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Comfortable can be regarded as the theme of the story, whose many episodes are irrelevant to it. In the story, the name of Charley Best appears in the introduction first and then echoes in the conclusion, which makes the story coherent in structure. 3. Analysis of some special characteristics of Don’t Get Comfortable In the first reading, the reader may feel confused and do not know what the author really wants to convey. But if he analyzes it carefully, the characteristics of the short story will become clear and he will find it is really a unique modern short story. 3.1 The unconventional structure As we have mentioned, the modern short story calls into question the traditional modes of literary realism. In traditional stories, the author would give the reader a setting in the first paragraph, and use the linear development structure and the conflict to advance and unfold the plot, from the beginning, to the rising action, the climax and down to the ending finally. But in this story, it seems the setting is ambiguous and very unclear. There is no so-called chronological order at all. There is no beginning, no rising action, no climax and no ending, because every episode is independent, even irrelevant to each other. In short, the short story is unique in structure with a complete new modern pattern of organization. The essay is made up of several stories, which are about Charley Best, “my” father, “my” father’s father, “I” and some other people. However, in traditional concept, a short story is a form of fiction, which focuses on only one event, which takes place within a very short time (Li Guanyi, 1999: 181). What’s more, it is universally accepted that a short story, structurally, should break up into five sections: the setting, the generating circumstance or the beginning, the rising action, the climax and the denouement or the ending (Li Guanyi, 1999: 199), whereas in this story, more than eight characters are involved, such as Charley Best, “my” father, “my” father’s father, Doc, Sam, Piercy MacIntyre, Jackie, “I” and so on. And no matter whose story it is, it is independent, which can be taken away from the essay without much impact on the story at all. That is, the series of stories is irrelevant to each other. Thus it is impossible for the author to construct the setting, the beginning, the rising action , the climax and the ending in the whole structure. But how are these stories organized or pieced together? As a matter of fact, this is one of the salient features of the short story. The story begins with “This story is about a detective named Charley Best.” And then Charley Best appears again in the end of the story, which echoes the beginning. This device of a complete cycle in structure brings about the effect of unity in form. But why, for instance, stories about Doc, the narrator’s grandpa’s father, are also told? The reason is just as puzzling as “mustache” and “oxen” are in the last paragraph. There is another good example in paragraph 24. The narrator says: My father had met Piercy MacIntyre, but he knew his son Jackie better. The miner said Piecy had been a boxer in France during World War 1, and whether true or not, he did teach his son Jackie how to box. … Naturally a story of Jackie boxing against other boys is told next. And using “box” as a linking word, “my” story is told in paragraph 27, because “my” father likes “only two sports, boxing and hunting, and he tried to teach me both.” When he