ferocious pack impulse toward the outsider that had swept them.” Obvious from the boys’ reactions, it was the fault of the group impulse. After the murder of turtle, the adrenaline and riot of the group caused them to turn on the next vulnerable target. They were not acting as they should have, and the realize that afterwards. They were nervous. Even though there is not immediately an adult around, they are nervous because society has conditioned them to behave. They are also ashamed. The shame shows that they are nice boys. They feel bad. This shows that the vicious group mind set was so strong that it came over there good personalities and conscious. However, there is only this slight remorse after the fact. This does not make up for the brutal murder and beating that they had dealt. Being in a group turned them into

Amy Tan’s short story, Fish Cheeks, outlines the general idea of self-acceptance. As the narrator, fourteen year old Tan declares her love for her minister’s son, Robert, who unlike herself, is “as white as Mary in the manger” (Tan 1). This crush is anything but healthy, primarily because Tan is reluctant to reveal her true self to him. This hesitance she portrays is strikingly recognizable in the teenagers of today’s world. Amy Tan 's story, "Fish Cheeks," is significant to the adolescents of today 's society through the overall structure, quality, and applicability of the piece as the struggle to accept oneself as an individual is still as present as it ever was.

Lastly, in paragraph four, Dillard says “All that was left was the glowing horn shell of her abdomen and thorax”. As Dillard writes “The glowing horn shell”, it sends an eerie chill down your spine, painting a graphic concrete image in the reader's head and signaling she could very well be experiencing a deeper inner struggle.. Through these and many other instances of description in this excerpt, Dillard effectively uses concrete imagery to convey her inner struggle.

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss is about a little creature that calls himself “Sam I am.” This creature throughout the books holds a platter of green eggs and ham in a platter trying to convince this man who does not like him very much to try these green eggs and ham. The narrator (who is not given a name in the book) continuously attempts to avoid him throughout his journey of this world they live in, however, it did not stop Sam from following him with the platter in his hand. Sam offers it to him with various servings and locations but the narrator does not budge and becomes extremely irate. After countless attempts in trying to get the narrator to try the green eggs and ham, he finally gives in at the end and begs Sam to leave him alone if he tries it. The narrator takes a bite and miraculously loves these green eggs and ham and claims he would eat it with anyone or anywhere. By the end, the narrator does not have so much of a dislike for Sam.

This perspective often distorts the view of large crabbing businesses on their harvesting methods which, although are seemingly humane, are actually very detrimental to the crab population. For instance, when Hal Herzog, a Professor of Psychology at Western California University, ventured to Florida’s Gulf coast, the crabbers there explained to him the two varieties of crabs which they harvested; the “lucky” stone crabs and the “unlucky” blue crabs (Herzog). The blue crabs were considered unlucky because they were killed on the spot; however, the stone crabs were considered lucky because of their ability to regenerate their claws, and so crabbers would simply rip their claws off and then throw them back into the sea (Herzog). However,

Postmodern fiction is unique due to it sustained emphasis on indeterminacy and irony. In Eat the Document, Dana Spiotta creates ironic situations when she pairs different characters together. Josh Marshall, Jason, and Henry are three characters that present an ironic twist that help us understand the evolving legacy of Baby Boomers and Generation X.

He pictures the chambered nautilus in different places of an ocean. One time it swims on a surface of beautiful reefs; next time it is on the surface of an ocean with sea-maids, and next time it is inside of sunny gulfs. The word choice of Holmes in this stanza is very brilliant, and it helps a reader to imagine all of the places where nautilus dwells. He uses such words as “sweet summer wind,” “unshadowed main,” “gulfs enchanted,” and “rise to sun” to create very happy and bright image of nautilus and its life. The author also uses metaphors to describe nautilus itself. Holmes calls this creature “ship of pearl” (most likely because of its colorful shell) and “venturous bark” because he wants a reader to picture this animal as the one that likes adventures and constantly moving. A bark (small ship) is a perfect word to describe, traveling, motion, and adventures. Holmes creates all these positive images in a head of a reader because he tries to make a contrast in events between second and first

Some believe that birds help express spiritual freedom and psychological liberation with the different colors of birds that are associated with various meanings; specifically the yellow bird means you should keep your guard up. In the novel, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, John Bartle becomes guarded and isolated because of his internal battles created by his experiences from war. Bartle struggles with the lack of control he has over the events that happen to him in during his time in the military. He fights with his helplessness when he tries to transition to his lifestyle at home. He also cannot control how he changes as a person. When we think of war we think of the physical damage we see on the exterior but what we cannot see is the psychological damage in the interior of a person.

“Shells” by Cynthia Rylant is a Realistic Fiction Story about a 14 year old boy who lives with his Aunt Esther after his parent’s deaths.Michael gets a hermit crab and makes his bond with Esther stronger.In the beginning,Michael’s parents died and his only family, Aunt Esther decides to take care of Michael.Michael currently hates his Aunt Esther because they argue all the time.Soon,Michael comes home from school with a hermit crab. He shows the Hermit crab to Aunt Esther, who surprised Michael because she was just sitting, instead of talking to her friends about how bad Michael is.Aunt Esther looks at the hermit crab and tells Michael he better not grow out of his bowl.Michael watches Aunt Esther play with the hermit crab as she pokes the

David Quammen, the author of the non-fiction book The Song of the Dodo, is an award-winning columnist for numerous nature and science magazines, including Outside, and National Geographic. He is also the author of four fiction books and seven non-fiction books, covering such topics as infectious diseases, island biogeography, and animal behavior. David Quammen is a Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Yale and Oxford Universities. He has received various awards such as the Science and Society Book Award, given by the National Association of Science Writers, and the Society of Biology (UK) Book Award in General Biology.

"Crackling day' is a story about a young black boy in South Africa that challenges three white youths and, in so doing, challenges the political system of the whole country. The very famous writer Peter Abrahams wrote it.