Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
We'll break down "Delta Autumn" here for you. Read though this, Shmoopers, and try your hand at some of the other stories. How about "Pantaloon in Black"?
Exposition (Initial Situation)
Doe, A Deer, A Female Deer ("Delta Autumn")
Old Isaac McCaslin, his young relative Roth Edmonds, and Edmonds's friends go deer hunting in the Delta. Edmonds is in a bad mood and his friends tease him about a "light colored doe on two legs," meaning a woman with whom he's having a secret affair. Not so secret, we guess, Edmonds's affair is exposed, but we don't know anything else about it.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Roth vs. Isaac
Isaac wants to find out more about the affair, but Edmonds brushes him off. The two start to argue about a million things from World War II to what makes a real man, and finally, rude young Roth Edmonds insults the elderly, preaching Isaac. Actually, the whole conflict is at its heart about Edmonds keeping a secret from Isaac.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Tell Her No
Isaac stays up all night ruminating about the past and isn't ready to go hunting the next day. On his way to the hunt, Roth gives Isaac an envelope, and says, "Tell her I said No." This "her" turns out to be Roth's secret lover, who's revealed to be part black and, more shocking, related to both Isaac and Roth. The original interracial incest of Carothers and Eunice five generations ago has come full circle. She's just given birth to Roth's son and Roth has refused to marry her. She takes the envelope with the money and leaves.
Falling Action
A Vision For The Future
Isaac has a moment to reflect after she leaves, and has a vision for the future of this land. Everyone will be mixed-race and this will be the South's punishment for slavery.
Resolution (Denouement)
It Was A Doe
Isaac finds out from Roth's friend that he just killed a deer, but they won't say if it was a doe or a buck. But Isaac knows, "It was a doe." That is to say, Roth's no real man and Isaac knows it.