Essays on Short Story

The short story Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? tells the story of an adolescent girl and her unfortunate fate in the hands of a malicious sexual predator. Written by Joyce Carol Oates, the story highlights the dangers of preoccupation with one’s image at the expense of their...

Everyday Use by Alice Walker Everyday Use by Alice Walker is based on around the 1960s and 1970s, which is a time when most of the African Americans were putting a lot of efforts in defining their identity within the American society. The short story was published in 1973 and made...

1. It was in 19th century during the War period. There lived a President, his name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 2. President Franklin Roosevelt governed the United States from 1933 through a time of war until 1945 when he succumbed. 3....

The Secret Lion: Exploring Symbolism in Growing Up The short story "The Secret Lion" tells the tale of two boys trying to maintain their childhood while dealing with the difficulties that come with approaching puberty. The way the author presents the two characters brings out their innate curiosity and sense of...

The struggles of a mother raising two girls while living under the oppression of a white-dominated society are depicted in Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use," which depicts the realities of life for African-Americans in the southern United States in the middle of the 20th century. Jim Crow laws and...

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story that was first published in 1892 and is made up of journal entries written by a woman who is experiencing anxious despair. Her mid-year lease house is where her significant other John, a doctor, brings her to treat her. There, the woman is...

Jack Deng was born in a small village near Juba, Southern Sudan, to a household of five. His mother Jessy worked as a housewife, and his father Odek was a local instructor. Deng, the oldest son, desired the best for his siblings, even putting his high school diploma on the...

The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros has compiled a number of short tales in The House on Mango Street. The status of women in society and poverty are the main themes of the book. The narrator, Esperanza, begins by outlining the circumstances surrounding her family's relocation from Loomik to Mango...

Zora Neale Hurston, a folklorist writer closely connected with the Harlem Renaissance, was born in 1891 in the small Alabaman town of Notasulga. In particular, the African American culture of the rural South, where she resided, was something she embraced. Her early years were adversely affected by the death of...

Introduction It was one of those summertime Sundays when everyone is sitting around lamenting how much they drank the night before. (Cheever 776). This opening line by John Cheever establishes the mood for his short tale "The Swimmer." Cheever was born in 1912 in Quincy, Massachusetts, in the United States. He...

A person s personality and way of life are typically greatly impacted by the social alienation of their society. However, some of these social norms are harsh and tend to prevent young people from following their hearts desires. Consider Paul s circumstance in Cather s short story Paul s...

And this turned into Florence's deepest desire: to leave the cottage one morning and never come back. Not many months after Gabriel's birth, her father—whom she hardly remembered—had left that way one morning. (Baldwin 15). Following Florence's realization that she has no cause to stick around is the quotation. She...