The Red Convertible By Louise Erdrich

Abstract
         Henry and Lyman are brothers that live on an Indian Reservation. Lyman is the brother that has all the luck. He does various jobs and ends up owning a the diner that he first started working at as a bus boy. One day a tornado hits the diner. Lyman isn't too worried though because he gets insurance money for it. One day Lyman and his brother take off to buy a red convertible they saw. They take this car on a trip all the way up to Alaska, because they picked up a girl who needed a ride there. Once they get home Henry is called to the Vietnam War. Henry finally returns home after three years and appears to be different. He doesn't speak or stop moving around. Lyman wants Henry to look at the convertible, so Lyman goes out and breaks parts and bangs it up so Henry will have to fix it up in order to drive it. Henry finally gets all fixed up and they go for a drive. Henry insists that Lyman take the car for himself, Lyman says no, and they begin to fight. Lyman agrees to take it finally. Henry and Lyman stop along this river and start drinking. Henry says he's going to go for a swim, but the current carries him away. Lyman can't believe this and he pushes the car into the river after Henry.


Response

         “The Red Convertible” is a story that truly depicts the horror that a family goes through when having a member of the family go to war. Henry and Lyman are brothers and have a close relationship with each other. They get their money together and decide to buy a red convertible to share. This red convertible is that representation of their relationship. Henry and Lyman’s relationship starts out in good condition, just like the newly bought car. Then they take it on a road trip to Alaska. The car needs some fixing up, but still remains nice.

            Henry is called to war and has to leave behind his brother and car. This shows that he leaving or kind of abandoning his relationship with his brother. While Henry is away Lyman tries to write to him, but the enemy intercepts the letters and Lyman is pretty sure they never get to Henry. In this part of the story to can see the relationship is falling apart, so is the car. Lyman begins disassembling the car and taking out parts and re-doing them. This again proves that the red convertible represents Henry and Lyman’s relationship.

            After three years Henry finally returns home. He isn’t the same at all. He won’t talk and he is very jumpy, and can’t sit still. He continues to not talk or be social for many weeks. The only thing that intrigues him is the color television that Lyman bought for his mother. He likes this because it’s so real and doesn’t look like the past.

            One day Lyman goes out to the convertible and destroys it and breaks parts to see if Henry will notice. After a few months pass Henry finally notices and yells at Lyman for not keeping it nice. So Henry begins to fix it and re-do it. This represents that start to Lyman and Henry mending their relationship. After lots of hard work Henry finally gets the car running, and their relationship becomes mended and well.

            One day they take the newly fixed car out on a drive. Henry all of a sudden becomes white and furious. Lyman knows exactly what’s happening. Henry figured out that Lyman purposely broke parts and hurt the car so Henry would fix it. Henry explains that Lyman must have the car, but Lyman refuses. They stop the car and begin fighting. Finally they stop and laugh about it and Lyman says he’ll take the car.

            Henry says he’s going to swim quickly in the river along the side of the road where they stopped. Lyman hears Henry splash into the river but then it becomes silent. Lyman rushes to see what’s wrong. He finds that the current in the river has taken Henry and he can’t fight it. This saddens Lyman. Lyman goes and gets the car and puts in neutral and let’s in dump into the river. This is the end of the car and the end of Lyman and Henry’s relationship.

The Things They Carried By Tim O'Brien

Abstract
         Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is that narrator in this story. He is telling the lives of soldiers during the Vietnam War. He explains what everyone carries and why. Henry Dobbins was a big man and he carried extra rations of food. Dave Jensen carried personal hygiene items. Ted Lavender carried tranquilizers like dope. Norman Bowker carried a diary and Kiowa carried a Bible. There were many others things that these men all had to carry that didn't differ between each other, but the things listed above were some things that differed depending on the person. Jimmy Cross always carried pictures of Martha and her letters. He would read them ever night. Whenever Jimmy was at war he would find himself day dreaming about Martha. This cost him a man on day. He wasn't paying attention and Ted Lavender was coming back from the bathroom and was shot down. This was a wake up call for Jimmy and he realized he couldn't dream about Martha any longer.


Response
           The character’s names in the story “The Things They Carried” are representative of their attitudes and what they carried with them in war. Another thing to look at is the significance of the title throughout the story. When looking at facts about Tim O’Brien I found that he served in the Vietnam War. I can evaluate this story on these things pointed out above and how they all have symbols in the story.

            The character that stuck out to me the most was Ted Lavender. Lavender is known to be a scent that is calming and relaxing. This idea is also represented by the things that Ted Lavender carries with him while are war. He carries dope and other tranquilizers. This is just like relaxing and calming him down so he feels no emotion or pain. So as you can see Ted Lavender’s name represents what he is carrying.

            Another name I found that represents what they’re carrying is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross. As Jimmy explains in the story is that he loves Martha, who is a junior at Mount Sebastian. While he is at war he finds himself day dreaming about Martha, and not focusing on his job. This is why I think Tim O’Brien named him Jimmy Cross because he’s crossed between war and someone he loves. He is trying to do two things at once, but it’s not working because one of his soldiers dies.

The title “The Things They Carried” makes you think it’s just going to be a story about people who carried some kind of object. In this story the people are soldiers at war and they are carrying guns, ammunition, food, and things to stay alive. But not only did they pack these things they had personal belongings that represented them as a person. One guy carried a bible because he was deep into his religion. One guy carried extra food because he was large in size. It wasn’t just objects and material things they carried, but also memories and mental blocks. They carried memories of people who had died that they had seen, but got to the point that they could block it out. They also carried the thought to duck and run anytime they heard a gunshot. These men were trained to do this and they carried that training with them to fight and stay safe.

All the experiences found in this book we so surreal. It made you think that you were actually in the war while reading the story. Tim O’Brien was able to make this story so real because he fought in the Vietnam War, which this book was written about. I think that the characters and the events that took place within this story are modeled after what Tim saw. I’m guessing that all the characters were his friends and were in his troop.

Everyday Use By Alice Walker

Abstract
          There is a girl named Maggie and she has a sister named Dee. They aren't treated the same at all by their Mama. Dee is the skinny beautiful girl that everyone likes and she gets everything handed to her by her mom. On the other hand Maggie gets nothing, and appear different than others because she was burned in a fire. Dee is sent to college by her mother, and years go by and Dee comes back to visit. She has changed her name and dresses in African style clothing, also with her is her new husband. Dee starts taking old objects from the past. She takes a dash and some quilts. The mom see that Dee won't take cure and pass on the family heritage with the quilts so Mama takes them from Dee. Dee can't believe this is happening. Mama then gives the quilts to Maggie because she knows that Maggie will pass the heritage on to future generations by her sewings.


Response

            “Everyday Use” was a story that I thought was a good explanation of how women live their lives. If you think about the title and what it means, it defines women. Women are thought to be the ones who do the house work; they cook, clean, sew, etc. This is exactly what Mama had done all her life in this story. She passes these same trades onto Maggie. Maggie is the less-fortunate girl in the family. Her sister Dee is pretty and smart. The only reason Maggie is less-fortunate is because when she was younger the house started on fire and Maggie couldn’t get out of the house without getting her skin burned. At the start of the story Mama never pay attention to Maggie and this view transforms throughout the rest of the story.

            Mama never had an education and she wanted one of her daughters to have one, so she sends Dee to college. This was what Dee wanted because she always complained about living on a farm and doing outside work. Dee comes back years later and has changed her appearance. Mama doesn’t like the change and Maggie never really liked Dee in the first place.

            When Dee is looking around the house she sees objects that represent where she’s from. She asks Mama if she can have a hand carved butter churn and a dasher. Then she goes up into Mama’s room and takes the old quilts and garments from a chest. She explains how she is going to display all this stuff at her house. Mama doesn’t like this is idea at all and snatches the quilts from Dee’s grasp and gives them to Maggie. This angers Dee, and she says that Maggie won’t appreciate the quilts because she’ll use them for “everyday use”. Mama explains that Maggie knows how to fix them or re-sew a whole new quilt if needed.

            The term, “everyday use” is not a bad thing like Dee makes it sound. If you use something for everyday use that means it’s important to you. It means that you value whatever it is and want to make sure you’re reminded of it every day of your life. So when Dee refers to everyday use being bad she’s actually thinking illogical.

            The reason mother takes the quilt from Dee and gives them to Maggie is because she knows that the heritage of the family will live on. She knows that Maggie will be able to sew quilts to pass on to her family and so on. If she had given the quilts to Dee she would never pass them on and eventually they would be thrown away or sold to someone who had no appreciation for them.

            Not only does Mama transform throughout this story, but so does Dee. First of all she changed her name because her old name represented oppression. Dee also changes her lifestyle and her looks. By doing this Dee is losing her heritage and how her life is defined. Heritage is a key part of this story and that’s why Mama wouldn’t let Dee take the quilts. She knew that Dee wouldn’t appreciate them as much as Maggie and she wouldn’t take care of them as well.

The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara

Abstract
            Sylvia is a young girl living in the "slums". Throughout the neighborhood there are many other kids; most of them are cousins to Sylvia. None of these kids receive any education because their parents never have time to worry about them. Miss Moore is a large black lady who mentors these kids. She takes them on educational field trips. Sylvia always dreads going with Miss Moore because she's boring. All the kids get ready and take a trip into the city to fifth avenue. Once they get to fifth avenue they are all in shock to see all the nice clothing and toys in the windows. Miss Moore said that they could go into the toy store and look around but Sugar and Sylvia hesitate because they feel out of place. At the end of their visit to the toy store Miss Moore asks what they leaned and Sugar says that she learned that one toy boat is the same amount of money that could support their family's cost of food for a year. 


Response

            While reading, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara I felt it was all based on money and the social class of people. The criticism I immediately felt related to this story was Marxism. At the start of the story you know from the word choice that the narrator must not be well educated. The first few words are, “Back in the days when…” this shows that proper grammar is not being used. Whenever I read and hear someone with poor grammar or vocabulary I think that means they’re not well educated, which in this story is true. Sylvia the narrator lives in the “slums” they way Miss Moore states it. This makes Sylvia part of the lower class of socioeconomic standing.

            It is apparent that education is not important to these kids or their parents. When the children are talking to Miss Moore they talk about how they don’t know where their parents are. In one case one of kids says he doesn’t even have a home. This shows you just how poor the value of education is to these families because their parents don’t even manage to take them to school. In the story Sylvia states that she doesn’t even live with her mother. She lives with her aunt. Her mother lives up the street in an apartment with another lady. Sylvia states that she doesn’t know what they do but she suspects they sit around and drink.

            The children go on a field trip into the city with Miss Moore one day. She hands Sylvia five dollars to pay for the cab. This make Sylvia excited and she can’t imagine what she could all buy with this money. At one point in the story she wants to stop the cab and get out and run away with the money. This just shows how in need Sylvia is for money and how sacred it is to her.

            They arrive on Fifth Avenue and see that there are many people roaming the streets. The stores are all expensive and Miss Moore tells the children that the will walk around and look in the windows at all the different things to buy. At one point a kid spots a toy boat and the price says a thousand some dollars. The children can’t believe that someone would pay that much for a toy. Miss Moore tells the children that they can go into the toy store and look around. All the kids rush through the door eager to get in, but once Sylvia and Sugar reach the doors they stop. The feel like their being looked at as they enter. They are different than the others in the store. They also notice that the store is quiet. They expected it to be loud with songs and children playing with toys. This is such an experience for Sylvia and the other children because their families don’t have money for toys. They can barely supply their families with food. That is why they are so astonished with the toys and how expensive they are.

            When all the children are done looking they all come outside. Miss Moore asks them what they thought of the store and what they learned. Surprisingly Sugar speaks up saying that the cost of the sailboat could pay for what all the children eat in one year. Sugar expresses how she can’t understand why anyone would ever pay that much for a toy. This is the turning point in the story because this is the whole reason Miss Moore took them in the field trip. So they could see how others live and how people use their money on different things.

            As the story ends Sylvia starts thinking about how people become rich and why can’t she? It ends up all coming down to education. You must have a good education in order to get a good job and make money. Sylvia sees how people with money live better lives and are happier. I think this is turning point for Sylvia and will inspire her to learn more so she can get to where people are that she saw on her field trip that day in the city. She even states it at the end of the story that, “But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” This shows that Sylvia is determined to be better than her mother and the people that live in the slums.

Happy Endings By Margaret Atwood

Abstract
      John and Mary have met and there are different options you can read to end they story. One ending is that they both have good jobs and a beautiful house. They have two children and they travel with them. Eventually John and Mary grow old and die. The second ending is that Mary loved John, but John didn't love her. He used her for food and sex. Eventually Mary knows he's seeing another women and she kills herself. John gets married to the other woman Madge. The third ending is that Mary feels bad for John and so she stays with him although he has a wife. Mary is seeing a guy named James. One day John comes into Mary's apartment and finds James and Mary in her bed. This makes John mad so he goes out and buys a gun and kills them both and himself. His wife Madge mourns, but ends up marrying Fred. The fourth ending or D is about Madge and Fred. They survive and tidal wave and continue their life through the first ending stated above. The fifth ending is Fred and Madge and Fred dies of heart trouble so Madge devotes her life to charity work. The last ending or F is that Mary is a spy spying on other spies and John is a revolutionary in Canada and they continue on with ending A or one. In the end it comes down to however the story goes John and Mary will still die and that's truly the end.




Response
      When I started to read this story I was expecting to have a few endings to a story and they'd all be happy and fun to read. This was my initial thought because the story is titled, "Happy Endings". I was hoping to read about fairy tales with a princess and a prince. That is definitely not what I ended up reading. This whole story is based on the words happy and ending. When you think of happy you think of a good family with riches to share and the couple who are in love. The word ending just means the end of someone's life, which is death.
       As the options arise you find out that the two people you started with John and Mary, and you read different scenarios on how they live their live and how they're going to die. The main point here is that they are both going to die at some point, which the title explains when it says "endings". This is what Margaret Atwood is trying to convey throughout this whole reading John and Mary die; she even states it at the end of the story after option F. 
        Everyone is going to have an end to their life and that's death. It's the way you go about your death that defines it as being a sad or happy ending. While the whole time I'm thinking of unrealistic stories in which the ending of their life is based on the events prior to death. I never stopped to think that the ending to your life really isn't happy at all because you are leaving the world you have gotten to know so well to go to an unknown place that you're not familiar with at all. I think this whole story in a way was a play on words. It takes that thoughts you were thinking and totally destroys them. The title is completely morphed and becomes meaningless the more options that you read through the more it becomes apparent that endings will never be happy no matted what journey you take.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love By Raymond Carver

Abstract
         Mel and his wife Terri have their two friends Nick and Laura over. As they sit around the table drinking before they go out to eat they start talking. The main topic they talk about is love and how it's defined. At first Terri tells about her and Ed's love for each other and how he'd abuse her while saying he loved her. Mel said that wasn't love. Then Mel told a story about and older couple he saw in the ER. They were both in body casts and lived although no one expected them too. He explains how the man became depressed because he couldn't see his wife. This is pretty much the conclusion of the story and no definition of love is ever found.


Response

“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” confused me on what meaning Raymond Carver was trying to express. I understood that all the characters were trying to define what they thought love was. They all justified what they thought it was by their own experiences. No one person would agree with another because they never had the same experiences.

As I evaluate this story based on formalism I find one thing very apparent. At the beginning both couples are respectful of each other and love each other. Mel loves Terri and keeps telling her that. Then Terri begins telling the story about her ex Ed and how he loved her so much. He one time dragged her by her feet around the house and told her he loved her as he was doing this. Terri knew that this was true love and that Ed truly meant it. When Terri and Ed broke up Ed was still following her and finally he killed himself. This was representing the love that he had for Terri or at least that’s what she thought. He died for her and that’s true love, from Terri’s viewpoint. Mel found that to be unacceptable. There is no way anyone can hurt the one they truly love. Terri and Mel always disagreed with this scenario and they discussed it no longer.

As the story continues you can see how the love that Mel and Terri have fades. Mel starts to drink more and more gin. As a heart doctor he has to work every day and never has the nights off because he is on call. This one night he is free and so that’s why he’s having dinner with his wife and friends. That’s also why he is drinking so heavily because he needed to relieve stress. This drinking starts to make Mel’s talking and thoughts blurred throughout the story. This relates to the story because its gets more scattered and confusing towards the end. In the end I don’t even understand the definition of love if there even is one.

Throughout this whole story there is no apparent definition found. They just give examples but never explain how this relates to love and how it’s defined. I think love it hard for them all define because as Mel says they are young and there is so much more to their lives to learn. They won’t know what love is until they’re older and they’ve lived their life to the fullest. This is how the story is constructed too. There is no definite answer in the end because we must find it out on our own; no one can define it for us. We must define love by the actions we take and the relationships we have.

Where are you going, Where have you been? By Joyce Carol Oates

Abstract
         Connie is a fifteen year old girl who is into her appearance and being popular. Her mother always criticizes her and tells her that she is worthless in a sense. When Connie and friends would go out they'd go to the "mall". Although actually they went across the street to a diner where all the older kids hung out at. Connie loves the attention that she receives from the guys when she walk through the diner. One night she is asked by Eddie to go to his car with him, and Connie follows. The rest of the summer Connie does the same thing and meets many other guys. One day she is home alone and hears a car pull up in the driveway. She goes to the door to see who it is and finds out it's a guy that noticed her earlier when she was at the diner with Eddie. This guy claims he's only little bit younger than Connie and says that she should go for a ride with him in his gold car. She declines and he keeps persuading her to come with him. At last he gets mad and comes up to her door and says he won't come in as long as shes comes out and leaves with him. She finally gives in and goes outside to meet this man.  


Response

The roles women play society has changed over the years, but one thing that will never change is the effect they have on men. All women have the desire to impress men, and will do anything to achieve it. In the short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been?” Connie, the main character is caught up in her appearance and how to convey herself to the male species. She dresses up and does her hair just to go to the mall with her friends.

During the summer her and her friend’s get bored at the mall so they walk over to the diner across the road. This is the hot spot for teens in her town. It is known that all the older teens go here to hang around out. As she walks through the diner she is looking to impress the guys around her. All women do this at some point in their life, and they know that the guys will stare. By Connie taking part in this act contributes to what happens later in the story.

            One night when Connie is flattered by Eddie and is walking to his car she sees a guy that shows interest in her and he says, “Gonna get you, baby”. Connie doesn’t think anything about this encounter at all, until the day an unknown car pulls up to her house, one Sunday afternoon. Connie is immediately confused and excited about a guy coming to see her. She stands in the doorway as he talks to her and tries to lure her into his car to go for a ride. Connie keeps refusing, and doesn’t understand how this guy knows where she lives. He continues to tell her that she’s his lover.

As I look at this story I realize that this closely relates to the scenario that many teen girls encountered when being attacked by The Pied Piper of Tucson. This man was a serial killer in the 1960s that would lure girls to him by his good looks and wealthy background. The character of the mysterious man in this story directly relates to The Pied Piper of Tucson. They both stumbled up their stuffed shoes to make them appear taller. They both had the cole black hair with the make-up painted face. I feel like Joyce Carol Oates was directly affected by this killer, and so she decided to write at story about him and how a girl felt when being preyed upon by him.

            Not only can you conclude that women are taking roles in impressing men, but also the history behind this story greatly affects how Joyce Carol Oates writes. The way Connie dresses and portrays herself makes more susceptible to the Arnold Friend. She made herself be noticed and that’s what hurt her. So maybe, as a teen girl I can see how impressing someone isn’t helping yourself, although you may think that it is. Just be safe and in the end Connie should have listened to her mom.

            The history behind this story is shocking, and I can’t believe it is based on a serial killer. Everything that is explained about Arnold Friend is similar to The Pied Piper of Tucson. Also the fact that this story was written to Bob Dylan shows that it’s probably a response to one of the songs that he recorded.

A & P By John Updike

Abstract
       Sammy is checker at the A & P grocery store. One day his attention is drawn to three girls who walk in with just heir bathing suits on and no shoes. As they walk though the store he analyzes each girl and their figure. As they approach to check out they choose his cash register. Sammy is checking them out as his manager walks in and scolds the girls for just wearing bathing suits and tells them the store policy. This embarrasses Sammy and he quits as the girls walk out of the store.




Response
           The thoughts of guys and how they perceive women is shown in this story, “A & P” written by John Updike. The narrator of this story is Sammy, who is checker at the grocery store. He sees three girls walk into the store in just their bathing suits. By instinct men or boys are going to stare in amazement at a women’s body. Throughout this story that’s all the Sammy focuses on is their body’s.

            His superego or imagination starts to kick in when he talks about Queenie, which he labels one girl because she’s the leader of the pack. He imagines that her walk, which is stepping from heels to her toes, resembles how she walks in her everyday heels. Her slender body dressed pale pink swimsuit making her appear as a clean and untouched palette. This intrigues Sammy because of his mind wanders about the girl and the life she lives. He never once questions why she is just in her swimming suit because she looks good in it. This is different for the other girls that are with her, and all of this is because of the image that they give off to males.

            Now as Sammy comes back to his conscious mind or ego. He wonders why they’d be wearing swimming suits when the beach is 5 miles away, not to mention that the grocery store is in the middle of town. Why would girls take the trouble of going here? Is it because they wanted to make an impression on the men of the store? Did they do it for their own satisfaction to make themselves feel better?

            None of these reasons would seem logical when looking at it from the larger girl’s perspective. Why would she want to show her body off?  From the perspective that Sammy saw her from she had folds of skin over her suit and you could see the tan lines from the previous suits she had worn. This had to be uncomfortable for her to do. Did she maybe do it out of a dare that the other girls convinced her to do? I don’t understand the whole reason for them coming into the grocery store dressed like this?

            I feel like the author was trying to prove a point to young people in society. He was trying to show us that not all guys are bad and that just because they stare at a girls doesn’t mean they’re a pig. It relies solely on how girls dress. The men or boys wouldn’t stare at them if they dressed moderately and didn’t show their body off so much. Therefore this makes young adults at fault for their own decisions. If they want to recognize then they should wear more obvious clothing, if they don’t want to be looked at dress modestly.

            

A Good Man is Hard to Find BY Flannery O'Connor

Abstract
        A family of five plus their grandmother is taking a road trip to Florida. As they get ready to leave the grandma suggests that they go through Tennessee because that's where she grew up. Her son, Bailey disagrees and says they are going through Georgia instead. As the drive they stop at a bar-be-que place called Red Sammy's.While they are there  grandma talks to the owner ans tells he's a good man for not making to men pay for their fuel service. They are again on their way to Florida when grandma lies to the children about a secret board in a plantation house she knew not too far off the road they're on. Bailey turns are and heads to the plantation house, but along the way they get into an accident. Everyone is in confused state as a car approaches them with three men in it with guns in hand. Grandma realizes that one the men is the misfit found in that paper earlier. The two other guys take the family back into the woods a few people at a time and kill them. Finally Grandma is the only one left and she takes the misfit by surprise and he shoots her three times in the chest.


Response

           The thoughts of Grandma are what take over this whole story. She always expresses her opinion and thinks it’s her way or the highway. She is very self-centered and wants people to go along with what she thinks is right. Her instinct or Id is to tell everyone that they are good people. She only does this to make herself seem like a better person. She changes her morals depending on the person she is talking to and what they’ve done.

Her superego comes into play later in the story when they get into the car accident. This is evident because when she finds out that one of the guys is a misfit she doesn’t do anything, and remains calm. This behavior doesn’t make sense because they whole story she is worried about meeting up with misfit. She believes that he is a good man because he came from a good family, even though in the paper he was proven to be a bad guy. What makes her change her mind? Is it that just because he was raised by a good family that justifies him being okay?

Grandma’s morals change in a way because she thought that bad people doing bad things were terrible to be around, but then the misfit comes along and she’s fine with him. I think this is because the misfit says he did nothing wrong and he still got put in prison, just like Jesus. When the misfit refers to Jesus that immediately catches Grandma’s attention because she is a Christian and she tells the misfit he must pray. This is how the misfit connects with Grandma and makes him a good man in her mind. This is defined by her ever-changing morals that she lives by throughout her life.

Grandma’s ego isn’t really apparent until she finally recognizes that all of her family has been killed off. She cries for Bailey and she can’t believe her son has been killed. She still trusts the misfit though because he said he wouldn’t kill a lady. As she falls into the ditch and is followed by the misfit with his gun she says that he is her child. This is because she realizes that she is just like the misfit. She has done things all her life and been punished for no reason. This has angered her all her life without her realizing why.

These thoughts that are throughout the story are strong and matter-of-factly because they are spoken from the stubborn Grandma. Flannery O’Connor is definitely trying to show that people beliefs can be strong, but that doesn’t mean they’re right or that they won’t change over time. 

The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

Abstract
         The Lottery is a story that focuses in a small town and how they gather for the traditional lottery drawing. As you read this story in bewilderment you begin to understand how important this lottery is and how no one is allowed to be home when this take place unless you have a good excuse. Each person who is head of their  family draws a paper and then everyone opens their's up at the same time, in which they see who has the black dot on their paper, The Hutchinson's had it. Then at once the family goes to the front to see who in the family will draw the next black do, it was Tessie, the wife. After that the story ends with Tessie being hit with stones till her death.


Response

          “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson was story that completely plays with your mind the whole time you’re reading. I read this story thinking it must be about people buying tickets to win money because that’s how I’d define lottery. It seems as though Shirley wasn’t thinking the same thing as I was. As the story continues Shirley explains how all the people in the town must gather for this event. Although she still doesn’t tell us what’s going on and what this lottery is for. The reason for her doing this is so she can keep her readers in suspense just like the people in the story who are in the lottery. They are waiting to see who will be put to their death, which at the time you wouldn’t know if you were a first time reader of this story.

            The lottery consists of each head person of a family to come up to the front and draw a strip of paper out of a black wooden box. At the time of my reading I didn’t think anything about the symbolism of the box until I finished the story. The color and composition of that box screams the thought of death. The black immediately infers death, while the wooden composition suggests what a coffin would be made of, not to mention that it’s a box just like the shape of a coffin. Throughout this story I think Shirley is trying to give the readers hints on what is about to happen. She wants your mind to think and be so intrigued that you can’t stop reading, which is what the people in this story are doing with the lottery.

I see that the people are brainwashed to think this is a great thing and that no community can live without the lottery. I don’t understand how people are content with one random killing ever year, and it’s not just some person, it’s a person of their community. The community seems like cult in which once you’re sucked in you can’t get out, and you wouldn’t dare speak out against it. Tessie Hutchinson tried speaking out that it wasn’t fair, and she’s the one who ends up getting killed.

This book makes you see how brainwashing can hurt people. You are in control of your own mind, but as soon as you let someone else take hold of it you put your life in danger. This is what the people of this small community are doing. They are letting their past take control of their future, which maybe they don’t have control of. It may be their instinct to think that the lottery is something that must be done because they’ve never seen anything different. It’s as though no one in the community has a superego because they don’t think for themselves or express their own thoughts. They only are worried about the lottery and they show no emotion at all. When Tessie draws the black dot she doesn’t do anything at all, but just stands there waiting for her death.  Why doesn’t she show any emotion? Is it because she was taught to not show emotion or that she has no emotion because this is the typical scene of this community?

             Also you think that her family would show emotion, but they don’t at all. You think that her husband might say he drew the black dot and risk his life for his wife, but he doesn’t. It also says in the book that they have three children. Wouldn’t the children be sad and maybe run towards their mother to say their last good-bye?  No emotions are ever shown throughout this whole story. I think that’s a little odd out of 300 some people, no one shows any emotion. This makes me think that everyone had to brainwashed and thought that randomly killing someone was okay.    

Battle Royal By Ralph Ellison

Abstract
        The narrator was cursed by his grandpa and so he always had to play it safe. He is praised by the people of his town for being a good black. As the story goes on the narrator goes to all wealthy white men to tell them a speech. He ends up taking part in a battle royal in which he has to fight the other men blindfolded. He ends up getting to the last round, where he is defeated by another man.

Journal
     This story takes place during the era of black and white segregation. This is the same era that Ralph Ellison lived in while writing his stories. He was the grandson of a slave just like that main character in the story. These are just some of the similarities that are shown between Ralph and the narrator of this story.
      The narrator is living with a curse of his grandfather. When his grandfather was on his deathbed he told him that he'd be cursed for ever and have to carry that burden on his back. All throughout the narrator's life he lives cautiously not wanting the curse to affect him. As a slaves's grandson and a black he had to be of the safe side smiling to all the whites and saying that yesses. This is how all black must act in order to remain safe under white rule.
       The problem of segregation is that the black's were never free. The narrator thought he had it pretty lucky because he was never abused by the white's. He had the opportunity to go and speak to all the wealthy men. He became really nervous because he wanted to be different than every other black, and he wanted to impress the white men. As he goes up to speak the white men don't listen until he mixes around some of his words. The words were social responsibility in which he was suppose to say social equality. Why does this catch the attention of the white men? Is it because the white's think the black's have the social responsibility to do all the labor, while the white have the responsibility of the government. They lack to acknowledge that fact that he states social equality because they don't believe that that's even possible.

The Chrysanthemums By John Steinbeck

Abstract
       Elisa is a woman who lives in Salinas Valley all alone with just her husband as her company. She has no job other than to tend her garden and clean the house, which bores Elisa. One day a stranger shows up to the house wanting to find the path to Los Angeles Highway. Elisa is attracted to this man and how he treats her. She ends up giving him some of her chrysanthemums to give to a woman that is on her route. Later that day Elisa and her husband Henry are on their way to town and she see that her chrysanthemums have been thrown on the side of the rode, which hurts Elisa very much.


Journal

            Elisa is the main character in this story. She is being oppressed not only by her husband, but also by society. The story takes place on Elisa and Henry’s farm in Salinas Valley, CA. Elisa is in her garden tending her flowers and most importantly her chrysanthemums. As she works John Steinbeck explains that, “her figure looked blocked and heavy in her gardening costume.” This perceives the thought that Elisa is real masculine and rigid as a woman. She doesn’t want to be seen this way but her work requires her to dress this way. Not only does she tend her garden she also cleans the house. Those are the only jobs that Elisa is ever given, and I think they bore her. This is just one way Elisa is oppressed in the story.

            As that story continues Elisa see that’s her husband is talking to two men. She wonders why, but doesn’t dare go speak to them because that would be out of line in society. Henry comes over after the men leave to tell her that the men brought him money for the steers he sold, and he asks if she’d like to go out to dinner, Elisa agrees. Henry jokingly inquires they should go to the fights in town tonight, but he assumes that Elisa wouldn’t want to go to them. The reason he assumes this is because in the times of this story women didn’t go to fights, that wasn’t the womanly thing to do. This just shows how society too oppressed women in what they do. In other words women weren’t really free to do what they wanted because they were oppressed by the society, which were the men because other women wouldn’t make rules for other women.

            The gender roles are stereotypical of this time period. The men were the workers who provided for the women, while the women cooked and cleaned all day. Although like Elisa women didn’t always like their roles they still did what they were suppose to do. Why is this? Why wouldn’t women want to change their lives by speaking out? Is it because they didn’t want to humiliate their self or their family by being different, or maybe that they never got the opportunity because the men were so controlling of the women.

            This story showed strong feminism from society oppressing Elisa to Henry oppressing Elisa. Everything that was written was pretty much how men controlled everything. The only time that Elisa is a little bit flattered by a man is when the fixer guy comes by and he speaks to her with passion. At first she isn’t open to this because she’s not used to it. After awhile she sees how lovely this guy really is and how he respects her. He shows this respect by inquiring about her chrysanthemums, which mean lots to her. Since Elisa has never had children these flowers become her children in a sense.

            In the end of the story Henry and Elisa are on their way into town for dinner. She sees that the fixer guy’s covered wagon is ahead. As they come upon the wagon she sees that he has thrown out the chrysanthemums that she gave him. Elisa breaks into tears not only about the flowers, but about the fact that she respected the fixer guy and how he acknowledged her as more than just a woman.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway

Abstract
      There are two waiters that converse about this old man and how he visits the cafe everyday to drink brandy. One waiter tells the other that the old man tried to commit suicide last week, but neither know why. As they tell the man he must leave the older waiter expresses to the younger waiter that he likes working late into the night and being in a clean, well- lighted place at night.


Journal

            Ernest Hemingway was known for his short and to the point writings. In this story, “A clean, Well-Lighted Place” the writing was very short. There wasn’t much explanation to his writing he just told the story briefly without many adjectives, which was his style of writing. This style really confused me when I first read the story. I had to re-read it two more times to get the dialogue and the time transitions that he was expecting you to figure out on your own.

            The biggest symbol throughout the book was the difference between light and dark. He talked about an old man who always visited a cafe at night and how he must have like the light. There were two waiters, and the older one admitted he liked to be in a clean, lighted place at night. The reason for this odd request is because he didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want to become depressed and absorbed in his feelings about how old he was. This is a key symbol showing that the older you get the more sensitive you are to the dark. I think this may be because death is associated with darkness and the older people are the closer to death they are.

            The main character that is found in this story is the old man who sits and drinks brandy all night. I think this character represents Ernest Hemingway. The old man is alone and doesn’t want to be in the dark. Ernest had four wives, which shows he never wanted to be alone at all. Also the old man in the story tried to commit suicide, but his niece caught him and stopped him. This is the case with Hemingway too, he had a gun to his head when his wife came in and convinced to put it down.  After this, throughout Hemingway’s life he became more and more paranoid of different things, for instance the FBI. He believed that the FBI was tracking his every move, which drove him to have paranoia.

            All of Ernest’s paranoia started when he was sitting at a restaurant in Ketchum and saw that there were lights on in the building beside him. This directly relates to the setting in the story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” maybe the old man watched something every night when he sat there drinking his brandy. Maybe what he saw was something that drove him crazy and into to paranoia just like what happened to Hemingway. 

            

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall By Katherine Anne Porter

Abstract
      Granny Weatherall is in the hospital and nearing death. She is very grumpy and doesn't want anyone around. As she falls asleep she starts to see her life go by and how was was never really a happy person. In the end Granny is at peace with dying and tells her children all they things they must do and the items they receive after her death.


Journal

In the story, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” there isn’t much of a plot. It seems as though we are just hearing the thoughts that Granny Weatherall is thinking while laying in a hospital bed. She is a cranky lady who doesn’t want to be at the hospital because she’d rather be at home cleaning and doing other chores.

            The characters of the story kind of confuse me on why they are even in the story except for George and Hapsy. I think that George is significant to this story because not only was Granny jilted by him it represents how her life was lived. She was never really happy and at the end of the story she realizes that. She was jilted by this thought and that’s what ended up killing her. Hapsy was another character that was important to the story and showed up in many instances. I’m not quite sure the actual significance of Hapsy, I just know that Granny loved her very much.

            The tone of the story is very dark and unhappy feeling. I feel this closely relates to the life that Katherine Anne Porter lived. When she was young her mother died and her father raised her family. Once Katherine grew up she married a man who abused her and they later got divorced. I think the reason for this writing to be dark and unhappy is also because she wants to depict that life of Granny and the stage that she was going through in her life, and that she had to accept death.

            One of the symbols in the story that you see throughout is the expression of things floating. This can relate to what heaven is like in Katherine Anne Porter’s eyes. She talks about how the doctor floats into the ceiling in the beginning and that her body feels like bones just floating about within her skin. This truly shows that Granny knows she’s dying and that the thought of death makes her think everything in real life is floating and converted to the way of heaven.

            

The Rocking-Horse Winner By D. H. Lawrence

Abstract
        Paul is a child of an unlucky and greedy family. His mother and father are both big spenders, but they don't have the money to pay their debt. Paul and his sisters notice that the house is whispering, " There must be more money" this bothers Paul so he decides to do something about it. He begins gambling  on horse races, which he wins because of his rocking horse. He takes his winnings and gives some to his mother to make the house shut up, but it only becomes louder. Finally Paul becomes weak and is able to make one last bet in which he wins a lot of money for his family.




Journal
         Master Paul was a child who had an illness. This wasn’t something that his family noticed, but it became apparent with time. Paul heard that his parents had no luck and he wanted so badly to find that luck so he searched for it himself. As he searched he found a rocking horse out of all the things in his house, and this had the answer. Why would Paul pick a horse? Why wouldn’t he pick something that could make him money like notebook and pencil?

 Paul was making sure he found luck for his mother because he loved her very much and wanted her to be impressed by him. From the theory of Sigmund Freud, Paul wanted to be better than his father. He wanted his mother to love him and not his father, so he went about this by trying to provide for his mother. He did this by betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener and winning large amounts of money. Paul decided that he was going to give some of his money to his mother for her birthday. She gladly accepted it and asked if she could get the whole lump sum of five thousand pounds. Paul agree and Uncle Oscar told the lawyer that was all right.

Paul’s mother used the money to buy material things for herself, and never once stopped and thought about what her family needed. This made Paul angry and confused. The whole reason Paul was gambling was so the house would shut up. Paul’s id or basic needs drove him to want to gamble. He had to shut the house up because it kept whispering, “There must be more money!” This bothered Paul so he wanted to fix it and he thought he had. Paul was wrong about that the whispering only became louder. Paul couldn’t understand how his mother could be so selfish. Why couldn’t she make the house be quiet? What motivated her to be so selfish?

            As Paul tried harder and harder to win money, he was only losing it. He was struggling because he didn’t have his rocking horse anymore because he was too old for it his mother said. Paul demanded that it be put back in his room and his mother listened. This was the reason for his success in winning the bets. Paul’s ego kicking in, he wanted so badly to have luck he would do anything to get it. He rode his horse day and night trying to find the answer. He was mentally not going to be at rest until he found the winner of The Derby.

            Paul shows a strong Ego throughout the whole story. He wasn’t stopping for anything or anyone. He was driven by his Ego to find luck and make the house shut up. Paul’s Superego never really stopped him or was even apparent to him throughout this whole story. Finally, Paul’s Id was the whole drive behind everything he did, it was his instinct. He knew in his mind he had to help his mother and was going to do it in any possible way he could. He was driven so much to please his mother that it killed him.

Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Abstract
       Gregor is a young and successful man that is supporting his family, until one day something happens that changes his life forever. He wakes up and he is a gigantic insect. He life in immediately changed forever. He isn't able to support his family and they begin to be affected by this change and they all gave to get jobs. In the end Gregor dies because of starvation.


Journal
           Franz Kafka wrote a very interesting story that symbolizes the reality of his life. His father was a businessman who was always busy and never had time for his family. Gregor in this story represents Kafka’s father. They were both businessmen who are always on the go and were hard working men. They never stopped to enjoy life with their family of just relax because they are so focused on their job. Kafka wrote, “The Metamorphosis” because he wanted to show people that working so hard turns you into a monster in a sense.  Why would Franz Kafka write about something he hated so much? Why would he encourage the fame and icon of his father? Was it so he could teach others to change or maybe to express his feeling through writings.

In the story Gregor is disabled to work or even support his family. At first the family is sympathetic, but soon they become impatient with him. The reason for this frustration is because of the economic standing of Gregor’s family. They couldn’t support their selves just on Gregor’s savings so they all had to get jobs. This becomes a struggle because they aren’t able to care for Gregor and work at the same time. They have to adjust their life and get rid of their cook, their house cleaner, etc. They no longer are of the higher economic class; they have now dropped to middle class if not lower. Gregor’s mother has to sell her jewels for money so they can live. Also they sell some of the furniture in Gregor’s room in order to support themselves. Does this economic instance show how Kafka had to live his life?

This story shows how taking away someone’s job can bring them to reality. It shows the person what they’ve missed out on while busy working. In the story Gregor finally sees how talented his sister is at the violin. He had never noticed it before because he was so busy working. He loves her music and knows that she could get into Conservatorium and he wants to help her get there, but it’s too late. Gregor can’t speak to her and she is afraid of Gregor so the dream that he had for is sister is just a fantasy. This story makes me realize that you can’t take the things in life for granted because otherwise you will regret no participating in activities and you’ll never get the full experience of life.

            In “The Metamorphosis” it also shows how someone so focused on their work will die alone. Gregor never really was susceptive to what was around him. He doesn’t notice this until he is changed. Throughout the story his sister cares for him, but in the end just gives up. This example shows how someone so successful can become so lonely.     

The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Abstract
           The narrator of this story is in an unstable mental health state, so her husband has advised her to sleep and not do much. They are renting a house for three months and there is one room that the narrator is fascinated by and she's thinks it was a nursery. In this room there is yellow wallpaper which the narrator she struggles to find peace with so everyday she analyzes the paper while her husband is at work. As she later discovers there are women trapped behind the paper trying to get, so she frees them.In the end those women represent the narrator herself and how she's been trapped by her husband in a sense.


Journal

            While reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” it came across to me that there are definite gender roles shown. The narrator is convinced that she is mentally ill and is not capable of doing anything else. She believes this is true because her husband who is a physician told her so. He told her she must not do much activity during the day and she must sleep as much as possible. This is the stereotypical role of a female that stays home. She just sits around and every once in a while will clean or do something active. I don’t understand why Charlotte Perkins Gilman would write about the woman’s role stereotypically when she herself was a feminist. I think this story shows no feminism because the narrator is being controlled by her husband, ans she isn’t independent at all.

In this story the husband, John, is the supporter. He is a physician and helps others with their ailments. This shows the stereotypical role of a male, to be the supporter. This is the one whole provides the money for the women to buy and get what they need to raise a family. The male figure is suppose to be strong and not afraid of anything. This is shown in the story when the narrator explains that she must always be with John otherwise she gets nervous and begins not feeling well. I think this shows how the male figure is represented in the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Again I find it hard to understand that the main supporter in this story to be a role just because she was a feminist writer, and she strongly believed in feminism.

            By the end of the story the narrator becomes free from her life of being trapped. She is finally able to do what she wants and not have to be nervous about it. This is represented when the narrator tears all the yellow wallpaper off the walls. She does this because she claims that there were women behind the wallpaper creeping around and they were trapped. In all actuality this is the life the narrator was living. She was trapped in her house wanting to free herself, but couldn’t because her husband kept and close eye on her at all times of the day.