Death in the Woods was a good title to help set the mood. It tells a reader right away what is going to happen in the story, but still leaves the story open as to how the death will occur, and why it will occur.

The story takes place in the post civil-war south. Due to this the area is now economically poor. The town the story took place was a nondescript small town, with the general small town layout of shops side by side and streets crowded by people. Everybody knew everybody, and the unknowns were outcasts.

The farm that the main character, Mrs. Grimes, lived on was a very poor one. Jake Grimes, Mrs. Grimes' husband did not take care of anything. Their son John was no help either. Mrs. Grimes did everything with the farm. She fed all of the animals. If anything had to be done on the farm, it was up to her to do it, and if she was slow on anything Jake and John would take it out on her. The only sources of income on the farm were the animals and

they were in a very poor condition. The cow quit giving milk, the pigs were never fat enough to be butchered, and the dogs would fend for themselves if she did not feed them, but they still depended on her. The chickens were few, and hardly ever laid eggs. When there was not enough food to go around and the men of the house were hungry, Mrs. Grimes had to butcher one of her chickens for food. This made things even worse for now she would not have any eggs to trade at the grocer for any more food. When she came into town she would!

Towards the end of the story, it was very cold and snowy. The snow would let up and it would get warm, only to bring more snow. Mrs. Grimes had to go to town for food, and it was such a terrible day to go anywhere. She got much of her work that she could possibly do and set out. The men of the farm took the only buggy to go get drunk and steal stuff. She carried a burlap sack filled with her trading goods, which were nothing more than a few eggs. She took extra care of them as she walked to town. There was no shelter along the way to town, only one short cut that was through the woods. This was not really a short cut, for it was through deep snow drifts and had a very hard

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jake John, Death Woods, , Grimes Grimes', set mood, help set mood, burlap sack, death woods, short cut, reader happen, help set,
Approximate Word count = 822
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)