Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story
Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story
Sheena Stackhouse
ENG125
Professor Mills
November 25, 2013
Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story
In chapter 7 the theme of the short story is the most important element and writer depend on to express the meaning of a story .A theme is an idea associated with lies behind literary work, in a story it’s a representation of ideas behind the story. Themes are clearly expressed directly but writers may prefer to use an indirect approach and choose if they want to include hints about its meaning throughout the story. Themes need to be deducing information or conclude information. Some hints are in the title or even in the names of characters. Sometimes when I look at the plot I want to know how other elements contribute to the theme. Other elements include tone, character, point of view, and symbolism. Themes are brought to life by a good story through character and actions.
Short story I chose to do was “used to live here once” by Jean Rhys. The first element I chose to do was plot. The plot let you know about this woman who is taken a walk that she has done before but now things have changed from the last time she was there. Example of plot the author uses is “the road was much wider than it used to be but the work had been done carelessly, or the felled trees had not been cleared away and the brushes looked trampled.” (Clugston, 2010) As she kept walking she found the house she once lived in and noticed it changed as well. The summer house she called mock no longer existed and the house had a car in the front yard. Looking at this car was strange to her because this let me know, when she was living there were no cars around. As she approaches the yard she sees two young children a girl and boy playing. She tells them hello to her surprise the children didn’t say anything back. So, she decided to walk a little closer and speak again, after saying hello she mumbled I used to live once, the children still didn’t reply. The third time she was closes enough to touch them and said hello. When she did that the little boy looks in her eyes and turned to the girl and said it feels cold all of a sudden and they should go back inside, the girl agrees with him. As she sees the children going to the house it starts to make sense, she no longer alive and that’s why nobody pays her attention and all that she once knew has no more meaning being dead.
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The next element I chose to do was symbolism. In the textbook symbol is “is something that has a literal identity but also stands for something else—something that is widely understood and has been developed over a long period of time or by common agreement. (Clugston, 2010) It shows a lot of symbolism and Used to Live Here Once short story. When a symbol is used in literature it is known as a figure of speech that represents a person, situation, or an object in addition to the literal meaning. In this short story the author lets you know the main character died going across steppingstones on the way to her house. The girl describes each steppingstone as being pointy, unsteady, round, flat, and the only safe steppingstone was in the middle of a river but when she stood on it she could look all around her. An example of symbolism, stones is a symbolization that the lady experience when crossing over steppingstones to her house. This lets you know her knowledge on steppingstones and this is not the first time she’s done it, also the reader know that theirs history between the steppingstones and the lady in the short story. Two important events take place in the story, the author writes “The next one wasn’t so safe for when the river was full the water flowed over it and even when it showed dry it was slippery.”(Clugston, 2010)
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The elements of story telling and character design are central to the worldwide sensation that is Max Payne by Remedy Entertainment, gaining thousands of players made available for various gaming consoles, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and consequentially to a film adaptation of the game that has currently been released in theaters. Other elements of Max Payne, most especially the gameplay ...
This story seems to be written in third person point of view. This mean the narrator of the story is not a character. Going by the facts given, the narration focuses only on the woman’s actions, feelings, views, emotions. So now I think this particular story may be limited third person point of view. It’s obvious that the narrator and the main characters feel like they didn’t connected with the outside world and many people never care for them. This affected their feelings and relations toward other people. The plot was used by the author to convey a message. (1971) In the story the author’s idea of plot flowed and develops well. Also the author wanted to get to include detailed descriptions of the main characters to make sure the reader is understood the content that given.
References
Clugston, R. W. (2010).Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu/books
Singleton, C. G., Rice, M., & Dade County Public Schools, M. L. (1971).
Enjoying Short Stories: English.
