Helen Garner, in her short story collection, My Hard Heart, uses a wide variety of different narrative perspectives. Each type of narration is closely linked with, and special to, the story or experience being told. Susan Hosking, describes Garners writing style as an 'ability to refine subjec...

Only a Girl Alice Munro's short story, "Boys and Girls," explores the different roles of men and women in society through a young girl's discovery of what it means to be a girl. A close examination of the elements of a short story as they are used in "Boys and Girls" helps us to underst...

Everything around her is so strikingly new and enthralling. It is Leila's first ball, and her first exposition to society. The main character in this story is eighteen year old Leila who is attending her first ball along with her cousins. Leila is extremely excited at the prospect of the da...

Many writers are known for utilizing different styles and techniques to create unforgettable characters and situations. Flannery O'Connor is known for using the grotesque to portray fundamental human struggles. By creating dynamic characters that demonstrate some aspect of the grotesque, O'...

The Symbiotic Relationship of Violence and Grace "Extending reality outward until it embraced religious mystery," says Gilbert H. Muller (56), is something that Flannery O'Connor did with extraordinary finesse. The mystery of grace captivated her and she used violence to shock bot...

Fire and Ice: Choices and Consequences "To Build a Fire," by Jack London, is a short story that depicts a man journeying through the Yukon, who due to his inexperience, as well as a lack of respect for the environment, encounters some obstacles that lead to his eventual death. This is a ...