Short Story Recommendation #1

If you like short stories I recommend that you read “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant. There may be a few spoilers in my recommendation. 

“The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant is an almost Cinderella-like story. However, it is not completely similar. The main character is Mathilde Loisel, a woman who dreams of being wealthy but is not. She comes from a French family that is working class and is married to a clerk, M. Loisel. One day, M. Loisel comes home with an invitation to a fancy ball that his boss is having. Mathilde is annoyed and upset because she believes that she does not have the appropriate dress or jewelry to wear to the ball. Her husband gives her the money to buy the dress, and Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from her friend Madame Forestier. They attend the ball, and Mathilde is one of the prettiest women there. All of the men want to dance with her, and she stays there for a long time, living out her fantasy of being wealthy and beautiful. When the couple returns home, Mathilde discovers that she has lost the necklace. The rest of the story is about how they purchase the replacement to give back to Madame Forestier, who does not know that it is a different necklace, and spend the next ten years of their lives paying for the new necklace.

The story truly starts to develop after Mathilde loses the diamond necklace. That point was when I could sense how scared and frantic she and her husband are about replacing it and paying for it. I love reading stories when you can sense the character's feelings. What I thought was interesting was that the main character is her own worst enemy and creates the terrible situation in which she finds herself. She is the one who needed the fancy jewels to feel comfortable to attend the ball. Because of her need to deceive others into thinking that she is someone different, she creates this situation for herself. This makes Mathilde a very complicated character. I liked the way the author developed so many aspects of her personality. Also, by bringing the ball invitation home, her husband is and unknowing participant in her misery, even though he does not mean to hurt her. As a reader I don't get to know the husband very well.

 The story peaks at the end when, after the couple finishes paying off their debt, Mathilde feels that she finally must tell Madame Forestier that the necklace is a replacement. The ending is actually very sad because Mathilde finds out that the original necklace did not even contain real diamonds and was fake. This meant that she had spent the last ten years of her life paying for a real diamond necklace. The reader almost feels that serves her right since she is so deceptive anyway. But I also felt bad for her because if I was in her situation I would be devastated. Mathilde’s life was not perfect before she went to the ball, but it got much worse after. These changes over time and how Mathilde's personality developed are what made the story so engaging. 

What I took from this story is that people should not try to be something they are not. They should not deceive others and pretend that they live a life that is not theirs. This story is sad because of the situation that Mathilde creates for herself. Readers will probably enjoy the ending because it is surprising and unexpected. In addition, the author does a good job developing a very interesting character. Overall, I really enjoyed the short story and recommend it to others.  

Link to the short story:

http://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace

Short Story Recommendation #2

Over the last week I have read several short stories. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber was one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it!

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, tells the story of a man with an incredible imagination. Even though it is an extremely short story, compared to other short stories, Thurber is able to put a lot of detail about this man’s life into a small package. There are two major characters in the story, as well as a few imaginary ones. Walter Mitty and his wife Mrs. Mitty are an older couple who do not seem to like each other very much. Mrs. Mitty constantly nags her husband about things that he must do and remember to do, and he does his best to escape her nagging. The setting takes place somewhere in England, several decades ago, on a rainy afternoon. This gloomy weather seems to fit Mitty’s mood perfectly. He is waiting in the car while his wife is at the beauty salon. The scenario seems to bore Walter, who escapes into his thoughts to avoid his reality.  

From the very beginning I was drawn into Mitty’s fantasy life. The short story starts with an exciting imaginary situation in which he is the commander of a Navy hydroplane who saves the day when presented with an impossible task. In fact, that seems to be the motif or theme of all of the fantasies: Mitty is in charge of something very important; something drastic goes wrong, and the situation seems impossible; Mitty becomes a hero by accomplishing the impossible. In reality, the main character is driving his nagging wife to her hair appointment, then he is going to buy rain boots and dog biscuits. It is clear that he invents these daydreams to escape his boredom. The settings of his fantasies are all different: a Navy hydroplane, an operating room at a hospital, a murder trial in a courtroom, and World War II bomber airplane. I really enjoyed how Thurber created all of these different settings in one story. There are also some common elements that tie together the fantasies. One of them is the sound “pocketa-pocketa-pocketa,” which describes the cylinders in the hydroplane, a surgery machine, and the flame throwers in WWII. Also, the type of gun in the courtroom and the war fantasy are the same. Thurber’s descriptions are less about the actual settings and more about the actions that are taking place in real life and in Mitty’s head. This works well to hold the story together.

The story moves quickly from daydream to daydream, and Mitty’s pathetic life shows through in between the excitement of his imagination. I kind of felt sorry for Mitty because he seem bored, lonely, and weak. Unfortunately, the enemy in the story is his wife, but he sees others as mocking him, too, such as the store clerk and the parking attendant. I think the most exciting part of the story was Mitty’s final fantasy at the end. This time, he is facing a firing squad, but it is unclear as to what happens next because it ends so suddenly. The reader is left wondering what actually occurs. I liked this because I could think about other possible endings and as a result I kept thinking about the story long after I finished reading.

This story is very unique to me because it shifts back and forth from daydream to reality, which is something that is not common in other short stories. The short story is easy to follow even with the shifts. One thing that I found interesting is that it is really a story about how boring and horrible this man’s life is, but it is very exciting because of his imagination. The reader really begins to feel sorry for Walter Mitty and wants to see him stand up to his wife. Like myself, I think that other students will enjoy this story because of the exciting scenarios and clearness with which it is written.

Link to the short story: 

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1939/03/18/390318fi_fiction_thurber?currentPage=all

"The Littlest Hitler" by Ryan Boudinot

When reading the short story "The Littlest Hitler" by Ryan Boudinot, the first think I noticed was how clueless the dad was.  Davy is only in fourth grade and what kind of parent let's his kid go to school dressed like Hitler?  The dad should have told Davy that it was a bad idea or at least prepared him for the reaction he would get at school.  But instead the dad encouraged Davy and helped him make his costume.  This got me wondering where the mom was?  I got the impression that Davy's mom recently passed away or left the family.  This is one thing that the author did not tell us and left me confused.  Even at the end of the story, I wasn't really sure what point the author was trying to make.  

Story from my childhood:  Just like Davy, my story has to do with Halloween.  When I was a little girl, I liked to change my mind a lot when it came to Halloween costumes. Each year, I would had several different costumes and kept returning them.  For the first time, when I was about six years old, I had a settled on a costume right away because my Grandma made me a beautiful princess costume.  Everyone loved it and I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.  Finally, Halloween day came and I was so excited to wear my princess costume.  Thirty minutes before we were going trick-or-treating, I took off my costume and declared that I was not going to be a princess.  My mom was surprised and said "What are you planning to wear?"  Out of the blue, I told her that I was going to be an Easter girl.  So I ran upstairs and put on my Easter dress and found my Easter basket to hold my candy.  It turned out to be a great decision because there were lots of princesses, but I was the only Easter girl.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

The short story A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor is a scary story. This story kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading. The story starts out with a typical family going on a normal road trip. Before they family leaves for the road trip, the Grandmother read an article in the newspaper about a criminal who escaped from jail who was called “Misfit.” As a result of several twists of fate the family ends up meeting the Misfit. From this point on, was when it really started to get scary because the Misfit and his two friends had guns. The Grandmother tried to convince the Misfit that he was a good man even though he was in jail. By doing this she was trying to save herself and her family. If I was in her situation I would act very similar and try to be nice and to persuade him not to kill everyone. Unfortunately, it ends with them all getting murdered and the Grandmother is the last to die. When I was done reading the story, I started to think about how low the odds were that they would actually meet the Misfit. I think it would have been almost impossible, but I guess this family was very unlucky. Because of this, the story that started out seeming very realistic became unrealistic to me.

Significance of the Title of the story:  In my opinion, The title “A Good Man is Hard to Find fits the story perfectly. The Grandmother is always trying to find a good man. First, she talks to the owner of the Bar-B-Q about how now a days it is hard to find good man who is honest. Then when they meet the Misfit she tries to turn him into a good man by showing him what he can really be. She tries to convince him to pray and suggests that maybe he didn’t do anything wrong to go to jail. It turns out that the Misfit was not a good man.  So, she was right that a good man is hard to find.

Joyce Carol Oates Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The short story Where Are you Going, Where Have You by Joyce Carol Oates was very disturbing and creepy.  The main character is a teenage girl named Connie. Connie is a pretty girl who has conflicts with her mother and older sister like a typical teenage girl.  She wants to rebel and have fun, but her mom is always holding her back and comparing her to her boring older sister.  Connie lies to her mom and flirts with boys at a hamburger place when she is supposed to be at the mall or the movies.  She loves music and uses music to take a break from her life.  Oates also integrates music throughout the short story.  The story progresses when a man named Arnold Friend and Elle Oscar come to Connie’s house on a Sunday afternoon when nobody is home except Connie.  At first Connie is flattered by the attention of the boys.  Arnold speaks in a sing song way and is familiar to her because of the way he dresses and acts.  As the story goes on Arnold starts to talk to Connie in a creepy way by saying personal facts about Connie and her family.  Next, he threatens to hurt her family if she doesn’t leave the house and come with him.  He makes it clear that he wants to take advantage of her.  Connie is in a terrible position.  Her flirtatious ways have put her in this bad situation.  I’m not sure what I would do if I was in this situation. I would be very conflicted.  When thinking about the question did she deserve it, I would say that she did not deserve it.  It was bad not to be honest, but her dishonesty didn’t deserve a threat to her family.  Also she did not deserved to what happened to her in the end.

One song that I thought of immediately when I was reading the short story was The Police's "Every Breath You Take". In my opinion this song was prefect because it is about a boy watching every move a girl makes and that is exactly what happens to Connie. 

Link to the lyrics:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sting/everybreathyoutake.html

Link to the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs&feature=kp

John Updike's A&P

In John Updike's A&P he conveys many points that contrast each other. The short story takes place in a grocery store five miles from the beach. When on a typical day three girls in their bathing suits walk in. Working in the grocery store is a young teenage boy. This boy is the narrator and main character. John Updike provides lots of details about the store and about the strange teenage girls.  The store is very much what I would expect it to be as a reader, but the girls are out of context. It is not surprising that the teenage boy is interested in the girls in bathing suits.  But it is odd, however, that at the end of the short story the main character quits his job because he thinks the manager embarrasses them. I wonder if this was just a way out of his boring job? 

When reading I was thinking about why the story was so random. The beginning grabs you in and makes you want to read more. Then it is not very clear where the story is going and the ending is very surprising and abrupt. Overall I really enjoyed reading this story because it was so unpredictable. 

Favorite Passage:

"The girls, and who'd blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say "I quit" to Lengel enough for them to hear, hopping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.  They keep right on going, into the electric eye; the door flies open and they flicker across the lot to their car, Queenie and Plaid and Big Tall Goony-Goony (not that as raw material she was so bad), leaving me with Lengel and a kink in his eyebrow."

Why do you like it?

I like this passage because it shows why Sammy is making the decision to quit his job.  He is quitting his job because he wants to impress the girls.  It is also interesting in the way he describes the three girls by what they look like.  

What purpose does it serve?  

The passage that I chose is important because it shows the real meaning behind why Sammy does not want to keep his job.  The passage is a transition in the story from describing the girls walking through the story and why the girls become important to Sammy's life.  Until this point in the story it is not clear that the girls are going to make a difference to Sammy's life.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Through the short story A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez combines reality with myth.  The husband and wife are very real and their surroundings are vividly described.  The old man, on the other hand, is mysterious and intriguing.  The reader never learns if the old man is really human or something else.  Pelayo and Elisenda never know if he is good or bad.  Is he an angel or a devil.  It doesn’t really matter to them because he eventually brings them good fortune.  They make a  lot of money from people coming to see him.  In return, they allow him to stay but don’t really do anything to help him.  In the end he just flies away.  We never know why he came in the first place or why he leaves.  The story makes me wonder if it was luck that he came and helped the family in need or just an accident.  This story got me thinking about different people react to a stranger. Here some people thought the old man was an angel and others thought he was a devil.  Maybe it just depended on what the person wanted to see.  I’m not sure if I liked the story or not.  I liked the detailed description of the setting, but found the story slightly confusing.

Questions

(1) Was the old man’s arrival and departure connected to the needs of the child?  For example, the child was sick when he arrived and then start to grow up as healthy child when he left.

(2) What characteristic about the old man was so interesting to the people in the town? Was it the wings or the fact that he was so old or something else?

(3) Why didn’t the family share the profits with the old man or use some of the money to take care of him?