Test Review – Short Stories

Big Ideas

• Imagery• Mood• Detail• Diction• 3 Levels of Questioning• Irony• Characterization

Irony

• “Personally I think it’s right here on the premises.”

• “Probably right under our very noses.”• The thing that drove him to kill also led him to

confess.• Banker looses fortune in 15 years.• “Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Mad

men know nothing. But you should have seen me.”

• “It would be a favor to me if you would eat it up.”

Internal Conflict• Lawyer vs. staying & winning or leaving &

loosing

• Banker vs. his own guilt

• Human vs. himself

• Mary vs. desire to protect child

• Narrator vs. own insanity

• Narrator vs. eye

• Narrator vs. beating heart

• Man vs. pride

Themes in short stories

• Guilt can overcome you.

• Things aren’t always what they seem.

• Life is meaningless without relationships.

• Money isn’t the source of happiness.

• Dangerous to let your life revolve around another person.

• Book knowledge can’t replace human experience.

External Conflict

• Human vs. human• Mary vs. Patrick• Caretaker vs. Old Man• Banker vs. Lawyer• Life in prison vs. Death Penalty

Elements of Plot

• Exposition

• Rising Action

• Climax

• Falling Action

• Resolution