Sunday, July 27, 2008

Aunt Jennifer's tigers

This is a 12 line, poem, written in iambic trimeter couplets. with end-rhyming couplets.
This poem uses the tiger as a metaphor, to compare aunt's felings towards her marriage to a tiger. The persona is a third speaker talking to another third speaker.
There are 3 stanzas. The first stanza talks about the tiger " hatred" being patience, and it says that she is not scared of her husband, which tells me that there was not abuse from husband. It also says that there is some domain controling her. which to me is the marriage.

The second stansa talks about how anxious she is to do "it" and how heavy her marriage is to her, (lines 7 and 8).
The last stanza describes how good she is going to feel when she dies, because her tigers were proud and prancing, and unafraind. I think that Aunt Jennifer killed her husband and this is why the tigers were proud. she lived the last years of her life. without ordeals (line 10).

The second coming by William Buttler Yeasts

This sis a 23 line, 2 stanza poem. it is written in Dactylic style. It is a free verse poem. The persona in this poem is talking about the second coming, of Jesus Christ. The persona is a strong believer that Jesus Christ is an evil, being, that only likes to see the world suffer and believe in someone good. The persona has strong believes that the world is full of sinners and disorder.

Line 2 is used a a metaphor, when the persona compares the falcon and falconers to us and Jesus. We cannot hear Jesus becasue we are sinners. lines 2-8 talks about the world having no one to control them, there are not more innnocent people in the world,because the "innocence" is being drowned, and the ones that believed do not believe anymore and the ones that never believed are satified.

The second stanza give us a message of irony, when the persona says that the second coming is something that we think is good, yet he believes it is jus phony.

the last stanza the author explains that when the "one" from the second coming arrieves, darkness falls and he describes him as a lion body and head of a man. the persona thinks that Jesus is evil because of the way he describes him in line 15. The last line, showes us how the persona thinks that jesus is the evil one, where he says that the beast is having his hour at last, and then goes to Bethlehem to be born.

I do no like this poem at all. It goes against everything that i believe in. I think it was not necessary for this author to write this. I hope is read this the wrong way or something. I cant wait to hear his biography..

The Victims by Sharon Olds

This is a 26 line poem, written in imabic and free verse. The author uses an unnamed first girl, who is talking to her dad. The persona is teling her dad that she is happy that her mom left him. This is imposed in the first line. The persona implies that her and the other chldren were happy and did not like living woht their dad. The mom was beaten by the dad and so were the children. this implied in lines 1-2 she took it and took it. and line 16. we pricked with her.
The persona tells us that her dad was fired and when she heard the news she was hapy, there was obviously hatred towards the dad, because there were so many little details that the persona talks about, details that make her imagine how much he is suffering. She hates him so much that even little things that make him mad or sad makes the children glad.

The part where the persona talks about the shoes, having a nose, makes me thinks that for the persona to think that the shoes had noses, meant that she had to be looking at them relly close, maybe the dad kicked her in the face many times and she saw the reflection of her nose. and therefore she hates the shoes.
In the last paragraph the persona talks about uses methapors when he compares alll of the thinkgs that once had power and now are worth nothing to the world to his dad. I think the persona is a girl because i think that if it were a guy he would not have payed attention to little details or he would have talked about a confrontation with his dad, when the beating was going on.

Friday, July 25, 2008

I wondered lonely as a cloud

This is a pastoral iambic, or ode iambic. i am not sure. it has 4 stanzas. it has a (ababcc) rhymimg pattern.
I think that throught the use of similie he put himslef in a cloud,to talk and describe the beautiful scenery he was admiring, I think that there is not other meaning to the poem other than just talking about nature, how beautiful it is. which make me nolgastic, because i have to time to enjoy it.

A noisless patient spider

This is an Iambic, free verse 10 line poem. It has a melancholic mood. In this poem i think that persona is the Author. He is comparing his life to that of a spider. on the first stanza he describes how careless, happy and calmed a fly is. looking at the world from a tall observation spot.
On the second stanza he starts to realize that he has no time to do that. he does not take the time to be calm, or careless, he has to entertain the world, and please people. He is lamenting the fact that he cannot have a life like the fly did. Which is ironic because he did have the quiet time to obsreve the fly, to write this poem.

How do i love thee?

This was my favorit poem, maybe because i studid her life and she was an awesome lady. This is a iambic sonnet, with 14 lines. It has a romantic mood and Elizabeth used many similies in this poem. The persona is a lady with srong love for her husband, i think the persona was herself. In this poem she is confirming her love after a being asked by her husband, she is comparing the strenght of her love to her childhood's faith ( where our faith is the strongest).
The persona also compares that her love as pure and one comes out after we worship ( pure) line 7. on the last 32 lines, the persona shares that this person is a long life partner, because of the similes and tears of all her life. She says that she would love him better after death, because once in heaven there will be no other worries in her life to worry about other than her love.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The sick rose by William Blake

This is a 2 stanza poem, with 4 lines each stanza. It is a sonnet and it has an ab,ab pattern. The persona has the same mood through out the whole poem. The moos is of, sadness or guilty feeling.

The persona is talking maybe about a vice, something that is not okay. The worm represents the sickness of the action and (finding his bed) means that there is probably something sexual. I think that he is talking about rape or maybe a person that sleeps with yournger girls and has sex with them. Whatever it is he knows that it not right because at the end he says that this vice his life will destroy..

To Celia by Ben Jonsosn

This is a 1 stanza, 8 line poem, I am confused on wath kind of rhyme it has. it seems to me that 3 out of endid sound rhyme. The persona's mood does not changer it is always the same, he has a revel mood.

I think the poem is about someone that is asking the persona to change for him, and he does not love her. He does not want him to kiss her, he wants her to live a kiss but in the cup. maybe the persona drinks too much and the wife/girlfriend is asking him to leave that vice but he does not want to because at the end the persona says I would not change for thine..

The Passionate Sheperd to his love

This poem is a 6 stanza, with quatrains. It was an internal rhyme amd the mood is romantic through out the whole poem. It is Iambic. With 25 lines.

This poem talks about a young guy in love asking his love to marry him or move in with him. He is obviously rich and has many things to offer. He offers her clothers made of wool, from sheep he owns, he offers her gold and a house wtih a beautiful view. The persona is romantic and in love and he must live in the country, because he offers his love views of wood, ans steepy mountain yields.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

I am glad that i got to read this story again, i actually got to see a different side of it, a side that I never thought about. To me, Linda(one of the protagonist of the story) was dumb and stupid for taking all of these abuse from Willy( another protagonist of the story). But after reading the book again and the discussion we had in class I understood that Linda was doing the right thing, she was standing by her husband and being loyal to him. Many of us get married and we do a pledge (promise to God) where we say for better or for worst, till death do us part. and we say it and we think we mean it, but then when problems or ilness come our way, we say "adios" right away with no hesitation. Linda did exactly what she had to do. A thought came to me, old people could be rude or mean sometimes, at least this is how is see them, but it not that they are mean, most of the time they have and ilness or they just do not feel good, maybe this is what happened to Willy, maybe he had alsheimers, and maybe he was always nice and caring to Linda but lately his head was not working well. Another opinion i changed after reading this story again, is that i thought that Willy was an antagonist, but i do not feel like this anymore. I think that Willy was just a victim of un accomplished hopes and dreams. I actually feel bad for him, I know how bad it feels to not be able to reach a goal or a dream I have many fails myself. The good thing is that i am still young and hopefuly God allows me more years and i can accomplish those goals, but Willy, he knew that his time was getting closer and this is why he felt so frustrated with the fact that he was not where he wanted to be.
Biff reminds me a lot of ME! i am so scared that i might end up this way too. with no job or successful future. I am a person that switches from job to job, and i have always been really irresponsible. It was till i had my son that i had a serious talk with myself and decided that even if the job was not perfect i will stay there, because now i had responsibility of a little one that needed me to be responsible, maybe Biff should get married and have kids!!. I think that it is really sad that Neither Biff or Happy where there for Willy, even when we know that they loved him, neither of them took the responsibility of helping him out and reitre him. they talked about it but never did it.
I think that it is bad,that Willy cheated on Linda, she was always there for him and was always so supportive of him. I am glad that Linda never found out because this would have killed her.
I think that the fact that Willy cheats on Linda is what has him haunted in life, he has so many flashback and remorses that problably make him feel guilty.
The part of the restaurant is really sad, because they could have had fun but they didn't instead they fought and Happy showed that he did not care much about his dad. I really thought that it was mean the way Biff was talking to his father, i know he was trying to explain what he felt but He was disrespectful. Before i used to think that Will killed himself so that his family received the insurance money, but it is not exactly like this, after reading it again I learned that he killed himself because he started to believe in Biff again and believed that he was going to be succesfull with 20thousand dollars in his pocket, and he killed himself for Biff, all for Biff. i did not get that the first time i read it. Ironically Willy's action made the only person that believed in him, be dessapointed by him, Linda. Another thing that i noticed is that at the end, when Linda is talking to Willy's grave, she says that she had just made the last house payment, and she start saying we are free! free! at last free!, this made me remember the story of an hour phrase! so maybe Linda was (deep inside) felling free from the responsibilty of Willy?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams

This story is so much like Death of a salesman, I saw Amanda being Willy and all the attention is given to Laura, wich i can compare to Biff, and then we have the ignored child which is Tod. The protagonists of this story are all of them, Tom, Laura and Amanda. I think that Jim is the confidant in this story, he is the only one that knows Tom's dreams and plans for the future. I think that the antagonist of this story was just the situation and Amanda's husband. The situation of Laura being crippled, Tom having to work because dad left and Amanda being left alone with so many unacomplished dreams and hopes. The setting is on the Wingiled's apartment, long time ago, i think it was just a few years of the Holocaust. There are many conflicts in this story one of them is the anxiety attacks Amanda gets when she thinks that Laura is going to stay alone, unmarried and withouth a career. The second conflict is tha Amanda was abandoned by her husband. Another conflict is that Tom hates what he does for a living and is frustrated because he wants to become a poet! Another conflict is that Laura has a really low selfesteem and does not achieve anything in life because she is so self conscience of her disability. The last conflict is that after Laura gets her hopes up with Jim he lets her know that he is engaged.

At the beginning of this drama i noticed that Amanda, is so superfucial, always wants to be well liked and accepted, She talks to her children as if they were friends and she has no autority over them. I know parents that are like this, as i was growing up i had friends that her moms were so cool because they were so nice to them and allowed them to do many things that i was not allowed to do. When i grew up i learned to appreciate the fact that my mom was not like this, because most of my friends ended up having a messed up life, and i am not saying that i have a perfect life, but because my mom was my mom, she was able to rescue me from going the wrong way.. I think part of me not falling so low in my life was the fact that I knew my mom had rules and I had to follow them.

As i was reading the story and getting to know Amanda, I realized that it was not that she was a bad mother, but she just has high hopes and dreams for her kids. When Amanda starts talking about all of the gentleman callers she had, i do believe it could have happened, Just because she is not popular know and rich does not mean that her life did not hold a popular and promising future. My sisters talk to me about my mom when she was younger and they say that there were so many men behind her all of the time, men with power and wealth and she held a really important job in Mexico, her future was really promising but she never payed attention to any of those men instead she married my dad, (dont get me wrong he is wonderful) but he was not a powerful man nor was he rich, they got married and then we moved to the U.S. My mom from being the secretary of the president of the state to an immigrant that earned $3/hour working the whole day. Why did we move? well things go really hard for them with 5 children and two of them working, besides the violence in Mexico is really crasy! So i can really see how someone with lots of wealth or really popular can end up feeling frustrated because all of the sudden they feel that they are "nobody" this must be really frustrating and I think that Amanda was going through this, this is why she was the way she was with her kids, she did not want them to end up like her or worst.

When i kept reading into the story, i did see that she really was bossy and annoying she talked to much and to many times. That is annoying, i really got into the story it was as if i had a movie in my mind and as i was reading i wanted to get into the movie and tell her to shut up! I think that mo matter how annoying their mother was they should respect her. No matter how annoying, evil or whatever. Honor you mother and father! Tom was definately disrespectful towards his mother. I wanted to get in there and slap him when he called her a babbling old witch! man, that got to me! I think that Tom needed to realize that he was the man of the house now! he had to work and be there for his siter and mom,no question about it. I do blame both Amanda and him for not assuming that responsibility. Amanda needs to get rid of her husband's memory, she still talked about him and had his picture up and she compares her husband to Tom as if he was a good example to follow, this must have gotten Tom upset and probably was the reason he hated to be at home. Instead of Amanda taking her frustrtation on her husband and forgetting about him she took her frustrations out on Tom and Laura.

I liked the way that Amanda had support and encouraging words for the kids, she believed in them, but she came accross as being pushy because she did not know how to express it. This is something that reminds me of my mom, I remember when i was in hight school, she used to say that i was so popular that if i walked with a pizza on my head, all the girls would come with a pizza on her head the next day!, i used to laugh about his so much, i never did believe it, but i should have tried it. up to know there is still no day that she tells me that i can do whatever i want to do, she believes in me (bless her heart) this gives me energies to keep going but unfortunately Tom tooks this the wrong way, he took this as if she was just pushing him and preassuring him. Tom closed himself to his mom because he too, was living in a dream, he was wishing something that at this time was almost impossible, becasue he needed to be there for his family, since his dad didn't.

I did not get the part where he says that he was El diablo and he was a killer? was he serious or was he just trying to scare and annoy his mom? I also did not get the part on page 1173 where Tom talks about the dance hall, what was the point? The fact that Jim was engaged was a shame, i felt bad for Laura, she raised her hopes up and I think Jim did too, I think he liked her too, but he knew he had a responsibility. That was good, from Jim, he had good character, i think that he did not want to cheat on his fiance but he wanted to help Laura feel more secure. I think that it was unfair and mean the way Amanda blamed Tom, when they realized that Jim was engaged, but then again, she problably had her hopes up too. I did not really get the ending, did they leave (Laura and Tom) and left Amanda alone? If this is the case then they were mean and unfair and selfish, becasue no matter how annoying Amanda was ,she took care of them and loved them.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Death of a salesman By Arthur Miller

The first act introduces us to the protagonist of this story, Linda, Biff, and Happy, and we also met Willy which is the antagonist of this story who is Willy, The setting is in Willy's house and in the kitchen for the most part! also in the backyard on Willy's flashbacks.

I think that Willy is so mean to LInda, and i really think that Linda is so dumb to allow him to treat her like this. It is really ironic how Willy wants the boys to respect and help LInda out but then treats her so bad himself. I loved the part where Biff, stands up for his mom after Willy screams at her, but i hated the part where instead of thanking Biff, Linda, defends Willy. I seems to me that Willy is loosing his self, always dreaming of something else and Linda is the only one that tries to understand him and be there for him. I do not think that the boys don't love Willy but they do not have the patience tha Linda has.

Hapy seems to be the boys that is always ignored, even with Willy's flashback we see how Happy is trying to show Willy his muscles and they just ignore him. My mom was never like this she had 5 girls and she always made sure that she gave us all the time that we needed, i have no idea how she did it but i thank her for doing so. I got to read how Willy takes so much importance to Biff being popular, his looks and the fact that he is well liked instead of his studies. I know people like this in real life, actually there are many people like this, i think that it is necessary to understand that beauty and looks fade away with time but a well educated and intelligent mind goes long ways. Throught act one, we are also introduced throught the fact that Willy and Biff do not get along with eachother, the secret is not revealed in this part yet. As i mentiones above my mom did a great job keeping our family together inconditionally, our family is nothing like Willy's. we do not scream at each other or fight and never, ever would we dislike my dad. I think it is sad when family bonds are broken because a broken family affects everyone. a broken family, break the community and a broken community break the unity of a state and so on. unti it brakes the unity of the world.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Night By Elie Wiesel

At last, it is done, i think i feel relief just like Elie did in his story!, this was just agony for me, i had nightmares at leas once i remember, I was running and there were gunshots. every day was so weird because i could not wait to get to my reading, even when i knew my heart hurt so much, many times i thought to myself, why did was not made up? why did it really happen? and also many times i wished i was there to help them or perhaps to meet Hitler and slap him a couple of times. why did he dare do that? who did he think he was? How can anyone be so evil?

I did not want for Elie's dad to die and i know he did not want him to die either, but they were so close to the end, so close, on the part where the SS oficer hit him in the head i got so mad, more then ussual, i think it was because i still had hope that he was going to make it, he took so much! I can just imagine the guilty feeling that Ellie has in his heart, i think that all feel ings are strong but the strongest one of them all is guilt, it is something that controls your thoughts and actions and mind, it is something that unless you correct your error or fault you can never outlive it. I wish that he can understand that things just happened and it was out of his control, I was glad to read that Ellie still does thank and acknowledge God, i knew it he did not loose his faith, I am so glad and I know that his dad would be really proud of him. Throught out the reading of the story, i felt bad and my hear hurt, but at the end, i did cry, i cried because it was just so unfair. There is nothing i can do about this but to pray for all of them, the survivors, the dead, the abusers..

Ellie is so right! he talks about not lettingijustice occur, it happens day after day and some of us do nothing about it, i loved it when he said that he has no freeedom unless others had it too. I might be able to help Peru or other countries but i can make a difference in what surrounds me, there are many oppressors in life they could be across the street from us, we have to take courange and speak out for those who have to voice. Like Elie says Neutrality helps the oppressor never the victim. Many times we do not interfere with injustice and we excuse ourselfs with " it not my business" or "it does not hurt me so who cares" and this is exacttly what many Germans and other people said about the holocaust. and look how far it went.

Night By Elie Wiesel

My first surprise during this reading was I read that there was a french wonen in concentration. My first surprise was that a women was working instead of being burned and the second one was that she was French, I did not know Hiltler had it against them also. When i read about Elie teaching hi dad how to march it upset me, not that he was teaching him how to march but the fact that the inmates were making fun of them, i would think that they should support and help eachother because they are all going through the same terror in their lifes.
I cannot believe that Elie had his tooth pulled out with a spoon, ouch!, i hate going to the destinst even to get them clean I am close to ask for anesthesia!. i can only imagine and tremble with his pain. When Elie caught Idek with that girl, i thought he was lucky because he did not get killed, that would have been enough to kill him, but i believe that God was really protecting him. I can not believe that they hang kids or anyone like this, infront of everyone and then made them look at them, offcourse nothing surprised me any more, how evil were they? my only thought is that i know they all got what they deserve. Because God will take care of them.
It was a great news when i read that one of the Comando that was nice to the Jews, I think that God put them for a reason and this was to help atleast some of the Jews, it is so sad that he got caught, i think that the weapons he was hiding was because he knews rescue was on the way and he wanted to help with the liberation. On page 65 there is a question about God, "where is he? and then Elie says " hanging here from this gallows" Did he mean that God was dying with the ones being hanged as in suffering with them and sharing his pain? or did he mean that he was dying with them because he was not powerful to fight against Hitler's army?
I understand what Elie is going through it is time of test and suffereing but he is blaming it all on God and God has little to do with this, he gives us freedom to act and say what we want and we decide if we want to follow him or the evil, God's purpose to put us on this world is to have us enjoy but also to test us to see if we truly love and respect him, and our punsihment and reward is awainting for us after life. This many thousands of Jews were just tested in a severe, cruel way, but the part that i find a little weird is that Jews follow what is to me the old testament in this old testament they know that God is a just God, before they had no "mercy" not to say that God is not mercuful, but after accepting Jesus Christ, is were we start learning of forgiveness and mercy and learing of a God that is less harsh and more loving, so i do not get why in this case Elie was not more prayerful and trustful of God. It does mention here how the old man that lost his faith, was the one that gave up and got elected, so Elie knows that it is important to cherish that hope and faith. Deep inside i think that Elie did not loose his faith, he was just mad and this was the only way to express it.
It must have been hard for many of them to say praise and talk about a God that is the owner of the universe and Earth and this was happening to them, but that only proved their love. I think that it is a bit ironic that Elie still does not realize that even if he did not feel he was being blessed by God, not many parents stayed with their children and they have been together so far even when they are in separate cells now they still see eachother, although i know that his dad will die, soon i think he is still blessed for now. I thought that it was so sad how people got elected, it felt to me that they were poultry at a supermarket or dogs at a pet shop, choosing who was good and who they did not need. For a minute a terror controled my heart and mind, i thought what if one day they decided to do this to all Mexican? one day they just said all Mexican report some place and we were given to order to give up or homes or our lifes? then after having chills, I said to myself, no this is 2008, they would not do this? and then i remeber this is exactly what Elie had hope on and look at what happened to them. This would be scary!
I cannot believe that they did not stay back on the infirmary, they could have been saved! this really got me so upset, they should have stayed, I know they were scared but they should have stayed. they would have ended their nightmare there.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Night By Ellie Wiesel

The protagonists of this story are all of the Jews, but the author/ main protagonist was Ellie Wiesel, which takes us through his worst real nightmare as he describes how the antagonists the naziz, guieded by Adolf Hitler, takes his life and many others and makes it a livig hell. The setting of the story is 1942- and it takes place in many different concentration camps, but it starts off on Sighet, were Ellie was born and raised.
When I started reading this book, I was excited, i knew the book was going to be a good one, i had previously read The Diary of Anne Frank and although it was sad it stayed with be forever. One of my favorite kind of readings are biographies. The beginnig was justnerve wrecking because, i found out that the Jews, atleast some of them did have the chance to run and protect themselves only if they would have believed Moishe the Beadle. I can only imagine the rage and sadness he must have felt, to see that no one believed him, i truly believe that God allowed him to free that time to go tell the others what a shame! that they did not believe..
I could not believe how sinical the Germans were, when they arrived to Ellie's town, they were smiling and being nice! that got me so mad, becasue they knew exactly what they were going to do. One part that shocked me was the part when the Hungarian police, started calling the Jews, good for nothing! i thought it was strange that they did this,because it does not say here that they were mean to the Jews, so i wondered if they got brain washed or maybe deep inside they hated Jews and they always hid it inside and now under Hitler's shelter they were able to get their hate out.
The more i read the more I got into the story, I was trying to do all the chores of the house as soon as possible just so that i can read it, and when i was not reading it I was talking to someone about it. My sister wants to read it after me! I have not felt this angry since I read about the Hiroshima bomb! I remember that i was so sad when i saw a video about how this bomb killed to many children i had nightmares and anger! now i felt the same, I was so angry and upset!! I wanted to stop reading it because many time i felt my heart could not take it anymore but i wanted to keep reading to see what happened to Ellie and his dad.
Ellies dad mus have felt so ashame and confused, his faith was so big and I think that maybe he even doubted for a while abouth his God, i would understand if he did, he must have hated the time where he did not listen to his son, about selling everything and moving somewere else, beside i put myself in his place and i know that I would do anything for my son, anything even give my life, so i can just imagine his impotence, how angry and frustating he must have felt..
One part where Ellie talks about how he thought or hoped this was all a dream, he pinched himself trying to wake up, i can relate to him here because two days ago, i dreamed that my son had cancer and that he was going thru surgery, when a big tornado starting to form and i started screaming and yelling that I was not going to no shelter unless i was with my son, I remember that in my dream i wished that I was dreaming, i pinched myself on my sleep and I (thank God) woke up. I felt this impotence with my child, i was sad and upset because the fact of not knowing how he was or maybe that i knew he was sick, made me feel sick to my stomach! the only difference is tha i was dreaming and unfortunately Ellie was not. This also made me think that when ever i read stroies like this or watch movies that are sad or deppresing to me, i always tend to dream about it, usually nightmares, and then i thought about it and said to myself " i only read about it and have nightmares, imagine the nightmares that they victims of this holocaust have every night?"
I can relate in many ways to these Jews, as a mother, as a child, as a sister and as a friend, whatever person i pictured myself in my heart ached, because without intentions of I put my mom in Mrs. Schachter and I felt so sad for her, it made me want to run inside that book ( story) and console her. Or when Ellie talks about the children being thrown in the fire, it made me think of what horror i would feel if this was my Stan. I cant wait until the end of this story, because I really do not think my heart or nerves can handle it anymore...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Catbird Seat by James Thurber

In the short story " The Catbird Seat" there are not very many characters, but the ones that are found are individual characters. The protagonist Mr. Martin is a lonesome man who devotes himself to his work and home. The setting takes place in the company where he works. The plot is that Mr. Martin is trying to get Mrs. Barrows, the antagonist, fired. The conflict is internal as Mr. Martin needs to come up with the ideal plan of executing his plans. The story is told in third person omniscient limited. The time where the rising action takes place is at night in Mrs. Barrows apartment. A good theme for this story is What goes around, comes around.

I enjoyed reading the story, I could really see many people taking advantage of their positions. I have seen people who they simply have a position in which they have to tend people and they like to make them wait or they are mean to the people. For example at the city hall or any clerk related job. The employes feels they can make the customers wait or feel less important only because they hold the job that will help them. I sure am glad that she got what she deserved as I wish it would happen to people I know like Mrs. Barrows.

The Found Boat by Alice Munro

In "The Found Boat" the main characters Eva, Carol, Frank, Bud and Clayton found a boat in the middle of a flood that happens every five years during the spring. The setting sounds to be in the south as the accent of the kids sound like a southern accent. The plot is that Eva the protagonis likes Clayton who is the antogonist. They are individual characters who act like any other youth as they are young. The conflict is external as Clayton can say mean things about Eva, it is a game for him and his friends. Eva does not seem to care what he says but it should eventually hurt her. The story is told in third person omniscient litmited. A good theme for this story could be Do onto other what you like done onto you'.

I could really see this story played many times in real life. Young kids like to hurt others becasue they find pleassure on that or maybe they think they are cool. I liked the fact that is a newer story, but I like the older ones because I think they have more meaning, I know I probably should not think like this because new stories will come up and they could be as famous as the older ones. Maybe other stories are better, I did not like this one in particular because I think the boys are mean to the girls and they do not have any respect for themselves. At the end when they play Truth or Dare they showed the girls how mean they could be, they did not care to leave them behind not caring how they would get back to their home.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

In A Rose for Emily, I found the protagonist to be Emily, Miss Emily, as the people from the town call her. The setting is the town where she lives and it takes over 40 years in her life. She is an old lady who has gained weight through the course of the story which starts describing her since she was younger and her father was still alive. She is an individual character who has complex personalities. The rising action in the plot is when Miss Emily orders a men's toilet with a man's initials on it. The man seems to be her formal friend whom they assumed will marry her. The conflict could be both external and internal. External becaue people are minding her business and she has to stop their gossiping and it is also internal because the struggleis more withherself as she has kept herself mostly at home ever since her dad's death. It seems as if she is not mentally okay because she says something and she does not listen to others, a good example of this is when city authorities go to her house to get the estate taxes money. All she says is, " 'I have no taxes' ". She keeps saying this over and over like if she did not hear or understood what the authorities were trying to tell her. The point of view is third perosn omniscient limited.

The story is quite creepy. Since I read "The Lottery" some time ago, everytime I read a story that starts like this one I immediately think of the worst case scenario. When it is mentioned about about Homer Barron and how all of the sudden nobody saw him again, and also the bad smell is mentioned I knew she has killed him and kept him in the house. So the end was no surprise for me. I though it was sad though when some people believe she will commit suicide and they think that it will be the best. I supposse that we should offer our help to every human being and it does not matter how creepy or out of this world they seem to be.

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty

In this story Phoenix Jackson is the protagonist. She is fat, old and an African American woman who proves tove an static character who has in mind to go to the town and nothing will make her change her mind. The setting takes place in the south becaue it talks about the cotton fields, it is during the month of December very close to the 25th. It is a sunny day as she she cries, " 'Sun so high!' ". The plot of the story is that she needs to get to the town but she is having many difficulties as she describes her troubles as she walks through the fields and it also talks about the encounter she had with the hunter. The conflict is external because she is having physical impediments to get to her final destination.The point of view is first person. A great theme for this story is Believe in yourself, because she keeps believing she can do what she has set her mind to do eventhough she encounters many barriers. The author uses metaphors, a good example of a metaphor is on page 215 when she describes the scarecrow. She says, "Bib dead trees, like black men with one arm, were standing in the purple stalks of the withered cotton field.

My first thought of the story was that Phoenix Jackson, an old black lady, was a slave trying to scape. As she describes all the troubles she has to undergo to get somewhere. So when she encountered the white hunter I thought he was going to kill her or turn her in. When he tells her to keep going I thought " he is just a good man who probably disapproves of slavery. Later as he points his rifle at her I thought. "Oh he is going to kill her" My heart beat did raise for a while. Then when she finally arrives at the doctor's office I realized what she was doing and I also sensed that she is facing Alzheimer's as she keeps staring straight ahead when the nurses talk to her; like she is set on her own world. She loves her grandson because with the money she kept from the "white" hunter and the nickle the nurse gave her, she decides to go buy something for her grandson instead of keeping it for some other use.

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane

The story's protagonists are Jack Potter and his newly wife. He goes to San Antonio to marry her. Later they get on a train to head to Yellow Sky, the town where he lives and that is also the antagonist because all the way through he keeps thinking that things will go bad over there since he did not mention to anybody that he was going to get married. The setting is the train that is running accross texas. The plot is when they are getting close to Yellow Sky and Jack is fearful for what will happen when he finally arrives to it. The conflict is external as Jack is so self consious os his doing. On page 135 it is mentioned "He had committed an extraordinary crime" he kept wondering what would the townsmen would say when they found out he was married and had never consulted them about the issue. The conflict is Man vs. Society. The story is told in stream of consciousnes in third person omniscient limited. A good them for the story could be "things are not always as they appear to be" a good example of this is that when he meets his enemy who is about to start a gun fight with him, decides to leave him alone as he learns he is married. The author uses irony because once again as he is affraid of his friends disliking him after they learn he just got married, his enemy decides to leave him alone as he learn he is married.

The story was interesting and really enjoyed it because it kept me thinking that maybe the townspeople were going to kill the woman and even Jack because it sounded like the townspeople had to approve of any person outside the town marrying somone from the town. The whole time as Jack kept thinking about his friends reminded me of "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Probably she was going to be stoned or something like that. Eventhough the barkeeper had described Scratchy, Jack's enemy, as being a nice person, but that he was totally different when he was drunk I thought he was going to kill Jack's wife as he pointed at her chest with his gun.

Monday, July 7, 2008

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Louise the protagonist recieves the news that her husband is dead. I do not relate to her because if I received bad new like this I would be in shock. It is normal I guess because I have seen people who cry right away after they receive bad news, but to me it would be normal to be in shock and then try to find out if things are real and then maybe cry.

The story takes place in Loise's house and it only takes one hour for it all to happen. In the story when Loise starts figuring out her life now that her husband is gone makes me believe that he was a bad husband which makes him the antagonist. She is an individual character. The plot is interesting, she is told the bad news, then she has mixed feelings about the issue later she starts having an idea of she will do, then as she is feeling better she learns that her husband is alive and the denouement comes, when she dies. The conflict is internal because before she dies it seems that she needs to make a decision and overcome pain. The conflict is Man vs Circumstances because she has to face people around her once she decides that her life will change for good now that her husband has died. the story is told in third person omniscient objective. The theme could be Things are not always as they appear to be. The author uses irony.

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

The Necklace is a pretty common story, where the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, is not happy with the things she has. She was born to a poor family composed of artisans. She always dreamt of having a better live, but whoever said that being rich gives people happiness. I am sure that people can be happy having money but there are other things in life that give us happiness too.

She is a dreamer who never settles with what she has. She often complains of the husband she has, she had desired to have a rich husband, but her poor husband loves her indeed. Maybe she would not have been happy having a rich husband. The setting takes place in France. I liked the plot because things were had a very bad outcome because of her desire to be rich. The conflict is external because Mathilde always wanted to be better in life and because of this she and her husband end up with a big debt which first of all demonstrates his love for her and it gives them a real hard time as it mentions that at the end of the ten years when they finally finish paying their debt she looks old. The antagonists are the people that let Mr. Loisel barrow the money because they were charging a lot of interest. The conflict is also Man vs Himself since the trouble had to be solved by her, it was something she had troubles with just in her head. The story is told in third person omniscient objective.The theme could be Love your life the way it is. The author uses comparison and contrast and irony.

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

This story takes place on a Sunday afternoon and it is hot. In this story the author talks about the protagonist who is Miss Brill an odd lady because she decides to wear a coat on a hot day. She goes out and it seems that some people make fun of her because of her clothing. Miss Brill is static character, she always does the same thing it seems as she describes that every Sunday she does the same things. The setting as I said before takes place on a Sunday and it takes place in a small town. I do not see a normal plot where there is a rising action, climax, or falling action. There is an introduction and denouement. The conflict is external because Miss. Brill always wants to know what is going on with other people's lives and when she cannot hear what they talk about or in one particular case where the couple she is observing does not speak, she gets upset. The Point of view is told in stream of consciousness and in third person, omniscient objective. The techniques the author used are similes and metaphors.