A short story tells about a single event or experience that illustrates some aspect of life. Great writers are able to use the elements of a short story with such precision that the reader is caught up in the action of the story. Three of the most important elements are point of view, irony and theme.
             Point of view is the author's method of telling the story. It is also the voice, or the person who is narrating the story. There are three basic points of view: first person, third person omniscient, and third person limited.
             In first person, a character within the story, or the narrator is someone who experienced the events first hand and may be looking back on experience. A key to first person is the narrator's use of the pronoun "I."
             In third person omniscient point of view, the narrator has the ability to look in to the hearts and minds of all characters at all times, and may describe the thoughts or feelings of any or all characters. The Greek prefix omni means "all," and the scient means "seeing." The author does not need to reveal the thoughts or feelings of all characters to have an omniscient point of view. If the author reveals the thoughts or feelings of two or more, it is omniscient.
             In third person limited, we see the events through the perspective of one character. However, the character is not the narrator. This point of view is similar to third person omnidcient, but as the word "limited" implies, the narrator's scope is limited to one character.
             Irony is when we expect one thing but the opposite occurs, and is used to suggest the difference between appearance and reality, and between expectation and fulfillment. There are three essential types of irony: situational irony, verbal irony, and dramatic irony.
             Situational irony depends a great deal on surprise. In fact, surprise is the element of irony. Typically in cases of situational irony, the...