English 101 (ENG101)

Flannery O'Connor's short story, "Good Country People," could arouse strong feelings of aversion were it not for the author's choice of narrative perspective and style. The story's physically- and emotionally-flawed characters, along with its close-quarters tension, create a dark and twisted tale which needs the balance, impartiality, and insight that the third-person limited narrator lends. O'Connor uses her narrator's third-person voice and front row seat to peel back the layers of the story...

In Jack London's short story, To Build a Fire, London reveals a rather contemptuous attitude towards man's arrogance and misplaced confidence in his abilities. London pits an unnamed man and a half-wild dog against some of the most extreme characteristics of Mother Nature to show the difference between knowledge and instinct. Though a seemingly simple plot, the story unfolds in a magnificent dramatization of man's physical struggle against the elements. Equally masterful is London's title, To ...

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is an iconic example of Southern Gothic Literature filled with mystery and horror. The story is told in a non-linear fashion where even the narrator changes from a single first person voice to the curiously effective first person plural. Through multiple sets of eyes, through multiple generations, the reader learns of Emily Grierson’s life and her place in the community. As the story unfolds, the mystery unfolds slowly with it, as Faulkner moves t...

In Kate Chopin’s well-titled short story, “The Story of an Hour,” the author leads us through a whirlwind of emotions in the space of one hour and two pages. She takes a somewhat commonplace theme, the loss of a loved one, and turns it into a tale of irony by deftly limiting the story’s timeframe and the readers’ information. Leaving much to interpretation, the author allows both the story’s characters, as well as the readers, to become victims of misperception. Beneath the surfac...

In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner shows the reader what a person is capable of if denied love and human contact for most of their life. Though the chain of events unfold in a confusing manner, demanding that the reader pay close attention in order to understand the chronological story, the author is very generous with information that points immediately to its dark tone and prevailing horror. -- an excerpt from the conclusion of the paper