Detailed Analysis of Ray Bradbury's Short Story, 'The Scythe'

This assignment analyzes Ray Bradbury's short story, 'The Scythe,' examining the plot, characters, setting, and themes of braveness, loss, and death. The story follows a family that inherits a house with a dark secret tied to a scythe and a dead old man, leading to the family's eventual demise. The analysis delves into the characters' personal, cultural, and social perspectives, exploring how their backgrounds and relationships shape their views and opinions. It highlights the family's belief in superstition, their religious background, and the influence of their social environment, ultimately leading to a tragic outcome where the father becomes the Grim Reaper. The analysis covers the conflict, the symbolism of the scythe, and the overall impact of the story's dark atmosphere on the family's lives and perceptions.

SHORT STORY ANALYSIS:
tense - you have used the wrong tense (past, present, future) .
plural – you need to change the word to plural (more then one eg. apple – apples).
Word missing – you are missing a word in the sentence.
rephrase - the idea is correct, however your sentence needs to be re-written. Use different words and
re-write your sentence.
reword – this is not the correct word within this context, use a different word.
punctuation/grammar – you need to add one of the following: a ‘full stop’ or a ‘comma’.
delete - delete the word from the sentence.
Spelling – wrong spelling
Short Story Title
The scythe is written by Ray Brabury and was published in 1943.
Plot – What
happens in the
story?
The story revolves around a family of two children, a father and mother in a place
which is devoid of any existence of free lives of people. The father Drew has found a
house where it feels that there’s someone’s living in it while he’s felt a mix of both
marvelling feeling and was little afraid of its silence. Nevertheless, he decided to take
a look and promotion to get some food and drinks and as he approached he started
to smell something bad from the house until he found a dead old man lying in his bed
while he been previously prepared with a paper in his hands.
Characters – who
was in the story?
Drew Erickson- Molly- Beggin- Susie- 2 kids- old dead man (John Buhr)
Setting – where did
the story happen?
(Place and Time)
Timeless-field
Conflict – what was
the problem?
Death. This story revolved around the deaths of innocent people by the dead old
man's scythe in the form of each blade of wheat and brought a darker energy in the
lives of the family who moved to the inherited property. Their life became a misery
Theme – what was
the central idea/s in
the story?
Braveness and loss are some of the themes that contained on the story.
Personal
Perspectives
Guiding questions:
Was there anything that happened in the characters past that shaped their way of
looking at something?
Yes, in the past they were a normal family with Drew as the head of the family and
two kids who inherited a house and wanted to live a fulfilling life to maintain the
standards of living. However, after shifting to this house, they found a scythe which is
a mower to cut grass with the help of a curved long blade and an entire field of wheat
around. This family was shocked by seeing the dead old man in the house who clearly
defined that this farm belonged to the next man who has arrived and has to take the

authority without any question. He received a scythe in his hands on which it was
written as 'who wields me-wields the world'.
Here the changes were that strange things were happening in the farm on daily basis
and it was making the entire atmosphere with darkness and negativity. Drew became
the Grim Reaper which was not unacceptable by him and his wife also initially told
him that this inheritance is too good for him and their family. Here the Grim Reaper
represents the personified form of death using the scythe.
The family ended in misery and were enveloped in sadness and grief that resulted in
the loss of their lives. Their perceptions of something this good turned out as the
biggest sorrow and confirmed their doubts that led to their death eventually. for e.g.
when Drew hung up scythe, his family was troubled by the dark energies and led to
death.
Did their personality help shape their views/opinions?
-It can be said that the family believed in superstition things due to which they
wanted to leave that farm. Their belief in superstition shaped their view of the farm.
Moreover, they thought that cutting of wheat in farms is the reason due to which old
man died. Their personal opinions were towards the negative emotions and is
reflected upon the basic nature of death. This is the inevitable truth of a person's life
and trigger a feeling of misery and aloofness. Moreover, it also highlighted that
sometimes a person is forced to do something which he did not want to due to the
external forces.
Cultural
perspectives
Guiding questions:
Did the characters cultural background help shape their views/opinions?
-Yes, it can be said that the cultural background of family shaped their future because
they were God believers and believed in superstitious beliefs. They were religious
people who believed in existence of God and thus they believed in the existence of hell
and devil like characteristics. The symbol of scythe demonstrated the cultural aspects
of human's life where death and birth goes hand in hand. Therefore, they believed in
symbol of scythe.
Social perspectives Guiding questions:
Did the characters social environment help shape their views/opinions?
Yes it did shaped the social environment of the family members.
Did the characters relationships help shape their views/opinions?
Definitely, the relationships help in shaping the views and opinions of each member of
this family. After Drew turned the Grim Reaper, he became empty minded and also

could not feel the same happiness he felt before shifting to the inherited home. .
Nevertheless, the kids were also influenced by their parents and initially did not felt
scared about the existence of the dead old man's soul in that home. The character
were from a family and follow same religious and socio cultural viewpoints that
establish a basis to perform tasks. For example, When the wife was not happy, it
made Drew also suspicious about the inherited property and the related ideas about
existence of dead old man’s soul.