An Anthology of Really Short Stories- Jerome Stern
Jerome Stern edited An Anthology of Really Short Stories. Inside the packet there are four micro fiction stories. Different authors wrote each story. I enjoyed reading every story in the packet. It amazes me how every word in a micro fiction story has an important meaning to it. I made sure I read each story carefully in order to fully grasp the concept.
The setting, in all four of the stories, is essential to the overall notion in each story. I noticed that three out of the four stories dealt with Mexican culture or Mexico being the setting where the story takes place. Land’s End was the most intriguing and complicating story for me. Strangely, I really enjoyed reading it, even though I found it most difficult. The words that the author used were so captivating. My favorite line, which was a simile that the author used, was “Her bloodprints in the sand like valentines day.” I had different interpretations of this piece. Was the character held hostage in the foreign country or was she trying to escape the country she lived in?
I also enjoyed reading Waiting by Peggy McNally. However, after reading this story I felt like it had a negative attitude towards obtaining a career in teaching. It made me think of how difficult it is to get a teaching job with the way our economy is. It seemed like the character was in an urban middle school and her employees took advantage of her being a full-time substitute. She would teach nonstop classes without a break. The character is at the point in her life where she is waiting for better opportunity to come along; she just hasn’t found it yet. What I found interesting about this micro fiction story was that the author did not use any periods at the end of the sentences. She only put a period at the end of the story. The author broke up her sentences with commas instead.
An Encounter- James Joyce
An Encounter and Araby is from a collection of short stories by James Joyce. After reading An Encounter, I found it very odd and disturbing. The setting takes place in Dublin, Ireland. From my understanding of the reading, the environment that the characters lived in was mostly poverty because the narrator refers to the other kids as wearing “rags.” In the story, there also seems to be a conflict between the Protestants and Catholics because when the two boys (narrator and Mahony) go on their adventure two poor boys approach them, yell, and mistake them for Protestants. The location is important in this story because defines the characters and the reasons for their beliefs.
The school that the young boys attended and the strict rules they had to follow reminded me of the stories that my dad told me about when he was younger. He grew up in a very Catholic family; therefore, he went to Catholic school. He used to tell me how mean the nuns were to him and how they would scold the students if they talked in class when they were not supposed to. Back then, the nuns were allowed to hit children with rulers and make them write “I’m sorry” on the board until it was fully covered. I could not imagine growing up in a school system where they would be able to physically hit a child to make them learn their lesson.
I found the old man that in the field to be very distressing. The old mans conversation with the boys gets more and more inappropriate as he continues to talk. However, the two boys did the right thing by giving fake names in order to protect themselves. It is scary to think how there are still people out there like the old man that the two boys came in contact with. It is vital to train children to understand why it is important to not talk to strangers.