Short Story Reviews
In The New Dress by Virginia Woolf we have the theme of insecurity, appearance, inferiority, individuality, alienation, connection, class, escape and change. Taken from her The Complete Shorter Fiction collection the story is narrated in the third person (though some critics suggest Woolf is using stream of consciousness) and from the beginning of the story […]
Read moreIn Red Dress—1946 by Alice Munro we have the theme of appearance, insecurity, acceptance, hope, freedom, opinion and connection. Taken from her Dance of the Happy Shades collection the story is narrated in the first person by a young thirteen year old girl and after reading the story the reader realises that Munro may be […]
Read moreIn The Duchess and the Jeweller by Virginia Woolf we have the theme of appearance, trust, vanity, happiness, insecurity and control. Taken from her The Complete Shorter Fiction collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises how significant the setting […]
Read moreIn The Legacy by Virginia Woolf we have the theme of ego, jealousy, independence, identity, gender roles, equality, awareness and change. Taken from her The Complete Shorter Fiction collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Woolf may be exploring the […]
Read moreIn Nobody Knows by Sherwood Anderson we have the theme of secrecy, insecurity, equality, control, uncertainty, coming of age and maturity. Taken from his Winesburg, Ohio collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises how important the setting is, particularly when it […]
Read moreIn Up in Michigan by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of independence, connection, innocence, gender roles, experience, obsession, disillusion and awareness. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Hemingway, through his use […]
Read moreIn The Killers by Ernest Hemingway we have the theme of appearance, confusion, paralysis, courage, change, acceptance and coming of age. Taken from his The Complete Short Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story Hemingway, through the setting of the story, […]
Read moreIn The Shining Houses by Alice Munro we have the theme of change, appearance, conflict, modernity, independence and acceptance. Taken from her Dance of the Happy Shades collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Munro may be exploring the theme […]
Read moreIn Game by Donald Barthelme we have the theme of isolation, hostility, trust, freedom, paralysis, doubt and connection. Taken from his Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that Barthelme may be exploring the theme […]
Read moreIn The School by Donald Barthelme we have the theme of uncertainty, innocence, mortality, fear, curiosity and reassurance. Taken from his Amateurs collection the story is narrated in the first person by a teacher called Edgar and after reading the story the reader realises that Barthelme may be exploring the theme of uncertainty and curiosity. […]
Read moreIn A City of Churches by Donald Barthelme we have the theme of acceptance, conformity, reliance, religion, paralysis and independence. Taken from his Sadness collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Barthelme may be exploring the theme of acceptance and […]
Read moreIn Mother by Sherwood Anderson we have the theme of disillusion, acceptance, hope, escape, paralysis and ambition. Taken from his Winesburg, Ohio collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises how significant or symbolic Anderson’s description of the setting is. Throughout the […]
Read moreIn The Corn Planting by Sherwood Anderson we have the theme of dedication, pride, love, sacrifice, connection, loss and acceptance. Set in the 1900s on a small farm in America the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and very early on the reader realises that Anderson may be exploring the […]
Read moreIn A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin we have the theme of responsibility, escape, independence, freedom, identity, consumerism and temptation. Set in the 1890s the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that Chopin may be exploring the theme […]
Read moreIn The Tiredness of Rosabel by Katherine Mansfield we have the theme of escape, loneliness, class, dissatisfaction, disillusion and happiness. Taken from her Something Childish and Other Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Mansfield may be exploring the […]
Read moreIn Goodbye, My Brother by John Cheever we have the theme of paralysis, separation, letting go, change, acceptance and denial. Taken from his Collected Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by a thirty something year old man (whose surname is Pommeroy) and after reading the story the reader realises that he […]
Read moreIn Separating by John Updike we have the theme of struggle, confusion, conflict, acceptance and separation. Taken from his The Early Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that Updike may be exploring not only the theme of […]
Read moreIn The First Seven Years by Bernard Malamud we have the theme of desire, love, insecurity, conflict, independence, appearance and change. Taken from his The Complete Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Malamud may be exploring the theme […]
Read moreIn A & P by John Updike we have the theme of desire, change, conformity, rebellion, liberation and consumerism. Taken from his The Early Stories collection the story is narrated in the first person by a young nineteen year old boy called Sammy and after reading the story the reader realises that Updike may be exploring […]
Read moreIn The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter we have the theme of loss, regret, rejection, acceptance, letting go, perseverance, paralysis and denial. Taken from her Flowering Judas and Other Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator however there does appear to be sections of the […]
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