Short Story Analysis and Literary Concepts

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, character descriptions, narrative techniques, and literary motifs across the short stories in the lecture notes.

Unreliable Narrator (The Tell-Tale Heart)

A narrator whose recounting of events cannot be trusted due to severe psychological instability, irrational fixations, and hallucinations, despite claiming complete sanity.

Vulture-like Eye

The pale, disturbing eye of the old man in Edgar Allan Poe's story that triggers the narrator's overwhelming paranoia, fear, and murder plot.

Panopticon Model

A prison design where inmates can be watched at any moment without knowing when they are observed; in Poe's story, it parallels the psychological pressure and paranoia the narrator feels from the old man's eye.

Armand Aubigny

A wealthy Louisiana plantation owner in Kate Chopin's story who rejects his wife Désirée and their baby upon noticing mixed-race features, only to later discover through a letter that he inherited African heritage from his mother.

La Blanche

An enslaved mixed-race woman on Armand Aubigny's plantation whose name means "the white one"; the resemblance between her son and Désirée's child makes Désirée realize why people act strangely.

Bayou

The swampy wetland into which Désirée walks with her baby after being rejected by Armand, symbolizing isolation, mystery, and death.

Peyton Farquhar

A wealthy Southern civilian and Confederate supporter in Ambrose Bierce's story who is tricked by a Union scout into attempting to sabotage Owl Creek Bridge and is executed by hanging.

Third-Person Limited Point of View (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge)

The narrative perspective used in Section III of Bierce's story that restricts the reader's perception strictly to Farquhar's consciousness, causing his final escape fantasy to appear real until his death.

Ticking of the Watch

A motif in Ambrose Bierce's story representing the unstoppable passage of time and Farquhar's hyper-alert state of mind as his execution approaches.

Resting Cure Room (The Yellow Wallpaper)

A former nursery at the top of a rented mansion featuring barred windows and damaged yellow wallpaper, serving as a symbolic prison that drives the narrator to mental breakdown.

Dr. Weir Mitchell

A real-life famous physician referenced by the narrator's husband John in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, representing patriarchial medical authority and enforced rest cures.

Woman Behind the Wallpaper

A figure seen shaking the design's bars and creeping by the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper," symbolizing the narrator's own emotional and social imprisonment.

Third-Person Omniscient Point of View (To Build a Fire)

The narrative perspective used by Jack London that provides insight into both the male hiker's logical thoughts and the dog's pure survival instincts in the extreme Yukon cold.

Old-timer at Sulphur Creek

An experienced Yukon veteran who warns the protagonist against traveling alone in extreme temperatures, advice the protagonist arrogant dismisses as "womanish" until it is too late.

Minnie Wright

The unseen central character in Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" who is accused of murdering her husband John after years of isolation and domestic abuse.

Trifles

Small domestic items—such as canning jars, quilt patterns, and a broken birdcage—dismissed as unimportant by male investigators but recognized by Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters as key evidence of Minnie's motive.

Iceberg Technique

Ernest Hemingway's minimalist writing style in "The Killers," characterized by short sentences, plain vocabulary, sparse dialogue, and objective narration that leaves emotional meaning unstated.

Nick Adams

The main character in Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers" who attempts to warn Ole Andreson and ultimately resolves to leave Summit after witnessing pervasive cruelty and fatalism.

Ole Andreson

An ex-boxer targeted by hitmen in Hemingway's story who lies in bed facing the wall, entirely resigned to his impending murder and refusing to flee.

Battle Royal

A degrading, violent match in Ralph Ellison's story where young Black men are forced to fight each other blindfolded to entertain a group of wealthy white leaders before the narrator delivers his graduation speech.

Grandfather's Dying Speech

Enigmatic deathbed advice in Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal" urging descendants to "agree them to death and destruction," advocating superficial submission as a secretive form of subversion.

Tessie Hutchinson

The protagonist in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" who arrives casually at the gathering but panics and protests when selected as the annual sacrifice to be stoned by her community.

Old Man Warner

The oldest resident in Jackson's village who aggressively defends the tradition of the lottery, warning that abandoning it will bring bad crops and social chaos.

Arnold Friend

A predatory, manipulative older man in Joyce Carol Oates's story inspired by killer Charles Schmid; he uses threat and coercion to draw 15-year-old Connie away from her house.

Automated House (There Will Come Soft Rains)

The central entity in Ray Bradbury's futuristic short story set in Allendale, California, which continues carrying out programmed household tasks after its human owners die in a nuclear holocaust.

Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo

The new cultural name taken by Dee in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" as an attempt to reclaim African roots, while severing ties to her immediate family legacy.

The Quilts (Everyday Use)

Handmade family heirlooms crafted from ancestral clothing that represent living history for Mama and Maggie, but aesthetic display objects for Dee.

Robert

A blind, open-minded friend of the narrator's wife in Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" who helps the cynical narrator experience a moment of artistic and emotional connection.

Jimmy Cross

The lieutenant in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" who bears physical supplies alongside deep emotional burdens of guilt, responsibility, and unrequited love for Martha.