A Good Rewrite is Hard to Find In his short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell tells the thrilling story of a skilled hunter named Rainsford, who washes up on a mysterious island where he falls captive to General Zaroff, a psychopathic man that preys on “the scum of the earth” simply for the thrill and excitement of the hunt. Connell builds suspense throughout the story through his use of dialogue and character behaviour. Richard Connell predominantly uses character interactions to build suspense as the plot progresses, utilizing dialogue to create a mysterious tone and to foreshadow the predicaments that Rainsford will soon find himself in. During the conversation between Whitney and Rainsford on the yacht, Whitney tells Rainsford that he felt an oddly distinct chill while sailing past the supposedly cursed island, even though "there was no breeze [and the] sea was as flat as a plate-glass window" (Connell 2).…
“Manipulation is all about reading between the lines and recognizing the lies for what they are” (No Author), Truman Capote wanted to gain the the reader's pity and remorse for Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. At first, capote just wanted to tell the facts of the case to the world but he became attached to Smith. In the novel, In Cold Blood, written in 1965, Truman Capote, a well-known author, asserts that the Clutter family was murdered and that Perry Smith should have the reader's’ pity by using first hand accounts, the murder, and the murderer's story. In “The Last to See Them Alive” section, Capote sets the scene and gives the eyewitness statements of the day leading up to the murder.…
In Virginia Bergin’s book, H2O (2014), she tells a story that informs readers about the character’s life in the time period when the killer rain took life away in the world. Bergin develops her ideas of the killer rain by having the character narrate in a candid and addicting way that brings the terrifying and wholly plausible story to life. Incorporating the language that teenagers speak today, Bergin writes in an informal way in order to hypnotize the readers into the book, making them think that the killer rain is factual. Bergin begins the book by saying to the readers, “If this was a regular story, like the kind you’d read for fun, it would have such a great beginning. Probably they’d want to make it into a movie- it’d be good,” having…
A story with an engaging plot and suspenseful incidents almost always draw readers in, especially when the novel includes life-defining choices. Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” and Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger” are two examples. Both stories consist of characters that have gotten themselves into a situation that can’t be escaped from. Connell’s includes a man who is forced to be hunted by another hunter, while Stockton’s story involves a semi-barbaric king punishing an innocent courtier for being in love with the king’s daughter. These two narratives have their own ways of grabbing the reader’s attention, but Connell’s does a superior job at keeping it throughout the story.…
Reading Between the Lines of Night Since the dawn of humanity, people have been using the power of words to convey anything desired. From simple conversation to soul defining monologues, words possess the strength to touch individuals. The same goes for writing. The way a novel is written can cause one to conceptualize the author’s point of view, therefore allowing it to be read the way intended. For example, when reading Night by Eliezer Wiesel, one is intended not only to understand the historical events of the Holocaust, but also to visualize the author’s emotional state and changes.…
Many stories throughout literary history resonate with their readers. Some enough to be deemed literary classics. Three stories which resonate with readers from all ages are “Boys” by Rick Moody, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “Lust” by Susan Minot. All three stories tell of the coming of age experiences that men and woman have, but do not share the same tone. Two in particular, “Girl” and “Lust” are told from the perspective of characters themselves, and “Boys” is told from the perspective of an individual observing the main characters.…
The hate and bitterness of his “snarl” is the final implication as to how the Misfit feels about religion (O’Connor 645). Bellamy insists that the reason for the devilish message in the Misfit’s speech is due to his mission to play to role of the Anti-Christ. Bellamy asserts that, “The central message of the Misfit’s sermon, for a sermon is what his remarks amount to, is a familiar one in Flannery O’Connor’s fiction; there is no middle ground between absolute belief in Christ’s messianic fiction and a belief that like is nasty, brutish, and short,” (200). Katherine Feeley notes that the Misfit “embodies all reason and no faith,” which is the opposite of the faith-based personality of the grandmother (202). As Madison Jones remarks, the Misfit “may be haunted, at times tormented, by vision of Christ raising the dead, but he cannot believe it: he was not there.…
By exploring the quadruple murder which shocked a quiet Kansas town, Capote brought the genre of true crime to life as well as the “nonfiction novel.” He was able to manipulate the readers to engage them by painting the details in a different light than previously seen. By becoming intimate and friendly with the killers, he took America inside the minds of those who had been dismissed…
Alice Munro is a phenomenal author who won the 2013 Nobel Prize and is the “master of the contemporary short story” ("The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013”). Munro has an uncanny ability produce normal every day characters with a unique and driven story that highlight many themes. In her short story, “Carried Away” Munro attempts to unveil the mysteries of fate, love, sex and death in a unique and original perspective from a young library set in the early 1900’s. All of these themes, which may seem vastly different in some cases, create a beautifully constructed story that falls away from the cliché story contemporary writing has become prone too. Munro’s theme of fate in this story is the extremely plot driven, and if any part of this story…
A plot, setting, or description are some parts of a story that can move a person. One of the most moving parts of a story are the characters and their emotions. A character allows a person I am character faces are relatable and the emotions heartfelt. A character’s actions can not only move a person, but they can also influence the actions of the reader. Personally, I am moved by compassion, fear, angst, and love.…
Ultimate Control Results in Ultimate Danger All three stories differed in many aspects, but they all shared one common theme. Their common theme connected them in ways that shaped each story and left the reader with a memorable lesson. “Harrison Bergeron”, “A Rose for Emily” and “A Small Good thing” all shared a common theme of dangerous control because they all had different means of “taking away of personal freedoms.” “Harrison Bergeron” told a story of a society where everyone was equal. Nobody was allowed to more intelligent, more attractive or more successful than anybody else.…
Dreaming about Reality: A Journey into the mind of victims of WWI and The Influenza Pandemic ‘Pale Horse, Pale Rider’ is a fictional retelling of Katherine Anne Porter’s own experience as an influenza survivor during World War I. Porter expresses the devastating effects the illness had on her life by chronicling a month in the life of Miranda, a reporter, as she enjoys a romance with Adam, a young Army officer, until she becomes a victim of influenza. Adam nurses her, and before she fully recovers, he has to return to his unit, unknowingly carrying the virus that ultimately causes his demise. The unique characteristic of ‘Pale Horse, Pale Rider’ is the penetrating depiction of Miranda’s character.…
Through the methods in which a writer creates a fictional story by using devices such as, Character, plot, and point of view they are able to expand and enhance our ability to understand other human beings; it promotes a deep sense of morality that affects all readers. Subsequently, fiction’s happy endings have distorted the reader’s sense of reality for the betterment of society. As a matter of fact, fiction is more effective at challenging our beliefs than nonfiction, which is made to persuade through argument and evidence. As readers we tend to be reticent, analytical and suspicious of what we read when it comes to nonfiction. But when it comes to a work of fiction, we are quick to indulge our minds into the made up universe, making it effortless…
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, is a nonfiction novel about the mass murder of an innocent family. Though highly acclaimed, the book ends up falling short of its nonfiction description, as the article, “Critical Essay on In Cold Blood”, argues that there is great bias in In Cold Blood in the form of sympathy towards the main character, Perry Smith, which is certainly true. Instead of following the conventional format of a nonfiction mystery novel, Capote uses In Cold Blood as an outlet to express his sympathy towards Perry Smith, the man who ruthlessly murdered four innocent members of the Clutter family. This evident bias hampers Capote’s attempt at an impartial account of the Clutter family mass homicide.…
Through the use of rhetorical strategies, Truman Capote manipulates the reader’s emotions by portraying Perry Smith in In Cold Blood as a sympathetic character. Perry Smith, along with his partner Dick Hickock, murder the Clutters, a well loved family in the town of Holcomb, Kansas. This small town consists of people, who immediately outkast the murders because they only understand their own lives, and nothing outside of Holcomb. Although there are two murderers, this rhetorical analysis will solely focus on Perry’s traumatic childhood. To share an outsider’s point of view of the situation, Capote uses simile, alliteration, and theme to influence the reader to sympathize with Perry, rather than to condemn him.…