Perspectives
Literary period
The short story “Just Like That” by Michael Richards was published in 1987. Several characteristics place the short story in the category of modernist fiction.
In modernist texts, authors usually employ a third-person narrator to convey the events, which are generally rendered chronologically. As you have seen in the narrative, the events take place over the course of a few hours, from morning until noon. Furthermore, modernist writers tend to focus on topics of contemporary interest. In his story, Richards explores the relationship between man and nature, but also the psychological development of the boy who loses his innocence in the hunting trip. All these features reinforce the idea that “Just Like That” is a modernist work of fiction.
