Narrative Technique in Short Fiction

Authors of great stories often use good technical writing skills. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two short stories: Where Are you going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates and Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway. The comparison and contrast will be done based on their use of plot, point of view and character development.

In conclusion, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm,” as well as “New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat are good examples of fiction that show how plot, setting, and point of view are used or seen within a story. 2. A story’s plot consists of four parts; an exposition, a crisis, a climax, and a resolution. 3. A story’s setting is not only the time and place of the story, but the setting also “encompasses a wide variety of physical and cultural elements” (Kirszner and Mandell 171). 4. There are three different points of view; first, second, which is rarely used, and third. 5. First person uses words like “I, me, or my”, second person uses “you”, and third person uses words such as “he, she, or it.” 6. Kirszner and Mandell said that point of view is “the vantage point from which events are presented” (198). 7. Plot, setting, and point of view are only three of several parts of what makes fiction. 8. Although fiction means false, some works of fiction may have factual elements within them, but for the most part, are false. 9. Fiction is a large part of today’s society because it is seen everywhere, such as books, movies, theater, and so on. 10. Without fiction, life would be much less exciting and duller. 11. Yes, there would still be books, movies, etc., but fiction gives artists a way to express their imagination with no

Many short stories written nowadays are written nowadays in third person to ensure that the audience receives a well-rounded, factual story. The third person POV, however, is extremely broad and can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways by various authors. An astonishing example of the third person variety is a comparison between A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. While Faulkner’s piece demonstrates a mysterious third person POV, O’Brien’s piece takes the third person POV onto an uncommon emotional journey.

Point of view is one of the literary devices that allows authors to accomplish this purpose. The point of view is the manner in which an author interacts with his/her literary world. It provides a creative avenue for skillful readers to capture and direct the attention of the reader to particular emotions, details, and opinions. Thus, the point of view is simply an angle of considering things as embodies with the manner in which the author narrates a story. This paper provides a clear and concise analysis of the short story Brownies by ZZ packer with particular focus on the point of

One common fact in the short stories that all authors let the audience know is their

Miline, Ira Mark. Short Stories for Student. Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Short Stories Volume 8Virtual Reference Library. Detroit, Mich: Gale. Web. 13 Jan. 2010.

Throughout the 17 short stories in Tim Winton’s novella ‘The Turning’, there are a number of different language techniques that Winton has used to enhance the central theme. Some of the main techniques that Winton had used include; colloquial language, inclusive language and intertextuality. Winton had used these language techniques across two stories, Damaged Goods and Long Clear View to make the audience feel/think/ a certain emotion or thought.

Having each story been written in a third-person narrative form, the reader knows the innermost feelings of the

Please Note: Diction, detail, point of view, organization and syntax are all devices that the author uses to make the tone of the story evident to the reader. Your commentary should

Stories use narrative to involve the responder in a range of experiences. Storytellers use narrative techniques to establish a setting and shape the characters personality. This is shown in Henry Lawson’s short stories the drover’s wife and the loaded dog as well as Roger hargreaves picture book little miss sunshine.

In his collection of short shorties, O’Brien writes in a style that is very vivid and often times causes the audience to find themselves accepting the events and details of these stories as the truth. O’Brien contrasts the truth to fiction by reminding the audience that within these short stories, the details are not the truth and are there to demonstrate the human emotions that can not be communicated as absolute facts.

A story may depend on the structure of the book and how well it flows from page to page, but yet it strictly depends on the word choice and how effective the author is able to apply rhetorical devices. Stories such as A Separate Piece, A&P, and The Man I Killed, is able to effectively portray the character’s emotion, thoughts, and the intent of their actions. The authors use heroic, rhetorical strategies to reveal Tim, Gene and Sammy’s struggle to overcome their own selfless desires and ignorance toward the consequences, resulting with each protagonist’s life lesson.

Writing from different viewpoints allows the author, Tim O’Brien, to express himself in a more comfortable manner. Written in this viewpoint, the story is read as a tale instead of an autobiography and the author becomes more distant with the story like he is looking into it rather than writing it.

James Joyce’s book of short stories entitled Dubliners examines feminism and the role of women in Irish society. The author is ahead of his time by bringing women to the forefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in their families. He uses them to show the paralysis of his native land Ireland, and the disruption in social order that is caused by the constant cycle of abuse that he finds commonplace in Ireland. Joyce is trying to end the Victorian and archaic view of

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.