FREE ESSAY ON A GOOD SHORT STORY

A GOOD SHORT STORY

What Elements Makes Up A Short Story?
What is a short story? What are the criteria necessary for a short story? What makes a
good short story? After lengthy debates between many groups we??ve decided that it can
not be decided by consensus, but by what we feel a short story must contain; different
people may have different perspectives of this. This essay is devoted to portraying my
group??s conclusion to what a short story is. With reference to our critical criteria:
plot, suspense, object and timeline; I will discuss whether the stories: Mr. Know All,
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and By the Rivers of Babylon meets them.
The plot is a series of events combined together to form a short story. The events are
limited due to the length of a short story. A short story is also viewed as the
??storyline?? of the story. Each event occurs according to its order in the storyline. 
The three stories that I chose to analyze all contain the element of plot.
In the story Mr. Know All, Max Kelada, a voyager on the ship traveling from San Francisco
annoys all the passengers by entering their conversations uninvitingly. He frequently
takes over the discussion due to his vast knowledge. Max was credited to knowing almost
everything about anything. No one on the ship could beat him in a debate. One day, he had
a bet with another passenger by the name of Ramsay. It was about the authenticity of the
pearls that Ramsay??s wife was wearing. Kelada, after careful inspection, knew that the
pearls were real. But, after he saw the expression on Mrs. Ramsay??s face, he sacrificed
his reputation and concluded that the pearls were imitation to save the Ramsays??
relationship. 
Plot was also evident in the story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The title itself
describes what this story is all about. It was concerning a man by the name of Walter
Mitty who frequently experienced daydreams. As fast as his daydreams occur, they disperse
just as quickly with assistance from the outside environment (wife, parking attendant,
etc.) He first dreams about being the commander of a hydroplane who has to get his crew
out of danger from the hurricane. Soon after, he is a doctor who walks into a hospital
only to be called upon to help with emergency surgery. A technical glitch occurs in the
operating equipment and he repairs it with a regular pen. While walking down the street
he jumps into another daydream about being on trial for the murder of Gregory Fitzhurst.
He announces that he killed the man with his left hand and brings the courtroom into
chaos. Later on in the hotel Mitty dreams about his courageousness, he volunteers to fly
a bomber by himself during the Second World War. His last daydream ends with him standing
infront of a firing squad.
By the Waters of Babylon also contains a plot. It is a story that takes place in the post
apocalyptic era. The people now live in tribes and have reverted to a superstitious
religion. The elders constantly talk about the land of the Gods and how people are not
allowed to journey there. The son of a priest gets curious about this land of the Gods.
His soul would not rest unless he made this journey. Understanding that in doing so would
mean death, he continues only to satisfy his curiousity. During his travel, he comes
across a strange material called metal and finally the city of New York, not the
forbidden realm of the Gods.
The element of suspense we also concluded was critical in a short story. Suspense is the
substance in the story that brings up questions to its readers. It makes the readers
imagine what may occur later in the story. It assists the readers in experience what the
characters in the story experiences.
In the short story Mr. Know-All, suspense was apparent when Max Kelada had a conflict
with Ramsay. They were arguing about the authenticity of the pearls Mrs. Ramsay was
wearing. This brought up some questions to the readers, is it real? When Kelada
discovered that the pearls were genuine, the reader would have expected (suspense) that
he would reveal the truth. But the looked on Mrs. Ramsay??s face completely changed his
mind and he opted to lie about their realness (also suspense, why did he lie?).
In the story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, suspense is also present. The audiences,
while reading this story, are made to question the mental condition of Walter Mitty. The
readers also contemplate whether Mitty will get his errands done (buy shoes, dog
biscuits, etc.) before his wife gets out of the salon. Another constituent of suspense is
also existent at the end of the story when Mitty stands in front of the firing squad.
Does he die?
We can notice suspense in the story By the Waters of Babylon, when they were talking
about the forbidden domain of the Gods. It makes us think, Where is it? What is it?
Suspense was also existent when the boy was having a conflict with himself. Was he really
going to commit to traveling to this prohibited place?
Object is another characteristic of a short story that our group deemed critical. An
object can be any thing that is present in a story. A rock, a character etc, it gives the
story substance as well as something to focus upon.
In all three of the stories, there are many ??objects?? present in the story. To
summarize:
Mr. Know-All: Max Kelada, ship, Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay, narrator etc.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Walter Mitty, Mrs. Mitty, parking attendant, car, judge,
hydroplane, bomber, etc. 
By the Waters of Babylon: Boy, priest, metal etc.
A timeline was the last device we found necessary as a critical criteria for a short
story. The timeline is defined as a series of events, some of which are included in the
story. A beginning point and an ending point are selected from this timeline and the
events that occur between these two points make up the story.
In the story Mr. Know-All, the beginning point occurs when the war had finally ended and
Max Kelada(Mr. Know-All) and the narrator boarded the ship and met in the lounge. The
ending point was when Kelada received an envelope from Mrs. Ramsay with a hundred-dollar
bill. This shows us that Kelada knew that the pearl necklace was real and ends the story
with Kelada really knowing everything.
In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the story begins with Walter Mitty daydreaming about
being a commander in a hydroplane, he is guiding the plane away from a hurricane. The
ending point takes place with Mitty daydreaming. It ends with him finishing his cigarette
while standing in front of a firing squad.
The story By the Waters of Babylon begins with a warning about the restrictions of
entering the Dead place unless it was for metal. It also stated the laws that forbid the
journeying to the land of the Gods. The story ends with the young boy making a vow to
return to ??New York?? with a band of men in search of the images of men like ??Ashing,
and Lincoln??.
In conclusion, the stories, Mr. Know-All, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and By the
Waters of Babylon fit our critical criteria completely. They all had elements of plot,
suspense, object, and timeline in them which made them short stories to us. Other may
disagree with our selection of critical criteria, but this is what we perceive constructs
a short story. 
Critical Criteria
"h Suspense
"h Plot
"h Object
"h Timeline
Critical Criteria for a Good Story
"h At least one character
"h Setting
"h Theme
"h Conflict
"h Attempted resolution of conflict
Stories: (Man and His World)
"h Mr. Know-All pg. 432
"h The Secret Life of Walter Mitty pg. 87
"h By the Waters of Babylon pg. 237