Short Story Profile “Twins” by Eric Wright (Echoes, p. 213).ppt

Short Story Profile“Twins”by Eric Wright(Echoes,p.213),Genrecrime story,Focus,The story is an examination of human behavior and experience since it exposes the attitudes and behaviours of the husband and wife regarding committing a crimeIt illustrates a thread of life at a significant momentthe couples actions before the murder and the wifes after the murder,Economy,The writer is economical in his condensation of the narrative elements.The first line establishes the conflict between husband and wifeher criticism of his plots since he is a writer.There are only 2 characters,introduced right away.There is one main setting,the mine shaft,however,at the end,the wife drives home where we learn what she did and why.We learn right away that the husband is testing a plot for his new book.,Point of View,The point of view of the first part of the story is 3rd person objectiveit is mostly dialogue,so we do not learn how either of the characters is really feeling.The second half is 3rd person limitedthe narrator knows the thoughts of the wife only.,Plot Type,The story begins in media res(in the middle of things).There is very little in the way of introduction except to establish the identity of the characters and the setting.It is then told chronologically,through the dialogue between the man and woman.,Plot Structure,Expositionvery little background information except to establish the 2 characters,the setting,the mans profession and a hint at a conflict(the wife is critical of her husbands stories)all this in the first sentence.Inciting Incidentthe husband drives his wife to a mine shaft to test a possible scenario for a crime storyRising Actionthe dialogue between the man and the woman about his plot hat involves a husband killing his wife,and getting away with it the wife questions his plan,Plot Structure,Climaxthe husband“reached inside his jacket and pulled out the little handgun he had bought in Detroit,”and ends with him pulling the trigger three times.Falling Actionthe wife drives“home and waits for two days for him to return,then she called the police”ends at“all she had to do was nurse her grief for the few weeks while the police made their enquiries.”we learn why he wanted to kill her and why she ended up killing him insteadResolutionit appears the crime will go unpunished because she followed what her husband had planned for her demise”The plan had been perfect,or pretty goodThe rest went exactly as he had planned.”,Atmosphere,The setting at the mine shaft and the discussion of how to murder someone and get away with it,creates an atmosphere of suspense and foreboding.,Characterization,The husband and wife are both round characters but are not dynamic.The husband is having an affair which shows that he is unfaithful.His murder plot also proves him to be cunning yet immoral.The wife figures out his plan and murders her husband portraying her as resourceful and smart,yet,without remorse.,Conflict,The conflict is between the husband and wife,person vs.person.It appears that there has been conflict between them in the past because of her criticism of his plots,and now,because the husband is having an affair,his conflict with his wife includes his attempt to murder her.,Irony,Situational Ironythe ending is quite different from what the reader expects to happenThe wife kills her husband,instead of the other way around,Dialogue,Most of the story is presented through dialogueMake characters more life-likeReveals characterPlant clues for the readerPrevents revealing too much information(an omniscient narrator might reveal too much of the characters thoughts”,Foreshadowing/Suspense,Clues are planted throughout the dialogue,creating suspenseThe reader becomes suspicious of the husbands motives for taking his wife to the mineshaft,because he is not able to reveal all the details of his plan to his wifeEvident when she says,“This isnt the way you usually work.Usually you get the character first,then let the plot grow out of them.So you say anyway.”,Imagery,Allows the reader to get involved in the action:-the visual imagery of the mine shaft-the images suggested by the husbands plotthe plan to drive to the hotel;the pretend argument etc.,Tone,The tone is largely conversational,which is ironic in view of the evil intentions of the husband,Theme,The author,Eric Wright,implies in the last sentence of the story,“the rest went exactly as planned,”that with the right plot and story,some crimes can go unpunished.The theme could also be that no matter how well your plan,if the goal is morally wrong,the plans chance of failure increases,