A Response To Night Shift : Strawberry Spring Short Story

* The author creates suspense by starting with the slow beginning and then making the story faster and more attention-grabbing. The author cleverly manipulates readers sense of disbelief by eliminating the possibility of police help or parental understanding. The author reveals the serial killer to the reader at the end of the story. By that time Duncan keeps searching him. Author slowly reveals the clues out of the lost journal of serial killer to make readers focus in the story. Also with the slowly

A horror story should have some elements to grab the attention of audience such as suspense and mystery. However, it is a challenge to achieve this goal especially in a short story, but that did not seem to be an obstacle for Stephen King, who is famous for writing horror fiction stories. Jeffrey W. Hunter, who is editor of Contemporary Literacy Criticism, believes that Stephen King is a marketing phenomenon for the large number of books he has sold. One of his first works was “Strawberry Spring,” which was published along with other short stories in a book titled Night Shift in 1978. In the same manner as other Stephen King’s writings, “Strawberry Spring” is a story loaded of mystery where death is one of the main components. The story begins with a narrator’s memory about what happened eight years ago when he was in college in 1968. The narrator remembers how a serial killer who was called Springheel Jack came into action during strawberry spring which is a natural phenomenon that only happens every eight years. Four young women were murdered in that year. Despite the efforts and investigations of police, the murderer was never caught. After eight years, the strawberry spring has come back and the killer, as well. Without a doubt, first person narrative point of view, setting, and symbolism are crucial elements that make “Strawberry Spring” a fascinating story.

We begin by learning that David lives on a street with sparse traffic and that gossip of urban legend quality travels fast in this small area. This sensational tale of a burglar who dies in a chimney receives, along with no suspension of disbelief from our narrator, no media coverage in a newspaper so short on material that it is noted that an article about a cheese eating contest made the front page at one point (Sedaris par 1-10). All of which sets the stage for a thriller or horror story in a very small and peaceful community. David’s internal dialog tells of his fears of zombies and how he attempts to remain on high alert

The age appropriate for the book is Elementary students of second grade. The words on the pages are minimum words but have some bigger words. The reader should to be higher than first graders because they need to be able to read more than just sight words. The cover draws the reader in to what the story will be about. The front shows myster and draws attention to the reader. The author, Terry and Eric Fan are brothers who lived in Canada. They attended the same college. This book was their first children’s book together. Their passions for writing are different but have the same interests and ideas towards writing these types of books. Inside the book, the first side note welcomes the reader

Meyer, Michael. "Killings." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ninth ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 96-108. Print.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947. When King was two years old, his father left home and never returned. , leaving him to be raised by his mother. The family moved around to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Connecticut before returning to Maine so his mother could care for her parents.

Suddenly, we are witnesses to the events, which transpire the following morning as two teenage girls (who had planned to attend church with the Clutters) end up finding the bodies in the house. It is not until the killers are captured much later in the story that we learn what happened in the house that night, and in the time between the Clutters killings and the apprehension of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, we shift repeatedly between the Clutter's community and the actions of the killers. Because we aren't given information concerning the murders until the killers are captured, we are able to experience the sense of fear and frustration that plagues the local citizens and law enforcement officials. Not until Perry's confession do we learn the actual events that took place at the Clutters' estate on the night of the murders.

The Russian Revolution and the purges of Leninist and Stalinist Russia have spawned a literary output that is as diverse as it is voluminous. Darkness at Noon, a novel detailing the infamous Moscow Show Trials, conducted during the reign of Joseph Stalin is Arthur Koestler’s commentary upon the event that was yet another attempt by Stalin to silence his critics. In the novel, Koestler expounds upon Marxism, and the reason why a movement that had as its aim the “regeneration of mankind, should issue in its enslavement” and how, in spite of its drawbacks, it still held an appeal for intellectuals. It is for this reason that Koestler may have attempted “not to solve but to expose” the shortcomings of this political system and by doing so

In Stephen King’s somewhat subjective essay in the 1984 Playboy magazine, Why We Crave Horror Movies, King describes his reasoning behind why so many people are fond of watching movies residing in the horror genre. The content of his essay, though inserted in an unconventional area for

Stephan King is a compelling writer who has a numerous books and short stories that interests readers’ in the most stimulating way. He is most known for interesting his audience through the use of mystery, death, and horror. His unique method seems to ignite a flame through the readers’ that make them come back for more. Michael Meyer too uses the mystery technique by making the story’s audience review the clues given in the story to come to their own conclusions as to what happened in the end. Harvey’s Dream and A Sorrowful Woman are similar in the sense that they are about a married couple that may not be having the finest relationship they could be.

King is able to turn a used concept into a phenomenal story by perfectly using the third person point-of-view in “The Road Virus Heads North”. Encounters throughout the story are much more interesting because King allows the reader into the other characters feelings. The third person point of view is best exemplified during Kinnell’s eventual demise. “The feet coming down the hall now, worn boot heels rapping on polished hardwood. “A terrible paralysis had gripped Kinnell.” While reading this I could almost hear the way the boots would sound and I began to become tense thinking about something coming. King used the third person point-of-view beautifully to transform an already done topic into an interesting piece of horror fiction.

Some if his books even get turned into movies. King was born in Portland, Maine on September

Born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, Stephen King was a surprise to his family. Stephen was raised by a mostly single parent. Stephen’s father “left the house to buy a pack of cigarettes…but never returned. Stephen

Do you ever wonder why you or other people take delight in watching horror movies? What makes them so interesting? Why does the general society enjoy entertaining themselves with the horror genre? Well, Stephen King might have the answer to that. Mr. King strongly agrees with the idea that we might all have a little craving for watching such morbid scenes or reading about them, and creating our own gruesome scenario. Stephen King believes that humans crave horror for the purpose of facing our fears, to reestablish our feelings of normality, and to have an unusual type of ‘fun’, and he’s right.

Stephen King was born in September 21, 1947. He is from Portland, Maine. The college he graduated from is University Of Maine. He later on worked as a teacher while establishing himself as a writer. He has also published work under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, Kings first horror novel called Carrie. It was a huge success. Over the years King has become known for his titles that are both commercially successful and sometimes critically acclaimed.