Modern Short Stories
Common Theme: Alienation of the individual from the rest of society
Ernest Hemingway
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Used his own experiences as an ambulance driver in
WWI and later as a journalist during WWII
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Felt war was the ultimate setting to observe human nature and
“grace under pressure”
Explored how soldiers adapted to civilian life after service
 Sense of alienation from civilians—can’t express what they
experienced during the war and experiences can’t be
understood by those who did not participate
 Restlessness and dissatisfaction with life at home—life after
the war will never be as exciting or dangerous
Ernest Hemingway
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Style--Plain style (20th century version)
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Hemingway wanted to write characters who
spoke like regular people
Rebelled against stream of consciousness
 Includes
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Syntax: sentence structure is simple, straightforward
sentences—no complicated clauses
Diction: word choice
 Slang
 Short, simple dialogue
Close attention to detail
Tone: Author’s attitude toward subject
 Non judgmental; journalistic—observes and reports
William Faulkner
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All his stories focused on the land and the people of northern
Mississippi, won the Nobel Prize for Lit. in 1949
 Southern Gothic Tales—includes elements of
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Disturbed or mentally unbalanced characters
Strange or terrifying events
Gloomy run-down settings
Style—made Faulkner difficult to read and cost him a bigger
audience
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Novels and stories were in stream of consciousness
 Attempts to capture the moment by moment flow of thought in a
character’s mind
Both tragic and comic overtones
Flashbacks and Events told out of chronological order—Reader must
be able to piece together seemingly random events
William Faulkner
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Themes
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Mainly focused on the American South as a
microcosm for following universal themes:
The passage of time—some adapt and others are left
behind
 Passions of the heart—are sometimes the most
dangerous and ugliest of desires
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William Faulkner
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Literary Devices
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1st person narrator—represents the voice of the ENTIRE
town of Jefferson
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Preserves the manners of Southern life at the turn of the 20th
century, including racist sentiments of whites toward African
Americans
Narrator will not tell the events of Miss Emily’s life in
chronological order
“A Rose for Emily”
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Characterization
 Physical descriptions
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In her 60s—”a small, fat woman in black”, “she looked bloated”,
“her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small
pieces of call pressed into a lump of dough”—this is while she lives
(secretly) with Homer’s decaying body upstairs
In her 20’s, when her dad was still alive—”a slender figure in white”
At 30, after her dad dies—”her hair was cut short, making her look
like a girl again
When dating Homer (and buying the poison)—”a slight woman,
thinner than usual, with cold, haughty black eyes in a face the flesh
of with was strained across the temples”—she is desperate and
losing it as she has realized Homer won’t marry her
In her 40s and 50s—”she had grown fat”, “her hair was turning
gray”
What does Miss Emily look like over time?
“A Rose for Emily”
Characterization—Actions and Behavior
 When her dad dies—she denies the death for 3 days and keeps the
body in the house with her.
 She’s a shut in for a while but re-emerges looking like a girl
again
 Dating Homer—”She carried her head high enough”, as if having a
man gave her the confidence she needed to restore her aristocratic
attitude
 When Homer returns—she is not seen for some time, only at the
windows in the house
 Her final years—she totally isolates herself from the town, “refused
to let them fasten metal numbers above her door”
“A Rose for Emily”
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Foreshadowing
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Emily’s response to her father’s death
foreshadows….
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The bad smell around Emily’s house
foreshadows….
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That she might keep Homer’s body later
The discovery of Homer’s body in the bedroom
The purchase of the poison foreshadows…
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The murder of Homer
“A Rose for Emily”
Sequencing the Events in Chronological Order
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Emily’s father won’t allow her to date
Emily’s father dies
Homer Barron arrives in town
Emily asks the druggist for poison
Emily’s cousins visit; she purchases toilet set, suit, nightshirt
Homer Barron leaves/disappears from town.
The men secretly apply lime around her house to combat the smell
Emily gives painting lessons to town’s children
The new aldermen visit Emily about taxes
Miss Emily dies
Homer’s body is discovered
Katherine Anne Porter
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Regarded as one of the greatest short
story writers of the 20th century
Personal struggle to define herself as an
individual, a Southern Woman, and a
writer shaped all of her stories.
Started her only novel, Ship of Fools, in
1941—published in 1962: received the
National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
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Style: Stream of Consciousness
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Narrative follows the thoughts of an 80 year
old woman on her death bed
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Free association of ideas, drifting in and out of
consciousness
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Both painful and pleasant memories
 Memory of being jilted by George is most painful of
all; “That was Hell. She knew Hell when she saw it”.
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
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Discuss with your table groups and respond to
the following
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What was the pinnacle of the American Dream for a young
woman at the turn of the 20th century?
Social Context of Story—Why was it so horrible to be “jilted”
(left at the altar)?
As a result of her eventual marriage and the early death of her
husband, how did Granny challenge traditional female roles?
Give three examples
How is Granny Weatherall alienated from the world around
her?
What is the symbolism behind the main character’s name?
Who “jilts” Granny a second time during this story? Who’s
betrayal can she never forgive?
John Steinbeck
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Grew up in Salinas Valley in California
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Influenced by the suffering and exploitation of
migrant farm workers
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Led him to write his two most famous novels—Of
Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath
Witnessed horrors and aftermath of WWII
as a news correspondent
6th American writer to win the Nobel Prize
for Literature