Preview

Story Analysis: From Libby Day

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
273 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Story Analysis: From Libby Day
The story is told from three different POVs: From Libby Day in the present and from Ben and Patty Day in 1985. There’s a fourth narrative near the end that provides a surprising twist. You jump from past to present, slowly piecing together the story as Libby does. Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of multiple perspectives and constant flashbacks, I think that Gillian Flynn has this technique nailed down to a tee. It was a day in the year of 1985 when Ben – Libby’s older brother – allegedly murdered three members of his own family – including his mother, Patty, and two of his younger sisters – in cold blood. Only Libby somehow managed to escape the massacre. It was Libby’s coerced testimony that condemned Ben to a lifelong imprisonment. Now, after

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ben Hall and Maguire may have divided the property and operated independently of each other, as in John McGuire's narrative, 'The Biography of a Reliable Old Native', Maguire states that Ben Hall reputedly named his portion 'Cubbine Bin', running his own cattle and horses, and when required the two men worked together in clearing and forming stockyards close to their water supply, this would have been a prudent way to operate a new farming enterprise in the 1860’s, and thus the two squatters shared the yearly rent to the government, as for the acquiring of stock for this new enterprise, John Maguire states that Ben Hall and himself had done a bit of duffing, Maguire…

    • 116 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Melinda Sordino’s freshman year is off to a horrible start. She busted an end of summer party by calling the cops, and now her friends, and even strangers, all hate her. Months pass and things aren’t getting better. She’s a pariah. The lowest of the low. Avoided by everyone. But eventually she’ll reveal what happened at the party. And when she finally speaks the truth, everything will change for her and her life as of now.…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The 1940 film His Girl Friday is hailed as one of the greatest movies in American history, namely under the “screwball” comedy genre. It is the story of a rowdy and powerful editor named Walter Burns and his pursuit of winning back his-ex wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson. Intertwined with trying to win back his star reporter, the biggest story of his career arises with the persecution of convicted murderer Earl Williams. As much as Hildy yearns to leave her professional career for a domestic lifestyle, when Walter convinces her that she is the perfect reporter to get the story on Earl, she promises this will be her final job at the Morning Post. In the film, Hildy Johnson, played by actress Rosalind Russell, displays two versions…

    • 2035 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Bill, I don’t want you to join the army, I don’t want to take the chance of you getting hurt or possibly dying. You are my only child,” Willie-Ann argued with her free black son.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester is the narrator of the story. The book is written of the events that take place in his memory of his high school years he recalls from fifteen years earlier. Gene narrates the book in first person point of view, describing everything from his perspective and as he remembers them. Sometimes during the book it is difficult to keep up with the narrator as sometimes he seems to be talking as the younger gene as if the events he is recalling are happening as he speaks. Also, because we are only getting gene’s perspective, we don’t know whether everything that happens between the boys is exactly how it happened. It’s kind of like if a brother and sister were in some kind of trouble they each would twist around the story to make themself look better or the other look worst. This makes Gene as a narrator unreliable.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel, we see the events after and during the murders through the perspective of all parties involved and surrounding this event. We get to see the Clutters life before it got turned upside down, the detectives investigating the case, and the one that stands out beyond all else, Richard Eugene…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No Heroes, No Villians

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    After reading the story, I found I had mixed emotions about it. To explain, when we were getting into detail and finally finding out what really happened the day of June 28th, I found myself completely interested and glued to the book. I also enjoyed the way the incident was explained because I felt like I was there watching it all happen from the great detail. I enjoyed Phillips style of writing because through his writing, he really came off as an intelligent person who is very familiar with the legal system. The book is an easy read, and I liked the non-pretentious style of writing. I did not find myself struggling with reading the book at all, which made the overall experience that much more enjoyable.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour" is an ironic short story of a wife in the late 1800's. The story is only a few pages long and in doing so Chopin writes a story filled with kernel's (events that have important causal chronological coherence) with very few satellite's (events not logically essential to the narrative action). There were no satellites that I could find while reading the text; I found every word written essential to the narrative, the progression and the conclusion of the story.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My reaction to the documentary Telling Amy’s Story was not surprised nor shocked at all. I believed I knew what the result would be I was just waiting on the inevitable. This man showed multiple times that if he couldn’t have her no one could so I’m not sure what made her believe that she would be able to just leave her husband in the end. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead but I feel she should of just ran when she had the chance from the start of the relationship when he started to show signs of being controlling. This is what surprised me the most Amy met Vincent McGee in her place of employment and within a few months he was making her feel uncomfortable at work and rules were placed on her.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Can a person die of happiness? That’s what seems to happen in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. Mrs. Mallard received the horrible news of her husband’s passing due to a train accident. However, as we read further into the story we realized that Mrs. Mallard is not that upset with her newfound freedom. But the narrative comes to a climax when Mrs. Mallard dies upon discovering that her husband is actually alive. Doctors pronounce the cause of death - “joy that kills”. It is debatable if someone could die from hearing good news. Mrs. Mallard believed that her husband died and she finally could be free to live her life, but was rudely awakened by seeing him alive. Her imaginative freedom was taken away from her and that’s what her heart couldn’t take. It was not the joy that killed Mrs. Mallard but rather discovering that her husband is alive and her freedom would be lost again, thus causing her death.…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the short stories "A&P" composed by John Updike, Sammy who is the principle character and storyteller changes from a juvenile youngster to a man that takes a major stand for what he accepts isn't right which is reflected in Sammy's words and activities. This story can be broken and saw into three distinct parts. The initial segment is the place the peruser perceives how juvenile Sammy carries on, the second part focuses on Sammy's developing procedure and the keep going spotlights on his choice to stand firm regardless of what the results might be.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs. Mallard in the “Story of an Hour” and the girl in the “Hills like White Elephants” are tested by their lives. However, they vary in their function range of responses to their situations. Both stories reveals some major similarities in their lives as well as some dissimilarities in their characters. They both share some characteristics in common like they are helpless and worried. They love their partners but they are not much happy in their lives.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading, “The Story of an Hour,” I have concluded that Mrs.Mallard was shocked when she found out that her husband was alive. When Mrs.Mallard found out her husband was dead, the author gives us the quote, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (Chopin 1). Mrs.Mallard wasn’t really surprised or even care that her husband died. It was like, she expected it to happen to him. As a general rule, if someone you really cared about died unexpectedly you wouldn’t feel emotionless but would be really upset.…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How would you feel if you found out that the person you love really wasn’t who you thought they were? In the piece, “The Wife’s Story” by Ursula K. Le Guin, she gives the reader an excellent image of the characters using the tone of the story and her detailed mind.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Libby Day was seven years old, her mother and two sisters were murdered in home in Kinnakee, Kansas. Libby was placed on the witness stand and testified that she saw her brother, Ben, kill them. Libby, however, was hiding in her mother’s closet during the murders and eventually snuck out the back window into the snow, making her testament completely inaccurate. Now, Libby Day is in her mid-thirties and is more determined than ever to find out what really happened to her family on that horrific night. If Ben did not kill her family, who did? Dark Places is the story about Libby finding answers to her terrible past. It is written in five points of view- Patty Day before she was killed, Libby Day now, Libby Day before the murders occurred, Ben Day now, and Ben Day before the murders. In this journal, I will be predicting, questioning, and evaluating.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays