Last Post--Wilson Fences

August Wilson

Fences

I really enjoyed reading Fences by August Wilson.  I thought it had a lot of meaning behind it all.  Rose one of the main characters and the wife of Troy was a fine lady.  She had spent her entire life taking care of her family the way she thought she should. She was always there for her son and husband.  She wanted Troy to build a fence around their yard. I thought that symbolized how she wanted to keep everything in her area. If she had a fence her family would not ever leave.  Troy seemed to be a good guy.  He went to work every day and paid his bills and was a good provider.  He had a troublesome childhood with his father.  His mother left the family when Troy was just a boy. Troy saw his father as a the devil.  Troy never wanted to be anything like him but sometimes you cannot escape the damage that has been done to you as a child.  Troy found another lady named Alberta, she made him feel alive again. I don’t think he was out to hurt Rose but ultimately he did. Alberta turned up pregnant and had a baby girl.  Unfortunately she died during the birth and Troy was forced to take his new daughter home to Rose and ask her to mother the child.  I was really surprised that Rose went along with it, but I understand it was not the child’s fault. She never asked to be born into that mess.  Troy had once been a great baseball player. Cory his son was also a great player and had the opportunity to play college ball which could have led him down a great road. Troy would have nothing to do with it.  He messed up Cory’s chances which I thought was really mean! I think he should have given him a few years to see where it would take him.  During their lifetime racism was really bad and most of the ball players were white regardless of their ability.  Troy thought it was a waste of Cory’s time and I think he was trying to save him from the hurt he had once felt.  In the end Troy dies of a heart attack.  Cory has been away at the Marines and comes home for the funeral to support his mother but had no intention of going to the funeral.  All of Troy’s family was there finally after he pushed them all away. 

Week 15

Week 15

Alice Walker

Everyday Use

Everyday use was a very touching read.  It was one of those stories that you can’t believe how fast it’s over.  The story is about a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee.  Their father has died and the girls were raised by their mother and grandmother. Many years ago when the girls were little there was a house fire and they lost everything and little Maggie was badly burned.  She has always visualized herself as the ugly daughter while Dee was the pretty one. I am sure this made her feel horrible while growing up.  Dee was also very picky about her looks and lifestyle.  At times it seems she is pretending to be something she is not.  In the story Dee is coming back to visit her Mom and sister after being away at college.  It really doesn’t say Dee has married Hakim-a-barber or not, but he is at the visit with her.  I think the girls are at some sort of competition with each other for their mothers love.  Dee seems very into her heritage but also couldn’t get away fast enough from the life she knew while growing up. I suppose she just wanted better things with her personality.  She just showed up and wants to take all these possessions with her.  She directly goes to the churn top and is noticing how lovely the benches they eat on are now that she is older.  After she decides to take that form her mom she goes into the bedroom for handmade quilts her own deceased grandmother has put together. Mother has told her they were already promised to Maggie.  I felt sorry for Maggie.  She is so used to giving things up and not having her way that she just says, “ Dee you take them”.  Of course Dee would have!  I was so glad when the mother gently took the quilts back and said, “NO”.  Finally Maggie gets what she deserves and probably felt so much love in that moment.

Amy Tan

Half and Half

Amy Tan parents emigrated from China to California where she was born and raised.  She probably grew up with more American influences while her parents tried to keep their Chinese heritage alive and strong.  Like when she first started dating Ted.  They would have preferred her date Chinese boys from church like her sisters.  In the story it starts with the girl trying to find a way to tell her mother that her and Ted are going to get a divorce. She thinks her mother will want her to work it out and starts reminiscing to a time when her mother really believed in God and the day she stopped relying on faith.  They were out as a family with 7 children.  I can relate because I have 6 and know how hectic times can be when they are all doing something different and you cannot possible keep your eye on them at all times and request the older ones to do it, when really it’s not their job or fair to them.  They are thinking about the day that everything changed. They were at the beach as a family and Dad was fishing, mom busy with blankets and organizing other kids.  The boys are off playing in the sand, the girls take a walk and as the narrator gets up to do her own thing she is ordered to watch Bing, her four year old brother.  Under her watch her little brother takes off and ends up drowning in the ocean.  Although it’s really not her fault I am sure she has held onto guilt her entire life since then. I know I would have. Even though the parents express their thoughts on the guilt belonging to the Dads selfishness and Mom knows she distracted her daughter when she should have had her focus on Bing.  I can only imagine the pain this death would bring to the entire family.

Bobbie Ann Mason

Shiloh

Bobbie Ann Mason grew up on a small farm in Kentucky where she grew up doing farm chores and reading.  This is probably the reason she often writes about blue collar people in small-town rural America. In this short story Norma Jean is adjusting to her husband, Leroy Moffitt being off of work.  He was a long haul truck driver who was injured in a trucking accident and is suddenly home all the time.  Norma Jean has spend the last 10 or so years pretty much as a single lady.  I am sure she has done what she wanted and when she wanted.  Her husband being home I think is irritating her.  They seem to get along just fine.  Leroy is noticed how much he has missed being gone all the time and regretting the time he has missed sharing with Norma Jean.  On the other hand it seems Norma Jean is just done and over it.  She is always keeping busy with her lifting weights and has taken up classes at the local community college. I think this is just a ploy to get away form him so much. Norma Jean’s mother, Mabel is always visiting and insists the couple go visit a battle ground called “Shiloh”.  The couple finally give in and and decide to take a trip out there.  This is where Norma Jean tells Leroy she would like a divorce I guess this happens a lot with couples. They just grow different and apart from each other.  I am sure she is not out to intentionally hurt him but I am surprised at how long she has stayed with him. And for it to happen so suddenly? she even said she was fine until her mother caught her smoking.  I guess that led her to do some soul searching and realized she isn't living the life she wished to anymore.

Jamaica Kincaid

Girl

Jamaica Kincaid also had a sad life while growing up.  She is from the Caribbean island of Antigua.  She was an only child for many years.  This whole story is constant criticism she received by her mother.  I don’t see how anyone could treat their child this way.  She never had one positive thing to say to her.  Always calling her a slut, or would grow up to be a slut.  No wonder she moved far away after high school and changed her name.  It sounds as if maybe the mother had remarried and had more children and this was at a time when Jamaica really needed love and support from her mother not constant cruel words and hatefulness.   She often wrote about her mother and how her ways killed any love between them.  I just cannot imagine saying any of those things to my daughter.  Her mother must have been a very unhappy lady to want to ruin her daughter’s life.  In a way it is also sounds like the mother is trying to help teach her to be a proper adult.  Maybe she was scared her daughter would turn out just like her.  A lot of it she is offering advice but was it really necessary to go about it in that way?  The poor girl never gets a chance to voice her own opinion or to ask questions.  I hate when people only think that THEIR way of thinking is the only right way.  It really drives me nuts.  Maybe if the daughter could get word in edgewise they would have a better relationship and her daughter would actually learn from her mothers wisdom and not make the same mistakes.  I thought some of the advice was good. I am sure she only wanted the best for her daughter and wanted her to grow to be a proper lady and not have such a tough life as she had.   But gosh there are better ways to raise a child. 

WEEK 14

Week 14

Flannery O’Connor

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor had a really short life.  Our intro stated she often wrote about violence, evil and and not the typical traditional forms to write about. I did enjoy reading “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” What started out as what seemed like a happy story of a little southern family going on vacation turns tragic.  The family consisted the Grandmother, her son Bailey, his wife and three children.  They family is going on vacation. They are disagreeing on where to go.  Bailey wishes to go down from Georgia to Florida while his mother wants to go up north to Tennessee. The Grandmother is afraid of some misfit on the loose who is a escaped criminal.  They decide on Florida and on the way the Grandmother gets to thinking about an old house and wishes to see it again. After some arguing and persuading Bailey decides they can do.  They end up having an accident and roll their car over. Everyone is ok but shaken up.  Luckily a car happens upon them and I was relieved for the family.  But it turns out it was the Misfit.  He seems like a nice guy so I thought he just was using them for an escape or needed clothing.  The request Bailey to follow the two other boys out into the woods for no reason and they all hear a gunshot.  This really shocked me.  How horrible, just a family trying to have a vacation and now Bailey is shot dead or for sure dying alone in the woods.  Next they ask if the Mother and children wish to go and they do and bang bang bang they are also shot.  What did they ever do to deserve this? I guess this story follows along the writings of Flannery O’Connor with writing about violence and evil. I just don’t know why someone with talent to really write would choose such horrid topics.

Tillie Olsen

I Stand Here Ironing

Ok this was a sort of weird story.  But overall a good read interesting read. Tillie Olsen only completed the 11^th grade but has continued to educate herself through the public library.  By her early twenties she had already begun to make a name for herself.  Her career was interrupted to raise a get married and raise a family.  She continued on her writing journey later on.  I am not sure if this is a story about her own life or maybe her own child.  It sounds as if she is reflecting what could have gone wrong.  Very sad as her husband left her before Emily was a year old. She had no choice but to find work in a hard time of the depression.  She often had to send Emily away to other family members to keep her until she could get her back. Very sad to think what Emily went through!  She probably always felt like she could just be shipped off easily.  And then to add more brothers and sisters to the family probably only made it worse in her eyes.  It sounds like the mother often tried to make her feel special by allowing her to stay home and play as a family but I think the trust was already broken at this point.  She never had anyone to lean on and cry to, instead she was shipped off to strangers and even a convalescent hospital.  I cannot imagine having to do that or even choosing to do so. It sounds like Emily had found a way to be happy through her comedy.  It brought her attention she always wanted and needed.  I am not sure what is happening in the beginning with her on the phone talking about someone wanting her to talk to Emily.  I think her mother feels bad and possibly responsible for how her Emily has turned out.

Nikki Giovanni’s Poetry

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1943.  She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio but often visited Knoxville during the summer with her sister to stay with her grandparents. She currently works at Virginia Tech as a Distinguished Professor.  I did enjoy her poems somewhat.  They were easy reads which helps me a lot. The first poem Nikki-Rosa I think she is trying to say you cannot assume every black child had a hard rough life while growing up.  Just because she didn’t have all the fancy luxuries as some she was still a happy child.  I am not sure if she is just imagine what it is like for others or experiencing it herself. She was born in 1943 so it wasn’t that very long ago like the 1800’s during a time of slavery and all.

          I’m Not Lonely was a good point of view of someone worrying about what their life would be like if they were alone and here it happens and she is just fine.  There is no need to worry about her having nightmares because she is doing great. She can hog the entire bed at night without having to share.  That must be nice J I bet she felt sort of free. Instead of constant worry of what it would be like, she now knows and is doing great.

          Poem for Black Boys is a little unclear to me.  It sounds as if she is writing to say they should stick to their own thing, but I am not sure.  They should not act like they are something they are not and to stick to what they know like runaway slave.  That sounds really bad and racist to me.   Why cant little boys play what they want?  They can be the the sheriff if they wish instead of always the bad guy. I think this poem would make a little kid into a stereotype instead of shooting higher for a dream. 

Week 13

Week 13

Kathryn Stockett

The Help

What do you think motivated Hilly? On one hand she’s so unpleasant to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes she can’t control her. But she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think you can be a good mother but at the same time a deeply flawed person?

How much of a person’s character do you think is shaped by the times in which they live? 

        I really enjoyed reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I was really impressed with her first novel.  The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962.  I guess me be raised in California it was very different. My brother and sister were both born in the early 60’s and I have never heard stories of maids and such.  Maybe it was more of the   richer families versus middle class.  I also think out west was very different with slavery than living in the south.

        I definitely think a person’s character is shaped by the times in which they live.  It was acceptable in those days to have help with black maids.  I could just never imagine it.  I guess you can say it’s the same today with anyone being a maid, but now it’s a choice not the only job they can find.  I think you grow up and do as you were taught so all these new young moms are only replicating what they saw their entire lives and what they were taught by living with their mothers and fathers. Just like today it would not be acceptable at all to be so cruel to a maid just because she is a black woman.

        I am not sure what motivated Hilly.  I think she is just a horrid person to everyone but her children.  Some people just have no heart to be kind to anyone.  I would partly blame her parents for allowing her behavior her entire youth. If she saw all that hatred with her mother and father I am sure she finds it normal behavior.  I think she can be nice to her children because they are hers and they haven’t pissed her off just ye. I never read her say anything nice about her white friends children either and I am pretty sure just like Skeeter’s mom if her little white daughter grew up trying to help the black’s she would have turned on her just as fast or try to hide her and persuade her to be like everyone else and be ashamed.  I am glad things have changed for the better.  I cannot imagine having to treat others so badly and it being acceptable.  I would be the one feeling bad. 

Week 12

Randall Jarrell

           Randall Jarrell was born in California, raised by his paternal grandparents and great grandparents. At the age of 12 he moved to Tennessee and finished high school there. He was supposed to go to secretarial school in order to work in his Uncles candy firm.  Instead he ended up at Vanderbilt University.  He later taught English at Kenyon College  and at the University of Texas.  From 1942-1946 he served in the U.S Army Air Force.  He uses his military experience in many of his finest poems.  He last taught at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina.  He remained here the rest of his life.  I did not find his style of poetry very interesting. They were all a bit hard to follow and understand.  After I read Losses a few times, I could clearly see the poem is about war.   I think it’s an analysis of the soldiers die in any war.  They really don’t   know who they are killing and although this is an underlying reason, it isn’t really always the belief of the soldiers.   If they lasted long enough through the war, they were given medals, but is being rewarded for killing others really that great?  I was not very fond of the poem, The poem A Girl in a Library.  I had a hard time following and finding the meaning.  I can see its about a girl who is studying maybe a subject she doesn’t really like or want to study.  The last poem we read In Montecito. Randall Jarrell seems very disappointed in having to witness the ending of a life.  It sounds as if  a lady has died. After she dies everything is thrown away like it never mattered to anyone.  Someone else is now sitting in her seat at the cricket match.  All his poems were very odd to me.

Sylvia Plath

            Sylvia Plath had a hard life.  She was born in Massachusetts to a German father and Austrain mother who she often wrote about in her poetry.  She was said to be a brilliant and erratic child.  At the age of seventeen she was able to publish her first poem and a short story.   She had severe mental problems which she often wrote about.  After entering Smith College on a scholarship she was filled with apprehension of horror and death and felt obsessed with isolation and entrapment.  How very sad to be so talented yet trapped in your own world suffering.  The first poem The Bee Meeting I am not quite sure what is going on.  I can compare it to her maybe being in a hospital and she is explaining it as a meeting.  But I see possible Doctor’s and nurses coming at her all gloved and  covered, yet she is naked maybe on a Dr’s table. I think maybe she was being put in some sort of protection suit for herself and in solitary confinement.  The Poem Daddy was such a sad read. Her dad died at the age of 10 and I think she couldn’t ever get past that.  It sounds as if he was very strict to her and she hasn’t forgotten it.  Since he was then dead she could not ever question or talk to him to sort out her own feelings. She had a lot of rage toward her father for leaving her.  She compares the Nazis destroying their world and how her father has destroyed hers in a way.  I think she also find her husband and tries to mold him into the father she never had.  And he also leaves her, but this time she is able to control that rage.  All her poems are very sad to me.  I wish she could have gotten proper help to work through her issues.  To take her own life at such a young age is so sad.

James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues

            James Baldwin was also known as one of the most important American black writers of the twentieth century.  He was the oldest of nine children and was born and raised in Harlem.  He grew up being dominated by his stern father who was the minister of a storefront church.  At 14 Baldwin underwent a spiritual experience and began to preach in competition with his own father. The story we read Sonny’s Blues   turned out to be a pretty good read. It’s basically about two brothers who are 7 years apart and have their differences, but in the end they are family and need each other in their lives and come to terms that they are different and learn to accept that and be a family again. The two boys grow up with their mother in a poor neighborhood.  The oldest brother goes off and joins the army, during that time their mother passes away and Sonny lives with his big brothers wife and family. He ends up with a bad crowd and becomes addicted to heroin.  He realizes his problems and joins the Navy against his brother’s advice.  After a long gap of 7 years with no communication between the brothers they are brought together again because the older brother’s daughter has died and Sonny was in a drug program being rehabilitated.  They exchange letters and upon Sonny’s release he returns to live with his big brother and family.  Sonny always had a  gift and fascination for music which his brother thought was a waste of time. Sonny invites his brother to a nightclub in order to see him play the piano. At this time the big brother finally accepts Sonny for who he is and can understand him a bit more. It was very sad the Sonny had his music taken from him, what he loved most was gone, his mother and his music. Maybe if they had a better relationship and could lean on each other none of the problems with drugs would have happened. 

Week 10

Week 10

Eudora Welty

Powerhouse

            Eudora Welty lived from 1909-2001.   She was born and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi.  She graduated from University of Wisconsin in 1929.  She began writing a few years later. She wrote about society news for a Memphis newspaper.   In June of 1936 her first short story, “Death of a Traveling Salesman” was published. She wrote several novels until 1972.  She had a strong sense of the southern ways of life. 

            Powerhouse was a weird story to me and I really didn’t care for it much.  Powerhouse was a black man doing a show on a tour of some kind.  He is described horribly in my opinion.  He is described as Asiatic, monkey, devil.  It sounds like Eurdora Welty is rather racist.   Powerhouse is playing music and he talks an awful lot through out his performance. Half of the time I do not know if he is kidding or not.  In the story segregation was still a big part of the normal things going on.  Powerhouse and his band must play a white dance song, in which only the white people may dance.  This just brings sadness to my eyes.  Everyone should have a right to dance regardless of who is there.  I still do not understand why he is talking about a telegram about his wife being dead.  I am just not sure if he is serious or not, or if it’s just a part of a song.  He sounds like he really enjoys his music and is able to feel the music in his soul. He spends a lot of time talking to his band mates.  It sounds more like a comedic show instead of a music performance.  The songs through out the performance are really appropriate for the time.  I don’t think they enjoyed playing for the white people and in their own way have their own prejudices going on.

John Steinbeck

           

Flight

            John Steinbeck lived from 1902-1968.  He was born in Salina, California and used much his locale in his works.  He often wrote about native migrant workers and their struggles.  He had many different jobs since he was a young boy.  He worked as a newspaper reporter, bricklayer, chemist helper and sometimes a fruit picker.  He earned a Pulitzer Prizes in 1940 and in 1962 he earned a Nobel Prize in Literature. 

            In the story Flight, he was a great story teller who uses great description through out the tale.  Even though the story ends tragically it was a good read and kept me on my toes.  It starts out on a farm near the ocean in California. Pepe is a young boy who is the oldest child in the house of 3 kids.  His father was killed ten years ago from a rattlesnake bike to his chest.  Pepe is no help around the farm at all. While his little brother and sister catch fish for dinner, he simply plays with his father’s old knife. Pepe’s mother needs him to ride a horse into town in order to get medicine and salt.  He feels he is now a man for going on this jouney alone.  But his first  night away from home he gets into trouble.  He is supposed to stay at Mrs. Rodriguez house to rest.  While he was there they are all drinking whine and he gets into a fight with another man/boy and ends up throwing his fathers knife at him, killing him.  He rushes home where his mother packs him some things and sends him on his way in order to escape the men coming after him.  He is in no way ready to be out alone already.  Upon his journey he is cut  on his fingers and its all down hill from then. The men eventually catch up to him and he is shot dead. So sad at such a young age with so much life left to live.  Maybe his mother shouldn't have sent a kid out on a real man's journey.

Richard Wright

Native Son

            Richard Wright had a troubled childhood. His family was abandoned by his father and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. Growing up in the South in the 1920’s and being black he had many obstacles to overcome in school. He graduated as Valedictorian and already had stories published while still in high school.  He fled north up to Chicago where he worked several menial jobs.  He ended up in New York where he wrote Native Son.

            Native son takes place in Chicago where Bigger is a young black man looking for a job to help support his family.  He is hired as a driver for the Dalton family.  One of his first jobs is to take Mary the daughter to her University.  Soon as she is in the car she directs him elsewhere.  All the while he just wants to do the right thing for his job.  While out with Mary and Jan he is very uneasy.  They make him feel as one their own and he hates them for it.  He is not used to being treated equally.  I thought this was a great story with equality instead of the usual slave stories.  They end up drinking too much and he is loosening up.  At the end of the night Mary is too drunk to make it up to her own room and Bigger must help her.  He finally gets her into her room and suddenly Mrs. Dalton who is blind appears.  He is so afraid of being caught and fired he does everything to keep Mary quiet, he ends up pushing the pillow so hard on her mouth that she is suffocated and dies.  Even though what he did was wrong I can see his side of the story.  He of course would be punished and probably hung for murder when he was not intentionally trying to kill her, but he wanted that job so bad he just wanted to keep her quiet in order to get out of her room.  I felt sorry for him and the ending was sad.  But it was much better than reading Powerhouse.

Week 9

Week 9

William Faulkner's        

 

 "That Evening Sun"

            William Faulkner lived from 1897-1962.  He received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.  After that achievement his reputation spread around the world.  He grew up in Oxford, Mississippi. He used this town in many of his writings with some small changes.  He traveled a great deal, and trained as a pilot.  I find it interesting he never graduated from college yet accomplished so much.  Goes to show if you are truly talented you will succeed.

            “That Evening Sun” takes place in Jefferson.  I thought it was a rather odd story.  It was ok and kept me engaged enough to get through it but I really don’t see why it would be so special.  I read it as if a white family has a maid named Nancy.  She has a ex husband or boyfriend who was in trouble with the law and had left town, she is horribly scared he is back and wants to harm her.  After her job is done with the cooking and cleaning she doesn’t want to go home.  She instead just sits quietly in the family’s kitchen.  We find out she is afraid to walk home alone in the dark so Jason the man of the house walks her home with his 3 children.  His wife does not like this at all.  She thinks Jason cares more about he negro help than his own wife and family.  I thought it was really nice of him to care about her well being.  Soon enough Jason is tired of walking her home and tells her,  her husband is not out there.  She manages to talk the 3 children into walking her home with promises of fun.  When they arrive there is nothing fun about it for them. They want to go home but she offers them popcorn and stories so they stay. I was glad their father showed up to bring them home where they belong.  What if her crazy husband really did come back and harm them all.  I believe the constant worry drove her insane and she began drinking. In the beginning of the story she was in jail trying to hang herself.  It was confusing jumping from the present into the past and the two kids constantly talking during the story because they were too young to really understand what was going on with Nancy and Jesus. Overall it was good but another sad story about how unfair blacks where treated in those days. 

 Langston Hughes

Hughes' poetry and  "On the Road"

            Langston Hughes was born in 1902 and died in 1967.  In grammar school he was chosen as a class poet and in high school he published two poems in magazines. He had many talents including humorist, historian of blacks. He wrote many novels, short stories and poems.  They also included children’s books, songs, and operas.   He had great black heritage and living in New York City picked up tastes in jazz music which you can clearly see in his writings.

            I enjoyed the few poems we had to read.  In the poem,   The Weary Blues I can easily picture a low lit club with a piano player at his piano and small tables gathered about.  The piano player is playing his blues and the person in the audience is just getting caught up in the music forgetting their own worries.  In Harlem, I picture a person who has a dream that is put on hold.  They are wondering what happens, Do they dreams dry up?  Do they fester? Or just explode.   I thought the majority of his poems were easy to understand and I liked them. 

            “On the Road” was sad to me.  We have a man called Sargeant who gets off a freight train looking for a place to sleep.   He is so tired and hungry he pay’s no attention to the snow coming down on him.  He goes to a church where is he is turned away and referred to a shelter which he has already been rejected because they are already full and he is also a black man.  He is banging on the church door until cops arrive.  I believe they knock him unconscious but he is having his own dream of breaking Jesus off the cross and them leaving together and he finds shelter for the night and Jesus goes on to Kansas City. Sargeant wakes up to what he thinks is being beaten on his hands by cops again but he realizes he is in jail from the earlier incident.   I find it very sad because he was black he was not accepted by the church.  I bet if it were any white man they would have been given a spot to sleep. 

Ernest Hemingway

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

            Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois.  His father was a Physician who gave his son many adventures in fishing and hunting.  After high school graduation he went to work as a report in Kansas City.  He was in World War I and the first American to survive after being wounded on the Italian front.  He often wrote about a modern world filled with sterility, failure and death.

            We were assigned to read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.  In the story we have a wealthy family of Francis and Margaret Macomber who are on a safari vacation in Africa.   This story keeps with his themes of failure and death.  The Macomber’s are out on a lion hunt with Mr. Wilson.  They finally find their prey and Francis first wants to shoot from the car which is a big NO NO.  He ends up shooting a lion but he does not die and they must look for him in the brush. Francis is very scared of the big kill and you can tell he just does not want to go through with it.  The time comes and the lion charges and Francis runs away like a chicken.  His wife is just downright disappointed and calls him a failure.   Back at camp for the night Francis wakes up and his wife is missing.  Turns out she has been with Mr. Wilson for a few hours and we can only imagine what they are up to.  She finds Mr. Wilson desirable because he is not afraid to kill the lion unlike her husband.  They both think the other will not leave each other because Mr. Macomber us rich and Mrs. Macomber is beautiful. 

            They are out on another hunt for buffalo and Mr. Macomber gets his kill and is very proud of him self. He has conquered his fear. Again he only wounded the buffalo so must go in the brush to finish him off. The buffalo charges again and he shoots and shoots but keeps hitting the horns which bullets just bounce off of.  Mr. Wilson is also shooting and Mrs. Macomber takes a shot and accidentally shoots her own husband dead.   I think this was their secret plan to get rid of him so they could be together.  This way she walks away with all her husbands money and Mr. Wilson.  The death could look accidental to most but only they know the truth. 

Week 8

Willa Cather

A Wagner Matinee

Willa Cather lived from 1873-1947.   She grew up in Nebraska and often dressed and acted like a boy.  She returned to the east and worked in a Pennsylvania newspaper and also taught high school English.  She wrote or ordinary people who often struggled with  finding the meaning of their lives. 

            An example of this was in her short story A Wagner Matinee.  In the story  we have Clark,  boy who is being visited by his Aunt Georgiana, who is in town to attend a settling of the estate from a relative. In her past she had been a music teacher at the Boston Conservatory.  She had fallen in love with Howard Carpendar and moved west and had to give up much of her music loves. Clark has many great memories of his Aunt raising him and all they shared together.  He thinks it would be a great idea to take her to the symphony. She is a bit out of place and underdressed compared to the others but is willing to go.   At the symphony Richard Wagner is playing and plays, “ The Flying Dutchman”.  This song brings back a lot of emotion out of Georgiana who begins crying during the performance.  In the end everyone leaves and she just doesn’t want to go.  I think  this brought back a lot of regret in her life.  She could have lived the life she wanted had she not left.

Paul’s Case

This story was very sad to me. Paul is a young boy being raised by his father. His mother passed away shortly after his birth.  Paul is very interested in music and not so much school. He gets in trouble at school and everyone seems to look down on him.  When he is at the theatre he is a different person.  He is happy and carefree.  He gets in trouble again and everything he loves is taken away from him. He can no longer go to the theater, see his friends and must get a job.  In doing so he happens to be in charge of a large sum of money and steals it.  He takes off to New York’s Carnegie Hall and has a weekend like no other.  He buys fancy clothes, stays at a fancy hotel, and hangs out with people just like him. He reads in the newspaper that he has been found out and his father is in New York looking for him. He cannot imagine going back to Cordelia  street ever again!  He travels back to Pennsylvania and desides to end his life by jumping in front of a train. So very sad no one ever listened to him. He could have made so much of his life had he just tried harder and not given up.

Susan Glaspell

Triffles

Susan Glaspell grew up in a time that woman were seen and not heard.  They pretty much did what they were told by their husbands and tended to the family and house.  She struggled to show the  struggle woman had for identity, equality and power to be seen and heard. I just can’t imagine growing up and living in that time of the century.

            In her play :” Triffles” she writes of some of the challenges she deals with every day in her own life.   In this play we have  Mrs. Wright who had murdered her husband by strangling him with a rope in their bed.   The county Attorney, Sheriff, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Hale, and Mrs. Peters are all in the home while Mrs. Wright is at the jail. They are investigating the murder in order to find some clues.  Of course only the men are looking and the woman are downstairs trying to assemble some items to take to Mrs. Wright.  The men talk about Mrs. Wright like she is a bad wife. The house is not kept clean enough for them, there are dishes about the kitchen, not what they would like to see.  They cannot seem to find any clues they are looking for.  The woman are finding clues though.  They find that the bird has been strangled and saved in a box maybe for a proper burial.  They can immediately tell the bird has been strangled. They both know it’s a clue because Mr. Wright was also strangled and who else would want to strangle him but maybe his wife because he strangled her only joy and happiness.  They also find the birds cage door is broke as if someone flipped it too hard to get at that bird.  I wonder why they keep quiet. Is it because they are woman and feel that they will not be thought of as serious in their findings?  They seem to stick to do what is expected of them. Maybe they feel he deserved to die after killing an innocent bird and keeping Mrs. Wright home to do nothing all these years. 

Zora Neale Hurston

How it Feels to be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston lived from 1891?-1960.  She lived in a time that slavery was no longer legal but there discrimination was still very well known.  I really enjoyed both of her stories that we had to read. They were both really inspiring to me. 

            How It Feels to be  Colored me is about a little girl who had a happy childhood. At the age of 13 her mother died and she was left to be cared for by her father. Her father could not care for her so he sends her to live with various family members.  This is when she realized that she was not like everyone else.  It sounded like her mother gave her great self esteem and growing up in a all black city she was very much secluded from the real prejudices of the world. Zora Neale Hurston had a very similar life and managed to overcome so much. She was able to get into great schools to study and was always recognized in her literary writings.  She went on to write several great novels, short stories.

            The Gilded SixBits was probably my favorite reading of the week.  It was good to see a couple so in love and sad to see it almost ruined by greed and money, especially to find out Mister Otis D. Slemmons was a cheat and liar. Pretending his gold was all real when it wasn’t.  Missie May seemed like such a loving and caring wife. I never thought she would betray her husband in that way.  Made me really  sad how money and greed can come between a couple so in love. I was shocked that Joe did not up and leave right away but stayed until they found their love back to each other.  Im glad he had the faith that he had and they were able to find each other again. 

Week 7 Robert Frost

Robert Frost

After reading a few of Robert Frost’s poems I can see where he grew up has a lot to due with his settings.  He grew up in Salem, New Hampshire.  In many of his poem’s he talks about the cold winters with snow falling. As usual I do not understand much of what the poet is trying to say, but with a few of his poems I can relate to some parts.  The first poem we were assigned to read, Mending Wall really was the worst.  Maybe I need to read it a few more times but I did not understand a word of it.   I think my three favorite poems were: Home Burial, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and Desert Places.

          The poem Home Burial  was very sad!  When reading it I picture a setting with a husband and wife.  They are talking about having a infant that died and they are trying to deal with his death in their own way.  It sounds like the wife wants to run away and not deal with it, Or she runs away and confides in someone else on how she feels about it.  The husband wants her to stay and talk about it.   She doesn’t understand how he can just dig the grave and go on like it was no big deal.  I think this would be a typical conversation with two people trying to deal with grief in their own ways.

          The poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy evening was nice and short.  There is nothing special about this poem but I like the flow of it and the picture in my head.  I believe he is riding his horse and he stops in someone’s woods to just watch it snow. He has a long way to go but wants to just watch the beauty of the snow falling, covering up the woods.

          The last poem I chose was Desert Places. I chose those  poem because of its flow again. I like when they rhyme and make sense.  He sounds very lonely here.  He explains its loney out there in the woods. Maybe he is traveling.  But again he is in no hurry to get home because it is lonely there also.  Most of his poems are nice. I enjoyed them. 

WEEK 6

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane had a short life of only 28 years. During this Stephen Crane had a short life of only 28 years. During this time his life went many different directions.  He had hoped to be a soldier but left military prep school to study mining-engineering. He later left that college and played sports for a few years and began his writing career.

I am not a huge fan of poems.  I find that most of them are hard to understand.  I wish writers would leave some type of interpretation behind so we could all know what they were really talking about, not to just interpret them by ourselves.  After reading Crane's ten poems I still feel the same.

I read most of the other classmate’s posts and everyone seems too really like "In The Desert"   I don't really like it at all.  Why is he even thinking to write about someone eating his own heart?  Just weird!  Many of his poems are located out in the open land. I think he may have spent a lot of time outside.  They also seem to talk of war time and I think that is because of the years he was growing up and what he saw around him. I think he initially wanted to be a soldier but got scared and that is why he changed his major.  In the poem " A Man Feared that he might find an assassin" I think that would be a war image.  You picture two soldiers on opposite sides. They are each looking for a victim and if they find him they become his assassin.  Of course the wiser one is who is left alive.

"Black riders came from the sea"  Sounds like maybe war ships attacking. Darker skinned soldiers appearing off a ship.  They are coming with their swords and shields making noise, rushing upon their victims to kill them in sin.

The Open Boat

The “Open Boat” is a  true life story.  Stephen Crane was a reporter for a newspaper.  He had joined a gun-running expedition to Cuba in which the boat he was on sank.  He ended up on a small dingy with 3 other survivors.  Throughout the story he shows great detail in explaining the waves crashing upon the dingy, the look of the horizon in a distance and how the land looks so small and far away . This was really a good story that I could easily picture in my head.  I can see them stranded out at sea just praying to make it back to land.   At one point a huge storm comes.  They see lightening, hear thunder, fight with large waves trying to crash them.  It shows how tiny 4 humans are compared the large sea and the universe.  Who would really miss 4 people in the grand scheme of life? 

At one point they come really close to a lighthouse.  I am not sure why they expect people to come looking for them if no one even knows they are missing.  They didn’t have cell phones or TV’s so it is not like a family member can call and ask how they were doing and they surely were not on the news. 

I really admire their determination to survive. They never gave up!  They were always respectable of the others who needed to sleep and rest.   They kept going and looking until they found land.  I think their saying “ If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven made gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?”  ( pg 789)  This would have really given me hope too.  I was very sad to read the oiler did not survive the ordeal. 

Edith Wharton

“ The Other Two “ written by Edith Wharton was a good story.  It seems sort of odd it is from so long ago.  It would really be normal to read something like this today.  Usually in those days   woman were married once and here is Alice working on her third marriage.  I found that kind of odd.  I think today it is more odd to find someone who is married only once.  I think Edith Wharton wrote about this because she herself was divorced before.

 This story had a lot of the same struggles that families have today in dealing with visiting fathers, ex husbands, and new husbands. I don’t think Alice ever imagined having to deal with her old husbands on a daily basis.  In the story Alice’s daughter   Lily, becomes ill. Her father is really involved in her life as he should be.  He comes to see his sick daughter and Alice’s new husband Mr. Waythorn doesn’t really like the idea of him visiting her in his house.  In the end he realizes he loves his daughter and has every right to see her as anyone else.  I think he admires that he has moved from his good job to be closer to his daughter.  Another ex husband was   Gus Varick.  He had no reason to be involved with Alice anymore.  He came into the picture because of   Mr. Waythorns business. 

In the end we see Mr. Waythorn coming home to what he thinks is an empty house.  First he walks into his office and sees Mr. Varick who unexpectantly shows up for a business meeting.  Then out of nowhere comes Mr. Haskett who wants to discuss Lily with Mrs. Waythorn.  I think he handled the meeting quite well with offering them cigars.  Soon Mrs. Waythorn comes in and is shocked as well.  She manages to pull herself together and greet her ex husbands. How uncomfortable she must have felt standing there with 3 different husbands.  I think the jealousy Mr. Waythorn was having is now gone. He has come to realize that Mrs. Waythorn is the way she is because of the past men in her life. There is a reason they are ex husbands and not husbands still.

Week 5

The Yellow Wallpaper

I really enjoyed reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  This story kept be quite entertained. Usually I am counting down the pages to the end and with this story I was shocked it was already over.  I feel very sorry for the lady in the story.  Her husband John thinks she is very ill.  I think maybe she had some sort of post pardon depression from having their baby.  Because John thinks she is so ill she must remain upstairs in her room. 

    She cannot stand the yellow wallpaper in that room.  It's a horrible shade of yellow, it's very old and musky smelling.  Eventually I think she starts really going crazy.  Her brother also a Physician agrees with her husband.  I think if everyone thought I was crazy I would probably really go crazy.  Day after day she just sits on her bed. Eventually she starts to imagine a woman trying to get out of the wallpaper behind bars.  I think this signifies her  own life as she is always trying to escape her room which she is ordered to stay in. She is wishing to go out in the garden and breathe fresh air.  She expresses her wishes to write in her journal and suggests ways to improve her health and each time she is shot down by her controlling husband.   I think in this writing she is describing how she felt as a child always being sick and being told what to do by her parents.  I was really expecting more of a true horror story not a depressing one. I guess in the say and age that she wrote it, they had less understanding about depression being a sickness and better ways to treat it. In the end she works and works at tearing down as much paper as she can.  She is seen by her husband running around and around the room. At this point I think she has truly lost it.

The Awakening

The  "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin was a sad story to me.  I think Edna Pontelliers was constantly searching for something she couldn't have. Sort of the grass is always greener on the other side.  She was a married woman  with children living the life of the upper class.  While most would be content living that sort of life she was not.  She never seemed very motherly compared to her friend Adele Ratignolle.  

     Chopin wrote this story in 1899.  This was a time when men where the money earners and the woman was to stay home with her children.  She was the cook, cleaner, caretaker.  I don't think Edna ever wanted that in her life.  She often had images of the bluegrass fields in Kentucky as a child and of the ocean at Grand Isle in the Gulf Of Mexico. This was an escape from reality for her. She did not want to bother with her children and taking care of them.  Her husband noticed this too.  She felt trapped as the birds in the cage were trapped. Her friend Adele Ratignolle is complete opposite. She is very motherly to her children and tries to guide her the right way. She begs Edna to think of her children before leaving her husband.  Edna could not do it though. She leaves her husband gets her own apartment, gets a job selling her paintings.  She is living the life she wishes.  Her lover Robert ends up leaving her behind because he doesn't believe they can overcome the the marriage she has.  She is very sad and depressed.  She swims out to sea and swims and swims and eventually just gives up on her life. I think if she had been born at a later time she may have been successful but she could not compete with the role of wife and mother expected during that time of life. 

Week 4

Editha

     After reading  Editha by William Dean Howells I couldn’t help but think how sad it was.  He never sounded like he was liking the thought of war but Editha made it sound like if he didn’t go she would not be around for him.   She wrote him that nasty letter  giving all his stuff back. She had such a view that war was glorious and fun.  I have never found war to be glorious at all.  I have never thought of young men going away from their loved ones to fight anything to be happy about.  Many don’t get to come back at all and if they do they are so traumatized they don’t ever lead a normal life again.  I can see why Mrs. Gearson was so mean to Editha.  Her husband had been in a previous war and came back with one arm.  I am sure he told her many stories of the real side of war and that is why they raised George to not be so willing to go and fight.  Here comes Editha to show up at her home, I would be furious as Mrs. Gearson.  Editha still has her long life ahead of her.  Poor George is dead and his mother has lost her son forever.  I would have liked to see Editha sign up to go and fight a war.  I bet she would have changed her mind real fast. Although I appreciate our freedom and all of the soldiers have died for us, I just am so scared of my own kids growing up and wanting to go.  I am thankful they are still young but with the current war just going on and on and young men dying all the time.  It just breaks my heart when I see a story of another soldier dying.  I don’t think we ever see the real side of what really goes on while fighting a war. 

Tennessee’s Partner

     I was a little confused reading Tennessee’s Partner by Bret Harte.  This story is taking place in a bar called Sandy Bar in 1854.  It seems everyone there gives the customers nicknames to go by.  I am not sure what Tennessee did to be called Tennessee but it had to have something to do with a previous happening.  After reading the whole short story I see a story about true friendship.  Here we have friends Tennessee and Tennesee’s partner.  They have been friends for many years. Even after Tennessee running off with Tennesse’s partner’s wife, he still welcomed to his home with a handshake as he was glad to see him.   He has helped his friend many times when he was drunk and unable to get home.  As Tennessee is on trial for robbery Tennessee’s partner attempts to offer his life savings of  $1700. Something only a true friend would do.  Maybe he really just didn’t want to live his own life alone.  In the end he is the only one to show up for Tennessee’s body and gives him a proper burial on his land.   Throughout the story you see a lot of  silly humor that just would never make sense.  The trial alone doesn’t sound very real.  Here you have a  person just show up and start trying to bribe the judge in front of everyone.  He slaps down all his money not worrying about what is right and wrong.  Also when they are about to hang Tennessee. Instead of a dreary funeral you hear words like birds singing, flowers blooming, sun shinning just like it’s a cheery day. It seems in the end Tennessee’s partner may have died of a broken heart.  He missed his friend terrible and by the time the rainy season came he had taken to his bed and passed away.  I also liked this story because I am from a town near San Francisco so when I hear that and Stockton I can almost picture Tennessee traveling back and forth.

An Occurrence at owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge turned out to be a pretty good story written by Ambrose Bierce.  In section one we get the beginning of the story. Peyton Farquhar is about to be hung.  He is surrounded by soldiers on a railroad bridge overlooking a river. His hands are tied behind his back and a rope around his neck. I’m sure this is just a few moments in time but it goes on forever with such great detail that it seems like hours could have passed by.  I think this part would represent his fear of the unknown.  He is thinking of his wife and kids he must leave behind.

             In section two we learn who Peyton Farquhar really is.  We learned about his life as a well to do planter and how he came to the position of being hung.  This is the shortest section of the story.   Peyton Farquhar is trying to stop the troops from expanding on by burning the bridge they would cross.  He had heard the troops many times will burn innocent families homes and wanted to prevent that from happening to his home.  I guess he is caught while attempting this and that is why the troops are hanging him. 

            Section three was by far the longest and is the point that the soldiers let him fall which again takes merely seconds in real life.  But as he falls it seems like an eternity.  He is envisioning what he wishes to happen.  He wants the rope to break in which he will splash into the water and make his great escape. He is able to get off the ropes tying his hands, he doges bullets being shot, a vortex from shooting cannons shoot him out of the water into the forest which he runs and runs to make it home.  He finally arrives there after running non stop to see his beautiful wife waiting for him. At the moment he was waiting for to embrace his wife he thinks he is shot in the neck but really it was just the rope breaking his neck and him dying. 

Free Joe and the Rest of the World and How Mr. Rabbit was too Sharp for Mr. Fox

     After reading Free Joe and the Rest of the World you can see the typical stereotypes.  You have Free Joe who was the free slave.  Being free is something he probably always dreamed of.  He is finally a free man but is still not happy.  He doesn’t have his wife to be free with because she is still a slave.  Even though she is not free she is able to meet him under the poplar tree. They go about this way for awhile until her master finds out and she is shipped off to far for him to ever reach her.  While he waits for her he hears slaves singing away happy as can be.  He insists he hears her singing loudly above everyone else.  I think the stereotypes suggest that the grass is always greener on the other side. You always want what you can’t have.  I think he would have been happier a slave along side his wife than living alone all that time.  It’s such a sad time for me to read about.  I think of all those people who were treated so horrible for years and years. 

     The story How Mr. Rabbit was too sharp for Mr. Fox was hard for me to read. The dialect is awful.  From what I get from the story you have Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. Brer rabbit has been taunting Brer Fox for some time.  Brer Fox finally has Brer Rabbit exactly where he wants him, it the tar baby.  Brer Rabbit welcomes him to do whatever he wants but please don’t throw him in the Brier patch.  Since he has requested this so many times Brer Fox thinks this is a great way to get him back.  So he tries and Brer Rabbit gets away. Brer Rabbit has outsmarted Brer Fox again.   I think this is a great tale using animals and reverse psychology.  He is really expressing what he really wants Brer Fox to do but disguising it as what he is begging him not. Brer Fox isn’t very smart in falling for this trick and gets what he deserves. No Brer Rabbit barbecue for him.