Something Funny: Story Analysis

Short summary of literary biography- 


      Elizabeth van Steenwyk has written over 65 books for young people and more than 250 articles and short stories for adult and children’s magazines. She has written books from biographies to fictional stories about animals and has won several awards throughout her writing career. Some of these awards are the Helen Keating Ott Award for outstanding contribution to children’s literature, presented by the Church and Synagogue Library Association. She has also received the silver medal at the International Film and Television Festival for an adaptation of her book, The Best Horse.

                                                                                                

Own summary-

 This short story is about a girl named Janey who is dating a guy named Bill.  At first she likes him, but then starts to get tired of him because she thinks he is boring.  Bill has a dream about a spaceship and aliens and tells Janey about it.  Janey decides she wants to brake up with Bill and does so by showing him the third eye she has on her forehead and revealing that she is an alien.  Bill is shocked by this.



Plot Analysis:



Conflict-  Janey is getting tired of Bill, doesn´t know whether she should brake up with him or not.



Rising Action-  Janey and Bill leave for the party,  Bill tells Janey about her dream.



Climax- Janey shows Bill the third eye on her forehead.



Resolution-  Bill is shocked about seeing Janey`s third eye and discovering she´s an alien aswell.



Characterization-



Janey- is anxious about her situation with Bill. She is a little dominant over Bill. She has a third eye on her forehead.



Bill-  loves Star Wars movies, and things related to spaceships and aliens. He thinks his dream is funny. Has a more positive attitude towards his relationship with Janey.



Irony-  the irony in the story is that Bill has a dream about aliens and tells Janey about it and in the end Janey is an alien herself.



Personal Opinion-

    My opinion about the story is that it is a good story for being a short story. By this I mean that it is not a very complicated story nor the development of the story is very deep but it has elements that make it interesting. It is realistic because it exposes conflict between a couple.  It brings suspense with the dream about aliens, and it has irony.