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. 

Week Three: Emily Dickinson

After reading many of Emily Dickinson's poems I can clearly see I am not poetic at all. It has always been really hard for me to find meaning in many of them.  Especially hers!  I like poems and stories that bring a picture to my mind and  I can easily visualize a scene inside my head.  Her words are very confusing, many I really don't know the meanings of.  She lived from 1830-1886. She died close to 100 years from my birth so the words are so different from now.  She also seems very depressed.  Maybe living the life of seclusion wasn't really her choice to live.
       The poem numbered 328 is the only one I can get a picture in my head from.  I can easily picture a bird  happily enjoying his day eating a worm, allowing a beetle pass.  But all the while still being alert as to the dangers out there. Perhaps a cat lurking nearby.  I picture Emily maybe out on one of her walks. She lived a life of seclusion so like the bird she is enjoying herself outside yet worried about who may be out to run into.  

     I also like poems about love that I can understand. I think in her poem 441 I think she is writing about the love for her sister in law.  She is explaining that this relationship was not a normal man and a woman like it should have been considering back then.  She says it's "with tender majesty" indicating it's a woman, not a man.  She is also asking for forgiveness because back then I am sure it was really frowned upon to be in love with a woman.  I don't think she ever felt accepted during her life, and that is why she lived in seclusion. 

   Another poem that sounds depressing to me is number 754. She is again talking about death.  I believe she is saying that she had been blessed with people she had loved " Angels" and God has taken them both away from her.  She is feeling robbed of her loved ones and is once again feeling poor.  I am not sure if I am right on these ideas of mine, but like I said I am no poet. :)

Week 3 Sarah Orne Jewett

"A White Heron"

    The short story " A White Heron"  by Sarah Orne Jewett takes place a long time ago in a rural area.  Little Sylvia who is about 8 years old goes to live with her grandmother in the country after living in the city.  I think the fact that she spent so many years in a big city she would learn to appreciate the quiet country living.  Throughout the story you see how Sylvia just loves nature.  In the beginning you see Sylvia driving home her cow "Mistress Molly" She takes great delight in finding her and bringing her home. On the way home she never rushes Mistress Molly along, just taking in nature while the cow stops to take a drink from the brook.  She takes notice to the cool water, moths flying by her, and birds chirping in the air. 

      Along her walk home she meets a man with a gun.  She quickly learns that he loves birds just as she does, but he has a different kind of love.  She enjoys watching them and listening to them. His idea of enjoyment is to kill them, stuff them and preserve them. She comes to find out he is after the "White Heron"  She knows exactly what he is talking about!   She has seen this bird before and knows exactly where their nest is.  He offers her family $10.00 if she can lead him to the white heron.  That is a lot of money to them and she must decide between giving up the birds whereabouts or the money.  

     The next night when everyone is asleep she sneaks away to where the nest is.  She climbs up a large tree higher than she has ever climbed before and sees the bird calling out to his mate.  She begins to imagine what the stranger will say about her knowing where they birds nest is.  But when she goes home and is questioned she just can't bear to tell the bird's secret.  She knows if she tells he will immediately dart out of there to shoot them.  I think she knows the White Heron is a rare bird and giving his secret away means he will be dead in the matter of hours.  She cannot be held responsible for giving his life away.  She is saving the birds life and in the end they will have more birds to continue on their existence. At such a young age she realizes the importance of their conservation over money.

Week 3 Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

     I really enjoyed reading "A New England Nun" written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.  The whole story brought a feeling of peace and quiet from beginning to end.  I think Louisa is a nun-like figure because in the end that is what she chooses to live like.  After 14 years of living alone the man she was supposed to marry 14 years ago is back to marry her.  I think during her 14 years of living alone she has become quite accustomed to her peaceful and quiet life.  She gets to spend her days as she wishes.  She spends her days sewing at her leisure, picking currants for tea, enjoying her things in her home.  She dines on her China daily, something her neighbors never do.  She has always been a caregiver to her canary and deceased brothers dog Caesar, similar to a nun who is always caring for others.   I can see she is dreading the change she is going to have to go through in marrying Joe Dagget.  First she has to move to his house that he has been altering for some time.  The thought of caring for such a large home troubles her.  She will also have to care for his old mother.  She feels like she is having to leave her life as she has known it behind.  
     After she discovers Joe and Lily speaking while on her walk she knows he has fallen for another woman.  I think she finds this as her chance to break free and keep her peaceful and quiet life she has had the past 14 years.   She hears with her own ears how he is never going to break her heart after she waited for 14 years.  And she hears Lily planning on running away.  She really could have married him and lived the life she was dreading,but used this chance as a way out to remain living her nun-like life.  I think most woman would have busted them both and made them feel horrible for sneaking around after she sat being loyal all those years.  But she was content to live life her way even though she was alone.  But at least she was happy.