Short Story Essays

Guy De Maupassant’s story “The Diamond Necklace” tells us a story about a poor girl who has wrong values in her life. She loves money, jewels, but not people. Throughout the story the main heroine Matilda Loisel makes a number of ironic discoveries. One night she goes to the ball …

Like the famous saying goes, denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. On the surface, “The Swimmer” may appear to be a tale of the effects of alcohol abuse or maybe even a characterization of a mental disorder like Alzheimer’s. Upon closer scrutiny, however, one discerns that it is denial …

“Gryphon” is a short story by Charles Baxter that was published in 1985. The first person point of view Baxter chose allows us to understand the story better. It also allows Tommy to portray his personal feelings toward his substitute teacher, Miss Ferenczi. The diction Baxter uses for Miss Ferenczi …

At the window – bored, daydreaming, attracted to something Paraphrase: Stanza 1 – The boy weeps because a snowman stands alone outside and is about to suffer through a harsh night. Stanza 2 – The snowman does not want to go inside and melt, but he feels thankful for the …

The English custom of telling the bees when there was a death in the family, and of covering the hives with black cloth to prevent them from leaving is what Whittier’s poem, “Telling the Bees” refers to. This same custom, or at least the same attitude towards this creature no …

Sherry Garland’s Shadow of the Dragon provides us with an emotional and a romantic storyline of the life of a Vietnamese boy named Danny (Duong) and his older cousin Sang Le, who arrive to the United States of America to fit in the society. Danny and Sang Le both lived …

The path to becoming an adult is lined with a variety of childhood and adolescent experiences, some more painful than others. In T. Coraghessen Boyle’s short story, “Greasy Lake,” Boyle masterfully uses the setting and the protagonist’s experience to teach us an old but vital lesson: those who choose not …

How would you feel if everyday from 9 to 5 you hear, fix me a cup of coffee, secretary; file these papers, secretary; schedule a meeting, secretary. This chant reminds me of the one that Cinderella’s stepmother and sisters where saying when they wanted the house clean and to prevent …

The story at hand is about much more than the ethics of hunting, and despite its ambiguous, if not non-existent plot, I thought it was rich with meaning. Packaged as a glimpse of life into a small group of people, set in a beautifully rustic and occasionally harsh environment, the …

Charles Dickens uses his fictitious town in Hard Times to represent the industrialization of England at that time or close to it. Most of this representation, however, isn’t accurately described compared the way things really were during industrialization. It is important to remember throughout this paper that not only is …