"Something Funny: Story Analysis"

Biography

Elizabeth van Steenwyk, was born in Gales-burg Illinois in 1928, now a days she lives in San Marino California with her family. At an early age, of only 10 years, Elizabeth  started her writing career showing an incredible ability for science fiction,  animal stories and historic events. Over the years she has written many short stories and a number of books for young readers. Some of her published books are: Three Dog Winter, Maggie in the Morning, My Name is York, Let's go to the Beach. She became such an successful  writer that she was recognized by winning several awards and prizes,  even some of her best sellers were  made into movies.


Summary

Janey has been seen Bill for 2 months now, but she is frustrated with him. She was coming to a conclusion of not seen Bill anymore, he was always late and not a very interesting person. During a car ride to a party Bill was telling Janey about the dream he had, aliens with three eyes, Bill thought it was funny. Janey was so fed up with him that she surprised him by showing her hidden third eye.

Plot Analysis

Conflict:
 Bill has an alien fixation

Rising Actions:
-Janey is  waiting for Bill in patiently.
-Janey was getting tired of him.
-Bill apologizing for being late again.
-Janey and Bill driving to a party in an abandoned farmhouse.
-Bill likes his science fiction  movies, Star Wars
-Bill falls asleep reading the newspaper,
-Bill tells Janey about his dream.
-It was raining and the road towards the farmhouse is dark.
- Bill  restarts his story about the dream.
-He tells Janey that he went into a space ship were he saw funny looking people, and found himself there.
- Aliens were replacing humans.
- Janey tells him nobody would replace him since he is boring and nobody really pays attention to him.
-Bill tells Janey the people in the flying saucer had an extra eye in the middle of their head, he thought that was funny.
- Janey shows him something funny, her third eye.

Climax: Bill realization that aliens do exist.

Resolution: Janey is an alien.

Characterization

 Janey                                                Bill

punctual                      -                       dull

inpatient                      -                       boring

smart                           -                       not punctual

rude                             -                       irresponsible

tired                             -                       science fiction nerd                                                                

critical                         -                        spaced out                                                      

thoughtful                    -                       talk active

serious                         -                        dreamer

alien                            -                         smart

                                                             human

Irony of story

The irony of the story is that Bill ,being a science fiction fan,tells Janey about a dream he had about a flying saucer, aliens and replacement of humans and Jamey acts as like   it is all a dream, but at the end she is  one of them.

Opinion 

I'm not a science fiction reader, but this story kept me engaged and interested until the end. I did like it! The writer has the ability to give you clues about events that will take place later on in the story. For instance Bill's dream, he restates his dream and at the end of the story he realizes that three eye aliens do exist.