How do I read short fiction?

Review:  
     Read once for pleasure (or pretending it is not assigned),
     Read again and annotate.  Look up any words you do not know.
     Then read once more--your book says to read "with a 
writer's eye."

 What do you think the purpose of literature is?  One book I 
taught from called it:  the human experience.  Why?  I suggest 
it is because writers do not write in a vacuum.  They write to 
share their knowledge, observations, and experiences with 
others.  They want to inform, persuade, and entertain.  Does 
this sound familiar?  Writing is not complete until it is 
shared.  It may fulfill a writer to write only for himself or 
herself, but readers are needed for literature to be meaningful 
to the fullest extent.

 There are some techniques and tools writers use that  readers 
can pay particular attention to, and possibly understand the writer's purpose better. 
--One thing you can search for is Theme.  This is similar to an 
understated or implied thesis in an essay.  Theme is the main 
idea the work is structured around, and that the work adds on to 
in order to provide the reader with some insight.
--How is the story structured?  Examine the Title.  Does the 
story have a clear beginning, middle, and end?  Examine the 
action or the Plot (what happens).  Is it chronological?  Are 
there flashbacks?  Does the plot mostly rise or mostly fall?  
Where is the climax?  Action may build to a climax and then 
fall.  The climax may or may not resolve in the end.  What is 
the resolution, if any?  How is the action carried forward?  
Characters, Dialogue, Conflict....  Longer works may also have 
subplots involving other characters--doing other things.  Ask 
yourself why the writer included the subplot(s). Was it to help 
develop the main character, to provide comic relief, to distract 
the reader for suspense, or was it for some other reason?

 Examine all characters, especially the main character(s).
 Protagonist(s):  (hero or heroine)  Usually, the character(s)
 we root for.
 Antagonist(s):  (villain)  Usually, the character(s) we are 
 against.
 Foil:  The antagonist--or contrasting character or thing.
These do not have to be characters....  They could be things,
like a city being invaded by aliens.  The whole city might the 
thing we root for.  The protagonist could even be a shady 
character, like a criminal.
--Is the hero/heroine Tragic?  They usually have a fatal flaw 
that leads to downfall.
--Is the hero/heroine Classic?  Conflicts could occur between 
self-image and reality, but these do not always lead to downfall.
--Point-of-view is important.  Who tells the story?  First 
person (I) Omniscient (knows it all)   Objective or Dramatic (as
in a play)  Second person or Limited (usually, one character 
(not 'I') presents the story, and everything is colored by this 
characterıs perceptions.  There are combinations of these.
--Setting:  Where does the story take place?  Is location 
significant?
--How does the Title connect with the theme?
--How is dialogue used?  To speed up the action, or to slow it 
down?  To illuminate the characters?  
--Irony:  The opposite of the expected happens, is said, or is 
done.  This can be hard to identify.  You may have to read the 
whole story to know the expected first.

--Images:  Words or phrases that put pictures in your mind.
--Motifs:  Images that are repeated on purpose, and may grow in 
meaning each time.
--Symbols:  Images the became a motif, and now represents 
another thing in your mind.  You automatically associate one 
thing with another--and you may not have before.

Some symbols have already become established.  You can find 
books in the library that will list common symbols.  White could 
be innocence (bride) or evil (bones, ghosts).  Black could be 
evil (death) or magical.  What is a rose?
Some symbols have been called Archetypal.  These may mean 
similar things or the same things to several people from several 
different backgrounds.  A circle could symbolize the sun, and 
the sun could be a symbol for the self (as Carl Jung says)--a 
circle is perfect, so the sun might symbolize the perfect 
self.   The passing of a day could represent a voyage through 
life.  The sea, mountains, the earth, are other things that may 
mean similar things to many people.  What do you associate with 
these things?

Phallic and yonic symbols are also important in some works.  
Always question the writerıs purpose, and see if the atmosphere 
or mood of the work is sexually charged.
If you have appropriate reasoning, then search for these 
symbols.   A phallic symbol suggests masculine strength or 
weakness:  A loaded gun, a large gun--an empty gun, a small gun--
or any object that remotely resembles the male sexual organs 
could be a phallic symbol.  Yonic symbols are suggestive of 
feminine sexual strength or weakness:  a full or empty pot, a 
vase of flowers, a cracked vase, an apple or tomato--anything 
that remotely suggests the feminine sexual organs (shape, color, 
texture, etc.)
could be a yonic symbol, but the work must be sexually charged 
somehow.

***Notes***