Analyzing “All the Small Wishes”

Words by Kenzo Fachin

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The short story “All the Small Wishes” won first place in HIS Writes 2023 and was written by Jiyou Kim, Oto Ueda, Josiah Lee, and Jeremy Cheng. In the story, the authors use the techniques of moral argument, the character’s true choice, and conflicts to not only make the story appealing but also engaging to read.

The story features two main characters; Luna and Heather. Luna’s story is told from the past and Heather’s story is told when she was young.

The writers incorporate moral arguments to make the story realistic. Without a moral theme, the story would not be realistic and enjoyable to readers. One example of moral argument in “All the Small Wishes” is that “we can always do something good to someone and the world, even if we are in a glimpse of a moment before death”. This theme is incorporated into the story by several methods, but in this article I would like to focus on the technique of “character’s true choice.” 

One example of this “character true choice” technique is from an early scene told from Luna’s perspective. “All the small wishes.” In the scene, young Luna becomes friends with Eric and on the way to school, they encounter two mean boys. Initially, Luna has two options; to run away and abandon her friendship with Eric or to help protect Eric.

This is a great example of moral choice because to Luna, both options are appealing and equal in its weight. Initially, she doesn’t identify any choices as an obvious “bad choice” but rather considers it.  However, in the following line, she discovers many bruises on Eric’s arm and decides to help him. This decision has an eternal impact on the result of the story because this creates an important setting for Eric and Luna to engage.

Moral true choice alone doesn’t fully support the embodiment of the story's theme in a story. After Luna’s decision, the authors of “All the small wishes” integrate the technique of story conflicts to increase the moral argument and increase the overall tension. Conflicts can be divided into six categories like the image below:

In “All the Small Wishes,” three of these conflict types are used; character vs character, character vs self, and character vs nature. 

Examples of each type of conflict in the story are like this;

1. Character VS Character -> Luna and Eric vs the two boys, Luna’s parent’s divorce…
2. Character vs self -> Luna vs Luna when deciding to write and support Heather.
3. Character vs nature-> Eric vs stage 4 brain cancer

The combination of these three types creates an organic complexity in the story. Each time there is a conflict, the story’s moral theme -- “even if we are in a glimpse of a moment before death” is weaved. One example of this is in the scene where Eric is at the glimpse of death and Luna tries to provide emotional support, which embodies the theme.

Lastly, the moral argument is wrapped at the end of the story again to conclude the story. With a well-written ending, readers can learn the personal theme of the story from the process of natural selection. In “All the Small Wishes,” Luna’s action of helping Heather- which aligns with the theme of the story, survives until the end. Although there might have been differences in the personal interpretations, readers can know the author's view on what was right and wrong by the end.

To conclude, “All the Small Wishes” is a great example of how moral argument, a character’s true choice, and conflicts are mixed together in perfect harmony. 

If you want to read the story, you can read it here.