George Bernard Shaw and His Short Story About the Cremation of the Nar

Now the body is ready for exposition and moved into a slumber room. The last touch can be done there; the favorite

And so life goes on for her, until she meets a couple of women that change her life around.

The storyteller is able to keep his or her memories fresh and alive through the act of telling stories. At the age of forty-three, Tim O’Brien is still able to remember his childhood friend, Linda, who died when he was nine. “Even now I can see her walking down the aisle of the old State Theater in Worthington, Minnesota. I can see her face in profile beside me, the cheeks softly lighted by coming attractions.” Linda is given the gift of life through death by the power of the story. She not only lives in the mind of Tim O’Brien, but now Linda can live in the mind of anyone of whom he tells the story to. O’Brien’s audience is even graced with the pleasure of imagining what Linda looked like, “There were little crinkles at her eyes, her lips open and gently curving at the corners.” The audience can nearly see Linda, nine years old, standing in a childlike manner before

In the story “Dead Man Laughing”, Zadie Smith (December 22, 2008) shares an emotional and significant aspect of her life, through the use of comedy. Additionally, Smith successfully conveyed to the reader the great impact that comedy has had on her, and why she determined to use humor as a way to relate to her father.

end up in life. In the novel, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass she

She can go back to her husband and children or she can live a life of solitude like

Mama, the narrator of this story, is stronger than most men, and soft tempered. There is a quiet sincerity that Mama gets her respect from the reader at the beginning of her story. She loves, forgives, she is independent and frank.

In “Lives of the Dead”, O’Brien’s own innocence is preserved through the memory of Linda, a memory that remains untarnished by the inevitable corruption that results from life. O’Brien’s writings “save Linda’s life. Not her body--her life” (236). Storytelling and memories preserve the value of Linda’s existence while simultaneously allowing O’Brien to process death and destruction in a way that maintains a degree of optimism regarding his own life and future. Juxtaposing the images of body and life emphasizes his desire to save the idea of Linda while accepting the loss of her physical presence. O’Brien rejects the idea of death as absolute and final; instead he suggests that “once you are alive, you can never be dead” (244). Linda’s death solidifies her importance in O’Brien’s own development; she teaches him about life and real love as much as in death as in life. O’Brien’s paradoxical statement defines the lasting impact of Linda on him; her presence in his stories keeps her alive through memory; memories that even her death

This summary will be referenced from the course textbook from pages 87 to pages 92

She welcomes anyone who comes into view yet stands near her husband. She develops small talk with her close knit family, the people she recognizes. Extended relatives and a few measly encounters do not form a new bond in her mind. She repeats stories, she repeats sentences and she repeats questions. She poses for a picture with her sister, lifts up the bottom crease of her sweater and pulls out a bright pink scarf to swing over her neck. She illustrates a world of imagination and fun through the playful pose. She represents a disease of heartbreak and loss. The woman shows early signs of Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a merciless disease in the family that killed her brother and is grabbing hold of the rest of her siblings.

He contemplates suicide however he ends up burying Miranda and setting his sights on a new victim.

Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.

The short story, "A Dead Woman 's Secret," is about a mother who just passed away. Her children, who became successful adults because of mother 's love and nurture, kneeled down beside her bed. The thought of letting her go was terrifying, so they decided to read her old letters. The first few stocks of letters brought a lot of positive emotions and brightened up their mood. As they dug further down through the letters, they learned the truth that absolutely destroyed the image of a perfect mother that they had on their mind ever since the childhood. They found love letters from a man they never heard of. Mother 's secret was extremely disappointing to handle, so they left her alone in a darkened room. The story demonstrates how people 's perspective of others ' can change in a single moment because of an insignificant secret that floated after drowning in tears for decades.

loses her life, but it is not a loss in vain, for she did accomplish what

doesn't think there is any use to have a sense of hope.  She thinks of the