The Last Rung Of The Latter Short Story

Suicide can sometimes feel like the only way to pacify the pain. It is as if something is eating away parts of you slowly and intently and the only way to relieve the constant pain, is to die. Tiffany Hunter and Pierre L’errant are two very different characters with both equally unique yet queer personalities. Although Pierre and Tiffany are not the best of friends, their contrasting characteristics somehow complement each other. They both have similarities in their plans of suicide as well as differences that help them make the correct decision on where they want their life to go in future. Although they both made different decisions at the end, they assisted each other to settle on the right choice. Drew Hayden Taylor develops a theme of despondency and isolation from peers and loved ones in the novel “The Night Wanderer.”

Many young people are affected in some way by suicide, and must learn to cope with the horrible loss it has taken from them. “Dogrib Midnight Runners”, by Van Camp, “was inspired by a suicide. As far as [he knew, that was] the first published story that ever takes place in Fort Smith. And [Van Camp wanted] to talk about what a great thief suicide is: the huge, never-ending echo of its fatal decision” (Vranckx). In this short story, a group of friends are faced with their friend, Justin, committing suicide for no clear reason. Justin was remembered as an intelligent, fun individual and appeared happy. The reason why Justin committed suicide was unclear. One particular humorous, happy memory his friends had of him was that when he drank too much, he would take off all his clothes and run. In Richard Van Camp’s short story, “Dogrib Midnight Runners”, the “ritual of running” is so important to healing and rebirth because it allows the group of friends to cope with the loss of their friend while rebuilding a meaningful friendship and support system they had lost during the tragedy.

This quote is showing how Larry describes the barn being so warm and filled with smells, and how it is so deeply mysterious. Later on in the story, this mysterious warm place turns into a place of fear. The main characters, Kitty and Larry, are climbing up and old rickety ladder, and shuffling a crossed a 12ft. long beam. Once over the safety of the hay, they jump down and land in the soft, safeness of the hay. But after going up the ladder a certain amount of times, it

In Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones, the Salmon family learns that their fourteen year old daughter, Susie Salmon, has been raped and murdered. Because of this her father, Jack, sister, Lindsey, and mother, Abigail, all go through their own respective journeys in order to accept this ordeal. During this time of grievance for Susie’s family, her father, Jack, believes that the person responsible for the murder of his daughter is his neighbour, a man named George Harvey, and reports this to detective Len Fenerman. However, Len Fenerman becomes too preoccupied with his affair with Abigail to aid Jack with his suspicions. Meanwhile, Susie’s younger siblings Lindsey and Buckley, try to learn how to cope with the loss of one of their very own, without their parent’s attention to aid them. In The Lovely Bones, Susie’s father, mother, and sister, all explore the theme of grief by going on their own pathways through the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, in order to come to terms with the brutal murder of their beloved Susie.

In the short story “Sea Oak,” George Saunders presents a family that is struggling with life in the poor neighborhood of Sea Oak. The narrator works as a male stripper in Joysticks, run by Mr. Frendt. The story also revolves around Auntie Bernie, who dies, resurrects, and dies again after advising the narrator, his sister Min, and their cousin Jade to adopt unorthodox and immoral means of making it in life. Two main themes that emerge in Saunders’ work are grief and loss that people suffer in life, and how the society teaches to deal with them, including the loss of a fruitful life, lack of wealth and success, as well as death.

Well I say it’s a pity she did…And I say if she’d ha’ died, Ethan might ha’ lived…” (Wharton 156-157). The attempted sledding suicide by Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver functions as the novel’s casement, because it embodies a somber lesson. The whole purpose of Wharton’s work is a moral lesson on how human emotion—specifically love—is a masterful influence on even the strongest human psyche. The illuminating incident acts as a casement because it represents what happens when people lose control of their lives. Literally, Ethan has trouble guiding the sled into the tree, and he struggles to stay on course with the target. Figuratively, Ethan struggles to maintain some degree of control on his spiraling life. The sled represents love. Ethan loves Mattie and is at the point where he will do anything in his power to be with her. The tree represents control. Ethan believes he can guide his love to go where he wants it, but in reality, he lost control the moment he let love take over his head. People control their lives up until they let their emotions cloud their judgement. Then, there is only a false sense of control, a ghost of a memory of what had

While watching his younger brother Grove play, despite an injures arm, he says “Watching him, you are glad you have no hurt places on you today. The gladness makes you ashamed.” The shame the narrator portrays reveals his compassion and protection of his brothers and how he would rather himself suffer than watch any of them hurt. Later on, though, he reveals that he does not feel the same about the entire family; as soon as he mentions his father, the diction evolves, creating a more ominous tone. As the brothers discuss the younger boys’ adventure, the narrator describes the house, where his father yells: “From it travels a flat thread of sound, and you feel yourself go empty listening to it.” Everybody has some recollection of this feeling - the feeling when the rollercoaster drops over the tallest peak, when a secret escapes into the world, when a parent uses one’s full name - and the second person point of view incites the fear that the narrator feels. He describes the feeling as empty; when all of the courage and light leaves, leaving him with nothing. He shows that his father frightens him by his description of this fear at only his father’s yelling. Later on, he faces a decision heavily influenced by this fear. “Danny the Lesser” is the narrator’s title, an indication of neglect and years of fading into the background.

In the novel The Lovely Bones written by Alice Sebold, describes the story of a teenage girl Susie Salmon, who after being raped and murdered, “watches from her personal heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on.” This essay will discuss how the loss of Susie affects the Salmon family, how the loss of Susie affects Abigail Salmon specifically and the author’s purpose of the idea of loss in the novel.

In the last chapter of Alice Sebold’s novel, Lovely Bones, the main character Susie Salmon looks at the events that have transpired because of her death, and happy with the outcome, is finally able to be at peace. Through the use of metaphors and tone Sebold describes what Susie sees as she says goodbye to her family for the last time.

What would you do if you were given what you thought was the perfect life and it suddenly seemed to turn upside-down? Would you jump to your death or climb back up? “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window” by Joy Harjo is a poem about a women who is lost in this big world we live in and trying to find herself while hanging from a thirteenth floor window. While this woman is hanging there she starts to have flashbacks about her life starting from her childhood up until now. The author goes into detail about why this woman is thinking about killing herself because of all the pressures of trying to be some she is not is catching up to her. This poem represents everyday people and how they first have to overcome themselves and

Grief is a commonality within each of our lives, as we are all forced to experience grief at some point in our lives. Grief is an interesting facet of human life as the loss of a loved one effects each individual in a different manor. Unfortunately for the grief stricken the process of overcoming loss is a very long and arduous experience. Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones explores the varying ways in which people process and further overcome the loss of a common loved one. The novel is focused upon the Salmon family, a family which is having difficulties overcoming the loss of beloved sister and daughter Susie Salmon. The novel relates the death and afterlife of the aforementioned 14 year old Susie Salmon, a girl who is raped and murdered brutally

Alice Sebold, the author of The Lovely Bones, paints a dark, mysterious picture at the beginning of the novel and emits a suspenseful mood. Susie Salmon, the protagonist, is a young teenager who gets tragically raped and murdered. She looks down from heaven where she is the only one who truly knows her killer. The murder of Susie Salmon becomes an interruption and disturbance to those that were linked to Susie in a way that the mystery of her murder drives them to the edge. The irony of Susie’s feelings of her “perfect world” is that she grows lonely in a place where all her wishes or desires become a reality. Even though Susie is gone and alone in heaven watching the life she used to know, she has a lasting impact on the lives of her friends and family

Edgar Allen Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman depict a digression of humanity and sanity. Poe presents the downfall of Fortunato in “A Cask of Amontillado, and Gilman presents the same of John in “A yellow Wallpaper”, yet it is out of out of their own undoing. Each of their downfall is at the expense of themselves, yet it is at the hands of another. Neither character realizes the everlasting consequences of their own actions. Fortunato is arrogant and belittles those around him while John fails to understand or even listen to his own wife. They each regard their positions in the highest esteem, and neither John nor Fortunato ever give heeding to anyone they consider below them. This is their gravest mistake and the cause of their destruction. Both stories create a sense of duality, for within their actions, those around them are shaped in similar fashion. Jane and Montresor become mirror images of them. Poe and Gilman illustrate the grave consequences of one’s own action and its effect upon others which is exhibited through Fortunato’s and John’s position and interactions with others, Jane and Montresor’s reactions, and the consequences upon both pairs of characters.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” an unnamed narrator examines the fears of Roderick Usher to determine the cause of the “fall” in the “House of Usher.” The House of Usher has prevailed “insufferable gloom,” from a glance a strong sense of confinement presence itself. The only known family to live in this home has been the Usher’s, presenting a form of incest within the family. As Roderick copes with the loss of his twin sister and his struggle to combat his own mental illness, he writes to his past friend whom he hopes will help ease the agony. Roderick’s friend awaits the unexpected adventures the “House of Usher” has in store for him.

In Edgar Allen Poe’s final poem Annabel Lee, the narrator tells a story of his love for a maiden named Annabel Lee. The two live happily together in a kingdom by the sea until the angels become jealous of their love and send a cold chill that kills Annabel Lee and devastates the narrator. Throughout the first half of the poem, the narrator’s tone is jovial when reflecting on the love he shared with Annabel Lee but becomes more somber and dark when describing the present. Through the use of imagery and symbolism, Poe effectively illustrates powerful themes of love and tragedy present in the relationship between the narrator and Annabel Lee.