A Short Story : A Story?

Although she struggles from some form of mental disability her curiosity unfortunately gets the best of her childhood. While at the Congo, Ruth May becomes obsessed with a snake in which it was appropriately named, “The Green Mamba”. When she refuses to take her malaria pills, she becomes ill. But when it seems as if she started to turn for the better, she is bitten by her curious friend and immediately dies. Her innocence strongly represents a child’s tendency to take everything literally. “Father says a girl can’t go to college because they’ll pour water in your shoes” (117). Although it’s clear to the readers that this is a metaphor, it shows how literate children can be when manipulated at a younger

Across wildflower meadows and over grassy hillsides, the train’s passengers traveled in plush compartments. With feathers in their hats, they dined and laughed with honesty at shared jokes. The trip from the trade ports had been pleasant for mostly everyone, everyone other than Mr. and Mrs. Hughes that is. Their journey was long and riddled with arguments about ridiculous things. Nevertheless, their quarreling is of no real importance. It should be noted that if either one of them had known what was to happen next, neither one of them would have given a single care about the allegedly ugly and disproportionate statute of a wood nymph Mr. Hughes had won at auction the other day.

A sibling is only missed once he or she has moved out. The donut isn’t nearly as good when it is being eaten, as it seems to be once it is gone. Things are easily taken for granted, as seen in Meredith Hall’s “Killing Chickens.” Hall incorporates her own personal stories, heartache, expirences, and family to reveal to the reader the act and effect of underappreciation. Through short syntax, imagery, and a distant tone, Hall shows how easy it is for things to be taken for granted.

Fear wafts throughout the air, weighing down on Amy's already heavy shoulders. She dashes to the bathroom intent on saving the pesky house guest from the endless pit it may now have to call home. Reaching into the germ infested loo, she pulls out a minuscule being shivering uncontrollably. The pest is soon bound into a tight bundle, engulfing it as though smothered by its mother. Once it is nursed back to health, Amy creates a dream home for it outside on our steps. Watching from a distance, she beams as it returns to its natural habitat. Just one pesky mouse, clearly not cared about by our cat, my parents nor I, somehow, Amy finds it within herself to put this unsightly mouse above her own

Elisa’s garden is her private escape, where she is free to daydream, yearn, and wonder about life outside of her valley. Her little fenced in garden not only keeps the dogs and cattle out, but her husband does not trespass in it either. It is hers and hers alone. Elisa shows signs that she is miserable in her marriage and her life, by being curt and dismissive to her husband, uninterested in his buyers, and equally rude and dismissive towards the panhandler that rides up in an ancient, rickety, covered wagon. being pulled by an old horse and a mule.

Sierra had found the mother dog under a rock that used to sit on the cliff above her. Her goal for that afternoon was to pick some berries to make some pie. A little puppy was nudging his mother's motionless body with his snout and whining. Sierra, who was a mending witch, tried to heal the mother dog, but she couldn’t even close the wounds. A task like this was far beyond her ability. The mother had stubby legs, so they could not have been wild dogs. The witch scouted around the bramble and rocks for other puppies, but she found none. The short legged young dog would not make it through another season with its mother. So, Sierra took the only reasonable course of action and put it in her empty basket and headed back through the thicket to go

As a child of an entomologist, Elaine grew up living a “boy’s” life; collecting and examining insects, playing games with her brother, reading comic books, and the like. The majority of her life was spent fastened into the backseat of her parents’ car to various forests, searching for various vermins and staying in

A few of the bravest ventured out to her and received a pat on the head. Then Sophie smiled, for she had finally spotted the cute little critter who she had been tracking. She quietly snuck up on it, then gently cupped it in her hands. To her shock, Sophie saw that she had caught a lizard! Lizards were rare around here, and they always hid if humans were around. But this one didn’t seem bothered; in fact, it curled itself around her thumb and settled down, as if for a nap! Sophie knew that the right thing to was to release it back into the wilderness, but she couldn’t find it in herself to disentangle it from

Our reluctant heroine finds herself in a role she has not chosen but has been thrust into. She is prepared though, she has placed defense weapons close at hand since the protection of the family has now fallen to her. From the beginning she doesn’t seem completely at ease in contrast to the sleeping children unaware of not only the potential danger the rat presents, but also oblivious to the new weighty responsibilities that their mother is now dealing with. This is all highly significant because it is central in this seemingly humorous debacle. What starts out as an innocuous situation soon evolves into a test of the author's ability to defend her family, to protect them.

Miss Brill is a single woman, probably in her mid to late fifties. She lives alone in a very small space without even a cat or bird. She has a collection of vintage clothing. Her physical appearance is only alluded to in the 18-paragraph short story by Mansfield, but in reading about a day in her life, one has the impression of an intelligent, sensitive

In Tahlee’s gigantic backyard her dog Missy was happily playing with her favourite toy, the monkey machine ,a cut Capuchin monkey that makes noises. Missy loved her monkey that she even cuddled it when she slept. Tahlee was very protective of Missy because she wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Tahlee was a very outgoing person who always went out for lunch. When she needed to pick out an outfit she would always find something, but when she goes to get socks out she notices that she doesn't have many socks. Day by day the socks are slowly disappearing and she looked at Missy, “have you been taking my socks”. Tahlee said as politely as she could, trying really hard not to upset Missy. Missy explained with “Woof”. Anyway, Tahlee continued

Alistair Graves once owned a dog called Henry. It was a dull beast, sleepy in his youth, immobile upon entering his teens. He was a useless lump of shedding fur and for an animal that moved so little, he managed to get underfoot in an utterly maddening way. He was a mutt and when they discovered he had heartworms, there had been little discussion before it was decided it would be better to put him down. Alistair had taken the words carelessly; what difference did it make? He spent that night curled beside Henry, face buried in his fur, sobbing uncontrollably.

Once upon a time there lived a lanky little rat named Rudy. Rudy’s fur was very dull and felt like needles. She lived in a tiny village where all the animals knew each other. Every afternoon she would meet with her friends at the riverbank to tell stories of their morning. One day Rudy scurried to the riverbank excited to share with her friends a cheesecake she had baked just for them, but when she arrived at the meeting spot, no one was there. Worried and confused, Rudy hurried in to town to look for her friends there. Just as she reached the main road, her body froze as she watched the most beautiful creature strolling through town. Rudy looked around and noticed she was not the only animal in the village mesmerized by this beautiful

The marmosets ‘in the next room’ whom exhibit ‘slow’, ‘hesitant behaviour’ and shakiness are contrasted to the other, much livelier marmosets. After seeing the marmosets in such a happy light, this description has a resounding impact on us and causes serious discomfort, pity and possibly even some anger. The previously described marshmallow-adoring marmosets are contrasted starkly to the marmosets who are petrified and shaking, and don’t have any reaction to marshmallows whatsoever. McKie’s powerful use of juxtaposition makes the reader fiercely upset about the way the marmosets are ‘exploited’. To see the extent at which these tests affect the marmosets is very disturbing and

Passed a very little boy in the street to-day, who had on a home-made cap of a woodchuck-skin, which his father or elder brother had killed and cured, and his mother or elder sister had fashioned into a nice warm cap…The little fellow wore it innocently enough, not knowing what he had on, forsooth, going about his small business, pit-a-pat; and his black eyes sparked beneath it when I remarked on its warmth, even as the woodchuck’s might have done.”