short-story-cheat1

Short Story : Cheat ! by Allan Baillie

Synopsis

About two students and their attitude to peer achievements and relationships. The short story competition is
won by Geoff and he wins the Holmes-Watkins Medal. Lynne’s story is placed second and she feels
disappointed. She learns to accept her failure and decides to let go. Then, she comes across a short story of
write William Bradburie. Geoff’s story of a circus elephant’s escapade in the park is similar to Bradburie’s story.
Immediately, Lynne assumes that Geoff has cheated and did not write his own story. She is in dilemma as to
whether and how she should expose Geoff. The consequences may be too drastic for Geoff. During the class
discussion on careers, Lynne holds back exposing Geoff but later she inadvertently mentions the name
Bradburie and notices Geoff’s reaction. A few minutes later, she is called into Headmaster Velos’ office and Geoff
is ther too with the Holmes-Watkins Medal. Mr Velos explains that Geoff feels he might have taken his story
from Bradburie’s collection. So, he decides to reverse the results and Lynne wins the prize. But, Lynne is
unhappy with the way the situation has turned out. She begins to have doubts about her own story.

Setting

Place : Lynne’s school and home.
Time : Modern day and the events happen within a few days.

Place What happens
The school hall
The results of the short story competition are announced by the
Lynne’s bedroom headmaster.
Lynne’s classroom
Lynne reads a book of short stories by William Bradburie.
The Headmaster’s office
Matheson, the form master, starts a discussion on the student’s choice on
career.

Mr Velos presents the Holmes-Watkins medal to Lynne since her story is
more original.

Themes Tone, Mood, and Atmosphere

 School life – friends, teachers, success, and  Anxiety
jealousy are common aspects of school life.  Serious
 Suspenseful
 Competitiveness – positive spirit to
compete with others. Language and Style

 Honesty – being honest in every aspect of  Simple and straight forward language.
life as honesty is the best policy.  Easy to comprehend.
 The story focuses on one of the main
 Friendship – Lynne, Geoff, and Marge are
good friends despite have different characters, Lynne, and readers are able to
characteristics. visualize her thoughts and feelings.

Point of View

 Third person point of view.
 Expressing the feelings and thoughts of the

characters.

Characters and Characteristics

Main characters : Lynne Webbings and Geoff Bolder
Minor characters : Mr Velos, Marge, and Matheson

Character General Information Characteristic
Lynne Webbings
 Classmates with Geoff and  Hardworking – put a lot of time and effort
Marge in writing a good story for the competition

 Wrote a story about a  Gracious – congratulated Geoff for winning
sheepdog in a flood the competition although she is
disappointed
 Liked to play basketball
 Good friend – did not want to get Geoff into
Geoff Bolder  Classmates with Lynne and trouble
Marge
Mr Velos  Humorous and friendly – liked to joke and
Marge  Wrote a story about a had many friends
circus elephant running
Matheson loose in Albert Park  Ambitious – wanted to be a barrister so he
could earn more money
 Wanted to be a barrister
 The headmaster  Valued friendship – remained friends with
Lynne
 Classmates with Lynne and
Geoff  Apologetic
 Fair
 The form teacher
 Ambitious
 Brave

 Supportive

Plot

 Exposition : Lynne waits impatiently for Headmaster Velos to announce the results of the short story
competition. He announces Geoff as the winner of the short story competition with Lynne
in the second place. Lynne is disappointed but hides her feelings as he congratulated Geoff.

 Rising action : Lynne keeps her short story and puts aside her disappoinment and carries on with her
school work. She concentrate on making to the school basketball team. She even enjoys
Geoff's joke about how the headmaster chose the winner.

 Climax : Lynnes comes across Bradburie's story about an elephant which escaped in a park. She
assumes that Geoff had cheated by copying this story. She debates on whether to tell
Headmaster Velos and how to do it. She decides not to do or say anything about it.

 Falling action : After a class discussion on careers, Lynne mentions the name, Bradburie in a sudden
burst of anger. Lynne notices that Geoff looks disturbed and feels that sooner or later
the truth will be out. Lynne is called to the headmaster's office. Geoff is there too and
the medal is on a Bradburie's book on the table.

 Resolution : Headmaster Velos tells Lynne that Geoff feels his story of the elephant is based on a story
he read three years ago. As such his story may not be original and so the results of the
competition is to be reversed. Geoff is not disqualified but Lynne's story is now accepted
as the first-place winner. This is unexpected and Lynne feels cheated as it is an empty
victory. Then, the story ends with a twist as Lynne begins to wonder whether she has
read any story about a sheepdog.

Literary and Figurative Device

 Rhetorical questions - 'But who would tell Velos?'
 Repetition - 'Shut up..shut up'
 Personification - 'the words as they lay on his tongue '
 Simile - 'swallow the bitter taste from her mouth' – trying to accept something that is very unpleasant
 Diction - 'next time use heavier paper' ; 'he seemed to be drifting away '
 Comparison - 'everything tasted of cardboard' - comparison of food and cardboard indicating that the

food is tasteless

Moral Values

 We must not be afraid to have a healthy competition with others in order to improve ourselves to
become a better person.

 We must be honest in everything we do as honesty is the best policy in life.
 We need to learn to put aside anger or any dissatisfaction so that we will not cause conflicts.
 We must learn to have faith in people especially friends and avoid being judgemental.