First-Person Fiction

Memory is an intriguing factor in the narration of this story. As we are told this story from first person point of view, we rely on Frank Brinson’s memories to relate to us the truth. And yet, his memories are not as he remembered. If even one memory rings uncertain, it calls into question the […]

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I noticed a great deal of similarities between the last two stories from Richard Ford that we were assigned, “Optimists” and “Communist.” Throughout Richard Ford’s collection of short stories, he writes extensively about the relationships between children and their parents, and explores many different variations of parenthood and childhood in this manner. He especially seems to […]

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In this story, what stands out the most to me is the lingering undertone of regret. The irony of the title being “Optimists” and yet that being one of the biggest themes in the story wasn’t lost on me, but it came up time and time again. It’s insinuated that the narrator’s (Frank’s) mother, Dorothy, regretted her […]

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In Richard Ford’s “Optimists” the narrator decided, after seeing and speaking to his mother for the first time in years, to tell the story of how life changed suddenly for him. The narrator, Frank, told his story when he was 43 years old, looking back to when he had been sixteen. I believe Frank told this […]

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What information is presented in the story’s opening paragraphs? What is the perspective of the narrator? What relationships are at the heart of the story? What passages seem particularly interesting or meaningful? How does the story end? How does that ending reverberate? How does the story’s title relate to the action in the story?

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“Winterkill” is an interesting story that follows two friends, Les and Troy, and a woman named Nola. Ford was able to create a diverse setting within the twenty-two pages that create the story. Once again the reader finds themselves somewhere within Montana with the reference to Deer Lodge, where the state prison is located. It […]

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This story stars an unreliable, unkempt, and quite honestly, stupid man left trapped and barren as his life crumbles. The narrator is first depicted as a rather aloof man with strict plans to “stiff” his landlord on rent and leave town. He begins by describing how some hunters from out of town have been recently […]

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Based on the introduction to this particular story, I feel like the narrator (who we never learn the real name of, only a fake name that he provides later in the story, which also adds to the idea that he is also a liar, like in many previous stories) is speaking due to his experience that became […]

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In both stories “Going to the Dogs” and “Winterkill” Richard Ford uses slight details to establish the narrator and other character’s biases. Ford is able to display how some characters view certain ideas or groups of people without explicitly stating their thoughts, instead, he makes word choices that lead us to the same conclusion. In […]

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The narrator starts by telling us that he is renting out a small home in the woods where a bunch of hunters kill deer all day long. He mentions to us a little about what he is going through at this moment. His wife has left him for another man and sold their car before […]

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The story is about a man who is getting ready to up and leave town after his wife left him when he encounters two women. Both women have just gotten back from hunting dragging along a deer for Gainsborough, a man we can possibly assume is close to the narrator from this quote on the […]

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    The author of this short story steps us into the shoes of the main character, Lester Snow, through the use of dialogue and by providing descriptive insights from secondary characters. Whereas in other writers’ works, the main character often describes themselves through their thoughts or actions, Richard Ford utilizes the situations and circumstances his […]

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The narrator starts out by not giving out much about his life or who he is other than the fact that his wife has just left him and he lives near a hotspot for hunters. He is caught in his bathrobe the day before Thanksgiving by two hunter women (he seems to focus heavily on […]

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Masculinity is a recurring theme in Richard Ford’s stories, unsurprising as they are all told by male narrators. His stories also involve the absence, passivity, or transience of a woman as well as affairs by either a female character, the male character, or both. This is clear in “Winterkill” as well as in this one, […]

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In “Going to the Dogs,” the narrator’s perspective on Phyllis and Bonnie is heavily influenced by the past experiences he had with his own wife.  As the narrator states, his own wife “is a slender, petite woman who bought all her clothes in the children’s section of the department store…. But she didn’t have much […]

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The characters and their interactions in this story were very interesting, especially between Russell and Bobby. You could feel a strong tension between them sometimes, but at other times, they seemed okay with each other. I felt a lot of fear coming from Bobby about going to jail. He didn’t seem to place any blame […]

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Using the material you gathered from the prompts in Tuesday’s class, write a three- to four-page story (double-spaced, Times font) from the point of view of the character you were assigned (1-16) facing the circumstances you were assigned (A-P). This assignment is due by midnight on Tuesday, February 9, and should be placed in the Exercise […]

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