Short Story By Roald Dahl Analysis

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A Short Story is the art of storytelling that has evolved from the traditions of giving oral narrations in the 17th century. Short stories are defined as prose and may be differentiated from poetry as there is no use of rhyming words, rhythm verses or meters. The length of the narrative is usually not more than 50 pages or that which can be entirely read in one sitting. A Short Story is different from a novel in that it normally revolves around two or three main characters with supporting few minor characters, with a focused plot or single theme, and to make it interesting and gripping the authors give the story a twist or an anticlimax. Hence we can define that a Short Story as a fictional body of work, which has five important points; character, …show more content…

Dahl severed in the Royal Air Force during World War 2 in which he became a flying ace and an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of an wing commander. His career as an writer rose in the 1940’s with his great work for both children as well as adults and was known as one of the world’s best author’s as his work become best sellers .He has been referred to as a “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”. Among all his awards that got for his contribution to literature, he received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1983 and Children’s author of the year from British Book Awards in 1990 . In 2008 The Times came out with a list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945” amongst which he was placed on the 16th rank. Roald Dahl’s short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children’s stories for their unsentimental, often dark humor. His works include many great stories such as My Uncle Oswald, Fantastic Mr. Fox and many more. One of his greatest writing’s is “MAN FROM THE SOUTH” MAN FROM THE SOUTH - ROALD DAHL Points I would like to discuss about this short story are - • SETTING • CHARACTERISATION • PLOT • STRUCTURE • NARRATOR • POINT OF …show more content…

Listening to the girl’s conversation with her mother the past story plot unfolds. The present story goes forward on the beach with the young man befriending a small girl and they discuss banana fish CHARACTERISATION : Seymour Glass: Major Character He is the hero of the story and army man who has just returned to be with his wife. We learn more about his character through the conversation that his wife has with her mother, where it is insinuated that he may be slightly mentally imbalanced. Muriel Glass: Major Character She is the young wife appears to be very superficial and selfish. Maybe she does not understand her husband and is unable to relate to his thought process Sybil Carpenter: Minor Character She is a young girl or child whose innocent interactions has soothing effect on Seymour Mother: Minor Character She is deeply concerned and worried for the daughters well being. PLOT AND STRUCTURE ; A young couple has come to Florida for a holiday. From the conversation of the wife with her mother it appears that the husband has recently returned from the army posting and in all probability is mentally disturbed due to which the mother is very apprehensive for her daughters safety, but the wife seems to be quiet

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