Structure

The structure of the short story “The School” by Donald Barthelme is typical of Postmodernist fiction. The narrative is very short, it lacks a developed traditional plot, and it includes absurd surrealistic elements. The story is structured as an enumeration of events involving random and inexplicable deaths of plants, animals and people connected to the school the narrator teaches at, up to the point when children finally question death. However, the story has no resolution; there are no answers to the children’s questions and life simply goes on.

Title

The title of the short story indicates the setting of the events and that the narrative is probably going to be connected with school activities, involving characters like pupils/students and teachers. After reading the short story, we discover that the particular school the title refers to seems to be haunted by death, as plants, animals, and people related to it all...