Short stories are a form of fictional prose that typically focuses on a single character or a small group of characters. They are known for their brevity and ability to convey a powerful message in a short amount of time. Short stories often explore complex themes ...Read More
Brief Description of Short Story
Short stories are a form of fictional prose that typically focuses on a single character or a small group of characters. They are known for their brevity and ability to convey a powerful message in a short amount of time. Short stories often explore complex themes and emotions, making them a valuable literary form for both writers and readers.
Importance of Writing Essays on This Topic
Writing essays about short stories allows students and writers to closely analyze the elements of storytelling, character development, and thematic exploration. It helps to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as the ability to express ideas and interpretations effectively. Additionally, exploring short stories through essays can deepen one's understanding of human experiences and societal issues.
Tips on Choosing a Good Topic
- Consider the themes: Choose a topic that explores a specific theme or idea presented in the short story.
- Character analysis: Focus on the analysis of a particular character's development, motives, or conflicts within the short story.
- Narrative techniques: Explore the narrative structure, point of view, or symbolism used in the short story to craft an engaging topic.
Essay Topics
1. Argumentative
Essay Topics
- The impact of symbolism in "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.
- Exploring moral dilemmas in "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe.
2. Reflective
Essay Topics
- How "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman portrays mental illness.
- The use of irony and satire in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor.
3. Comparative
Essay Topics
- Contrasting the themes of love and loss in "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant.
- Comparing the use of setting and atmosphere in "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway and "The Storm" by Kate Chopin.
Concluding Thought
Exploring short stories through essay writing offers a unique opportunity to delve into the complexities of human experiences, societal issues, and the art of storytelling. By choosing engaging topics and critically analyzing the elements of short stories, writers and students can gain a deeper appreciation for the power of this literary form.
My Favorite Chaperone is a captivating and heartwarming short story written by Jean Davies Okimoto. Set in the bustling city of Seattle, it explores the experiences of a young Japanese-American girl named Katie Nakamura, who takes her eccentric grandfather, Ojiichan, as her chaperone for the...
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine is a short story written by Jhumpa Lahiri. It tells the tale of a young girl named Lilia, her experiences growing up as an immigrant in America, and the impact of her family’s relationship with Mr. Pirzada, a family...
Every story has its underlying themes that provide a deeper understanding of the narrative. In the case of “My Favorite Chaperone,” a short story by Jean Davies Okimoto, the themes of cultural identity, generational differences, and the importance of family take center stage. Through the...
As readers we pore over words and words and words. Through the earliest reviewer’s of James Joyce’s Dubliners tended to see the work as a group of completely unconnected short stories, more recent commentators have pointed out there is a definite structure to the sequence...
The Town of Dawndale wore the night as its cruel second skin. It had been twilight hour and the moon was full, casting emotionless shadows along the horizon. Under the cover ni of darkness, hazy grey clouds deteriorate under the fluorescent silver beams of the...
Everyone has dreams and desires, but sometimes these can make it hard to think of someone besides one’s self. In the story “Raymond’s Run,” Squeaky is a determined and confident girl who is in the process of refining her value and personality. At the beginning...
The short story “Letters from My Father”, written by Robert Olen Butler, and the poem “The Writer”, written by Richard Wilbur, both depict family struggles. “Letters from My Father” is about a Vietnamese girl who grew up without a father because of troubles with immigration...
James Joyce’s short story “The Boarding House” is a story that largely examines the nature of identity and perception. More specifically, the text examines the lack of autonomous identity as a self-defining idea in favour of a means of contextualizing oneself within society. Joyce is...
The connection between history and art is similar to the law of Causality in physics, otherwise known as the “cause and effect” law. As history progressed through multiple ages, fashions, and mentalities, so did artistic styles and tendencies. Art is important to the historic field...
When a storm hits, it strikes with a sudden climax, and fades away into oblivion. In The Storm, a short story by Kate Chopin, an adulterous affair occurs during a rainstorm between Calixta, mother to Bibi and wife to Bobinot, and Alcee, husband to Clarisse....
Chekhov’s stories often describe the little intricate moments in Russian life, focusing in on one character’s experience of a normal event and in doing so commenting on the character themselves. Agafya is one of Chekhov’s longer short stories, and is told from the perspective of...
Sister Lilith is a short story written by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers that tackles the reconfiguration of the origin of man’s existence on earth. The character of Lilith, the first wife to Adam, functions as the protagonist and narrator of the story. She gives the reader...
In the short story, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, follows Sylvia and her group of friends as they explore a new world. Sylvia and her friends are led by the educated and successful Miss Moore out of the slums of their predominate African American...
In Our Town, Thornton Wilder develops the idea of appreciating life because what’s taken for granted will eventually be taken away then you ended up missing what you least appreciated. The play takes us to a small town and we see how simple life is,...
Perfumes are often fragrant, pleasant smelling liquid-based products that many people employ in their everyday lives. Whether it be part of a daily routine, or strictly for special occasions, there is no doubt that perfume today plays a fundamental part in an individual’s personal identity...
I really did not know what to write about, but I was reminded this morning as I stopped to fuel the car up, of one of my most embarrassing moments since I moved back “home”.The sentence is a bit clunky and could be rewritten to...
Dorothy M. Johnson’s short story “A Man Called Horse” transgresses some of the conventions of the classical Western genre. In this sense, Johnson’s text can be read as a “revisionist Western”, in so far as Johnson does not merely adhere to the dominant norms and...
The fictional world of Haruki Murakami is famously populated by solitary people. But they like stories and do not mind telling them. A characteristic feature of Murakami’s novels is that they draw references to many stories or tales which are totally unrelated to the primary...
Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word, paralysis. It had always sounded strangely in my ears, like the word gnomon in the Euclid and the word simony in the Catechism. But now it sounded to me...
James Joyce’s Dubliners is a fearlessly candid portrayal of his native city, providing his readers a glimpse of a “dear dirty Dublin”, and to his countrymen “one good look at themselves”. Joyce’s collection of stories, virtually chronicling the stages of maturation within a human life,...
Much of Dubliners revolves around the weary contemplation of mortality, the apex of which appears in the novel’s endpiece, “The Dead,” which serves as the perfect counterpart to “The Sisters,” bookending the collection of stories with a cyclic emphasis on the intersection between life and...
Life is an unexpected combination of ups and downs. This continues to be true and evident in James Joyce’s short story “Araby”. This story is centered on a young, unnamed boy who is undergoing many challenges. These include family issues, first love, and growing up...
Robert Olen Butler’s story “Titanic Victim Speaks Through Waterbed” is narrated by the ghost of a victim who died on the Titanic, whose spirit continues to haunt the waters in which he dwelled. Making his way from the ocean, to a cup of tea, and...
The most unique and well distinguished American of the 19th century was writer Edgar Allan Poe. He was inspired by events that occurred in his life and decided to make a living by writing about them, he also became one of the first writers to...
In The Storm, we are first introduced to Bobinôt and his four-year old son Bibi. They are waiting out a storm in a store while Calixta, dutiful housewife to Bobinôt and mother to Bibi, is home alone. When she notices the oncoming storm and steps outside...
A woman is a human being too. She deserves to be able to make her own decisions and to express herself freely. A woman should be able to live in society without being oppressed into submission by rules or by men. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by...
In the short story The Shining Houses by Alice Munro, Mary is a young inquisitive mother who explores the lives of her neighbours in the community. The story follows her day on the way to a child’s birthday party, the characters in the story all...
Tom Perrotta’s Bad Haircut is a collection of short stories about Buddy, a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s. In these stories, Perrotta often introduces characters who bear false facades that do not resemble their true selves. Later on in the book,...
Setting is one of the most significant elements in a story. It also has various functions in literature. In general, it is a place where the chain of the events exists, where people live and then discover their own existence. However, by examining the setting...
Raymond Carver’s preferred method of delivering information to readers in his short story “Cathedral” is one that is entirely coherent with the underlying theme of the impact of alienation and isolation upon those who fail to master the art of communicating with others. Carver employs...
