On "The Examination Day" by Henry Sleaser, a young boy named Richard (or as his parents call him, Dickie) Jordan is on his birthday turning twelve. In the morning, he overhears his parents talking about some kind of test. Dickie was a really curious boy, he wondered about everything. He asked his parents about this test, they told him that it was nothing to be afraid of, it was just a regular test that the Government took every kid on his age. A week passed, and now Dickie was on the Government Educational Building ready to take the test. He was given a sort of drink that allowed him only to tell the truth. After he took the test his parents recieved a call. The Government informed them Dickie was a smart boy, in fact, too smart, so.........
He needed to be killed.
I think that on this story the use of Imagery isnt often, however, it is only used to show sight and not any of the other senses.
"The room was as cold and official as a courtroom, with long benches flanking metal tables. There were several fathers and sons already there, and a thin-lipped woman with cropped black hair was passing out sheets of paper."
Even though this use of imagery only appeals to sight, it is very strong, and well used. Since on the story we are entering into a new place (Government Educational Building) the use of strong imagery and details let us know exactly how this new place is. It is really well descibed and it sort of make us imagine how it really is.
He led Dickie to the end of the room, where a single wooden armchair faced a multi-dialled computing machine. There was a microphone on the left arm of the chair, and when the boy sat down, he found its pinpoint head conveniently at his mouth.
Again, when we get introduced into a new setting, it is perfectly described. It prevents you from getting lost on the story, once you imagine the place as it is discribed on the book you feel like if you were inside the story. It is a really good use of Imagery.
This short story is, by now, one of my favourites. Even though it is no more that 2 pages long, it would have been a mistake to make it larger. All the details the imagery has makes the reader feel like part of the story, and it wasnt necessary to try to appeal to the other senses, it is great just how it is. And even the ending, I sure wasnt expecting it, I just got surprised by it. This is by definitively a great short story.
In Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery,” a tradition takes place once a year in a small village. All the villagers must play a lottery, on which one member of each family must take a ticket from a box. This year, Mr. Hutchinson had won, however he didnt seemed happy. After he took out the ticket, each member of the family needed to take out the tickets again. When Mrs Hutchinson (Tessie) got the winning ticket, she didnt even seemed exited, she even was worried and altered. Then, Mr Summers (the one who organized the lottery) and the rest if the village begin throwing rocks at her, while Tessie screams "Its not fair!"
I think that the use of Imagery on this story is very strong because it doesnt only appeals to our sight, but also to our other senses, which most short stories arent capable of doing. A clear example is:
"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."
Here the author makes us feel as if we were inside the story, feeling the warm and sunny weather of that day on summer. It gives us a description of everything on this scene, like the fllowers and the grass.
"The original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box."
The author shows us in this part of the book that people just do the lottery because is is a long time tradition. She isnt just telling us that the black box is old, implicitly she is telling us that the tradition has been going on for years, before the oldest man in town was born. She is letting us know that the people in the village just follow the tradition.
I really enjoyed this short story. Even though the story wasnt easy to read and I got confused at first, it had a really strong message and it got really interesting near the end. The message was that tradition makes us do not reasonable and not logic things. I really liked how the author didnt gave the reader all the information but instead she made the reader really think throughout the story. In my opinion, this was a great short story.
