Understanding Short Stories

Seven questions to start you off

1. Study the beginning. What information is contained in the first sentence(s)?

2. Look for repetitions or seemingly superfluous passages. They may be important.

3. What details of the story might have symbolical value?

4. What are the main characters, what other characters are there? What is their relationship?

5. From what point of view is the story told? What does this contribute to the effect or the meaning?

6. Analyse the sequence of events, the plot. Are there any flashbacks or anticipations, why?

7. Compare acting time and narrating (reading) time. Which is longer or shorter, does their relation change? To what effect?

8. What is the relation between the narrator and the implied reader?