Week six post

This week we have shifted gears from poetry and have dove into short stories. Our readings this week have ranged in themes quite a bit but find a common ground in their ability to demonstrate several features of short stories. In the Indiana Review we read three selections: Dismantling the City, Urban Fiction and Search Party. These readings illustrated how some short stories use a method called, "In Media Res," and begin in the beginning of conflict like Dismantling the City. In Search Party, we see a bit of Irony; a search party is actually upset to have found the boy that they were searching for. In all three we see various uses of conflicts. Search Party included a "Man vs. Self" conflict as the missing boy had little to do with the theme and the conflict rested solely in the arms of the search party. Urban Fiction included both Man vs. Self (the girl shows jealousy towards the "poetry girl") and Man vs Man. Dismantling the City finishes off the stories showing how a conflict of a story can exist in a Man vs. Environment.

In addition to the readings in IR and MYOD, we read more short stories online via oncourse. These stories demonstrated further examples. "Thank you Ma'am" demonstrated a bit of irony as a women whose pocketbook is almost stolen helps the young boy who attempted the theft. This story also showed a big of characterization as all that we find about the character comes from their actions and description (i.e. "large" is the adjective used to describe Mrs. Luella Jones several times and her possessions). In ,"Popular Mechanics" we read a story that illustrated once more a man vs. man conflict.

This weeks readings were much more natural for me to read. I felt it much easier as a result. Growing up we read short stories everyday in English class. All the concepts of short stories (setting, characterization, conflict, etc.) all come very natural to understand and see illustrated in the readings. Having spent a substantial amount of time reading poetry this semester, I find myself picking up on comparisons and metaphors much easier. I never realized until now how much short stories use these type of comparisons to illustrate their themes, characters, etc. much like how the author of poems does. I've enjoyed the reading aspect of it but writing a short story seemed a bit more difficult for me; maybe because there are little constraints and guidelines to follow, unlike when we write poems and have to stay within a certain structure. I look forward to continuing on with the fiction segment of this class.