In The Silence By Norah Burke

We have all read short stories before and have come across many different kinds: shorter ones, longer ones, funny ones, sad ones, good ones, and maybe even some not-so-good ones. Of course we have all read a fair share of good short stories, many people can write good short stories, however, what is really nice and a little rarer to come by is an excellent short story. The difference between the two is made clear by three key components that are used quite effectively in these three short stories; The Blue Bead by Norah Burke, In the Silence by Peggy S. Curry, and The Time of the Wolves by Marcia Muller. In an excellent short story, there is always a meaningful message or theme, a well developed protagonist and sensory details that engage the

The theme of this short story is that having a positive and optimistic outlook on life will lead to success. The protagonist is a young girl named Sibia who lived in great poverty with her mother. In the story, she was described as “a thin starveling child dressed in an earth-coloured rag.” The author also goes further to add that Sibia “had torn the rag in two to make a skirt and sari.”

There are plenty examples of this in the story The Time of the Wolves by Marcia Muller. Sensory details include sight, sound, touch , taste, and smell. These are crucial in creating a believable and genuine setting which is important because it needs to fascinate the reader in order to hold their interest and for them to better visualize. Since we experience the world using our five senses, it is only natural that in order to immerse oneself into a story, we need to be able to experience that world using our five senses as well. A great use of the sensory detail of sight in the story is when describing the physical traits of Sarah as shown in the following quote, “Her dark hair hung loose about her shoulders; she wore a muslin dress dyed the rich brown of walnut bark. Her eyes were deeply circled - haunted.” This helped us to better see the character and her defining features to further enhance the image we created in our heads. The sensory detail of sound was used very well to describe the wolves as “their claws go snick snick on the boards.” By describing the sound made by the wolves, the author added more texture to the reader’s perception of the story. Not only can the reader see the scene, they can also hear it. The sensory detail of taste was used to describe how the coffee Sarah made was “a bitter and nearly unpalatable brew.” Through this detail, the reader can put