Yoonho Lee World Lit Journal

The Swimmer, By John Cheever (1964) Rating: 9.3/10 I personally think these kinds of stories are what short stories should be like. Very easy to understand, direct, and clear, but also a very unusual way of unfolding the plot compared to other stories. The main character was similar to Blake from The Five-Forty-Eight, they both represent American white men during the era. The devices like alcohol, pool, and season were implemented in a very enjoyable way so that readers can follow them like a clue and reach the conclusion. What I notice from recent stories we've read is that we don't whether the main character changes or not, it's always an open ending, however, we see their environment changing as a consequence of their prior actions. Overall very amusing and I wished I had the ability to write stories like this that can closely touch the readers.

Bullet In The Brain, By Tobias Wolff (1995) Rating: 9/10 I think I personally enjoy short stories that don't follow any chronological order or series of events. Just like The Swimmer, this story was unique in its own order of sorting out events. This story is really 'short', not complicated, direct, and clear. A bit weird as we see Anders just die saying "They is... They is", but I didn't find it uncomfortable. It's quite funny because I rated The Five-Forty-Eight with a very low score because I couldn't find any message from the ending. Well even though Bullet In The Brain ends doesn't like a normal ending, I recognized the build-ups before the conclusion. Anders starts off by getting shot and for that slight moment, when his whole life and events that he remembers pass by, Unlike other main characters from recent stories we've read, I found Anders quite humorous and even felt sad with the fact that he died. Overall, the story was very light b...

The Five-Forty-Eight, By John Cheever (1954) Rating: 7.5/10 Well, after reading The Swimmer by the same author, Cheever, this story looks as if it was written by a different author. There are some similarities that exist between these two stories, the narrator in the story is somewhat representing the typical problematic figure of man during that society. Both of them do morally wrong things like committing adultery. However, unlike The Swimmer, which had many devices and a creative plot to interest the readers, I didn't really find anything from The Five-Forty-Eight. You could say that instead of symbols, this story had one more important figure, the woman. However, I couldn't find any message delivered from an additional character. Is it that revenge always follows? or You should behave kindly to your neighbors so that you can get help when you're threatened with a gun?. Even the ending which shows how the woman seemed satisfied and forgotten about Blake did not give me a...

Afternoon in Linen, By Shirley Jackson (1943) Rating: 7.5/10 This story was very light in its own way, but at the same time, very serious. I had never seen an entire story focused on the view of a child. I could notice how the flipping of hierarchy has made this story much more amusing and attractive. There are many upside-down points of view shown throughout the story. The first would be the initial purpose of this setting, Mrs. Lennon and Mrs. Kator only decided to meet as a formal call just because they live on the same block. The second point is Mrs. Lennon complimenting Howard, but at the same time, trying to upstage him as well. There are more points and the flipping of the hierarchy is part of them. It's emphasized the most when Harriet lies that she plagiarized. The readers know that it's a lie, but other characters in the story believe it completely. Again, these upside-down points acted as an interesting device for the readers and it was pretty fun to follow it throug...

The Enormous Radio, By John Cheever (1947) Rating: 8/10 I enjoyed the cool setting of this story, the radio where you can hear your neighbors talking. This fantasy-like element did make this story more attractive when you can't feel any attractiveness from the characters. What I like about the stories that we're recently reading in our class is that the setting, the symbol, and the devices attract the readers more than the plot and the characters. A style of writing a short story that I couldn't notice in Joyce or Chekhov. One more thing that I found interesting was that the story itself acts like an enormous radio. We get to hear about Wescott's characters, their lives along with the neighbor's lives from the story. Also how it reflects the private lives of people, the trend of individualism, and the dreary mood of modern society. Overall I found this story enjoyable and really liked the device Cheever used, the radio.

Victory Lap, By George Saunders (2007) Rating: 8.5/10 I really enjoyed trying to understand the whole story. I do admit that this unusual flow of the plot can act as an obstacle for readers to delve into, but for me, it acted as an attractive device. It was interesting to see how a "short story" can make no sense at first sight, even though it's not twisted into pages and long chapters. I notice that the benefit of setting the story focused on the narrator's flow of mind is that whenever the narrator's sight moves on from one character to another, the reader gets to focus as well as the narrator. It was refreshing to learn about each character through the eyes of the narrator. And even though the readers can expect that the girl is about to face the danger of being raped, the narrator's nescient or pure attitude allows us to really identify with the narrator. I would've rated it over 9 if it was amusing as well as refreshing, but personally, I only felt th...

The Semplica Girl Diaries, By George Saunders (2012) Rating: 9/10 It was a really refreshing story, I think if I had to choose one story that represents Saunders' writing style the most, I would choose this out of other Saunders stories. Saunders' style of describing wealth and social status is very odd, and creepy which differs from other authors. In this story, the symbol of wealth is Semplica girls, slaves hang on gardens for ornamental purposes. We can notice two types of reactions from people towards this weird so-called, 'culture'. I thought the author wanted us to focus on Eva's reaction, who questioned the morality of this behavior by saying "Just because everyone is doing it, that makes it right?" unlike the father, who tried to justify them. The story ends in an open conclusion, but I do believe the ring that Eva rang on adults who have become numb towards this social practice. Overall throughout the story, I enjoyed the gruesome symbols the auth...

Puppy, By George Saunders (2007) Rating: 8.5/10 I noticed that during class discussions, we mostly talked about the perspective within the story constantly shifting from Marie to Callie and back to Marie. But I actually felt the need to focus on Jimmy more than just Callie and Marie. Looking deeper into the reason why and how the story flowed in this particular way, I believe we can notice that Jimmy was the motive for Callie abandoning the dog. We can also point out that Marie's decision not to buy the dog was the cause for Callie abandoning the puppy, but if Jimmy hadn't commanded Callie, the puppy never had to face this situation at the first place. Also, Jimmy was forcing others to accept his weird logic that "killing an animal is the only way to get rid of them". I thought that the author was not only trying to express not only the two different style of parenting shown by Marie and Callie, but how they are also influenced by other social elements. One was povert...