Structure

The short story “A Shocking Accident” by Graham Greene is structured around a tragi-comical event that influences the life of a nine-year-old boy named Jerome: the death of his father, caused by a pig falling from a balcony. The story has a chronological structure and follows Jerome from when he is a child to the moment he matures and when he is about to get married. The story has an exposition (which also sets the intrigue), a rising action, a climax, a falling action and a resolution.

Title

The title of the short story refers to the “shocking accident” that killed Jerome’s father: the man was ...