Literary Elements Of A Short Story

After months and months of preparing for the big race, the day has finally come. It was a perfect summer day, when Ronald Raptor and his friends Tiffany, Travis, and Barbra strolled up to the Blaze’n Race’n Track. Someone else was walking up too, a ginormous, mean, green, dinosaur named Tyrone the T-rex. Just a glance in his direction makes the hairs on the back of your neck spike up, but he was jealous of Ronald. To sum it up, Ronald wins at life, he has friends , he’s cool, and he beats Tyrone every year. “But, this year would be different” Tyrone thought with a evil smirk on his face, “I have a plan”. Interrupting Tyrone’s mastermind plot was Ronald’s laugh, making him remember how lonely he was, but nevermind that. It was time to start.

A Perfect Day For Bananafish was written in 1948 by the American writer Jerome David Salinger. This was just three years after the ending of World War II, where Salinger was stationed in Berlin, Germany. From further analysis of the short-story I have come to the conclusion that Seymour is Salinger’s role model. Seymour has just returned from World War II, as well as Salinger had when he wrote the story. Seymour returns to his native country very confused, dysfunctional and with some psychic issues.

Short stories can be bland and boring. As you read some of them, you can feel emotion or just read a boring story about how something changed their life, but these three stories are interesting because they develop horror. These short stories use different elements to create horror. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “A Rose for Emily,”, and “The Lottery” develop horror/gothic elements.

Source: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Oslo 2008 – ''Access to English literature, VG3''. Anthony, Burgess, Mikkelsen & Sørhus. Chapter 1, page 23-24.

What is the point of any piece of great literature? Or rather, what is great literature? Some would say that accomplished literature is a way of exceptionally telling a story. However, what is the point of storytelling? In many cases, stories are told for entertainment. However, most stories have a moral or theme conveying an important message about life or how to live it. This is the point of great literature, to convey this message beautifully. Some pieces of great literature are The Story-Teller, by Saki, Geraldine Moore the Poet, by Toni Cade Bambara, and Enemy Territory, by William Melvin Kelley. To understand the themes of great literature, you must also understand how to analyze it. The content

He came in without a word. I was stropping my best razor. And when I recognized him, I started to

Short stories have been written since the beginning of time, from drawings on cave walls to short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. Many people write these stories to explain their life experiences and feelings. “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “The Gift of the Magi” are two great examples of short stories that contain a lot of these feelings. They are explained through many literary elements. While both stories are well written, thoughtful, and contain many literary elements, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” takes the reader deeper through symbolism, imagery, and tremendous details that impact them greatly.

In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” J. D. Salinger weaves an innocent enough story that goes wildly astray at the end. Throughout the bulk of the work, Salinger details disinterested and awkward conversations between various parties interspersed with an air of caution. The story culminates with a surprising act of suicide by Seymour Glass, the character throughout which most of the story centers. This abrupt ending is written in such a manner that the reader must immediately reflect upon the rest of the story in order to understand the reasons behind this action. As a whole, Salinger’s short story involves a recounting of important themes from American society in the post-World War II era.

In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, J.D. Salinger explores the rotting of innocence that comes with adulthood. The effects of materialism and corruption in human society, especially adults, is a common theme delivered in Salinger’s works. “Critics think of the story as a metaphorical representation of what happens to sensitive people in a materialistic society filled with people who are as greedy as the Bananafish about which Seymour tells Sybil” (Shuman). It is being suggested that Seymour is a sensitive person trapped in a materialistic society and surrounded by people like Muriel who are as greedy as the Bananafish. Seymour acknowledges his wife’s materialism as Muriel reveals, “He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948” (Salinger). Seymour has dubbed his wife this title because he sees her narcissism and self-obsessive

Short stories have many different literary elements and, you can compare all of them. All stories have something in common and something different about them, that make them unique. The short stories, Contents of a Deadman’s Pocket, The Leap, and The Trip all have elements of literature in them. The elements that are the most important are theme, characters, setting and conflict.

The short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananfish” written by Jerome Salinger in 1948, is based on the idea of how people change through war. The main character, Seymour, has just gotten out of the military and is on vacation with his wife in Florida. Through his wife’s conversations, it is made apparent that Seymour has developed mental issues since returning home and these issues are shown through Seymour’s longing for isolation throughout the story. The unusual part of this fictional tale is the fact that many aspects of Seymour’s life reflect the authors. “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” does not just inform the audience of the severity of an unknown mental illness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, but it almost acts as Salinger’s way to express his true emotion about life.

In J.D. Salinger’s short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, readers observe the contrast of main character Seymour Glass’s PTSD with his wife’s materialistic ways. Seymour’s PTSD makes him appear to return back to childlike ways as he struggles to morph back into the adult world of America in 1948. Readers see this as Seymour has better communication with the children of the hotel he’s staying at than with his in-laws, wife, and other adults. Other adults, like his wife and mother-in-law, view him as unhinged and possibly scary. On the other hand, children view him as funny and delightful. This contrast of perspectives helps to carry the theme of lost innocence in a world of greed and failed communication.

Caitlin suppressed a yawn as she injected the content of her syringe into the IV’s tube of her badly shaking friend, her ears closely listening to her patient’s breathing pattern as she was finishing her task. She looked down with worry, noticing how in the last half hour Barry’s struggle to breath had gotten worse once again. Caitlin was able to stabilize the speedster when the Captain first brought him in with the nasal canal, but the equipment wasn’t doing much help at the moment.

Are you ready to analyze three stories? Yes? Awesome! No? Too bad, because here we go! The three stories in question are The Leap by Louise Erdrich, The Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets by Jack Finney, and Ambush by Tim O’Brien. The authors of these stories use aspects of their stories to shape the plot, show the theme, and to change the views and opinions of the characters in the stories.

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.