Swimming Memory

When I was six years old, I had an unforgettable moment.  I was in the Bahamas for spring break and my family was at the ocean club beach.  It was a gorgeous day out.  The sun was strong and there was not a ripple in the water.  I had been playing in the water all day with my parents and my sisters.  A few hours had passed and the water became more and more rough.  I really wanted to go in the water because I loved swimming and never wanted to leave the water.  My dad agreed to take me in and watch out for me.  I saw a big wave coming so my dad picked me up and he held on to me as we dove under it because it was too late to get out of the water.  The wave was extremely strong so it separated my dad and me.  My dad was strong enough to pull him self out of the wave but I continued to tumble around.  I vaguely remember struggling for a gasp of air.  My mom ran in from the beach chairs to save me and the wave took her glasses and hat out to sea.  I remember having an excessive amount of sand in my hair and ears for days and I was terrified and in shock.  This memory clearly left an impact on me because to this day, I still cannot go swimming in the ocean if there are big waves.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

The ending of this story is very laconic and brief.  Throughout the story, the old man is understanding, sympathetic and observant.  He has come to realize that as he continues to grow old he has nothing to live for anymore.  Both the old man and the old waiter like shadows and are talked about when they are in a shadow.  Shadows are symbolic of the old man and the old waiter of their emotional distress.  The old men like the shadows which shows their lack of happiness, and depression.  It shows that they can be in a clean well lighted place but they can be lonely in the shadows still because they go home to nothing and they have nothing to live for.  In the end, the narrator says, "He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep.  After all. he said to himself, it is probably only insomnia.  Many must have it."  The old waiter came to an epiphany in this moment because he came to a realization of what his life is consisted of, nothing.

Unacceptance

Unacceptance is a common theme in the three short stories “Paul’s case,” “The Chrysanthemums,” and “Barn Burning.”  In each of the stories the main characters feel unaccepted in society, by their family, or there is an internal battle with themselves.  In “Paul’s case,” the protagonist, Paul, struggles with being himself and expressing himself and he is not quite sure who he is.  Paul wants to be noticed for who he is.  The red carnation is showy so therefore it is basically saying “NOTICE ME.”  He has a fear of his dad, judgment, messing up, himself, and his own conscience.  He feels unaccepted by his dad and society.  In “The Chrysanthemums,” Elisa feels self-value when talking about her flowers.  When the tinker is supposed to drive the chrysanthemums to Elisa’s neighbors house, he keeps the pot and dumps the flowers.  Later Elisa drives past the flowers on the road with no pot.  For a moment, she feels like she has value but when she sees the plants on the road her value is taken away.  The last line, “crying weakly-like an old woman,” is saying she is never going to escape this feeling so like an old woman, she will never escape this life she is living and she is alone for ever.  There is an internal conflict, realization, and dissatisfaction of her life.  There is forever a lack of power due to her sex.  She is unaccepted by society for who she is.  In “Barn Burning,” the father, Abner, goes around burning barns.  He feels unequal so he uses fire to feel equal to others because it is very powerful.  After the first court appearance, Abner was told to leave the countryside.  Therefore, Abner was not accepted by his community and society. 
October 16th, 10:25pm

https://steller.co/stories/362422489436915064

Cather vs. Steinbeck

In Willa Cather's short story, "Paul's Case," she focuses on Paul's life and hidden pain.  The character wants to run away from reality.  His mom died from an illness and his only adult figure in his life, his father, is very harsh on him.  Paul got suspended from school for being physically averse towards his teachers.  The main character has signs of being depressed.  He is very independent, quiet, but at the same time has a haunted smile and smirk on his face and walks around with a high, hunch back.  Paul also tries to get away his father because he is always sneaking around because he is in fear he will be killed.  Paul is successful at getting away from all of his problems because in the end, he commits suicide.  There is so much pain that has built up inside of him over the years and by putting an end to his life, he demolishes that pain.  Through this story, Willa Cather examines Paul as someone with a mental issue and looks at him through a psychological lens.
October 9th 9:30pm
In John Steinback's story the chrysanthemums, the main character Elisa and her husband Henry live on a ranch.  The story takes place in the early-mid 20th century.  The short story is about Elisa raising chrysanthemums.  The story takes place as Elisa is working hard on the ranch.  At the end of the story, her husband finally takes her out to a nice dinner.  The author is trying to examine the inequality of men and woman back then.  Elisa tries to run away from the stereotypes of gender by working hard on the ranch and showing that woman are strong.  Towards the end, her husband tells her that she is strong.  She is successful at showing that woman are equal to men by working hard on the ranch but the story ends with her "crying weakly" and hiding it from her husband so in a way she is also unsuccessful because she doesn't want to show Henry that she also has a weak side. 
October 12th 8:35pm

Act of Rebellion in "The Yellow Wall-Paper"

In the short story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper," a woman and her husband move into a new house that is a bit spooky.  In the beginning, the readers learn that her husband is very controlling and makes up her mind for her.  The narrator tries to be her own self but her husband continues to overrule her say and control her.  She starts to see a woman inside of the wallpaper and her act of rebellion is when she rips the wall paper off the wall.  On page 198 she says, "I've got out at last, said I, in spite of you and Jane.  And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"  This line was important because the wall paper symbolizes that she is trapped under her husbands control and because she continued to rip off the wallpaper, she showed her freedom.

The tension/storm

“So, the storm passed and everyone was happy.”

“The Storm,” written by Kate Choppin, isn’t just a short story it is one big metaphor.  The story revolves around a mother/wife named Calixta.  One day, her husband and son were stuck at the store when a storm was coming and she was home cooking for them.  As the storm came, one of her previous lovers, Alceé, came by her house on his horse and asked for shelter.  They had not seen each other or talked to each other in years.  The two of them began to flirt and quickly became very intimate.  When Alceé left the house, the narrator said that is when the storm ended.  The narrator was not actually talking about a storm.  She was talking about the tension, the relationship, and the wrongdoings between Calixta and Alceé.

9/28/14 6:33PM

Appearance vs. reality

In “The Real Thing” by Henry James, the narrator changes significantly throughout the story.  When the narrator (the artist) first met the protagonists, the Monarchs, he initially treated them with respect and in a way worshiped them.  He started off by sketching them because of pity but he realized that they aren’t the real thing and not that good at modeling so he loses his pity until he sees them at the end when they act like who they actually are so he becomes more interested.  He has trouble saying no to them because he’s interested in them.  In a way, the narrator sucks up to the Monarchs but that changes over time.  Throughout the story, the readers start to realize that the artist is the one who isn’t that great because he can’t draw the monarchs how they want him to so therefore he has no imagination.  The narrator has a better view of himself than actual reality and at the end when he says, “If it be true I am content to have paid the price--for the memory," ironically he realizes that he isn’t the real thing. In the end he came to realize that he isn’t as good as he thought he was.  Throughout the whole story he judges everyone about how pathetic they are and how they aren’t the real thing, but it takes him the whole story until the very last line for him to realize he’s the one who isn’t the real thing.

Hawthorne vs. Poe

I truly believe that you are not human unless you are evil.  Humans are evil.  Unlike Hawthorne, I focus more on the human psyche and the ability of humans to be evil.  I focus less on the fact that goodness is attainable.  Hawthorne is too focused on the morals and he is too didactic.  He believes that not everyone is perfect, humans are supposed to be imperfect.  His work on “The Birthmark” shows that humans are meant to be imperfect, that’s the way nature made them.  The birthmark symbolizes the flaws of humanity and if you have no flaws, you die.  When Aylmer used the powerful potion to get rid of the birthmark, it actually went away so Georgiana died because she had no imperfection and no flaws so she died.  This story was very morally charged.  Scientifically, the removal of her birthmark was a success but in nature, it was a failure because it shows that nature cant be changed or messed with.

-Poe