Historical context

One aspect of short stories that I think often plays an important role is the social context of when it was written. For example, A Perfect Day for Bananafish was written shortly following the end of the war. Seymour Glass, the main character, is a veteran suffering from PTSD. In doing this, Salinger is able to draw attention to the negative impacts of war. These topics change depending on current events, very often driving writers.

11 Kinds of Loneliness

Richard Yate's Doctor Jack-o'-Lantern

Following the formula of a short story, this sticks to one main plot and is built around one character who is involved in the plot.

Plot:

Rising action-

We are introduced to the concept of the classes' "reports" (stories of the student's weekend)

Vinny's turn, he tells a story of a movie he saw and a shooting he was involved in with his mother and father. Clearly he was lying, causing even more tension between him and his classmates.

Climax-

Vinny wrote all the "dirty words" he could think of on a concrete wall with chalk during recess. The whole class saw, including Miss Price and all were upset

Falling action-

Forced to wash the words off the wall, when asked about his punishment by other classmates, Vinny lies and tells them that Miss Price hit him with a ruler- again, clearly lying

He draws a picture of Miss Price on the concrete wall, again writing all the "dirty words" he knew in a speech bubble

Setting:

surrounding area of New York City

1950s

Tone- sad, gloomy

Characters:

introduction to characters

main character- Vinny

an orphan with new foster parents, new kid at school, outcast

quiet, poor, lonely, becomes rebellious

as the reader, I felt sympathetic to this character

Miss Price- teacher, shows compassion for her new student

Point of View:

Third person- author sees whatever they want to see and interprets how they choose

Theme/Purpose:

struggle for acceptance,

exploration of loneliness

Characteristics

Really awesome article outlining commonly used principles in writing short stories:

HERE.