تحليل للقصه القصيرة the chaser

Short Story Inventory Sample: “The Chaser” by John Collier

Plot Summary ( No more than 3-4 sentences about what happens)
Desperate for the love of the girl of his dreams, nervous Alan Austen visits a mysterious and dingy shop to purchase a potion has he heard will make Dianna fall in love with him. He falls victim to the wise old shopkeeper’s persuasive tactics and desperate for her affection, purchases the potion without noticing the old man’s hints about the more deadly product and expensive product he will surely return for at a later date.

Character Details (Name protagonist, antagonist and other minor characters that play a role in moving the plot along. )
Protagonist: Alan Austen is described as |nervous as a cat and is obviously desperate for the attention and love of A woman named Dianna. He is a static character. He buys the potion and shows no sign of realizing the old man’s warnings that he will regret his purchase.

Antagonist: The old shopkeeper who sits waiting for desperate people to buy his potions using carefully chosen words to warn them they will have to return for other drugs to get out of the inevitably bad result of their choice.

Key Setting Details (Including an analysis of atmosphere.)
The story is set in a dark and dingy side street shop on Pell Street in China Town, New York. The shop where the purchase takes place is described as tiny, with one table and chair. The atmosphere is dark and suspicious. As you read the story, you know Alan is making a mistake. You feel like warning him to run away before he makes a grave mistake.

Conflict: Interpersonal -Alan versus the old man, Internal: Alan versus his ego.

Climax ( turning point or highest point of tension)
The climax is near the end of the story. The old man finally shows Alan the “tiny, rather dirty looking phial” and Alan excitedly thanks the old man. It is climactic because you wonder if he will buy it or be overcome by guilt and worry given the old man’s warnings. The story ends immediately after that and we are left to wonder what happens when he leaves the store.

Narrative Point of View: Omniscient Narrative

Theme Statement: The major theme of this story is that love must be won not bought.

Storytelling Techniques Used by the Author: irony, foreshadowing, allusion




How to do an Inventory of a Short Story – Version #2

Use the details in the story to write a short explanation of the plot, the setting, the main characters and the conflict in the story.

Here is a sample for the story “The Chaser” by John Collier

1) Write a plot summary of the story. To do this, make a list of the 5 most important events in the story.
i) Alan Austen enters a dirty store on a side street in New York’s China town
ii) An old man sits waiting for him and tells him about two products he sells.
iii) Alan shows he is excited that the old man has a potion that could make Diana fall in love with him.
iv) The old man also mentions to Alan about a more expensive product that costs much more.
v) Alan buys the love potion for one dollar and the old man says,” Au revoir” which means see you later.

2) Introduce the main characters and explain what you know about them based on the details of the story.
-Main character : Alan Austen. He is descried as nervous as a cat and is desperate for the love of a women named Diana.
-Other characters : The other main character is the old man. He is described as wise and he interrupts Alan when he speaks. He knew Alan would be coming. He is sneaky with his words.



3) Describe the setting.
The story is set in a tiny and dirty shop. There is only a table and a chair and a few bottles of mixtures in the room.

4) Explain the main conflict in the story.
The main conflict is between Alan and his ego. He wants Diana to love him and is willing to do anything to make that happen.