fiction test

happy endings

"Happy Endings" is a short story by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. After the story's trio of opening lines, the narrative is divided into five sections, labeled A-F. The story's opening lines are: "John and Mary meet. What happens next? If you want a happy ending, try A" (43). The story then moves into Section A, in which John and Mary "fall in love and get married...have jobs they find "stimulating and challenging...buy a house...have two children...who turn out well...retire... die" (43). Atwood concludes this section with the sentence, "This is the end of the story" (43).

sunday in the park

"Sunday in the Park" by Bel Kaufman begins on Sunday with relaxed mother and father watching their son, Larry, playing in a sandbox. Its peacefulness is disturbed when another child throws sand at Larry. When warned by Larry's mother not to throw sand, the overweight child is encouraged to throw as much sand as he wants by his big father. When Larry's father, Morton, confronts the situation, he is intimidated at the physical presence of the big man and retreats with his wife and son. The wife despises her husband's weakness. When he criticizes her for not disciplining their son effectively, she attacks him, "You and who else?"

a good man is hard to find

A Georgia family takes a vacation in Florida in this classic short story. Before they depart, the grandmother reads in the newspaper about a convict named the Misfit who has escaped from a Florida prison. She implores her son Bailey to choose a safer destination. On the way to Florida, the grandmother reminisces about the past and convinces Bailey to take a backroad to see an old house she remembers. The grandmother's cat escapes, causing the car to crash into a ditch. The Misfit pulls up with his cronies, and the grandmother informs him that she recognizes him. The family is led into the woods to be murdered, while the Misfit talks with the grandmother about his religious doubts. In a moment of Christian sympathy, the grandmother informs the Misfit that he is one of her children. The Misfit shoots her and says if "it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life" she would have been a good woman. He yells at a crony who says the murders were fun.

oconnor

A Good Man is Hard to Find

the storm

A small boy, Bibi, and his father, Bobinôt, wait out a major Louisiana storm at a local store. They're worried about the third member of their family, Calixta, but can't do anything. At home, Calixta realizes there's a storm brewing. An old boyfriend, Alcée, happens to be passing by and gets stuck at her house when the storm breaks. Calixta gets more and more worried about her family, but before she knows it she and Alcée are making out...then having sex. This totally distracts them from the storm. When the storm passes, Alcée leaves. Bibi and Bobinôt come home and never find out he was there. Calixta seems really glad to see them. After the storm, Alcée writes a letter to his wife, Clarisse, saying it's OK with him if she wants to stay longer on her trip. She is kind of relieved, because she could use a break from her husband and the romantic side of their relationship. So when the storm's over, everything has worked out pretty well for everybody.

cat in the rain

American couple at a hotel in Italy, ex-patriots like so many of Hemingway's subjects. It is raining, and the husband, George, is lying on the bed reading, while his wife looks out the window. There is a cat outside, trying to keep dry, and the American wife announces her intention of going to get it. Her husband offers to do it for her, but he does not get up from the bed; he does not really mean it. Determined, the wife goes down to the lobby, where the hotel owner rises and bows to her. The author emphasizes that the American wife likes the hotelkeeper. The wife ventures outside but is stopped by the rain. A maid, sent by the hotelkeeper, holds an umbrella for her. The cat is gone, and the wife exclaims that she wanted a cat so much, revealing that her concern is more for herself than the cat. She returns to their room and complains to George how much she wanted the cat, and says, "It isn't any fun to be a poor kitty out in the rain." Her husband ignores her, and the woman, looking in the mirror, asks him if she should grow her hair out. He tells her he likes it as it is, short like a boy's, indicating the lack of passion in their union. The wife then begins to lament her many wants and needs, but her husband coldly tells her to "shut up." There is a knock on the door; it is the maid, again sent by the hotelkeeper. She has brought a big cat "for the Signora." The story presents the American couple as emotionally barren, isolated by their own self-absorption. The husband is unconcerned with his wife's malaise, never rising from his supine position on the bed, and even growing angry when she attempts to express her desires. The wife is nameless; shunned by her husband and lacking a sense of self-hood, she is like the "poor kitty out in the rain." It is significant that the hotelkeeper is more attuned to the American wife's desires and more willing to do what it takes to fulfill them than either the woman herself or her husband. Neither of them is willing—physically or symbolically—to go out into the rain.

Hills Like White Elephants

An unnamed American man and a woman named Jig wait for the train to Barcelona. While they wait, they drink beer at a table outside of the station bar, which advertises a drink called Anis del Toro on a beaded curtain. Jig wants to try the Anis del Toro drink. It tastes like licorice, which disappoints her. She stares out at the countryside, remarking that the hills look "like white elephants." He doesn't find this amusing, under the circumstances. Jig and the American man are deciding whether or not to get an abortion. He tells her the operation is nothing to worry about: they just "let the air in." He also tells her that he doesn't want her to get the abortion if she doesn't want to. Jig walks to the end of the station, upset. When she comes back, she claims they could "have everything." It's clear that she wants to keep the child but that she's going to get the abortion to please her boyfriend. In the end, they board the train headed to Madrid.

Appointment in Samarra

Appointment in Samarra is about the events in the last three days of Julian English's life. Julian is a well-to-do white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant man living in a small Pennsylvania town in 1930. He runs a Cadillac dealership and lives with his wife, Caroline, on the sought-after Lantenengo Street. The story narrates Julian's self-destruction, starting with his disruption of the rules of respectable behavior and ending with his suicide. However, the novel is not just about Julian English. It is also about Gibbsville, a microcosm of American life on the cusp of the Great Depression, and about the meaning of life, work, money, marriage, sex, and death for each of the social groups in the town.

happy endings

Atwood

a worn path

Phoenix Jackson walks all the way from her home in the country to a medical clinic in Natchez. She follows a worn, rugged path from the country to the city. She knows the way by heart, having made the trip many times to buy medicine for her grandson. On her journey, Phoenix encounters a hunter who points a gun at her. She demonstrates great courage in overcoming this and many other obstacles. Reaching the clinic, Phoenix is treated with disrespect as a "charity case," but she endures the humiliation in order to get the medicine that will relieve her grandson's suffering. She then buys her grandson a paper windmill, thinking it will make him happy.

The Lesson

Bambara

cathedral

Carver

cathedral

Cathedral" opens with the narrator telling the reader in a conversational tone that a blind friend of his wife's is coming to visit them. The narrator is clearly unhappy about the upcoming visit. He then flashes back to the story of how his wife met the blind man when she worked for him as a reader.

The Cask of Amontilado

Edgar Allan Poe

Cat in the rain

Ernest Hemingway

Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway

Samuel

Grace Paley

story of an hour

I think she loves her husband because her reaction to hearing the news was powerful. When I read the last line of the story it reads, "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills". I think she discovered who she really was once her husband died. I think she has a weak heart for sure When she says, "but now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patched or blue sky". I think this symbolizes she was thinking intensely about the situation setting of "The Story of An Hour" is the Mallard household. I think the time period is the late 1800s. There is a lot of descriptive detail about the setting of her room. For example, "a comfortable, rooomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body" The wifes name in the story is Louise Mallard After her husband dies, the story states she has been killed with "Joy that kills" I think she died because she was in such shock about the entire situation, especially having health issues in the past.

Miss Brill

In "Miss Brill," Miss Brill works as an English tutor in Paris. Her only respite from her dull, dreary life is the weekly concert she attends in the park. However, it becomes clear at one of these concerts that she's the subject of ridicule. She returns to her shabby apartment. Miss Brill makes a living by reading to invalids and tutoring French children in English. She goes to a concert and sits in her "special seat," where she feels she can participate in the lives of people around her. Gradually, she realizes that these people are looking down on her, and she returns to her little room in a boarding house, ashamed and lonely.I think Mrs Brill thinks she is different from everyone else living in her town. We listen to her comparing all these people, but never says anything about herself. The significance of the fur stole is the season starting. She pulls out the fur stole out of the box and blows all the dust off of it, she acts as if it is talking back to her

the yellow wallpaper

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator suffers from depression following the birth of her child. Her husband, John, diagnoses her behavior as "hysteria." He prescribes her rest and leases a house in the country for her convalescence. John is a respected physician, so the narrator initially heeds her husband's advice. He prohibits her from writing, which is her only creative outlet, and she cannot stand to visit her baby. Eventually she spends all day sitting in bed and staring at the room's yellow wallpaper. As a result, her condition quickly deteriorates. She starts to see a woman inside the wallpaper and believes the woman is struggling to break free. Finally, in an effort to release the woman, the narrator tears down the wallpaper. When John comes to take the narrator home, he finds her creeping around the room and faints.

Battle Royal

In Battle Royal, the narrator is blindfolded and thrown into a boxing ring for the amusement of a group of tuxedo-clad white men. Beaten and bloodied, he is then forced to deliver a speech about the importance of meekness and education to African Americans. he narrator's grandfather gives him a piece of advice: to pretend to be meek and servile around white men so that one day he will be in a position to undermine the status quo. The narrator is invited to a party where he's later blindfolded, pushed into a boxing ring, pitted against other African American boys, and beaten to a pulp. His "reward" is placed in an electrified circle, where he collects "coins" that turn out to be brass. After the battle royal, the narrator delivers a speech about the importance of education in the lives of young black man. This speech also emphasizes that black men should defer to white men in all matters. For this speech, he's awarded a scholarship to college.

Desiree's Baby

Kate Chopin

story of an hour

Kate Chopin

Sunday in the park

Kaufman

The garden party

Laura, a teenaged daughter of the wealthy New Zealand Sheridan family, as her family throws a garden-party at their estate. The early summer day could be no more perfect, and neither could the family garden; after the story's opening paragraphs assert this in the formal register of English nobility, Laura's mother sends Laura, "the artistic one," to tell four workmen where to set up the marquee (a large outdoor tent). Laura takes her breakfast outside and is astonished to find four polite, strapping men who speak with an urgency and directness unlike anyone from her own social class. They negotiate about the marquee's location, the workmen begin setting it up, and Laura complains about the "absurd class distinctions" that keep her from socializing with such "extraordinary nice" men like these.

Miss Brill

Mansfield

The Garden Party

Mansfield

the good little boy

Mark Twain's "The Story of the Good Little Boy" is a short story about an ambitious and self righteous boy who acts on behalf of his own selfish motives. Jacob Blivens puts so much effort into trying to be "good," but was never recognized for it. As touching as this may seem, the little boy might not have been as good as he seemed. Throughout the short story his intentions came back to bite him when he tried to get a book written about himself.

the necklace

Mathilde Loisel borrows a necklace from her friend Madame Forestier. Mathilde's husband has secured an invitation to a party hosted by his boss, the Minister of Public Instruction. When Mathilde worries that she doesn't have anything to wear, her husband agrees to buy her a new dress. Thanks to her new party dress and Madame Forestier's diamond necklace, Mathilde has a wonderful time at the party. All the men think she's the prettiest woman at the party, and she dances until four in the morning. Upon returning home, Mathilde notices that the diamond necklace is gone. Her husband retraces their steps to no avail. Embarrassed, the couple spend their entire inheritance and take out loans to pay for a replacement necklace. Mathilde and her husband spend the next ten years scrimping and saving to pay off their debt. The menial housework ages Mathilde prematurely to the point where Madame Forestier doesn't even recognize her. Finally, Mathilde tells her friend about replacing the necklace, only to learn that it was a fake.

the necklace

Maupassant

A Rose for Emily

Miss Emily Grierson was born into an aristocratic family. Isolated at an early age by her father, Emily is placed on a pedestal by the townspeople, who like to think of her as "a tradition, a duty," even though they find her haughty and scornful. Emily appears to have a mental breakdown following the death of her father. She initially refuses to acknowledge his death, then retreats into her house with a mysterious illness. One day, Homer Barron and his crew of laborers come to town to build sidewalks. Emily takes an interest in Homer in spite of the disapproval of the townspeople, who argue that he is too-low class for Emily. Emily buys some arsenic, but refuses to explain why. Years later, when Emily dies, the townspeople find a man's skeleton in her bed. It's strongly implied that this skeleton is Homer Barron.

revelation

One of the key themes of this story, set in the American south, is the prejudice caused by racism and classism and how this can lead to hypocrisy and misjudgment of people. The protagonist of the story, Ruby Turpin, believes..."Revelation" opens in a doctor's waiting room where Ruby Turpin is waiting with her husband, Claud. As she often does, Mrs. Turpin passes the time by categorizing the other waiting-room inhabitants by class—"white trash," middle class (like her), and so forth. This is the segretated South, so there are no black people here, but Mrs. Turpin is happy to judge them, too. She identifies a pleasant-looking woman as one of her own class, and they begin an idle conversation that centers first on their possessions and eventually on their disapproval of civil rights demonstrators. They conclude that it would be a good idea to send all black people back to Africa. During this conversation, the other woman's daughter, Mary Grace, an obese college student with severe acne, has been making faces directly at Mrs. Turpin. At last Mary Grace cracks entirely, throws her book (Human Development) at Mrs. Turpin, and then physically attacks her. When Mary Grace has been subdued, Mrs. Turpin begins to think that the girl has a message for her, and when she moves closer, Mary Grace calls her a warthog and tells her to go back to hell where she came from.

oconnor

Revelation

Samuel

Samuel by Grace Paley takes place in New York close to the Bronx area. The main character Samuel demonstrates the risk you could take that leads to an unfortunate conclusion. Throughout this story four boys are jiggling on the swaying platform and basically testing their lives to the extreme point.. Everybody around them isn't satisfied with their behavior and demands them to stop. A passenger goes the end of the car and pulled the emergency cord. People are falling forward, some are falling backward and one person in particular was crushed and killed. Samuel. mood that keeps us thinking, and wondering. Obviously Samuel and his friends were fooling around, so much that Samuel ended up dying. Yes, a passenger caused this tragedy, but you have to look at the bigger picture. Is taking that step further in life always a benefit to us? With everything comes a lesson, and Samuel dying in this story is a lesson to his three other friends that everything may seem fun and games until somebody gets hurt.

the lesson

Sylvia, the story's narrator, has lived in a poor neighborhood of New York City all her life and enjoys being the center of attention and in charge of her clique of friends. One day, Miss Moore moves into the neighborhood, bringing new insights and ideas. Miss Moore is different from the other African-American women in Sylvia's neighborhood: she is college educated, uses formal English, Miss Moore intends to educate the neighborhood children and make them more aware of the realities of life in America. teaching them several lessons about English and math and other subjects. One day, she decides to teach them about money and takes them on a field trip into the city. Already frustrated about missing another day of vacation, Sylvia is annoyed when Before Sylvia can challenge this pronouncement, however, Miss Moore hails two taxis and puts half of the children in one cab and half in the other. She will be in charge of paying for one taxi but puts Sylvia in charge of the other, giving her five dollars and instructing her to pay the driver and give him a ten percent tip.

misery

The title symbolizes the feelings of the protagonist Iona Potapov, a Russian sleigh-driver, who is suffering from intense grief. The setting of the story is winter in a Russian town. The time is the late nineteenth century. It is miserable outside. The weather is cold, bleak, and snowing. The surroundings in the story amplify the wretchedness of the main character. Iona Potapov has faced one of the most difficult events a parent can face. His only son has died from a fever after a short illness. He has been dead about a week. he has no one Throughout the night, Iona encounters four situations that should enable him to talk to someone. Yet, none of these people will engage the old man to allow him discuss the story of his son. An officer who has a harsh manner softens a little when he hears of the old man's son. He yells at the old man's incompetent driving. After a brief inquiry as to how the son died, the matter is dropped, and the officer returns to wanting Iona to hurry.

desiree's baby

The story opens with Madame Valmonde visiting Desiree and her baby. On her way to L'Abri, she reminisces about Desiree's childhood. Desiree was a foundling discovered by Monsieur Valmonde. He found her "lying in the shadow of the big stone pillar," as he was galloping through the gateway to Valmonde. The general opinion was that she was left behind by a "party of Texans," but Madame Valmonde believed Desiree was sent to her by God as she was not able to have her own children. Desperate, Desiree writes to her mother, Madame Valmonde, asking for help. Madame Valmonde tells her to come back home because she still loves her. Afterwards, Desiree asks her husband about his opinion and he sends her away. As a result of that, Desiree takes her baby and leaves the house. However, she does not take the road leading to the Valmonde, but instead she disappears in the bayou. Several weeks after, Armand sets up a bonfire to get rid of Desiree's belongings. Among the stuff he decides to throw away, Armand finds several letters. Most of them are "little scribblings" Desiree sent him in the days of their engagement, but he also finds one that is addressed from his mother to his father. In the letter, his mother thanks God for her husband's love, but she also reveals that she is grateful that her son will never know that his mother "belongs to the race that is cursed by slavery."

A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner

Muddy Road

This old story points to something fundamental about human behavior -- We attach to ideas and concepts and, in so doing, we cannot respond beneficially to the reality of the moment. The human mind naturally produces thoughts, ideas, and concepts - that's what it does. But these mental productions have nothing to do with the reality of our experience. In fact, they prevent us from perceiving the truth of each moment and responding in a beneficial way in that moment. The monk who carried the woman across the muddy road was not attached to any idea or belief. He merely wished to be of service. The monk who questioned his action was so attached to an idea about monastic behavior, that he didn't see the truth of the situation - that a woman needed help.

A and P

Three teenage girls walk into an A & P wearing nothing but bathing suits. Sammy, the young cashier, watches them closely. He names their leader "Queenie" because of her regal, disdainful manner. Queenie and the other two girls want to buy Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream. When the girls approach the register, Sammy's manager, Lengel, reprimands them for not covering up before coming into the store. Seeing Queenie and the girls upset, Sammie tells Lengel that he didn't need to embarrass them like that. Lengel retorts that the girls embarrassed him and the town by flaunting their bodies. Sammy gallantly quits on the spot to defend Queenie's honor. However, she takes no notice. Sammy realizes that no one appreciates his gesture and that his romantic, chivalrous ideas will make life hard for him.

the cask of amontillado

To wrap it up, Edgar Allan Poe's short story 'The Cask of Amontillado' is the story of a man named Montresor who decides to seek revenge against a man named Fortunato, who has insulted him. He meets Fortunato at a carnival, lures him into the catacombs of his home, and buries him alive.does it during a carnival because it will be not as suspicious.

A and P

Updike

Misery

chekhov

The storm

chopin

umbrella man

dahl

battle royal

ellison

the yellow wallpaper

gilman

the good little boy

twain

a worn path

welty