Short Stories: The Progression of a Genre

The short story has drastically changed from the plot-oriented cartoon of which Edgar Allen Poe formally defined, in 1842, as an artistic composition controlled to produce a single unified effect. This new form of the short story is characterized by its use of seemingly real characters in likely situations as we have seen authors such as Ernest Hemingway create. The modern short story has moved even further away from plot, more so than Hemingway and his contemporaries, and now deals almost entirely with character and social issues. The short story continues to incorporate zeitgeist, the spirit of the time, in its creation of characters, conflict, and setting. Jaquira Díaz’s short story, Section 8, is an example of the modern short story and how it focuses more on the character than on the plot.

Section 8 serves as a commentary on how society shapes who we are as individuals. To explicate the idea that society defines us, Section 8 uses a current controversial issue within our own culture: the acceptance of homosexual relations. The main character, Nena, was raised in Normandy Park, a rough neighborhood near Miami Beach. In her neighborhood, she is known as a “hardass” who is in and out of juvenile delinquency centers for theft and assault. Nena has a rough exterior due in part to her alcoholic mother’s neglect as well as to her peers and the way in which society views those living in her underprivileged neighborhood. Her community has such a huge influence on who she is that when they begin to cast negative judgment on the homosexual community she can’t help but mirror their feelings even though se does not agree with them.

In the story, a murderer known as “The Strangler” is plaguing Miami Beach. The Strangler preys on the ...

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...only to find out years later that the necklace was not made of real diamonds but glass. This story shows the social pressure put on those of lower classes and how they wish to be a part of the better group. Maupassant uses Mathilde’s obsession to drive her into poverty and shame. For the time, this story analyzes how hard one had to work to even attain any bit of fortune.

Chopin’s and Maupassant’s story deal with issues from their own times that still apply to modern times. The two stories deal with two different social issues, but at the same time they both deal with class. The same goes for Díaz. Her story deals with a current social issue, what labeling does to one’s identity, as well as the time old issue of social status. In their stories, they show that placing one within a certain social class defines who their characters are as well as their aspirations.