Reader Response #5

The Big Vent
"Signifying Nothing"

Dear Narrator,
After listening to your story about your father waggling his dick in front of your face one day when you were in the rec room and the only two there, it made me furious.  How come you waited so long to say something?  And when you were 19 and finally moving out, why did you ask then?  Did you think just because you were "set free" that he would finally answer you?  I just do not understand.  Even though you were younger when it happened, you still knew what he was doing and should have spoken up then.  After all those years passed, how could you just forget something like that?
If I was you, when your father gave you "the look" in the van after questioning him, I would have pursued for an answer.  Whether he was pissed or not, I would have fought for an answer.  You keep repeating yourself saying you want to go to your folks' place when no one is there but your father so you can kick his ass, well actions speak louder than words!  Maybe if you actually did what you said you were/wanted to do, you might have gotten an answer. 
Also, how could you not keep in contact with your family for so long?  Even though what your dad did was wrong, that is no need to exclude the rest of your family, like your poor mother, wondering for over a year why her son has not called or visited.  You onbly lived what, two miles away?  Grow some balls, stick up for yourself, and tell them what is going on!
By the end of you story, I was even more upset with you.  Although the family was together, laughing, it made me wonder why this day?  Why was this the day to go to your family?  Was it because it was you sister's birthday?  Or the fact that the restaurant she chose used to be the restaraunt you chose each year for your birthday?
Here is some advice.  Think, think really hard.  Was your dad waggling his dick in front of your face just a dream, or was it real.  Once you figure it out, ask yourself if you could live with yourself knowing what happened.  Talk to someone!

Sincerely,
Your Concered Listener

Reader Response #4

"Motherfucker" & "Ironhead" by Aimee Bender

After reading both of these stories, my reactions were kind of the same: What the hell?!  With the story "Ironhead," I did not really realize that this was magical realism until about the middle of the story.  I thought that she was just describing the way they looked by using objects.  Although this story is magical realism, I could relate to it.  When Ironhead was born, he was different from all the rest of his family.  Even though I was not different immediately after I was born, I grew up to be different.  Both of my parents like different thing than I liked, but they still loved me all the same and treated me just like a daughter should be treated.  When I went to school, I was always the different one too, just like Ironhead.  I was always known as the chubby girl, and I never grew out of it until I was in high school. 
After reading this story, I felt sad for the family that lost their Ironhead.  Even though he was not happy, wondering why he was different than his family and his head looked different than everyone else's, his family loved him very, very much.  I could feel like mourning of the family, because by the end of the story, I realized I used to be an "Ironhead."
After reading "Motherfucker," I was kind of taken aback.  I did not think that this story was going to be exactly what the story was entitling.  While reading, my emotions were flying everywhere.  I was upset, happy, and sad.  I think what really got me in the story was when the "mother fucker" had snagged the starlet.  I thought things were going to end, no more fucking mothers.  It all looked so hopeful, until it all got ruined, just like it usually does with him.  He, a normal guy besides his bad habit, had won her, a movie star, over.  It seemed like things could not get any better.  He was playing hard to get, reeling her in more.  This is when I thought he had liked her for sure, and was not going to let her go.  I was extremely upset when things did not work out, and he never called her to make another date.  I was unimpressed.  

Reader Response #3

"Captain's Club"


After finishing this story, I was sad for Tommy.  I really wanted him to be able to experience the big, bright, red moon with Tree.  I felt like that would have been the perfect ending to his very fortunate vacation for Tommy. 
Tommy was not the most liked guy in his class, but when no one else was able to go on a once in a lifetime vacation with CJ, Tommy was the lucky one to go.  Leaving who he loved most behind, his mother, it seemed like this vacation would never end well for Tommy.  Things started to look brighter when him and Tree, CJ's dad's girlfriend, started to do things everyday together.  He was having fun, trying to put his mom in the back of his mind, and enjoy his time with Tree.  I felt sad for Tommy by the end of the story because he had already been experiencing all these great things with Tree, it was like this was going to be the grand finale, only she was not there.  He was let down, Tree was let down, and I was let down.
The part of the story that came to a surprise to me was when CJ's father stayed behind on the last spot of their cruise.  CJ's dad was supposed to be enjoying this vacation with his son and his new found girlfriend, but instead he stays behind with their tour guide, feeding her the same line as he did with Tree: I need to find something for my sister.
In this story, I can most relate to CJ.  He is going on this cruise with his dad and his dad's girlfriend.  Anytime when they are supposed to do an activity all together, CJ runs off to the arcade.  My parents recently split up, and I know that when I go do something with my mom and her boyfriend or my dad and his girlfriend, I wish it was just the two of us.  And seems how it is never just the two of us, I run away when I can.  It is not that I do not like spending time with my parents boy/girlfriend, it is just I wish times were like they used to be.  In a way, CJ feels the same way I do. 

Reader Response #2

“Me and Miss Mandible” & “Emergency”

Q:        What specific passages in the work trigger that reaction?

A:        In “Me and Miss Mandible,” the very first day he begins writing, September 13, gave me a reaction like no other days he wrote.  I think this day stuck out to me the most because we’re just getting into the story and, BAM! it’s very forward.  He is talking about how he is a young, young student, and his teacher, Miss Mandible, is very attractive to him, and he knows she feels the same way.  He just wonders when she will make her move.

After reading the first passage, I was kind of taken aback.  I was confused.  He talks about being an eleven year old boy, but in all actuality he is a thirty-five year old man.  Knowing this information right off the back helps me to understand the rest of the story, then understanding his crush on Miss Mandible.

If that wasn’t enough, he also says he has the hots for a girl in his class; girl who is his age, eleven, but who is also a woman inside herself.  “…with a woman’s disguised aggression and a woman’s peculiar contradictions.” (17)  This passage led me to confusion because I wasn’t sure how ole or young he really was.  Throughout the story, I was just as confused.  Although that information from the first passage helped me move along the story with knowing facts about him, I was still baffled at the end.

“Emergency”

In the short story “Emergency,” there was one important part in the story that helped to make the whole story important.  The paragraph says, “After awhile you forget it’s summer.  You don’t remember what the morning is.  I’d worked two doubles with eight hours off in between, which I’d spent sleeping on a gurney in the nurse’s station.  Georgie’s pills were making me feel like a giant helium-filled balloon, but I was wide awake.  Georgie and I went out to the lot, to his orange pickup.”  The reason why I feel like this is an important piece in the story is because I feel like it explains a lot.  From this one paragraph, we learn a lot about the narrator.  Not only do we find out about his work schedule and why he’s always so tired, but we also know how the pills that he and Georgie take make him feel.  I feel like when we figure out how those pills make the narrator feel, it helps explain the rest of the story.  As an audience, we’ve already seen him taking them and how Georgie gets them.  The effects of the pills take place throughout the rest of the story, and because we know how they make the narrator feel by this important paragraph, it can explain the crazy things him and Georgie do together.

Reader Response #1

“Real Estate” - Lorrie Moore

After reading “real Estate,” by Lorrie Moore, there was one part that seemed to stick out to me.  Once analyzing why this seemed to stick out to me, I found what was most important to me: a sense of missing something that wasn’t yours anymore.

After selling her house and buying a newer, crappier house, Ruth would drive by her old one, missing what she had there.  In that house were memories, a sense of not being sick.  That house, which she left behind, hoping for the better, was now screaming her name to come back.

Just like Ruth, I also drive by my old house that I grew up in.  After fixing our house all up, building a deck, putting siding on, and refurnishing everything, my mom and dad had to file for bankruptcy and we eventually had to move out.  We lived in that house for as long as I can remember, and every time I drive by I ask myself, What if we never had to move and this was still our house?  Just like Ruth, I criticize the house on how it looks and how I and my family would have made it look better.

Like Ruth, I miss my old house and know that it is not mine anymore.  We both had memories galore in those houses, but we left them for a reason.  My parents promised me everything would get better after the move, which was exactly what Ruth was hoping for.  One problem, things seems to get worse.

Flash Fiction 2

“Snow”

After reading the second packet of flash fiction, there was one story that stuck out to me just as much as “Pendergast’s Daughter” did: Snow.  The author, Julia Alvarez, is able to write in a way that I can see the story as I read it.  This story was my favorite because I liked the story line.  I could understand why the girl thought the snow was a bomb, and I could feel the way she was feeling.  The way that Alvarez writes the story “Snow,” lets the audience project the images in their mind while reading.

Flash Fiction

“Pendergast’s Daughter”

After reading the first packet of flash fiction, there was one story that stuck out to me, “Pendergast’s Daughter.”  This story is my favorite because of the imagery that is so vivid and attention grabbing.  It’s not that I like the idea of the story, but the author, Lex Williford, writes the story so it can be imagined while reading.  As soon as the story begins, in medias res, I could see everything that is going on.  And even throughout the whole story, I could picture everything that I was reading.  Even though this story is short, it can still make an impact like a piece of literature can. 

“Death Constant Beyond Love” & “The Man from Mars”

In the story “Death Constant Beyond Love,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author chooses to make wise craft choices on theme.  What I got out of this story as the controlling idea, or major theme, is that you only live once, so live it up.  The main character, Senator Onesimo Sanchez, only has six months and eleven days until his death.  As the story goes on, we see his duties as a senator, and it isn’t until the very end of the story where we see the theme.  When the senator gets the chance to be with Laura, he soon finds out she is pad-locked up, a chastity belt.  In order to get the key to unlock her, he has to help Laura’s father straighten out a situation that he didn’t necessarily want to do.  But, seems how he only  has such a short time to live, he gives in,  once Laura hears this, she asks if he wants the key, but instead, he just wants her to lay there with him and keep him company.  The author chooses to make the decision of the theme coming out in the end so that’s what the audience is left with thinking about.

In the story “The Man from Mars,” by Margaret Atwood, she decides to make good decisions on character development.  In the beginning of the story, the oriental man seems like a normal tourist, or someone who is new to the area where Christine lives.  While the story progresses, we soon realize that he is nice (always smiling) and just wants a friend, but soon takes it too far.  After awhile, he becomes what I would consider a stalker.  This development of character helps the audience better understand the story.  Imagine if the oriental man stayed flat, the story would go no where, or at least it wouldn’t be interesting. 

“The Hitchhiking Game” & “Three Million Yen”

1.       In both stories, they show similar themes.  The main theme in both stories is relationships, and not just normal relationships, but very abnormal relationships.  In both of these stories, the relationships show a lot of stress and coping that takes place between mainly the girls in both stories.  Both of the couples are definitely in love, but they still have issues.  In “Three Million Yen,” the couple is happily married, but they perform sex for an audience.  In “The Hitchhiking Game,” the couple seems to be perfectly fine until the hitchhiking game begins.  Also, in both stories, a theme that could be considered is sexual innuendos.  In both stories, the couples are portrayed as sexual objects.  In “Three Million Yen,” it is the couple who are the sexual objects.  They get paid to have sex in front of an audience.  In “The Hitchhiking Game,” the young woman would be the sexual object.  By the end of the story, the young man keeps calling the young woman a whore and takes her to a hotel where he makes her strip, get up on a table and dance, and then he eventually has sex with her.  It wouldn’t have been forced upon sex if the hitchhiking game had never started.

2.      In both of these stories, they share similar craft choices that the authors made.  The craft choice that is similar is character.  At the beginning of the stories, both authors make conscious decisions to make it seem like both couples are “normal.”  But, as the stories progress, the characters grow and change.  The couples in both stories are dynamic characters.  Through the choices that the authors made, they made their characters very, very dynamic.  This attracts the readers more by having dynamic characters instead of flat ones.

3.      The effect that these craft choices have on the audience is that it keeps the audience wondering what is going on, what is going to happen?  Because both authors begin the story with normal characters and then change them drastically throughout the story, it keeps the audience engaged.  The changes and growth the characters go through make it so the audience can relate.  If the characters were to stay the same throughout the story and never develop, the audience wouldn’t feel one with the characters.  The craft choices that both authors chose for their characters allow us, the audience, to connect with the story and the characters in it in some way or another.

“The Supper” & “The Drunkard”

In the story, “The Supper,” the author makes wise craft choices on imagery.  Jumping right into the story, it starts off with images.  We get to see how the weather is looking outside, darkness thickening, and at last rain is beginning to fall.  Not only can we see these images, but we can use all out senses to imagine these images.  The audience can see, smell, taste, feel, and hear the images being projected.  The way that the author, Tadeusz Borowski, uses imagery to attract our senses, the audience can get a sense of how horrible it was to live in a concentration camp.  We get to feel the way the crowd feels.  We even get to sense their starvation by the end of the story.  The way Borowski uses imagery lets the audience feel one with the story and the characters in it.

In “The Supper,” Borowski gives good imagery regarding his craft choice.  In “The Drunkard,” the author makes different craft choices to better the story.  “The Drunkard” shows very well-developed, round characters.  If this story had flat, static characters, then the story wouldn’t make the impact it does.  In the beginning of the story, we get a taste of all characters.  The father, who likes to drink, becomes very round right off.  He continues to stay round throughout the entire story, and even helps make his son Larry, a round character.  Not until the middle of the story does Larry become a round character.  At first, he’s just the son of a mother and drunkard father.  When Larry’s time come, to get drunk just like his father always does, we get to see him grow and become dynamic.  Although there are a couple round, full personality characters, there are a couple who stay flat, one being the mother.  We only see her briefly at the beginning and end of the story, which then she gives us a couple strong lines.  But, the story isn’t about her, just the father and son, so it wasn’t important to make the mother a dynamic character.

“The Piano”

In “The Piano,” the author uses imagery to reflect the content of the story.  The piano that Oliveira family treasure so much because it has been passed down from generation to generation and has stayed with the family and the family only.  This piano is described immensely throughout the story.  We get to sense like the piano is right in front of us, learning lots of details.  Not only is the piano in plain sight for us, but the author also uses imagery to explain how much this piano means to the family.  The author uses conscious choices in how he portrays these images, showing just how much the piano actually means.  Because of the fact that the father is willing to give up that family treasure, he will be accepting another into the family instead.  By giving up the piano, Sara, his daughter, will be able to have her room ready for her and soon to be husband.  Machado uses imagery to show the audience how much the piano means to the family, but also how worth it it is to get rid of it to make Sara, and the rest of the family happy.

Formalist Assertion

“In the Penal Colony” & “Thirst”

1.       The setting for both “In the Penal Colony and “Thirst” have the same mood.  Both of these stories are very morbid.  These stories are anything but happy, loveable, and pleasurable.  Both share the quality of being “ruff around the edges” because there are no smooth turns in these two stories.  In “In the Penal Colony,” and “Thirst,” there is pain being portrayed in the meaning of the stories.  In “Thirst,” we can feel the pain and suffering of the man who has done wrong and will now pay the price, thirst.  All he wants is a cup of water to soothe his dry throat.  We can feel his agony, sense his pain.  In “In the Penal Colony,” there can be a couple different ways of representing the theme of pain.  When we get the description of the torture device, or their way of punishment, we can feel the pain one would get from the device.  Also, at the end of the story, we actually get to be put through the events of the device, the only thing is, everything goes wrong, and only pierces one stake through the head of the officer.  Which, this event wasn’t meant for him in the first place, but was meant for the condemned man.  Once realizing what he does to “criminals” from the perspective of the explorer, he puts himself in for his very own punishment, because in his eyes, he’s the criminal.  We can see and feel the pain of the officer at the end of the story.

2.      Both of the stories, “In the Penal Colony,” and “Thirst” are similar in their way of craft because their tone/mood/theme is the same: morbid.

A New Unit Begins: The Formalist Theory

"The Necklace"-Guy de Maupassant

When looking at a piece of literature, formalists believe the form reflects its content.  This means they look at the conscious choices the author made while creating their piece of literature.  When looking at "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and using the formalist Theory, there are a couple of choices the author made regarding character, point-of-view, and plot that can be further looked at.

Plot
When Maupassant wrote this story, he chose to start at the beginning.  He didn't begin the story in the middle, he gave us much needed back-story.  The way that the story begins is very flowing and not out of control.  If Maupassant had started his story in the middle of things before he gave us some background about the main character Madame Loisel, the story wouldn't have made much since.  We wouldn't have known why Madame Loisel was feeling the way she was about her appearance.

Character
The main characters of this story are Madame Loisel and Loisel.  The story starts off with background history about Madame Loisel.  Just at the very beginning of the story, Madame Loisel becomes from a flat character to a round character.  Maupassant throws a lot of background information about Madame Loisel right in the beginning, but without it the story would have been harder to follow.  Because Maupassant gave us so much information at the beginning, we know why Madame Loisel acts the way she does about material things.  Loisel, Madame Loisel's husband is a very dynamic character.  You don't see very much of him in the beginning until Mathilde begs him for a wonderful dress to wear to the party.  Also, he comes out a lot when Mathilde seems to get herself in a whirl of trouble by losing Madame Forestier's diamonds.  He shows the hard working man he really is, and how much he cares for his wife, especially how he gives her all his money for her dress when he had been saving up for a gun.  Madame Forestier is just a minor character, but she also plays a big part in the story.  She is the one who is nice enough to let Mathilde borrow her diamonds, and when Mathilde looses them, she feels horrible.  Loisel and Mathilde go through a lot of trouble to get the money to buy a new diamond necklace for Madame Forestier, and come to find out at the very end of the story the real diamond necklace wasn't worth more than 500 francs!  Madame Forestier is the barrier of both good and bad news.

Point-of-View
In "The Necklace," it is being told in third person omniscient.  This point-of-view gives the audience and unbiased view of the characters.  It also allows us to make our own assumptions of the characters.  If the story was told so we could only hear the husbands thoughts, it might have been a little more aggravating.  Although most of the story is seen through Alice's eyes, we also get to see what her husband, Marc is thinking.  There is dialouge with Madame Forestier, but I don't think we get to ever peek inside her head.

1990's

A Scavenger Hunt For Theme

1. The story I had selected was "You're Ugly, Too" by Lorrie Moore.
2. When looking through the text, I found two themes:
• Someones better than everyone else.
• A sense of aloneness, feeling alone.
3. While looking for evidence to support my themes, I found these quotes:
• "'You act,' said one of her senior-seminar students at a scheduled conference, 'like your opinion is worth more than everyone elses in the class.'  Zoe's eyes widened.  'I am the teacher,' she said.  'I do get paid to act like that.'  She narrowed her gaze at the student, who was wearing a big leather bow in her hair like a cowgirl in a TV ranch show.  'I mean, otherwise everybody in the class would have little offices and office hours.'....  She stared at the student some more, then added, 'I bet you'd like that.'"(654)  This shows someone thinking they are better than someone else.  Granted, she is the teacher, but she uses that to her advantage too often.
• "'I think I'm too old for fun,' said Zoe."  When Zoe says things like this and acts the way she does, she puts herself in situations where she's faced to be alone.  Not all the time does she do this to herself, others also make Zoe feel alone and all by herself.
4. Lorrie Moore's story "You're Ugly, Too" can connect to "Proper Library" by Carolyn Ferrell.  Both of these stories share the sense of being alone.  In Moore's story, it's Zoe who is feeling alone.  Whether it's because of something she did herself, or she's just home, alone.  In Ferrell's story, Lorrie has a sense of aloneness every where but home: at school, riding the bus, and even walking the streets.  When Lorrie is at home, his mother pays attention to him and shares her kind words that always bring a smile to his face.  But when Lorrie is at school walking the hallways, he hears hurtful words like "fag!"  Lorrie feels alone, all by himself when everyone seems to get a kick out of the name calling, even the wood shop teacher!
5. The story that I see the most connection to Lorrie Moore's story, "You're Ugly, Too" is "Proper Library" by Carolyn Ferrell.  In both stories, there is a strong similar theme: Aloneness.
• "You're Ugly, Too"
• "'Really?'  Evan was beaming.  'Oh, Zoe.  I have something to tell you.  Charlie and I are getting married.'  'Really?'  Zoe felt confused." (661)  When Zoe's sister tells her that she is getting married, it makes Zoe's alone feeling even stronger.  Her sister is getting married before her, and she is younger at that too!  With Zoe finding out this big news, it brings more emptiness into her life.  She had her sister, but now she's getting married and won't need her anymore.
• "Proper Library"
• "Mr. Samuels is laughing Haw Haw like he's from the country.  Haw Haw Haw Haw.  His face is red.  Everyone cools down and is just smiling now.  Then he says, Class, don't mess with the only girl we got in here!  Now it's laughter again.  Daniel Fibbs says, Yeah, Mr. Samuels is on!  Franklin laughs, No fags allowed, you better take your sissy ass out of here 'less you want me to cut it into four pieces." (Couldn't read page number)  Because of the fact that everyone, yes even the teacher, is picking on Lorrie, it makes him feel alone.  He has no one else besides himself at school because everyone always makes fun of him. 

Later in the 80's...

"Janus"-Ann Beattie

In the short story "Janus," by Ann Beattie, the main character is what I would say is an educated, middle-class women who finds herself "disappointed and disillusioned despite having achieved much of what is commonly believed to define the American Dream.  They tend to be unhappy in love, in family life, and in their work; if not actually unhappy, they are merely coping and without any feeling of real satisfaction."  This is a common theme in Beattie's stories, and is shown in "Janus."  Andrea, the main character, is a successful women who sells real estate.  She is obsessed with one thing and one thing only, the bowl.  She brings this bowl to every house showing and considers it her lucky charm.  It seems that every time that bowl is there, in the house she is showing, things go well.  When the bowl isn't bringing Andrea good luck, it's at her house, sitting in the middle of her coffee table, empty.  Nothing is to be placed in that bowl; it is meant to be empty.  The common theme that Beattie uses is connected to this story because although Andrea is a successful women, I feel like she lacks satisfaction in one way or another.  Although she has her bowl, it was her lover who bought it for her, not her husband who she is with now.  Having the bowl around could be a sense of her lover still around.  This shows possibly unhappiness in her life.  Is the bowl the only thing that brings Andrea joy?

"The Way We Live Now"-Susan Sontag

"The Way We Live Now" by Susan Sontag is about a character, who is nameless, who has AIDS/HIV.  In the 80's, there was an AIDS pandemic.  In 1982, AIDS was officially coined.  In '83, warnings are spread that AIDS is transmitted through heterosexual sex and by giving birth with a mother who has it, thus passing it to her baby.  In the same year, researchers isolate the virus that causes AIDS.  Unfortunately, two years later, the AIDS hysteria builds into a frenzy, and a student is banned from a school in Indiana!  Sontag writes about what the "hype" was about in the 80's, and that was AIDS/HIV.  If you didn't have it, you were petrified about contracting it.  Everyone new what it was, and now they were getting scared.  The title "The Way We Live Now" is representative of the time period and the story itself because AIDS/HIV was the way they were living then in the 80's.  It was what was "the thing."  I don't say that in a good way, because it wasn't good at all.  It was horrible.  It was "the thing" because it was a new known disease that was being contracted left and right.  Now, people knew how they were receiving the so called disease "AIDS/HIV."  The story "The Way We Live Now" is a perfect story to demonstrate how the 80's were lived.

The 80's: A Time of MTV, Voguing, & TMNT

"The Shawl"-Cynthia Ozick

"The Shawl" by Cynthia Ozick is told in third person omniscient point-of-view.  The most common pronoun that is seen is "it."  Also seen is the pronoun "she," but, it's not used as often.  The word "it" mainly refers to the shawl, which is very important to Magda for it keeps her alive.  When the word "she" is used, it's talking about one of the 3 girls: Magda, Rosa, or Stella.  Although all girls are in the story, the main character would be Magda.  It is her who is striving to stay alive, with Rosa and Stella taking care of her.  Stella isn't as good as a "mother" as Rosa is though.  Stella knows Magda is going to die, and wants it to happen soon.  Rosa, on the other hand, cares about Magda and is said when she sees Magda out of her shawl.

In omniscient, third person point-of-view, the narrator moves the audience between multiple characters personalities, allowing the audience a wide range of understanding of the personalities belonging to the characters in the story.  Cynthia used this point-of-view in her story "The Shawl."  I think she used this point-of-view so when reading the story, the audience can get to know each character.  Not only do we get to know what Stella is thinking, but we get to know how Rosa is feeling too.  Every now and then, we would get a line from Magda, but never anything needed to take note of.  it was mainly brief dialogue.

"Gesturing"-John Updike

The story "Gesturing" by John Updike is told in third person limited point-of-view.  In third person limited, the audience understands only one character's thoughts, feelings, and actions.  One of the pros of limited point-of-view is that the narrator is not the character.  With the narrator standing out, looking in, we have the benefit of exploring character's  personality without interference of unreliability, which is shown in first person point-of-view.  Also, as the audience, we have a more intimate knowledge of the character.

Granted, in "Gesturing," there is dialogue seen between characters other than the main character, Richard.  There are conversations between Richard and his wife, Richard and his mistress, and others.  Having this dialogue helps show scene and imagery.  Even though these dialogues are not just Richard, him being "limited," all the regular text is in his mind.  All the text besides dialogue is Richard's thoughts.  Not his wife's thoughts.  Not his mistress' thoughts.  Just his.  What he thinks about each of the women is shown in the context, but not what each of the women think of him.

The 70's =]

"How to Win"-Rosellen Brown

In "How to Win", Rosellen shows one of her main themes that are shown in a lot of her stories.  "How to Win" is about a family who has a son named C.  His full name is Christopher, but that was the name he was born with, when he was "normal."  Now, he is different, so his name is just C.  With C being a "problem child," his parents are faced with difficulties that a normal family wouldn't be faced with.  This is the main theme of Rosellen's stories: "disasters that are ever-impending in everyday American families.

In the 70's, Congress had passed a law that made it so public schools had to let all children with disabilities be eligible for an education.  This Law was called Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  In "How to Win," C goes to a public school.  The time period reflects the story well. 

"Verona:A Young Women Speaks"- Harold Brodkey

In "Verona:A Young Women Speaks," Brodkey uses very, very long sentences.  He is known to do this in his stories.  His sentences are usually over 100 words, but flow together well.  He uses wonderful punctuation to make his long sentences orderly. 

The story "Verona:A Young Women Speaks" is about a trip to Verona, where the daughter of a man and women is basically spoiled for one good "get away."  Not only is she lavished in many new things, but her parents are being spoiled too.  "Daddy was a fountain of money:he said it was a spree; he meant for us to be amazed; he had saved money-we weren't really rich but we were to be for this trip."(534)  This trip to Verona was planned to be a good trip, and the family was going to do anything in their power to make it happen.  They had saved up money, and now it was their time to shine. 

"The Ledge"-Lawrence Sargent Hall

"The Ledge" written by Lawrence Sargent Hall is about a father, his son, and his nephew.  The story takes place on Christmas day and for their celebration, they have decided to go duck hunting.  The wife of the father isn't ecstatic about them going, seems how it is Christmas, but allows it anyways.  The boys had both gotten brand new guns for their Christmas presents and are ready to use them!  The guys, and the family dog,
 head out early to go to their duck hunting spot, which is an island.  Once arrived to their destination, the guys are race ready to start shooting some ducks.  The first round of duck hunting goes really well.  They shot many, many ducks and were ready for the next round.  Things started off well, but then things turn terrible.  A storm comes to the island and bring lots of water with it.  The guys would have scooted off in their boat, but a problem had occurred with it.  By the end of the story, the father has been rescued, but the two younger boys and their dog had all died.  The only one to survive was the father.

The author of this story, Hall, had worked and operated a boat Marena on the coast of Maine until 1993.  His story, "The Ledge" is about a man and his boat.  Hall liked to write about things that were in his interest, and boats were definitely one of them.  Hall also writes with concern with the behavior under pressure.  He writes about how human beings handle tense situations.  This is all very true for his story "The Ledge."  The father is put into a tense situation when everything starts to turn horribly wrong.  The father handles this tense situation by trying to do everything in his will to save his son.  With the storm coming in heavier and heavier, his main concern is to save his son.  By doing so, he puts his son on top of his shoulders so he will not have to withstand the freezing cold water that keeps coming in.  Hall also makes his characters mostly uncommunicative.  They are usually gruff men who are skilled at their professions but unskilled at interpersonal relationships.  This is very true for the father.  He is a very gruff man, who is definitely skilled at what he does.  He knows how to hunt very well, and is hoping to teach the boys.  The only problem is that he lacks interpersonal relationships.  He is a good father, but he does not know how to communicate very well with his son and nephew.  A lot of the times, he is yelling at them or disapproving in some way.  If he were to have the interpersonal communication skills that most people have, there might not have been as much frustration in the story.

Lastly, Hall's themes of his stories are those that usually revolve around manhood.  His characters usually test themselves, mostly at sea.  This hits the theme right on the dot.  The father is the one who is trying to protect his manhood.  He wants to show the boys how much of a man he is.  He wants to be the big man on campus.  The character of the father definitely tests himself at the sea.  He gets them all there to their shooting destination, but once everything starts to go wrong, the tests start.       

1940-1949: A Look Into Their Time

"Miami-New York"-Martha Gellhorn

Around the time that this piece was written, America was officially becoming involved with the war.  In this story, the narrator talks about the plane ride home from a base where she was visiting her man.  On the plane are many people, or men, that had served in the war.  This connection between the time period and the story make great connections of what the time was in the 40's.
Another thing that shows the time periods of the 40's was one of the very first scenes we are given.  "The man, finding her face closed against him, turned away, pulled a package of cigarettes from his pocket, and made a great distance between them, smoking and looking straight ahead." (265)  Now-a-days, there is no smoking allowed on planes, no matter what.  Even if you served in the war, there are no exceptions.  When about to lift off in a plane, the no smoking lights will even pop on.  In 1998, smoking was finally banned on flights.  


"The Peach Stone"-Paul Horgan

The way that Horgan writes shows that he is a character-driven author.  In his stories, he cares deeply for the development of people inhabiting his stories.  This is shown very good in "The Peach Stone."  Horgan shows us all of his characters, giving us great detail about them all.  Throughout the story, he then gives us development of his characters.  We learn more about them, more about their problems, and more about what's going on around them.


"The Hitch-Hikers"-Eudora Welty

The story "The Hitch-Hikers" is about a man, well known, who picks up hitch-hikers.  The two men that Harris picks up one evening are anything but normal.  One of the men carries around a guitar, and the other man doesn't talk.  After Harris picks up the two men, he brings them out for a bit to eat, and soon after he finds a place for the two men to sleep, a hotel owned by a friend by the name Mike.  Once everything is all set up and Harris has found a spot of the men, he goes out to his truck, that wasn't there because the two men had decided to take it, to tell the men, when he sees something that wasn't expected.  The quiet man had hit the other man with the guitar in the head.  Now their concern was to get him to the hospital and to question the quiet man on what the heck had happened.

The way the Eudora writes is often happy, full of love, celebrates childhood, and has the idea that people can be saved or changed.  To compare the way Eudora writes and her story "The Hitch-Hikers," the theme here is that people can be saved or changed.  Harris, the good man that he is, picks up these two hitch-hikers, hoping to save them.  Hoping to save them from a long walk, a empty stomach, and a dry mouth.  Only to his surprise after helping the men, they have changed his whole outlook.

Main Themes of "Here We Are" and "That Evening Sun Go Down"

While in class, we went over some of the main theme(s) of each story we had read for that class.  Elaborating on them more is needed:

"Here We Are"-Dorothy Parker

• One of the main themes, the most important theme, for this piece is marriage.  (The tenuous nature of marriage.)  The newlyweds have just left on a train to New York for their honeymoon.  This is the first time they have really been with each other, and only them.  They always had other people around.  Knowing this is their honeymoon, you would think things would go great!  But that is the exact opposite.  As soon as the are boarded, the fighting begins.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  First off it's the wife's hat, then it's one of the bridesmaids, then the fighting keeps going back and forth from one to another.  Other little things also come into play with their fights. 
• Second, uncertainty and self-doubt come out as one of the themes in "Here We Are."  The wife is very, very uncertain.  All the time she is either doubting herself, her newly married husband, or even her sister and friend.  There isn't much uncertainty from the husband, but the wife sure does pick up his slack.
• Lastly, the startling realizations that come with sudden "togetherness."  Like I said before, the newlyweds had never really been together, alone.  There had always been other people around.  Now that the two of them have embarked on their honeymoon, it is only the two of them together.  No more Parents.  No more Friends.  Just them.  This is when the startling realization of sudden "togetherness" comes into play.  They had been together for years, but they really only been together, together for about five minutes.

"That Evening Sun Go Down"-William Faulkner

• The most important theme I thought was family.  Throughout the entire story, there is always mention of a brother, sister, mother, or father.  In this story, the kids stick together as a family.  This is seen in more than one scene.  Also, when the kids decided to actually go over to Nancy's house, their father is the one who comes and picks them up.  I feel like this shows how important family really is.  The father was the one to get check on the kids, make sure they were okay and not hurt in some way or another.  If the father hadn't shown up, I feel like this theme may not be as important.
• One of the biggest themes in this story is racism.  Racism had become stronger than ever in the South during the time in which this story was written.  Not only was the racism becoming worse in the South, but in the North it was increasing too.  More and more African-Americans were loosing their jobs just to make enough for the white folks.  Nancy, the black girl in the story, works for the family.  She is in fact lucky to still carry her job.  That is if Jubah doesn't change things...

What we just didn't get to finish in class...

Discussion Questions

2.  The quote "She was worth it.  Beautiful nigger gal.  Why nigger?  Why not, just gal?  No, it was because she was a nigger that he went to her." means that Bob Stone went for Louisa because she was a black girl.  Louisa is a servant for the Stones.  Seems how Louisa is their servant, Bob thinks that Louisa is hers.  Tom, a black man from the same "factory town" has feelings for Louisa and is willing to try and do anything to help save her.  Bob Stone goes to Louisa because she is a nigger because of Tom.  Black people could only have a choice to whom to be with, but white people on the other hand could have who ever they wanted, no matter what race.  This is why Bob wants Louisa, because he knows it upsets Tom.  This reflects thinking at the time because back then there was a lot of racial tension, social class competitors, and lots of conflict between the blacks and whites.  These problems are seen all throughout "Blood-Burning Moon." 

3.  In "The Killers", Hemingway is trying to tell/show us that during this time period a job was a job.  If you were getting paid, then the job would get done.  He was teaching us about what it meant to stay alive.  Back in the 1920's, there was a lot of violence which was usually caused by mobsters.  In "The Killers", Mr. Andreson knew that something was wrong; he knew his time had come.  When someone betrays, steals, etc. from the wrong person in the 1920's, it meant business.  Assuming from what the killers were talking about at Henry's, Mr. Andreson betrayed the wrong person.  Once Nick went to tell Mr. Andreson what was going on after he had missed his usual time at Henry's, he noticed Mr. Andreson just laying there.  Mr. Andreson knew his day had come, and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to face it yet or not.   

"A Jury of Her Peers"

In the story, "A Jury of Her Peers", by Susan Glaspell, she demonstrates a lot of historical examples that would have been proper for the time period.  In the story, Susan portrays the women for what they were, which was home-makers.  The men in the story are portrayed as what they were in this time period, which was "The Main Supplier."  The men are the important ones, while the women are supposed to sit back and watch.  It's the sheriff, the attorney, and Mr. Hale who are supposed to figure out what had happened that day with Minnie Foster.  While the men are looking at the, what they think is to be the important aspects of the murder, the women are finding the important things.  The men just look at the "big picture" and don't notice the little things like the women do.  While the men are upstairs, thinking they are finding evidence, the women are actually the ones who find what is needed.  But, while the men are sticking together, so are the women.  Both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find the most important piece of evidence, and instead of telling the men, they stick together and keep it to themselves, for the sake of another woman, Minnie Foster.  "In a covert way Mrs. Hale looked at Mrs. Peters.  Mrs. Peters was looking at her.  Quickly they looked away from each other.  The outer door opened and Mr. Hale came in."(37)  By the glances that the women give each other when the men finally find their way back down the stairs, it's known that they are going to stick together.  What they have found, the men do not need to know.  If only men thought like women.
Also, the way that Susan writes is influenced by her personal background in the time period.  Susan used to write stories with happy endings.  Things were meant to be positive at the end of her stories.  Everything changed when she had started seeing a married man.  Her story endings had changed.  Now instead of happy endings, they were more like feminist endings.   

...and another semester begins.

The Short Story sounded like the kind of class that I would like, that's why I signed up for it.  After going to the first class, I stayed with my first thought.  I hope that this class teaches me more about literary criticism.  Also, I would like to leave the class knowing more about universal themes throughout literature.  I like to read, but haven't widened the variety of literature I read, ever!  Not only do I hope to learn literary criticism and universal themes throughout the semester, but I hope to meet my goals that are set for this semester in The Short Story.  My main goal for this class is to not get behind in my reading.  I have a tendancy to procrastinate, but I'm going to try really hard not to.  The reason The Short Story sounded like the kind of class that I would like was because it involved reading, literature.  I enjoy reading, and like to read a new theme of books every now and then, which is why literature is great.  In The Short Story, I'll be able to experience a whole new world of different themes in literature.