'How are nineteenth century short stories traditional short stories?'

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GCSE ENGLISH COURSEWORK:

‘Nineteenth century short stories.’

ESSAY TITLE:  How are nineteenth century short stories traditional short stories?’

        In this essay we will be studying the following question, ‘How are nineteenth century short stories traditional short stories?’

  Short stories developed as a style of writing when people were becoming more literate. One of the most important factors which helped which helped short stories develop as popular form of writing was the growing popularity of magazines and journals over the course of the 19th century. The general public admired the genre of fiction and the short story mainly written to express opinions and ideas was the ideal way for a writer to earn easy money and reach a wider audience. Short stories were also a popular from of entertainment as it was read aloud within families or groups of friends. As they reached a wide audience they often dealt with different issues that had a wide appeal.

    To answer our question we will be looking at 5 main factors that make up a traditional short story. The five factors are, the first line in a story (this line should be interesting as this will be the first thing the reader reads. This line will also create expectations about the kind of story the audience will be reading. It should engage the reader by being dramatic or humorous,) characters (this should be less than five characters as too many will make the story confusing or too boring too read. The characters should also not be as fully developed as in novels as it might make the story too long,) clues to the climax (this is done to build suspense and tension towards the ending. This technique is used to raise readers’ expectations by making the story more interesting,) twist at the end (this makes the story interesting and usually unexpected. It also gives it a definite ending. Although there are positive effects of a twist there can also be a negative effect such as the expectation of a reader is not always fulfilled) and a theme or moral.

        We will look at 4 short stories within ‘Nineteenth Century Short Story’ that will help us come to a conclusion. These stories are, (in the order that we will be studying them) Hop Frog written by Edgar Allen Poe, The Stolen Bacillus written by H.G. Wells, Country Living written by Guy De Maupassant and An Arrest written by Ambrose Beirce

        Firstly we will be looking at ‘Hop Frog’ written by Edgar Allen Poe. In this story Hop Frog is a king’s jester (a person who makes the king laugh.) He is a foreigner held against his will in the castle and does not want to fit in. He is an outsider by choice as he loathes those who have enslaved him. Another reason for why he is an outsider is because he is deformed and ugly. The first line in the story is,

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 “I never knew any one so keenly alive to a joke as the king was.”

This line isn’t really effective as it doesn’t engage the reader immediately by using dramatic or humorous words. It doesn’t lead into the story very quickly nor is it exciting. However, it does make the reader ask many questions in their heads creating some suspense. They could be asking questions such as; who is this king? Why is he so fond of jokes? Nevertheless, the line is a downfall to the actual story as it makes it seem boring or daft. There are only ...

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