Kiss and Tell

This study guide will help you analyse the short story "Kiss and Tell" by John Sam Jones. Here, we guide you through all the essential elements of the text that you should include in an analysis.

Presentation of the text

Title: “Kiss and Tell”
Author: John Sam Jones
Genre: Short story

John Sam Jones (b. 1956) is a Welsh writer who is open about his homosexuality. Many of his literary works are about the lives of gay men. He has published both novels and short story collections.

Excerpt

Below, you can read an excerpt from our study guide:

Title

The title of the short story, “Kiss and Tell” is an idiom which refers to recounting one’s sexual experiences to others. This implies betraying the confidence of one’s partner by sharing the couple’s private experiences with others. This makes readers suspect that the story concerns a betrayal of confidence with regards to intimate matters. After reading the short story, we realise that the title refers to teenager Seimon disclosing to a classmate his sexual fantasies about his teacher Dylan Roberts. The irony is that the boy presents the fantasies as facts, leading to his teacher getting suspended. Consequently, the boy does not ‘kiss and tell’ real intimate details but imaginary ones.