Popular Mechanics

"But he would not let go.  He felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard.  In this manner, the issue was decided." - Raymond Carver.

For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:

Discuss the story's final lines.  What is the "issue" that is "decided?"

At first, when I read the story, I thought that the issue decided was who the baby was going to go with.  I thought the father ended up getting the baby for it seemed like the couple was fighting over the baby itself.  Then, I realized that it was probably actually the picture of the baby that they were fighting over.  The "issue" that was "decided" was that the father got the picture frame.  After the text says the woman picked up the picture, there is nothing else to suggest that she picks up the baby.  This would also help to explain why the two were being so aggressive while fighting over the object.  If it was the baby they were tugging and pulling at, I would be very shocked.  Such aggressiveness would seriously hurt a little infant.  But, now, after considering it to be the picture they were fighting over, I believe it wasn't so bad that they were tugging and pulling at it.

You're Ugly, Too

"'Just kidding,' she said. 'I was just kidding.'  But he gazed at her, appalled and frightened, his Magic Marker buttocks turned away now toward all of downtown...'Really, I was just kidding!'" - Lorrie Moore.

It may seem a little harsh, but I do not really have any sympathy for Zoe (Sorry, but I have no idea how to spell her name with the accent mark above the e.).  She thinks she is being funny and intellectual, but I feel like she is just being overly sarcastic and a little rude.  For example, she tells her students that her opinion is the only one that matters in the classroom.  I agree to some extent that maybe she does have a little more intelligence, but I feel like she should be more open to others' opinions.  Also, when talking to Earl, she tells silly stories that would be complete turn-offs to any person.  All in all, she is just a very awkward person.  If she wants to hold any sort of relationship, she needs to stop being so sarcastic, be open to others' opinions and ideas, and most of all, stop being such a creep when talking to men.  The quote above shows how her jokes are only funny to some extent.  At some point, they become annoying and people become totally irritated.

The Drunkard

"But the next morning, when he got up and went out quietly to work with his dinner-basket, Mother threw herself on me in the bed and kissed me.  It seemed it was all my doing, and I was being given a holiday till my eye got better." - Frank O'Connor.

For this blog I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:

Is the title seriously meant?  To whom does it refer?

After reading this short story it became obvious that the title was not meant to refer to the father.  The drunkard was really meant to refer to the son after he drank his father's drink and became intoxicated.  Since the title refers to the son, it helps to contribute to the humor of the story.  It's funny how the son was able to both help his father and gain praise from his mother by drinking an entire cup of alcohol all on his own.  Normally, this situation would not result in praise, but that's what helps to make the situation funny.  It was also both humerous and ironic that the son embarassed the father on the way home because everytime the father became intoxicated, he was embarassing his family.  Hopefully this made the father realize that he was hurting his family.  Hopefully it will also stop the father from drinking excessively.

The Lottery

"Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the sip of paper out of her hand.  It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal-company office." - Shirley Jackson.

For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:

What is a "lottery"?  How does the title lead you to expect something very different from what the story presents?

The online dictionary states that a lottery is "a gambling game in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes."  When I first read the title of the short story, I assumed it was going to be about some kind of game where people might win prizes or other things like that.  As the story progresses, it becomes obvious that this lottery game would not be so exciting.  In the end, the woman who is picked from the lottery gets stoned and dies.  This reminds me of the movie Lottery Ticket in ways other than the death of the winner at the end.  In both this short story and the movie, the winner of the drawing has unfortunate things happen to him or her as a result of winning.  Tessie ends up being stoned.  In Lottery Ticket, Kevin is chased into hiding by his neighbors who all want a chance at taking the ticket.  In both cases, there are regrets after the person has won the lottery.

Miss Brill

"The old people sat on the bench, still as statues.  Never mind, there was always the crowd to watch." - Katherine Mansfield.

Miss Brill herself is an elderly woman.  She is not, though, a typical stock character of an old woman.  She is more complex than that.  As the quote above helps to show, she judges other elderly people.  In this way, she is acting like a younger, sort of immature teenager.  She separates herself from the other elderly people or those who act elderly.  Another example is when Miss Brill noticed other people who just sat on benches.  She said the were "nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms or even - even cupboards!"  By describing the other elderly people in a more negative tone, she is separating herself from them and showing that she herself is much more than one of those typical older people.

Once Upon A Time

"And then last night I woke up - or rather was awakened without knowing what had roused me.  A voice in the echo-chamber of the subconscious?  A sound.  A creaking of the kind made by the wight carried by one foot after another along a wooden floor." - Nadine Gordimer.


For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:

The opening section of the story is told by a writer awakened by a frightening sound in the night.  What two causes for the sound does she consider?  Ultimately, which is the more significant cause for fear?  How do these together create an emotional background for the "children's story" she tells?

As the quote I have used above illustrates, one explanation for the frightening sounds that awoke the writer is the creaking of the house.  The other explanation the writer comes up with which one could find by reading more deeply into the story is that it could be an intruder or burgler.  This explanation is ultimately the more significant cause for fear.  I, personally, would find this explanation the most significant cause for fear as well.  Everyone can relate to that fear that someone has broken into his or her house and could be a threat.  Also, one can figure that this is the most significant cause for fear because it is from this fear that the writer goes into detail telling a story of a family's paranoia of intruders in an attempt to calm her own nerves.  Ultimately, these two fears together create an emotional background for the children's story because everyone can relate to this paranoia.  Again, everyone knows the feeling of being nervous that an unknown person is in one's house.

A Worn Path

"Her skin had a pattern all its own of numberless branching wrinkles and as though a whole little tree stood in the middle of her forehead...still black, and with an odor like copper." - Eudora Welty.

For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:

Discuss the way the characterization of Phoenix contributes to the theme.

First of all, to answer this question, one must identify the theme.  I believe the theme of this short story is perseverance.  The fact that Phoenix was able to walk all the way to town even though she obviously had some issues mentally shows that she has great perseverance.  The way Phoenix is characterized in this story is by firey, red, and strong characteristics.  It says that a "golden color ran underneath" her forehead.  Also the "two knobs of her cheeks were illuminated by a yellow burning under the dark."  In addition to that, she covers her hair with a "red rag."  All of these characteristics put a firey and strong image in my mind.  Also, just think of her name: Phoenix.  A phoenix bird is a strong bird who has a rebirth from its own ashes.  This gives the image that Phoenix Jackson is a strong woman.

Eveline

"She sat at the window watching evening invade the avenue.  Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odor of dusty cretonne.  She was tired." - James Joyce.


For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text.  The question is this:


What in Eveline's present circumstances makes it desirable for her to escape her home?  Characterize her father and Miss Gavin, her supervisor.  What does the memory of her mother contribute to her decision to leave?

One good answer to the first question in this series of questions in given in the quote I have used above.  Eveline is tired of the life she is currently living.  In addition to this, another circumstance that makes it desirable for her to escape is the fact that her father, who was abusive to her brothers as she was growing up, has begun threatening her and telling her what he is going to do to her only for her dead mother's sake.  This also helps to characterize the father.  Her father is cold, abusive mentally and soon, maybe, physically, and unloving.  Miss Gavin on the other hand clearly would be happy if Eveline was gone.  Personally, I would not want to stay in a home where I felt unwanted or threatened.  The only reason, though, Eveline stays at the home is because of the memory of her dead mother.  Her mother made her promise to keep the home together for as long as she could.  This is probably the main reason why she decided not to leave with Frank.

Hunters In The Snow - #2

"His skin was bone white.  'Tub, I've been thinking.  What you said about me not paying attention, that's true.'" - Tobias Wolff.

For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

Do any of the characters undergo a dynamic change in the course of the story?  Are these changes permanent or temporary?  Locate the passages that suggest a change is taking place.

The one character I feel that undergoes the biggest dynamic change is Frank.  At the beginning of the story, Frank goes along with Kenny.  He makes fun of Tub and calls him names.  Then, there is a scene on page 195 where Tub finally sticks up for himself.  He says, "No more talking to me like that.  No more watching.  No more laughing."  I believe this is not the part of the passage that suggests a change is taking place, though.  It did, however, create the basis for that change to take place.  I realized a change was taking place on page 197.  The quote that I used above is what I am talking about.  I realized here that Frank was starting to feel bad about how he was treating Tub.  Honestly, I do not believe this change is permanent.  If Frank is so easily turned away from Kenny and onto Tub's side, then what is stopping him from turning away from Tub and back to Kenny's side?  I would like to think that Frank could completely change his ways but it truly does not seem possible.  His personality is just not strong enough.

Bartleby the Scrivener

"I would prefer not to." - Herman Melville.

This short story was so annoying! Sorry Mr. Costello, but you got my hopes up when you showed us the video of Bartleby.  I thought this short story was going to be really funny but it just turned out to be super irritating.  No hard feelings, though.  Anyway, the quote above is the quote Bartleby said everytime he was asked to do something he really didn't feel like doing.  The one coincidence I found in the story was that Bartleby seemed just fine doing all these basic tasks until he was asked to do them by someone (For instance, he stops eating while in prison.).  As soon as he was asked to do those tasks, he refused.  Maybe he felt he was going to become subordinate to that person or something.  In the end, Bartleby died.  Perhaps he was asked to do all the necessary activites of life and after refusing to do those, he was unable to live. 

Hunters In The Snow

"'You fat moron,' Frank said.  'You aren't good for diddly.'" - Tobias Wolff.

For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

Which of the three principal characters do you find most sympathetic?  The least sympathetic?  Discuss your answers.  do the characters' names help us to form our impression of them?

The character I find most sympathetic is without a doubt, Tub.  He is always being picked on as the quote I used above shows.  Kenny and Frank always seem to be ganging up on him and making fun of him.  For example, they almost ran over him with the truck at the very beginning of the story.  When Tub tells them they could have killed him they sort of just laughted and said they were kidding around, not taking the situation very seriously.  They also just leave him by himself in the snow as they are walking back to the truck.  No wonder he is eating himself to death.  His feelings are always low because his friends treat him porely and the only way to make himself feel better is by eating.  The character I find the least sympathetic is Kenny.  He is the one who was mostly instigating the teasing.  He even went as far as saying he hated Tub and pretending he was going to shoot him.  I hate to say it, but it's almost like he got what he deserved when Tub reacted by shooting him in the gut.  Obviously he doesn't deserve to die but he was just asking for Tub to shoot him.  As for the names of the characters, I believe Tub's name is the most obvious for creating an impression in my mind.  The name Tub just makes me think of a short, fat man.  This description is very similar to the one given in the book.  As for the other two, my impression from their names are probably a bit of a long shot.  The name Frank seems like an older, wiser name.  Frank can therefore be identified as the one who is more grown up and who has a dramatic change of heart in this short story.  The name Kenny makes me think of a playful person.  I also think of a jokester.  This also is similar to the description given in the book.

Everyday Use

"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet." - Alice Walker.

For this blog I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

Does the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicate a permanent or temporary change of character?  Why has she never done anything like it before?  Why does she do it now?  What details in the story prepare for and foreshadow that refusal?

I believe the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change in character.  Like the quote I used above says, "something hit [her] in the top of [her] head and ran down the soles of [her] feet."  This wasn't just a random feeling of sympathy she had for Maggie.  It was like suddenly she realized that she had to let Maggie win this one thing.  Forever, now, the mother will let Maggie have more over her sister because she realized that she too deserves to have what her sister has.  The reason her mother has never done anything like this before is because it has never hit her upon her head before.  She relates it to when she is in church and suddenly the spirit touches her and she gets happy and shouts.  It was random and sort of came out of the blue.  One detail in the story that foreshadows that refusal is at the very beginning when the mother says, "You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has 'made it' is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage."  I didn't realized until later that the mother was talking about confronting, standing up to, and refusing to give the quilts to her daughter, Dee.

A Rose For Emily - Blog #2

"Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face.  She told them that her father was not dead.  She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body." - William Faulkner.

The biggest question I had at the end of this short story was why on earth Miss Emily would kill Homer Barron, keep him in her house, and sleep with him at night.  I think the answer lies within the story itself.  The one example and reasoning I could find was in the quote above.  After her father died, Miss Emily had a hard time coping with the fact that she was all alone.  This shows that she has problems letting go of things.  When Homer Barron didn't want to marry her and was about to leave her, she probably freaked, not wanting to let go and be alone again.  She then resorted to killing the man.  As I stated in the previous blog, I felt bad for her throughout the entire story.  I have no idea what it would be like to be completely alone and so I felt sypathetic for her.  Once I found out that she killed the man, I lost all sympathy.

A Rose For Emily

"The man himself lay in the bed...One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair." - William Faulkner.


For this blog, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

What is the effect of the final paragraph?  How does it change the reader's attitude toward Emily and her fate?

The effect of the final paragraph was to create shock and surprise.  I was totally caught off guard when I read it.  Once I did read it, though, I realized how all the pieces fit together.  The poison she bought was probably used to kill the man.  The smell that so many of the towns people were complaining about was probably the smell of the decaying body.  My attitude, as well as the attitude of probably almost every reader, was definitely changed by the final paragraph.  Through the course of the story, I felt sort of bad for the woman.  She seemed to be living a sad life where everyone around her was dying.  She seemed lonely and unhappy the entire time.  After reading the last paragraph, I was disgusted by Miss Emily.  I now saw her as a psychotic, crazed woman who was obsessed with having a man stay with her.

Interpreter of Maladies

"When she whipped out the hairbrush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasi's address on it fluttered away into the wind." - Jhumpa Lahiri.

Throughout this short story, I felt sort of sympathetic for Mr. Kapasi.  He talked of how he knew all these different languages.  This made me feel like he had such great opportunities and was going to be able to go places in the world.  Yet, he only ended up being a tour guide, driving tourists like annoying Americans all about India.  The point of the story was that while invisioning writing Mrs. Das, Mr. Kapasi remembered how he felt after being able to understand a writing of some different language.  The sad part is that in the quote above, Mr. Kapasi sees his dreams and rememberences flutter away with the paper as it leaves Mrs. Das's bag.  It is just really sad that the most he is able to do with his life is deal with tourists and possible listen to their problems like how he listened to Mrs. Das's problems.  The fact that Mr. Kapasi just watched the paper fly away instead of saying something to Mrs. Das shows that he did not feel comfortable in the end engaging with Mrs. Das through letters after hearing her story and problems.  Maybe this was him giving up on his dreams altogether.

How I Met My Husband

"So I said yes, and I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him, and we were engaged a year more while I got my things together, and then we did marry." - Alice Munro.

For this blog entry, I am going to formally answer a question included in the text book.  The question is this:

Describe the plot structure in the story.  How is the arrangement of the plot elements effective?  At which points were your expectations as a reader overturned?

The plot of the story is told in chronological order, starting from what happened first and ending with what happened last.  Throughout the entire story, though, I thought the man Edie was going to marry was the pilot, Chris.  It wasn't untill literally the last paragraph of the entire short story that I found out that it was actually the mailman who she ended up marrying.  That last paragraph was when my expectations were overturned.  I thought it was ironic how Edie never out told what the mailman's name was yet we knew the pilot's name was Chris.  I sort of feel like Edie still had feelings for Chris even as she was married to the mailman for this specific reason.  But now I am getting a little off topic.  The arrangement of the plot elements is effective because it helps to explain just what the title says, how she met her husband.  It was in falling for the pilot that led her to her husband.  The reader needed to know these key details becuase it was the only way for us to understand how Edie came about waiting everyday by the mailbox for that letter and getting to know the mailman.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light." - Dylan Thomas

I found this poem to be very interesting.  The speaker is telling the reader and elderly people in particular to fight against and resist death.  The shocking thing the reader finds out at the end of the poem is that the speaker's father is on his death bed.  At first I didn't agree with the speaker at all.  I felt like death was a very natural thing and fighting against it was not a good idea.  I felt that death was inevitable and since everyone is going to die, resisting against it would be useless.  Then, after I realized that the main reason for this poem was for the speaker to convince his father to fight death, I agreed more with the speaker and felt more sympathy for him.  If I was in the same position, I would want my father to try and fight death (If he was not in pain, of course).

That Time Of Year

"This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long." - William Shakespeare

I personally loved this poem.  "That time of year" that the speaker is talking about is old age and the loss of youth.  The speaker believes that with old age, love must grow stronger.  I most definitely agree with the speaker on this point.  As time goes by, the love of most couples grows stronger.  Most of the time, couples do not split up or get a divorce after being together for a long time.  Divorce and break-ups usually occur within the first ten years.  Also, as I watch my grandparents, I can tell that they are truly in love.  Their love grows stronger with every moment that passes.  This poem is very realistic to me in this way.

Elegy For My Father, Who Is Not Dead

"I can't 
just say good-bye as cheerfully 
as if he were embarking on a trip 
to make my later trip go well." - Andrew Hudgins

This poem is an example of an elegy for the speaker's father.  The ironic thing, though, it that the  speaker's father is not dead yet.  The poem is a poem of mourning for when the father does die.  This elegy helps to show the speaker's feelings towards death.  Although his father is ready for death, and maybe even wants to go, the speaker cannot find himself feeling cheerful for the coming of death, both for his father's and his own.  The speaker feels sad when thinking that his father will die soon.  He is not ready to say good-bye.  Although the father believes they will meet again in the after-life, the speaker does not feel the same way.  Again, the speaker says that his father is "ready," but he is not.

Death, Be Not Proud

"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so" - John Donne

Immediately, I found the use of a literary technique at work in this poem.  This literary technique is personification.  The speaker is giving death human characteristics, telling it to "be not proud."  I believe that the reason for personifying death is to put it on a more personal level.  The speaker wants the reader to realize that he or she should not be afraid of death.  By personifying death, the reader is able to feel like he or she can feel no fear as if feeling no fear with a real person.  Another reason for why death should be not proud and we should not fear it is because with "one short sleep passed, we wake eternally."  Although we die, we will live forever in heaven or the afterlife.  Death should not be proud for thinking that it is taking people's lives because really it it putting us closer to eternal life.

Delight In Disorder

"A careless shoestring, in whose tie 
I see a wild civility" - Robert Herrick

The theme of this poem is that sometimes disorder is better than order.  It is not always good to be completely orderly and look perfect all the time.  The speaker says that there is a "sweet disorder in the dress."  He also says "Do not bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part."  These quotes help to further explain this theme.  The oxymoron I found in this poem also helps to establish this theme.  The oxymoron "wild civility" can be found in line twelve.  What the speaker means when he says this is that order can be found in the disorder that is shown in the careless tying of a shoestring or even a neglected cuff or tempestuous petticoat.  The speaker prefers this kind of disorder rather than the preciseness of order. I would have to agree with the speaker.  I find it unhealthy to be constantly worrying about being perfect or being so up-tight all the time.  Sometimes it is best to just let loose or act a little carefree.

Getting Out

"Finally locked into blame, we paced that short hall, heaving words like furniture." - Cleopatra Mathis

I don't know why I feel so sad when I read about divorce, but it's poems like these that make me very grateful that my parents are still married.  I guess it's just that feeling inside of what would happen to me if my parents separated?  The whole situation seems terrible and I can't even imagine what it would be like to go through something like that.  Anyway, one literary technique I discovered in this poem is a simile in the quote above.  The simile helps to set the tone because it shows how the couple fought a lot and with cruel words.  The words were so heavy in that they attacked the other person almost as if in the same way as throwing a piece of furniture.  The thing I wondered about was in the last four lines when it talks of how they cried when they finally signed the divorce papers.  The poem also depicts the couple holding hands until they finally let go and went their separate ways.  Maybe the two people really did love each other.  Maybe, with time, they could have worked their problems out and hearts could have been saved from being broken. 

Dover Beach

"The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled." - Matthew Arnold

I found this poem to be very interesting especially because I feel like it could be applied to our world today.  I think the main point of the poem, though, is that there have been many challenges to the validity of religious beliefs, morals, and precepts which in turn have shaken the faith of people and their religion.  Around the time Arnold wrote this, people like Darwin and Lamarck were putting forth ieas that were very contradictory to our faith.  People began to doubt God and their religion, which was horrible sounding to Arnold, a deeply religious man.  Just as light on the Dover Beach can be gleaming one moment then disapeer the next, the light of our faith can die off in a matter of moments. The good thing, though, is that it can always come back.  We musn't forget our faith when things seem to be contradictory to God's word and His light seems to be fading away.

Hazel Tells Laverne

"so i goes ta flushm down
but sohelpmegod he starts talkin
bout a golden ball
an how i can be a princess" - Katharyn Machan

This is definitely my favorite poem out of all those we have read so far.  I just find it so darn cute!  The first thing I noticed about the poem, though, was the vernacular in which it was written.  The speaker seems more southern than anything else.  This helps to set the tone of a free-spirited, easy-going girl who freaks upon the request of a kiss from a frog.  Honestly, I think I would have reacted in the same way if I was put in the same situation.  The second thing I noticed right away from this poem is how it could be connected to the relatively new movie The Princess and the Frog.  This movie was also southern as it was set in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.  In the same way the speaker reacts to the request from the frog in the poem, the princess in the movie is hesitant to kiss the frog.  Although the princess did not flush the frog down a toilet, the connection can still be made.

Crossing The Bar

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar." - Alfred, Lord Tennysosn

Ok, so immediately, I noticed that this poem is an example of the use of quatrains.  I didn't have to even read it.  I just looked at the poem itself and saw it was a quatrain because it consisted of  four groups of four lines.  The reason the poem is divided into quatrains is because it creates the outline for the rhyming.  For example, in the first quatrain, "star" and "bar" rhyme and "me" and "sea" rhyme.  This sort of rhyming is consistant throughout all the quatrains of the poem.  The second thing I realized (not quite as immediately this time) was that the poem was about dying and going to heaven.  The quote above is an excellent support for this theory.  At first, one might think that the poem is about going off to sea.  I realized it was not about going out to sea when I saw the word "Pilot."  It is only capitalized because it is being used in replace of the word God.  God is who the speaker wishes to meet once he or she has "crossed the bar," or died.

My Mistress' Eyes

"If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head." - William Shakespeare

I was a little caught off guard when I first read this poem.  The title made me think it was going to be some kind of sonnet about the love the speaker has for his mistress. Instead, the poem points out all the things he finds wrong with his mistress.  For example, her lips are not red, her cheeks do not remind him of roses, and some perfumes smell better than her breath.  Then, the last two lines mark a shift in tone when he says: "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare."  Here, the speaker is saying that his mistress is as wonderful as any other woman compared.  The tone throughout most of the poem, though, is established through the use of negative diction.  For example, the speaker says in the quote above that black wires grow on her head as hair.  This negative diction establishes the tone set on the negative aspects of the mistress.

Much Madness Is Divinest Sense

"Much Sense — the starkest Madness —

’Tis the Majority" - Emily Dickinson

Wow! This was incredibly confusing when I first read it and I was pretty sure Emily Dickinson was just streaming a whole bunch of words together and calling it a poem.  After reading it over a couple more times, though, I think I figured out its meaning.  Dickinson is saying that society usually relates the minority of sociey, or those who act much different from the majority of society, with that of being insane.  But what if we are all wrong?  What if the majority of society is insane and the minority are the ones who are sane?  I had never thought about this before reading this poem and I had like a brief moment where I questioned just about everything.  I was wondering why Dickinson would have written a poem like this and I found out that during her lifetime, many people criticized her and called her insane.  I believe this poem was written in order for Dickinson to defend herself.  This fact doesn't really matter much to me, though.  My eyes were opened regardless and I think Emily really put up a good argument for why we shouldn't be so quick to judge someone.  If we are wrong, then everything we thought during our lives was false.  We shouldn't make prejudements on people especially when we are assuming that we are the normal ones.

APO 96225

"And the father wrote, 'Please don't

write such depressing letters. You're upsetting

your mother.'" - Larry Rottman

I personally enjoyed this poem the most because I could understand it completely by reading through it only once.  Plus, it was very interesting and thought-provoking.  I love it when I read a poem and immediately can relate to the implied theme and the purpose for which it was written.  Anyway, I believe the theme of this poem is that although most Americans act as if they know what is going on during war, we sort of put the entire situation on the back shelf.  We hide the thought of war from ourselves and refuse to actually embrace what war means.  We don't want to actually know how bad it can get and we just want the immediate satisfaction of men serving overseas for our country and the good of society.  It is sad to think that even the soldier knew that what was going on where he was would be upsetting for his mother to hear.  Then, when he was convinced to actually explain in detail what was happening where he was, the situation was too much for his mother to hear.  Our society is like this.  We haven't actually experienced in our lifetimes a war held on our own turf.  For this very reason we are almost oblivious to what terrible things occur during a war.

Mr. Z

"And so he climbed, unclogged by ethnic weights, 

An airborne plant, flourishing without roots." - Carl Holman

This poem is all about a black man who, from the beginning of his life, was told that his color was a sign of error.  He gained status by turning his back on personal identity and race and by adopting one that was more socially acceptable.  Mr. Z was able to in a way hide his color and rise up in society although always worring about fitting in.  The quote above is a metaphor that helps to demonstrate to the reader that although there were challenges Mr. Z had to face because of his race, he did not let anything stop him.  The one thing I thought was interesting as well as a bit sad about this situation was that Mr. Z tried to fit in his entire life and it is ironic that his obituary said, "One of the most distinguished members of his race.”  Throughout his life, Mr. Z felt he had to rise above challenges and be careful about what he said and did.  In the end, Mr. Z was seen as a very important figure and I think it is sad that he probably didn't feel this kind of respect when he was still alive. 

Ozymandias

"'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

This poem describes a traveller telling the speaker of the ruins of a statue he saw in the desert of his native country.  The situational irony in the poem is very simple.  The king, Ozymandias, thought himself to be an amazing leader.  His statue even read: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"  It is ironic that his statue says this because there is barely anything left of the statue.  The legs are the only thing standing and the head is off to the side, half sunk in the muck.  Throughout his life, Ozymandias treated others badly and was very self-centered.  Now, many years later, the statue that was built to identify Ozymandias and his ego is almost completely gone, buried in the desert along with his memory.

Barbie Doll

"So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up." - Marge Piercy

As a young woman living in a society that puts pressures on girls to act a particular way and look a particular way, I can totally relate to the uneasiness felt by the "girlchild" in this poem.  Sometimes girls can be very mean and cruel and if one doesn't totally fit into the category of what a typical girl should look like, life can be hard.  One literary technique I noticed immediately about this poem is the hyperbole expressed in the quote above.  I believe the girl killed herself because she felt very bad about her appearance.  She did not literally cut off her nose and legs and offer them up.  The purpose of this literary device is to express to the reader that the girl's dissatisfaction with how she looked and how people viewed her led to her demise.  I think it is awful that some women go on living life worrying about things like this.  Everyone is beautiful in their own way and us girls need to stop reinforcing these opinions about appearances along with ending our own desires to be like what most people describe as a beautiful.  Beauty shouldn't be measured from what we look like on the outside.  It should be measured on how we act from the inside. (<--- Sorry this seams like such a cliche!!)

February

"February, month of despair,
with a skewered heart in the centre." - Margaret Atwood

Knowing the title and before actually reading, I felt some bitterness towards the poem immediately.  I will not be hesitant to state that winter is my least favorite season of the year.  I hate being stuck inside feeling freezing while passing the time daydreaming and impatiently waiting for spring and summer to arrive.  It is from these feelings that I was a little reluctant, I must admit, to begin reading this poem with an open mind.  I was a little shocked when I read the poem, though, because the tone seemed to be of despair, death, and disillusionment.  I was also very impressed with myself for catching a tiny little detail which is that the poem itself starts with the word "winter" and ends with the word "spring."  To me, this seemed like the speaker's own wishful thinking that winter would leave and spring would come.  I felt a great connection between the speaker and myself at that very moment.  Winter seems to be a most depressing time because it is usually associated with "slumber" and "death."  For example, plants and flowers die and wither away while rivers and lakes freeze and cease to move.  Spring, on the other hand, is associated with ‘rebirth’ & ‘life’. 

I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed

"Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue." - Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson is able to successfully describe the exhilarating effect that nature has on her in this poem. She uses the extended metaphor of drunkenness and intoxication to show how the beauty of nature makes her happy, just as alcohol makes a drunken person happy.  The speaker establishes this literary technique immediately in the first stanza.  She states that her liquor is even better than that of the Rhine River (The Rhine River runs through Germany, a country well-known for its alcohol.).  I thought this was an incredibly clever way of showing how much nature elated her.

For some reason I found the second stanza to be sort of humorous.  I am not quite sure if this is the effect Dickinson wanted to create or if it is just me.  She depicts herself being drunk on air and dew.  I found this image to be funny because I just envisioned a person prancing through a field of flowers, breathing in the air and dew, and becoming increasingly more drunk.  I guess the whole situation is a little weird to me because although I do love nature and enjoy being outside during spring and summer, I don't really feel as if I am made so incredibly happy by it that it could be seen as the equivalent of being drunk.

Bright Star

"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art" - John Keats

I really enjoyed this poem.  Just as the speaker shows a certain interest and respect for stars, I find the stars above to be beautiful and calming.  What I noticed right from the start of this poem is that the first line is an example of an apostrophe in which the speaker addresses the star. In this way, the speaker is able to create a situation where it is a reality to live as a star lives, perhaps still being able to think and have feelings as a human would.  The speaker wishes to be like the star in that it doesn't change as the world it looks down upon does. This ability to look down on the world is another characteristic the speaker wishes to hold, along with the ability to watch from a distance at the activitites of this world. On the other hand, though, the speaker realizes that there would be drawbacks of being a star.  Loneliness would be a huge disadvantage and personally I would hate this aspect.  One would only be able to sit and watch with no real communication with others at all.  Even though I am mystified by the stars, I surely do not wish to be one.  I found it very odd that the speaker said in the poem that he wants to live like a star, "or else swoon to death."  Does this mean that the speaker would rather die than live a life like anything other than as a star? 

Pink Dog

"Didn't you know?  It's been in all the papers,
to solve this problem, how they deal with beggars?
They take and throw them in the tidal rivers." - Elizabeth Bishop

When I first read this poem I was very confused about what was going on.  There are two interpretations I took from the poem.  The first is that iT ridicules prejudices about the poor people in society.  When we think of homeless or poor people, probably unknowingly, we consider them to be worthless or incapable of solving problems for themselves.  Either they are unable or just too lazy.  The quote above is an example of a hyperbole.  It demonstrates to the reader that society would rather just ignore the situation of poverty and set it to the side.  This hyperbole depicts beggars being thrown into tidal rivers so that we can be rid of them.  Our society today sometimes acts as if ignoring the situation is better.  In doing this, we are technically just throwing the homeless away, refusing to be of any service to them. 

The other interpretation I had of this poem was that it was a warning of over flaunting the body.  The poem says, "Oh, never have I seen a dog so bare!"  I think the dog can be seen as a person, most likely a woman, who flaunts her body around with no understanding or willingness to understand the importance of being modest.  The hyperbole from above could then be used to suggest that society doesn't take these kinds of people seriously.  In order to succeed in life or to acquire a decent job, one must have respect for oneself and put up a good appearance. 

Dream Deferred

"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?" - Langston Hughes

This poem was definitely the most interesting to me probably because I can relate to it a lot.  I will get into that more here in a second, though.  First of all, this poem is made up almost completely of rhetorical questions and similes.  These rhetorical questions, like the ones above, are meant to get the reader to think deeply and to provoke thought.  The similes are meant to create an image in the reader's mind, pulling the reader closer to the words.   For example, hearing these similes made me relate the poem to my own life.  My most important dream right now is to go to a university where I can compete college gymnastics and still get a wonderful education.  As I read the lines, "Or fester like a sore--And then run?" I got the image of the sores I get on my hands from swinging on the bars during practice.  I also got the image of running down the runway to do a vault.  How would it feel if all the pain and hard work I put in to this sport was for nothing and I didn't get to compete in college?  This is the question I asked myself immediately after reading this poem.  I don't think these words were meant to be taken literally as I took them, but the effect was still there. 

Those Winter Sundays

"Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze." - Robert Hayden

I found this poem to be the most insightful, sparking my own thoughts and realizations of how I feel about my own father.  This poem portrays the self-sacrificing duties the speaker's father did everyday.  The father would get up early every morning in the cold and start a fire, allowing for the members of the family to rise from their slumbers a little more enjoyably than he did.  Something else I noticed was Hayden's use of the word "too" in the first line.  This shows that everyday, not just on Sundays, the day for rest, the father would wake up early and help the family the best way he could.  The last two lines of the poem say, "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?"  Here the speaker is admitting that he took for granted the things his father did for him and his family.  I began to wonder what kinds of things my own father did that I, too, took for granted.  

The Panther

"His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else." - Rainer Maria Rilke

When I first read this poem, I didn't really put that much effort into deeply analyzing it.  I just thought that it was about a panther trapped in a zoo, pacing back and forth against the bars, longing to escape the cramped space.  Then when I came to class today and we talked about what the meaning behind most of these poems were, I received some very insightful thoughts from my classmates.  My peers convinced me that this poem is actually about a prisoner trapped behind the bars of his or her jail cell, stuck in the cramped space in which he or she  must stay, almost paralyzed, for a great length of time.  I then got to thinking that maybe this prisoner isn't just confined to this jail cell for a great length of time, maybe he or she is actually on death row.  Rainer Maria Rilke wrote how "An image enters in, rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone."  This could be the prisoner's sudden hope that he or she might be freed.  Just as quickly as this hope comes, though, it is lost.

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

"A Service, like a Drum-
Kept beating-beating-till I thought
My Mind was going numb-" - Emily Dickinson

Out of all eight of the poems we read, I feel like this one had the most imagery involved in it.  Imagery is the representation through language of sense experience.  Poetry appeals directly to our senses.  This particular poem by Emily Dickinson is effective in portraying all the senses except for one: sight.  This only seems logical considering the funeral is taking place in the mind of the speaker, where there would be no sight anyway.  The sense of hearing is probably the most dominant of all the sentences in this poem.  For example, words such as "creak," "beating," "ear," and "silence" are found throughout.  The imagery of this poem is most effective because with the use of all but one of the different senses, the reader can develop a full, mental picture of what is happening, considering it is taking place inside the mind of the reader and not physically occurring.  Something that later occurred to me is that maybe the purpose of this poem is to show how the speaker felt as if he or she was going insane, saying that his or her "mind was going numb."  The speaker is in a casket and can hear everything going on around him or her.  It made me definitely question how awful would it be to be buried alive?

The Convergence of the Twain

"Till the Spinner of the Years 
Said 'Now!' And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres." - Thomas Hardy

In order for me to be able to identify the central purpose of this poem, I had to reread it at least three times.  Hopefully, I am now fully aware or almost fully aware of the point Thomas Hardy was trying to make.  It was not until the last stanza when I realized that the purpose of this poem is to suggest that it was God's will to sink the Titanic.  "The Spinner of the Years" most certainly means God himself for He is the creator of all things, even time.  Once I figured this out, I went  back through the poem to try and find another example.  The other example I found was when it said, "No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history."  Here Thomas Hardy is saying that no living, mortal person would be able to know that the Titanic was going to hit an ice burg and sink, but it does seem to insinuate that an immortal being might be able to know.  This immortal being would be God.  Once I realized that the central purpose of this poem was to show that the sinking of the Titanic was God's will, I wondered, "Why?"  I realized that the answer to this question was also given throughout the poem itself.  Hardy writes of "the Pride of Life" that was amongst the vessel and the "Jewels in joy designed."  God's reason for sinking the, as most people call it, "unsinkable ship" was probably because of the immense egos and materialism aboard this ship.  Although this poem's central purpose is most certainly to show that God sank the Titanic, I do not believe it is entirely true.  For starters, God can punish us, but I do not think that he is so cruel to kill so many people in such a horrific manner.  Maybe some of these people were asking for it, living incredibly lustful lives, but I am not sure God is the cause for the destruction of this amazing vessel.

The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry by Laurence Perrine

"These two criteria, I ask you to notice, are not different from those we bring to the judgment of a new scientific hypothesis."

Poetry is something I have always had love for, finding pleasure in the hidden meanings and thought-provoking words.  To be honest, I didn't really like the way Perrine simmilarly linked the judging of any interpretation of a poem to the judgment of a new scientific hypothesis.  Poetry doesn't seem to be something that should be connected with science as it is more deep and mind exercising.  Anyway, as for the first criteria Perrine says should be used to judge the interpretation of any poem, I had very conflicted feelings.  It only makes sense that a correct interpretation must be able to account for every detail and if it doesn't, then it is wrong.  One shouldn't assume things about a poem that aren't supported by the details and context of a poem.  The thing I disagree with, though, is that I feel like poetry should mean anything that a reader wants to see in it.  I feel as though the reader should happiness, saddness, or whatever feelings he or she should so desire.

I do completely agree with what Perrine states as the problems with symbols.  Symbols are very different from literary devices such as metaphors or similes.  As Perrine states, symbols mean something much more than what they are, whereas these literary devices like metaphors or similes mean something other than what they are.  This is something I never really thought about but once I saw it written on paper and discussed, I realized the truth in what was stated and I totally agreed in the statement.  The one thing a reader must never confuse with is that although symbols mean something much more than what they are, that does not mean they can mean anything.  Just as there is always a correct interpretation to a poem, as Perrine describes, there is always a correct interpretation of a symbol.  Similar to the interpretation of a poem intself, the interpretation of a symbol should also rely on the fewest assumptions.  Details must fully support the interpretation of the symbol.  Unlike my belief that a poem can be interpreted by a reader to be whatever he or she wishes it to be, a symbol should never be mistakenly interpreted to mean something other than what it really is.

Rage And The End!!

"The moon wasn't quite full, but it was bright enough, and I could make out in the mid-distance, near where the field began to fall away, Tommy's figure, raging, shouting, flinging his fists and kicking out." - Never Let Me Go, page 274.

This part of the book was so sad and when I watched the movie it actually made me want to cry!  It was like the breaking point.  How could the world be so cruel to these "creatures," as Madame called them.  It just seemed so unfair.  Tommy had been able to handle himself and control his anger for years and now, it all just came flowing out.  The love between these two was so strong and Tommy knew that it was all going to end soon because he was going to die.  Hopefully our world never comes to this, to where people are created just for the sake of saving others and donating their vital organs.  It would just be horrible.  How could anyone justify the killing of one person in order to save another?  That is the choice of God and acting as God is a sin.

"I half-closed my eyes and imagined...and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, maybe even call." - Never Let Me Go, page 287.

Now I would like to take time discussing my reaction to the end of the novel.  I can with full certainty say that I liked this book a lot more than Brave New World.  I found it more relatable and it was much more interesting.  It captured my attention from the very beginning.  Like I said before, I hope our world doesn't find itself in the same situation as this one.  Although it is wonderful that they tried to find a way to cure all the diseases and illness that kill people, I think they went about it the wrong way.  It is better to find a cure with medicine and other things like that than to use people's bodies for donations all the while knowing it will kill that person.  When I read the last paragraph of the book, I was filled with saddness because it showed how affected by everything Kathy felt.  She lost both people she loved.  The world created a situation where these people were forced to live a life they did not want.  I just can't imagine how they felt, giving up their own lives to save others and wondering if it was really all worth it.