Short Story Reviews
In The Enormous Radio by John Cheever we have the theme of privacy, secrecy, obsession, doubt, change and control. Set in an apartment building in 1940s New York the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed, omniscient narrator and has a suspenseful mood. Cheever succeeding in drawing the reader further into the story, right to the end, […]
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In Elephant by Raymond Carver we have the theme of acceptance, struggle, security, letting go and dependency. Taken from his Elephant and Other Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story it would appear that Carver is exploring the theme of dependency. The narrator’s brother (Billy) is […]
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In the short story Intimacy by Raymond Carver we have the theme of memory, struggle, letting go and closure. Taken from his Elephant and Other Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and though the reader never learns the name of the narrator, very early on in the story we discover that he […]
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In Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of reliance, communication, discontent, change and conflict. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unknown narrator and is set at a train station in Spain. The setting of the story is important because it acts as symbolism for where both protagonists are […]
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In The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of fear, cowardice, emancipation and coming of age. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person and is divided into three sections. In the first section the reader is introduced to the three main characters, Francis Macomber, his wife Margot and […]
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In The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of regret, conflict, redemption, acceptance and death. Taken from his collection of the same name the story is narrated in the third person and is divided into six present time sections with five flashbacks (or interior monologues). The use of flashbacks is important because it is through them that the reader […]
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In Judgement Day by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of connection, paralysis, salvation and pride. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist, T.C. Tanner sitting in the living room of his daughter’s apartment in New York. He has had a stroke and through the use of flashbacks […]
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In Parker’s Back by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of connection, dissatisfaction, change and grace. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the reader being introduced to the main protagonist, a man called O.E Parker and his wife Sarah Ruth. Parker lives with Sarah in a rented shack and very […]
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In Revelation by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of judgement, grace and racism. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist, Mrs Turpin looking for a seat in a doctor’s waiting room. Her husband Claud has what Mrs Turpin believes is an ulcer on his leg and she […]
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In The Lame Shall Enter First by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of selfishness, faith and connection. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection the story is narrated in the third person and tells the tale of a man called Sheppard and his efforts to try and redeem a young juvenile delinquent called Rufus Johnson. There is a trace on […]
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In The Comforts of Home by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of isolation, paralysis, charity, judgement, insecurity and arrogance. Taken from Everything That Rises Must Converge the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist, Thomas looking out the window of his bedroom at his mother returning home with a young girl called Sarah Ham (or […]
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In The Enduring Chill by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of grace, self-pity, connection, failure and change. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection, the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist Asbury Fox getting off a train in his home town of Timberboro. Asbury, believing that he is dying, has returned home to […]
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In A View of the Woods by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of control, identity, independence and conflict. Taken from Everything That Rises Must Converge the story is narrated in the third person and deals with the relationship between a grandfather (Mark Fortune) and his youngest grandchild (Mary Fortune Pitts). Fortune lives with his daughter, her husband (Pitts) and their seven […]
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In Greenleaf by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of faith, grace and control. Taken from her Everything That Rises Must Converge collection the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist Mrs May waking in the middle of the night and seeing a bull tearing at her hedge. O’Connor’s description of the bull ‘with a […]
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In the Flannery O’Connor short story, Everything That Rises Must Converge, we have the theme of identity, appearance, connection, isolation and racism. Set in the early 1960s the story is narrated in the third person and begins with the main protagonist Julian, waiting for his mother, Mrs Chestny, to get ready for her weight class in the local Y. Immediately O’Connor […]
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In The Displaced Person by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of displacement, social order and racism. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is set on Mrs McIntyre’s farm and is split into three different sections. The first section deals with the arrival of Mr Guizac and his family from Poland to Mrs McIntyre’s farm […]
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In Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of nihilism, ignorance, betrayal, redemption (possibility) and grace. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is set on a tenant farm in Georgia and the first thing the reader notices is the symbolism in the characters names. Firstly there is Mrs Freeman (free man) who […]
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In A Late Encounter with the Enemy by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of desire, image and history. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story begins with the reader being introduced to the two main protagonists, General George Poker Sash (104 years old) and his granddaughter, Sally Poker Sash (62 years old). Sally is due […]
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In A Circle in the Fire by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of control, pride and fear. Taken from A Good Man is Hard to Find the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that O’Connor is delving into the theme of control. The main protagonist, Mrs Cope, is […]
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In The Artificial Nigger by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of pride, reliance, betrayal, grace and forgiveness. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is narrated in the third person and tells the story of a sixty year old man’s (Mr Head) journey to Atlanta with his ten year old grandson Nelson. Mr Head believes that there […]
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In A Temple of the Holy Ghost by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of pride, isolation, acceptance and grace. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is narrated in the third person and is centered around a young, unnamed twelve year old girl. From the beginning of the story O’Connor explores the theme of isolation. The girl’s two older cousins […]
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In A Stroke of Good Fortune by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of struggle, discontent, denial, acceptance and change. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that O’Connor is delving into one of […]
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In The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of change, betrayal and redemption. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on the reader realises the significance or importance of O’Connor’s description of Lucynell. It is through […]
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In The River by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of faith, identity, connection, salvation and grace. Taken from her A Good Man is Hard to Find collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on O’Connor explores one of the main themes in the story, the theme of faith. This is […]
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In A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor we have the theme of fear, appearance, nostalgia, selfishness and grace. Taken from her collection of the same name the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story the reader realises that O’Connor is delving into one of the […]
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