THE VIRGIN OF SMALL PLAINS and "Child's Play"

The short story I chose for this week was “Child’s Play” by Alice Munro. This story went back to a time at summer camp when two girls Charlene and Marlene do something to another girl who is special. At camp everyone views them as twins and they start to compare themselves and their live to each other and how similar and different they are from each other. After camp, they don’t stay in touch until one day when Charlene is on her deathbed and Marlene went to visit and Charlene asked her to go see a priest.

There are only three main characters in this short story and the emotion and characters were developed so perfect because when I was reading I could picture the reading. The two girls were acting like typical girls and picked on poor Verna because she was a little different. Girls are the worst when it comes to having friends and not. If you are not one of them then you got picked on and during the time frame of this story people with special needs were not around others.

In comparing the “The Virgin of Small Plains” and the short story, they both had a girl that was a little different and murdered. I thought short story could have been made into a novel. The short story could have gone on more about the girl’s choice after they left the campground and got to the deathbed. I enjoyed both the short story and novel this week because I felt that the novel was local and I was able to connect to it.

Both of my authors were female this week. Their main characters were female, but in the “The Virgin of Small Plains” the murderer is man and in the short story the murderers are children and girls.

Of all the short story I did like this story. I did not guess what the girls had done at the camp. I knew someone had died from the beginning of the story, but thought it was going to be either Marlene or Charlene not Verna. I am still unsure why Charlene wanted Marlene to take the letter to the priest. Also, the author did a great job in showing that the girls had a fear of the Verna and not sure if that is why they killed her or what was really going through their minds.

The Monks of the Abbey Victoria vs. Mystic River

This week I compared and contrasted The Monks of Abbey Victoria with the Mystic River. I really thought both pieces well written and I could follow clearly where some of the other short stories lost me.
The Monks was about a guy, who begins working at TV network. Some of his coworkers put him through a few tests to see if they could trust him. Then they asked him to join their secret club. He shows his coworkers that he can be trusted but in the end he lost his job at the expense of gaining his coworkers friendship.In Comparison of The Monk of Abbey Victoria and the Mystic River they both are from a more modern time frame which allows the readers to be able to relate to it. I see some similarities between Sean and Dale. They both want other to like them and to be on the inside and will go along with what ever to get there. I feel both Authors did a good job developing the characters which allows the reader enough information about the two main characters.

As far as the length of each goes, I don't feel that either one could have benefited from being changed. The Monk of Abbey Victoria really couldn't have gone on for too long, without the rising action being boring. The big climactic point would've lost something if much more time was spent on the rising action. I think Mystic River was just the right length as well. I liked both pieces; but if I had to pick, I'd say I liked Mystic River better. The suspense was just the right amount in this book for me.I don't think in that in these two stories there were many differences. Both pieces were written by men.