First-Person Fiction

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This short story has a lot of different things going on. It starts with the narrator taking an exam in college. She wants to get better than a C on her exam as all of her other courses are C work. She struggles with one of the questions and gets frustrated when the assistant professor […]

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This story focused on themes of anger, jealousy (?), and happiness. I question the word jealousy because I’m not sure if it is the correct word to use to describe the narrator’s feelings toward her sister, Stella-Rondo. I think in a way, it is correct because the narrator seems to want to be treated the […]

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There’s a few dynamics going on during this story, however one that is the most prevalent is between the narrator and the rest of her family.  The start of this story makes it clear that there’s favoritism between the oldest and youngest child and it only continues throughout the entire story.  Stella-Rondo threw blame on the […]

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Everyone copes with grief in their own way, and we all discuss it differently as well. Amy Hempel certainly shows this with her narrator and the writing style of this story. Given the fact the narrator must watch her best friend die, you would think there would be emotional scenes and long dialogues. However, this […]

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Throughout the duration of the story, I was wondering just how much time had passed between when the narrator was writing about her Fourth of July experience and the “current” time she was legitimately telling it. So, whenever it blatantly said on the last page that it had only been five days and nights, that […]

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When reading this story, one has to be prepared for a non-linear timeline. In the beginning, the other person (referred to only as ‘she’) requests that the narrator tell her trivia, things she ‘won’t mind forgetting.’ By the second page, the narrator is revealed to be the Best Friend, and they are in a hospital […]

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This story features a young woman’s troubles that led her to leave her family behind. The narrator tells this story, beginning with her sister’s return home, more accurately, thinking about how fine life had been before her sister returned. We learned that she is the older sister born exactly a year before her sister, Stella-Rondo, […]

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I loved this story. Its casual depiction of how mental illness is not just people in straight jackets but also an educated high school chemistry teacher is so well put together. It highlights uncharacteristic symptoms of a man grappling with the purpose of life in ways that most people still see as “healthy” or “productive” […]

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I’ve probably read “Chemistry” ten times now. I first read it in the ENCW 101 in 2019 and since then I’ve felt compelled to revisit it every couple of months. I spent a lot of my childhood summers in Cleveland County, NC (where Joel’s father goes to see snakes), and I appreciate Rash’s attendance to place in […]

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The narrator of this story, Charlene is a woman from a rural area in Virginia. Longing to leave her past behind, she heads to college in hopes of creating a new identity for herself. Charlene ends up engaging in a lot of social events with different boys with her friends. The culture at the time […]

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When we talked about “The Liar” in class JGB made sure to let us know that to write is to lie and to lie is to write. James, in “The Liar”  spends his time weaving intricate falsehoods to entertain and capture the attention of those around him. He can’t quite place why he is doing […]

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When the story opens, we already know Joel’s dad is mentally ill. He spends three weeks in the hospital, he’s given two bottles of medication for it, and he received electroshock therapy before the story started. The disorder is never given, but we’re told it has some aspect of despair to it. But in the […]

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A common theme the author makes use of throughout this story that particularly stuck with me was the use of hidden or lost things. The author seems to conceal what exact illness the father is suffering from in this story, only that he was told he has a chemical imbalance in his brain by his […]

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The story “Chemistry” is told from the perspective of Joel who is watching his father change due to mental illness. While this story does address the father it also goes into Joels’s complex relationship with his parents as well as Joel’s own mental state. Throughout the story, we see the two parental figures in the story fight […]

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At the beginning of the story, something almost immediately noticeable is that the narrator, Joel, doesn’t state what exactly happened to his father to land him in the hospital. However, when the doctor says the phrase, ‘to keep his mind off his mind’ it suddenly becomes obvious that the father has some sort of mental […]

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This story focuses a lot on ideas like mental health, loss, grief, and perhaps even nirvana. I say nirvana because I felt as if the father was trying to rid himself of all suffering. He tried this with medications and realized they were not going to work. After this, he tried reconverting to the religion […]

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Morris’ attention to detail was really prevalent in this short story. Morris has the narrator use very detailed imagery to describe the people of Pirates Cove and the beach itself. Everything in the first couple of paragraphs was very descriptive and imagery based and I think for a short story it’s always helpful when the […]

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Josh Michael’s arrogance and ego are shattered when he realizes he can’t save the life of a child. He’s the god of the beach, envied by old men, lusted after by young girls; he has everything. But when little Becky Spencer is choking to death, Josh realizes he’s completely helpless and nothing he has can save […]

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