Analysis of 5 Flash Fiction Stories - Literature review Example

Flash Fiction The Colonel This story written by Carolyn Forche remains as a fabulous fiction story expressing the feelings the main character in the story had towards the author. In the story, the emotions of the man become depicted as directed towards the author’s country (James, Denise & Tom 85). The man in the story feels that by telling the author his emotions might make a difference. The story manages to use metaphors, allusions, expositions and hyperbole to describe the difference or a war between the main character’s country and the author’s (James, Denise & Tom 84). From the description about the colonel in the story, one could conclude that his personality could best be described as a remorseless person in a chaotic country that embraced violence among their people (James, Denise & Tom 85). The colonel reveals his evil personality to the author with no compunction, “He spilled many human ears on the table” (James, Denise & Tom 85). Furthermore, the author manages to reveal to the reader that the colonel behaved that way since his people had become hard to difficult to govern plus he had enemies. Water This story written by Fred Leebron remains as an intriguing fictional story that entails a lady that broke up with her boyfriend and sought for revenge. The story begins with a happy time memory of the couple being by the river side enjoying themselves, “She touches his hair by the river” (James, Denise & Tom 157). The author in the story jumps back and forth in telling her story as she reveals her past relationship and links to the current event. From the story, one could realize that the author enjoyed pleasant times with the man he dated before they moved to his apartment. As the author compares the past life with the present, one could realize that the two had broken up though the author had the key of the apartment. The author goes to her ex-boyfriends apartment and turns on the gas stove without lighting it, then walks away. The author is angry with the man and plans for a fire accident to occur in his apartment since she knew that he liked to smoke, “The air smells of autumn, burnt” (James, Denise & Tom 157). This story hence reveals the bitterness of a girl who feels cheated in entering a relationship with the man she speaks about, “His former girlfriends have turned into lesbians” (James, Denise & Tom 157). The readers remain left in suspense on what will happen to the former boyfriend when the author leaves the apartment with the gas stove on “I turn it on without lighting” (James, Denise & Tom 157). Night This story written by Bret Lott depicts loneliness in the life of a parent after their child disappeared. The man in the story wakes up at night thinking he heard his child’s breathing in the next room. The man goes forth to confirm if his child is sleeping in the next room, only to be disappointed. The story shows the emptiness the man had in his life and the love he had for their child. The character in the story had strong emotions for their child that disappeared to the extent of imagining the presence of his child in the next room, “He thought he could hear their child breathing in the next room” (James, Denise & Tom 61). The father gets depicted as a disturbed person and wakes up every night thinking the child has returned and sleeping in the next room, “This happened each night, like a dream, but not” (James, Denise & Tom 62). From the story, one could tell that the wife became disgusted with her husband’s behavior of checking their child’s bedroom every night, “‘Why not yesterday,’ and she moved back into sleep” (James, Denise & Tom 61). The story possesses an emotional touch when the author described the coldness of the environment the man was. A lot could also be drawn of the story and one could realize that the father missed his child as evident from daily checking for his return in the next room. The Hurricane Ride Bernard Cooper in this story provides a detailed account of her aunt’s experience on a hurricane ride “The Hurricane Ride gathered speed” (James, Denise & Tom 161). The author gets dazed by the reaction she sees on her aunt and describes everything he sees on her in considerable detail, “Her face dissolved a trace of rouge” (James, Denise & Tom 162). In this story, a bond between the author and his aunt gets revealed when they go for a Hurricane Ride. The author carefully examines the reactions of her aunt while they were on the ride and becomes mesmerized at how the ride drew different emotions in her. The author gives an account of how his aunt was like as he remembers that memory. The author refers to the memory as though vanishing, “They are on the verge of Vanishing” (James, Denise & Tom 162). Through the story, one could realize that the author missed the aunt and clung to the only memory he had about her enjoying a hurricane ride. Therefore, the story gives a recall of a past event that occurred between the author and his aunt who might not be close to her at the moment. Vision out of the corner of one eye The story reveals a flirting session in a bus between the author and the man in the bus. It started with the man touching the ass of the author and pretending not to have done so. As the bus continued to pick more people, the man still continued to fondle the author, but she kept her calm despite the numerous people in her bus. At first, she remained nervous, but as the guy continued to fondle her, she started becoming naughty, “…or at any rate not making him think I like it” (James, Denise & Tom 76). The author enjoyed seeing the guy sweating himself. Eventually, she decided to play his game and extended her hand behind him. Before she even got enough of what they were doing, the man alighted a few blocks away forgetting his wallet with 7, 400 pesos in it. The story ends with the author lamenting on not knowing the man well since she thought he might be a generous and an affectionate person. This story depicts a start of a romantic atmosphere that the author felt for sometime in a bus and yearns for more, though she could not trace the man she was flirting with. Readers get left in suspense after expecting more to come out of the event between the author and the man (James, Denise & Tom 76). Works Cited James Thomas, Denise Thomas, Tom Hazuka. Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories. New York: Norton, 1992. (James, Denise & Tom 23). Read More