Reaction paper to short stories

Reaction Paper to Short Stories Student’s Name Institution Course Number and Name Instructor’s Name Date Reaction Paper to Short Stories Of the four short stories, I found Amanda Lee Koe’s The Ballad of Arlene & Nelly the most interesting. A unique strategy employed in this engaging book is the use of questions and providing answers to them. Her narrative strategy of using questions to guide the story was instrumental in answering the questions in the reader’s mind. As I read the story and came across the guiding questions, I felt like she was asking the questions on my mind. For example, the question "Did Arlene have any lovers in the (fourteen-year) interim?" came right after Arlene had met Nelly for the third time (Koe, p.197). At this juncture, I really wanted to know if Arlene had love stories of her own to share. By asking and answering the questions, Koe does a great job of not only keeping the reader engaged with the story but also answering the questions in their mind. Throughout the story, she employs several such questions, which is a narrative strategy I find appealing. The character I loved the most in Koe's story is Arlene. I would go as far as saying she stands out across the four short stories due to her capacity to love and be loyal to one person, even when they marry somebody else. The author does well to depict Arlene as a person full genuine love and loyalty to Nelly, even during her wedding when she ‘let her walk away.’ But did she really let her go? In the story, the reader is informed that Arlene hoped that Nelly had left her husband for her while in truth, she left him because he cheated. In essence, I loved Arlene, and it broke my heart when she had to die. However, I am grateful that Koe was able to give her seven months to love and cherish Nelly. What a story! An important element of Chinese culture is present in Koe's story: the value of male children. In the story, the author narrates that when Arlene's younger sister gave birth to twin-boys, it “eased the pressure valve on Arlene” (Koe, p.201). In essence, the son preference practice of Chinese people is evident in the story. Koe does well to bring up this bias towards male children and when Arlene's sister gave birth to twins, it eased the pressure on her, allowing her to live without marrying or getting childr...