Chesley Cannon
Dr. Jones
English 201
6 December 2013
“My Ironic Storm”
Introduction
When asked to write an analytical essay concerning the works that I have
read this semester, my mind only went in one direction. My first thought was to
combine characteristics of a few works to create a character that represents all of
them in one story. As taught by Jory Sherman in her Master Course in Writing book,
“You do not need much to begin [a story]. Just a scrap of a thought, a sliver of an idea,
a small spark that you can fan into flame.” (Sherman 7) The works that I chose to
pull from are A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage by Marly Youmans, and two
short stories from The Christ-Haunted Landscape, “Tongues of Fire” by Lee Smith
and “Hope of Zion” by Sandra Hollin Flowers. Each source contributed to the
development of my protagonist Mary Ellen Cash. The title of my short story, “My
Ironic Storm,” developed from the ironic circumstances Mary Ellen faces during the
current phase in her life while the “storm” refers to the many different sources used
to create her character.
Chapter One
Two pink lines. That’s all Mary Ellen needed to see to know that her life was
about to change forever. She sat and pondered in the stall of her high school
bathroom on the multitude of reactions that could develop from her mother. Since
she was three years old, it has only been Mary Ellen and her mother, Denise, due to
her divorce from her father. Now, at the age of sixteen, Mary Ellen knew that she was
not capable of raising a child on her own so she would need her mother’s support.
Abortion was out of the question even though she was raised with a free-spirit
attitude on life. Mary Ellen and her mother did everything together, and rarely spoke
of her father.1 If she were to break this relationship with the news of her pregnancy
then she would have no other relationship to turn to. Not even the father of her baby,
Ralph.
Even though their relationship was not strong, Mary Ellen knew that she had
to tell Ralph about the baby. The baby was just as much his as it was hers. Walking
down the crowded hallway of Battle Ground Academy, she felt as if she were walking
into a literal war. She would have to defend herself against Ralph and her mother
