Bluffing Short Story

When in a relationship it is well known that keeping thoughts and secrets away from your significant other can lead to complications in the relationship. Bluffing, an extraordinary dramatic romance short story by Gail Helgason, does a magnificent job of depicting this. This short story revolves around a young couple, Liam and Gabriella, it takes place in Jasper, Alberta, Canada at the Maligne Range. The story begins with Liam in the hospital, he is being treated for injury caused by a bear attack. What follows is a flashback with terrific narration about the three weeks leading up to this horrific incident, the incident starts when Gabriella and Liam go hiking, recommended by Gabriella, she wants to tell Liam that she has leased a house for

Gabriella, the main character, is the protagonist, she is a round, dynamic character as the reader knows quite a bit about her, like that she is a 10th grade biology teacher, who is active and has a passion for hiking, she is dynamic because at the start of the story she still thinks that her and Liam have a great relationship, but by the end of the short story she recognizes that Liam is not the right person for her. It is clear that she is the protagonist because of the omniscient point of view the author provides, throughout the story there is consistent narration but the reader perceives the thoughts and feelings of only Gabriella. “Only three weeks since the accident, and it seems as if shes been waiting forever”(Helgason, 71), this quote says “she” has been waiting forever rather than referring to time in general, the author focuses on how Gabriella feels. The antagonist in this story is Lian, well why is Gabriella 's partner the antagonist? It is simple he opposes Gabriella, Gabriella wants to lease a home for the two of them but Liam opposes what she wants by planning out a 3 month trip with his peer, Clive. “If we pool our resources, live in his old van, we’ve got just enough to get by for three months over the winter. So we’re gonna head down south.”(Helgason, 74) As a character Liam is round and static who also equbits traits of a foil character.

The initial action of the story was quite mysterious as no context is given to the reader, all the reader knows is that there are two characters, Gabriella and Liam, and that Liam isin Jasper Hospital for an unknown reason. From the narration the reader develops a recognition for the type of relationship the two share, “the scent reminds her of the homemade cleaning solution she prepared at Liam’s insistence. She used the mixture for a week, until she noticed it took twice as long to remove the grime as the concrete she bought at the janitorial supply store. Liam hadn’t notice she stopped using it.” (Helgason, 71) The initial action has a great hook, the hook occurs when the reader knows that Liam is in the hospital, this raises a lot of questions, why is he injured? How did he get injured? To get all these answers the reader has to continue reading. The rising action of this is story takes place in a flashback, this flashback is about the three weeks leading up to the bear attack. It starts with Gabriella leasing a house, she wants to lease this house so that her and Liam would be able to spend more time together of the winter. To reveal the news of her leasing a house she suggests a hike, she tells Liam that she wants to go hiking so they can have a good time by a nearby lake, in reality she wanted to reveal the news of the lease to Liam. On the way to the lake Gabriella and Liam run into 2 young men, Gabriella and Liam