MLA Sample Paper

than apparent in the language itself. The effect of this dream
sequence is enigma, and confusion on the part of the reader
ensues. We leave this story with feeling that it is incomplete.
The plot and story of "Big Bertha Stories" seems very
straightforward. Donald, a Viet Nam veteran, can not escape his
nightmares about the war and often takes long leaves from his
family. This problem contributes to the disintegration of his
family. Jeanette and Rodney are left with the economic,
emotional and physical loss of their husband and father.
The story gets a bit tricky when we start to understand
that Jeanette judges her own relationship and social standing by
outside standards. As Donald takes the family to the shopping
center, Jeanette feels "almost like a normal family" (657). In
her worldview, "normal families" shop, go to church and don't
tell "Big Bertha Stories," in short, they are the opposite of
Jeanette's family. When confronted by any abnormal situation,
the Snake man and his tarantula for instance, Jeanette
immediately feels as if her family is somehow failing to adhere
to normalcy. When the Snake man tells her "If you drop a
tarantula, it will shatter like a Christmas ornament," she feels
her own "family disintegrating like a spider shattering" (656).
Jeanette seems to understand by the end of the story that
she thought of Donald primarily as a husband, a
provider, someone whose name she shared, the father of