Category Archives: Short Stories

‘The Cricket War’ is a short story by Bob Thurber. It tells about a Family that lives in the countryside and of course their farm house has creepy crawlers. The mother can’t stand bugs at all and tells father to get rid of them or she’ll leave. When father tries to kill the crickets he ends up in a war with them.
Mother and father are protagonists. I understand the mother; she doesn’t like crickets which are coming inside almost everywhere. But why has she agreed to move to the country side if she has no tolerate a few bugs in the basement. Their antagonist are the crickets and live in the countryside.
One of the family’s kids is the narrator. He tells the story in his point of view. The narrator tells what character had said to another. There are no dialogues in the story.
Ending of the story is not predictable. It makes me think of that maybe the father doesn’t want to reject pests himself next time when they come inside the house. I think also the story means that humans don’t ordain everything in the world.

Written by pörrövalas

”The Last Spin”, a short story written by Evan Hunter, tells us a touching story about two guys, Danny and Tigo. They are both gang members who have been chosen to play a game of Russian roulette, the purpose of which is to settle some of the gangs’ disagreements. The game takes place in a small basement room.

The protagonists of the story are basically both of the main characters, Danny and Tigo. This is because neither one of them is brought up or described more than the other. Danny and Tigo are both young men and share similar interests, both are wearing their own gangs’ jackets. The antagonist of the story is in some way the game that the guys are playing, which is also the story’s central conflict. In the end the game is resolved by Danny shooting himself.

The story also features some character development. In the beginning Tigo is Danny’s enemy and they are a bit cold to each other. As the game goes on, they start to talk about things and even have a laugh. They notice that they come along well, although being from different gangs, and that they suddenly have trust and friendship between them, which after Danny shooting himself leads to Tigo starting to cry.

The narrative point of view in ”The Last Spin” is third person omniscient, as the narrator seems to know what Danny and Tigo feel during the game. However, the narrator isn’t very important to the story, because most of the story consists of Danny and Tigo’s dialogue.

The main themes of the story deal with the shortness and vulnerability of life and how friendship can form even in strange situations, such as a game of life and death. It also tells that belonging to a gang doesn’t make you a bad person and that an enemy can sometimes be good.

I read a short story The Last Spin by Evan Hunter. The story tells about two boys who are settling a conflict between their gangs by playing Russian Roulette.

These boys, Danny and Tigo, are only characters in the story. Danny is the protagonist because the story is told by his point of view. For example, the narrator tells about Danny’s feelings but not a single word about Tigo’s feelings or what he thinks. At first, Tigo is the antagonist but when the story goes on Danny and Tigo become friends. The narrator is third person omniscient even though it tells nothing about Tigo’s feelings or thoughts.

The story is trying to say that there are always good people amongst the opposite side, amongst the enemy. Sometimes it is not the ”normal” people who want two groups or nations to fight against each other, it is the decision-makers, the ”clever” people.

”The Last Spin” is a short story written by Evan Hunter. It tells about two guys, Danny and Tico, who are chosen to settle some territory brawl from their clubs by playing a ”game”, which is a matter of life and death.

The protagonist or the antagonist of the story isn’t said clearly. And it’s because either Danny or Tico is the protagonist or the antagonist of the story. Another reason for not knowing sure about the
characters role is that the narrator of the story is someone outsider, and it gives a different view about the story to that who ever reads it. That’s why it’s so hard
to tell. And because overall the text is mostly Danny’s and Tico’s dialogue.

The ending of the story was kinda easy to guess.

The theme in this story is pointing on something like: ”Life is short” or ”Enjoy little things in life”. I also found it very awesome that a friendship can bloom in a very short time in a place and at a time like that.