A place for critical reading, compelling writing, and analytical thinking.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Short Stories Forum (Instead of Flipgrid if not working)—due April 10 at Noon
Type analysis of short stories here. Sorry for the difficulty with Flipgrid.
77 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The two stories that I read were the Lady or the Tiger and Madame Celestin's Divorce. I actually enjoyed reading these two stories because others I find not to be that interesting. Quote one- Page 5 "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This line frustrated me more than I thought it would. To me, I don’t think he is actually going to turn a new leaf. I believe that he is just saying this so she doesn’t divorce him. I called Jenna to discuss this story and we both agreed that we wish that Madame Celestin ended up with Judge. He seemed to actually care for her over this time period in the story. Every day, he walked by and would talk to her. He truly cared for her. I also loved this quote. Quote two- Page 4 “A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton. He discarded his work-day coat and began to wear his Sunday one to the office. He grew solicitous as to the shine of his boots, his collar, and the set of his tie. He brushed and trimmed his whiskers with a care that had not before been apparent. Then he fell into a stupid habit of dreaming as he walked the streets of the old town. It would be very good to take unto himself a wife, he dreamed.” This truly showed that he cared about his appearance to her. He wanted her to see a handsome man that cares for her deep down and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. He would take care of her and her children, unlike Celestin, did while they were married. The Lady or the Tiger was extremely fascinating to me. I love the suspense of the story and I was not expecting it to end with us choosing which came out. I overall believe that the tiger came out of the door. Quote one- Page 7 "But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!" This quote from the story shows that she would be extremely jealous if he ended up marrying the lady. The lady is one of the finest she mentioned and this would pain her to see her lover fall in love with another woman that she hated. I believe that she would overall rather see him killed before witnessing this. Jenna also agrees with this statement. She thought that the princess would rather live with the fact that he died besides living with the fact that he is in love with someone else. She would know that he died loving her. She is pretty much being greedy. Quote 2- Page 6 “When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat there, paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady.” With thinking that the princess had him open up the door with the tiger, I feel sad for him. He left all of his trust with her to believe that she would choose the lady in order to keep him alive. I believe that when he would've opened the door, he would have felt deceived. She stabbed him in the back because of her greedy feelings. Other students could think that she would've saved him but by looking at how her father is, I believe that some of her actions come from her father.
The two stories I read were Le Guin "The ones who walk away from Omelas," and Chapin "Madame Celestin's Divorce." I liked both stories.
The first one I am going to focus on is "The ones who walk away from Omelas." I really liked this story because it was something you couldn't imagine. Where we grow up, nothing like this would ever take place. This makes us have to use our imagination a little bit more to picture the events that are taking place. On page six he says, "They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there." This is crazy to me because I could not imagine knowing a little person was suffering let alone go and visit. It is a different kind of cruelty when no one stands up for someone who can't otherwise defend themselves. On page eight he says, "They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back." This is confusing to me. He is talking about the people that go to visit this little kid, and they get disturbed. They leave Omelas and walk through the beautiful gates and go somewhere no one seems to know. The author of the story, to me, makes it seem like this is a bad thing, and that staying was a better option. I personally do not agree with that.
The second story I am focusing on today is "Madame Celestine's Divorce." I did not expect this story to end the way it did, and I am sad about the ending. This, however, was a very good story. On page three Madame Celestine says, "Well, I'll go, judge, to please Maman. But all the confessor' in the worl' aren't goin' make me put up with that conduc' of Celestin any longer." This is the part I thought Madame Celestine was set on leaving. She sounded like she was sick of dealing with what her husband was putting her through. I was rooting for her to end up with the Lawyer because he seemed like he would treat her way better than her husband was. However, on page five she comes to say, "Celestin came home las' night and he promised he'll turn a new leaf." I can not believe it. I did not expect this to happen, but it did and she's not leaving her crazy husband. This makes me mad a little bit because I don't think that her husband will ever change. It makes me sad that she has to go through what she is and that the lawyer, although he tried, he couldn't help her out.
Both really good stories that kept me entertained the whole way through. They weren't about the same things, but maybe has a similar theme of being stuck. Madame Celestine is stuck feeling lost in her relationship with her husband, and she is trapped because she doesn't want to get a divorce. The little boy or girl in the first story is trapped in the basement of one of the Omelas homes. He is physically trapped only getting enough care to survive another day. No one is trying to help him out of this fate, and he is lonely and abandoned. So, even though the stories are nothing alike, I believe they have a common theme.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was the first story that caught my eye because of the vague title given by Author Ambrose Bierce. This engaged me right away and made me want to explore more about this occurrence. Bierce’s tale is a 3 section story with Section 1 being an introductory opening scene at the execution site, Section 2 being a flashback, and section 3 being the fast-paced conclusion. There is some great use of literary devices in Section 1, especially on page 3 when Bierce uses a simile stating, “A sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil.” Another great quote on page 3 was, “The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency, the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.” The ticking of his watch, in this case, would be his death, and with his death approaching Farquah is doing whatever is in his power to get away from it. There were two recurring themes that I found while reading: Escaping death and foreshadowing. Just like us humans, we will do anything to escape the dangers of death. No different here, Farquahar is trying to escape the harsh reality that his death will soon be upon him. Foreshadowing is another way that Bierce uses literary devices in his writing. On pages 1 and 2, Bierce states, “a single company of infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock.” This quote is shockingly similar to the quote he uses when Farquahar is “escaping” leading me to believe that Faruqahar was in the hands of the soldiers all throughout. I talked with fellow classmate Cole Sylliaasen and he said the common theme that he saw was how time impacted the story. Time really slowed down and sped up at times throughout the story. The story was really sped up, but when Farquahar was hallucinating before his execution, the readers were able to see every little detail as if time had slowed down. The second short story that I had the opportunity to read was The Ones Who Walked Away from the Omelas. This story was a little easier to comprehend. The story begins with the people of Omelas celebrating the summer festival. But, one little kid has been locked in the basement and forced to live in misery, just so the rest of Omelas can live in happiness. On pages 6 and 7, Le Guin states, “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery.” This quote shows how some of the people of Omelas accept the fact of the child's misery but others choose the daunting path and move away from Omelas for the better case of the child. The beautiful city that they live in all comes down to the child suffering. Their friends, their health, wisdom, and their full skill sets are dependent on the child's misery. The second quote I found was on pages 8 and 9 and states, “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” This quote brought forth a theme of individualism. The people that are leaving the city are rejecting the city’s happiness and morally thinking about the correct decision to disengage from a society that is based on a child’s suffering. They might be leaving a good city and society, but the people of the Omelas were living happy because of the wrong reasons.
The stories I read were "Harrison Bergeron" by Vonnegut and "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I definitely liked Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" story more than Chopin's short story. However, I still enjoyed them both to a certain degree. "Madame Celestin's Divorce" is set in Louisiana where a woman is laboring to take care of her kids and herself alone. Her husband left her and she is now seeing a Lawyer named Praxton weekly about it. She describes his behavior and her thoughts on the matter through their meetings. Madame Celestin is starting to favor following through with the divorce, even though she said, "I've been talking to my family and friends... and they all plumb against the divorce." I believe this is foreshadowing for what is to come. Throughout the meetings, Lawyer Praxton begins to become more fond of Madame Celestin. The story explains his thoughts saying, "It would be very good to take unto himself a wife... And he could dream of Madame Celestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts, now." This is said before he is about to see Celestin for their last meeting. She reveals that her husband had returned and that she no longer wants a divorce. Every reader is disappointed in her decision, considering what we know about the husband and what Celestin does not know about Lawyer Praxton. Celestin says, "...he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This is ironic because this is how many relationships end up, and she was trying to get him back because she was desperate and Lawyer Praxton would have filled that position as a good husband and father. That is the dramatic irony that made this story good. I found "Harrison Bergeron" much more interesting. This story is set in 2081, and George and Hazel are the main characters as well as the father and mother of Harrison Bergeron. In a society where everyone is "equal", Harrison Bergeron is frowned upon. He is incredibly strong, athletic, good-looking, and genius, otherwise known as a threat to the society he is born into. Anyone who has something about them that gives them an advantage in some way is given handicaps. Most people have accepted that this is the way things should be. George says, "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me." George talks about the dark ages of when people were competing against each other. Essentially, handicaps make everyone dumb, ugly, and weak. They are watching TV when breaking news appears and shows a reporter that has a bad stutter when he cannot get the words out, one of the ballerinas has to do the broadcast. Hazel says, "At least he tried that's all that matters. He should get a raise for trying so hard." This showcases her stupidity. I believe it is the same thing as a participation trophy, which is pointless. This story could very easily be a political statement, but I prefer not to voice my opinion on it. The breaking news is Harrison has escaped and he rips the door off the hinges and walks up to the stage. He gives a speech on how broken their society is and then says there is a bomb underneath the theater. He picks a ballerina and takes off her mask and you can see that some agree with him including the ballerina. After a while, he is shot and killed by the Handicapper General. Harrison is absolutely a Jesus figure as he preached to the people against the will of the Government and died knowing he did. Hazel has watched this whole thing happen. When George comes back into the room he sees that Hazel has been weeping but she cannot remember why. This society doesn't understand equality. Obviously, everyone is different and their skills should be practiced and celebrated.
The first short story I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I gravitated towards this story because Chopin appeared to be the only female writer from the list, and I was curious to see what she had to say. The short opens up by describing Madame Celestin, who appears to be a very pretty woman. She is characterized as wearing fine, elegant clothes. The first line on pg. 1 reads, "Madame Celestin always wore a neat and snugly fitting calico wrapper when she went out in the morning to sweep her small gallery." Her outfits always have bows or frills, and she seems to be used to owning nice things. We meet Lawyer Paxton shortly after and he's exactly as many lawyers are stereotyped in literature or television: put together, well-spoken, and maybe a little manipulative. He's pressing Celestin to get a divorce with her husband and is really the first one to interject those ideas into her head, but is definitely not doing it out of benevolence or in her best intentions at mind...he's got his plans with this. We're not given a specific setting per say, but pg.3 mentions "the community of Creoles-" which is a mixture of black and European descent, but is also a major part of New Orleans culture and music...so I would say that they're definitely somewhere in Louisiana. Their dialogue and French/Portuguese slang here and there really reaffirms this. I enjoyed this story! I thought it was a nice, easy read, but I finished it feeling there was a lot more that needed to be said. The people that I spoke with about this story that it just ended rather abruptly.
The second story I read was "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton. The beginning goes into detail about a "semi-barbaric king." He's very fancy and self-assured, but as far as primal needs come, he's a simple man. The king builds an arena to "widen and develop the mental energies of people" and for all intents and purposes, it's an ancient-day courtroom. The details of the arena reminded me of a lot of Ancient Rome's colosseum and its barbaric nature. The second pg. goes into detail about this door system he has designed, where one door leads to instant death by being torn to pieces, and the other forces you to get married--regardless if you already have a family. The area becomes popular with the king's people and pg. 3 talks about how "When people gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding." The author continues by speaking of the king's daughter, and how she's the apple of his eye. The princess's boyfriend ends up in the arena and the girl that's supposed to emerge from the "innocent door" is rather striking, which leads to the daughter becoming extremely jealous. She knows which door contains the tiger and which has the girl, and the boyfriend asks which door he should enter with his eyes. Seeing as she's slightly unstable and very upset, the author closes by turning the question on the audience and asking if you believe she led him to his death or not. Our answers will tell us a lot of human nature.
Over the past week, I have been reading the fifteen short stories in the literature folder. Today I am going to analyze two. “An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce” and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. The first short story An “Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is about a southern farmer who is being hanged by Union soldiers. Peyton Farquhar is a southern farmer who is captured by Union soldiers after he attempts to destroy the destruction of Union railroads. Peyton Farquhar is taken to the Owl Creek Bridge to be hanged. Just before Peyton Farquhar is hanged he begins to think of his family and how he wants to see them again. In the process of falling, Peyton Farquhar feels the rope around his neck snap. He plummets into the stream below. He tries to loosen the rope around his neck and hands as the current takes him downstream. Getting shot at by the Union soldiers as he struggles downstream. After swimming to shore he begins his home walking throughout the night. Arriving he sees his wife and goes to hug her. Just as he is about to hug her he feels a sharp pain in his neck as the slack in the rope disappears. The author Ambrose Bierce lived from 1842-1914 and fought in the Civil War. Ambrose was fascinated with war and often wrote about the trauma of his own experiences during the war. Ambrose is trying to put us into the mindset of a man being condemned to death. Talking to my fellow classmate Ethan Kjenstad we both came to the conclusion that Ambrose wants us to question what people think about during their last moments? I think this is shown to us when Peyton Farquhar is trying to zone out “He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality”. The second short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is about a futuristic society set in the year 2081 where everyone is equal. Where people’s gifts become handicapped in order to keep everyone equal such as intelligence, athleticness, and beauty. The story involves a couple, George and Hazel’s. George wears headphones that shock him every so often to dull his intelligence and weights to halt his athletic ability. Hazel is not smart, pretty, nor athletic as she wears no handicaps. Their son Harrison is much like his father wearing weights and headphones in order to handicap him. Harrison is incarcerated for defying the government by removing his handicaps. George is watching dance on the television when an image of his son appears on the screen saying he has escaped and not to reason with him. George realizes it's his son just as he gets sent a shock through his headset then leaves to get a beer. Harrison appeared on the stage screaming “I am the Emperor” and demanded the ballerinas and musicians to remove their handicaps and perform their best. Harrison dances on the screen while his mother watches on the television. When the Government leader Diana Moon Glampers storms in with other officials and shoots Harrison. George comes back to Hazel crying but she can’t remember what she is crying about. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut is trying to show us that total equality is not something we want. But instead we should push for equal rights and opportunities as total equality translates to forced equality. I think this is shown when it says “They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else”.
The first story that I chose to analyze was “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, by Ambrose Bierce, which was written in 1890. The first thing that stuck out to me was the pace that the story started off with and it starts off with a flashback to a critical event and it also provides the reader with great information that we are on a Railroad Bridge in Northern Alabama. So that critical event that the story starts off with is the execution of a man by the union army. The description of the execution is quite descriptive which makes you think that you are actually right there about to visualize this event,” The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees.” Also in the first section, Farquar imagines himself escaping the execution. This story is told in three separate parts first being the introduction where we find out what is all going on, next the second section is a flashback, and lastly is a rapidly paced conclusion. In the second section, we found out the background on the information on Farquar. One detail is that Farquar is sitting with his wife at their home and he is a quite successful planter. Then in the final section of the story that takes place, we are thrown forward where the execution is taking place and he eventually escapes and makes it back to his front steps but then this is what happens,” As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence!” Then the story ends with Farquar and his broken neck swinging from the Owl Creek Bridge. I called my good buddy Thomas and we read the same two stories and for this first story, he found two recurring themes that proved to be evident to him. Those two themes that were apparent to him were escaping death and foreshadowing. Also, he noticed the other theme of reality vs imagination and what the true outcome of the story is actually taking place. Then for the other side of things when Thomas called me I mostly talked about time and the way that the tempo changed throughout the story and the impact that it had on the way that the story proceeded to take place. Time would speed up and slow down, and those differences became evident with the section with the execution and how time really slowed down when that part was taking place. Then when the ending came around the tempo was dramatically increased and it was a completely different pace than prior. We talked about other items that were involved with the first story, but the items that I listed were the most productive.
Then the second story that I thought would be a good one to examine and study would be Ursula Le Guin “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” which was written in 1974. This starts with the celebration of a festival and she writes in great detail at the festival. But then Guin hits the listener with an interesting part which is that there is a little boy that has been locked inside without any windows in it and this kid is abused, frightened and malnourished. But the perfect system that the Omelas live in is very dependent on the suffering of that one child that is being locked up. We also learn that if this kid is let free the Omelas world is going to crumble down. A really interesting quote is found on page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free.” The Omelas are living their beautiful life but it is at a cost that is not right so they are living their life for the wrong reasons.
The first story that I read was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. I chose it because, for whatever reason, the title caught my eye. At first, I wasn't a big fan because I felt it was hard to follow. But as it picked up, I could not stop reading. I think the story does a very good job of giving us background information and giving a good, solid setting. The story takes place in Alabama during the civil war. The story starts on a railroad bridge, but we don't know why he's being hung. Later we figure out it is because the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, was trying to sabotage the Yankees advance of repairing the railroads to make another advance on the Confederates. Peyton finds this out when a Confederate soldier road up to him and his wife and asked for water, while his wife gets it they talk about the bridge. The soldier informs Peyton that saboteurs of the bridge will be hung. At the end of page 4, beginning of page 5, it says, "The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order." Peyton knew the consequences but ignored them out of love for the Confederates. The next bit talks vividly about what he goes through while he is hanging, he escapes and makes it back to his wife. We later find out that it was all made up when Peyton embraces his wife and Bierce says on page 11 and 12, "As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." Even though Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner and a Confederate, I found myself sad when I found out he died. I couldn't help but cheer for his escape while he was running from the soldiers in his imagination. Overall I really enjoyed this story, way more then I thought I would.
The second story I read was "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton. This story takes place a long time ago in a kingdom with a very barbaric king. In this kingdom, when a subject is accused of a crime, there is no trial, no hearing, no witnesses, none of that. But instead 2 doors. 2 doors with 2 very different things behind them. Behind one, a starving tiger ready to maul you to death and tear you apart as soon as you open it. Behind the other, a lovely woman ready to be wedded whether you wanted to be married or not. On page 3, it says, "It mattered not that he might already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme of retribution and reward." The king would not take no for an answer no matter what. The king's daughter, who is described in great detail on page 3, when Stockton says, "This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies." She meets this guy and begins to fall in love, the King does not like this so he sends him to the arena with the 2 doors. Instead of bowing to the King, the man looks at the princess, asking for help as to which door to choose. The princess knows what is behind what door but is faced with a problem. The girl behind the door is a girl that she has seen the guy talking to and the princess hates this girl and suspects that they like each other. The story does not tell us which one she chooses but instead talks about her motives. I talked to Jackson about it and we agree that the princess shouldn't have jumped to conclusions just because she dislikes the woman, she has no real proof and should give the man the benefit of the doubt. Overall, I enjoyed both of these stories.
The first short story that I read was, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin. At the beginning of the story there's a beautiful festival in a town later to be made known as a perfect town of everyone being happy. Shortly after this is known the story takes a turn to say a young boy the age of 10 is left in a closet for his whole life. He is only fed a half bowl of cornmeal and grease. The town’s happiness is said to be because of the sacrifice of this young boy, this is known by the town and the townspeople are forced to look at the boy live in malnourishment and torture. If the kid is let free from his misery the town of Omela will no longer be filled with happiness, but will fall. On page 2 and onto 3 there was a quote stating, “But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” This shows that even if they are happy they are not because of morality. There is more to happiness than the feeling it gives someone. It asks at what cost is happiness given, and is that cost worth the feeling. A quote from page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives.” I find this to show that the people of Omela are not as happy as they think, they may feel happy but that is not how they really are. If they are living at the cost of another boy’s happiness why are they happy at all. I agreed with Alexis that the town of Omelas is widely based on superstition of the boy being tortured, and the town was not actually happy.
The second story that I read was Madame Celestin's Divorce, by Kate Chopin. In the beginning of the story it is made clear that Madame is not in a relationship that she wants to be in with her husband. She wants to have a divorce, but in this time period it is obviously frowned upon. On Page 2 there is a quote from Lawyer Paxton, “a man that drinks — w'at can you expec'? An' if you would know the promises he has made me! Ah, if I had as many dolla' as I had promise from Célestin, I would n' have to work..” This quote shows the way Celestin is viewed by other characters in the story. However this is not the view from everyone. Madame argues with her family about the problems with getting a divorce, and it seems like the only one in support of this divorce is the Judge. The Judge begins to fall in love with Madame over time. He talks abotu how he begins to dream about her, I think this means that he is daydreaming about being with her. He talked about how beautiful she is earlier in the story. After he comes to the conclusion he wants to be with her, he later sees her. She is described as being different now. Then she tells the Judge. "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This being the final line of the short story has importance in my mind. I think by leaving the story as it gives the reader’s mind room to make their own ending. I think that this is foreshadowing for what is to come later in life and teaches a lesson. I think that this will continue to happen over and over again throughout their life. Celestine will say he is changing but never truly will. Because Madame is too afraid to be seen negatively by outside sources, she will never leave him or go through with the divorce. I talked with Alexis Banworth on the phone, and we agreed that Madame wants freedom from Celestine but is too worried of what is thought of her to go through with it.
The first story I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. The beginning of the story is not so different than the way divorces and some marriages are today. It is not uncommon to hear of a husband or wife miss treating and abandoning their significant other in today's day and age. On page two it says that "he has practically deserted you; fails to support you. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to lean that he has ill-treated you." If this quote was taken out of this story that was written in 1893 and placed in a modern magazine or show, it would be a completely realistic and relatable statement. While the story progressed the final ending and outcome of the story was also not that much of a surprise to me. I have been friends with a few people who have had parents go through a divorce and the end of this story matches up with some of the events they described to me. In the end, Madame Célestin told the lawyer to no longer worry about divorce because she and her husband were going to work it out. In the very last paragraph on page five, Madame Célestin was described as "making deep rings in the palm of her gloved hand with the end of the broom handle and looking at them critically. Her faces seemed... to be unusually rosy." This sudden change in appearance and behavior could be the result of either further mistreatment or her believing that everything will be okay with her husband. He promised that he would stay, and they would move past all of this. When discussing the story we concluded that the "judge" eventually fell in love with madame Celestin. He started to change the way he dressed and acted. He became invested in her well being and her divorce status. It seemed that he even started to try to push the divorce as well. Overall, I felt that this story was sad yet extremely relatable in modern times. This is not an uncommon event that happens in today's day and age.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs. Back in middle school, I remember reading this story. I know that we did not study it deeply, and I forgot how the story went. I wanted to study it more in-depth this time. The beginning of the story began with a mysterious theme. The introduction of the weather and the mysterious characters started by providing me with the curiosity of the upcoming events. When the soldier first mentions the monkey's paw and tries to throw it into the fire my attention was immediately grabbed. Why would the soldier remain so calm about the paw even after knowing that on page 3 "The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." Personally, after finding out about the history of an object like that, I would not want to own it, but the soldier does. When the husband wished for two hundred pounds, I was shocked to hear what the paw granted. Herbert was caught in the machines and the company offered the family two hundred pounds as compensation. When it came to the second wish I wasn't surprised to see that it was also grotesque. The shocking part of the story was that the father made a final wish. We never got to know if the son came back or not because before the wife could open the door, the father wished again. The ending scene of the story on page 13 concluded by "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road." This lack of closure and increased mystery fits perfectly with the whole horror theme of the story. We do not know if the son was alive again at the end of the story or not, or if it was just a rat or the wind. During my discussion, the question was brought up about why did the soldier let the man have the paw? I think that the man knew more about the paw then he was letting on, or he was afraid of it. We both agreed that there was something fishy going on with the paw's previous owner.
Part One The first story that really caught my eye was Madame Celestin’s Divorce by Kate Chopin. I thought that this story would be interesting and it intrigued me just from the use of ‘Madame’ and ‘Divorce’ in the same sentence in the title. The use of Madame has more of a formal, hierarchy ring to it than Misses or Ma’am; having a formal person going through a divorce sounds extravagant and intriguing. I noticed right away in the first paragraph on the first page how Lawyer Paxton was describing her as sort of unique and beautiful, but mostly when she wore gray—which sounds very odd, for gray is not usually considered as a unique and beautiful color. The only other color he mentioned was the pink ribbon tied in a bow around her neck—which I thought would play more into the story later on. I pictured this as a bound from her freedom. To further explain, I believe that the pink symbolizes weakness in her story because she cannot speak up for herself and that all she can do is sit around a look pretty as a porcelain doll. In the second paragraph on page one, I noticed the word ‘rose’ or ‘rosy’ a few times. Mentioning her rosebushes and how everyone wanted to see them and her rosy fingernails. I think this ‘rosiness’ might be a symbol of like prostitution in a way. This might be a stretch; however, the Lawyer mentions this specific color multiple times when observing her. He even mentions that “Sometimes he stopped and leaned over the fence to say good-morning at his ease; to criticize or admire her rose bushes”. How Lawyer Paxton mentions both criticizing and admiring as in a way to objectify a woman and make her feel bad or good about herself. Later on in this story, we hear about how Lawyer Paxton feels about Madame Celestin and how he keeps pushing her to file for divorce against her absent husband. With this in mind, we see that the divorce idea is not Madame’s, but a man that is in love with her appearance and trying to get her for himself. In the last paragraph, Madame’s husband returns and before she mentions this, Lawyer Paxton talks about how her cheeks are unusually rosy (representing shame or embarrassment) and how that he thought it was from the pink ribbon—which would not make sense because she wore that bow when he first talked about her and now. Overall, I believe that viewing this short story through a feminist lens—like how Calista and Megan did—really helped me see that Madame Celestin really had no power and everything she did was controlled by men in her life, even her name. We never learned her real name in the story, just the wife of Celestin.
Part Two The second story I was really drawn into was An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. This story started out kind of confusing with the different parts; however, when I reread it, I saw the symbols and connections right away from the beginning. The point of view in the first part makes the man being hanged (Peyton Farquhar) sound like a simple, elegant man that does not deserve his punishment. On page two, paragraph two, Bierce explains Farquhar as “about thirty-five years of age… a civilian… a planter. His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray… Evidently, this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and no gentlemen are excluded.” In this passage, we see that Farquhar is a civilian who seems to look nothing like a murderer or assassin and makes him out to sound like the soldiers are the bad guys. The color of his eyes (I realized) comes into play later in the story. In part two, the point of view is through Peyton’s eyes, where we realize that he is a slave owner and that the Union soldiers were on the bridge about to execute him. In part three—when Peyton is being dropped from the bridge— I realized right away that he had died and everything after was his ‘life review’ and how he mentions on page eight, paragraph two that “it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest and that all famous marksmen had them.” I remembered when they mentioned how Peyton himself had grey eyes and it would make sense to have the soldier shooting at him in his vision to have the same color of eyes as himself. Another evident sign was when Peyton is explaining how he is swimming towards that light right after he was hung from the bridge. On page six, paragraph one, Bierce writes this as “in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface—”. I called up my friend, Nathan, and we discussed how the light at this part would not make sense in the sequence of actions. He was clearly sinking down and the light was becoming dimmer, but all of a sudden the light was becoming brighter and he was rising towards the surface. We analyzed and decided that this was when his ‘death in death’ actually happened—when his soul died and went to the light.
PART 1]After reading and analyzing many short stories, the two that stood out the most to me are “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton. These two stories made the most sense to me and both offer valuable lessons that are applicable to real life. The first story “The Monkey’s Paw” is an interesting story that revolves around the theme: be careful what you wish for. After being warned 3 times about the paw, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds to pay off the house loan, nothing insane considering the paw is allegedly able to make any wish. Mr. Whites son, Herbert, ends up dying the next day at work, to which they receive the exact requested amount of money as compensation from the company. A week later, Mrs. White demands to wish for Herbert’s life back. Mr. White very hesitantly wishes for it and after hearing knocks on the door, makes an unknown wish that stops the knocking completely. The first thing that stood out to me after reading this story is the last scene. The reader is supposed to assume that the knocking was Herbert and the final wish was to cancel his last wish or make him disappear. If Herbert came back to life, wouldn’t he still be mangled from the machinery accident? If so, is that why Mr. White canceled his wish? Mr White could have also feared Herbert not being the same mentally, so he decided to cancel his previous wish. Morris mentioned the second owner of the paw wishing for death in his 3rd wish which may have scared Mr. White into cancelling his 2nd wish as well. There is also a strong theme of 3s shown in this story. For example, the wishes, how many people can wish, how many sets of knocks they heard, how many times he was warned about the paw, how many members in the house, how many parts in the story, and many more are all in sets of 3s. I am not sure what the motif of sets of 3s may mean. I have always heard of sets of 3s being “perfect” or “3rd time's the charm” for a symbol for luck. I found that the lucky 3 theme is in complete disagreement with the events of the story and may be used ironically as it almost seems the exact opposite of what actually happens. I also found it interesting how Mr. White denied Herbert’s death’s relation to the paw and I saw this event as a symbol for running away from responsibilities, which ties in nicely with the “be careful what you wish for” theme.
PART 2] The 2nd story, “The Lady or the Tiger,” is one that relates to love, trust, fairness, barbarism vs. civilization, and jealousy. The king in the story is labeled as “semi-barbaric” because of his tyrant ways; however, only “semi-barbaric” because of his arena where he holds “fair” trials. These trials in these arenas are described as “agents of poetic justice” where the verdict is ironically and very barbarically left to chance. The trials have the person in question choose between two gates, in which they have no idea which is guilty and which is innocent. To raise the stakes and barbarically attract crowds, the choice is a simple 50/50 shot on being eaten by a tiger or married on the spot. Marriage is obviously the preference in this scenario but also barbarically and ironically not ideal for many of those who are on trial. This choice of being tiger food or having an arranged marriage is labeled as a fair system and attracts huge crowds. The massive crowds at these gatherings also show the human’s natural instincts to be attracted to savagery. It also shows the power of a leadership position where they are able to deceive civilizations into thinking this system is right. The princesses' lover is eventually put on trial, which becomes a very highly anticipated event. The princess discovers which door has the tiger and which female is in the other door. The princess absolutely despises the girl ready to marry her lover. The princess waves the boy to a door and the story ends. It is up to the reader to decide if the princess waves the boy into death out of jealousy or into her nemesis' gate to marry her. There is no way to know the outcome but it is a question of how powerful jealousy may be and how much you can trust someone.
The two stories I chose were, Poe's The Black Cat and Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, each chosen for a different reason—one due to interest in his past works and the other due to an interesting title.
The first story I shall analyze is Bierce's short story; the story of a plantation slave owner southerner who is getting hung for messing around with the Union soldiers who were repairing the railroad—a tip-off from a federal scout. Already a character in the first moments you meet them seems to be alright with the steady procession of his death that will come. He thinks before he drops between the boards, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and getaway home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance" (page 3). Then the scene that follows, after the exposition of explaining who the "gentleman" civilian is, is symbolically that thought expressed in a way the reader may expect such a scene to play out—with divine providence being the only way such a scene could work out for the gentleman. Being that it would be a miracle that: the rope breaks and he falls into the river, he has enough strength to break the ropes under the water, that he doesn't immediately suffocate after the noose drop, and survive hails of bullets from the soldiers on the shore. Clearly, an improbable task to somehow survive, but the hanged-man doesn't care he just wishes to return to his wife—who could be a personification of death as she is the one who "kills" him and he dies at least seeing her face one last time. Even earlier before the actual hanging on page 12, it is foreshadowed that his neck would kill him as the soldiers were shooting him a bullet, "One lodged between his collar and neck..." (page 9), he got shot in the throat where a hangman's noose would rest—showing even in his delusion of escape he knows it won't work which is why the bullet hits his neck.
In Poe's story, opens with the narrator stating that he may be mad—clearly leaving the story open to interpretation if the story occurred as the narrator says it does. The first major symbolism lies in the cat himself, Pluto—fitting name for a black cat—who in mythology is the God of the Underworld and wealth. This is why when the man, after becoming an abusive alcoholic, hangs Pluto—his house catches fire that the narrator notes, "The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair" (page 5). After killing the "god" of the underworld and wealth, he loses all material wealth in the house fire and Pluto "reincarnates"—as the narraters ramblings lead you to believe is the case—as the same cat with one major difference, the white spot above its breast and its heart, perhaps symbolizing the man's wickedness in his heart—an inverse of the classic black is wicked and white is pure, the black cat having a love for his master until cruelty leaves its heart bereft of it? Which is why when the police come looking for the murdered wife, a demon from the underworld comes to drag the murdered down into Hell, the Underworld, as the narrator notes, "sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman." (page 13). Marking that justice and retribution are dealt with for the murder of Pluto and his wife, he remarks that he sealed the monster in the "tomb" but that cat wouldn't have howled had the narrator's ego (or guilty conscience) pushed them to test the walls of the cellar.
Of the two, I do prefer the Poe story overall as the first story really didn't grab my attention; however, the Poe story is far more interesting but Poe's normal writing method makes it kind of difficult to read—similar enough to reading Lovecraft.
The two short stories I decided to read were “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton and “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. The first short story I read, “The Lady or the Tiger”, I chose because I thought that the title sounded intriguing and it did not disappoint. I actually really enjoyed the story and was fascinated by it. In the beginning, it describes details about a “semi-barbaric king”. He is described as exuberant and fancy and clearly has power. He had “an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts”. When someone is accused of a crime, they are put into an arena that had two different doors that have two different things behind them. There is no trial or anything. Behind one is a starving tiger that will immediately tear the person apart. That door would mean you are guilty. Behind the other is a woman who is ready to be wedded. This door means you are innocent. The lady is, “the most suitable to his years and station that his majesty could select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he was immediately married, as a reward of his innocence”. It did not matter if he had a wife and family already, he was to marry the woman behind the door. The kind had a daughter “as blooming as his most florid fancies” and fell in love with a guy the King did not like. The Kind sent him to the arena and made him choose between the two doors. The man looked at the princess for help with what door to choose instead of bowing to the king. The princess was met with a problem. She knows what is behind both doors but she does not like the girl behind the door. Then the story goes on and leaves us to choose. Personally I think that the tiger came out of the door because the princess would be jealous if the lady did. “But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!”
The second short story I decided to read was “madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. Overall I really liked the story and I was not expecting it to end the way it did. I think that the story can be relatable to modern times despite being written in 1893. It is set in Louisiana and is about a woman whose husband left her and is trying to take care of her kids. She started having weekly meetings with a Lawyer named Paxton. Paxton describes her as unique and beautiful when she wore grey which I found a bit odd. I decided to look at this story through a feminist lens. Throughout the story, we learn about how Lawyer Paxton truly feels about her. He wants to have Madame Celestin to himself so he keeps pushing her to file for a divorce from her husband. He changed his appearance and the way he acted and became more invested in her life because he fell in love with her. After reading this I realized that Madame Celestin really had no power over her own life. It was controlled by men. The idea of her filing for divorce was not hers, it was the lawyers. In the last paragraph, she goes to the lawyer and says,”You know, Judge, about that divo’ce. I been thinking. – I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo’ce”. Then Paxton noticed that her cheeks seemed to be more rosy than usual. After that we find out that her husband has returned home and promised he would never leave again. One thing that Keaton mentioned was that the only color the Lawyer mentioned was the pink ribbon. I didn’t really notice this at first so I went back and looked at it and agree with the points he made about it.
The first short story I will share is “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. I chose this one because I was already familiar with it. I remember reading it back in Middle School and I really enjoyed it. The story starts out with great imagery from Jacobs. He sets the mood on page 1 by saying, “Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly.” His description really painted a picture in my head. I was able to see the setting very similar to how he imagined it. Jacobs then follows up with a very mysterious portrayal of the White family. This is where my eyes widened and my attention was caught. I tend to like mysterious stories, so I was very excited to continue reading. The story picks up quickly when Sergeant-Major Morris shows up at the White’s house with a paw. You might think it's weird to be carrying around a paw, but this is no normal paw. This paw has special powers and can be wished upon three times by the three men. Wanting no trouble, the Sergeant throws the paw into the fire, but Mr. White quickly saves it. After learning how to grant a wish, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds to pay off the house. The part after this was very vivid for me as on pages 5 he says, “It moved. As I wished, It twisted in my hand like a snake.” Soon after, they all go to bed and Herbert sees a monkey face in the fire when putting it out. It turns out the wish was granted, but not how they would have expected. The next day, Herbert’s employer shows up at the door to break the news of Herbert's death. He says the company will not take responsibility but will give the family 200 pounds. The wish came true, but not in the way they wanted. The story ends with Mr. White wishing Herbert back to life. After the wish has been made, Mrs. White shrieks and when Mr. White goes to check things out, the streets are empty and she is nowhere to be seen. The wish has been granted. The second short story I will share is “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. I chose this one because the title seemed very mysterious. The story is about a farmer in the South who is going to be hanged by a group of soldiers from the Northern Army. Peyton Farquhar is the name of the farmer who stands at the edge of the bridge. Bierce gives a great description of Peyton on page 2. “He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp.” In this moment we get a glimpse into the mind of Peyton. On page 3, Peyton thinks, “If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." As he is thinking, the Sergeant steps off the plank and Farquhar braces for death. Instead, the rope snaps, sending Peyton into the violently flowing current of the river. He sails down the river with bullets flying by him in all directions. Peyton finally arrives at the shore after a long swim and begins walking home. He walks throughout the night until he sees his wife and immediately goes to embrace her. Upon hugging his wife, Peyton feels a pain in his neck and the slack of the rope disappears. I talked to Cade Tripp about how Bierce wanted the reader to leave with questions after reading the ending of the story. We both agreed that we like it when authors do this because it adds a lot of mystery and suspense. We are able to create our own ending about what we think happened next.
The first story I chose to write about was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. This story seemed to catch my eye and I thought it could be interesting and I really enjoyed it. The story is about a farmer and slave owner from the south who is being hung by Union Soldiers. The man's name is Peyton Farquhar and he is about to be hung. Time moves extremely slow as he stands on the bridge with a noose around his neck. He tries to space out and not think about his terrible situation but he cannot resist thinking about his wife and kids. This thought leads to the thought of escape in attempts to be with them. On page 3, Peyton thinks, "If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and getaway home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." As he thinks of his escape the Sergeant steps off the board leading Peyton to his death but the rope snaps and Peyton falls free into the river. Peyton quickly swims to the bank of the stream with Union Army gunfire all around him. He walks through the night to reach his family. He goes to embrace his wife but just as he does he feels a great pain and the slack on the rope tightens. I talked to Cade Tripp about his opinions of this story and he said that he thinks Bierce wants to leave the reader thinking about what people think of in their final moments. I completely agree and I think Bierce created a great story used to invoke that question in the reader.
The second story I read was “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin. The story starts off with a great festival. The festival and everyone celebrating seems to have a perfect life but then we learn of a child who is locked away it seems to change our perspective. He is locked in a windowless closet, rarely fed and never loved. We learn that the prosperity of the city lays upon the shoulders of the child's despair. On page 8, Ursula writes, "Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free.” After I heard these lines from the story and I learned of those who walk away from the Omelas, I thought of the two closely related. I imagine that the ones who walk away from the Omelas have a similar thought to these lines. In attempts to be free, they walk away from the Omelas. Those who do not walk away are living tremendous lives but is it at a cost they can accept?
The two short stories I read were "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce and "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton. The story by Bierce I found to be heavily religious. You can see it in the very first sentence. The railroad/bridge can be seen to represent a purgatory of some kind for whatever crime the man committed. The water beneath can be seen as hell. the second paragraph says, "A rope encircles his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber. in this passage, it literally mentions the word "cross". This is most definitely a symbol of the crucifix. The cross also represents God and the people hanging him are trying to play the role of God. In this short story, the man that was being hanged was with two others. This could be one of two possibilities. These two men could represent the two people who were crucified with Jesus on the day he died or the three together could represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, also known as the Holy Trinity. Since the railroad, in my opinion, represents purgatory, the man being hanged there would be in purgatory because of whatever his actions were to get him in his spot of execution. We later learn the two men with him are in fact soldiers of an army that are helping commit the execution. This being said, they could represent two Roman soldiers who finished killing Jesus on that awful day. On page 2, a crowd is also mentioned. In my eyes, I see this as a representation of the crowd that gathered to watch Jesus be crucified along with the two others beside him. Also, the lieutenant is mentioned at this point in the story. He could represent Pontius Pilate. The man being hanged could also be Jesus because of his age. In the story, it said he was around age 35. Historians believe that Jesus was anywhere from age 33-36 when he was crucified. This man also appeared to be a kind gentleman. I would use these words plus many more when describing Jesus because Jesus spent most if not all of his life trying to help everyone around him. On page 3, Bierce writes, "The water, touched to gold by the early sun..." this could mean the man still has hope of getting out of his execution or the sun is representing heavens or God's open hands to accept the man on the bridge. then a sound is mentioned. The sound and then the silence that followed slowly became torturous to the man being executed. It also said that the strength of the sound became stronger and sharper as it repeated itself. This can be taken as a reference to the torture Jesus endured before he was crucified. In that same paragraph, it says "They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife..." This could be a reference to the spear that went into Jesus's side on the day he was crucified. We then learn as readers that the noise the man was hearing was a watch ticking. Just as he is life is coming to an end his watch is helping him count down in agony. This could represent the last supper or the last night Jesus was considered a free man. Jesus knew what he had to do for the people but at that moment before Judas betrayed him, he was praying to go if there was any other way to let it be so. At this point in the story, the man is thinking about freedom. He still has hope with him but he knows it is very slim he will get out of his execution.
On page 4 when freedom is mentioned, it could also be a representation of heaven because heaven is eternal freedom. As we continue into page 6 of the story, it mentions all the pain the man is experiencing as he is being swung from a rope off of the bridge. This is again a reference to the relentless torture that Jesus went through. The man then was said to fall into the water because the rope broke off. He was sinking and then he slowly became closer to the surface of water or light as Bierce put it. This could be another reference to the bible that hasn't been touched on yet. When Jesus was crucified, some people say he went to hell and fought satan for three days. Jesus then came back and eventually went back to the right hand of God. On pages 10 and 11, the man is out of the water and trying to return home. this could also represent the night Jesus was imprisoned by the Romans because of the chaos behind it all. By the time Jesus was found every Roman soldier that was available was searching for Jesus. Throughout the entire story, I think the rope represents the crown of thorns Jesus was given. The rope is round and is intended to kill but also gives much pain until it does kill a person. At the very end of the story, we find out the man didn't go to heaven but will be stuck in purgatory. The second story was also very interesting. I couldn't use just one lens because I felt it kind of jumped from lens to lens throughout the entire story. In "The Lady or the Tiger", I think the main approach was marxism. In the first paragraph, it mentions the king who is "semi-barbaric. One who feels strongly against communism would say that communism is barbaric in a way. It doesn't give people in that country a choice hence the reason for it being barbaric. The story also mentions that the king likes things just right and is more or less power-hungry which is also a characteristic of a communist country or person. On pages 1-2, Stockton talks about how the king uses his amphitheater to show an example of anyone who does something wrong in the king's eyes. this could also be seen as a power move again pointing towards a communist point of view. Also, the mention of the amphitheater could be looked at religiously. the Romans killed Jesus just as the king is killing his subjects; in both cases, people are being made an example of for someone/many people. I liked when Stockton mentioned the king had a daughter just because it made him seem more human versus barbaric. When the story went back to, one might call it, reality, I think Stockton was trying to say that the king does have a shred of humanity in him for the people he cares most about but barbarism has been built into him for so long he doesn't really know how to act towards anyone else. On page 5, I noticed a glimpse of Feminism in the writing. Stockton wrote, "Tall, beautiful, fair..."This is most definitely describing a woman's characteristics versus a man's. In this context, those words are being used to describe the king's daughter's lover. I think this can be tied to communism because women don't paly much of a role, they don't have a voice. It shows that the king is trying to do everything in his power to make his daughter see the flaws in this man because the lover is feminine. I think at the end of the story the princess rose the hand that would save her lover. I think she was more gracious than her father especially it being someone she loved in the ring of death. I think that just because she hated the woman behind the door doesn't mean that she just was going to let the person she loved die. I personally believe this because if it were me, I would rather know that the person I love is okay and living than having to live without them completely. I also think if you truly love someone you would do anything to save them.
Tashlynne and I were discussing and we think that the story took place in South America or in Cuba because they were both communist places at the time. We aren't completely certain but we believe that the "Latin neighbors" were mentioned for a reason. We also agreed on the man being described as feminine and it is a hint at how the king is power-hungry and how the story as a whole is more communist than anything. One thing we did disagree on was the outcome of the story. She thinks that the princess did choose to kill her lover because it mentioned she was like her father in a barbaric way.
I chose to analyze the short story “Madame Celestin’s Divorce.” This story is about a woman named Madame Celestin and she is considering a divorce from her husband. She states how her husband never supports her and is gone for long periods of time. There is a lawyer that walks by her house everyday and she talks to him about her husband and how she wants a divorce. The interesting part of this short story is that it is told from the lawyers’ point of view. The lawyer had encouraged her to get a divorce because he wanted to marry her. She was determined to get a divorce but shortly after talking to some people, she was unsure about what to do. She stated, "I been talking to my family an' my friends, an' it 's me that tells you, they all plumb against' that divorce." She also went to talk to her priest who was also against the divorce but she still wanted to get a divorce stating "The bishop doesn’t know what it is to be married to a man like Célestin, an' have to endu' that conduct' like I have to endure' it. The lawyer was surprised to hear that her mind hadn’t been changed and that she was still determined to go through with the divorce “ "You know, Judge, about that divo'ce. I been thinking, — I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo'ce." Her husband returns and she no longer wants to get a divorce and it leaves you wondering what had changed her mind? I really enjoyed reading this short story and I liked how it left the rest a mystery as to who her husband was and why she had changed her mind on the divorce.
Second short story: “The Black Cat” The black cat is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe and it describes the ability of the human mind. The story is about a person who commits a crime and is able to cover up that crime. The only thing that lingers is the feeling of guilt for the crime that was committed. The narrator of the story had a good life at the beginning and everything seemed okay but quickly his deminer changed. I noticed a big theme of violence. For example, one part that stood out to me was when he had gone to his house very intoxicated and saw the cat. He had scared the cat and it and he then says ” I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.” That part was very sad because the cat that he had once loved was not the object of his abuse and violence. Another example of his violence is when he stated “But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.” He had eventually killed his wife and honestly, I kind of saw it coming because it was very violent and already abusive towards her. Overall this short story was very interesting because it kept me wanting more until the end. I would also say it was very sad and disgusting at the same time due to how he violent he was and the kind of things he did.
Discussion: Olivia Mac After reading these two short stories I discussed them with Olivia Macravery. We had both found these two short stories to be interesting. “The Black Cat” one was very absurd to her as well and also thought it was disgusting how he treated the cat and his wife. Overall I enjoyed looking at these short stories and I would say "The Black Cat" was my favorite because I liked how it was based on psychology.
This past week I have been reading multiple short stories, both with the class, in zoom, and on my own. Personally, I really like short stories because I am able to finish them in one sitting. One of the stories that I read and analyzed was "Tha Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin. I really enjoyed reading this story. Ursula starts the story with a grand festival. It gives the reader a happy and upbeat feeling. However, as you continue to read, you learn of a child that is locked away in a small closet. He, or she, is both scared of everything, including the mops, and majorly malnourished. This made me sad reading about this poor innocent kid that's getting tortured for no real reason. He was an innocent kid that had a loving family. This is shown on page 6 when it says, "but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother's voice". This is very upsetting. I cannot even imagine living in a town and knowing that this was going on. While I was reading, I thought why would all these people come and see the child and not do anything about it. "Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery." However, as I continued reading and after talking to a few of my classmates, I thought of an answer. While these people know how awful what they are doing to this kid is, they believe that the child is the reason that they have these great lives. I think that they may be superstitious in a way and think that the child has to suffer in order for them to be happy. Maybe their town used to suffer until a child was put into this closet to suffer, and since then they continue to keep a child in there suffering for the sake of the town. Everyone knows what is going on but no one does anything to fix it. Most citizens do when they are against it is to walk away and leave the town. Personally, I think this is just as bad as staying. They know what is going on and do nothing about it. Why is this? Do they believe that one child's life is less than the small probability that the town will fall? This is really up to the reader and what they decide to believe. Overall, I thought this was a very powerful story about choosing between right and wrong in difficult situations.
Another story that I had read was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestin's Divorce". I found this short story enjoyable because I thought it was a relatable topic and something that still happens today. This story is about a young woman that works very hard to support herself and her children while her husband is gone and nonpresent. On page 1, Lawyer Paxton says to Madame Celestin that she is "working her fingers off... taking in sewing; giving music lessons; doing God knows what in the way of manual labor to support yourself and those little ones". This shows the reader that she does so much to support her family while her husband is no help whatsoever. Throughout the story, Paxton talks to Madame Celestin and listens to her troubles. As he continues to see her each day, I believe he begins to fall in love with her. On page 4, it states that he dreams of running away with her and them living happily outside of Natchitoches. As he continues listening to her problems with her husband, he suggests that she get a divorce. As I read this, I thought "YES! She needs this. She needs to get out of this awful marriage." I was getting excited as she continued to talk about her plans to divorce her husband. While many people were against this, including her mother, she still wanted to get the divorce. While her mother believed that this would cause disgrace to her family, Paxton convinced her that her happiness should be above what her family thinks. Unfortunately, at the very end of the story, Madame decides to stay with her husband. Paxton comes back ad Madame tells Paxton that she decided to stay with him because he came back and said that he would change. On page 5, she tells Paxton, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This was very upsetting, as the reader can see that this situation will likely continue to happen over and over again. This story shows how a woman feels stuck due to what other people think. I think, in the end, that she decided to stay with her husband because she didn't want others to look down on her. Sadly, this is a problem that we still face now in society. Many people feel stuck in their lives and believe they are unable to change due to other people's opinions.
One of the short stories I read was entitled “The Lady or the Tiger?” by Stockton. This story tells the tale of a kingdom of old with a semi-barbaric king. He was very influential and persuasive. Page one states that, “when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done.” He had set up an interesting way of carrying out law and order. Instead of sending the accused to a court, they were sent to an arena. The arena had two identical doors with one major difference. One door held a vicious tiger who would devour them on the spot, while the other door held a beautiful lady whom they would be married to. The king’s daughter, whom he loved dearly, had a lover, and when the king found out, the man was doomed to face the arena. The daughter, being semi-barbaric herself, wanted to know exactly what was behind which door during her lover’s “trial”. Due to gold and her will power she was able to figure it out. Behind one door was the usual fierce tiger, but behind the other door was maybe something even worse. The lady chosen to stand behind the door was one whom the princess hated because she suspected her of flirting with her man and maybe even him flirting back. Her lover, knowing she knew which door was which asked her and she led him to the door on the right. The author intentionally lets the reader choose what lies behind the right door. Is it the lady or the tiger? Would the princess rather watch her true love be devoured by a tiger or watch him be married to a girl she hates? That is the question. Personally, I think she chose the door with the tiger. I talked to Tashlynne and she agrees with me, she would choose the tiger. Her reasoning was that the daughter is semi-barbaric like her father and would rather see her lover die than be with someone else. If she doesn’t get him, no one can have him. Neither of the options are great; both involve heartbreak. Would you rather be heartbroken because the man you love is forced to marry someone else or because they died? If they are forced to marry someone else, they might still love you more, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t see them anymore. They will grow to love the person they are married to and will slowly forget about you. Constant reminders of what you lost will be there. You will see them walking hand in hand to the market, their children running around on the streets, and everyone else talking about what a nice couple they are. Everyday your heart is broken because of the betrayal. On the other hand, you can have them executed and though how it may be painful in the moment, you won’t have to live with the pain of seeing them with someone else. No matter what the princess decides she will have to live with the consequences of her decision. If she hadn’t gone to see which door was which, she never would have had to make such an impossible decision. I think the author is warning the reader against being too curious for their own good. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If faced with the decision of determining someone’s fate, I think I would rather be surprised with everyone else than have to live with my decision for the rest of my life, always wondering if I had made the right choice.
Part 1 The first story that I read was Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman." I thought that this story was quite interesting. The whole story is set up in a weird way, it starts with a flashback, then goes back to the former time. Basically, the story goes as this: it starts with a man who basically wants to make everything a certain way, make sure that everything is on time. He pretty much just ends up being the Ticktockman. I think that he can be seen as a god in this universe. Interestingly enough, Jorey and I talked about this short story, and we both agree on this: the Ticktockman created a combine. It is quite obvious just because he creates a "perfect" society where everything is done on time and the right way. On page 5, Ellison wrote this: "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Atterley: in reference to your son Gerold's constant tardiness, I am afraid we will have to suspend him from school unless some more reliable method can be instituted guaranteeing he will arrive at his classes on time. Granted he is an exemplary student, and his marks are high, his constant flouting of the schedules of this school makes it impractical to maintain him in a system where the other children seem capable of getting where they re supposed to be on time and so it goes." So this shows that this kid is getting it done the right way, but not fast enough by society's standards. The Ticktockman gives these people some extra motivation, he makes it the law for everyone, that they have to start filling out punch forms for everything that they are doing, and all the while, the Ticktockman is keeping track of how much time they wasted by being late, and knock that time off of their time left to live. So, after this whole scenario is laid out, they go back to this man named Everett. Everett seems to be a broken man, which is sort of unfortunate. He is the harlequin of this society. I had to look up a definition as to what that is, and it is a clown or a jester. I do recall the story mentioning that he walks around with a jester's hat. But, the whole point of the story is to show that this man Everett really has given up, I think that he was trying to fight "the combine" but it had broken him. But, as the story goes on the Ticktockman finds him, and he lets Everett know that his time is up, it is time for him to be broken. They sent him to a work camp as I understood it, and broke him just like a wild mustang. Then, quite some time down the road, he shows back up and seems lively. He admits to being wrong about everything. On page 10, Ellison wrote this "So Everett C. Harm was destroyed, which was a loss,s because of what Thoreau said earlier, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and in every revolution, a few die who shouldn't, but they have to, because that's the way it happens, and if you make only a little change, then it seems to be worthwhile." Then, as the story wraps up, the Ticktockman ends up being late himself. I thought that that was a very interesting way to wrap up the story.
Jorey and I discussed this story as we discussed earlier, we talked about how this is story is basically just the combine all over again. This whole story was oriented around a group of people that all they did was work their whole lives, and worried about be late to things. Not that people should be worried about this in real life, but if you let that control your life, is that really a life worth living?
Landon Smith Part 1: The first short story I decided to read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. I vaguely remember the story from reading it with Mrs. Schilf in eighth grade, and I had to write a little blurb about it for the irony slide in my Term Tuesday presentation, but I did not remember exactly how the story went, just that it had lots of dark irony. On page 1, the story is set up with a cliche mysterious tone and setting- a cold wet night. The soldier introduces the Whites to the monkey's paw, and tries to destroy it, but Mr. White saves it, much to the dismay of the sergeant-major. He explains that it grants wishes but with consequences.The first man to use it, he says, used his last wish to die. Mr. White ends up wishing for two-hundred pounds, because he already has everything he needs to be happy. His son Herbert says, "I don't see the money... and I bet I never shall." This is a great use of irony—he will not see the money because he will be dead. Later, a man comes to the White's house, informing them that their son was caught in some machinery at work and was killed. He gives them two-hundred pounds as compensation. The story could have ended here, but Jacobs, I think, wanted a more open-ended conclusion to leave readers thinking. Mrs. White begs her husband to use the paw to wish their son back to life. Mr. White refuses at first, but finally breaks down on page 11. At first, nothing happens, and they go back to bed, but then Mr. White hears a knock at the door while lighting a candle, and knows that it's his undead son. Just before his wife unbolts the door and opens it, he finds the monkey's paw and wishes away his son. All they find behind the door is, "a quiet and deserted road." This is a very dark story, but very powerful. I think Jacobs was trying to convey the point that our actions have consequences. We can not go around doing whatever we please, because the repercussions can be tragic. The paw, I think, is meant to symbolize fate.
The other short story I chose to read was “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” by Doyle. The story is written from the point of view of Watson and his adventures with Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had made an appointment with a man named Milverton whom he describes on page one as the, “worst man in London.” They are set to discuss a Lady Eva whom Milverton possesses letters she wrote that could destroy her reputation and future marriage. Milverton refuses Sherlock’s offer. So Sherlock decides to go undercover in Milverton’s home to discover where the letters are hidden so he can steal them back. Sherlock learns everything there is to know about Milverton and his house. One night Sherlock and Watson decide to go steal the letters. Once inside the house, they find the vault where they are hidden and unlock it. They hear footsteps so they hide behind a curtain. Milverton enters the room, sits in a chair, and waits for a while. He seems very agitated. Eventually a woman comes into the room whom he recognizes as someone whom he has ruined. Eventually she states that she doesn’t want him to ruin any more lives so she pulls out a pistol, shoots him, and makes her escape. Sherlock and Watson come out from behind the curtain and burn all the documents hidden in the safe. As they are leaving the house, they are followed but eventually out run their pursuer. The next day a sherif comes up to Sherlock and asks him if he is interested in investigating a murder. Sherlock asks for more details. The sheriff informs him that there were two murderers who entered the Milverton home, burned all his documents, and shot the man. Sherlock refuses to investigate the case. Later, Sherlock and Watson are eating lunch when Sherlock has an epiphany. He leads Watson to a poster with the actual murderer on it, but the real identity of her is never revealed to the reader. I think that in this story, Sherlock and Milverton are foils of each other. On page 10 Sherlock admits he, “would have made a highly efficient criminal.” Both men use people to get information that they want to accomplish a task. Milverton uses mainly servants of the upper class to get information on people so he can ruin them. Sherlock used one of Milverton’s housemaids to gain information on him so he could help Lady Eva. Sherlock uses his information for good and Milverton uses his information for evil. Also Milverton is described as having a “face and a heart of marble” on page 2 and Sherlock has a “face of granite” on page 4. I thought it was interesting that both of their faces were compared to different types of rock. Marble is softer than granite and is more likely to break under pressure. Just like Milverton cracked under pressure and used his power for evil. When I talked to Tashlynne, she pointed out on page 2 Milverton will “hold a card back for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.” This could be foreshadowing his death. Just as in a card game where holding your cards for a long time is mostly a bad strategy and can end badly, Milverton holding on to his cards for too long will cause his death.
Landon Smith Part 2: The second story I chose to read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. This was another dark story about human nature. The plot revolves around a man who struggles with alcoholism, which causes him to become abusive. He admits that he abuses not only his wife, but all of his pets as well. However, he does not take out his anger on his cat, until it bites him on page 3. He gouges out its eye, but later hangs it from a tree. He has to kill it because, "I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence." Seeing it was too painful of a reminder that he had hurt something that loved him, and his soul was doomed. That night, his house burns down, but the dead cat is preserved. Once he moves into a new house, he befriends a new cat. This one is white-chested and very affectionate toward him. However, he grows to hate the cat as his wife grows to love it. He is horrified to see that the white hair on the cat now resembles, "the image of a hideous—of a ghastly thing—of the GALLOWS." I think that this cat is a symbol for his past. He thought he could leave it behind, but it follows him. He sets out to kill it with an axe, but his wife stops his attack. Overcome with rage, he kills her instead. He hides her body in the wall of his basement, and looks for the cat but cannot find it. The police come to search the house, but can find nothing. When they are leaving, he starts to brag about how sturdy his walls are and taps the wall where his wife is hidden. A shrieking noise comes from the wall, and once the police have removed the bricks, they find the wife's corpse, as well as the source of the noise: the cat. I thought that this story was very similar to Poe's other story, "The Tell-Tale Heart" which also revolves around a murderer hiding a corpse within a house.
Discussion: I called up Jamie Fick and talked about these two stories with her. I agreed with her that the theme of "The Monkey's Paw" was that you can not mess with fate, because there will be consequences. We also agreed that Poe was trying to point out that your past will come back to haunt you; you can not escape it. Overall, these two stories were very dark, but kept me interested with their mysterious settings and themes
The first story I came across was “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. I found this story particularly interesting because it is not like other short stories that we have read in the past. It seems to be just a normal story about Madame Celestin, a woman who has been left by her husband to raise her kids on her own. The story tells us that she has not seen any sign of her husband for many months now and she is contemplating a divorce. A lawyer in the town, Lawyer Paxton, has been encouraging Madame Celestin to move on with the divorce. There is clear foreshadowing that Lawyer Paxton has a love interest in Madame Celestin and hopes to marry her if he can get her to proceed with the divorce. At the end of page 2 and onto page 3, Chopin shows us Madame Celestin's position on the divorce "'You know, about that divo'ce, Judge,' Madame Célestin was waiting for him that morning, 'I been talking to my family an' my frien's, an' it 's me that tells you, they all plumb agains' that divo'ce.' 'Certainly to be sure; that 's to be expected, madame, in this community of Creoles. I warned you that you would meet with opposition, and would have to face it and brave it.' 'Oh, don't fear, I 'm going to face it!'" This point in the story is key to the outcome, this foreshadows to the reader that Madame Celestin will get her divorce and Lawyer Paxton will have his chance to marry her. The story rides this vibe all the way to the very last paragraph. In the last paragraph, Madame Celestin shares with Lawyer Paxton that her husband had returned the night before and made her a promise to change his ways. The story ends with, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This last paragraph changes the enitre story, I do not know if I have read a story before that has changed from one direction to the complete opposite in such an abrupt amount of time. This change in direction is what makes this simple want to be love story different than other stories. The reader can envision everything working out just right and then the last paragraph smacks them across the face, dashing their hopes of a perfect ending.
The second story I read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this story because I had read some of Poe's stories before but not this one that I had remembered. The story begins with Poe describing his childhood and his love for pets as he was growing up. When he was older and got married, he and his wife both continued to share a love for animals. On page 2 he mentions that they had several pets, "birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat." I found this interesting because he describes several of his pets but then only says "a cat" at the end of the sentence like it is less important. Then in the next sentence, he writes in deep detail a description of the cat. Then Poe continues on that the cat was special to him and his favorite among the pets. He spent a lot of time with the cat and over the course of this time, his mood began to change towards people and the other animals, but not the cat. Finally one night, the cat bite him and he did take out anger on the cat by cutting one of it's eyes out. The relationship between Poe and the cat would never be the same as a few nights later, he hung the cat from a tree. We can tell from this point on that this will be a classic Edgar Allen Poe story with dark and gloomy twists. As time went on Poe had a hard time living with what he had done, it wasn't until a similar cat showed up at his home that life went somewhat back to normal. A short while later the new cat no longer could take his mind off what he had done. Poe mentions that the cats look identical except for a white spot on the new cat, he mentions this spot morphs into a symbol over time in a familiar shape. I am guessing it shaped into a noose to represent how he killed the old cat but I am not entirely sure. Then the story continues with another dark twist. When this cat finally has bothered him enough, Poe plans to kill it with an axe; instead though he ends up killing his wife with the axe as she prevents him from killing the cat. He decides to hide his dead wife in the walls of the cellar, this reminded me of the "Tell-Tale Heart" where if I remember correctly a man is trying to rid himself of a heart by hiding it in the walls and the floor. After hiding his wife's remains, the cat disappeared. Eventually search parties went out to find the wife. When Poe showed them to the cellar, a great moaning started from behind the wall. When the wall was torn down, out came the cat and the corpse of Poe's dead wife. From the point where the cat was killed we knew it would get revenge somehow, in the end, it did. I believe that the cat is supposed to represent your sins. It represents how when you commit sins, they will always come back to bite you in one way or another.
The first short story I read was "The Monkey's Paw", by W.W. Jacobs. The story starts off seemingly innocent with a family with friends over. Their conversations start off nice as they talk about how they would like to visit India someday. However, at the end of the conversation, they learn that one of their friends has not only been to India but also obtained a grotesque souvenir while there. He obtained a monkey's paw but this paw has special powers that grant 3 wishes to 3 different men. However, the owner explains that this paw has a dark past but will not explain how. He says the original owner wished to kill himself, and his own three wishes came true, clearly scaring him. As he tries to dispose of the monkey's paw in the fire the old man in the story saves it for himself. His first wish is to pay off his house with 200 pounds. Eventually, his wish comes true as his son ends up dying from the machinery at work and the company offers to pay 200 pounds for their sympathy. As the old lady mourns for her son she suddenly gains a bright idea to wish their son back to life. However, the man now knows how the monkey's paw works and apposed to wishing him back to life. Although relenting, he wishes his son back to life and eventually hears a faint knocking at the door. The old lady is relieved to hear this and frantically tries to unlock the door as the old man searches for the monkey's paw. I believe that the old man knew that the thing on the other side of the door may have been their son but not the son that they wanted to see because it would be horribly disfigured. The old man's final wish is unknown but we know that the wish made his dead son go away. I have two big takeaways from this story. The first lesson is to be careful for what you wish for, but I also think that an underlying theme is acceptance of loss. Obviously, the old man knew that his wish killed his son, despite not being what he wished for. But the wife refused to accept her son's death and stupidly wished him back. The man knows that this is a bad idea and although he clearly has remorse and guilt for his son's death knows that the best thing for him and his wife is to wish the son away. This wish sort of acts as a metaphor of letting go of his son and accepting what happened.
The first story I chose to read and write about is "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. This was a very interesting short story. It firsts starts off discussing the eerie scene. Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner who came from a well-respected family. he was really devoted to the Southern cause. Peyton had his hands tied behind his back, and a rope enclosed around his neck, which told me he was about to be hung. There were a couple of other people on that railroad bridge in Alabama: Two private soldiers of the Federal army guided by their Seargent. As Peyton was ready to be hung, he thought about his wife and his kids. As he was about to be hung, he notices how slow a piece of driftwood was floating down the stream. He also thought about a loud striking noise, who he thought was a blacksmith's hammer and an anvil, which was actually his watch ticking during that very slow time period. He was also thinking of a way to escape. On page 4, the story talks about his potential plot to escape, "If I could free my hands, I might throw off my noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." After a while, he really does escape, and he tries to make his way back home. By going into the stream, he tries to avoid all gunshots by swimming deeper and deeper. On page 8, he hears the soldiers say, " Attention, company! . . . Shoulder Arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!" He continued his journey to find his home, walking throughout the day and night. The thought of his wife and kids pushed him to make it back. But I was completely surprised at the last part of the story, "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." This caught me off guard, but at the same time, I kind of expected it. It really amazes me what people can imagine before their demise. It is a way of reminiscing the past before tragedy strikes.
The second story I chose to read and write about is "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton. This was also a very interesting short story. This story is set around a barbaric king. This was a king who loved to turn fancies into facts. One way he can show off his barbarism was with a public arena. One page 1, he said that the arena was built to "widen and develop the mental energies of people." The king would sit on his throne on one side of the arena, and watch the accused step out from a door underneath him. The person that stepped out could choose one of two doors: One with an emerging tiger who would tear him to pieces and reveal his guilt. If the person opened the other door, he would be greeted by a lady who he would marry proving his innocence. This was his barbaric way of punishing people: force the accused to choose life or death. I found that very interesting and fascinating; let the person themselves choose whether they are innocent or guilty. This was also very popular, as many people would gather to watch the spectacle. Spectators would either watch a bloody massacre or a hilarious wedding, as stated in the story. After the story progresses, there is a young man who fancies the king's daughter. Once the king found out, he sent him to prison for a day, and then he would choose his fate. The king's daughter actually knew which door the woman was in, and also who the woman was. In the daughter's dreams, she could imagine what would happen between both scenarios, but we are left with that decision still looming.
Both stories were very interesting to me, and if I had to pick one, I liked Frank Stockton's short story better. It is very fascinating to me that the accused gets to decide whether, but I enjoyed both.
After reading through the selection of short stories over the past week, the two that I chose to analyze were Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” and Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.”
When reading Poe’s “The Black Cat,” it is clear that it is told by an unreliable narrator. One is first informed that the narrator is going to die tomorrow, most likely he will be executed for the crime he has committed. He starts off as a caring man who has a compassion for animals, but over the years he descents into alcoholism and loses any sense of love that he may have had for anything once before. His attitude morphs into something crueler as if he is unable to understand or control the violent impulses he is now prone to. This could most likely be due to the alcohol consumption as he is seen to act upon his savage thoughts more when under the influence. His first brutal lash out against his cat was after he came home from a night of drinking; his intoxication granting him the temper to cut out the cat’s eye with a penknife. The narrator’s wife “made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise,” which the narrator does not initially believe, though as the story progresses he becomes more aware of the superstitions attached to the cat. The black cat is also known as a symbol of the dead, which is very fitting for a cat named Pluto considering Pluto is the god of the underworld. His murderous persona grows along with his alcohol dependency and eventually, he hangs the cat he once loved so dearly. Blaming it on “the spirit of perverseness,” he explains that “perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart.” Perverseness is really the only reasoning he gives behind any of his maniacal acts and ultimately leads to his downward spiral into madness and the slaughter of his wife.
Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is noticeably a philosophical piece of work. The city of Omelas is a perfectly utopian society where every inhabitant lives in harmony with one another; though in order for the tranquility to persist, a child must suffer a desolate and abused life alone in a cellar. The Omelas contract permits that the torment of one delivers the greatest good for a larger number of people. The ones who walk away from Omelas are the ones that would rather work towards a happiness alone than to live with the fact that their happiness “depends wholly on this child's abominable misery.” They are walking away from the utmost feeling of joy they have ever known, but leaving could perhaps allow them to walk towards a set of values that make their own joy. They’re sacrificing their comfort for morality. The people who choose to stay are satisfied living an easy and comfortable life knowing the bitter reality of where their pleasure stems from. Living with the weight of misery is a trade-off for peace. “They all know it is there,” yet the one thing "there is none of in Omelas is guilt.” This is a calculated fact of the Omelas as “it is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture, the poignancy of their music, the profundity of their science." It’s a story about tough decisions and ideals. Le Guin gives the reader the chance to either take the side of the ones living in Omelas or the ones who walk away.
After talking with Theresa, we both agreed that alcohol was the biggest push factor towards the narrator going mad and lashing out in “The Black Cat.” He also appears to have a slightly inflated ego as his confidence in hiding the body was what ultimately led to the discovering of it. It was a gory supernatural tale but I enjoyed the psychological factors that were included within the writing.
Part 1 One of the two short stories I chose to read and analyze is "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. I chose this story from my strong liking of it as I have read it before but I have yet to really study the short story. Jacob sets the tone early on with Mr. White and his son, Herbert, playing chess next to the fire while a storm is raging outside. This scene also helps show the characteristics of Mr. White's behavior as he plays recklessly not thinking of the outcomes when playing against his son and ends up losing. Mr. White gets angry about his fate as he shouted how living in "out-of-the-way places" is the worst part of living because they can rarely have guests. Sergeant-Major Morris then arrives as the guest introduced by Mr. White with some whiskey. Morris goes on telling fascinating stories to Mr. White until he stumbles on about a monkey's paw. Morris tempts White by saying the story is not worth listening to and it's just a little bit of magic. This causes White to lean forward in his chair as this intrigues him. Morris pulls the monkey's paw out from his pocket. He says on page 3 "it's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy". Mr. White grabbing it from his son asked: "And what is there special about it". Morris then goes on about the fakir's spell that was put on the paw granting three wishes to three different men. Foreshadowing the fate of Mr. White. Morris seems to tell the interest of Mr. White in the paw and the three wishes. In attempts to destroy it, he throws the paw in the fire causing curiosity through the mind of Mr. White of how real it is he grabs the paw out of the fire before it can be burned. Morris says that the paw belongs in the fire warning Mr. White of the risks but he wants to keep it. Morris states " If you must wish...wish for something sensible". Herbert later suggests the first wish Mr. White should wish for is 200 pounds to help pay off the mortgage on their home. Mr. White then wishes upon the paw for 200 pounds. The paw moved as White let out a cry saying "it twisted in my hand like a snake". This feeling brought an uneasy feeling in which this 1st wish would bring a downfall the White's. Mr. White then figures out Herbert his son was badly hurt in a machinery accident. Mrs. White asks if there was any pain he said hardly any. An eerie silence is among them as the White's got the confirmation of their worst fears. They then received compensation from the company of 200 pounds. The one thing White wished for he got in the worst way imaginable. A week later Mrs. White cries to have the monkey's paw to wish back Herbert to life. Mrs. White then wishes back Herbert but nothing happens. They hear a knocking at the door and it never ceases to stop as the White's frantically search for the paw to wish the knocking away realizing their second mistake in wishing. Finally, they find it and wish the knocking away and it stops. Mr. White feels brave enough and runs outside discovering "a quiet and deserted road". This story was about the theme of being careful of you to wish for and Mr. White not accepting his fate in life by trying to wish a better one. Throughout the story, Mr. White tempts his fate by saving the monkey's paw and using it to alter his life not learning his lesson the first time his try to fix his mistake and finally canceling out his 2nd wish and ending the story off with the final wish leaving him off with silence.
The first short story that I read was Madame Celestin's Divorce written by Kate Chopin. It is established fairly quickly that Madame Celestin has many troubles and everyone knows of these troubles. It seems as though she is in a relationship where she has to put in all the effort of taking care of the kids, ranging from music lessons to manual labor. She also mutters that she has not seen Celestin in a "good six months" and that she suspects he has cheated on her due to his drinking problems. The lawyer she is talking to continues to offer her the option of divorce and Madame Celestin begins to think about that as a possibility to get out of this mess. Yet it seems as though her family and friends do not support this decision and wish for her to stay with Mister Celestin. Yet these thoughts could be coming from Paxton, the lawyer, because he is fond of her and his thoughts are plagued by her beauty as we find out on page 4. Almost ironically though once we find out that Paxton wants to be with Madame Celestin she decided to forget about the divorce as Mister Celestin came home and "promise be on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf."
The second short story I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The whole short story surrounds this monkey's paw that grants wishes yet something eerie usually comes with them. When the first wish is made by Mr. White for 200 pounds nothing happens yet the monkeys paw moves and he throws it. After nothing proceeded to happen, Herbert says "I Expect you'll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed," and proceeded to say "and something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe watching you as you pocket your ill-gotten gains" all on page 6. The story continues with more talk on how the paw is only a soldier's story but then something horrible happens. A well-dressed man brings horrible news that their sone Herbert was caught in the machinery at work and had died. Then the wish comes true, the company which owns the machinery gives the family 200 hundred pounds in compensation which was the exact amount they wished for, so the paw does grant wishes but with a sinister twist to follow them. The wife then proceeds to go insane with wanting to wish her child back to life yet again this wish does not turn out the way it should. Before they can see what had become of Herbert due to the wish the husband makes another, and the knocking stopped. I assumed that the second wish brought the son back to life but as mangled as he was when he went through the machinery and this is why the husband made the third wish, whatever it was.
The first story that I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce". The story is very well put into the situation of domestic abuse in relationships. There is a very obvious difference in true love and a love that is falsely portrayed. Celestin lies and promises to change but the reality is that he is saying these things in order to get her to stay with him. Then, Judge comes along. Judge actually cares for her and takes the time to stop and talk to her. He would change his appearance just for her liking and hoping she would notice him. He promised he would take care of her and the children. He would not be like Celestin was. However, because of the type of relationship, she is in she does not go with Judge. "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf."
The second story is "Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge". It is a dark story that harshly shows us the true way that the Civil War caused death. A southern farmer is captured by Union soldiers because he had been attempting to destroy Union railroads. Peyton Farguhar, the southern farmer, is taken to the Owl Creek Bridge where he is to be hung. As the rope around his neck snaps, he thinks of his family, before plummeting into the stream below. “He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him." Despite being shot at by Union soldiers, he manages to make it to shore and find his way home. However, right as he goes to hug her, the rope goes taut and he feels pain in his neck.
Part 2 The second story that I read was W.W. Jacobs "The Monkey's Paw." The story starts with them meeting with what I think is a family friend that is in the military and was over in India. While in India he comes across a mummified monkey paw, that allegedly can grant 3 wishes of the rightful owner of it. This got the interest of the whole family, and they start asking questions about it. Jacobs wrote on page 4: " His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor absent-mindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then set it down again. His host filled it for him." The Sergeant=major goes on to talk about the paw, that one of the owners before him used all three wishes, but the very last thing he wished for was death, and that his wish was in fact granted. After this, he throws the paw into the fire, but the family grabs it out of the fire. The old man wishes for 200 pounds, which at the time seems like an innocent thing to with for. Then the sergeant-major leaves and time passes by. Mr. and Mrs. White gets a knock on the door, they go to open the door to talk to him, and this man brings sad news. Their son had died in a tragic accident, he was killed in the machinery while at work. The man brought them 200 pounds to help compensate for the death. Of course, the situation becomes eerie quite fast. This was their reaction on page 9, "Unconscious of his wife's shriek, the old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like a sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap, to the floor." Then, as the story goes on, the wish their son to come back. Then mysteriously, there is knocking on the door in the middle of the night, the wife/mother just wants to see their child, but Mr. White knows that what the see will not be their son. So basically, as the mother goes to the front door to greet their son. But, just as Mrs. White is opening the door, Mr. White basically wishes their son to be gone/die again. My reaction to this is that he definitely did this because he didn't want him and his wife to see their own son like that. He saved them the heartache I think.
The first short story that I have analyzed was titled “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story starts out with very few details about a man who is to be hanged from a railway bridge. Right away, the reader can start to form hypotheses about why the criminal is being hanged. From the year (1890), and the fact that a federal hanging is occurring at a bridge instead of a town square, you can assume that this is the Northern army hanging someone in the South during the civil war. You start to gain more solid evidence about the nature of his crime when the story flashes back to the beginning because it is written in medias res. You learn that he was a Southern planter, named Peyton Farquhar, who was greatly loyal to the war effort although he did not fight. Farquhar was caught trying to destroy a bridge that the northern army was using to transport supplies into the south. Although he was on the wrong side of the battle, his loyalty to his nation and fellow southerners is commendable. In the third section, the reader is told a captivating story about Farquhar’s escape from the noose with captivating imagery because of his senses being heightened by the adrenaline that comes with a near-death experience: “He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived.” He is able to see hundreds of meters and even down the scope of a gun aiming at him, “The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest.” Several of these factors push the reader to the edge of what they believe could be possible and beyond. He even plans to dodge a bullet after he sees the smoke from the gun when he thinks “the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me.” This type of reaction time isn’t human. All of these circumstances add up until at the end of the story when the noose is pulled taught and the reader realizes that he imagined the entire story. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is an excellent story that challenges the reader’s perceptive abilities and ends with an amazing twist that few will see coming.
Part 1 The first story I read was "The Chrysanthemums" by Joh Steinbeck. This story was about a woman who was very efficient and effective at gardening and growing plants. She was very well-known for growing one flower in particular very large—Chrysanthemums. Everyone in the valley knew how good she was at raising any plant, but these flowers in particular. The woman, 35, was working in her garden one day when a wagon pulled up and a man got out, his profession being fixing pots, pans, and sharpening tools for folks as he traveled from "Seattle to San Diego and back each year" (p. 6), following the nice weather. The man initiates conversation with Elisa, the master gardener, and asks her if she had any pots or pans that needed fixing or if she needed her scissors sharpened. Elisa says no, she doesn't have any work for him to do with that sort of thing. The man tries to guilt-trip Elisa a little for not giving him any work, but she responds with a simple, "Sorry." The man then changes the subject to the flowers that Elisa is growing, and says that a lady he worked for up the road always had "the nicest garden you ever seen," (p. 8), and she told him if he ever saw some good Chrysanthemums to bring some seed back for her to plant. Upon hearing this, Elisa informs the man it is much easier to care and raise for the flowers after they have sprouted; she says that she can give him a potted flower to take back for the woman, and she explains how to take care of it so it doesn't die. After this, Elisa finds some work for the man to do for her, and he charges a small fifty cents. Once he does some work, Elisa gives him a pot with the flowers to give to the woman up the road. Once the man leaves, Elisa and her husband get ready to go into town; once they head down the road, the same road the wagon man traveled on, Elisa notices something in the middle of the road—her chrysanthemums she gave the man. This breaks her heart, as it shows that the man did not care about her flowers, but rather he just wanted the pot to either use himself or to sell to a customer. Elisa then asks questions to her husband about if they are going to a fight, and mentions that if she could drink some wine that night, it would be really good. After reading this story, it only makes sense for there to be some sort of symbolism, most stories without symbolism would have more of a plotline and a climax or high point, whereas this story mostly just tells of an encounter between a traveling workman and a gardening wife. I believe what really happened in the story was that the man and Elisa partook in intercourse while her husband was busy on the farm. I believe this, because a flower usually represents a girl turning into a woman. This being said, Elisa gives the man her flower and the man leaves shortly thereafter. This makes her feel guilty on their way to town, and when she sees her flower in the middle of the road, this could represent that she knows the man likely took her body and herself for granted and didn't think she was anything special; she also feels incredibly guilty and cries in the car on the way to town, and her husband just says, "Now you're changing again," (p. 16). Also, on pages 10 and 11, Steinbeck writes about how Elisa's breast swells and she reaches out and touches the man's trousers—this extra mention of physical touching and "breast swelling" leads me further to believe that Elisa cheated on her husband with this man. I'm not sure why she would do this, maybe she thinks her husband works too much and she is left unsatisfied most nights.
The second story that I read was “A Piece of Steak.” In this Rockyesque story, the reader is found following the poor, old boxer Tom King, a once international level fighter who is now feeling the pain of age. The story is a battle between youth and the inevitable proceedings of time. Tom King fights his opponent Sandel who is younger and stronger but not nearly as wise. Sandel starts the fight too quickly and almost loses to King’s drawn-out battle but King finds himself weak because he did not have a proper dinner. King is viewed as the wise boxer who does not make mistakes but he only gained his wisdom through experience at the cost of youth. This fact extends past his fighting and into his life where we see that he is broke, starving and unable to feed his family. When before King was rich enough to feed his dog steak, he is now unable to buy any for himself. He lived his life in the hasty fashion that Sandel boxes with and now he can not keep up and is faced with poverty and the loss of his career as the punishment. Now his knuckles are frail, his heart is waning in strength, and he does not have the endurance that he had in his youth. It should also be noted that aside from physical lack of strength, King also lost the fight in his mind before it ever started. On his walk to the fight, King ponders his loss of youth and the grave disadvantage that he faces which means that he did not even give himself a chance. The reader finds themself routing along with the crowd for King to make a comeback and win but it can be guessed that Sandel will follow King’s exact path through life and will end up in the exact same position one day: “he deliberately ducked so as to receive a heavy blow on the top of his head. It was a wicked thing to do, yet eminently fair according to the rules of the boxing game. A man was supposed to take care of his own knuckles, and, if he insisted on hitting an opponent on the top of the head, he did so at his own peril.” King even deliberately hurts Sandel so that he will know the same pain when he is old. The moral of the story is repeated several times, “Youth will be served.” The elderly eventually use up their time in this world and need to step aside to the younger generation. No matter how sad that fact is, it is true.
Part 2 The second story I read, was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestine's Divorce". This story is about a woman, Madame Celestine, who is very unhappy with her husband who is always gone and doesn't treat her well. A man, Lawyer Paxton, passes by Madame Celestine's house each morning on his way to work, and he always stops and talks to Madame Chopin or comments on her rose bushes. Paxton, along with plenty of other townspeople, know how unhappy Madame Celestine is in her current marriage, but with Paxton being a lawyer, be brings up that she should get a divorce (now would be a good time to mention that Paxton has a small crush on Celestine and would like to have her for himself to treat her right as a wife should be treated...). When he brings this up, she thinks it is a great idea, but says she needs to check with family members and church members. Paxton continues to go to work each day and hears about how Madame Celestine would like a divorce, but needs approval form this person or that person, but Lawyer Paxton is patient and takes his time; he knows that SHE wants the divorce, so he keeps his hopes up. Finally, on page five, Madame Chopin says, "You know, Judge, about that divo'ce. I been thinking, — I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo'ce." She says that her husband came home the night before and explained to her that he was going to change. Paxton would obviously be upset about this. As far as symbolism goes in this story, Madame Celestine could represent all the things we want in life, but Lawyer Paxton is our conscience telling us we probably won't ever get those things. Madame Celestine's husband could represent everything in this world holding us back from achieving what we want in this life, and makes it impossible to get what we want (coronavirus for us seniors...).
The first story I took the time to analyze was "The Lady or the Tiger?", by Frank Stockton. I really enjoyed this story and thought it would be a good one to discuss this week. At the very beginning of the story, Stockton describes a man that is a "semi-barbaric king" and explains the barbaric actions he takes that make him "semi-barbaric". I thought the part about the arena was interesting. He built an arena where victims would be placed and given a choice. That choice is of two doors. The person being tested had to pick one of the two doors and that would decide his fate. If he picks a tiger, he would die and be guilty; however, if he did not pick the tiger, but rather the door with the lady, he would be innocent and become married to the woman. Everything about this "arena" made me think of the colosseum in the Ancient Roman Empire. On the third page, Stockton talks about how the decision was fair and proved the king's might "...the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena". Later in the story, the daughter of the king has a lover that is put into the arena because he is in love with the princess. The princess had figured out which door had the lady and which one had the tiger and she gave the man a hint towards the door on the right. Stockton really digs into human nature with this story because he doesn't tell us what was behind that door. He lets us readers decide what happened based on what we think she would do. He makes us ask ourselves what he says on page seven "Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady? The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way". She could've sent the boy to a quick death to avoid the feelings of loss and jealousy or she could have sent the boy to a woman whom she despised to save his life. I really enjoyed this story and found it interesting to wonder what she chose to send the boy into.
The second story I analyzed was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", by Ambrose Bierce. At the very beginning of the story, there is a flashback to Northern Alabama on a railroad bridge during the civil war. There are Union soldiers executing a prisoner they have. The imagery on page two is very interesting, they describe the prisoner very well and the surroundings "His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers...", and these details provided help the reader feel like they are there witnessing this execution. However, the execution doesn't happen in the first part, they flashback again and we figure out the prisoner's name is Peyton Farquhar and he is a farmer. One day a soldier rides up to their home and acts like a Confederate soldier. The man and Farquhar talk and Farquhar asked if there was a way he could disrupt the Union Progress at the bridge. The soldier gives him an idea on page five "The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow". After the soldier leaves we are brought back to the scene at the bridge. Farquhar escapes and swims away from the soldiers at the bridge. When he finds his home he reaches out to his wife but instantly is put out by "a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence". The story then says that he was dead on Owl Creek Bridge with a broken neck, dangling and swaying side to side. This story was interesting, we can see the thoughts of reality and imagination blending together and it helps readers see human nature better.
I really enjoyed both stories and I am still finishing up reading some of the other ones. I
The second short story I read was Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is set in the future and almost sets as a terrifying parody of a perfect dystopian future. The story revolves around a man and his wife who are sitting and watching TV. Through their dialogue, the reader can learn that everybody is handicapped in different ways to make everybody equal. The smart have an implant in their ear to disrupt their thought, the strong are chained down to make them weaker, and the beautiful must wear masks to hide their beauty. As they watch TV they argue about taking off their handicaps in order to become more comfortable but the man refuses because rebelling against the system would throw them back into the "dark ages". As they continue to watch TV they find out that their son, Harrison Bergeron, has escaped prison. Harrison interrupts the ballerinas that the couple were watching and breaks free of all of his handicaps. Harrison also proceeds to free the ballerinas and musicians. Once they are free, Harrison and a ballerina dance as the orchestra plays a beautiful tune. Eventually, the government breaks in and ends up shooting Harrison and the ballerina for rebelling against the system. In the end, the mother of Harrison is crying for her son's death even though she has forgotten about it and the father seems apathetic about his son's death. The theme of the story is prominent as the "perfect" society will never actually be perfect and will also have its flaws. Harrison breaking free from all his barriers acts as a metaphor for him rebelling against the government and the system that constantly oppresses him for his perfection. Finally, the handicapper general acts as the government as a whole as she ends up killing the rebels for going against her system.
Part 2 The second story I chose to analyze was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this story with the interest of Edgar Allen Poe. I have previously heard and read some of his story's but haven't heard of this one. In the beginning, we are introduced to a narrator proclaiming that he is a sane person contrary to how he is conveyed. The story then starts years before as the married narrator describes his deep love for cats and dogs. Saying they represent a friendship with loyalty. His favorite animal is a large and beautiful black cat he calls Pluto. He seems to spend the most time with this cat building a bond with it. He often gets drunk and has a lot of mood swings causing anger towards his animals but not towards Pluto. Until one night he got drunk again trying to grab Pluto again only to receive a bit from his companion. He got so angry he took it out on his cat cutting one of its eyes out with a penknife. Later he takes a it a step further from his demonic actions and hangs the cat on the tree one morning. That night his house burns down destroying all of his possessions. A day after the fire he discovers a mysterious imprint on the wall of the cat with a rope around its neck. Haunted by the cat for months he was out one night and found another black cat identical to Pluto but with a white spot on his fur. The narrator builds up steam of revenge for Pluto one night tripping over this cat and going at it with an ax to try to kill it. He tries to stop him and he converts his rage toward her and puts the ax in her head killing her. Trying to cover up his crime he entombs the body of his wife in the plaster of the walls. The 2nd cat is now missing. Four nights later the police show up unexpected. They were a search party to find the wife's body. The police hear a cry behind the wall and find the hidden corpse. On top of the wife's head sits the missing black cat in who let out the cry for the police to solve the mystery. The first thing that I realized after reading this story was the Tell-Tale Heart it closely follows. This shows the story shows the madness of Poe's actual life as he expressed himself through his stories. He was known to live a life with a close relationship with alcohol. Alcohol in this story can relate to the cat as the cat alters the story of the narrator causing him to be a murderer and alcohol in real life controlled Poe to be an uncontrollable drunk with mood swings his whole life both of these changing his life for the worse.
For my first short story, I chose to do Anl Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge because its ominous title stuck out to me. In the first part, what stood out to me was its use of religious symbolism. The noose is timed to a "stout cross-timber" a literal cross in this instance. Considering the major influence of Christianity in the south, especially at this time period, its almost ironic that the northerners would be hanging a southerner from a cross, as if they were sending some sort of evil message. The story points to more references to Jesus's crucifixion, as there are two soldiers of the north by his side. Now, these northerners are not traitors, so they can't be the two people that were crucified along with Jesus on that day. My guess is that they were the roman soldiers that killed Jesus. As later in the story, he does die, but we don't know if it was specifically by those two's hands or if he ended up falling in his dream-like sequence. In part two of the story, Farquhar thinks back to when he was at his house and helped a fellow gray coat. This section uses heavy foreshadowing of how he got caught. It first hints to us that Peyton greatly wants to help out in the war, but is not a soldier. The second hint we receive is that this soldier has too much info from the northern side to not be of higher ranks. If he held such important information to disrupting the north, a true soldier would have gone straight to the generals. Our third hint is that this man hints that "no civilian should interfere with this" the exact opposite that any Southern soldier would say. He even gives details on how to do it. Now snapping back to life in part three, we can now infer how exactly Peyton got there. Now, he closes his eyes and he suddenly feels pain. We know later, that this pain is him being hung. the lack of oxygen to his brain allows him to hallucinate, thinking he is free and escaping capture. all the while it describes him in intense pain, even when "free" from his captors. This shows us that he's not really free of the body, but free of the mind. I find it sad though when he returns home to his wife, trying to hug her and then, nothingness. "his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." This shows that our "hero" died in the end, with no just cause to support him.
My next story is of The Black Cat by the famous Edgar Allan Poe. I already knew this would be a depressing story upon selecting it. I was not prepared for this story, as I have four black cats of my own, all of which I love dearly. The story starts with an ironic statement. The narrator declares he is a sane individual, which is never the case when someone declares such. Black cats are generally paired with bad luck or curses. I believe in this story, they act as a curse to this narrator. I see it this way as the Narrator ends up hanging the cat (tears were shed), and on the same day, his house is burned. Left behind is the imprint of a cat with a noose around its neck, being the mark of Pluto. Later he gets another black cat, with a white patch on its fur (reminds me of my cat oreo), he finds the same feeling he had for it as he did with Pluto. Later he finds himself enraged with it once again. I feel the new cat was a rebirth of Pluto, as the white marking turns out to be a gallow, where hangings take place. This totally sane person then tries to axe the cat, but his wife comes to defend it. In another cursing of the cat, who would have died of beheading, he chops the axe into his wife's head. He then, as any sane one would do, hides the body into the wall, and then tries to go after the cat again, who is now missing. Four days later-which is interesting because four is an unlucky number in Japanese culture, meaning death- he has police show up. they search and find nothing of interest. In his bragging, the narrator decides to bang on the wall where his late wife is, causing the cat behind it to meow and alter the police to the body. The now sane person is found guilty, once again by the cat's curse.
The first story that I came upon to read was "Madame Celestine's Divorce". I thought this story was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading it. As I analyzed it, I noticed that every conversation between Madame Celestine and the judge was about the divorce. The Judge always seemed to be convincing her to move forward with it and she seemed to keep following his advice. When the story started, I thought that he was giving her this as friendly advice, but after I read "A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton...Then he fell into a stupid habit of dreaming as he walked the streets of the old town. It would be very good to take unto himself a wife, he dreamed. And he could dream of no other than pretty Madame Celestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts, now." I realized that he wasn't giving advice in her best interest anymore, he wanted to be with her and in order for that to happen, she had to leave her husband. I talked to Yeshari Graber about this story, and it occurred to us that he really cared about Madame Celestin, but we still believe that he is being slightly selfish in this situation. At the end of the story, there is another quote that stood out to me. This is " Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Celestin came home las' night. An' he's promise me to his word an' honor he's going to turn ova a new leaf." After I read this, it made me realize that no matter how many times he has broken promises to her, she is still not willing to leave him, which shows she truly does love him even with his flaws. I also believe that he is not going to keep his promise, and that another argument and issue will happen eventually.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw". I can recall reading this story a few years ago, but I only remembered slight details and I never analyzed it fully. As I analyze it now, it is much more interesting to read. I thought this story was very mysterious throughout the entire writing, and details included at the beginning, such as the weather, only foreshadowed events to come later. When the man came into the house and started to talk about the monkey's paw, he urged it wasn't a story that needed to be told. "Nothing,' said the soldier, hastily. "Leastways nothing worth hearing." I thought this was interesting, and also using slight foreshadowing, suggesting that it was dangerous. He also knew that if they heard of its magic they would want to try for themselves which could result in bad outcomes. In this situation he was correct. After he told them of the magic, they began to ask questions about the previous wishes. "The first man had his three wishes. Yes," was the reply; "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw." When he would speak of the paw, he would suggest throwing it away and forgetting about it because he knew how dangerous it could be. The ending of the story is no surprise when bad outcomes did happen. Overall, I thought this story was also very interesting to read and analyze.
The flipgrid will not for the life of me work on my computer this week. I am sorry, technology is definitely interesting. It never works when you want it to. Anyway on to the short stories. The first story I decided to read was "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck. I was drawn to this one first because I like Steinbeck and his previous works like "Of Mice and Men". Chrysanthemums was an interesting story. I feel like there is a lot to unpack that was hidden in there and I'm positive I missed stuff. My take on the story and I could definitely be wrong, but my take is Elisa wants some adventure. She has a husband but a majority of the story is not about the husband at all, it is about Elisa and her meeting with this traveling man. It definitely seemed like there may have been some flirting with this man. At the very least she wants something new. One of the most intriguing parts comes at the end of the story when she is crying in the car with her husband. From what I read, one reason she could have been crying was because of the man. I believe he played a con on her in order to get her pot. He definitely seemed like a showman womanizer type of man, who targets women for his business. On page 8, the man talks about one of his clients and she is also female and owns a garden. Elisa was definitely somewhat entranced or taken aback by this man because of what she says when he leaves of Page 13. "There's a glowing there" is very interesting. But I think when she saw he threw out the flowers and kept the pot, she was hurt and it says she grew silent for a while. Also, she asks for wine afterward, which is a depressant. I think Elisa is synonymous with the Chrysanthemums. They had grown tall the previous year as she is now, and it was the start of a new growth period in the story which could possibly symbolize a new page in her life. Turning over a new leaf so to speak to make a pun.
The second story I read was "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". The title sounded intriguing, and I like the idea of a Harlequin and a Ticktockman. After reading the story, wow! Just wow! That was like reading a darker dystopian Dr. Seuss novel. It was really good but there was a lot to follow there. I think it can be summed up to what was said on page 8 when he is speaking with the bullhorn. Don't be slaves to the clock. It was definitely an obvious metaphor for how society is changing. We value all the unnecessary things like money when we should just live. Take in the sunshine or saunter around, like the harlequin said. What an interesting character choice though, a harlequin. Typically a jester or a joker how fitting. I find the ending of the story hilarious. Time is relative and they gave one-man supreme power and so when he enters his office at the end knowing he was three minutes behind, I find it funny. I'm still trying to process everything I read because that story was a lot. It was definitely my favorite one out of all the ones we have read, however. This story, makes me wonder if the movie "In Time" took any inspiration from this as they have similar concepts. Also, I would like to say thanks for allowing me to do this over a blogtask because my internet has been uncooperative.
The two short stories I chose to read were “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” and “Harrison Bergeron.” I was truly surprised by how much I enjoyed these two quick reads. I always enjoy short stories as most tend to be short and sweet, yet have various underlying symbols and themes that make them oftentimes simple to analyze. The first story revolves around Madame Celestin who wants to divorce her husband who is rarely home, leaving only herself to provide for her family. Lawyer Paxon is convincing her to get a divorce, yet when her husband comes home he promises to finally change. I was particularly interested in Lawyer Paxon’s infatuation with Madame Celestin, he clearly desires for her to get a divorce, but I think it is solely for his own benefit. Instead of using words like “he left you” the author uses “deserted” and treated you “ill” (3). These predictions came to me at the beginning of the story, but later on quotes seemed to confirm it: “And he could dream of no other than pretty Madame Célestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts” and “His heart beat in a strangely irregular manner as he neared Madame Célestin's” (5 & 6). It is no secret that divorce was highly looked down upon; however, I did a little research on the time period of this story and it did take place when women’s rights advocates fought to ban the right to sue for divorce on the women’s behalf. Divorce rates were actually going up at this time period, yet Madame Celestin feared more what her peers would think. I think this reveals what the theme of the story is, allowing society’s beliefs and practices to take over your own. I think this character, in particular, has a big heart, and still cared for her husband so when he was gone it was easy to give into characters like Lawyer Paxon. She appears to be a giant people pleaser. I spoke to Alexis Bannwarth, she had the same idea that this relationship is going to keep spiraling and be a constant cycle of toxicity. I found the second story “Harrison Bergeron” to be much more twisted. Events in history have shown how we all strove for equality. You want equality? Well, this story certainly gives it to you. On page 1, the first paragraph gives a clear view of what is going to occur, “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” Nobody wants to be called “average,” we desire to be above and have talents and characteristics that we think are better than others. This idea is one of the most evident themes in the story. The story revolves around two main characters, Hazel and George. Hazel is claimed to have “average intelligence,” while George has a mental handicap that prohibits him from thinking as he hears noises instead. The two are watching television when breaking news hits: "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (4). For most, these are prized traits that anyone desires. Bergeron later claimed to be an “Emperor” and forced musicians to play their absolute best without their handicaps, ultimately to show that everyone is different and that they have qualities that make them who they are. His rebellion only had negative downfalls. I think this ultimately all comes back to the government and their control. They completely corrupted their people, rather than taking Bergeron back to jail, they shot him on the spot.
The first short story I read was Doyle's "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton." This story was fairly lighthearted throughout most of the story and was clearly plot-driven. It was about Sherlock Holmes told from his friend Watson's point of view. The "King of all blackmailers" Milverton comes to visit Watson and holds papers that practically hold and swindle people into giving up money. The man is somehow above the law, and is not wringled up in trouble at all. Throughout the story, the two boys work their way to the point where they can sneak into Milvertan's estate, and find the papers at which hold them to such blackmail. Quickly they find out they are not the only ones there, and hide quickly when they hear Milverton come to the room. He sits and waits until a girl walks in and sits down like a formal meeting at midnight. She confronts him and shoots him while the two boys watch. The whole building is alive with a flurry and the girl gets away. The boys sneak back inside to burn all the papers and hopefully clear their name before they run. A guard follows them and grabs hold of Watson while vaulting over a wall. They get away. The next day, a new fellow, Mr. Lestrade comes to the boys shared household and wants Holmes to take the case of the murder to find the two criminals that murdered Mr. Milverton in his household. Holmes refuses to take the case. They rushed down to Regent Circus one day where they looked at a picture of famous people, and saw the same lady that shot Milverton posed in a Court dress and a diamond tiara, framed in a store for famous people. The only thing I was unsure about while reading this story, is what was on the papers that drove the men to sneak into his house. I understood it was blackmail but I just thought it was interesting. I also found Milverton an interesting character because of the way he treats himself like he is above the law and blackmails people into giving him money. I also thought, but maybe I am wrong, that the girls who fired upon Milverton was actually a princess of a royal family, because she was wearing a diamond tiara.
The second short story I read was Poe's "The Black Cat." While reading this piece, I felt that it presented a wonderful sense of pace that was easy to read (even though I used to struggle with Poe as a young reader). The story presents it self with a main character discussing a time in his life where his "temperament and anger...had experienced a radical alteration for the worse" (Poe 3). From there we learn about his intoxicated interaction with his black cat that so loved him dearly. The black cat was named Pluto and had its eye sliced out by the narrator. The immense feeling of guilt afterward, watching Pluto walk around, scared to come close to the narrator, drove the narrator to bring Pluto out and hang him. Upon interest, I decided to Google the name Pluto and found that it is not just the name of a Dwarf planet. Pluto was the Greek name for the God of the Underworld and Wealth, which was fitting for this story because the narrator presents himself as mad, and says after his house burns down, "The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up..." (5) After this he randomly finds a new black cat that has an eye missing and loves it. Eventually, his love turns to distaste and he tries to stay away out of regret for what he did to Pluto. Clearly driven mad by the cat, he tries to murder this beast as well but drives the ax into his wife instead. After killing his wife, he hides her body in the cellar. At the end of the story, the police come and search his house, and after seeing nothing, as they are prepared to leave, his wife begins to scream from behind the wall, and they open it up to see her and the cat in their gruesome state. This story is a clear writing of regret. The returning black cat and the wife coming alive again are just figments of his imagination that stand to resemble his remote of the brutal acts he accomplished.
Grace and I talked for a little while about the two stories we both read. Right away we both agreed that Poe is a very interesting fellow and the narrator in his story is clearly mad. We both agreed that the imagery of the horrors he committed to Pluto and his wife were gruesome in the least. Upon our discussion on the reappearance of the dead figures, we said that we think it is almost an allegory for regret. That when you commit a horrible act, the image of the person you hurt will stay in your mind, and continually you will see the person and it will drive you mad and ruin your life. We also discussed the almost lightheadedness of Doyle's story and how it almost completely contrasted Poe's dark and inhumane writing style. Doyle's story was a long but easy read because it was a fictional story of the very prominent figure Sherlock Holmes.
Part 1: The first story I want to talk about is “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. The idea of wishes and unearned power is kind of intriguing to me, so I chose to focus my time on this story. The first thing that kind of popped out to me was how Jacobs wrote the story as a lesson but used horror elements to do so. Making the setting a house 2 miles out of town brought a different feeling to what was happening at night. He also timed Herbert’s piano chords with Mr. White’s wishing to create even more of an ominous feeling through different senses than just sight. The next thing that I focused on was how likely or unlikely it could have been that the results of the wishes could all be a coincidence. I will say I find it unlikely that the amount offered for Herbert’s death would be the same amount wished for just by coincidence alone. However, the knocking on the door could have really been anything: the house creaking at night, the wind, mice, the sounds of the outdoors creeping in. This is kind of confirmed when the door is opened and the road is deserted. After reading the story the first time, I reread it to take better notes. One thing I noticed was a line Herbert said after the first wish was made. On page 5, Herbert explains, “Well, I don’t see the money and I bet I never shall.” This foreshadows his death because he does not see the money himself but is rather the reason the wish for money is granted. The overall theme of what happens when you mess with fate is supported by a few events in the story, the most obvious one being Herbert’s death. The other event that I felt supported this was when Mr. White explains “It seems to me I’ve got all I want.” on page 5. He should have no reason to wish for more when he has a loving family and a wonderful home. Instead, he lets slight amounts of greed take over in wishing for more money. The chess game was also great foreshadowing for what the story had in store for the reader. Mr. White continues to play the risky game of putting his king in danger on multiple occasions and ultimately loses. In the story, he takes the risk of wishing on the monkey’s paw despite his warning and loses his son. I discussed the story briefly with Kira Van Roekel. She brought up the change that Mrs. White went through during the story. Mrs. White grimaces at the first glance of the paw and chases Herbert when he suggests Mr. White should wish to be an emperor. After Herbert’s death, she is so distraught that she begs Mr. White to wish for their son back.
I choose to analyze this story because the title intrigued me and the first few lines of the story presented an interesting character that hooked me into reading more. As I continued through the story, I noticed the overarching theme of choice. The men, innocent or guilty, were given the choice of their fate. Specifically, the fact that the men (and only the men) get this choice is interesting to me. Of course, after his choice is made, the criminal does not get to decide whether he dies or whether he marries, so his choices are limited. However, the woman he marries is selected by the king's people, and the wording makes me believe they also have no choice in this marriage. Imagine being forced to marry a criminal of the kingdom because fate had chosen him innocent? This theme of choice continues as Stockton introduces the King's daughter. Because this story was written in 1892, I found it interesting that Stockton gave the power of choice, the real power of choice, to a female character. The King's daughter has real choice because her choices are not set in the fact there are no set actions resulting from her decision. Her choice, ultimately, will not affect her future choices, but those of the man she loves. The most interesting aspect of this choice between life and death is her being forced to make this decision quickly. On page 7, Stockton words this sentence: "Her decision has been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation." I believe the wording is deliberate here, as she had days to make the choice, but in reality it had to be made in an instant. At the end of the story, Stockton himself talks to the reader and says, "It is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer [the question]" (8). I like this part of the story because Stockton knew that everyone's take on how the King's daughter would answer would be different, and instead with the title and final words invited the reader to use their personal experience to make that decision themselves.
Part 2: The second story I wanted to focus on was “A Piece of Steak” by Jack London. This story reminded me of “Cinderella Man”. The thing that stood out the most in this story was the capitalization of Youth and Age throughout. They are not simply youth and age anymore but rather two different groups of people, King representing Age and Sandel representing Youth. In life and in the fight, Youth overtakes Age. Although Age has more wisdom than strength, Youth’s strength overpowers that. I couldn’t help but find some similarities in the story with The Lion King. King himself is even referred to as “sheer animal”. On page 2, King is being described as such, “the eyes were the most animal-like feature about him. They were sleepy, lion-like — the eyes of a fighting animal.” The circle of life is also represented in this story. The Youth rise to overtake those of the Age only to become the Age themselves later on in life. King explains that there is no ill-will in fighting because both members are simply playing the game. Youth plays with its strength in order to receive money and glory while Age plays with its knowledge to get by with what it needs. King also explains that now that he is old, he reserves his strength because he has little of it, much like he does with his money. When he was younger, however, he spent his strength and money all the time on unnecessary things and moments. "He understood now why Bill had cried in the dressing room." on page 19 brings the story full circle when King sits on a bench after the fight and cries much like Bill did 20 years ago.
The two short stories I decided to read were “Madame Celestin's Divorce” and “Harrison Bergeron”. I chose these two stories simply at random.
The first story “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” follows a Louisiana lawyer named Paxton who attempts to win favor from the lovely Madame Celestin who is currently struggling with her marriage. The lawyer throughout the story attempts to convince Celestin to get a divorce by telling her it would be best for her when in reality he wants her for himself. The idea of divorce is not the Madame’s own idea but one that was thrust upon her by the lawyer. The story is written from the perspective of the lawyer and through his interactions with Celestin. As a result of this writing style, we don’t know as much as we could of the circumstances of Celestin and her husband. Celestin in the story often complains about her husband but we as readers do not know if these statements are exaggerated or not “Of course she had talked to him of her troubles. Everyone knew Madame Celestin's troubles.”(Chopin 1). Celestin is the overall victim in this story as her will is determined by that of what other people think or tell her to do. Whether it's Paxton encouraging a divorce, her family forbidding her or the return of her husband closing the matter entirely, this story highlights the depressing situation many women may have found themselves in. This theme of women not having a voice is sadly still relevant nowadays.
The second story, “Harrison Bergeron”, is an interesting tale of an apocalyptic future where free will and creativity are removed in favor of making everyone equal. The American Government has placed restrictions that regulate everyone so that they are all equal. The story follows a married couple, George and Hazel after their son was arrested. The two watch ballerinas dance on tv before the program is interrupted by a man who has removed his inhibitors and forces the band to play actual music. Before long however, the man is killed by a government agent and life continues as it was at the beginning of the story. This story presents a bleak look at a world where fairness is more important than freedom. The characters in the story are presented as dull and boring being unable to give more than basic responses or opinions. I think this story also highlights the negative side of censorship as the t.v program in the story tries to be as offensive as possible and apologies for any possibility of offense. Overall the theme is to celebrate the faults of the world we live in because without them we would not grow as a society.
The first story I read on my own was “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. I actually really enjoyed this story and found it was a quick read. I also liked how this story was set in the future, 2081, compared to the other stories we’ve been studying far back in the past. I think Vonnegut absolutely mastered illustrating the dilemma of people being equal in each and every way, “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. (p. 1)” I think any ideas regarding complete equality sound nice, obviously not to this extent, but will never fully be achieved. Communism is the perfect example of this flawed system. The truth is that there will always be those who have and those who do not. The ending of this story had me in complete and utter shock— in the best way possible. Hazel is so unintelligent and forgetful that she witnessed her son being murdered on the television with tears rolling down her face; however when George returns she simply cannot remember what made her sad. "You been crying" he said to Hazel. "Yup," she said. "What about?" he said. "I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television." "What was it?" he said. "It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel. "Forget sad things," said George. "I always do," said Hazel. This left me thinking that many small riots such as this one by Harrison have occurred in their world, but due to the citizen's naive nature, no one can remember it or join in.
The second story I read was “A Piece of Steak” by Jack London. This story seemed like something I already knew, and as I continued reading I found that it was similar to the Cinderella Man movie we watched in Hollywood versus History. I loved the movie, so I think that's why I really enjoyed this story. Both Tom King and James Braddock are struggling to feed their starving families by any means possible. Though they are both fighters, they constantly have to battle the decision to risk everything in the ring or struggle to find labor work. Both characters often reminisce on their youth— when they were faster, stronger, and richer. Tom king thought, “He was busy thinking of the bull terrier he had kept in his younger days to which he had fed steaks without end. Burke would have given him credit for a thousand steaks — then. But times had changed. Tom King was getting old; and old men, fighting before second-rate clubs, couldn't expect to run bills of any size with the tradesmen. (p. 3)” The movie doesn’t really have to do anything with analyzing the story but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. I think the overall conflict of London’s story is the battle of Youth and wisdom. London intentionally capitalized Youth to draw the reader's attention to it not only as an adjective but almost as its own character that King must fight against to feed his family. Sandel, the young man who faced King in the ring, is London’s perfect definition of Youth, “It was the way of Youth, expending its splendor and excellence in wild insurgence and furious onslaught, overwhelming opposition with its own unlimited glory of strength and desire. (p. 9)” King uses the wisdom of his years to last many rounds with Sandel but is ultimately defeated and walks home with no quid in his pockets.
Part 1: The first short story I read was "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. This story gave readers an inside view of a futuristic world where equality lies in all aspects from thoughts to talents. Directly on the first page, I found the term "Handicapper General" interesting because usually when we talk about equality it is meant to be lifting people up and making sure there is equal representation. However, this story shines a more negative light on the severity of equality if taken to the far extremes. Instead of lifting people, equality is a sense of bringing others down to a "normal" level and "handicapping" them for being above average or gifted. Another phrase that I noticed, was also on page 1 and it stated, "April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime". I found this to be almost a poke at humans. Even if everything was fair and everyone had everything, people would still find something to be discontent with and complain over. The mood or tone that I got from the story was very sad and unamusing. The reader looks in on a mother and a father trying to live a normal life. It can be seen how handicaps intrude on their lives and leave them with little new topics of conversation and any conversation started ends by dwindling off into lost thoughts. Their world is sad with no sense of excitement or uniqueness because in their world being anything outside of "normal" is a threat. In the context of the story, more equality does not show more freedom as it is commonly believed. This story wants to show more equality leads to more regulations. This was also the story I discussed with my friend, Emily. We both agreed on the underlying sadness at the parents affected lives and not being able to recognize what has happened to their son. She made a great connection to the play that we saw earlier this school year, 1984. This play was similar to the idea of an overruling government regulating the thoughts of civilians. Those who want free thoughts and ideas are punished. On page 4, the quote, "he is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous" when describing Harrison was very interesting to read. In our world, Harrison sounds very normal and would never be an enemy based on only the description that he is academically gifted and has a talent for sports. Because he refuses to limit his own talents, he is labeled as an enemy. Overall, I found the story interesting to read because I felt it was trying to push the message of the negative consequences of a world with no competition where people are limited just to make others feel better.
Part 2: The second short story I read was "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin. This story starts off in a utopian-like world where everything appears perfect. The set-up of the story has a narrator who is pushing the reader to try to imagine a world that is similar in perfectness to Omelas. Instantly, I got a connection to "Beatrice and Virgil" by Yann Martel and how that novel never gives a specific location to emphasize that it could be happening anywhere. The narrator senses that the reader is not able to think of a place as perfect because one does not exist. Slowly, more gets revealed about the dark secrets of Omelas that contrast the lightness of the Festival of Summer. Finally, the reader is introduced to the child in the cellar. This child resides where there is no sunlight and sparks the question of happiness being a byproduct of another person's suffering. As a way of breaking the children's innocence, they must visit the malnourished child and witness what one must go through for their perfect life in Omelas. From then on, their happiness comes from the idea that everything they do is better than the life of the child. Thankful for their lives and relieved for their living conditions. I took this story as a show of why we get happiness from certain things when based on the idea that they are luxuries and not everyone possesses them. Global hunger and poverty are topics that people are aware of but still live on with their lives full of happiness through "nondestructive lifestyles" as used in the story. On page 8, the story states that adults have "acceptance of their helplessness". Everyone in Omelas is instructed to turn a blind eye to the injustice of that one child to guarantee satisfaction in the lifestyle of the whole town. The ending of this story I found to be a reference to not being able to change a world's outlook on a situation but taking an individual stand to change. Some civilians could not handle the truth of Omelas and walked away. It is important to point out that they walked in all different directions leading to different places. The narrator on page 8 states that they "cannot describe it at all" of the type of world those civilians are moving onto. This is because finding a world where there is as much perfection as Omelas without some form of unjustifiable suffering is not imaginable. Overall, I found this to be a story that left me thinking about it for several minutes after I read it. For me, it was a story that wanted to open the eyes of the reader on the world that they are living in and what is happening around them.
The two short stories that I decided to analyze was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”. I enjoyed both of these stories due to the mysterious and unexpected events that take place in both of them.
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", it starts out on a bridge with Peyton Farquhar with a noose around his neck. He had been tricked into trying to burn down a bridge that the Northerners had just rebuilt by a Northern scout dressed up as a Confederate soldier. Farquhar could not fight for the South himself but he was sympathetic to their cause. In an effort to support the South, he tried to sabotage the bridge but the North soldiers were waiting for him. He was then strung up and hung. But he did not realize that he was dead at first. He thought that he had broken free and tried swimming away so he could go see his family again. As the story goes on, Farquhar keeps mentioning a sharp pain in his neck when he walking and swimming back to his family. This shows that he actually did die when he got hung off the bridge. He himself just hasn't realized that he died on the bridge. He keeps holding on to the hope fo seeing his family again. The sequence that follows his death is a showing of his path to the afterlife.
In "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", it starts out with two detectives named Holmes and Watson. One of them receives a paper with the name Charles Augustus Milverton on it who is a big-time blackmailer who swindles wealthy families with their dirty secrets and threatens to release them if they don't pay up. Holmes and Watson are hired to help a family who Charles is trying to blackmail and get a wedding canceled. Holmes and Watson then try to take Charles's journal so they can uncover all the evil deeds he has done and send him to jail for a long time. They are unsuccessful and Charles was too smart to have the with him in the first place. Then Holmes and Watson make a plan to break into Charles's home and take his notes in his sleep since it is well known that Charles is a heavy sleeper. They break in and are about to steal the notes when they someone else in the house. They quickly hide while they hear the other person come closer. The door swings open and a lady, high up in the society, stands in the doorway to Charles's room. Her family had been a victim of Charles schemes in the past and her husband had died as a consequence of it. She had come for her revenge. She pulls out a revolver and shoots Charles and then leaves. Holmes and Watson witness all of this and quickly dispose of the notes and then flee with people following close behind because they are the presumed killers. They are later asked to help with the case to find who killed Charles but they both declined. The only help they give is posting a picture of a lady who is high up in society as the culprit. They do not state any specifics about the lady because they believe that what she had done was justified for what Charles had done to her family. Watson and Holmes know exactly who killed Charles but do not say a word.
I chose to analyze this story because I had heard the phrasing "the monkey's paw" before, but had never known where it had come from. After reading, I can safely say I was pleasantly surprised, and this may be my favorite short story so far. In the beginning, the sergeant-major says, "He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow" (3). This line is the first set of foreshadowing to the wishes later in the story. Mr. White interfered with his fate by wishing for money, and got that money at his and his wife's sorrow. It's an interesting concept, the idea that you have to lose something to gain something is popular in fiction. On page 4, Mrs. White alludes to the story of Arabian Nights, in which three wishes are also received, and similar to the story, the characters in the story learn that having wishes granted have consequences. I liked the open-ended ending of the story, as Jacobs doesn't actually reveal if their son is a living-monster and he doesn't tell us Mr. White's final wish. In my opinion, I think they're son would have been alive, although mutilated, and his final wish brought balance back. This story is both haunting and intriguing because the idea of changing your fate is really interesting to me. I liked being able to read the origin of the monkey's paw because I've seen it mentioned in other literature and it was a thought-provoking story exemplifying the risks of choice.
The first story I chose to read and analyze was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The story started off easy for me to understand setting up the characters and the setting. It's a dark and stormy night and it becomes known that the White's live on a street surrounded by practically nothing. This is a classic horror movie set up which really catches my interest. There is a small family who seems to enjoy each other's company and live a nice life. They joke around with Morris about the Money Paw which only makes you imagine what horrible things are going to unfold in the story. The whole mood shifts and the characters change dramatically once the Monkey Paw has granted the first wish. A once happy and fun boy, Herbert dies from a horrible accident. The calm and kind wife becomes depressed over her son which leads her to want to make a second wish which is when the story really picks up. On page 12 it says "A loud knock resounded through the house." The intensity of the knocking on the door and the image of a mangled Herbert waiting on the other side gives you a very chilling and almost exciting feeling like horror usually does. One thing that confused me was on page 5 when Mrs. White says, "Did you give him anything for it father?' Inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.'" Mrs. White calls her husband "father" but it must be a thing of the time period. Other than that the story was really easy to understand and it was exciting to read since it was horror.
The second story I chose to read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. This story was also of the horror genre but I found it harder to understand. The main character recognizes himself as becoming more and more evil. He explains how in his childhood he was a very humane and caring person who loved animals. Then on page 5, he says "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others." Since he emphasized his love for animals as a child I would never have expected him to take out his fits of evil on his poor cat. His madness heightens and he is not satisfied with what he has already done to the cat. He's willing to kill the cat because his mental state is so altered. After the cat comes back to life the story becomes almost supernatural. I question whether what happens is real or not. The end of the story is quite dark and is one of those horror stories that leaves you with a sick feeling. Overall this story is a representation of Poe's abuse of alcohol and how it may affect him. He compares the cat to alcohol but he is known to be a drinker. Poe is obviously not mentally stable as this story clearly shows. Combining alcohol and a questionable mental state leads to horrible acts such as mutilating animals and even murder. On page 9 he says "Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain." His madness even led him to murder his wife which was shocking to read.
I discussed these two stories with fellow classmate Hannah Behrens. We both enjoyed these stories because they are of the horror genre. They were both filled with horror elements and we agreed that they had a lot of suspense and gruesome aspects. We believe a strong theme in The Monkey's Paw is to be careful what you wish for. Both stories entail supernatural elements. The Monkey's Paw is about a talisman that grants wishes which is not reasonable to happen in reality. Then in the Black Cat, the cat seems to defy death which is not realistic. Both stories were chilling and interesting to read overall.
The first story that I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. After reading through it a little bit I could clearly tell that she didn't really have a say in her own life and was being controlled by the men in her life. She wasn't very happy with her life so she would go see her lawyer Paxton. Paxton thought she was very pretty. Everyone seemed to know about Madame Celestin and her life troubles. She has been home with the kids and taking care of them while her husband is always away and has a drinking problem. Madam says, "It's good six month' since I see a sight of Celestin." Madame Celestin kept going back to talk with Paxton and he was really entertained with the idea of her getting a divorce. Her family and friends didn't really like the idea and she says, "it's a disgrace like it's neva been in the family." Finally, on page five Madame Celestin says her husband comes back. She says, " You see, Judge, Celestin came home las' night. An' He's promise me on his word an' honor he's going to turn ova a new leaf." Personally, I think she should have left him, and gotten a new lawyer because both situations were not good and I think she needed a fresh start.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The story starts off by a man from India and he is telling Herbert White about this monkey paw that it can grant 3 wishes to 3 men. Herbert askes the man if he had used his three wishes and he said yes. This is what the old man said about the first guy on page 3, "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw." The soldier was going to burn it but then Mr. White took the paw. The solider warns Mr. White of the paw and says," If you must wish, wish for something sensible." The first wish they make is for 200 pounds. Well turns out the consequence of that wish is for their son to die in the machinery. They present them with 200 pounds as compensation. Their second wish was to bring their son back from the dead. Finally, for their third wish, the old man wished to not see his son again because he realized that the paw is cursed and it probably wasn't actually Herbert at the door. Personally, I think they should have seen the signs from the beginning and what the soldier was saying. He said to wish wisely and was going to get rid of the paw all together because of what it did to him.
The first short story that I read was the "Monkeys Paw". I thought this story was very interesting and mysterious. There was a lot of spookiness throughout the whole story. In the first part of the story, the author says "the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly" page 1. When reading this, it made me get a really eery vibe and I think this is just the classic horror story setup in most horror stories. In the beginning, the family is happy and they joke around the monkey's paw, but once the first wish is made it flips the family's life upside down. The mother is depressed, the son is dead, and the father is paranoid about the monkey's paw. The wife wants to make a second wish but the husband will not let her. The second quote I decided to use was "two hundred pounds". This is when the man comes and gives them the horrible news about the son dying, but they got what they wished for with the money. This just basically goes to show that you need to be careful with what you wish for and that even though you may wish for something, that it may become entirely different than what you actually had in mind with the wish.
The second story I read was "The Black Cat". This story was about a husband and wife who were very happy and got along well. They had a black cat and they lived happily with it. The man was a really bad drunk and as he started to get older he began to have these dark thoughts and images about things. All of these dark thoughts took over him and one night he decided to cut out the cat's eye. He then decided to go hang the cat up in a tree with a rope around its neck. Later that night the man woke up and the whole house was on fire and the cat walks in, but this cat has a rope around its neck with a white patch on its chest. The weird thing is that this cat also is missing an eye. "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others" page 3. I think what this is saying is that as life goes on, you tend to change as a person, for better or for worse. "For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted." page 9. I think this line is just really disturbing, it doesn't have anything disturbing in it, but he is using the cellar for such wrong reasons and has just become evil at this point because he ended up killing his wife and putting her down there. Emily Wendt and I talked about the stories that we both read and we decided that we both enjoyed "The Monkeys Paw". We thought this because it felt like a typical horror movie. From the start, you knew something bad was going to happen, but I never thought those types of things would end up happening throughout the story. Overall, I thought both stories were good and interesting.
For my first story, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" the plot is very clear and direct. Sherlock's arch-nemesis, the king of all the blackmailers, returns to London trying to swindle some more people. His whole scheme is to buy material from maids, and other service workers of the famous families they work for. Then when the time is right, he highballs them at huge prices back to not release the material he has acquired. The only way he could've gotten into Baker street was through invitation which is where Lady Eva Brackwell comes into play. She told Sherlock about some pretty brash letters she wrote a while ago and Charles exploited this. He asked for 7000 pounds in exchange that her wedding will go on. Obviously, 7000 pounds is a lot of money back in 1899 when this short story took place and it still is a huge sum of money. Sherlock counter offers with 2000 pounds because that's all Eva had on her. Charles than threatened to release even more information on Eva if the 7000 pound total was not paid. He tries to physically get the notebook full of Evas letters but he pulled a gun on them and that was that. They try to burglarize Charles home and immediately in pitch blackness bolts to his study. Unfortanlety Charles was smart enough to stay up that night and wait for them. Lucky enough for sherlock, Charles never looks at the safe and instead invites a former woman he swindled into the study. She ends up shooting him the head and Holmes and Watson starts booking it back to Baker Street. The next morning, Lestrade asks for help on the murder case and eventually just gives up and does it himself. Pretty interesting events happened in this book and I could easily see it be a plot of a crime tv show like CIA or for that matter Sherlock.
The Second Story I picked is Harrison Bergeron. The plot starts out interesting as in this story, it takes place in 2081 and everyone is equal in all facets. Any equality you can think of is achieved in this scenario. The main character Harrison is taken away from his parents when he is 14 but due to his parents being simpletons, they are not fully aware he is taken. His dad George has to wear a radio in his ear 24 hours a day so the government can infiltrate his thought process since he is a person of intelligence. Fast forward in the plot and on the TV they are watching, their son Harrison pops up and he is a huge 7 foot, 300-pound man covered in handicaps like huge glasses to blind him, or a huge steel plate because he is a strong man and I would guess attractive due to them also shaving off his eyebrows. Harrison than storms the studio they were in and claims that he is there Emporer and that everyone must obey him. He takes off all his handicaps and then claims that the first ballerina to stand up will be his empress. A ballerina stands up and Harrison takes off all her handicaps and reveals a stunning woman. Then a lot of odd events persist. They start dancing and conducts the musicians to play there best and they're jumping 30 some feet in the air and they're kissing. But after this Harrison gets shot and life goes back to normal as the people forget what just happened. This was a very interesting take on what equality truly means. Obviously in terms of social issues like gender equality, race oppression, and pay, I think we can all say we are for that. But this story took that and increased it 10 fold by literally making everyone equal in all facets of life. Harrison represents the maverick in a society that heavily resembles an extreme communistic way of living. He shows that being different is ok and should be celebrated instead of taken away from you. Because let's be real if every human in the world was the same, the world would be extremely boring. There would be no culture, languages, sports and no freedom to be the person you want to be. Overall my favorite short story so far.
Part one... The first short story I chose to analyze was "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Stockton. I really only chose to read this because the title sparked an interest in me, it seemed mysterious. As I started reading, I became more intrigued with the theme they chose for the story, I would say that the theme was: All men are given the choice of their own fates. As the story continues, the criminal does not get to decide his fate, he can't choose to die or marry. The story line and theme continues as the author, Stockton, brings the Kings daughter into the story. On page 7, Stockton says, "Her decision has been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation." I perosnally find it interesting that Stockton gave the power to a lady just because of the time period this was written in. Another quote from page 7 is, "But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!" This was her explaining that she did not want her lover to fall in love with this beautiful women that she hated. Over this short story was very good and very interesting, I would recommend The Lady or the Tiger to anyone. The second short story I chose to read was Madame Celestin's Divorce. I chose this story mostly because it says divorce in the title and that is a subject that has always intrigued me on a personal level because of my parents. On page 5, Stockton says, "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." I thought that this line in the story was little weird, it did not fit with the story like I thought it should, it was almost frustrating. I think he is saying this just so she does not divorce him. I called upon Jenna Vis to chat with me, after discussing this short story, we came to the conclusion that we both wanted Madame and Judge to be together. Another quote I want to use is: “A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton." I chose this nice, short and sweet quote because I think that it represent a powerful love; he cares for her a lot, you can tell as time goes on throughout the story. He notices her changed. He became intrigued by his own appearance and started dressing to impress some would say. He wanted a wife and that is why he cared about what he looked like, he wanted her to see someone handsome and worthy that would care for her deep down.
The two short stories I read were Ursula Le Guin's, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and W.W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw". I first read Le Guin's short story, which was written in 1974. I enjoyed "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". I found this story to be quite interesting. On page 1, Le Guin starts off with the people of Omelas having a grand and happy time at the Festival of Summer. But, the whole town does not get to enjoy the festival. There is one young boy that is locked in his basement. This young boy is forced to live in misery so the rest of the citizens of Omelas can live in happiness. Some citizens decide to leave the city. On the bottom of page 8, one of the last quotes of the books, I found that “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” people who leave the city are making the choice to leave because they do not want to be apart of a city that thrives on children suffering. They may have been living a happy life, but those people left because they were living happily because of the wrong reasons. The second short story I read was, "The Monkey's Paw", by W.W. Jacobs. I remember reading this story back in middle school and really enjoyed it so I decided to read it again. I remember I liked this story due to its mystery. A soldier comes in contact with this mysterious monkey's paw and becomes curious. He learns the history of the paw and still wants to keep it. On page 3 the story states that the history of the paw is grim. Page three states, The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." I found this part to be quite interesting because I found it mysterious and kind of suspenseful. With the monkey's paw, the soldier is granted three wishes. The first, he wishes for 200 pounds; he is granted. His second wish is not as great and quite grotesque. The father makes the third and final wish for his son to return. We never know if the son actually returns because on page 13, the story ends with, "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road". Thr story ends with no real disclosure and for sure ending which adds the the mystery of the story. A reader can infer in their mind what happened with the third wish.
The first short story "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I liked reading the story, it made me feel emotional for her situation and I was attached so much that I wished she would be able to do what she wished–get a divorce. Some of the dialogue was a bit hard to understand, but that was because of the interpretation of the accents/language. I didn't like how obviously everyone knew what was happening with her, that she was alone taking care of the kids for six months and he was gone with his drinking problem. But, that didn't stop everyone from butting in and telling her that it would be a disgrace for her to divorce him, she said, "they all plumb agains' divorce," (pg. 3). Sophie and I were talking about this story, and we both had our opinions about how the story ended and how she went back to her husband in the end because he said he would "turn ova a new leaf" (pg. 5).
The second story I read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. Basically, it is about a married couple who is living fine with a black cat. The husband has a drinking problem and he started to think of harmful things. He had scary dreams about the cat and the visions and urges he had come true. What I know about Poe is that he was like this character in real life. He had a drinking problem and often thought of dark images, just like the guy in this story. It kind of reminds me of Yann Martel, in the way that he includes himself in the stories or a character that is similar to himself. The story, to me, didn't seem to have much meaning. If it did, I obviously have not looked deep enough to find it. It just seems like another creepy story that is meant to disturb the reader.
React to the stories, mentioning 2 different page numbers and direct quotes for each story in your analysis
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. I thought this was a brilliantly executed story. However, it was frustrating that the person who gave the family the monkey’s paw did not further warn them. He was very vague which makes me want to blame him for not warning them. He knew the consequences and he understood how tragic they can be yet he said nothing. That was really frustrating. The tv show Supernatural did a similar bit where I bet the “monkey’s paw” was inspiration so I wish I was reading something like this for the very first time. However, maybe all the foreshadowing made it obvious to anyone what is about to happen. I found it interesting that the introduction shows that this family is smart and well-mannered. They appear to not be starving and perhaps are even highly educated. When Jacobs describes the chess game and describes the boy “who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils” (page 1) this proves that they are intelligent. In this quote as well, the words “unnecessary perils” grabs your attention. This is an obvious foreshadow when the man wishes for money yet just stated before that “it seems to me I've got all I want” (5). Perhaps this is the tragedy of it all. The family was doing well they were not starving the son had a job and they were content at the very least. The ignorance and greed of mankind for always wanting more or the curiosity and child-like wonder of fairy tales and wishes driving their ambitions.
The next story I read was "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” by Doyle. I did not enjoy this story as much as the first but it still had great qualities. For instance, I really loved the description and dialogue. Sometimes, the dialogue was too lengthy and I think the reader has the potential to lose focus of the point. I loved how the introduction was a little bit of a mystery. To me, I read it as a play which made the story more entertaining. Throughout the whole novel, I read in my mind the very question that was asked: "but who is he?" (page 2). Even though the answer of this question I still wanted to know who could always be “prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of wealth and position” and “will hold a card back for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning” (page 2). I have read or watched a movie about Sherlock Holmes, yet this story made me more intrigued. I think too many characters in movies and books are based on Sherlock Holmes or have similar characteristics that reading or watching him would seem cliché, similar to reading Romeo and Juliet at a late age. Reading Romeo and Juliet even my freshman year felt cliché, however, I had to remind myself that I was reading the source of all of those clichés.
Call a classmate and chat a bit about the stories, then agree with a classmate’s idea in the Flipgrid video
A classmate and I agreed that we have never seen anything that is Sherlock Holmes related and that it was interesting. She also made a connection with the Monkey’s Paw to the same Supernatural episode. We both enjoy the Monkey’s Paw the best and that it was a very quick read. She liked the ending better than I did. I wanted more to the story and ending. We came to the conclusion that the dad probably wished the son away. Whether it was through death or just going away. I wanted to know more about the story about what happened next and did the mother figure the father for the son disappearing after he knocked on the door.
The first short story that I read was The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin. At the beginning of the story, there's a beautiful festival in a town later to be made known as a perfect town of everyone being happy. Shortly after this is known the story takes a turn to say a young boy the age of 10 is left in a closet for his whole life. He is only fed a half bowl of cornmeal and grease. The town’s happiness is said to be because of the sacrifice of this young boy, this is known by the town and the townspeople are forced to look at the boy live in malnourishment and torture. If the kid is let free from his misery the town of Omela will no longer be filled with happiness but will fall. On page 2 and onto 3 there was a quote stating, “But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” This shows that even if they are happy they are not because of morality. There is more to happiness than the feeling it gives someone. It asks at what cost is happiness given and is that cost worth the feeling. A quote from page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives.” I find this to show that the people of Omela are not as happy as they think, they may feel happy but that is not how they really are. If they are living at the cost of another boy’s happiness why are they happy at all. I agreed with Alexis that the town of Omelas is widely based on the superstition of the boy being tortured, and the town was not actually happy.
Another story that I had read was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestin's Divorce". I found this short story enjoyable because I thought it was a relatable topic and something that still happens today. This story is about a young woman that works very hard to support herself and her children while her husband is gone and nonpresent. On page 1, Lawyer Paxton says to Madame Celestin that she is "working her fingers off... taking in sewing; giving music lessons; doing God knows what in the way of manual labor to support yourself and those little ones". This shows the reader that she does so much to support her family while her husband is no help whatsoever. Throughout the story, Paxton talks to Madame Celestin and listens to her troubles. As he continues to see her each day, I believe he begins to fall in love with her. On page 4, it states that he dreams of running away with her and them living happily outside of Natchitoches. As he continues listening to her problems with her husband, he suggests that she get a divorce. As I read this, I thought "YES! She needs this. She needs to get out of this awful marriage." I was getting excited as she continued to talk about her plans to divorce her husband. While many people were against this, including her mother, she still wanted to get the divorce. While her mother believed that this would cause disgrace to her family, Paxton convinced her that her happiness should be above what her family thinks. Unfortunately, at the very end of the story, Madame decides to stay with her husband. Paxton comes back ad Madame tells Paxton that she decided to stay with him because he came back and said that he would change. On page 5, she tells Paxton, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he's promised me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This was very upsetting, as the reader can see that this situation will likely continue to happen over and over again. This story shows how a woman feels stuck due to what other people think. I think, in the end, that she decided to stay with her husband because she didn't want others to look down on her. Sadly, this is a problem that we still face now in society. Many people feel stuck in their lives and believe they are unable to change due to other people's opinions.
I read two short stories; one by Ursula Le Guin's, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and W.W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw". The first story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. I found this story to be very interesting and intriguing due to it's mysteriousness and suspenseful nature. I felt like there was no way to know the ending until I actually reached it. We read this story in middle school. I did not quite understand this story back in middle school but I do remember reading it and I wanted to read it again to try and better understand it. What I came up with was that a soldier found this monkey's paw. He once found out the history and how the previous man ended up dead after the third wish. On page three you can find, "The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." The first wish was for 200 hundred pounds, which he was granted. His second wish was much more grotesque. His father takes the third wish and wishes for his sons return. We do not actually know if the boy returns. But, on page 13, "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road". This is how the story ends with no actually complete closure which adds to the mystery of the story.
The second story I read was Ursala Le Guin's " The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". On page 1, the story starts with the citizens of Omelas having a happy time at the Festival of Summer. The story goes on to state that there is a boy that is locked in a basement. This boy spend his life in misery so the rest of the town can spend their time happily. Some citizens decide to leave the town of Omelas because of this. These people do not want to spend their time happily if it is for the wrong reasons and especially if children are being hurt and have to be in misery. On page 8 and into page 9, the story states, “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” These people lead because they do not want to spend their lives happily at the expense of others misery. I thought this book was very interesting to say the least.
"Harrison Bergeron" is a story about equality written in a time where equality was a hot topic: the 1960s. In the story, the year is 2081 and the US government had finally achieved true equality in all of its citizens. At first glance, true equality sounds like a dream, a utopia. But the story goes on to explain that the way this perfect equality is achieved is by handicapping everyone, essentially sundering one's talents and good qualities. If a person is stronger or faster than a set "normal," that person is weighed down by bags full of heavy metal. If a person is smarter than "normal," that person is given an earpiece that plays harsh noises to distract his/her thoughts. If a person is more attractive, that person is given a mask. Glasses are also available that serve a dual purpose: blur a person's vision to distract thoughts and make that person look worse. At the end of page 1, the story's plot begins with George and Hazel Bergeron watching a television program about ballerinas. Hazel had tears on her cheeks as a result of something that had just been on the program, but "she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about." Later on in the story on page 7, George and Hazel's brilliant son Harrison Bergeron bursts into the ballerina studio but is then shot and killed by the Handicapper General. The story then ends with George saying "'You been crying'" to Hazel, and that she should just "'Forget sad things.'" Since Hazel has a very poor memory, it is possible that she was crying about the death of her son at the very beginning and the story is a flashback. I feel that this story is a warning about what could happen if society tries to achieve perfect equality. The "Freedom Capital of the World" has become extremely totalitarian and harsh. Everyone is painfully average and no one is allowed to have any free-thinking ability, not even enough to remember something extremely important, like the death of a family member. "Harrison Bergeron" is a warning to everyone to "stay up" and not become mindless sheep, similar to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Story 2- "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs "The Monkey's Paw is another warning in the form of a story, this time representing the classic phrase "Be careful what you wish for." The story begins with a game of chess. Mr. White, along with his wife and his son, Herbert, are waiting for a visitor to come to their house. The visitor is Sergeant-Major Morris, an old army-man who came to tell the family stories of his travels and experiences in exotic India. Mr. White eventually inquires about an old monkey's paw that can supposedly grant wishes that Morris had mentioned earlier to him. Morris shows it to them, but decides that it is best used as fuel for the blazing fireplace. Mr. White saves the paw, and, with reluctance, Morris lets him keep it, warning the family of the consequences of wishing on it. Seargent-Major Morris then leaves. On page 5, Herbert mentions to his father, "'If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy, wouldn't you?' ... 'Well, wish for two hundred pounds then; that'll just do it.'" Mr. White wishes for the money, the paw moves in his hand, but he is disappointed to see that there is no money. The next day, the family figures that the myth of the paw is just a hoax and Mrs. White can't believe ""The idea of [the family's] listening to such nonsense!'" Herbert then goes to work. Later in the day, a well-dressed man reluctantly approaches the White's house. When Mrs. White lets him in the house, he says he is a representative for the company Herbert works for, 'Maw and Meggins. The Whites realize Herbert is dead and the man has come to grant them compensation, a sum of 200 pounds. Mrs. White shrieks and Mr. White faints at the realization that the wish has come true. A quick funeral happens for Herbert. 10 days later, Mrs. White gets the idea to use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Mr. White uses his second wish for Herbert back to come back to life but regrets his decision when harsh knocking comes at the front door. Mr. white realizes that whatever is at the door is not the Herbert they knew, and he uses his last wish on something. The knocking then abruptly stops with Jacobs' story, in the middle of page 13, the most unlucky number. My guess is that Mr. White's last wish was for the thing at the door to go away. However, Mr. White does so at an unknown consequence, meaning the punishment for the wish is that the thing may come back. Poe's warning through the Monkey's Paw is don't tempt Fate and don't play God or you will be punished, though it is less applicable than "Harrison Bergeron" because of the fantastic element of wishing.
77 comments:
The two stories that I read were the Lady or the Tiger and Madame Celestin's Divorce. I actually enjoyed reading these two stories because others I find not to be that interesting. Quote one- Page 5 "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This line frustrated me more than I thought it would. To me, I don’t think he is actually going to turn a new leaf. I believe that he is just saying this so she doesn’t divorce him. I called Jenna to discuss this story and we both agreed that we wish that Madame Celestin ended up with Judge. He seemed to actually care for her over this time period in the story. Every day, he walked by and would talk to her. He truly cared for her. I also loved this quote. Quote two- Page 4 “A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton. He discarded his work-day coat and began to wear his Sunday one to the office. He grew solicitous as to the shine of his boots, his collar, and the set of his tie. He brushed and trimmed his whiskers with a care that had not before been apparent. Then he fell into a stupid habit of dreaming as he walked the streets of the old town. It would be very good to take unto himself a wife, he dreamed.” This truly showed that he cared about his appearance to her. He wanted her to see a handsome man that cares for her deep down and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. He would take care of her and her children, unlike Celestin, did while they were married.
The Lady or the Tiger was extremely fascinating to me. I love the suspense of the story and I was not expecting it to end with us choosing which came out. I overall believe that the tiger came out of the door. Quote one- Page 7 "But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!" This quote from the story shows that she would be extremely jealous if he ended up marrying the lady. The lady is one of the finest she mentioned and this would pain her to see her lover fall in love with another woman that she hated. I believe that she would overall rather see him killed before witnessing this. Jenna also agrees with this statement. She thought that the princess would rather live with the fact that he died besides living with the fact that he is in love with someone else. She would know that he died loving her. She is pretty much being greedy. Quote 2- Page 6 “When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as she sat there, paler and whiter than anyone in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady.” With thinking that the princess had him open up the door with the tiger, I feel sad for him. He left all of his trust with her to believe that she would choose the lady in order to keep him alive. I believe that when he would've opened the door, he would have felt deceived. She stabbed him in the back because of her greedy feelings. Other students could think that she would've saved him but by looking at how her father is, I believe that some of her actions come from her father.
The two stories I read were Le Guin "The ones who walk away from Omelas," and Chapin "Madame Celestin's Divorce." I liked both stories.
The first one I am going to focus on is "The ones who walk away from Omelas." I really liked this story because it was something you couldn't imagine. Where we grow up, nothing like this would ever take place. This makes us have to use our imagination a little bit more to picture the events that are taking place. On page six he says, "They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there." This is crazy to me because I could not imagine knowing a little person was suffering let alone go and visit. It is a different kind of cruelty when no one stands up for someone who can't otherwise defend themselves. On page eight he says, "They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back." This is confusing to me. He is talking about the people that go to visit this little kid, and they get disturbed. They leave Omelas and walk through the beautiful gates and go somewhere no one seems to know. The author of the story, to me, makes it seem like this is a bad thing, and that staying was a better option. I personally do not agree with that.
The second story I am focusing on today is "Madame Celestine's Divorce." I did not expect this story to end the way it did, and I am sad about the ending. This, however, was a very good story. On page three Madame Celestine says, "Well, I'll go, judge, to please Maman. But all the confessor' in the worl' aren't goin' make me put up with that conduc' of Celestin any longer." This is the part I thought Madame Celestine was set on leaving. She sounded like she was sick of dealing with what her husband was putting her through. I was rooting for her to end up with the Lawyer because he seemed like he would treat her way better than her husband was. However, on page five she comes to say, "Celestin came home las' night and he promised he'll turn a new leaf." I can not believe it. I did not expect this to happen, but it did and she's not leaving her crazy husband. This makes me mad a little bit because I don't think that her husband will ever change. It makes me sad that she has to go through what she is and that the lawyer, although he tried, he couldn't help her out.
Both really good stories that kept me entertained the whole way through. They weren't about the same things, but maybe has a similar theme of being stuck. Madame Celestine is stuck feeling lost in her relationship with her husband, and she is trapped because she doesn't want to get a divorce. The little boy or girl in the first story is trapped in the basement of one of the Omelas homes. He is physically trapped only getting enough care to survive another day. No one is trying to help him out of this fate, and he is lonely and abandoned. So, even though the stories are nothing alike, I believe they have a common theme.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was the first story that caught my eye because of the vague title given by Author Ambrose Bierce. This engaged me right away and made me want to explore more about this occurrence. Bierce’s tale is a 3 section story with Section 1 being an introductory opening scene at the execution site, Section 2 being a flashback, and section 3 being the fast-paced conclusion. There is some great use of literary devices in Section 1, especially on page 3 when Bierce uses a simile stating, “A sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil.” Another great quote on page 3 was, “The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency, the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.” The ticking of his watch, in this case, would be his death, and with his death approaching Farquah is doing whatever is in his power to get away from it.
There were two recurring themes that I found while reading: Escaping death and foreshadowing. Just like us humans, we will do anything to escape the dangers of death. No different here, Farquahar is trying to escape the harsh reality that his death will soon be upon him. Foreshadowing is another way that Bierce uses literary devices in his writing. On pages 1 and 2, Bierce states, “a single company of infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock.” This quote is shockingly similar to the quote he uses when Farquahar is “escaping” leading me to believe that Faruqahar was in the hands of the soldiers all throughout. I talked with fellow classmate Cole Sylliaasen and he said the common theme that he saw was how time impacted the story. Time really slowed down and sped up at times throughout the story. The story was really sped up, but when Farquahar was hallucinating before his execution, the readers were able to see every little detail as if time had slowed down.
The second short story that I had the opportunity to read was The Ones Who Walked Away from the Omelas. This story was a little easier to comprehend. The story begins with the people of Omelas celebrating the summer festival. But, one little kid has been locked in the basement and forced to live in misery, just so the rest of Omelas can live in happiness. On pages 6 and 7, Le Guin states, “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery.” This quote shows how some of the people of Omelas accept the fact of the child's misery but others choose the daunting path and move away from Omelas for the better case of the child. The beautiful city that they live in all comes down to the child suffering. Their friends, their health, wisdom, and their full skill sets are dependent on the child's misery.
The second quote I found was on pages 8 and 9 and states, “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” This quote brought forth a theme of individualism. The people that are leaving the city are rejecting the city’s happiness and morally thinking about the correct decision to disengage from a society that is based on a child’s suffering. They might be leaving a good city and society, but the people of the Omelas were living happy because of the wrong reasons.
The stories I read were "Harrison Bergeron" by Vonnegut and "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I definitely liked Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" story more than Chopin's short story. However, I still enjoyed them both to a certain degree. "Madame Celestin's Divorce" is set in Louisiana where a woman is laboring to take care of her kids and herself alone. Her husband left her and she is now seeing a Lawyer named Praxton weekly about it. She describes his behavior and her thoughts on the matter through their meetings. Madame Celestin is starting to favor following through with the divorce, even though she said, "I've been talking to my family and friends... and they all plumb against the divorce." I believe this is foreshadowing for what is to come. Throughout the meetings, Lawyer Praxton begins to become more fond of Madame Celestin. The story explains his thoughts saying, "It would be very good to take unto himself a wife... And he could dream of Madame Celestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts, now." This is said before he is about to see Celestin for their last meeting. She reveals that her husband had returned and that she no longer wants a divorce. Every reader is disappointed in her decision, considering what we know about the husband and what Celestin does not know about Lawyer Praxton. Celestin says, "...he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This is ironic because this is how many relationships end up, and she was trying to get him back because she was desperate and Lawyer Praxton would have filled that position as a good husband and father. That is the dramatic irony that made this story good.
I found "Harrison Bergeron" much more interesting. This story is set in 2081, and George and Hazel are the main characters as well as the father and mother of Harrison Bergeron. In a society where everyone is "equal", Harrison Bergeron is frowned upon. He is incredibly strong, athletic, good-looking, and genius, otherwise known as a threat to the society he is born into. Anyone who has something about them that gives them an advantage in some way is given handicaps. Most people have accepted that this is the way things should be. George says, "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me." George talks about the dark ages of when people were competing against each other. Essentially, handicaps make everyone dumb, ugly, and weak. They are watching TV when breaking news appears and shows a reporter that has a bad stutter when he cannot get the words out, one of the ballerinas has to do the broadcast. Hazel says, "At least he tried that's all that matters. He should get a raise for trying so hard." This showcases her stupidity. I believe it is the same thing as a participation trophy, which is pointless. This story could very easily be a political statement, but I prefer not to voice my opinion on it. The breaking news is Harrison has escaped and he rips the door off the hinges and walks up to the stage. He gives a speech on how broken their society is and then says there is a bomb underneath the theater. He picks a ballerina and takes off her mask and you can see that some agree with him including the ballerina. After a while, he is shot and killed by the Handicapper General. Harrison is absolutely a Jesus figure as he preached to the people against the will of the Government and died knowing he did. Hazel has watched this whole thing happen. When George comes back into the room he sees that Hazel has been weeping but she cannot remember why. This society doesn't understand equality. Obviously, everyone is different and their skills should be practiced and celebrated.
The first short story I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I gravitated towards this story because Chopin appeared to be the only female writer from the list, and I was curious to see what she had to say. The short opens up by describing Madame Celestin, who appears to be a very pretty woman. She is characterized as wearing fine, elegant clothes. The first line on pg. 1 reads, "Madame Celestin always wore a neat and snugly fitting calico wrapper when she went out in the morning to sweep her small gallery." Her outfits always have bows or frills, and she seems to be used to owning nice things.
We meet Lawyer Paxton shortly after and he's exactly as many lawyers are stereotyped in literature or television: put together, well-spoken, and maybe a little manipulative. He's pressing Celestin to get a divorce with her husband and is really the first one to interject those ideas into her head, but is definitely not doing it out of benevolence or in her best intentions at mind...he's got his plans with this.
We're not given a specific setting per say, but pg.3 mentions "the community of Creoles-" which is a mixture of black and European descent, but is also a major part of New Orleans culture and music...so I would say that they're definitely somewhere in Louisiana. Their dialogue and French/Portuguese slang here and there really reaffirms this.
I enjoyed this story! I thought it was a nice, easy read, but I finished it feeling there was a lot more that needed to be said. The people that I spoke with about this story that it just ended rather abruptly.
The second story I read was "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton. The beginning goes into detail about a "semi-barbaric king." He's very fancy and self-assured, but as far as primal needs come, he's a simple man. The king builds an arena to "widen and develop the mental energies of people" and for all intents and purposes, it's an ancient-day courtroom. The details of the arena reminded me of a lot of Ancient Rome's colosseum and its barbaric nature.
The second pg. goes into detail about this door system he has designed, where one door leads to instant death by being torn to pieces, and the other forces you to get married--regardless if you already have a family.
The area becomes popular with the king's people and pg. 3 talks about how "When people gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding." The author continues by speaking of the king's daughter, and how she's the apple of his eye.
The princess's boyfriend ends up in the arena and the girl that's supposed to emerge from the "innocent door" is rather striking, which leads to the daughter becoming extremely jealous. She knows which door contains the tiger and which has the girl, and the boyfriend asks which door he should enter with his eyes. Seeing as she's slightly unstable and very upset, the author closes by turning the question on the audience and asking if you believe she led him to his death or not. Our answers will tell us a lot of human nature.
Over the past week, I have been reading the fifteen short stories in the literature folder. Today I am going to analyze two. “An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce” and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. The first short story An “Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is about a southern farmer who is being hanged by Union soldiers. Peyton Farquhar is a southern farmer who is captured by Union soldiers after he attempts to destroy the destruction of Union railroads. Peyton Farquhar is taken to the Owl Creek Bridge to be hanged. Just before Peyton Farquhar is hanged he begins to think of his family and how he wants to see them again. In the process of falling, Peyton Farquhar feels the rope around his neck snap. He plummets into the stream below. He tries to loosen the rope around his neck and hands as the current takes him downstream. Getting shot at by the Union soldiers as he struggles downstream. After swimming to shore he begins his home walking throughout the night. Arriving he sees his wife and goes to hug her. Just as he is about to hug her he feels a sharp pain in his neck as the slack in the rope disappears. The author Ambrose Bierce lived from 1842-1914 and fought in the Civil War. Ambrose was fascinated with war and often wrote about the trauma of his own experiences during the war. Ambrose is trying to put us into the mindset of a man being condemned to death. Talking to my fellow classmate Ethan Kjenstad we both came to the conclusion that Ambrose wants us to question what people think about during their last moments? I think this is shown to us when Peyton Farquhar is trying to zone out “He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality”. The second short story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is about a futuristic society set in the year 2081 where everyone is equal. Where people’s gifts become handicapped in order to keep everyone equal such as intelligence, athleticness, and beauty. The story involves a couple, George and Hazel’s. George wears headphones that shock him every so often to dull his intelligence and weights to halt his athletic ability. Hazel is not smart, pretty, nor athletic as she wears no handicaps. Their son Harrison is much like his father wearing weights and headphones in order to handicap him. Harrison is incarcerated for defying the government by removing his handicaps. George is watching dance on the television when an image of his son appears on the screen saying he has escaped and not to reason with him. George realizes it's his son just as he gets sent a shock through his headset then leaves to get a beer. Harrison appeared on the stage screaming “I am the Emperor” and demanded the ballerinas and musicians to remove their handicaps and perform their best. Harrison dances on the screen while his mother watches on the television. When the Government leader Diana Moon Glampers storms in with other officials and shoots Harrison. George comes back to Hazel crying but she can’t remember what she is crying about. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut is trying to show us that total equality is not something we want. But instead we should push for equal rights and opportunities as total equality translates to forced equality. I think this is shown when it says “They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else”.
The first story that I chose to analyze was “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, by Ambrose Bierce, which was written in 1890. The first thing that stuck out to me was the pace that the story started off with and it starts off with a flashback to a critical event and it also provides the reader with great information that we are on a Railroad Bridge in Northern Alabama. So that critical event that the story starts off with is the execution of a man by the union army. The description of the execution is quite descriptive which makes you think that you are actually right there about to visualize this event,” The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees.” Also in the first section, Farquar imagines himself escaping the execution. This story is told in three separate parts first being the introduction where we find out what is all going on, next the second section is a flashback, and lastly is a rapidly paced conclusion. In the second section, we found out the background on the information on Farquar. One detail is that Farquar is sitting with his wife at their home and he is a quite successful planter. Then in the final section of the story that takes place, we are thrown forward where the execution is taking place and he eventually escapes and makes it back to his front steps but then this is what happens,” As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence!” Then the story ends with Farquar and his broken neck swinging from the Owl Creek Bridge. I called my good buddy Thomas and we read the same two stories and for this first story, he found two recurring themes that proved to be evident to him. Those two themes that were apparent to him were escaping death and foreshadowing. Also, he noticed the other theme of reality vs imagination and what the true outcome of the story is actually taking place. Then for the other side of things when Thomas called me I mostly talked about time and the way that the tempo changed throughout the story and the impact that it had on the way that the story proceeded to take place. Time would speed up and slow down, and those differences became evident with the section with the execution and how time really slowed down when that part was taking place. Then when the ending came around the tempo was dramatically increased and it was a completely different pace than prior. We talked about other items that were involved with the first story, but the items that I listed were the most productive.
Then the second story that I thought would be a good one to examine and study would be Ursula Le Guin “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” which was written in 1974. This starts with the celebration of a festival and she writes in great detail at the festival. But then Guin hits the listener with an interesting part which is that there is a little boy that has been locked inside without any windows in it and this kid is abused, frightened and malnourished. But the perfect system that the Omelas live in is very dependent on the suffering of that one child that is being locked up. We also learn that if this kid is let free the Omelas world is going to crumble down. A really interesting quote is found on page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free.” The Omelas are living their beautiful life but it is at a cost that is not right so they are living their life for the wrong reasons.
The first story that I read was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. I chose it because, for whatever reason, the title caught my eye. At first, I wasn't a big fan because I felt it was hard to follow. But as it picked up, I could not stop reading. I think the story does a very good job of giving us background information and giving a good, solid setting. The story takes place in Alabama during the civil war. The story starts on a railroad bridge, but we don't know why he's being hung. Later we figure out it is because the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, was trying to sabotage the Yankees advance of repairing the railroads to make another advance on the Confederates. Peyton finds this out when a Confederate soldier road up to him and his wife and asked for water, while his wife gets it they talk about the bridge. The soldier informs Peyton that saboteurs of the bridge will be hung. At the end of page 4, beginning of page 5, it says, "The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order." Peyton knew the consequences but ignored them out of love for the Confederates. The next bit talks vividly about what he goes through while he is hanging, he escapes and makes it back to his wife. We later find out that it was all made up when Peyton embraces his wife and Bierce says on page 11 and 12, "As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." Even though Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner and a Confederate, I found myself sad when I found out he died. I couldn't help but cheer for his escape while he was running from the soldiers in his imagination. Overall I really enjoyed this story, way more then I thought I would.
The second story I read was "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton. This story takes place a long time ago in a kingdom with a very barbaric king. In this kingdom, when a subject is accused of a crime, there is no trial, no hearing, no witnesses, none of that. But instead 2 doors. 2 doors with 2 very different things behind them. Behind one, a starving tiger ready to maul you to death and tear you apart as soon as you open it. Behind the other, a lovely woman ready to be wedded whether you wanted to be married or not. On page 3, it says, "It mattered not that he might already possess a wife and family, or that his affections might be engaged upon an object of his own selection; the king allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme of retribution and reward." The king would not take no for an answer no matter what. The king's daughter, who is described in great detail on page 3, when Stockton says, "This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies." She meets this guy and begins to fall in love, the King does not like this so he sends him to the arena with the 2 doors. Instead of bowing to the King, the man looks at the princess, asking for help as to which door to choose. The princess knows what is behind what door but is faced with a problem. The girl behind the door is a girl that she has seen the guy talking to and the princess hates this girl and suspects that they like each other. The story does not tell us which one she chooses but instead talks about her motives. I talked to Jackson about it and we agree that the princess shouldn't have jumped to conclusions just because she dislikes the woman, she has no real proof and should give the man the benefit of the doubt. Overall, I enjoyed both of these stories.
The first short story that I read was, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin. At the beginning of the story there's a beautiful festival in a town later to be made known as a perfect town of everyone being happy. Shortly after this is known the story takes a turn to say a young boy the age of 10 is left in a closet for his whole life. He is only fed a half bowl of cornmeal and grease. The town’s happiness is said to be because of the sacrifice of this young boy, this is known by the town and the townspeople are forced to look at the boy live in malnourishment and torture. If the kid is let free from his misery the town of Omela will no longer be filled with happiness, but will fall. On page 2 and onto 3 there was a quote stating, “But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” This shows that even if they are happy they are not because of morality. There is more to happiness than the feeling it gives someone. It asks at what cost is happiness given, and is that cost worth the feeling. A quote from page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives.” I find this to show that the people of Omela are not as happy as they think, they may feel happy but that is not how they really are. If they are living at the cost of another boy’s happiness why are they happy at all. I agreed with Alexis that the town of Omelas is widely based on superstition of the boy being tortured, and the town was not actually happy.
The second story that I read was Madame Celestin's Divorce, by Kate Chopin. In the beginning of the story it is made clear that Madame is not in a relationship that she wants to be in with her husband. She wants to have a divorce, but in this time period it is obviously frowned upon. On Page 2 there is a quote from Lawyer Paxton, “a man that drinks — w'at can you expec'? An' if you would know the promises he has made me! Ah, if I had as many dolla' as I had promise from Célestin, I would n' have to work..” This quote shows the way Celestin is viewed by other characters in the story. However this is not the view from everyone. Madame argues with her family about the problems with getting a divorce, and it seems like the only one in support of this divorce is the Judge. The Judge begins to fall in love with Madame over time. He talks abotu how he begins to dream about her, I think this means that he is daydreaming about being with her. He talked about how beautiful she is earlier in the story. After he comes to the conclusion he wants to be with her, he later sees her. She is described as being different now. Then she tells the Judge. "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This being the final line of the short story has importance in my mind. I think by leaving the story as it gives the reader’s mind room to make their own ending. I think that this is foreshadowing for what is to come later in life and teaches a lesson. I think that this will continue to happen over and over again throughout their life. Celestine will say he is changing but never truly will. Because Madame is too afraid to be seen negatively by outside sources, she will never leave him or go through with the divorce. I talked with Alexis Banworth on the phone, and we agreed that Madame wants freedom from Celestine but is too worried of what is thought of her to go through with it.
The first story I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. The beginning of the story is not so different than the way divorces and some marriages are today. It is not uncommon to hear of a husband or wife miss treating and abandoning their significant other in today's day and age. On page two it says that "he has practically deserted you; fails to support you. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to lean that he has ill-treated you." If this quote was taken out of this story that was written in 1893 and placed in a modern magazine or show, it would be a completely realistic and relatable statement. While the story progressed the final ending and outcome of the story was also not that much of a surprise to me. I have been friends with a few people who have had parents go through a divorce and the end of this story matches up with some of the events they described to me. In the end, Madame Célestin told the lawyer to no longer worry about divorce because she and her husband were going to work it out. In the very last paragraph on page five, Madame Célestin was described as "making deep rings in the palm of her gloved hand with the end of the broom handle and looking at them critically. Her faces seemed... to be unusually rosy." This sudden change in appearance and behavior could be the result of either further mistreatment or her believing that everything will be okay with her husband. He promised that he would stay, and they would move past all of this. When discussing the story we concluded that the "judge" eventually fell in love with madame Celestin. He started to change the way he dressed and acted. He became invested in her well being and her divorce status. It seemed that he even started to try to push the divorce as well. Overall, I felt that this story was sad yet extremely relatable in modern times. This is not an uncommon event that happens in today's day and age.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by WW Jacobs. Back in middle school, I remember reading this story. I know that we did not study it deeply, and I forgot how the story went. I wanted to study it more in-depth this time. The beginning of the story began with a mysterious theme. The introduction of the weather and the mysterious characters started by providing me with the curiosity of the upcoming events. When the soldier first mentions the monkey's paw and tries to throw it into the fire my attention was immediately grabbed. Why would the soldier remain so calm about the paw even after knowing that on page 3 "The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." Personally, after finding out about the history of an object like that, I would not want to own it, but the soldier does. When the husband wished for two hundred pounds, I was shocked to hear what the paw granted. Herbert was caught in the machines and the company offered the family two hundred pounds as compensation. When it came to the second wish I wasn't surprised to see that it was also grotesque. The shocking part of the story was that the father made a final wish. We never got to know if the son came back or not because before the wife could open the door, the father wished again. The ending scene of the story on page 13 concluded by "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road." This lack of closure and increased mystery fits perfectly with the whole horror theme of the story. We do not know if the son was alive again at the end of the story or not, or if it was just a rat or the wind. During my discussion, the question was brought up about why did the soldier let the man have the paw? I think that the man knew more about the paw then he was letting on, or he was afraid of it. We both agreed that there was something fishy going on with the paw's previous owner.
Part One
The first story that really caught my eye was Madame Celestin’s Divorce by Kate Chopin. I thought that this story would be interesting and it intrigued me just from the use of ‘Madame’ and ‘Divorce’ in the same sentence in the title. The use of Madame has more of a formal, hierarchy ring to it than Misses or Ma’am; having a formal person going through a divorce sounds extravagant and intriguing. I noticed right away in the first paragraph on the first page how Lawyer Paxton was describing her as sort of unique and beautiful, but mostly when she wore gray—which sounds very odd, for gray is not usually considered as a unique and beautiful color. The only other color he mentioned was the pink ribbon tied in a bow around her neck—which I thought would play more into the story later on. I pictured this as a bound from her freedom. To further explain, I believe that the pink symbolizes weakness in her story because she cannot speak up for herself and that all she can do is sit around a look pretty as a porcelain doll. In the second paragraph on page one, I noticed the word ‘rose’ or ‘rosy’ a few times. Mentioning her rosebushes and how everyone wanted to see them and her rosy fingernails. I think this ‘rosiness’ might be a symbol of like prostitution in a way. This might be a stretch; however, the Lawyer mentions this specific color multiple times when observing her. He even mentions that “Sometimes he stopped and leaned over the fence to say good-morning at his ease; to criticize or admire her rose bushes”. How Lawyer Paxton mentions both criticizing and admiring as in a way to objectify a woman and make her feel bad or good about herself. Later on in this story, we hear about how Lawyer Paxton feels about Madame Celestin and how he keeps pushing her to file for divorce against her absent husband. With this in mind, we see that the divorce idea is not Madame’s, but a man that is in love with her appearance and trying to get her for himself. In the last paragraph, Madame’s husband returns and before she mentions this, Lawyer Paxton talks about how her cheeks are unusually rosy (representing shame or embarrassment) and how that he thought it was from the pink ribbon—which would not make sense because she wore that bow when he first talked about her and now. Overall, I believe that viewing this short story through a feminist lens—like how Calista and Megan did—really helped me see that Madame Celestin really had no power and everything she did was controlled by men in her life, even her name. We never learned her real name in the story, just the wife of Celestin.
Part Two
The second story I was really drawn into was An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. This story started out kind of confusing with the different parts; however, when I reread it, I saw the symbols and connections right away from the beginning. The point of view in the first part makes the man being hanged (Peyton Farquhar) sound like a simple, elegant man that does not deserve his punishment. On page two, paragraph two, Bierce explains Farquhar as “about thirty-five years of age… a civilian… a planter. His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray… Evidently, this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and no gentlemen are excluded.” In this passage, we see that Farquhar is a civilian who seems to look nothing like a murderer or assassin and makes him out to sound like the soldiers are the bad guys. The color of his eyes (I realized) comes into play later in the story. In part two, the point of view is through Peyton’s eyes, where we realize that he is a slave owner and that the Union soldiers were on the bridge about to execute him. In part three—when Peyton is being dropped from the bridge— I realized right away that he had died and everything after was his ‘life review’ and how he mentions on page eight, paragraph two that “it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest and that all famous marksmen had them.” I remembered when they mentioned how Peyton himself had grey eyes and it would make sense to have the soldier shooting at him in his vision to have the same color of eyes as himself. Another evident sign was when Peyton is explaining how he is swimming towards that light right after he was hung from the bridge. On page six, paragraph one, Bierce writes this as “in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface—”. I called up my friend, Nathan, and we discussed how the light at this part would not make sense in the sequence of actions. He was clearly sinking down and the light was becoming dimmer, but all of a sudden the light was becoming brighter and he was rising towards the surface. We analyzed and decided that this was when his ‘death in death’ actually happened—when his soul died and went to the light.
PART 1]After reading and analyzing many short stories, the two that stood out the most to me are “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton. These two stories made the most sense to me and both offer valuable lessons that are applicable to real life. The first story “The Monkey’s Paw” is an interesting story that revolves around the theme: be careful what you wish for. After being warned 3 times about the paw, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds to pay off the house loan, nothing insane considering the paw is allegedly able to make any wish. Mr. Whites son, Herbert, ends up dying the next day at work, to which they receive the exact requested amount of money as compensation from the company. A week later, Mrs. White demands to wish for Herbert’s life back. Mr. White very hesitantly wishes for it and after hearing knocks on the door, makes an unknown wish that stops the knocking completely. The first thing that stood out to me after reading this story is the last scene. The reader is supposed to assume that the knocking was Herbert and the final wish was to cancel his last wish or make him disappear. If Herbert came back to life, wouldn’t he still be mangled from the machinery accident? If so, is that why Mr. White canceled his wish? Mr White could have also feared Herbert not being the same mentally, so he decided to cancel his previous wish. Morris mentioned the second owner of the paw wishing for death in his 3rd wish which may have scared Mr. White into cancelling his 2nd wish as well. There is also a strong theme of 3s shown in this story. For example, the wishes, how many people can wish, how many sets of knocks they heard, how many times he was warned about the paw, how many members in the house, how many parts in the story, and many more are all in sets of 3s. I am not sure what the motif of sets of 3s may mean. I have always heard of sets of 3s being “perfect” or “3rd time's the charm” for a symbol for luck. I found that the lucky 3 theme is in complete disagreement with the events of the story and may be used ironically as it almost seems the exact opposite of what actually happens. I also found it interesting how Mr. White denied Herbert’s death’s relation to the paw and I saw this event as a symbol for running away from responsibilities, which ties in nicely with the “be careful what you wish for” theme.
PART 2] The 2nd story, “The Lady or the Tiger,” is one that relates to love, trust, fairness, barbarism vs. civilization, and jealousy. The king in the story is labeled as “semi-barbaric” because of his tyrant ways; however, only “semi-barbaric” because of his arena where he holds “fair” trials. These trials in these arenas are described as “agents of poetic justice” where the verdict is ironically and very barbarically left to chance. The trials have the person in question choose between two gates, in which they have no idea which is guilty and which is innocent. To raise the stakes and barbarically attract crowds, the choice is a simple 50/50 shot on being eaten by a tiger or married on the spot. Marriage is obviously the preference in this scenario but also barbarically and ironically not ideal for many of those who are on trial. This choice of being tiger food or having an arranged marriage is labeled as a fair system and attracts huge crowds. The massive crowds at these gatherings also show the human’s natural instincts to be attracted to savagery. It also shows the power of a leadership position where they are able to deceive civilizations into thinking this system is right. The princesses' lover is eventually put on trial, which becomes a very highly anticipated event. The princess discovers which door has the tiger and which female is in the other door. The princess absolutely despises the girl ready to marry her lover. The princess waves the boy to a door and the story ends. It is up to the reader to decide if the princess waves the boy into death out of jealousy or into her nemesis' gate to marry her. There is no way to know the outcome but it is a question of how powerful jealousy may be and how much you can trust someone.
The two stories I chose were, Poe's The Black Cat and Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, each chosen for a different reason—one due to interest in his past works and the other due to an interesting title.
The first story I shall analyze is Bierce's short story; the story of a plantation slave owner southerner who is getting hung for messing around with the Union soldiers who were repairing the railroad—a tip-off from a federal scout. Already a character in the first moments you meet them seems to be alright with the steady procession of his death that will come. He thinks before he drops between the boards, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and getaway home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance" (page 3). Then the scene that follows, after the exposition of explaining who the "gentleman" civilian is, is symbolically that thought expressed in a way the reader may expect such a scene to play out—with divine providence being the only way such a scene could work out for the gentleman. Being that it would be a miracle that: the rope breaks and he falls into the river, he has enough strength to break the ropes under the water, that he doesn't immediately suffocate after the noose drop, and survive hails of bullets from the soldiers on the shore. Clearly, an improbable task to somehow survive, but the hanged-man doesn't care he just wishes to return to his wife—who could be a personification of death as she is the one who "kills" him and he dies at least seeing her face one last time. Even earlier before the actual hanging on page 12, it is foreshadowed that his neck would kill him as the soldiers were shooting him a bullet, "One lodged between his collar and neck..." (page 9), he got shot in the throat where a hangman's noose would rest—showing even in his delusion of escape he knows it won't work which is why the bullet hits his neck.
In Poe's story, opens with the narrator stating that he may be mad—clearly leaving the story open to interpretation if the story occurred as the narrator says it does. The first major symbolism lies in the cat himself, Pluto—fitting name for a black cat—who in mythology is the God of the Underworld and wealth. This is why when the man, after becoming an abusive alcoholic, hangs Pluto—his house catches fire that the narrator notes, "The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair" (page 5). After killing the "god" of the underworld and wealth, he loses all material wealth in the house fire and Pluto "reincarnates"—as the narraters ramblings lead you to believe is the case—as the same cat with one major difference, the white spot above its breast and its heart, perhaps symbolizing the man's wickedness in his heart—an inverse of the classic black is wicked and white is pure, the black cat having a love for his master until cruelty leaves its heart bereft of it? Which is why when the police come looking for the murdered wife, a demon from the underworld comes to drag the murdered down into Hell, the Underworld, as the narrator notes, "sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman." (page 13). Marking that justice and retribution are dealt with for the murder of Pluto and his wife, he remarks that he sealed the monster in the "tomb" but that cat wouldn't have howled had the narrator's ego (or guilty conscience) pushed them to test the walls of the cellar.
Of the two, I do prefer the Poe story overall as the first story really didn't grab my attention; however, the Poe story is far more interesting but Poe's normal writing method makes it kind of difficult to read—similar enough to reading Lovecraft.
The two short stories I decided to read were “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton and “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. The first short story I read, “The Lady or the Tiger”, I chose because I thought that the title sounded intriguing and it did not disappoint. I actually really enjoyed the story and was fascinated by it. In the beginning, it describes details about a “semi-barbaric king”. He is described as exuberant and fancy and clearly has power. He had “an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts”. When someone is accused of a crime, they are put into an arena that had two different doors that have two different things behind them. There is no trial or anything. Behind one is a starving tiger that will immediately tear the person apart. That door would mean you are guilty. Behind the other is a woman who is ready to be wedded. This door means you are innocent. The lady is, “the most suitable to his years and station that his majesty could select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he was immediately married, as a reward of his innocence”. It did not matter if he had a wife and family already, he was to marry the woman behind the door. The kind had a daughter “as blooming as his most florid fancies” and fell in love with a guy the King did not like. The Kind sent him to the arena and made him choose between the two doors. The man looked at the princess for help with what door to choose instead of bowing to the king. The princess was met with a problem. She knows what is behind both doors but she does not like the girl behind the door. Then the story goes on and leaves us to choose. Personally I think that the tiger came out of the door because the princess would be jealous if the lady did. “But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!”
The second short story I decided to read was “madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. Overall I really liked the story and I was not expecting it to end the way it did. I think that the story can be relatable to modern times despite being written in 1893. It is set in Louisiana and is about a woman whose husband left her and is trying to take care of her kids. She started having weekly meetings with a Lawyer named Paxton. Paxton describes her as unique and beautiful when she wore grey which I found a bit odd. I decided to look at this story through a feminist lens. Throughout the story, we learn about how Lawyer Paxton truly feels about her. He wants to have Madame Celestin to himself so he keeps pushing her to file for a divorce from her husband. He changed his appearance and the way he acted and became more invested in her life because he fell in love with her. After reading this I realized that Madame Celestin really had no power over her own life. It was controlled by men. The idea of her filing for divorce was not hers, it was the lawyers. In the last paragraph, she goes to the lawyer and says,”You know, Judge, about that divo’ce. I been thinking. – I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo’ce”. Then Paxton noticed that her cheeks seemed to be more rosy than usual. After that we find out that her husband has returned home and promised he would never leave again. One thing that Keaton mentioned was that the only color the Lawyer mentioned was the pink ribbon. I didn’t really notice this at first so I went back and looked at it and agree with the points he made about it.
The first short story I will share is “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. I chose this one because I was already familiar with it. I remember reading it back in Middle School and I really enjoyed it. The story starts out with great imagery from Jacobs. He sets the mood on page 1 by saying, “Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly.” His description really painted a picture in my head. I was able to see the setting very similar to how he imagined it. Jacobs then follows up with a very mysterious portrayal of the White family. This is where my eyes widened and my attention was caught. I tend to like mysterious stories, so I was very excited to continue reading. The story picks up quickly when Sergeant-Major Morris shows up at the White’s house with a paw. You might think it's weird to be carrying around a paw, but this is no normal paw. This paw has special powers and can be wished upon three times by the three men. Wanting no trouble, the Sergeant throws the paw into the fire, but Mr. White quickly saves it. After learning how to grant a wish, Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds to pay off the house. The part after this was very vivid for me as on pages 5 he says, “It moved. As I wished, It twisted in my hand like a snake.” Soon after, they all go to bed and Herbert sees a monkey face in the fire when putting it out. It turns out the wish was granted, but not how they would have expected. The next day, Herbert’s employer shows up at the door to break the news of Herbert's death. He says the company will not take responsibility but will give the family 200 pounds. The wish came true, but not in the way they wanted. The story ends with Mr. White wishing Herbert back to life. After the wish has been made, Mrs. White shrieks and when Mr. White goes to check things out, the streets are empty and she is nowhere to be seen. The wish has been granted. The second short story I will share is “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. I chose this one because the title seemed very mysterious. The story is about a farmer in the South who is going to be hanged by a group of soldiers from the Northern Army. Peyton Farquhar is the name of the farmer who stands at the edge of the bridge. Bierce gives a great description of Peyton on page 2. “He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp.” In this moment we get a glimpse into the mind of Peyton. On page 3, Peyton thinks, “If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." As he is thinking, the Sergeant steps off the plank and Farquhar braces for death. Instead, the rope snaps, sending Peyton into the violently flowing current of the river. He sails down the river with bullets flying by him in all directions. Peyton finally arrives at the shore after a long swim and begins walking home. He walks throughout the night until he sees his wife and immediately goes to embrace her. Upon hugging his wife, Peyton feels a pain in his neck and the slack of the rope disappears. I talked to Cade Tripp about how Bierce wanted the reader to leave with questions after reading the ending of the story. We both agreed that we like it when authors do this because it adds a lot of mystery and suspense. We are able to create our own ending about what we think happened next.
The first story I chose to write about was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. This story seemed to catch my eye and I thought it could be interesting and I really enjoyed it. The story is about a farmer and slave owner from the south who is being hung by Union Soldiers. The man's name is Peyton Farquhar and he is about to be hung. Time moves extremely slow as he stands on the bridge with a noose around his neck. He tries to space out and not think about his terrible situation but he cannot resist thinking about his wife and kids. This thought leads to the thought of escape in attempts to be with them. On page 3, Peyton thinks, "If I could free my hands, I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and getaway home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." As he thinks of his escape the Sergeant steps off the board leading Peyton to his death but the rope snaps and Peyton falls free into the river. Peyton quickly swims to the bank of the stream with Union Army gunfire all around him. He walks through the night to reach his family. He goes to embrace his wife but just as he does he feels a great pain and the slack on the rope tightens. I talked to Cade Tripp about his opinions of this story and he said that he thinks Bierce wants to leave the reader thinking about what people think of in their final moments. I completely agree and I think Bierce created a great story used to invoke that question in the reader.
The second story I read was “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin. The story starts off with a great festival. The festival and everyone celebrating seems to have a perfect life but then we learn of a child who is locked away it seems to change our perspective. He is locked in a windowless closet, rarely fed and never loved. We learn that the prosperity of the city lays upon the shoulders of the child's despair. On page 8, Ursula writes, "Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free.” After I heard these lines from the story and I learned of those who walk away from the Omelas, I thought of the two closely related. I imagine that the ones who walk away from the Omelas have a similar thought to these lines. In attempts to be free, they walk away from the Omelas. Those who do not walk away are living tremendous lives but is it at a cost they can accept?
Kendra Christopherson Part 1:
The two short stories I read were "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce and "The Lady or the Tiger" by Frank Stockton. The story by Bierce I found to be heavily religious. You can see it in the very first sentence. The railroad/bridge can be seen to represent a purgatory of some kind for whatever crime the man committed. The water beneath can be seen as hell. the second paragraph says, "A rope encircles his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber. in this passage, it literally mentions the word "cross". This is most definitely a symbol of the crucifix. The cross also represents God and the people hanging him are trying to play the role of God. In this short story, the man that was being hanged was with two others. This could be one of two possibilities. These two men could represent the two people who were crucified with Jesus on the day he died or the three together could represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, also known as the Holy Trinity. Since the railroad, in my opinion, represents purgatory, the man being hanged there would be in purgatory because of whatever his actions were to get him in his spot of execution. We later learn the two men with him are in fact soldiers of an army that are helping commit the execution. This being said, they could represent two Roman soldiers who finished killing Jesus on that awful day. On page 2, a crowd is also mentioned. In my eyes, I see this as a representation of the crowd that gathered to watch Jesus be crucified along with the two others beside him. Also, the lieutenant is mentioned at this point in the story. He could represent Pontius Pilate. The man being hanged could also be Jesus because of his age. In the story, it said he was around age 35. Historians believe that Jesus was anywhere from age 33-36 when he was crucified. This man also appeared to be a kind gentleman. I would use these words plus many more when describing Jesus because Jesus spent most if not all of his life trying to help everyone around him. On page 3, Bierce writes, "The water, touched to gold by the early sun..." this could mean the man still has hope of getting out of his execution or the sun is representing heavens or God's open hands to accept the man on the bridge. then a sound is mentioned. The sound and then the silence that followed slowly became torturous to the man being executed. It also said that the strength of the sound became stronger and sharper as it repeated itself. This can be taken as a reference to the torture Jesus endured before he was crucified. In that same paragraph, it says "They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife..." This could be a reference to the spear that went into Jesus's side on the day he was crucified. We then learn as readers that the noise the man was hearing was a watch ticking. Just as he is life is coming to an end his watch is helping him count down in agony. This could represent the last supper or the last night Jesus was considered a free man. Jesus knew what he had to do for the people but at that moment before Judas betrayed him, he was praying to go if there was any other way to let it be so. At this point in the story, the man is thinking about freedom. He still has hope with him but he knows it is very slim he will get out of his execution.
Kendra Christopherson Part 2:
On page 4 when freedom is mentioned, it could also be a representation of heaven because heaven is eternal freedom. As we continue into page 6 of the story, it mentions all the pain the man is experiencing as he is being swung from a rope off of the bridge. This is again a reference to the relentless torture that Jesus went through. The man then was said to fall into the water because the rope broke off. He was sinking and then he slowly became closer to the surface of water or light as Bierce put it. This could be another reference to the bible that hasn't been touched on yet. When Jesus was crucified, some people say he went to hell and fought satan for three days. Jesus then came back and eventually went back to the right hand of God. On pages 10 and 11, the man is out of the water and trying to return home. this could also represent the night Jesus was imprisoned by the Romans because of the chaos behind it all. By the time Jesus was found every Roman soldier that was available was searching for Jesus. Throughout the entire story, I think the rope represents the crown of thorns Jesus was given. The rope is round and is intended to kill but also gives much pain until it does kill a person. At the very end of the story, we find out the man didn't go to heaven but will be stuck in purgatory.
The second story was also very interesting. I couldn't use just one lens because I felt it kind of jumped from lens to lens throughout the entire story. In "The Lady or the Tiger", I think the main approach was marxism. In the first paragraph, it mentions the king who is "semi-barbaric. One who feels strongly against communism would say that communism is barbaric in a way. It doesn't give people in that country a choice hence the reason for it being barbaric. The story also mentions that the king likes things just right and is more or less power-hungry which is also a characteristic of a communist country or person. On pages 1-2, Stockton talks about how the king uses his amphitheater to show an example of anyone who does something wrong in the king's eyes. this could also be seen as a power move again pointing towards a communist point of view. Also, the mention of the amphitheater could be looked at religiously. the Romans killed Jesus just as the king is killing his subjects; in both cases, people are being made an example of for someone/many people. I liked when Stockton mentioned the king had a daughter just because it made him seem more human versus barbaric. When the story went back to, one might call it, reality, I think Stockton was trying to say that the king does have a shred of humanity in him for the people he cares most about but barbarism has been built into him for so long he doesn't really know how to act towards anyone else. On page 5, I noticed a glimpse of Feminism in the writing. Stockton wrote, "Tall, beautiful, fair..."This is most definitely describing a woman's characteristics versus a man's. In this context, those words are being used to describe the king's daughter's lover. I think this can be tied to communism because women don't paly much of a role, they don't have a voice. It shows that the king is trying to do everything in his power to make his daughter see the flaws in this man because the lover is feminine. I think at the end of the story the princess rose the hand that would save her lover. I think she was more gracious than her father especially it being someone she loved in the ring of death. I think that just because she hated the woman behind the door doesn't mean that she just was going to let the person she loved die. I personally believe this because if it were me, I would rather know that the person I love is okay and living than having to live without them completely. I also think if you truly love someone you would do anything to save them.
Kendra Christopherson Part 3:
Tashlynne and I were discussing and we think that the story took place in South America or in Cuba because they were both communist places at the time. We aren't completely certain but we believe that the "Latin neighbors" were mentioned for a reason. We also agreed on the man being described as feminine and it is a hint at how the king is power-hungry and how the story as a whole is more communist than anything. One thing we did disagree on was the outcome of the story. She thinks that the princess did choose to kill her lover because it mentioned she was like her father in a barbaric way.
I chose to analyze the short story “Madame Celestin’s Divorce.” This story is about a woman named Madame Celestin and she is considering a divorce from her husband. She states how her husband never supports her and is gone for long periods of time. There is a lawyer that walks by her house everyday and she talks to him about her husband and how she wants a divorce.
The interesting part of this short story is that it is told from the lawyers’ point of view. The lawyer had encouraged her to get a divorce because he wanted to marry her. She was determined to get a divorce but shortly after talking to some people, she was unsure about what to do. She stated, "I been talking to my family an' my friends, an' it 's me that tells you, they all plumb against' that divorce."
She also went to talk to her priest who was also against the divorce but she still wanted to get a divorce stating "The bishop doesn’t know what it is to be married to a man like Célestin, an' have to endu' that conduct' like I have to endure' it. The lawyer was surprised to hear that her mind hadn’t been changed and that she was still determined to go through with the divorce “ "You know, Judge, about that divo'ce. I been thinking, — I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo'ce." Her husband returns and she no longer wants to get a divorce and it leaves you wondering what had changed her mind?
I really enjoyed reading this short story and I liked how it left the rest a mystery as to who her husband was and why she had changed her mind on the divorce.
Second short story: “The Black Cat”
The black cat is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe and it describes the ability of the human mind. The story is about a person who commits a crime and is able to cover up that crime. The only thing that lingers is the feeling of guilt for the crime that was committed. The narrator of the story had a good life at the beginning and everything seemed okay but quickly his deminer changed. I noticed a big theme of violence.
For example, one part that stood out to me was when he had gone to his house very intoxicated and saw the cat. He had scared the cat and it and he then says ” I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.” That part was very sad because the cat that he had once loved was not the object of his abuse and violence.
Another example of his violence is when he stated “But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.” He had eventually killed his wife and honestly, I kind of saw it coming because it was very violent and already abusive towards her.
Overall this short story was very interesting because it kept me wanting more until the end. I would also say it was very sad and disgusting at the same time due to how he violent he was and the kind of things he did.
Discussion: Olivia Mac
After reading these two short stories I discussed them with Olivia Macravery. We had both found these two short stories to be interesting. “The Black Cat” one was very absurd to her as well and also thought it was disgusting how he treated the cat and his wife.
Overall I enjoyed looking at these short stories and I would say "The Black Cat" was my favorite because I liked how it was based on psychology.
This past week I have been reading multiple short stories, both with the class, in zoom, and on my own. Personally, I really like short stories because I am able to finish them in one sitting. One of the stories that I read and analyzed was "Tha Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin. I really enjoyed reading this story. Ursula starts the story with a grand festival. It gives the reader a happy and upbeat feeling. However, as you continue to read, you learn of a child that is locked away in a small closet. He, or she, is both scared of everything, including the mops, and majorly malnourished. This made me sad reading about this poor innocent kid that's getting tortured for no real reason. He was an innocent kid that had a loving family. This is shown on page 6 when it says, "but the child, who has not always lived in the tool room, and can remember sunlight and its mother's voice". This is very upsetting. I cannot even imagine living in a town and knowing that this was going on. While I was reading, I thought why would all these people come and see the child and not do anything about it. "Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery." However, as I continued reading and after talking to a few of my classmates, I thought of an answer. While these people know how awful what they are doing to this kid is, they believe that the child is the reason that they have these great lives. I think that they may be superstitious in a way and think that the child has to suffer in order for them to be happy. Maybe their town used to suffer until a child was put into this closet to suffer, and since then they continue to keep a child in there suffering for the sake of the town. Everyone knows what is going on but no one does anything to fix it. Most citizens do when they are against it is to walk away and leave the town. Personally, I think this is just as bad as staying. They know what is going on and do nothing about it. Why is this? Do they believe that one child's life is less than the small probability that the town will fall? This is really up to the reader and what they decide to believe. Overall, I thought this was a very powerful story about choosing between right and wrong in difficult situations.
Another story that I had read was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestin's Divorce". I found this short story enjoyable because I thought it was a relatable topic and something that still happens today. This story is about a young woman that works very hard to support herself and her children while her husband is gone and nonpresent. On page 1, Lawyer Paxton says to Madame Celestin that she is "working her fingers off... taking in sewing; giving music lessons; doing God knows what in the way of manual labor to support yourself and those little ones". This shows the reader that she does so much to support her family while her husband is no help whatsoever. Throughout the story, Paxton talks to Madame Celestin and listens to her troubles. As he continues to see her each day, I believe he begins to fall in love with her. On page 4, it states that he dreams of running away with her and them living happily outside of Natchitoches. As he continues listening to her problems with her husband, he suggests that she get a divorce. As I read this, I thought "YES! She needs this. She needs to get out of this awful marriage." I was getting excited as she continued to talk about her plans to divorce her husband. While many people were against this, including her mother, she still wanted to get the divorce. While her mother believed that this would cause disgrace to her family, Paxton convinced her that her happiness should be above what her family thinks. Unfortunately, at the very end of the story, Madame decides to stay with her husband. Paxton comes back ad Madame tells Paxton that she decided to stay with him because he came back and said that he would change. On page 5, she tells Paxton, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This was very upsetting, as the reader can see that this situation will likely continue to happen over and over again. This story shows how a woman feels stuck due to what other people think. I think, in the end, that she decided to stay with her husband because she didn't want others to look down on her. Sadly, this is a problem that we still face now in society. Many people feel stuck in their lives and believe they are unable to change due to other people's opinions.
Part 1
One of the short stories I read was entitled “The Lady or the Tiger?” by Stockton. This story tells the tale of a kingdom of old with a semi-barbaric king. He was very influential and persuasive. Page one states that, “when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done.” He had set up an interesting way of carrying out law and order. Instead of sending the accused to a court, they were sent to an arena. The arena had two identical doors with one major difference. One door held a vicious tiger who would devour them on the spot, while the other door held a beautiful lady whom they would be married to. The king’s daughter, whom he loved dearly, had a lover, and when the king found out, the man was doomed to face the arena. The daughter, being semi-barbaric herself, wanted to know exactly what was behind which door during her lover’s “trial”. Due to gold and her will power she was able to figure it out. Behind one door was the usual fierce tiger, but behind the other door was maybe something even worse. The lady chosen to stand behind the door was one whom the princess hated because she suspected her of flirting with her man and maybe even him flirting back. Her lover, knowing she knew which door was which asked her and she led him to the door on the right. The author intentionally lets the reader choose what lies behind the right door. Is it the lady or the tiger? Would the princess rather watch her true love be devoured by a tiger or watch him be married to a girl she hates? That is the question. Personally, I think she chose the door with the tiger. I talked to Tashlynne and she agrees with me, she would choose the tiger. Her reasoning was that the daughter is semi-barbaric like her father and would rather see her lover die than be with someone else. If she doesn’t get him, no one can have him. Neither of the options are great; both involve heartbreak. Would you rather be heartbroken because the man you love is forced to marry someone else or because they died? If they are forced to marry someone else, they might still love you more, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t see them anymore. They will grow to love the person they are married to and will slowly forget about you. Constant reminders of what you lost will be there. You will see them walking hand in hand to the market, their children running around on the streets, and everyone else talking about what a nice couple they are. Everyday your heart is broken because of the betrayal. On the other hand, you can have them executed and though how it may be painful in the moment, you won’t have to live with the pain of seeing them with someone else. No matter what the princess decides she will have to live with the consequences of her decision. If she hadn’t gone to see which door was which, she never would have had to make such an impossible decision. I think the author is warning the reader against being too curious for their own good. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. If faced with the decision of determining someone’s fate, I think I would rather be surprised with everyone else than have to live with my decision for the rest of my life, always wondering if I had made the right choice.
Part 1
The first story that I read was Harlan Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman." I thought that this story was quite interesting. The whole story is set up in a weird way, it starts with a flashback, then goes back to the former time. Basically, the story goes as this: it starts with a man who basically wants to make everything a certain way, make sure that everything is on time. He pretty much just ends up being the Ticktockman. I think that he can be seen as a god in this universe. Interestingly enough, Jorey and I talked about this short story, and we both agree on this: the Ticktockman created a combine. It is quite obvious just because he creates a "perfect" society where everything is done on time and the right way. On page 5, Ellison wrote this: "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Atterley: in reference to your son Gerold's constant tardiness, I am afraid we will have to suspend him from school unless some more reliable method can be instituted guaranteeing he will arrive at his classes on time. Granted he is an exemplary student, and his marks are high, his constant flouting of the schedules of this school makes it impractical to maintain him in a system where the other children seem capable of getting where they re supposed to be on time and so it goes." So this shows that this kid is getting it done the right way, but not fast enough by society's standards. The Ticktockman gives these people some extra motivation, he makes it the law for everyone, that they have to start filling out punch forms for everything that they are doing, and all the while, the Ticktockman is keeping track of how much time they wasted by being late, and knock that time off of their time left to live. So, after this whole scenario is laid out, they go back to this man named Everett. Everett seems to be a broken man, which is sort of unfortunate. He is the harlequin of this society. I had to look up a definition as to what that is, and it is a clown or a jester. I do recall the story mentioning that he walks around with a jester's hat. But, the whole point of the story is to show that this man Everett really has given up, I think that he was trying to fight "the combine" but it had broken him. But, as the story goes on the Ticktockman finds him, and he lets Everett know that his time is up, it is time for him to be broken. They sent him to a work camp as I understood it, and broke him just like a wild mustang. Then, quite some time down the road, he shows back up and seems lively. He admits to being wrong about everything. On page 10, Ellison wrote this "So Everett C. Harm was destroyed, which was a loss,s because of what Thoreau said earlier, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and in every revolution, a few die who shouldn't, but they have to, because that's the way it happens, and if you make only a little change, then it seems to be worthwhile." Then, as the story wraps up, the Ticktockman ends up being late himself. I thought that that was a very interesting way to wrap up the story.
Jorey and I discussed this story as we discussed earlier, we talked about how this is story is basically just the combine all over again. This whole story was oriented around a group of people that all they did was work their whole lives, and worried about be late to things. Not that people should be worried about this in real life, but if you let that control your life, is that really a life worth living?
Landon Smith Part 1:
The first short story I decided to read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. I vaguely remember the story from reading it with Mrs. Schilf in eighth grade, and I had to write a little blurb about it for the irony slide in my Term Tuesday presentation, but I did not remember exactly how the story went, just that it had lots of dark irony. On page 1, the story is set up with a cliche mysterious tone and setting- a cold wet night. The soldier introduces the Whites to the monkey's paw, and tries to destroy it, but Mr. White saves it, much to the dismay of the sergeant-major. He explains that it grants wishes but with consequences.The first man to use it, he says, used his last wish to die. Mr. White ends up wishing for two-hundred pounds, because he already has everything he needs to be happy. His son Herbert says, "I don't see the money... and I bet I never shall." This is a great use of irony—he will not see the money because he will be dead. Later, a man comes to the White's house, informing them that their son was caught in some machinery at work and was killed. He gives them two-hundred pounds as compensation. The story could have ended here, but Jacobs, I think, wanted a more open-ended conclusion to leave readers thinking. Mrs. White begs her husband to use the paw to wish their son back to life. Mr. White refuses at first, but finally breaks down on page 11. At first, nothing happens, and they go back to bed, but then Mr. White hears a knock at the door while lighting a candle, and knows that it's his undead son. Just before his wife unbolts the door and opens it, he finds the monkey's paw and wishes away his son. All they find behind the door is, "a quiet and deserted road." This is a very dark story, but very powerful. I think Jacobs was trying to convey the point that our actions have consequences. We can not go around doing whatever we please, because the repercussions can be tragic. The paw, I think, is meant to symbolize fate.
Part 2
The other short story I chose to read was “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” by Doyle. The story is written from the point of view of Watson and his adventures with Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had made an appointment with a man named Milverton whom he describes on page one as the, “worst man in London.” They are set to discuss a Lady Eva whom Milverton possesses letters she wrote that could destroy her reputation and future marriage. Milverton refuses Sherlock’s offer. So Sherlock decides to go undercover in Milverton’s home to discover where the letters are hidden so he can steal them back. Sherlock learns everything there is to know about Milverton and his house. One night Sherlock and Watson decide to go steal the letters. Once inside the house, they find the vault where they are hidden and unlock it. They hear footsteps so they hide behind a curtain. Milverton enters the room, sits in a chair, and waits for a while. He seems very agitated. Eventually a woman comes into the room whom he recognizes as someone whom he has ruined. Eventually she states that she doesn’t want him to ruin any more lives so she pulls out a pistol, shoots him, and makes her escape. Sherlock and Watson come out from behind the curtain and burn all the documents hidden in the safe. As they are leaving the house, they are followed but eventually out run their pursuer. The next day a sherif comes up to Sherlock and asks him if he is interested in investigating a murder. Sherlock asks for more details. The sheriff informs him that there were two murderers who entered the Milverton home, burned all his documents, and shot the man. Sherlock refuses to investigate the case. Later, Sherlock and Watson are eating lunch when Sherlock has an epiphany. He leads Watson to a poster with the actual murderer on it, but the real identity of her is never revealed to the reader. I think that in this story, Sherlock and Milverton are foils of each other. On page 10 Sherlock admits he, “would have made a highly efficient criminal.” Both men use people to get information that they want to accomplish a task. Milverton uses mainly servants of the upper class to get information on people so he can ruin them. Sherlock used one of Milverton’s housemaids to gain information on him so he could help Lady Eva. Sherlock uses his information for good and Milverton uses his information for evil. Also Milverton is described as having a “face and a heart of marble” on page 2 and Sherlock has a “face of granite” on page 4. I thought it was interesting that both of their faces were compared to different types of rock. Marble is softer than granite and is more likely to break under pressure. Just like Milverton cracked under pressure and used his power for evil. When I talked to Tashlynne, she pointed out on page 2 Milverton will “hold a card back for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning.” This could be foreshadowing his death. Just as in a card game where holding your cards for a long time is mostly a bad strategy and can end badly, Milverton holding on to his cards for too long will cause his death.
Landon Smith Part 2:
The second story I chose to read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. This was another dark story about human nature. The plot revolves around a man who struggles with alcoholism, which causes him to become abusive. He admits that he abuses not only his wife, but all of his pets as well. However, he does not take out his anger on his cat, until it bites him on page 3. He gouges out its eye, but later hangs it from a tree. He has to kill it because, "I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence." Seeing it was too painful of a reminder that he had hurt something that loved him, and his soul was doomed. That night, his house burns down, but the dead cat is preserved. Once he moves into a new house, he befriends a new cat. This one is white-chested and very affectionate toward him. However, he grows to hate the cat as his wife grows to love it. He is horrified to see that the white hair on the cat now resembles, "the image of a hideous—of a ghastly thing—of the GALLOWS." I think that this cat is a symbol for his past. He thought he could leave it behind, but it follows him. He sets out to kill it with an axe, but his wife stops his attack. Overcome with rage, he kills her instead. He hides her body in the wall of his basement, and looks for the cat but cannot find it. The police come to search the house, but can find nothing. When they are leaving, he starts to brag about how sturdy his walls are and taps the wall where his wife is hidden. A shrieking noise comes from the wall, and once the police have removed the bricks, they find the wife's corpse, as well as the source of the noise: the cat. I thought that this story was very similar to Poe's other story, "The Tell-Tale Heart" which also revolves around a murderer hiding a corpse within a house.
Discussion: I called up Jamie Fick and talked about these two stories with her. I agreed with her that the theme of "The Monkey's Paw" was that you can not mess with fate, because there will be consequences. We also agreed that Poe was trying to point out that your past will come back to haunt you; you can not escape it. Overall, these two stories were very dark, but kept me interested with their mysterious settings and themes
The first story I came across was “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” by Kate Chopin. I found this story particularly interesting because it is not like other short stories that we have read in the past. It seems to be just a normal story about Madame Celestin, a woman who has been left by her husband to raise her kids on her own. The story tells us that she has not seen any sign of her husband for many months now and she is contemplating a divorce. A lawyer in the town, Lawyer Paxton, has been encouraging Madame Celestin to move on with the divorce. There is clear foreshadowing that Lawyer Paxton has a love interest in Madame Celestin and hopes to marry her if he can get her to proceed with the divorce. At the end of page 2 and onto page 3, Chopin shows us Madame Celestin's position on the divorce "'You know, about that divo'ce, Judge,' Madame Célestin was waiting for him that morning, 'I been talking to my family an' my frien's, an' it 's me that tells you, they all plumb agains' that divo'ce.' 'Certainly to be sure; that 's to be expected, madame, in this community of Creoles. I warned you that you would meet with opposition, and would have to face it and brave it.' 'Oh, don't fear, I 'm going to face it!'" This point in the story is key to the outcome, this foreshadows to the reader that Madame Celestin will get her divorce and Lawyer Paxton will have his chance to marry her. The story rides this vibe all the way to the very last paragraph. In the last paragraph, Madame Celestin shares with Lawyer Paxton that her husband had returned the night before and made her a promise to change his ways. The story ends with, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This last paragraph changes the enitre story, I do not know if I have read a story before that has changed from one direction to the complete opposite in such an abrupt amount of time. This change in direction is what makes this simple want to be love story different than other stories. The reader can envision everything working out just right and then the last paragraph smacks them across the face, dashing their hopes of a perfect ending.
The second story I read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this story because I had read some of Poe's stories before but not this one that I had remembered. The story begins with Poe describing his childhood and his love for pets as he was growing up. When he was older and got married, he and his wife both continued to share a love for animals. On page 2 he mentions that they had several pets, "birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat." I found this interesting because he describes several of his pets but then only says "a cat" at the end of the sentence like it is less important. Then in the next sentence, he writes in deep detail a description of the cat. Then Poe continues on that the cat was special to him and his favorite among the pets. He spent a lot of time with the cat and over the course of this time, his mood began to change towards people and the other animals, but not the cat. Finally one night, the cat bite him and he did take out anger on the cat by cutting one of it's eyes out. The relationship between Poe and the cat would never be the same as a few nights later, he hung the cat from a tree. We can tell from this point on that this will be a classic Edgar Allen Poe story with dark and gloomy twists. As time went on Poe had a hard time living with what he had done, it wasn't until a similar cat showed up at his home that life went somewhat back to normal. A short while later the new cat no longer could take his mind off what he had done. Poe mentions that the cats look identical except for a white spot on the new cat, he mentions this spot morphs into a symbol over time in a familiar shape. I am guessing it shaped into a noose to represent how he killed the old cat but I am not entirely sure. Then the story continues with another dark twist. When this cat finally has bothered him enough, Poe plans to kill it with an axe; instead though he ends up killing his wife with the axe as she prevents him from killing the cat. He decides to hide his dead wife in the walls of the cellar, this reminded me of the "Tell-Tale Heart" where if I remember correctly a man is trying to rid himself of a heart by hiding it in the walls and the floor. After hiding his wife's remains, the cat disappeared. Eventually search parties went out to find the wife. When Poe showed them to the cellar, a great moaning started from behind the wall. When the wall was torn down, out came the cat and the corpse of Poe's dead wife. From the point where the cat was killed we knew it would get revenge somehow, in the end, it did. I believe that the cat is supposed to represent your sins. It represents how when you commit sins, they will always come back to bite you in one way or another.
The first short story I read was "The Monkey's Paw", by W.W. Jacobs. The story starts off seemingly innocent with a family with friends over. Their conversations start off nice as they talk about how they would like to visit India someday. However, at the end of the conversation, they learn that one of their friends has not only been to India but also obtained a grotesque souvenir while there. He obtained a monkey's paw but this paw has special powers that grant 3 wishes to 3 different men. However, the owner explains that this paw has a dark past but will not explain how. He says the original owner wished to kill himself, and his own three wishes came true, clearly scaring him. As he tries to dispose of the monkey's paw in the fire the old man in the story saves it for himself. His first wish is to pay off his house with 200 pounds. Eventually, his wish comes true as his son ends up dying from the machinery at work and the company offers to pay 200 pounds for their sympathy. As the old lady mourns for her son she suddenly gains a bright idea to wish their son back to life. However, the man now knows how the monkey's paw works and apposed to wishing him back to life. Although relenting, he wishes his son back to life and eventually hears a faint knocking at the door. The old lady is relieved to hear this and frantically tries to unlock the door as the old man searches for the monkey's paw. I believe that the old man knew that the thing on the other side of the door may have been their son but not the son that they wanted to see because it would be horribly disfigured. The old man's final wish is unknown but we know that the wish made his dead son go away. I have two big takeaways from this story. The first lesson is to be careful for what you wish for, but I also think that an underlying theme is acceptance of loss. Obviously, the old man knew that his wish killed his son, despite not being what he wished for. But the wife refused to accept her son's death and stupidly wished him back. The man knows that this is a bad idea and although he clearly has remorse and guilt for his son's death knows that the best thing for him and his wife is to wish the son away. This wish sort of acts as a metaphor of letting go of his son and accepting what happened.
The first story I chose to read and write about is "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. This was a very interesting short story. It firsts starts off discussing the eerie scene. Peyton Farquhar was a slave owner who came from a well-respected family. he was really devoted to the Southern cause. Peyton had his hands tied behind his back, and a rope enclosed around his neck, which told me he was about to be hung. There were a couple of other people on that railroad bridge in Alabama: Two private soldiers of the Federal army guided by their Seargent. As Peyton was ready to be hung, he thought about his wife and his kids. As he was about to be hung, he notices how slow a piece of driftwood was floating down the stream. He also thought about a loud striking noise, who he thought was a blacksmith's hammer and an anvil, which was actually his watch ticking during that very slow time period. He was also thinking of a way to escape. On page 4, the story talks about his potential plot to escape, "If I could free my hands, I might throw off my noose and spring into the stream. By diving, I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance." After a while, he really does escape, and he tries to make his way back home. By going into the stream, he tries to avoid all gunshots by swimming deeper and deeper. On page 8, he hears the soldiers say, " Attention, company! . . . Shoulder Arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!" He continued his journey to find his home, walking throughout the day and night. The thought of his wife and kids pushed him to make it back. But I was completely surprised at the last part of the story, "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." This caught me off guard, but at the same time, I kind of expected it. It really amazes me what people can imagine before their demise. It is a way of reminiscing the past before tragedy strikes.
The second story I chose to read and write about is "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton. This was also a very interesting short story. This story is set around a barbaric king. This was a king who loved to turn fancies into facts. One way he can show off his barbarism was with a public arena. One page 1, he said that the arena was built to "widen and develop the mental energies of people." The king would sit on his throne on one side of the arena, and watch the accused step out from a door underneath him. The person that stepped out could choose one of two doors: One with an emerging tiger who would tear him to pieces and reveal his guilt. If the person opened the other door, he would be greeted by a lady who he would marry proving his innocence. This was his barbaric way of punishing people: force the accused to choose life or death. I found that very interesting and fascinating; let the person themselves choose whether they are innocent or guilty. This was also very popular, as many people would gather to watch the spectacle. Spectators would either watch a bloody massacre or a hilarious wedding, as stated in the story. After the story progresses, there is a young man who fancies the king's daughter. Once the king found out, he sent him to prison for a day, and then he would choose his fate. The king's daughter actually knew which door the woman was in, and also who the woman was. In the daughter's dreams, she could imagine what would happen between both scenarios, but we are left with that decision still looming.
Both stories were very interesting to me, and if I had to pick one, I liked Frank Stockton's short story better. It is very fascinating to me that the accused gets to decide whether, but I enjoyed both.
After reading through the selection of short stories over the past week, the two that I chose to analyze were Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” and Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.”
When reading Poe’s “The Black Cat,” it is clear that it is told by an unreliable narrator. One is first informed that the narrator is going to die tomorrow, most likely he will be executed for the crime he has committed. He starts off as a caring man who has a compassion for animals, but over the years he descents into alcoholism and loses any sense of love that he may have had for anything once before. His attitude morphs into something crueler as if he is unable to understand or control the violent impulses he is now prone to. This could most likely be due to the alcohol consumption as he is seen to act upon his savage thoughts more when under the influence. His first brutal lash out against his cat was after he came home from a night of drinking; his intoxication granting him the temper to cut out the cat’s eye with a penknife. The narrator’s wife “made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise,” which the narrator does not initially believe, though as the story progresses he becomes more aware of the superstitions attached to the cat. The black cat is also known as a symbol of the dead, which is very fitting for a cat named Pluto considering Pluto is the god of the underworld. His murderous persona grows along with his alcohol dependency and eventually, he hangs the cat he once loved so dearly. Blaming it on “the spirit of perverseness,” he explains that “perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart.” Perverseness is really the only reasoning he gives behind any of his maniacal acts and ultimately leads to his downward spiral into madness and the slaughter of his wife.
Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” is noticeably a philosophical piece of work. The city of Omelas is a perfectly utopian society where every inhabitant lives in harmony with one another; though in order for the tranquility to persist, a child must suffer a desolate and abused life alone in a cellar. The Omelas contract permits that the torment of one delivers the greatest good for a larger number of people. The ones who walk away from Omelas are the ones that would rather work towards a happiness alone than to live with the fact that their happiness “depends wholly on this child's abominable misery.” They are walking away from the utmost feeling of joy they have ever known, but leaving could perhaps allow them to walk towards a set of values that make their own joy. They’re sacrificing their comfort for morality. The people who choose to stay are satisfied living an easy and comfortable life knowing the bitter reality of where their pleasure stems from. Living with the weight of misery is a trade-off for peace. “They all know it is there,” yet the one thing "there is none of in Omelas is guilt.” This is a calculated fact of the Omelas as “it is the existence of the child, and their knowledge of its existence, that makes possible the nobility of their architecture, the poignancy of their music, the profundity of their science." It’s a story about tough decisions and ideals. Le Guin gives the reader the chance to either take the side of the ones living in Omelas or the ones who walk away.
After talking with Theresa, we both agreed that alcohol was the biggest push factor towards the narrator going mad and lashing out in “The Black Cat.” He also appears to have a slightly inflated ego as his confidence in hiding the body was what ultimately led to the discovering of it. It was a gory supernatural tale but I enjoyed the psychological factors that were included within the writing.
Part 1
One of the two short stories I chose to read and analyze is "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. I chose this story from my strong liking of it as I have read it before but I have yet to really study the short story. Jacob sets the tone early on with Mr. White and his son, Herbert, playing chess next to the fire while a storm is raging outside. This scene also helps show the characteristics of Mr. White's behavior as he plays recklessly not thinking of the outcomes when playing against his son and ends up losing. Mr. White gets angry about his fate as he shouted how living in "out-of-the-way places" is the worst part of living because they can rarely have guests. Sergeant-Major Morris then arrives as the guest introduced by Mr. White with some whiskey. Morris goes on telling fascinating stories to Mr. White until he stumbles on about a monkey's paw. Morris tempts White by saying the story is not worth listening to and it's just a little bit of magic. This causes White to lean forward in his chair as this intrigues him. Morris pulls the monkey's paw out from his pocket. He says on page 3 "it's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy". Mr. White grabbing it from his son asked: "And what is there special about it". Morris then goes on about the fakir's spell that was put on the paw granting three wishes to three different men. Foreshadowing the fate of Mr. White. Morris seems to tell the interest of Mr. White in the paw and the three wishes. In attempts to destroy it, he throws the paw in the fire causing curiosity through the mind of Mr. White of how real it is he grabs the paw out of the fire before it can be burned. Morris says that the paw belongs in the fire warning Mr. White of the risks but he wants to keep it. Morris states " If you must wish...wish for something sensible". Herbert later suggests the first wish Mr. White should wish for is 200 pounds to help pay off the mortgage on their home. Mr. White then wishes upon the paw for 200 pounds. The paw moved as White let out a cry saying "it twisted in my hand like a snake". This feeling brought an uneasy feeling in which this 1st wish would bring a downfall the White's. Mr. White then figures out Herbert his son was badly hurt in a machinery accident. Mrs. White asks if there was any pain he said hardly any. An eerie silence is among them as the White's got the confirmation of their worst fears. They then received compensation from the company of 200 pounds. The one thing White wished for he got in the worst way imaginable. A week later Mrs. White cries to have the monkey's paw to wish back Herbert to life. Mrs. White then wishes back Herbert but nothing happens. They hear a knocking at the door and it never ceases to stop as the White's frantically search for the paw to wish the knocking away realizing their second mistake in wishing. Finally, they find it and wish the knocking away and it stops. Mr. White feels brave enough and runs outside discovering "a quiet and deserted road". This story was about the theme of being careful of you to wish for and Mr. White not accepting his fate in life by trying to wish a better one. Throughout the story, Mr. White tempts his fate by saving the monkey's paw and using it to alter his life not learning his lesson the first time his try to fix his mistake and finally canceling out his 2nd wish and ending the story off with the final wish leaving him off with silence.
The first short story that I read was Madame Celestin's Divorce written by Kate Chopin. It is established fairly quickly that Madame Celestin has many troubles and everyone knows of these troubles. It seems as though she is in a relationship where she has to put in all the effort of taking care of the kids, ranging from music lessons to manual labor. She also mutters that she has not seen Celestin in a "good six months" and that she suspects he has cheated on her due to his drinking problems. The lawyer she is talking to continues to offer her the option of divorce and Madame Celestin begins to think about that as a possibility to get out of this mess. Yet it seems as though her family and friends do not support this decision and wish for her to stay with Mister Celestin. Yet these thoughts could be coming from Paxton, the lawyer, because he is fond of her and his thoughts are plagued by her beauty as we find out on page 4. Almost ironically though once we find out that Paxton wants to be with Madame Celestin she decided to forget about the divorce as Mister Celestin came home and "promise be on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf."
The second short story I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The whole short story surrounds this monkey's paw that grants wishes yet something eerie usually comes with them. When the first wish is made by Mr. White for 200 pounds nothing happens yet the monkeys paw moves and he throws it. After nothing proceeded to happen, Herbert says "I Expect you'll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed," and proceeded to say "and something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe watching you as you pocket your ill-gotten gains" all on page 6. The story continues with more talk on how the paw is only a soldier's story but then something horrible happens. A well-dressed man brings horrible news that their sone Herbert was caught in the machinery at work and had died. Then the wish comes true, the company which owns the machinery gives the family 200 hundred pounds in compensation which was the exact amount they wished for, so the paw does grant wishes but with a sinister twist to follow them. The wife then proceeds to go insane with wanting to wish her child back to life yet again this wish does not turn out the way it should. Before they can see what had become of Herbert due to the wish the husband makes another, and the knocking stopped. I assumed that the second wish brought the son back to life but as mangled as he was when he went through the machinery and this is why the husband made the third wish, whatever it was.
The first story that I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce". The story is very well put into the situation of domestic abuse in relationships. There is a very obvious difference in true love and a love that is falsely portrayed. Celestin lies and promises to change but the reality is that he is saying these things in order to get her to stay with him. Then, Judge comes along. Judge actually cares for her and takes the time to stop and talk to her. He would change his appearance just for her liking and hoping she would notice him. He promised he would take care of her and the children. He would not be like Celestin was. However, because of the type of relationship, she is in she does not go with Judge. "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf."
The second story is "Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge". It is a dark story that harshly shows us the true way that the Civil War caused death. A southern farmer is captured by Union soldiers because he had been attempting to destroy Union railroads. Peyton Farguhar, the southern farmer, is taken to the Owl Creek Bridge where he is to be hung. As the rope around his neck snaps, he thinks of his family, before plummeting into the stream below. “He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him." Despite being shot at by Union soldiers, he manages to make it to shore and find his way home. However, right as he goes to hug her, the rope goes taut and he feels pain in his neck.
Part 2
The second story that I read was W.W. Jacobs "The Monkey's Paw." The story starts with them meeting with what I think is a family friend that is in the military and was over in India. While in India he comes across a mummified monkey paw, that allegedly can grant 3 wishes of the rightful owner of it. This got the interest of the whole family, and they start asking questions about it. Jacobs wrote on page 4: " His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor absent-mindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then set it down again. His host filled it for him." The Sergeant=major goes on to talk about the paw, that one of the owners before him used all three wishes, but the very last thing he wished for was death, and that his wish was in fact granted. After this, he throws the paw into the fire, but the family grabs it out of the fire. The old man wishes for 200 pounds, which at the time seems like an innocent thing to with for. Then the sergeant-major leaves and time passes by. Mr. and Mrs. White gets a knock on the door, they go to open the door to talk to him, and this man brings sad news. Their son had died in a tragic accident, he was killed in the machinery while at work. The man brought them 200 pounds to help compensate for the death. Of course, the situation becomes eerie quite fast. This was their reaction on page 9, "Unconscious of his wife's shriek, the old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like a sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap, to the floor." Then, as the story goes on, the wish their son to come back. Then mysteriously, there is knocking on the door in the middle of the night, the wife/mother just wants to see their child, but Mr. White knows that what the see will not be their son. So basically, as the mother goes to the front door to greet their son. But, just as Mrs. White is opening the door, Mr. White basically wishes their son to be gone/die again. My reaction to this is that he definitely did this because he didn't want him and his wife to see their own son like that. He saved them the heartache I think.
The first short story that I have analyzed was titled “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. The story starts out with very few details about a man who is to be hanged from a railway bridge. Right away, the reader can start to form hypotheses about why the criminal is being hanged. From the year (1890), and the fact that a federal hanging is occurring at a bridge instead of a town square, you can assume that this is the Northern army hanging someone in the South during the civil war. You start to gain more solid evidence about the nature of his crime when the story flashes back to the beginning because it is written in medias res. You learn that he was a Southern planter, named Peyton Farquhar, who was greatly loyal to the war effort although he did not fight. Farquhar was caught trying to destroy a bridge that the northern army was using to transport supplies into the south. Although he was on the wrong side of the battle, his loyalty to his nation and fellow southerners is commendable. In the third section, the reader is told a captivating story about Farquhar’s escape from the noose with captivating imagery because of his senses being heightened by the adrenaline that comes with a near-death experience: “He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived.” He is able to see hundreds of meters and even down the scope of a gun aiming at him, “The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest.” Several of these factors push the reader to the edge of what they believe could be possible and beyond. He even plans to dodge a bullet after he sees the smoke from the gun when he thinks “the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me.” This type of reaction time isn’t human. All of these circumstances add up until at the end of the story when the noose is pulled taught and the reader realizes that he imagined the entire story. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is an excellent story that challenges the reader’s perceptive abilities and ends with an amazing twist that few will see coming.
Part 1
The first story I read was "The Chrysanthemums" by Joh Steinbeck. This story was about a woman who was very efficient and effective at gardening and growing plants. She was very well-known for growing one flower in particular very large—Chrysanthemums. Everyone in the valley knew how good she was at raising any plant, but these flowers in particular. The woman, 35, was working in her garden one day when a wagon pulled up and a man got out, his profession being fixing pots, pans, and sharpening tools for folks as he traveled from "Seattle to San Diego and back each year" (p. 6), following the nice weather. The man initiates conversation with Elisa, the master gardener, and asks her if she had any pots or pans that needed fixing or if she needed her scissors sharpened. Elisa says no, she doesn't have any work for him to do with that sort of thing. The man tries to guilt-trip Elisa a little for not giving him any work, but she responds with a simple, "Sorry." The man then changes the subject to the flowers that Elisa is growing, and says that a lady he worked for up the road always had "the nicest garden you ever seen," (p. 8), and she told him if he ever saw some good Chrysanthemums to bring some seed back for her to plant. Upon hearing this, Elisa informs the man it is much easier to care and raise for the flowers after they have sprouted; she says that she can give him a potted flower to take back for the woman, and she explains how to take care of it so it doesn't die. After this, Elisa finds some work for the man to do for her, and he charges a small fifty cents. Once he does some work, Elisa gives him a pot with the flowers to give to the woman up the road. Once the man leaves, Elisa and her husband get ready to go into town; once they head down the road, the same road the wagon man traveled on, Elisa notices something in the middle of the road—her chrysanthemums she gave the man. This breaks her heart, as it shows that the man did not care about her flowers, but rather he just wanted the pot to either use himself or to sell to a customer. Elisa then asks questions to her husband about if they are going to a fight, and mentions that if she could drink some wine that night, it would be really good. After reading this story, it only makes sense for there to be some sort of symbolism, most stories without symbolism would have more of a plotline and a climax or high point, whereas this story mostly just tells of an encounter between a traveling workman and a gardening wife. I believe what really happened in the story was that the man and Elisa partook in intercourse while her husband was busy on the farm. I believe this, because a flower usually represents a girl turning into a woman. This being said, Elisa gives the man her flower and the man leaves shortly thereafter. This makes her feel guilty on their way to town, and when she sees her flower in the middle of the road, this could represent that she knows the man likely took her body and herself for granted and didn't think she was anything special; she also feels incredibly guilty and cries in the car on the way to town, and her husband just says, "Now you're changing again," (p. 16). Also, on pages 10 and 11, Steinbeck writes about how Elisa's breast swells and she reaches out and touches the man's trousers—this extra mention of physical touching and "breast swelling" leads me further to believe that Elisa cheated on her husband with this man. I'm not sure why she would do this, maybe she thinks her husband works too much and she is left unsatisfied most nights.
The second story that I read was “A Piece of Steak.” In this Rockyesque story, the reader is found following the poor, old boxer Tom King, a once international level fighter who is now feeling the pain of age. The story is a battle between youth and the inevitable proceedings of time. Tom King fights his opponent Sandel who is younger and stronger but not nearly as wise. Sandel starts the fight too quickly and almost loses to King’s drawn-out battle but King finds himself weak because he did not have a proper dinner. King is viewed as the wise boxer who does not make mistakes but he only gained his wisdom through experience at the cost of youth. This fact extends past his fighting and into his life where we see that he is broke, starving and unable to feed his family. When before King was rich enough to feed his dog steak, he is now unable to buy any for himself. He lived his life in the hasty fashion that Sandel boxes with and now he can not keep up and is faced with poverty and the loss of his career as the punishment. Now his knuckles are frail, his heart is waning in strength, and he does not have the endurance that he had in his youth. It should also be noted that aside from physical lack of strength, King also lost the fight in his mind before it ever started. On his walk to the fight, King ponders his loss of youth and the grave disadvantage that he faces which means that he did not even give himself a chance. The reader finds themself routing along with the crowd for King to make a comeback and win but it can be guessed that Sandel will follow King’s exact path through life and will end up in the exact same position one day: “he deliberately ducked so as to receive a heavy blow on the top of his head. It was a wicked thing to do, yet eminently fair according to the rules of the boxing game. A man was supposed to take care of his own knuckles, and, if he insisted on hitting an opponent on the top of the head, he did so at his own peril.” King even deliberately hurts Sandel so that he will know the same pain when he is old. The moral of the story is repeated several times, “Youth will be served.” The elderly eventually use up their time in this world and need to step aside to the younger generation. No matter how sad that fact is, it is true.
Part 2
The second story I read, was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestine's Divorce". This story is about a woman, Madame Celestine, who is very unhappy with her husband who is always gone and doesn't treat her well. A man, Lawyer Paxton, passes by Madame Celestine's house each morning on his way to work, and he always stops and talks to Madame Chopin or comments on her rose bushes. Paxton, along with plenty of other townspeople, know how unhappy Madame Celestine is in her current marriage, but with Paxton being a lawyer, be brings up that she should get a divorce (now would be a good time to mention that Paxton has a small crush on Celestine and would like to have her for himself to treat her right as a wife should be treated...). When he brings this up, she thinks it is a great idea, but says she needs to check with family members and church members. Paxton continues to go to work each day and hears about how Madame Celestine would like a divorce, but needs approval form this person or that person, but Lawyer Paxton is patient and takes his time; he knows that SHE wants the divorce, so he keeps his hopes up. Finally, on page five, Madame Chopin says, "You know, Judge, about that divo'ce. I been thinking, — I reckon you betta neva mine about that divo'ce." She says that her husband came home the night before and explained to her that he was going to change. Paxton would obviously be upset about this. As far as symbolism goes in this story, Madame Celestine could represent all the things we want in life, but Lawyer Paxton is our conscience telling us we probably won't ever get those things. Madame Celestine's husband could represent everything in this world holding us back from achieving what we want in this life, and makes it impossible to get what we want (coronavirus for us seniors...).
Part 1
The first story I took the time to analyze was "The Lady or the Tiger?", by Frank Stockton. I really enjoyed this story and thought it would be a good one to discuss this week. At the very beginning of the story, Stockton describes a man that is a "semi-barbaric king" and explains the barbaric actions he takes that make him "semi-barbaric". I thought the part about the arena was interesting. He built an arena where victims would be placed and given a choice. That choice is of two doors. The person being tested had to pick one of the two doors and that would decide his fate. If he picks a tiger, he would die and be guilty; however, if he did not pick the tiger, but rather the door with the lady, he would be innocent and become married to the woman. Everything about this "arena" made me think of the colosseum in the Ancient Roman Empire. On the third page, Stockton talks about how the decision was fair and proved the king's might "...the accused person was instantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he was rewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena". Later in the story, the daughter of the king has a lover that is put into the arena because he is in love with the princess. The princess had figured out which door had the lady and which one had the tiger and she gave the man a hint towards the door on the right. Stockton really digs into human nature with this story because he doesn't tell us what was behind that door. He lets us readers decide what happened based on what we think she would do. He makes us ask ourselves what he says on page seven "Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady? The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It involves a study of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way". She could've sent the boy to a quick death to avoid the feelings of loss and jealousy or she could have sent the boy to a woman whom she despised to save his life. I really enjoyed this story and found it interesting to wonder what she chose to send the boy into.
Part 2
The second story I analyzed was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", by Ambrose Bierce. At the very beginning of the story, there is a flashback to Northern Alabama on a railroad bridge during the civil war. There are Union soldiers executing a prisoner they have. The imagery on page two is very interesting, they describe the prisoner very well and the surroundings "His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers...", and these details provided help the reader feel like they are there witnessing this execution. However, the execution doesn't happen in the first part, they flashback again and we figure out the prisoner's name is Peyton Farquhar and he is a farmer. One day a soldier rides up to their home and acts like a Confederate soldier. The man and Farquhar talk and Farquhar asked if there was a way he could disrupt the Union Progress at the bridge. The soldier gives him an idea on page five "The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow". After the soldier leaves we are brought back to the scene at the bridge. Farquhar escapes and swims away from the soldiers at the bridge. When he finds his home he reaches out to his wife but instantly is put out by "a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence". The story then says that he was dead on Owl Creek Bridge with a broken neck, dangling and swaying side to side. This story was interesting, we can see the thoughts of reality and imagination blending together and it helps readers see human nature better.
I really enjoyed both stories and I am still finishing up reading some of the other ones. I
The second short story I read was Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. The story is set in the future and almost sets as a terrifying parody of a perfect dystopian future. The story revolves around a man and his wife who are sitting and watching TV. Through their dialogue, the reader can learn that everybody is handicapped in different ways to make everybody equal. The smart have an implant in their ear to disrupt their thought, the strong are chained down to make them weaker, and the beautiful must wear masks to hide their beauty. As they watch TV they argue about taking off their handicaps in order to become more comfortable but the man refuses because rebelling against the system would throw them back into the "dark ages". As they continue to watch TV they find out that their son, Harrison Bergeron, has escaped prison. Harrison interrupts the ballerinas that the couple were watching and breaks free of all of his handicaps. Harrison also proceeds to free the ballerinas and musicians. Once they are free, Harrison and a ballerina dance as the orchestra plays a beautiful tune. Eventually, the government breaks in and ends up shooting Harrison and the ballerina for rebelling against the system. In the end, the mother of Harrison is crying for her son's death even though she has forgotten about it and the father seems apathetic about his son's death. The theme of the story is prominent as the "perfect" society will never actually be perfect and will also have its flaws. Harrison breaking free from all his barriers acts as a metaphor for him rebelling against the government and the system that constantly oppresses him for his perfection. Finally, the handicapper general acts as the government as a whole as she ends up killing the rebels for going against her system.
Part 2
The second story I chose to analyze was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this story with the interest of Edgar Allen Poe. I have previously heard and read some of his story's but haven't heard of this one. In the beginning, we are introduced to a narrator proclaiming that he is a sane person contrary to how he is conveyed. The story then starts years before as the married narrator describes his deep love for cats and dogs. Saying they represent a friendship with loyalty. His favorite animal is a large and beautiful black cat he calls Pluto. He seems to spend the most time with this cat building a bond with it. He often gets drunk and has a lot of mood swings causing anger towards his animals but not towards Pluto. Until one night he got drunk again trying to grab Pluto again only to receive a bit from his companion. He got so angry he took it out on his cat cutting one of its eyes out with a penknife. Later he takes a it a step further from his demonic actions and hangs the cat on the tree one morning. That night his house burns down destroying all of his possessions. A day after the fire he discovers a mysterious imprint on the wall of the cat with a rope around its neck. Haunted by the cat for months he was out one night and found another black cat identical to Pluto but with a white spot on his fur. The narrator builds up steam of revenge for Pluto one night tripping over this cat and going at it with an ax to try to kill it. He tries to stop him and he converts his rage toward her and puts the ax in her head killing her. Trying to cover up his crime he entombs the body of his wife in the plaster of the walls. The 2nd cat is now missing. Four nights later the police show up unexpected. They were a search party to find the wife's body. The police hear a cry behind the wall and find the hidden corpse. On top of the wife's head sits the missing black cat in who let out the cry for the police to solve the mystery. The first thing that I realized after reading this story was the Tell-Tale Heart it closely follows. This shows the story shows the madness of Poe's actual life as he expressed himself through his stories. He was known to live a life with a close relationship with alcohol. Alcohol in this story can relate to the cat as the cat alters the story of the narrator causing him to be a murderer and alcohol in real life controlled Poe to be an uncontrollable drunk with mood swings his whole life both of these changing his life for the worse.
For my first short story, I chose to do Anl Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge because its ominous title stuck out to me. In the first part, what stood out to me was its use of religious symbolism. The noose is timed to a "stout cross-timber" a literal cross in this instance. Considering the major influence of Christianity in the south, especially at this time period, its almost ironic that the northerners would be hanging a southerner from a cross, as if they were sending some sort of evil message. The story points to more references to Jesus's crucifixion, as there are two soldiers of the north by his side. Now, these northerners are not traitors, so they can't be the two people that were crucified along with Jesus on that day. My guess is that they were the roman soldiers that killed Jesus. As later in the story, he does die, but we don't know if it was specifically by those two's hands or if he ended up falling in his dream-like sequence. In part two of the story, Farquhar thinks back to when he was at his house and helped a fellow gray coat. This section uses heavy foreshadowing of how he got caught. It first hints to us that Peyton greatly wants to help out in the war, but is not a soldier. The second hint we receive is that this soldier has too much info from the northern side to not be of higher ranks. If he held such important information to disrupting the north, a true soldier would have gone straight to the generals. Our third hint is that this man hints that "no civilian should interfere with this" the exact opposite that any Southern soldier would say. He even gives details on how to do it. Now snapping back to life in part three, we can now infer how exactly Peyton got there. Now, he closes his eyes and he suddenly feels pain. We know later, that this pain is him being hung. the lack of oxygen to his brain allows him to hallucinate, thinking he is free and escaping capture. all the while it describes him in intense pain, even when "free" from his captors. This shows us that he's not really free of the body, but free of the mind. I find it sad though when he returns home to his wife, trying to hug her and then, nothingness. "his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge." This shows that our "hero" died in the end, with no just cause to support him.
My next story is of The Black Cat by the famous Edgar Allan Poe. I already knew this would be a depressing story upon selecting it. I was not prepared for this story, as I have four black cats of my own, all of which I love dearly. The story starts with an ironic statement. The narrator declares he is a sane individual, which is never the case when someone declares such. Black cats are generally paired with bad luck or curses. I believe in this story, they act as a curse to this narrator. I see it this way as the Narrator ends up hanging the cat (tears were shed), and on the same day, his house is burned. Left behind is the imprint of a cat with a noose around its neck, being the mark of Pluto. Later he gets another black cat, with a white patch on its fur (reminds me of my cat oreo), he finds the same feeling he had for it as he did with Pluto. Later he finds himself enraged with it once again. I feel the new cat was a rebirth of Pluto, as the white marking turns out to be a gallow, where hangings take place. This totally sane person then tries to axe the cat, but his wife comes to defend it. In another cursing of the cat, who would have died of beheading, he chops the axe into his wife's head. He then, as any sane one would do, hides the body into the wall, and then tries to go after the cat again, who is now missing. Four days later-which is interesting because four is an unlucky number in Japanese culture, meaning death- he has police show up. they search and find nothing of interest. In his bragging, the narrator decides to bang on the wall where his late wife is, causing the cat behind it to meow and alter the police to the body. The now sane person is found guilty, once again by the cat's curse.
The first story that I came upon to read was "Madame Celestine's Divorce". I thought this story was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading it. As I analyzed it, I noticed that every conversation between Madame Celestine and the judge was about the divorce. The Judge always seemed to be convincing her to move forward with it and she seemed to keep following his advice. When the story started, I thought that he was giving her this as friendly advice, but after I read "A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton...Then he fell into a stupid habit of dreaming as he walked the streets of the old town. It would be very good to take unto himself a wife, he dreamed. And he could dream of no other than pretty Madame Celestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts, now." I realized that he wasn't giving advice in her best interest anymore, he wanted to be with her and in order for that to happen, she had to leave her husband. I talked to Yeshari Graber about this story, and it occurred to us that he really cared about Madame Celestin, but we still believe that he is being slightly selfish in this situation. At the end of the story, there is another quote that stood out to me. This is " Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Celestin came home las' night. An' he's promise me to his word an' honor he's going to turn ova a new leaf." After I read this, it made me realize that no matter how many times he has broken promises to her, she is still not willing to leave him, which shows she truly does love him even with his flaws. I also believe that he is not going to keep his promise, and that another argument and issue will happen eventually.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw". I can recall reading this story a few years ago, but I only remembered slight details and I never analyzed it fully. As I analyze it now, it is much more interesting to read. I thought this story was very mysterious throughout the entire writing, and details included at the beginning, such as the weather, only foreshadowed events to come later. When the man came into the house and started to talk about the monkey's paw, he urged it wasn't a story that needed to be told. "Nothing,' said the soldier, hastily. "Leastways nothing worth hearing." I thought this was interesting, and also using slight foreshadowing, suggesting that it was dangerous. He also knew that if they heard of its magic they would want to try for themselves which could result in bad outcomes. In this situation he was correct. After he told them of the magic, they began to ask questions about the previous wishes. "The first man had his three wishes. Yes," was the reply; "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw." When he would speak of the paw, he would suggest throwing it away and forgetting about it because he knew how dangerous it could be. The ending of the story is no surprise when bad outcomes did happen. Overall, I thought this story was also very interesting to read and analyze.
The flipgrid will not for the life of me work on my computer this week. I am sorry, technology is definitely interesting. It never works when you want it to. Anyway on to the short stories. The first story I decided to read was "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck. I was drawn to this one first because I like Steinbeck and his previous works like "Of Mice and Men". Chrysanthemums was an interesting story. I feel like there is a lot to unpack that was hidden in there and I'm positive I missed stuff. My take on the story and I could definitely be wrong, but my take is Elisa wants some adventure. She has a husband but a majority of the story is not about the husband at all, it is about Elisa and her meeting with this traveling man. It definitely seemed like there may have been some flirting with this man. At the very least she wants something new. One of the most intriguing parts comes at the end of the story when she is crying in the car with her husband. From what I read, one reason she could have been crying was because of the man. I believe he played a con on her in order to get her pot. He definitely seemed like a showman womanizer type of man, who targets women for his business. On page 8, the man talks about one of his clients and she is also female and owns a garden. Elisa was definitely somewhat entranced or taken aback by this man because of what she says when he leaves of Page 13. "There's a glowing there" is very interesting. But I think when she saw he threw out the flowers and kept the pot, she was hurt and it says she grew silent for a while. Also, she asks for wine afterward, which is a depressant. I think Elisa is synonymous with the Chrysanthemums. They had grown tall the previous year as she is now, and it was the start of a new growth period in the story which could possibly symbolize a new page in her life. Turning over a new leaf so to speak to make a pun.
The second story I read was "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". The title sounded intriguing, and I like the idea of a Harlequin and a Ticktockman. After reading the story, wow! Just wow! That was like reading a darker dystopian Dr. Seuss novel. It was really good but there was a lot to follow there. I think it can be summed up to what was said on page 8 when he is speaking with the bullhorn. Don't be slaves to the clock. It was definitely an obvious metaphor for how society is changing. We value all the unnecessary things like money when we should just live. Take in the sunshine or saunter around, like the harlequin said. What an interesting character choice though, a harlequin. Typically a jester or a joker how fitting. I find the ending of the story hilarious. Time is relative and they gave one-man supreme power and so when he enters his office at the end knowing he was three minutes behind, I find it funny. I'm still trying to process everything I read because that story was a lot. It was definitely my favorite one out of all the ones we have read, however. This story, makes me wonder if the movie "In Time" took any inspiration from this as they have similar concepts. Also, I would like to say thanks for allowing me to do this over a blogtask because my internet has been uncooperative.
The two short stories I chose to read were “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” and “Harrison Bergeron.” I was truly surprised by how much I enjoyed these two quick reads. I always enjoy short stories as most tend to be short and sweet, yet have various underlying symbols and themes that make them oftentimes simple to analyze. The first story revolves around Madame Celestin who wants to divorce her husband who is rarely home, leaving only herself to provide for her family. Lawyer Paxon is convincing her to get a divorce, yet when her husband comes home he promises to finally change. I was particularly interested in Lawyer Paxon’s infatuation with Madame Celestin, he clearly desires for her to get a divorce, but I think it is solely for his own benefit. Instead of using words like “he left you” the author uses “deserted” and treated you “ill” (3). These predictions came to me at the beginning of the story, but later on quotes seemed to confirm it: “And he could dream of no other than pretty Madame Célestin filling that sweet and sacred office as she filled his thoughts” and “His heart beat in a strangely irregular manner as he neared Madame Célestin's” (5 & 6). It is no secret that divorce was highly looked down upon; however, I did a little research on the time period of this story and it did take place when women’s rights advocates fought to ban the right to sue for divorce on the women’s behalf. Divorce rates were actually going up at this time period, yet Madame Celestin feared more what her peers would think. I think this reveals what the theme of the story is, allowing society’s beliefs and practices to take over your own. I think this character, in particular, has a big heart, and still cared for her husband so when he was gone it was easy to give into characters like Lawyer Paxon. She appears to be a giant people pleaser. I spoke to Alexis Bannwarth, she had the same idea that this relationship is going to keep spiraling and be a constant cycle of toxicity.
I found the second story “Harrison Bergeron” to be much more twisted. Events in history have shown how we all strove for equality. You want equality? Well, this story certainly gives it to you. On page 1, the first paragraph gives a clear view of what is going to occur, “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.” Nobody wants to be called “average,” we desire to be above and have talents and characteristics that we think are better than others. This idea is one of the most evident themes in the story. The story revolves around two main characters, Hazel and George. Hazel is claimed to have “average intelligence,” while George has a mental handicap that prohibits him from thinking as he hears noises instead. The two are watching television when breaking news hits: "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous” (4). For most, these are prized traits that anyone desires. Bergeron later claimed to be an “Emperor” and forced musicians to play their absolute best without their handicaps, ultimately to show that everyone is different and that they have qualities that make them who they are. His rebellion only had negative downfalls. I think this ultimately all comes back to the government and their control. They completely corrupted their people, rather than taking Bergeron back to jail, they shot him on the spot.
The first short story I read was Doyle's "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton." This story was fairly lighthearted throughout most of the story and was clearly plot-driven. It was about Sherlock Holmes told from his friend Watson's point of view. The "King of all blackmailers" Milverton comes to visit Watson and holds papers that practically hold and swindle people into giving up money. The man is somehow above the law, and is not wringled up in trouble at all. Throughout the story, the two boys work their way to the point where they can sneak into Milvertan's estate, and find the papers at which hold them to such blackmail. Quickly they find out they are not the only ones there, and hide quickly when they hear Milverton come to the room. He sits and waits until a girl walks in and sits down like a formal meeting at midnight. She confronts him and shoots him while the two boys watch. The whole building is alive with a flurry and the girl gets away. The boys sneak back inside to burn all the papers and hopefully clear their name before they run. A guard follows them and grabs hold of Watson while vaulting over a wall. They get away. The next day, a new fellow, Mr. Lestrade comes to the boys shared household and wants Holmes to take the case of the murder to find the two criminals that murdered Mr. Milverton in his household. Holmes refuses to take the case. They rushed down to Regent Circus one day where they looked at a picture of famous people, and saw the same lady that shot Milverton posed in a Court dress and a diamond tiara, framed in a store for famous people. The only thing I was unsure about while reading this story, is what was on the papers that drove the men to sneak into his house. I understood it was blackmail but I just thought it was interesting. I also found Milverton an interesting character because of the way he treats himself like he is above the law and blackmails people into giving him money. I also thought, but maybe I am wrong, that the girls who fired upon Milverton was actually a princess of a royal family, because she was wearing a diamond tiara.
Part 2:
The second short story I read was Poe's "The Black Cat." While reading this piece, I felt that it presented a wonderful sense of pace that was easy to read (even though I used to struggle with Poe as a young reader). The story presents it self with a main character discussing a time in his life where his "temperament and anger...had experienced a radical alteration for the worse" (Poe 3). From there we learn about his intoxicated interaction with his black cat that so loved him dearly. The black cat was named Pluto and had its eye sliced out by the narrator. The immense feeling of guilt afterward, watching Pluto walk around, scared to come close to the narrator, drove the narrator to bring Pluto out and hang him. Upon interest, I decided to Google the name Pluto and found that it is not just the name of a Dwarf planet. Pluto was the Greek name for the God of the Underworld and Wealth, which was fitting for this story because the narrator presents himself as mad, and says after his house burns down, "The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up..." (5) After this he randomly finds a new black cat that has an eye missing and loves it. Eventually, his love turns to distaste and he tries to stay away out of regret for what he did to Pluto. Clearly driven mad by the cat, he tries to murder this beast as well but drives the ax into his wife instead. After killing his wife, he hides her body in the cellar. At the end of the story, the police come and search his house, and after seeing nothing, as they are prepared to leave, his wife begins to scream from behind the wall, and they open it up to see her and the cat in their gruesome state. This story is a clear writing of regret. The returning black cat and the wife coming alive again are just figments of his imagination that stand to resemble his remote of the brutal acts he accomplished.
Grace and I talked for a little while about the two stories we both read. Right away we both agreed that Poe is a very interesting fellow and the narrator in his story is clearly mad. We both agreed that the imagery of the horrors he committed to Pluto and his wife were gruesome in the least. Upon our discussion on the reappearance of the dead figures, we said that we think it is almost an allegory for regret. That when you commit a horrible act, the image of the person you hurt will stay in your mind, and continually you will see the person and it will drive you mad and ruin your life. We also discussed the almost lightheadedness of Doyle's story and how it almost completely contrasted Poe's dark and inhumane writing style. Doyle's story was a long but easy read because it was a fictional story of the very prominent figure Sherlock Holmes.
Part 1: The first story I want to talk about is “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. The idea of wishes and unearned power is kind of intriguing to me, so I chose to focus my time on this story. The first thing that kind of popped out to me was how Jacobs wrote the story as a lesson but used horror elements to do so. Making the setting a house 2 miles out of town brought a different feeling to what was happening at night. He also timed Herbert’s piano chords with Mr. White’s wishing to create even more of an ominous feeling through different senses than just sight. The next thing that I focused on was how likely or unlikely it could have been that the results of the wishes could all be a coincidence. I will say I find it unlikely that the amount offered for Herbert’s death would be the same amount wished for just by coincidence alone. However, the knocking on the door could have really been anything: the house creaking at night, the wind, mice, the sounds of the outdoors creeping in. This is kind of confirmed when the door is opened and the road is deserted. After reading the story the first time, I reread it to take better notes. One thing I noticed was a line Herbert said after the first wish was made. On page 5, Herbert explains, “Well, I don’t see the money and I bet I never shall.” This foreshadows his death because he does not see the money himself but is rather the reason the wish for money is granted. The overall theme of what happens when you mess with fate is supported by a few events in the story, the most obvious one being Herbert’s death. The other event that I felt supported this was when Mr. White explains “It seems to me I’ve got all I want.” on page 5. He should have no reason to wish for more when he has a loving family and a wonderful home. Instead, he lets slight amounts of greed take over in wishing for more money. The chess game was also great foreshadowing for what the story had in store for the reader. Mr. White continues to play the risky game of putting his king in danger on multiple occasions and ultimately loses. In the story, he takes the risk of wishing on the monkey’s paw despite his warning and loses his son. I discussed the story briefly with Kira Van Roekel. She brought up the change that Mrs. White went through during the story. Mrs. White grimaces at the first glance of the paw and chases Herbert when he suggests Mr. White should wish to be an emperor. After Herbert’s death, she is so distraught that she begs Mr. White to wish for their son back.
Part 1 - Stockton "The Lady or the Tiger?"
I choose to analyze this story because the title intrigued me and the first few lines of the story presented an interesting character that hooked me into reading more. As I continued through the story, I noticed the overarching theme of choice. The men, innocent or guilty, were given the choice of their fate. Specifically, the fact that the men (and only the men) get this choice is interesting to me. Of course, after his choice is made, the criminal does not get to decide whether he dies or whether he marries, so his choices are limited. However, the woman he marries is selected by the king's people, and the wording makes me believe they also have no choice in this marriage. Imagine being forced to marry a criminal of the kingdom because fate had chosen him innocent? This theme of choice continues as Stockton introduces the King's daughter. Because this story was written in 1892, I found it interesting that Stockton gave the power of choice, the real power of choice, to a female character. The King's daughter has real choice because her choices are not set in the fact there are no set actions resulting from her decision. Her choice, ultimately, will not affect her future choices, but those of the man she loves. The most interesting aspect of this choice between life and death is her being forced to make this decision quickly. On page 7, Stockton words this sentence: "Her decision has been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation." I believe the wording is deliberate here, as she had days to make the choice, but in reality it had to be made in an instant. At the end of the story, Stockton himself talks to the reader and says, "It is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer [the question]" (8). I like this part of the story because Stockton knew that everyone's take on how the King's daughter would answer would be different, and instead with the title and final words invited the reader to use their personal experience to make that decision themselves.
Part 2: The second story I wanted to focus on was “A Piece of Steak” by Jack London. This story reminded me of “Cinderella Man”. The thing that stood out the most in this story was the capitalization of Youth and Age throughout. They are not simply youth and age anymore but rather two different groups of people, King representing Age and Sandel representing Youth. In life and in the fight, Youth overtakes Age. Although Age has more wisdom than strength, Youth’s strength overpowers that. I couldn’t help but find some similarities in the story with The Lion King. King himself is even referred to as “sheer animal”. On page 2, King is being described as such, “the eyes were the most animal-like feature about him. They were sleepy, lion-like — the eyes of a fighting animal.” The circle of life is also represented in this story. The Youth rise to overtake those of the Age only to become the Age themselves later on in life. King explains that there is no ill-will in fighting because both members are simply playing the game. Youth plays with its strength in order to receive money and glory while Age plays with its knowledge to get by with what it needs. King also explains that now that he is old, he reserves his strength because he has little of it, much like he does with his money. When he was younger, however, he spent his strength and money all the time on unnecessary things and moments. "He understood now why Bill had cried in the dressing room." on page 19 brings the story full circle when King sits on a bench after the fight and cries much like Bill did 20 years ago.
The two short stories I decided to read were “Madame Celestin's Divorce” and “Harrison Bergeron”. I chose these two stories simply at random.
The first story “Madame Celestin’s Divorce” follows a Louisiana lawyer named Paxton who attempts to win favor from the lovely Madame Celestin who is currently struggling with her marriage. The lawyer throughout the story attempts to convince Celestin to get a divorce by telling her it would be best for her when in reality he wants her for himself. The idea of divorce is not the Madame’s own idea but one that was thrust upon her by the lawyer. The story is written from the perspective of the lawyer and through his interactions with Celestin. As a result of this writing style, we don’t know as much as we could of the circumstances of Celestin and her husband. Celestin in the story often complains about her husband but we as readers do not know if these statements are exaggerated or not “Of course she had talked to him of her troubles. Everyone knew Madame Celestin's troubles.”(Chopin 1). Celestin is the overall victim in this story as her will is determined by that of what other people think or tell her to do. Whether it's Paxton encouraging a divorce, her family forbidding her or the return of her husband closing the matter entirely, this story highlights the depressing situation many women may have found themselves in. This theme of women not having a voice is sadly still relevant nowadays.
The second story, “Harrison Bergeron”, is an interesting tale of an apocalyptic future where free will and creativity are removed in favor of making everyone equal. The American Government has placed restrictions that regulate everyone so that they are all equal. The story follows a married couple, George and Hazel after their son was arrested. The two watch ballerinas dance on tv before the program is interrupted by a man who has removed his inhibitors and forces the band to play actual music. Before long however, the man is killed by a government agent and life continues as it was at the beginning of the story. This story presents a bleak look at a world where fairness is more important than freedom. The characters in the story are presented as dull and boring being unable to give more than basic responses or opinions. I think this story also highlights the negative side of censorship as the t.v program in the story tries to be as offensive as possible and apologies for any possibility of offense. Overall the theme is to celebrate the faults of the world we live in because without them we would not grow as a society.
The first story I read on my own was “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. I actually really enjoyed this story and found it was a quick read. I also liked how this story was set in the future, 2081, compared to the other stories we’ve been studying far back in the past. I think Vonnegut absolutely mastered illustrating the dilemma of people being equal in each and every way, “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. (p. 1)” I think any ideas regarding complete equality sound nice, obviously not to this extent, but will never fully be achieved. Communism is the perfect example of this flawed system. The truth is that there will always be those who have and those who do not. The ending of this story had me in complete and utter shock— in the best way possible. Hazel is so unintelligent and forgetful that she witnessed her son being murdered on the television with tears rolling down her face; however when George returns she simply cannot remember what made her sad. "You been crying" he said to Hazel. "Yup," she said. "What about?" he said. "I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television." "What was it?" he said. "It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel. "Forget sad things," said George. "I always do," said Hazel. This left me thinking that many small riots such as this one by Harrison have occurred in their world, but due to the citizen's naive nature, no one can remember it or join in.
The second story I read was “A Piece of Steak” by Jack London. This story seemed like something I already knew, and as I continued reading I found that it was similar to the Cinderella Man movie we watched in Hollywood versus History. I loved the movie, so I think that's why I really enjoyed this story. Both Tom King and James Braddock are struggling to feed their starving families by any means possible. Though they are both fighters, they constantly have to battle the decision to risk everything in the ring or struggle to find labor work. Both characters often reminisce on their youth— when they were faster, stronger, and richer. Tom king thought, “He was busy thinking of the bull terrier he had kept in his younger days to which he had fed steaks without end. Burke would have given him credit for a thousand steaks — then. But times had changed. Tom King was getting old; and old men, fighting before second-rate clubs, couldn't expect to run bills of any size with the tradesmen. (p. 3)” The movie doesn’t really have to do anything with analyzing the story but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. I think the overall conflict of London’s story is the battle of Youth and wisdom. London intentionally capitalized Youth to draw the reader's attention to it not only as an adjective but almost as its own character that King must fight against to feed his family. Sandel, the young man who faced King in the ring, is London’s perfect definition of Youth, “It was the way of Youth, expending its splendor and excellence in wild insurgence and furious onslaught, overwhelming opposition with its own unlimited glory of strength and desire. (p. 9)” King uses the wisdom of his years to last many rounds with Sandel but is ultimately defeated and walks home with no quid in his pockets.
Part 1:
The first short story I read was "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. This story gave readers an inside view of a futuristic world where equality lies in all aspects from thoughts to talents. Directly on the first page, I found the term "Handicapper General" interesting because usually when we talk about equality it is meant to be lifting people up and making sure there is equal representation. However, this story shines a more negative light on the severity of equality if taken to the far extremes. Instead of lifting people, equality is a sense of bringing others down to a "normal" level and "handicapping" them for being above average or gifted. Another phrase that I noticed, was also on page 1 and it stated, "April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime". I found this to be almost a poke at humans. Even if everything was fair and everyone had everything, people would still find something to be discontent with and complain over. The mood or tone that I got from the story was very sad and unamusing. The reader looks in on a mother and a father trying to live a normal life. It can be seen how handicaps intrude on their lives and leave them with little new topics of conversation and any conversation started ends by dwindling off into lost thoughts. Their world is sad with no sense of excitement or uniqueness because in their world being anything outside of "normal" is a threat. In the context of the story, more equality does not show more freedom as it is commonly believed. This story wants to show more equality leads to more regulations. This was also the story I discussed with my friend, Emily. We both agreed on the underlying sadness at the parents affected lives and not being able to recognize what has happened to their son. She made a great connection to the play that we saw earlier this school year, 1984. This play was similar to the idea of an overruling government regulating the thoughts of civilians. Those who want free thoughts and ideas are punished. On page 4, the quote, "he is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous" when describing Harrison was very interesting to read. In our world, Harrison sounds very normal and would never be an enemy based on only the description that he is academically gifted and has a talent for sports. Because he refuses to limit his own talents, he is labeled as an enemy. Overall, I found the story interesting to read because I felt it was trying to push the message of the negative consequences of a world with no competition where people are limited just to make others feel better.
Part 2:
The second short story I read was "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin. This story starts off in a utopian-like world where everything appears perfect. The set-up of the story has a narrator who is pushing the reader to try to imagine a world that is similar in perfectness to Omelas. Instantly, I got a connection to "Beatrice and Virgil" by Yann Martel and how that novel never gives a specific location to emphasize that it could be happening anywhere. The narrator senses that the reader is not able to think of a place as perfect because one does not exist. Slowly, more gets revealed about the dark secrets of Omelas that contrast the lightness of the Festival of Summer. Finally, the reader is introduced to the child in the cellar. This child resides where there is no sunlight and sparks the question of happiness being a byproduct of another person's suffering. As a way of breaking the children's innocence, they must visit the malnourished child and witness what one must go through for their perfect life in Omelas. From then on, their happiness comes from the idea that everything they do is better than the life of the child. Thankful for their lives and relieved for their living conditions. I took this story as a show of why we get happiness from certain things when based on the idea that they are luxuries and not everyone possesses them. Global hunger and poverty are topics that people are aware of but still live on with their lives full of happiness through "nondestructive lifestyles" as used in the story. On page 8, the story states that adults have "acceptance of their helplessness". Everyone in Omelas is instructed to turn a blind eye to the injustice of that one child to guarantee satisfaction in the lifestyle of the whole town. The ending of this story I found to be a reference to not being able to change a world's outlook on a situation but taking an individual stand to change. Some civilians could not handle the truth of Omelas and walked away. It is important to point out that they walked in all different directions leading to different places. The narrator on page 8 states that they "cannot describe it at all" of the type of world those civilians are moving onto. This is because finding a world where there is as much perfection as Omelas without some form of unjustifiable suffering is not imaginable. Overall, I found this to be a story that left me thinking about it for several minutes after I read it. For me, it was a story that wanted to open the eyes of the reader on the world that they are living in and what is happening around them.
The two short stories that I decided to analyze was "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”. I enjoyed both of these stories due to the mysterious and unexpected events that take place in both of them.
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", it starts out on a bridge with Peyton Farquhar with a noose around his neck. He had been tricked into trying to burn down a bridge that the Northerners had just rebuilt by a Northern scout dressed up as a Confederate soldier. Farquhar could not fight for the South himself but he was sympathetic to their cause. In an effort to support the South, he tried to sabotage the bridge but the North soldiers were waiting for him. He was then strung up and hung. But he did not realize that he was dead at first. He thought that he had broken free and tried swimming away so he could go see his family again. As the story goes on, Farquhar keeps mentioning a sharp pain in his neck when he walking and swimming back to his family. This shows that he actually did die when he got hung off the bridge. He himself just hasn't realized that he died on the bridge. He keeps holding on to the hope fo seeing his family again. The sequence that follows his death is a showing of his path to the afterlife.
In "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", it starts out with two detectives named Holmes and Watson. One of them receives a paper with the name Charles Augustus Milverton on it who is a big-time blackmailer who swindles wealthy families with their dirty secrets and threatens to release them if they don't pay up. Holmes and Watson are hired to help a family who Charles is trying to blackmail and get a wedding canceled. Holmes and Watson then try to take Charles's journal so they can uncover all the evil deeds he has done and send him to jail for a long time. They are unsuccessful and Charles was too smart to have the with him in the first place. Then Holmes and Watson make a plan to break into Charles's home and take his notes in his sleep since it is well known that Charles is a heavy sleeper. They break in and are about to steal the notes when they someone else in the house. They quickly hide while they hear the other person come closer. The door swings open and a lady, high up in the society, stands in the doorway to Charles's room. Her family had been a victim of Charles schemes in the past and her husband had died as a consequence of it. She had come for her revenge. She pulls out a revolver and shoots Charles and then leaves. Holmes and Watson witness all of this and quickly dispose of the notes and then flee with people following close behind because they are the presumed killers. They are later asked to help with the case to find who killed Charles but they both declined. The only help they give is posting a picture of a lady who is high up in society as the culprit. They do not state any specifics about the lady because they believe that what she had done was justified for what Charles had done to her family. Watson and Holmes know exactly who killed Charles but do not say a word.
Part 2 - Jacobs "The Monkey's Paw"
I chose to analyze this story because I had heard the phrasing "the monkey's paw" before, but had never known where it had come from. After reading, I can safely say I was pleasantly surprised, and this may be my favorite short story so far. In the beginning, the sergeant-major says, "He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow" (3). This line is the first set of foreshadowing to the wishes later in the story. Mr. White interfered with his fate by wishing for money, and got that money at his and his wife's sorrow. It's an interesting concept, the idea that you have to lose something to gain something is popular in fiction. On page 4, Mrs. White alludes to the story of Arabian Nights, in which three wishes are also received, and similar to the story, the characters in the story learn that having wishes granted have consequences. I liked the open-ended ending of the story, as Jacobs doesn't actually reveal if their son is a living-monster and he doesn't tell us Mr. White's final wish. In my opinion, I think they're son would have been alive, although mutilated, and his final wish brought balance back. This story is both haunting and intriguing because the idea of changing your fate is really interesting to me. I liked being able to read the origin of the monkey's paw because I've seen it mentioned in other literature and it was a thought-provoking story exemplifying the risks of choice.
The first story I chose to read and analyze was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The story started off easy for me to understand setting up the characters and the setting. It's a dark and stormy night and it becomes known that the White's live on a street surrounded by practically nothing. This is a classic horror movie set up which really catches my interest. There is a small family who seems to enjoy each other's company and live a nice life. They joke around with Morris about the Money Paw which only makes you imagine what horrible things are going to unfold in the story. The whole mood shifts and the characters change dramatically once the Monkey Paw has granted the first wish. A once happy and fun boy, Herbert dies from a horrible accident. The calm and kind wife becomes depressed over her son which leads her to want to make a second wish which is when the story really picks up. On page 12 it says "A loud knock resounded through the house." The intensity of the knocking on the door and the image of a mangled Herbert waiting on the other side gives you a very chilling and almost exciting feeling like horror usually does. One thing that confused me was on page 5 when Mrs. White says, "Did you give him anything for it father?' Inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.'" Mrs. White calls her husband "father" but it must be a thing of the time period. Other than that the story was really easy to understand and it was exciting to read since it was horror.
The second story I chose to read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. This story was also of the horror genre but I found it harder to understand. The main character recognizes himself as becoming more and more evil. He explains how in his childhood he was a very humane and caring person who loved animals. Then on page 5, he says "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others." Since he emphasized his love for animals as a child I would never have expected him to take out his fits of evil on his poor cat. His madness heightens and he is not satisfied with what he has already done to the cat. He's willing to kill the cat because his mental state is so altered. After the cat comes back to life the story becomes almost supernatural. I question whether what happens is real or not. The end of the story is quite dark and is one of those horror stories that leaves you with a sick feeling. Overall this story is a representation of Poe's abuse of alcohol and how it may affect him. He compares the cat to alcohol but he is known to be a drinker. Poe is obviously not mentally stable as this story clearly shows. Combining alcohol and a questionable mental state leads to horrible acts such as mutilating animals and even murder. On page 9 he says "Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain." His madness even led him to murder his wife which was shocking to read.
I discussed these two stories with fellow classmate Hannah Behrens. We both enjoyed these stories because they are of the horror genre. They were both filled with horror elements and we agreed that they had a lot of suspense and gruesome aspects. We believe a strong theme in The Monkey's Paw is to be careful what you wish for. Both stories entail supernatural elements. The Monkey's Paw is about a talisman that grants wishes which is not reasonable to happen in reality. Then in the Black Cat, the cat seems to defy death which is not realistic. Both stories were chilling and interesting to read overall.
The first story that I read was "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. After reading through it a little bit I could clearly tell that she didn't really have a say in her own life and was being controlled by the men in her life. She wasn't very happy with her life so she would go see her lawyer Paxton. Paxton thought she was very pretty. Everyone seemed to know about Madame Celestin and her life troubles. She has been home with the kids and taking care of them while her husband is always away and has a drinking problem. Madam says, "It's good six month' since I see a sight of Celestin." Madame Celestin kept going back to talk with Paxton and he was really entertained with the idea of her getting a divorce. Her family and friends didn't really like the idea and she says, "it's a disgrace like it's neva been in the family." Finally, on page five Madame Celestin says her husband comes back. She says, " You see, Judge, Celestin came home las' night. An' He's promise me on his word an' honor he's going to turn ova a new leaf." Personally, I think she should have left him, and gotten a new lawyer because both situations were not good and I think she needed a fresh start.
The second story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. The story starts off by a man from India and he is telling Herbert White about this monkey paw that it can grant 3 wishes to 3 men. Herbert askes the man if he had used his three wishes and he said yes. This is what the old man said about the first guy on page 3, "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw." The soldier was going to burn it but then Mr. White took the paw. The solider warns Mr. White of the paw and says," If you must wish, wish for something sensible." The first wish they make is for 200 pounds. Well turns out the consequence of that wish is for their son to die in the machinery. They present them with 200 pounds as compensation. Their second wish was to bring their son back from the dead. Finally, for their third wish, the old man wished to not see his son again because he realized that the paw is cursed and it probably wasn't actually Herbert at the door. Personally, I think they should have seen the signs from the beginning and what the soldier was saying. He said to wish wisely and was going to get rid of the paw all together because of what it did to him.
The first short story that I read was the "Monkeys Paw". I thought this story was very interesting and mysterious. There was a lot of spookiness throughout the whole story. In the first part of the story, the author says "the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly" page 1. When reading this, it made me get a really eery vibe and I think this is just the classic horror story setup in most horror stories. In the beginning, the family is happy and they joke around the monkey's paw, but once the first wish is made it flips the family's life upside down. The mother is depressed, the son is dead, and the father is paranoid about the monkey's paw. The wife wants to make a second wish but the husband will not let her. The second quote I decided to use was "two hundred pounds". This is when the man comes and gives them the horrible news about the son dying, but they got what they wished for with the money. This just basically goes to show that you need to be careful with what you wish for and that even though you may wish for something, that it may become entirely different than what you actually had in mind with the wish.
The second story I read was "The Black Cat". This story was about a husband and wife who were very happy and got along well. They had a black cat and they lived happily with it. The man was a really bad drunk and as he started to get older he began to have these dark thoughts and images about things. All of these dark thoughts took over him and one night he decided to cut out the cat's eye. He then decided to go hang the cat up in a tree with a rope around its neck. Later that night the man woke up and the whole house was on fire and the cat walks in, but this cat has a rope around its neck with a white patch on its chest. The weird thing is that this cat also is missing an eye. "I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others" page 3. I think what this is saying is that as life goes on, you tend to change as a person, for better or for worse. "For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted." page 9. I think this line is just really disturbing, it doesn't have anything disturbing in it, but he is using the cellar for such wrong reasons and has just become evil at this point because he ended up killing his wife and putting her down there. Emily Wendt and I talked about the stories that we both read and we decided that we both enjoyed "The Monkeys Paw". We thought this because it felt like a typical horror movie. From the start, you knew something bad was going to happen, but I never thought those types of things would end up happening throughout the story. Overall, I thought both stories were good and interesting.
For my first story, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" the plot is very clear and direct. Sherlock's arch-nemesis, the king of all the blackmailers, returns to London trying to swindle some more people. His whole scheme is to buy material from maids, and other service workers of the famous families they work for. Then when the time is right, he highballs them at huge prices back to not release the material he has acquired. The only way he could've gotten into Baker street was through invitation which is where Lady Eva Brackwell comes into play. She told Sherlock about some pretty brash letters she wrote a while ago and Charles exploited this. He asked for 7000 pounds in exchange that her wedding will go on. Obviously, 7000 pounds is a lot of money back in 1899 when this short story took place and it still is a huge sum of money. Sherlock counter offers with 2000 pounds because that's all Eva had on her. Charles than threatened to release even more information on Eva if the 7000 pound total was not paid. He tries to physically get the notebook full of Evas letters but he pulled a gun on them and that was that. They try to burglarize Charles home and immediately in pitch blackness bolts to his study. Unfortanlety Charles was smart enough to stay up that night and wait for them. Lucky enough for sherlock, Charles never looks at the safe and instead invites a former woman he swindled into the study. She ends up shooting him the head and Holmes and Watson starts booking it back to Baker Street. The next morning, Lestrade asks for help on the murder case and eventually just gives up and does it himself. Pretty interesting events happened in this book and I could easily see it be a plot of a crime tv show like CIA or for that matter Sherlock.
The Second Story I picked is Harrison Bergeron. The plot starts out interesting as in this story, it takes place in 2081 and everyone is equal in all facets. Any equality you can think of is achieved in this scenario. The main character Harrison is taken away from his parents when he is 14 but due to his parents being simpletons, they are not fully aware he is taken. His dad George has to wear a radio in his ear 24 hours a day so the government can infiltrate his thought process since he is a person of intelligence. Fast forward in the plot and on the TV they are watching, their son Harrison pops up and he is a huge 7 foot, 300-pound man covered in handicaps like huge glasses to blind him, or a huge steel plate because he is a strong man and I would guess attractive due to them also shaving off his eyebrows. Harrison than storms the studio they were in and claims that he is there Emporer and that everyone must obey him. He takes off all his handicaps and then claims that the first ballerina to stand up will be his empress. A ballerina stands up and Harrison takes off all her handicaps and reveals a stunning woman. Then a lot of odd events persist. They start dancing and conducts the musicians to play there best and they're jumping 30 some feet in the air and they're kissing. But after this Harrison gets shot and life goes back to normal as the people forget what just happened. This was a very interesting take on what equality truly means. Obviously in terms of social issues like gender equality, race oppression, and pay, I think we can all say we are for that. But this story took that and increased it 10 fold by literally making everyone equal in all facets of life. Harrison represents the maverick in a society that heavily resembles an extreme communistic way of living. He shows that being different is ok and should be celebrated instead of taken away from you. Because let's be real if every human in the world was the same, the world would be extremely boring. There would be no culture, languages, sports and no freedom to be the person you want to be. Overall my favorite short story so far.
Part one...
The first short story I chose to analyze was "The Lady or the Tiger?" by Stockton. I really only chose to read this because the title sparked an interest in me, it seemed mysterious. As I started reading, I became more intrigued with the theme they chose for the story, I would say that the theme was: All men are given the choice of their own fates. As the story continues, the criminal does not get to decide his fate, he can't choose to die or marry. The story line and theme continues as the author, Stockton, brings the Kings daughter into the story. On page 7, Stockton says, "Her decision has been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days and nights of anguished deliberation." I perosnally find it interesting that Stockton gave the power to a lady just because of the time period this was written in. Another quote from page 7 is, "But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in her grievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of the lady!" This was her explaining that she did not want her lover to fall in love with this beautiful women that she hated. Over this short story was very good and very interesting, I would recommend The Lady or the Tiger to anyone.
The second short story I chose to read was Madame Celestin's Divorce. I chose this story mostly because it says divorce in the title and that is a subject that has always intrigued me on a personal level because of my parents. On page 5, Stockton says, "Yes, I reckon you need n' mine. You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he 's promise me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." I thought that this line in the story was little weird, it did not fit with the story like I thought it should, it was almost frustrating. I think he is saying this just so she does not divorce him. I called upon Jenna Vis to chat with me, after discussing this short story, we came to the conclusion that we both wanted Madame and Judge to be together. Another quote I want to use is: “A noticeable change had come over lawyer Paxton." I chose this nice, short and sweet quote because I think that it represent a powerful love; he cares for her a lot, you can tell as time goes on throughout the story. He notices her changed. He became intrigued by his own appearance and started dressing to impress some would say. He wanted a wife and that is why he cared about what he looked like, he wanted her to see someone handsome and worthy that would care for her deep down.
The two short stories I read were Ursula Le Guin's, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and W.W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw". I first read Le Guin's short story, which was written in 1974. I enjoyed "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". I found this story to be quite interesting. On page 1, Le Guin starts off with the people of Omelas having a grand and happy time at the Festival of Summer. But, the whole town does not get to enjoy the festival. There is one young boy that is locked in his basement. This young boy is forced to live in misery so the rest of the citizens of Omelas can live in happiness. Some citizens decide to leave the city. On the bottom of page 8, one of the last quotes of the books, I found that “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” people who leave the city are making the choice to leave because they do not want to be apart of a city that thrives on children suffering. They may have been living a happy life, but those people left because they were living happily because of the wrong reasons.
The second short story I read was, "The Monkey's Paw", by W.W. Jacobs. I remember reading this story back in middle school and really enjoyed it so I decided to read it again. I remember I liked this story due to its mystery. A soldier comes in contact with this mysterious monkey's paw and becomes curious. He learns the history of the paw and still wants to keep it. On page 3 the story states that the history of the paw is grim. Page three states, The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." I found this part to be quite interesting because I found it mysterious and kind of suspenseful. With the monkey's paw, the soldier is granted three wishes. The first, he wishes for 200 pounds; he is granted. His second wish is not as great and quite grotesque. The father makes the third and final wish for his son to return. We never know if the son actually returns because on page 13, the story ends with, "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road". Thr story ends with no real disclosure and for sure ending which adds the the mystery of the story. A reader can infer in their mind what happened with the third wish.
The first short story "Madame Celestin's Divorce" by Kate Chopin. I liked reading the story, it made me feel emotional for her situation and I was attached so much that I wished she would be able to do what she wished–get a divorce. Some of the dialogue was a bit hard to understand, but that was because of the interpretation of the accents/language. I didn't like how obviously everyone knew what was happening with her, that she was alone taking care of the kids for six months and he was gone with his drinking problem. But, that didn't stop everyone from butting in and telling her that it would be a disgrace for her to divorce him, she said, "they all plumb agains' divorce," (pg. 3). Sophie and I were talking about this story, and we both had our opinions about how the story ended and how she went back to her husband in the end because he said he would "turn ova a new leaf" (pg. 5).
The second story I read was "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe. Basically, it is about a married couple who is living fine with a black cat. The husband has a drinking problem and he started to think of harmful things. He had scary dreams about the cat and the visions and urges he had come true. What I know about Poe is that he was like this character in real life. He had a drinking problem and often thought of dark images, just like the guy in this story. It kind of reminds me of Yann Martel, in the way that he includes himself in the stories or a character that is similar to himself. The story, to me, didn't seem to have much meaning. If it did, I obviously have not looked deep enough to find it. It just seems like another creepy story that is meant to disturb the reader.
React to the stories, mentioning 2 different page numbers and direct quotes for each story in your analysis
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs. I thought this was a brilliantly executed story. However, it was frustrating that the person who gave the family the monkey’s paw did not further warn them. He was very vague which makes me want to blame him for not warning them. He knew the consequences and he understood how tragic they can be yet he said nothing. That was really frustrating. The tv show Supernatural did a similar bit where I bet the “monkey’s paw” was inspiration so I wish I was reading something like this for the very first time. However, maybe all the foreshadowing made it obvious to anyone what is about to happen.
I found it interesting that the introduction shows that this family is smart and well-mannered. They appear to not be starving and perhaps are even highly educated. When Jacobs describes the chess game and describes the boy “who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils” (page 1) this proves that they are intelligent. In this quote as well, the words “unnecessary perils” grabs your attention. This is an obvious foreshadow when the man wishes for money yet just stated before that “it seems to me I've got all I want” (5). Perhaps this is the tragedy of it all. The family was doing well they were not starving the son had a job and they were content at the very least. The ignorance and greed of mankind for always wanting more or the curiosity and child-like wonder of fairy tales and wishes driving their ambitions.
The next story I read was "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” by Doyle. I did not enjoy this story as much as the first but it still had great qualities. For instance, I really loved the description and dialogue. Sometimes, the dialogue was too lengthy and I think the reader has the potential to lose focus of the point. I loved how the introduction was a little bit of a mystery. To me, I read it as a play which made the story more entertaining.
Throughout the whole novel, I read in my mind the very question that was asked: "but who is he?" (page 2). Even though the answer of this question I still wanted to know who could always be “prepared to pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of wealth and position” and “will hold a card back for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is best worth winning” (page 2). I have read or watched a movie about Sherlock Holmes, yet this story made me more intrigued. I think too many characters in movies and books are based on Sherlock Holmes or have similar characteristics that reading or watching him would seem cliché, similar to reading Romeo and Juliet at a late age. Reading Romeo and Juliet even my freshman year felt cliché, however, I had to remind myself that I was reading the source of all of those clichés.
Call a classmate and chat a bit about the stories, then agree with a classmate’s idea in the Flipgrid video
A classmate and I agreed that we have never seen anything that is Sherlock Holmes related and that it was interesting. She also made a connection with the Monkey’s Paw to the same Supernatural episode. We both enjoy the Monkey’s Paw the best and that it was a very quick read. She liked the ending better than I did. I wanted more to the story and ending. We came to the conclusion that the dad probably wished the son away. Whether it was through death or just going away. I wanted to know more about the story about what happened next and did the mother figure the father for the son disappearing after he knocked on the door.
The first short story that I read was The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin. At the beginning of the story, there's a beautiful festival in a town later to be made known as a perfect town of everyone being happy. Shortly after this is known the story takes a turn to say a young boy the age of 10 is left in a closet for his whole life. He is only fed a half bowl of cornmeal and grease. The town’s happiness is said to be because of the sacrifice of this young boy, this is known by the town and the townspeople are forced to look at the boy live in malnourishment and torture. If the kid is let free from his misery the town of Omela will no longer be filled with happiness but will fall. On page 2 and onto 3 there was a quote stating, “But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.” This shows that even if they are happy they are not because of morality. There is more to happiness than the feeling it gives someone. It asks at what cost is happiness given and is that cost worth the feeling. A quote from page 8,” Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives.” I find this to show that the people of Omela are not as happy as they think, they may feel happy but that is not how they really are. If they are living at the cost of another boy’s happiness why are they happy at all. I agreed with Alexis that the town of Omelas is widely based on the superstition of the boy being tortured, and the town was not actually happy.
Another story that I had read was Kate Chopin's "Madame Celestin's Divorce". I found this short story enjoyable because I thought it was a relatable topic and something that still happens today. This story is about a young woman that works very hard to support herself and her children while her husband is gone and nonpresent. On page 1, Lawyer Paxton says to Madame Celestin that she is "working her fingers off... taking in sewing; giving music lessons; doing God knows what in the way of manual labor to support yourself and those little ones". This shows the reader that she does so much to support her family while her husband is no help whatsoever. Throughout the story, Paxton talks to Madame Celestin and listens to her troubles. As he continues to see her each day, I believe he begins to fall in love with her. On page 4, it states that he dreams of running away with her and them living happily outside of Natchitoches. As he continues listening to her problems with her husband, he suggests that she get a divorce. As I read this, I thought "YES! She needs this. She needs to get out of this awful marriage." I was getting excited as she continued to talk about her plans to divorce her husband. While many people were against this, including her mother, she still wanted to get the divorce. While her mother believed that this would cause disgrace to her family, Paxton convinced her that her happiness should be above what her family thinks. Unfortunately, at the very end of the story, Madame decides to stay with her husband. Paxton comes back ad Madame tells Paxton that she decided to stay with him because he came back and said that he would change. On page 5, she tells Paxton, "You see, Judge, Célestin came home las' night. An' he's promised me on his word an' honor he 's going to turn ova a new leaf." This was very upsetting, as the reader can see that this situation will likely continue to happen over and over again. This story shows how a woman feels stuck due to what other people think. I think, in the end, that she decided to stay with her husband because she didn't want others to look down on her. Sadly, this is a problem that we still face now in society. Many people feel stuck in their lives and believe they are unable to change due to other people's opinions.
I read two short stories; one by Ursula Le Guin's, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and W.W. Jacobs, "The Monkey's Paw". The first story that I read was "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. I found this story to be very interesting and intriguing due to it's mysteriousness and suspenseful nature. I felt like there was no way to know the ending until I actually reached it. We read this story in middle school. I did not quite understand this story back in middle school but I do remember reading it and I wanted to read it again to try and better understand it. What I came up with was that a soldier found this monkey's paw. He once found out the history and how the previous man ended up dead after the third wish. On page three you can find, "The first man had his three wishes...don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death." The first wish was for 200 hundred pounds, which he was granted. His second wish was much more grotesque. His father takes the third wish and wishes for his sons return. We do not actually know if the boy returns. But, on page 13, "a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road". This is how the story ends with no actually complete closure which adds to the mystery of the story.
The second story I read was Ursala Le Guin's " The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". On page 1, the story starts with the citizens of Omelas having a happy time at the Festival of Summer. The story goes on to state that there is a boy that is locked in a basement. This boy spend his life in misery so the rest of the town can spend their time happily. Some citizens decide to leave the town of Omelas because of this. These people do not want to spend their time happily if it is for the wrong reasons and especially if children are being hurt and have to be in misery. On page 8 and into page 9, the story states, “They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.” These people lead because they do not want to spend their lives happily at the expense of others misery. I thought this book was very interesting to say the least.
Story 1- "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
"Harrison Bergeron" is a story about equality written in a time where equality was a hot topic: the 1960s. In the story, the year is 2081 and the US government had finally achieved true equality in all of its citizens. At first glance, true equality sounds like a dream, a utopia. But the story goes on to explain that the way this perfect equality is achieved is by handicapping everyone, essentially sundering one's talents and good qualities. If a person is stronger or faster than a set "normal," that person is weighed down by bags full of heavy metal. If a person is smarter than "normal," that person is given an earpiece that plays harsh noises to distract his/her thoughts. If a person is more attractive, that person is given a mask. Glasses are also available that serve a dual purpose: blur a person's vision to distract thoughts and make that person look worse. At the end of page 1, the story's plot begins with George and Hazel Bergeron watching a television program about ballerinas. Hazel had tears on her cheeks as a result of something that had just been on the program, but "she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about." Later on in the story on page 7, George and Hazel's brilliant son Harrison Bergeron bursts into the ballerina studio but is then shot and killed by the Handicapper General. The story then ends with George saying "'You been crying'" to Hazel, and that she should just "'Forget sad things.'" Since Hazel has a very poor memory, it is possible that she was crying about the death of her son at the very beginning and the story is a flashback. I feel that this story is a warning about what could happen if society tries to achieve perfect equality. The "Freedom Capital of the World" has become extremely totalitarian and harsh. Everyone is painfully average and no one is allowed to have any free-thinking ability, not even enough to remember something extremely important, like the death of a family member. "Harrison Bergeron" is a warning to everyone to "stay up" and not become mindless sheep, similar to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Story 2- "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs
"The Monkey's Paw is another warning in the form of a story, this time representing the classic phrase "Be careful what you wish for." The story begins with a game of chess. Mr. White, along with his wife and his son, Herbert, are waiting for a visitor to come to their house. The visitor is Sergeant-Major Morris, an old army-man who came to tell the family stories of his travels and experiences in exotic India. Mr. White eventually inquires about an old monkey's paw that can supposedly grant wishes that Morris had mentioned earlier to him. Morris shows it to them, but decides that it is best used as fuel for the blazing fireplace. Mr. White saves the paw, and, with reluctance, Morris lets him keep it, warning the family of the consequences of wishing on it. Seargent-Major Morris then leaves. On page 5, Herbert mentions to his father, "'If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy, wouldn't you?' ... 'Well, wish for two hundred pounds then; that'll just do it.'" Mr. White wishes for the money, the paw moves in his hand, but he is disappointed to see that there is no money. The next day, the family figures that the myth of the paw is just a hoax and Mrs. White can't believe ""The idea of [the family's] listening to such nonsense!'" Herbert then goes to work. Later in the day, a well-dressed man reluctantly approaches the White's house. When Mrs. White lets him in the house, he says he is a representative for the company Herbert works for, 'Maw and Meggins. The Whites realize Herbert is dead and the man has come to grant them compensation, a sum of 200 pounds. Mrs. White shrieks and Mr. White faints at the realization that the wish has come true. A quick funeral happens for Herbert. 10 days later, Mrs. White gets the idea to use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Mr. White uses his second wish for Herbert back to come back to life but regrets his decision when harsh knocking comes at the front door. Mr. white realizes that whatever is at the door is not the Herbert they knew, and he uses his last wish on something. The knocking then abruptly stops with Jacobs' story, in the middle of page 13, the most unlucky number. My guess is that Mr. White's last wish was for the thing at the door to go away. However, Mr. White does so at an unknown consequence, meaning the punishment for the wish is that the thing may come back. Poe's warning through the Monkey's Paw is don't tempt Fate and don't play God or you will be punished, though it is less applicable than "Harrison Bergeron" because of the fantastic element of wishing.
Post a Comment