finds “I” have “got a glass jaw”, as a boxer “I” am finished. “But hunting was another matter.” Then “my” story of hunting begins. And in this way, a story leads to another story, and a story chain is formed. In effect, the whole essay is really a big story chain in structure. When a story ends and no other story continues, the author will come back to Charley Best’s story, then a story would be told again. So it seems that Charley Best’s story is just like a chain hook, which is used to link other people’s story. For example, when Doc’s story ends, there seems no other good story to continue. At the time, the author comes back to Charley Best’s, with a sentence of “Part of Charley Best’s story is arresting as well.” Then another story is told and the essay could go on.
In a word, a big chain in structure is formed, which is unique in the modern short story, in sharp contrast with traditional story writing. So a story chain is the first characteristic of the short story.
3.2 Characters without well-defined traits
Character, as we all know, is essential to a short story. Because of its limited length, a short story usually has very few characters (generally one or two). Confined by space, it usually delineates only one central character, variously called the protagonist or the hero (Lan Renzhe, 1987: 7), whereas there are a mumble of characters in this short story: Charley Best, “my” father, “my” father’s father, Doc, Sam, Jackie, “I’ and so on. And it is even hard for us to say who is the central character, because every character is the protagonist in his own way. And this is the second unique characteristic of the essay.
On the other hand, the characters are often marginal and rarely identifiable in modern short stories. The narrator tells the stories, which he hears from his father. That is to say, Charley Best, Doc, Jackie are also unfamiliar to the narrator himself, so he offers little information about the characters. We do not know what personality Jackie has, and how “my” father looks. The narrator tells his readers that his father’s father is strong, sure-footed and careful, and this is just the feeling of his father. As for Charley Best, readers also get little information about him, except the following description:
He was a big man, and my father also remember his wide hat, the high leather boots with the pant cuffs tucked inside, and the huge chain stretched across his best, Prince Albert style, upon which hung a nickel-plated railroad watch my father thought was a big as an alarm clock. Mostly, though, he remembers that handgun and handlebar mustache. Best had cultivated to curl around his wide face…
However, such description, is not helpful for us readers to understand the character of Charley Best.
In effect, characters having no well-defined traits are one of the objectives the author wants to achieve. In this way, the story will be particular in style, and can give an indelible impression on his readers. The characters without well-defined traits are the third unique characteristic of the short story.
3.3 Untraceable plot
Apart from the characterization, another important feature of this short story is the plot. A well-constructed plot will appeal to readers. Plots of a story are usually used to construct the frame of a story, then to reveal his character and finally bring forth the theme. But there is no plot in “Don’t Get Comfortable” at all.
Why? Maybe it is quite necessary to understa
本论文由英语论文网提供整理,提供论文代写,英语论文代写,代写论文,代写英语论文,代写留学生论文,代写英文论文,留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。