Structure

The short story “Could It Be Forever” by Nina Stibbe is structured around a simple event: a girl is tricked by her sister and her sister’s friend into believing that an American boy has fallen in love with her. The story follows the plot pattern and contains an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a short falling action and a resolution.

Title

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Beginning

The beginning – or the exposition – of the story is quite straightforward:

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Middle

The middle of the story contains the rising action and the climax. Part of the rising action consists of the girl being persuaded to exchange letters with the American boy named Dave Cassidy and of the letters going back and forth: “I was to give my letters to Celia to give to her mum to post along with her own letters, to Dave’s mum, to save on the postage which was very expensive – Alice Springs being a thousand miles away in America.” (ll. 52-54)

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Ending

The ending of the story contains the falling action and the resolution. During the falling action, Celia and the narrator’s sister convince the girl that discovering the letters was the best outcome for all.

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