English Blog

How much my parents spend on food in 1 month: $1,600- 2,000 (only at grocery store)

How much my parents spend on food in 1 week: $400-$500 (only at grocery story)

For Sale: baby shoes, never used. – Earnest Hemmingway

• I believe this short story means to say that someone bought baby shoes for a baby, then something happened to the baby, and it died.  Because the baby dies before s/he was able to wear the shoes, they were never used.  Now that person is trying to sell the shoes, maybe trying to sell the sad memories with it.
• Plot: the sequence of events in a story and their relation to one another as they develop or resolve a conflict
  • No conflict is resolved because there is no conflict to begin with
  • The short story is left almost entirely up to interpretation
  • No plot in the story
• Character: People (or animals, plats, etc.) who are involved in the story
  • No real characters
  • Someone is telling of a baby’s shoes
  • No character in the story
• Setting: The place and time of the story
  • There is not a place and time of the story
  • Though one can be imagined by the reader it may not be what the story reflects
  • No setting in the story
• Point of View: Authors choice of a narrator for the story
  • Narrated in third-person narration (baby shoes)
  • Objective narration- narrator is detached from story (not in anyone’s head) but author seems a bit emotionally attached
  • Yes point of view in the story
• Style: The characteristic way an author uses language to create literature
  • Voice seems calm and sad (leads me to suspect the baby has died)
  • Tone seems stern, cal and sad, almost as if someone is trying to sell sad memories along with the baby shoes
  • Yes style in the story
• Theme: a generalization about the meaning of a story
  • No real theme other than sadness
  • No theme in the story

When s/he/it awoke, the dinosaur was still there. – Augusto Monterroso

• Plot: the sequence of events in a story and their relation to one another as they develop or resolve a conflict
  • Event #1- someone awakes
  • Event #2- the dinosaur is still present
    • No real relation other than one comes before the other
  • Events don’t develop or resolve a conflict
  • No plot in the story
• Character: People (or animals, plats, etc.) who are involved in the story
  • Character- he or she that awoke to notice the dinosaur
  • Character- could also be the dinosaur
  • Yes characters in the story
• Setting: The place and time of the story
  • No place or time is given only that someone “awoke”
  • In my mind I imagine a setting but have no proof it exists or is the real setting
  • No setting in the story
• Point of View: Authors choice of a narrator for the story
  • Narrated in third-person narration (s/he awoke)
  • Objective narration- narrator is detached from story
  • Yes point of view in the story
• Style: The characteristic way an author uses language to create literature
  • Voice seems calm, almost as if something bad is about to happen
  • Tone is difficult to tell b/c translated from Spanish
  • Yes style in the story
• Theme: a generalization about the meaning of a story
  • No real theme
  • Maybe the dinosaur symbolizes something bad and it still plagues who ever is awaking
  • No theme in the story

My really, really short Stories:

Everything is something but then there is nothing.

A woman’s woes, an end so close.

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