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Spaceships Have Landed by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
Spaceships Have Landed is a long short story running over 10,000 words. But after you’ve read it, you’ll feel like you read an entire novel. With perfectly chosen narrative summary and a roving point of view, Alice Munro paints the story of a 1950s town, as experienced by two very different young women united by the timing of their coming-of-age.
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The Shadows On The Wall by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
There’s a subcategory of carnivalesque stories about visitors who outstay their welcome. These stories explore a deeper, broader human fear: The fear of home infiltration.
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Domestic Abuse Addressed In Children’s Books
If you’re looking for children’s book which deal with domestic abuse, there are many examples at all reading levels across various genres. While young adult authors are well-known for their willingness to confront difficult subject matter head on, readers can also find domestic abuse addressed in picture books.
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The Cider Duck by Joan Woodberry Analysis
The Cider Duck (1969) is an Australian picture book written by Joan Woodberry and illustrated by Molly Stephens. ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR Joan Woodberry (1921-2010) was an influential, widely-travelled Tasmanian feminist whose efforts made women’s lives palpably better in Tasmania. Finding information on Molly Stephens is a little more difficult partly because she was […]
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Champion by Ring Lardner Analysis
“Champion” is a short story about boxing by Ringgold Lardner, who was an American sports columnist as well as a short story writer. He had three main subjects: sports, marriage and theatre. The story was first published in October 1916, Metropolitan magazine. Lardner’s family was wealthy, he had to wear a brace on his foot […]
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Sarah Marshall Has A Stalker, For All The Receptionist Knows
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a silly, fun film, designed to appeal to an audience of teenage boys. The film was produced by Judd Apatow. The script was written by its star, Jason Segel. Some critics have applauded the film for turning the ‘crazy ex-girlfriend’ trope on its head. (Inversion does not equal subversion.) I don’t […]
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Negatives by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
“Negatives” is a short story by Annie Proulx, first published 1994 in Esquire, later included in the Heart Songs collection. You can read it online, with limited unpaid access. “Negatives” is the most brutal of the stories in this collection. Content note for rape. Reasons to read this story: THE DEEP AUTUMN CAME QUICKLY. Abandoned […]
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Somersault Film Storytelling Techniques
Last month I wrote about the film American Honey, set in America but written and directed by Andrea Arnold, who is English. If there’s an Australian equivalent of American Honey, Somersault is it. Somersault is a 2004 film written and directed by another (all-too-rare) female filmmaker, Cate Shortland. SIMILARITIES BETWEEN AMERICAN HONEY AND SOMERSAULT Both […]
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Runaway by Alice Munro Short Story Short Story Analysis
“Runaway” is the first short story of Alice Munro’s 2004 collection. It was also published in The New Yorker, where you can read it online. “Runaway” makes for a great mentor text for the following reasons: Nuance of human motivations. The desire is at the ‘complex’ end of the spectrum — our main character doesn’t […]
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The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier Novel Study
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier was not written with a young adult audience in mind, but class sets of the book found their way into English departments all over the world. Though this is not my favourite Cormier novel, it remains his best known. Heavy in symbolism and discussable themes, The Chocolate War also makes for […]
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A Lonely Coast by Annie Proulx Short Story Analysis
The first thing that feels different about “A Lonely Coast” in the Close Range collection by Annie Proulx is the voice. This short story begins in second person point of view, then switches to first in the second paragraph. The previous stories of this collection were all written by a third-person unseen narrator with an […]
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Beauty And The Beast Fairy Tale Analysis
Beauty and the Beast is a strongly mythic tale: A girl goes on a journey and ultimately finds her true self. PARATEXT “The Beauty and the Beast” is a tale featuring multiple levels of misogyny and much has already been said about that. For example, Was Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Re-Tooled Because Belle Wasn’t Enough Of A […]