London Short Story Analysis

In Module/Week 3, you will write a 750-words (about 3–4-pages) essay that compares and contrasts two stories from the Fiction Unit.  Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines for developing your paper topic that are given below.  Review the Fiction Essay Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded.  Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a one-page thesis statement and outline for your essay.  Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program).  You have the opportunity to receive helpful

Sometimes in life, situations may knock you down to a breaking point of giving up. These situations can make you or break you; but whatever you chose the choice is yours. Challenging circumstances can make you feel as if the world is caving in on you. Moreover, you must learn to push through your trials and tribulations and get back up again. Life never said it would be easy, or challenging. You must continue to keep dreaming, and keep that hope alive within your heart, and strive to become a stronger solider for the next mountain that may come against you. In life, we will not always see good days. However, your good days should outweigh your bad days. As long as you have breath in your body, you will always win the battle that’s ahead of you. The story of Lolo Jones exemplifies this breaking point, and the discouragement she experienced to doubt her dreams.

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

In Kate Chopin’s 1894 short story The Story of an Hour, a woman processes the announcement of her husband’s death. The story revolves around Louise Mallard, a young, pretty woman who has just received word that her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. Upon receiving the news from her sister Josephine, Louise immediately bursts into tears, an emotional display that, once spent, prompts her to retreat to her bedroom. After a time, Louise repeats her emotional outburst—this time with excitement at the idea she will be able to live her own life. However, Louise’s joy is cut short when her husband, having been nowhere near the accident, arrives home. Her disappointment is so profound she dies.

By offering a physical depiction of Chicago as a dangerous and dismal urban “wilderness,” Sinclair encapsulates the overarching experiences of the poor working classes while simultaneously portraying industrialization and capitalism as vicious, uncontrollable forces of “nature” that devour the weak and naïve. As Jurgis and his family arrive in the city, they observe the following scene: “half a dozen chimneys, tall as the tallest of buildings, touching the very sky—and leaping from them half a dozen columns of smoke, thick, oily, and black as night. It might have come from the center of the world…” (pg. 30). In this passage, the city is depicted as a dark and foreign environment, which overwhelms the senses with a litany of

“There is something strange about this house”, Scarlett murmured to herself. Ten days ago, her mother bought a penthouse which costed a huge amount of money. The penthouse had luxurious amenities, high end appliances, finest furniture and luxurious flooring system, etc. By this Scarlett was exited but at the same time specifically her room was an eccentrics of the luxurious penthouse. Scarlett even knew about the previous owner who was a film producer Sam who had disappeared. Later, after two days the body was found decomposed in a nearby cemetery. This really irked Scarlett. From the following ten day she has been experiencing situations which are hard to describe. For example, feeling like someone is observing, sounds of screaming, doors creaking,

“Small town big heart,” they say locked away behind their cold immaculate castle gates that rest on the remains of the previous farmland and plains. The collective heart beats but only at a convenient time suiting parties involved. “A place where everyone matters,” they utter as their motto in indistinguishable monotone voices. The people are too wrapped up in their everyday lives to ever be concerned about their neighbor, they look through life with gilded glasses. It’s as if a fog had descended slowly creeping into their view distorting what they once held most dear.

Teju Cole’s Open City tells the story of a half-German, half-Nigerian immigrant named Julius, living in New York City in a post-9/11 world. Throughout the book, Julius vacillates between self-awareness and naiveté, someone who thoughtfully observes and seeks connection with others, but only on his own terms. This is more apparent than ever in Chapter Fifteen, where Julius struggles to process the fact that his friend and mentor, Dr. Saito, is dying. In this chapter, he has a short conversation with a fading Dr. Saito, and then, not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts, visits his friend to reflect on that conversation. The talk he has with his friend reflects Julius’ self-absorption and self-imposed isolation, even as he attempts to reach out to other human beings.

Outside yet another train rumbled through the intersection” (Larson 37). (FA) The more simplistic the writing, despite the connotative meaning, allows for the further exploration of a deeper theme. Without the distraction of unnecessary verbiage, the author is able to convict the theme in a shorter and more precise way. Beyond the general use of simplistic writing technique, Larson defers back to the simple sentence format when generating a sense of hastiness

The city was more quiet and less chaotic. I couldn't look at the details of the surroundings, hear the music of flute and guitar, feel the elasticity of the earth with the sole of the foot and smell the scent of the flora. He argues that this way of life still exists in the field, but there is a disproportion between the quality of life in the city and in the field.

To anyone from New York City, the dangers of train cars are evident. This is why, when the reader begins to see that the children are acting recklessly, he becomes quite worried. This is because there are countless numbers of warnings on trains,

As the train hit the brake run, the brakes tighten with impressive force and speed, bringing the train to a smooth stop. The combination of grace and power and its disorienting array of twists and turns is impressive.

Braddock a town located in eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania loses nearly 90% of its population and more than 90% of its businesses after the steel industry collapses in 1980,s. John Fetterman became the new mayor of Braddock in the summer of 2001. Fetterman hopes that he will bring back Braddock to its normal economy with his new ideas and innovations. He also mentions that he can not guarantee that it is going to be an easy task or that it can be successful at the end.

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.

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.