Interpreting The Short Story Hoibnail's Hobnail

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Hobnail, a short story that I seem to have found very interesting. The story is about a mother(Ellen) and daughter(Frannie) who sat outside around her uncle’s house one day after church. As the day started to near an end they needed to say their farewells and walk there a few miles home through the woods. At this rate it would be dark before they would arrive home to Frannie’s father. On their way home Frannie started to hear footsteps behind her, her mother stops multiple times and turn around with your lantern to show her daughter that no one is following them, “as the distant ring of heavy boots echoed in the dark."(Crystal Abrogast online) They started to sing religious songs (I am assuming to calm themselves and feel safe) Frannie just couldn't understand why her mom couldn't hear the footsteps when the family arrived home unharmed mom and dad put Frannie to rest. The story then says "before closing her eyes, her mother’s voice rang in her ears."(Crystal Abrogast online) She tells her husband, she heard someone following them and when she turned to look it was a headless man, she didn't say …show more content…

The eerie feeling given by the woods causes suspension and gives more depth to the story. The Author gave me the feeling that the story takes place summer southern because of some of the things the Characters say, such as "Mammy" "Papa" and talking about the wise county and the city. Crystal (the author) used a very imagery to create the essence of a calm night, shown here “The hoot owl continued its call in the distance, and the right breeze rustled the leaves in the trees”(Crystal Abrogast). This story has a probable chance of being dated a bit; because, they use a lantern with a wick and oil, and Frannie’s favorite toy is a rag doll- which is also in the comic. I wanted to show what I thought were the most important elements of my story and use

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