The Lesson

I really enjoyed reading this story because it shows that you dont turn out to be where you came from, and that would be nothing. The children in the community are minority children who live in a community that can be classified as living in poverty. The children are aware that they live an unfortunate life and are willing to accept it because they value other things that have no price value. And their attitude and language maybe looked upon from others as being rude, selfish and ignorant but that's how they talk to one another because that's the only way they know how. And Ms. Moore knows that so she uses a different technique by expanding their world in hope for a great outcome in return.

A&P

A&P is about a young man who works at a grocery store who is stuck in a boring, dull life until three young girls walk into the store where he works and changes his life forever. The young man is use to seeing the same people everyday so he knows what type of people they are. He describes them as being nosey an unappreciative people. However, when the three girls walk in he notices something different about them an immediately gives them his full attention. He describes each girl completely and gives them nicknames that coincides with how they look. But everything seems to change when the mananger comes over to the girls while they were on his line and reprimands them for there inappropiate attire. But the young man does not agree with what the manager says to them. He feels as if he has to prove his loyalty to the girls by quitting his job, and he does, because his loyalty to someone who has made an impact on his life is worth much more than a job that will never change.

Everyday Use

"Everyday Use" is about a mother and her two daughters. Just like a typical relationship between sisters, I sense some jealousy between the two. Maggie is one of the sisters that is very shy and quiet. I believe she is this way because she was left with burns from a fire that happened a while back. Dee is the other sister that doesnt live with them, and may be seen as the one closer to the mother. However, Dee is going through a change. She is know under the Muslim religion. And I think that's what Alice Walker wants us to recognize, "change". But is it change for the better or change for the worst. I don't know. But at the end the mother changes and opens up to Maggie, even though it seems like she shut her down most of her life. Was this a significance? Leave me some comments.

A Worn Path

This story symbolizes an African American elderly woman who has been through a lot in her life. The journey that she has to take represents her life and the obstacles that she faces. She has had a long, hard, tired life. But she does not give up no matter what/who tries to get in a her way because she goes on this journey for someone special in her life which the author says is her grandson. However, I feel as if her grandson represents "her will" to get through anything she sets her mind to because that's all she says. Someone let me know if I'm on the right track.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

I think this story should have had a different title called Good People Are Hard to Find, because it seems as if Misfit and his people weren't the only ones that were bad people. The children were very disrespectful to their parents. From reading the story I thought they were older kids, (even though that wouldn't make it better) but they were just so disrespectful to their parents. And the grandmother wasn't setting a good example herself, she was very selfish and only cared for herself. She showed her true colors at the end of the story when her life was going to be taken away. She had no remorse for what she had caused to happen to her son and his family, basically it was her who put them in the situation they were in. However, I think the title of the story had meaning because a good man is hard to find, but a bad man (Misfit) is very easy to find. It just so happen that the family spoke of him before they left for the trip and look how easy it was to run in to him while on the trip. What a coincidence!

The Hunger Artist

The author of The HungerArtist wanted the reader to see the hunger artist as a work of art. To him a person fasting should be seen as something that you should observe and be able to understand. However the author doesn't want you to admire him or be like him he just wants you to take notice and see what he sees. Also when the hunger artist says the reason he wouldn't eat is because he couldn't find anything that he enjoyed, even though he never looked to find anything to feed his hunger, he really meant that fasting and cleansing yourself was the only thing that could satisfy his hunger. To him this was seen as beautiful. As a result he spent his last days dying from fasting, his body was finally shutting down. But since he loved what he did so much he could never change for the better, but rather die from the worst, which I thought was panther that was placed in the cage when he died........ I really enjoyed reading this story, the moral was very deep.

"Young Goodman Brown"

As I began reading my first impression of the story was very spiritual. The story gave me an impression that it was speaking of the afterlife and crossing over. What made me take on this thought was that throughout the story it talked about a journey, and the name Faith was the name of Mr. Brown's wife. Also the wording of the story like thou, thy were very biblical. However, as the story went on it began to speak of wickedness, brooms and serpents. This is when I started to get confused. I had to question myself, was this story written in biblical thoughts or for witchcraft? I'm still confused, can someone help me out?

The Purloined Letter

Reading this story was a bit confusing for me, maybe because it's a little different from the last couple of stories and because its a mystery. I could honestly say reading this story put me out of my comfort zone. The stories that I usually read are very catchy, the opposite of this one.
It starts off with introducing the setting, which is Paris, and three of the characters, the narrator, Mr. Dupin and Monsieur G. As the story goes on the narrator begins to tell what the mystery is. It seems that a letter is missing that belongs to the Queen and she needs it back as soon as poosible because it contains some things that were not meant to get out. So Prefect has the duty to retrieve the letter back. He believes Minister D has the letter and searches his house but does not find anything. After a month goes by he comes back and searches again. After having no luck for the second time he turns to Dupin, which is a detective, for help in solving the case. He carelessly mentions that the award for finding the letter has increased to Dupin. Dupin quickly acts on it and says to Prefect just write me out a check for 50 francs and the case will be solved. Prefect jumps on Dupins request and pulls out his checkbook and writes the check out and hands it to Dupin an in return Dupin hands him the letter!
I wasn't really expecting the story to end like this but I had to remind myself that it is a mystery so you really never know how its going to end. But overall, it was an interesting story and I look forward to reading more stories like this.

The Use of Force

This story really reminds me of the exorcist, there were so many things that were so similar. However, the story starts out with a doctor making a house visit to a family, who's daughter may have contracted diphtheria. The parents are worried both for their child's health and her reaction towards the doctor. When the doctor first comes in he finds the girl sitting on her father's lap which represents protection. As much as the father wanted to find out what was wrong with his daughter he was still torn between should I help by hurting her or please her by letting her suffer, which was a very hard decision for him because no parent wants to see their child in pain. But being the parent whom he is, he chose to help her even though there was going to be pain for his little girl. The girl did not cooperate at all with the doctor, it took both her parents and the doctor to detain her. There was something about this particular doctor or doctor's in general she disliked. However I found the doctor to be sought of weird myself. It seemed like the challenge he was receiving from the girl was exciting him and made him try harder, when she tried to fight back he would use more force and when he finally got a hold of inside her mouth he felt a good feeling and a sense of happiness. He had finally captured his battle. In my eyes I found the doctor also to be a little sick himself.

"Hills Like White Elephants"

Hemingway seems as if he really tries to throw the reader off on this one. I had to read it about four times to really understand it. When he first begins he says "the station was between two lines of rails in the sun" which I thought he used to describe a point (station) in his life where he had to choose one decision from two(two lines of rails). The two decisions were should him and his girlfriend have an abortion or deal with the truth. The boyfriend was pushing more for the abortion by ordering beers and telling his girlfriend they will be much happy afterwards. The relationship they have now is not so happy, the pregnancy is affecting everything between them.
The mountains were a symbol of a block in their life and behind the mountain was a river and trees which was a representaion of life. Jig seemed as if she wanted to cross the station and pass the mountains but fear and guilt from her boyfriend was on her conscious.
Even though Hemingway doesn't clearly state what Jig chose to do, I hope she made the best decision for her own happiness and not someone else's.

The Yellow Wallpaper

In Charlotter Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", I believe the woman who is telling the story is suffering from a severe mental condition or she's hallucinating. She believes she's living her life through the wallpaper. She feels as if she belongs in the wallpaper but does not wish to go back because certain things in the wallpaper that surround her are not sitting with her to well. For example, the foul odor which she believes comes from the inside of the wallpaper but really is the smell of the room or the whole house. She also makes reference to her baby and how lucky he or she is not to have to reside in such a nightly active foul smelled room. She says at night when she is awake and everyone is sleep the wallpaper awakens and comes to life and she sees movement coming from it. How weird is that? However her husband seems as if he's in denial about what's really going on with her and believes her sickness is starting to go away, until he finds her in the room at the end of story during one of her episodes.
I truly hope I never have to experience this in my life , the internal pain seems unbearable.

"Story of an Hour"

Wow!! What a story.... I must have read this story about three times over and over until I really understood it. The marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard seems to be happy on the outside but not so great on the inside. I sensed Mrs. Mallard as being a wife who wanted freedom from her overpowered husband. When Mrs. Mallard heard the news of her husband's death I sensed that her freedom had conquered her pain. She exhaled her old life an inhaled her new life, this was her chance to finally become the woman whom she wanted to be. She looked forward to the spring and summer days which was a symbol of new life. However, her new look on life changed when the news of her husbands death came to be untrue, she no longer had her freedom and her heart would no longer live on.

This is my take on the story anyone who agrees or disagree's feel free to comment I am interested in hearing other views.

Sherell