Literature Lecture Notes: Short Stories and Twists

Vocabulary practice flashcards defining key characters, titles, settings, and objects from the short stories covered in the lecture notes.

"The Nightmare Room"

A short story by Arthur Conan Doyle in which a dramatic showdown over poisoned wine between Lucille Mason, Captain Jack Campbell, and Archie Mason is revealed to be an actor-performed scene filmed for a silent picture.

Lucille Mason

A former dancer in "The Nightmare Room" who plots with her lover, Captain Jack Campbell, to poison her wealthy American banker husband, Archie Mason.

Captain Jack Campbell

Lucille Mason's lover in "The Nightmare Room" who discusses a secret plot to poison Archie Mason before being confronted by him in a locked room.

Archie Mason

A wealthy American banker in "The Nightmare Room" who reveals he knew about his wife's adultery and poison plot, though he is ultimately revealed to be an actor on a movie set.

"The Woman at the Store"

A short story by Katherine Mansfield about three travelers in the New Zealand backblocks who shelter at a rundown store and discover the storekeeper murdered her husband.

Hin

The narrator's brother in Katherine Mansfield's "The Woman at the Store" who travels alongside the narrator and Jo through the heat-blasted New Zealand backblocks.

Jo

A traveler in "The Woman at the Store" who receives desperate sexual advances from the storekeeper and agrees to sleep with her upstairs.

The 13-year-old daughter (in "The Woman at the Store")

The feral, eerie child who reveals her father's fate by drawing a detailed picture of her mother shooting him with a shotgun and burying him under the paddock.

"Never"

A short story by H.E. Bates about Nellie, a young girl in an English rural town who plans an escape to London but deliberately misses her train due to fear and self-doubt.

Nellie

The protagonist of "Never" who lives in repetitive routines playing a melancholic waltz, plans to escape to London, but hesitates and misses her train.

The 6:13 train

The specific evening train to London in "Never" that Nellie intends to catch before deliberately dallying on her path and watching it pull away.

"Atrophy"

A short story by Edith Wharton about Nora Frensham, whose attempt to see her critically ill secret lover is thwarted by the rigid etiquette of his sister.

Nora Frensham

A married high-society woman in "Atrophy" who risks her reputation to visit her ill lover, Christopher Olyphant, but is turned away by social barriers.

Christopher Olyphant

Nora Frensham's secret lover in "Atrophy" who is critically ill at his country estate.

Miss Jane Olyphant

Christopher's rigid, coldly formidable sister in "Atrophy" who uses polite etiquette and superficial small talk to prevent Nora Frensham from seeing Christopher.

"The Lagoon"

A short story by Janet Frame about an adult narrator whose romanticized childhood memories of her late Māori grandmother and a local lagoon are contrasted with unvarnished, unglamorous realities.

Picton, New Zealand

The setting of Janet Frame's "The Lagoon," where the narrator visits her aunt and recalls childhood visits to a local tidal lagoon.

The tidal lagoon (in "The Lagoon")

A body of water in Picton that resembles a quiet lake at high tide but becomes a dirty stretch of gray sand, seaweed, dead crabs, and forgotten rubbish at low tide.