Mrs. Dennis
English III honors
14 October 2011
The Short Stories Quiet, But Aggressive Approach Novels are superfluous while short stories strive for flawlessness, ensuring meticulously picked details and succinct plots. The short story utilizes the complex and vivid words the English language has to offer, painting pictures in the minds of the reader, while the novel overwhelms the reader with redundant and arbitrarily picked language. Steven Millhauser says that Short stories illustrate the message or meaning that they want to portray to the reader in a stimulating way, guaranteeing conciseness. The reason short stories are not just called short novels is: short stories are easier to fathom as well as more interesting to read , due to their concentrated plot, their explosive language, and their hidden meanings.
“The story of an hour” in which a women realizes that life without a man, means life without restraints, explains to the reader the thoughts and feelings of women in the 19th century. “ but she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (choppin2). This quote summarizes the epiphany that the main character had; in one sentence the reader understands the attitude toward men women felt in the 19th century. “By excluding almost everything, it can give perfect shape to what remains” (Millhauser1). Unlike a novel, this short story gets straight to the point, instead of having chapters of back story and summary. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a short story that tells the story of a man making a deal with the devil. This is a story of a man’s life, who gave his soul of money and wealth. This story takes a lengthy life span of Tom Walker, and shrinks it into eight pages. This story has very detailed and graphic language, Millhauser says “The short story concentrates on its grain of sand, in the fierce belief that there – right there, in the palm of its hands- lies the universe”