Short stories are often the best way to learn about literary terms and their uses. They’re short, as their name depicts, but contain everything that longer stories would have such as the elements of plot, foreshadowing, themes, tone, and other literary devices. The two short stories, The Parsley Garden by William Saroyan and Sweat by Zora Neale Hudson were both amazing to read and offered a lot of insight to American history. The Parsley Garden told the story of an adolescent, named Al, during the depression, who wanted a hammer he saw in a store. Not having a single penny on him, he decided to steal it, getting caught in the action. Lectured and humiliated by the store manager, Mr. Clemmer, he was let go resulting in him plotting his revenge and a way to get his pride back. Sweat was the story of an African-American wash-woman, Delia. She was constantly abused and was trapped under her tyrannical husband, Sykes who openly cheated on her with another woman. Despite all her hardships with her husband, she worked long and hard using her own sweat and blood to clean clothes. As their relationship got even worse, Sykes decided to pull an ugly prank on Delia that would later backfire on him. Both stories had their similarities and differences, but some stood out more than others. The climaxes of the two stories were similar in that they were both turning points in the story, but also different in the way the story was resolved. In Sweat, the resolution is bitter sweet. “She saw him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door…she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew.” Delia was emancipated from the abuse of her husband, but she still pitied him and was upset over the death of her Sykes. The Parsley Garden ends in the more typical, happy fashion. Al finally obtains his hammer while regaining his pride. “His mother went inside and went to bed, but Al Condraj sat on
Short stories are often the best way to learn about literary terms and their uses. They’re short, as their name depicts, but contain everything that longer stories would have such as the elements of plot, foreshadowing, themes, tone, and other literary devices. The two short stories, The Parsley Garden by William Saroyan and Sweat by Zora Neale Hudson were both amazing to read and offered a lot of insight to American history. The Parsley Garden told the story of an adolescent, named Al, during the depression, who wanted a hammer he saw in a store. Not having a single penny on him, he decided to steal it, getting caught in the action. Lectured and humiliated by the store manager, Mr. Clemmer, he was let go resulting in him plotting his revenge and a way to get his pride back. Sweat was the story of an African-American wash-woman, Delia. She was constantly abused and was trapped under her tyrannical husband, Sykes who openly cheated on her with another woman. Despite all her hardships with her husband, she worked long and hard using her own sweat and blood to clean clothes. As their relationship got even worse, Sykes decided to pull an ugly prank on Delia that would later backfire on him. Both stories had their similarities and differences, but some stood out more than others. The climaxes of the two stories were similar in that they were both turning points in the story, but also different in the way the story was resolved. In Sweat, the resolution is bitter sweet. “She saw him on his hands and knees as soon as she reached the door…she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish that eye which must know by now that she knew.” Delia was emancipated from the abuse of her husband, but she still pitied him and was upset over the death of her Sykes. The Parsley Garden ends in the more typical, happy fashion. Al finally obtains his hammer while regaining his pride. “His mother went inside and went to bed, but Al Condraj sat on