American short stories
1. This semester you have read twenty American short stories written over a period of about two hundred years. (Stories are listed below) Having done so, describe what you see as the primary trends in the evolution of this literary form. That is, attempt to explain how the American short story has changed from the time of Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne until now.
2. Choose a single story whose opening page or so clearly establishes the tensions and confrontations to come and whose ending offers a resonating metaphor of the story’s theme(s). Carefully explain how these opening and closing passages create both meaning and satisfaction for the reader.
3. By contrasting two stories written in the last sixty years (since 1950), attempt to convey the range and scope of the modern American short story. Proceed like this: choose two stories that you see as very different from one another; then explain these differences in terms of (a) subject, (b) writing style, or voice (c) technique (the author’s manipulation of point of view and time), and (d) plot.
4. This is a question about the untrustworthiness of first impressions. Choose a story you failed to understand on first reading but then came to understand and appreciate after giving it a second look, or after reading your classmates’ responses to it. Explain what you missed on first reading.
