"Sucker" by Carson McCullers

Imagine sharing a room with your little cousin Sucker. Your little cousin has lived with you ever since his parents died. Sucker admires you. He listens and remembers everything you tell him, he respects you. This boy still believes you after all the lies he was told. Once, you told him that if he jumped off the garage, an umbrella would act as a parachute, so he did and broke his knee. What you just imagined is what Pete's point of view is. The short story "Sucker", by Carson McCullers, is obviously a tragedy.

Carson's short story perfectly fits the tragic plotline. For the world is in conflict, Pete felt like he's been mean to Sucker. Talking to Sucker every night before bed was the rise to power because he was building a stronger bond with Sucker. The tragic flaw or human weakness was when Pete yelled at Sucker after being dumped by Maybelle. After Pete yelled at Sucker, Sucker started to dislike Pete, which was the tragic fall. As for the death or death symbolism, Sucker's admiration of Pete came to an end.

The characteristics matched as well. "Sucker" is realistic. Carson's short story is realistic because it seemed like something that really could have happened. I also thought that the main character, Pete, was in control. Pete was in control because he decided to start being nicer to Sucker once he realized how mean he was before.

There was a lot of tragic symbolism too. Maybelle was described to have red nail polish. Red is tragic symbolism because it could resemble blood. It said Pete knew that Maybelle smoked in her basement so he brought her cigarettes and asked her out. Basements are tragic symbolism because in horror movies, bad things usually happen when someone is alone in a large open space like a basement. Pete and Sucker would talk in the darkness of their room at night. Darkness and night are symbolism because bad thing would usually happen at night or in darkness.

"Sucker" by Carson McCullers appears to be tragic. Pete lost control, after being dumped by Maybelle, and yelled at Sucker without even thinking about what he was saying, which brings us to conclude that the moral of the story seems to be to think before you act or speak. It is really important to control yourself, especially when you're angry. Have you ever lost control of yourself?

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London

Imagine going down a trail, in weather colder -50 degrees, to get to your sons at a different camp. Do you think that would be a good idea? That is exactly what the man did in "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. A dog followed the man at his heel, for it the man expected was going to go to a camp, but didn't expect the journey. Jack's short story appeared to be both an irony and a tragedy.

"To Build a Fire" fits all of the tragic plotline. When the man fell through the ice was the world is in conflict. And the rise to power was when the man built a fire. The tragic flaw or human weakness was he built the fire under a snow covered tree. As a result, the tragic fall was when the snow fell and put out the fire. Lastly, the death or death symbolism was when the man froze to death.

Unlike the tragic plotline, the ironic plotline doesn't completely match. I couldn't find a match for the world is in chaos. But I found a match for all the other points. When the man fell through the ice and couldn't start a fire, that was the major conflict. And the death or loss of sanity was when the man froze to death.

Not all of the characteristics matched either. For tragedy, it was realistic, but the man did not seem to be in control. And for irony, it wasn't unrealistic or a nightmare vision of reality and there was no "bad" so bad could not be strong. But the man seemed not to be in control and he was stupid, weak and could do no right. When he tried to kill the dog to keep his hands warm but couldn’t because he forgot about his frost bite, that made me think that he was stupid and can do no right.

There wasn't a lot of symbolism for both tragedy and irony.  The man in the short story mentioned a tale about a guy who survived a blizzard by climbing into an animal carcass, blizzards are ironic symbolism. In the very first sentence, Jack was describing the day as cold and gray, gray is both ironic and tragic symbolism. Jack also said it was winter and mentioned cold wind, both are tragic symbolism. He also described the dog to look just like his cousin the wolf and that is tragic symbolism as well.

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London seemed to be ironic and tragic based off of the plotline, characteristics, and symbolism. The moral of the short story was to use common sense. If it is so cold outside that if you were to spit and it would freeze before it hits the ground, that would be a sign to stay indoors and keep warm. The man should have waited until it got warmer to go visit his sons. He probably would have lived if he did. Using common sense could save your life.

"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury

Imagine going back in time to hunt a t-rex. A sheet of fog sets in as the t-rex climbs over a hill not too far from where you are. Then it all goes wrong. That is just what happens in the short story "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. The story fits most of the criteria of the Ironic mode of literature.

"A Sound of Thunder" fits all but one point on the irony plotline. The one point that doesn't fit is the world is in chaos. When Eckels fell off the path, that was the major conflict. And finally, death or loss of sanity is when Eckels gets back to the present. That is so because Eckels noticed the words on the sign were spelled weird, so he looked down at his boots and saw a dead butterfly stuck to the bottom, he had altered the universe. Lesperance, the safari guide, was right when he said it might alter some thing little like the way we speak.

Like the plotline, Ray's short story almost matches all the characteristics. It was highly unrealistic as well as a nightmare vision of reality. For the main character is not in control and also the main character is stupid, weak and can do no right was when Eckels went the wrong way and fell off the path. I didn't find anything for good is weak, but for bad is strong the t-rex was bigger than they expected.

In addition to not completely matching the ironic mode of literature , there wasn't a lot of symbolism either. They mentioned red, from when the safari guides marked the dinosaur. Also, they mentioned nightfall, when they started up the time machine. Maybe the dinosaur could be symbolism because it's kind of like a snake and a dragon. That was really all the symbolism I could find.

Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" almost matches the Ironic mode of literature. In the story, one dead butterfly altered  the way they spoke. What do you think would happen to the present day if someone killed a butterfly a million years ago?

The Island

Author's Note: This was a chain story. I only wrote the first sentence, the class wrote the rest.

It has been 3 hours since the plane crashed. We were flying over the island when our plane went down. Now we're stuck here, but it's okay. The island is great, its beautiful and there are so many animals. But there is one bad thing. All the animals are carnivores. The fourth hour had passed and we have run out of food. We are currently building shelter and sending groups to get more supplies. We have already hunted and eaten 300 lions. We're stuffed! It has been 24 hours since the crash. Our camp was attacked by bears and one ate my legs. Luckily, one of the passengers was a doctor. So much for being rescued… It has been 30 hours since the crash and still, nobody has shown up to rescue us. I wonder where they could be? 7 years later… They finally arrived. I felt like Bear Grills when I had a little amount of food and had to eat liver. When I got home, I got a cool pair of mechanical legs, to replace the ones that were eaten, and a story that will be passed on for ages.

Llamas

llamas are weird,
they spit in your face,
and can't grow a beard,
I don't think they can race,
they need water all the time,
a llama is an odd creature,
they don't have many rhymes,
llamas have a strange feature,
they can spit,
I don't think it's that great,
get too close and you'll be hit,
then llamas you will come to hate,
llamas will always be weird.

Candy

candy is something I like to eat,
but only if it's new,
'cause if you eat it off the street,
it will taste like a shoe,
it can also make you sick,
so do not give your shoes a lick,
'cause that will make you ill too,
when you're sick you might throw up,
and that tastes worse than a shoe,
and if you think it's a lie,
then go ask a grown-up,
because being sick is something you don't want to try.

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