The Lesson

What a great story about different racial and social class. I believe that the setting of the story where this kids are brought up is Harlem, New York City sometime in the 50’s. They are not educated nor are their parents who are never around and seem not to care much about their kids. Miss More is a lady from that neighborhood who is educated and really tries to help the community as much as she could. She takes these kids on trips and tries to educate them on certain topics. I have to give her credit because they are not the best bunch of kids. They misbehave and are very rude. This one trip she takes them to Fifth Avenue. There they walk over to F. A. O. Schwarz where they are introduced to pricey toys. No one can believe their eyes at how much some of these toys cost. Children start to think and argue for how long they would have to save up their allowance to be able to afford something in that store. One imagines asking her parents for a toy for $35 and the response she would get. I believe that the purpose of this trip was to show this kids that there is life (and what kind of life) outside their community and that they have to strive for that. In a way she opened their eyes and showed them the other side of the world.

A & P

The story “A & P” by John Updike is about a young man named Sammy who works at a supermarket in the suburbs. His whole surrounding seems artificial. He seems trapped in a fake world, which he is not happy in. nothing seems to change day in and day out until three young girls walk in, in nothing but their bathing suits. Right away they seem to catch his eye especially one of them. To him they look real…what a person should be like. They are not trying to fake anything or follow the standards of the community. It a way I feel that he is not attracted to them physically but more visually. Being in that surround his whole life he admires the appearance of this young ladies. This does not last long as the manager of the store tells these girls that they are not dressed appropriately for the store. This is when Sammy quits. By quitting I think he rejected himself from the “norms” this society has set for him and went the opposite way. He does realize however that because he is still part of it this will be very tough journey that he will have to face on his own.

Everyday Use

The story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is about an African American family –mother and her two daughters. One of the daughters whose name is Maggie is very shy and quite. We do not know why, perhaps I believe it may have something to do with the accident she was in when the house went on fire and left her with severe burns. She lives with her mother. The second daughter Dee is perfect in the eyes of her mother (the story is being told by her). She got the looks, the personality, and the brain. The mother describes herself as more of a manly type. She has no education and does manly jobs as well. It seems like the mother likes Dee more than Maggie. Both girls are getting married soon and Dee wanted the quilts that her mother had. Unfortunately for her those quilts were promised to her sister Maggie. After a slight argument mother took the guilt’s and gave it to Maggie right after hugging her. This was the first time she had hugged her.
Why did Dee wanted the quilts so much. Was it because she has changed so much that she wanted to have something remind her of her heritage? Maggie showed a strong side of herself at the end. She wasn’t shy or scared anymore. Maybe because for the first time her mother came to her defense and showed that she is too her daughter.

A Worn Path

This short story is a about an old African American woman who is out on a journey to town. It is winter and there are many obstacles that she encounters on her way (some are nothing more but hallucinations). She does not give up and continues. On her way she is approached by a white man who helps her when she’s down but at the same time lies to her and treats her just the same way colored people were bound to be treated at that time. Her journey is to the doctor’s office to get medicine for her grandson. She takes this journey often. in a way to me it seemed as if her journey represent her constant life at that time with obstacles and people who would be kind enough to offer her help but still not treat her as equal.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

What an IRONIC story. Family is going on a trip to Florida and the grandmother is not happy with this decision. She does not want to visit Florida but instead wants to go and visit Tennessee. When the family does not abide she tells them of a killer Misfit who is on the loose in Florida and that it is dangerous to go there at this time. They continue on with their trip and go on to Florida. All of the sudden the grandmother remembered of the house that she used to visit when she was a little girl and thinking that it’s not too far asked her son Bailey to go visit it. when the grandkids joined in with their begging to go visit the house Bailey(not being a strong character and easily influenced) gave in. only once they took a bad, dirty road the grandmother remembered that the house she has visited was not in Georgia (where they were) but in Tennessee. It was too late, their car crashed and rolled over and there was no one around them for miles except for the car coming their way. One of the passengers in the car was Misfit himself. No one survives as the entire family gets shot.
Grandma (whose character I just hate and found to be a b****) didn’t want to go to Florida so her excuse was the killer on the loose Misfit. Unfortunately Misfit had found them at a place that she had taken her family. Such irony. I also found grandma to be very selfish. It was always about her and no one else. She thought of herself higher than of anyone else. She was also more racist than other family members. I was also stunned by the fact than when her entire family was being shot around her all she cared about was her own life and tried everything in her power to save it. She turned to religious and offered Misfit money in return for her life. All she kept saying was “you wouldn't shoot a lady". During this ordeal not once she showed any care of what happened to her family especially since it was her fault that they ended up on the same “road” with Misfit

A Hunger Artist

A Hunger Artist is a short story by Franz Kafka. In this story we are introduced to an artist whose art is starvation. He starves for many days in the row and is famous because of that. There are many debates that go on whether or not he is a cheater and people spend days in days out sitting wand watching him. His record is 40 days but he wants more. With time public looses interest in him and he suffers from that. He fires his manager signs himself up for circus. That makes his career go down the drain. He dies and is replaced by a panther. People seem to have more interest in a panther than the artist. This leads me to this thought…… is it possible that we as humans are always looking for something new to get our attention? We get tired of things/performances quite too soon and often. We are constantly striving for new entertainment. This artist did something that is very rare and impossible for anyone to do. But people lost interest in him. Once he was replaced by a cat his cage was visited again. New entertainer brought new crowds.
I also think that just as the crowd can never be satisfied the performer himself is not satisfied. He has attention but starves for more. The only difference is that the audience has nothing to loose and moves on to a performer. But for a performer to achieve glory, and regain his audience is a no easy task and nearly impossible.

Young Goodman Brown

In this story young GOODman brown leaves his wife Faith and goes on a meeting with the devil. He is a young man who struggles with separating good from evil. On his way he struggles with his decision and is not sure if he should persist. But he does, and sees that many of his neighbors and even his spiritual advisor are present. When he approaches his destination he sees his wife present there as well. He joins her and as they are about to be ritualized Goodman looks in to the sky as to heaven and everything disappears. For the rest of his life he is not sure if what he saw did happen in fact or if it was just a dream. He has lost his Faith (as in his wife and faith in everyone). He spends the rest of his life in isolation from all.
Was this a dream? Why was a good man going on a meeting with the devil? If He is not sure whether it was a reality or a dream then why doesn’t he go back to his wife after that night? And why is it that he can not trust anyone? Maybe he has trust issues?.

THE PURLOINED LETTER

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story that takes s place in Paris. The narrator and C. Augustine Dupin are sitting in a home library when they are visited by their friend who is a policeman Monsieur G. he came to ask for help even though this is a very secret deal and he may loose his job if it were to leak out. The queen had her letter stolen by Minister D and they can’t get a hold of it. The police had searched his house and had no results. The letter seemed to disappear. Dupin and the narrator suggest that maybe this case is much easier that it looks and that what they are looking for may be right in front of their nose. A month goes by and the policeman comes back with absolutely no clues. He informs that the reward was doubled and even if it was tripled there was nothing else he could do. That’s when Dupin tells him to write him a check for fifty thousands and takes out a letter that was missing. We later learn that it was true that the letter was right in front of their noses and they missed it because of that.
I found the last line to be very interesting. Un dessein si funeste, S'il n'est digne d'Atrée, est digne de Thyeste." This is what Dupin wrote in a letter that he left for Minister D. it translates "A plan, if disastrous, if it is not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of Thyestes." This is referring to two brothers who had an ongoing revenge against each other. Maybe there has been something in the past between Dupin and the Minister and that has influenced him to help the policeman in this case in order to get his revenge.

The Use of Force

In this short story "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams we come along a doctor who is being called on house visit. Once he arrives he is being greeted by the parents of a girl. They seem like nice caring people. from the symptoms that the parents describe he suspects that the patient may have diphtheria. The girl does not say anything nor lets the doctor examine her throat. After numerous please by her parents and the doctor himself she still refuses the observation. With no other choice the doctor and the girls father use force to open her throat. Its not easy but after numerous tries they do succeed. It turns out that the girl is seriously sick.

I don't know what the exact meaning of this story might be, but i think that the author is trying to show that sometimes the use of force is necessary for the persons own good. In this case that may have saved this girls life.

Hills like White Elephants

I have read Hemingway’s' "Hill like White Elephants" some time ago and was pleased that this story is being discussed in this class. This is a great story on a very serious topic but it is written in a way that the reader is not told anything in particular. What we do know is that there are two main characters a man and a woman. they are waiting for a train and engage in to a conversation about a procedure that she will have to undergo. We are not told the nature of this procedure. The name of the operation in today’s terms would be called abortion. They sit in this bar and discuss whether she should have this procedure done. It is clearly seen that she does not want to have an abortion even though she never says that. It is also clearly seen that he wants her to have this done even though he never says this as well. She wants to start a new life-family life. He wants to go one with his carefree life. He promises her happiness after its over, however she says that she doesn't know if this will bring them happiness referring to the other couples who have gone through this. He does not give up and keeps telling her that this is a simple procedure and that she has nothing to worry about. Their train is five minutes away. What happens next is left in the dark to reader’s imagination.


I was thinking......could it be that somewhere deep inside of him he is not sure if they should go on with the abortion and that's why he tells her that i don't want you to do it if you don't want to. So that later on he can say that it wasn't only HIS choice.

something to think about

This has to do with The Yellow Wallpaper story. we know that she is a writer. Many writers "suffer" from extreme imagination. Maybe that's the case here??????

Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells us a story about a person suffering from mental illness. In The Yellow Wallpaper we are introduced to a woman who is seriously ill. We are told that she is suffering from a temporary nervous depression. I believe that it might be more serious than that. To me it looks like she is also hallucinating. She sees something that other “normal” people do not see. As the story progresses she starts to believe that they see it too. It was sad to see what people suffering from mental illnesses may go through on daily bases. I believe that in the end of the story her husband has realized that she is more ill than they thought.

Kate Chopin

I found “The story of an Hour” to be a great, easy, interesting read.
The impression I got about Mrs. Mallard is that she was stuck in a relationship that she wanted out of. I guess at that time divorce was not an option and therefore she just went on with her life without knowing any better. She didn’t enjoy the life she had. When the news of her husband’s death was revealed to her she mourned a bit and after was overwhelmed by a feeling of freedom.
I got the feeling that her marriage did not allow her to enjoy life. After the news of her husband’s death she starts to think that finally now she will live for herself. She finally started thinking of her life, her future.
I have to disagree with Gaiane on the ending. I didn’t find it funny, but ironic. The person believed to be killed, lived and the person who just started to plan her life dies. I guess she died form the excitement of her dreams.