"Happy Endings"

"Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood

I was interested in the story from the first three sentences. then when I went on to read plot "A", I was thinking was this all? Proving the point about how "happy endings" can be quite boring because they're unrealistic. Then from plot "B" of the story, I started thinking about how some women have this whole notion that they can change a man and only see a man for what that woman wants him to be. So women try to do everything right and play little games to sway a man into marring them. Then they get upset when the games don't work and a man finds another he really loves.



Also throughout the story, I loved how the author used some of the same names. This made reading the story more interesting and I had to keep in mind that the other plots didn't connect together, until the last four. The last few plots didn't give alot of description. They just talked about "what" happened and no explantaion as to "why" or "how." While reading this story I thought about how we as humans (mostly women), tend to plot our own lives and hope for a happy ending. Yet, why do we get upset when things don't go according to plan? It's interesting how one's life can go in many directions over time, and your plans end up being obligated to change.

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte P. Gilman

The narrator, or the wife, seems to be kind of sarcastic in the beginning. She described John, her husband, as practical and impatient and who's a physician. I sense that she is in an unhappy marriage also. I noticed that at the beginning the wife is writing about the house and how she says it's "haunted", then after talking to her husband and how he's so controlling and seems to know what's best for her, she goes back and writes how the house is "beautiful" instead of haunted. I got the impression that she contradicts herself often.

She feels like she should get "permission" from her husband all the time. "John says this....and John says that.." When she was describing the nursery she was talking about how unattractive the wallpaper was. Why does she dislike this wallpaper so much? she considered it as "unclean." Towards the end of the story, I started to think that the wife was mentaly ill or something, or that maybe John is convincing her that she is ill, when she probably isn't. Everything that the wife suggests, he shoots it down. It's like he's selfish, but acting like he's looking out for his wife's best interest. I noticed that when the wife asked about moving her resting room downstairs where it was more attractive, he instisted that she will go into he cellar.


I kept wondering what was it that John was hiding from his wife? Why couldn't she go downstairs or see her family? John was keeping her locked away and she longed to get out.

"A Rose for Emily"

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

In the first paragraph, I instantly thought that Emily was a women of high standard and that she was also in a way very secretive and had kept to herself. I got that impression from the part of the story when the women came to her funeral just to see the inside of her house. This proves that Emily wasn't very social with the rest of the community. It's as if she was to good for them. I asked myself why would the women care so much, and be so curious about Emily's house, even after she's passed away?! As I read on, the story talked about how she hasn't paid taxes and that Colonel Saratoris had gave permission that she didn't have to pay taxes, yet the Colonel was dead for over 10 years.

Emily seems to be detached from society and modernization. Emily and her family had a reputation to the town as being all "high and mighty" then once she lost her father and was left with the house, people had a chance to feel sorry for her and pity her. It's like the people wanted her to"humble-down" and be like them and struggle. I wondered, as I read on, why did Emily want to buy poison? and I also thought that she was going to kill herself just like the townpeople thought, but instead she killed her Yankee lover, Homer. Another question that rose to my head was about her Negro worker. Was he happy that Emily passed away? and what was there relationship like? All throughout the story I think that Emily missed her father and kept a hold of anything that reminded her of him. I think that she was depressed and once she found someone like Homer, she was so out-of-it, she killed him. Maybe she felt like she couldn't be loved. By her staying in that house for years and years, she probably lost touch of herself.

"Hills Like White Elephants"

"Hills like White Elephants"
by Ernest Hemingway

While reading the story, I noticed that there is ALOT of dialogue going on here. It's like I can, picture the conversation in my head, but at times I did forget which character was talking. The girl, Jig, that is with the American seems to not know what she wants. She has to always second guess herself and ask for the Amercan's decision. She's seems to agree with everything the American does or suggest. Throughout the story, I kept wondering what was so simple that Jig had to do and why did she have to do it in order to be happy with this American man? The american keeps requesting drinks for her, so I'm also wondering if these people are drunk? I noticed that on one side of the river, there was shade and the other side there were bare white hills, I kept asking myself what was the significance of it? Towards the end of the story, I was starting to think that the "operation" was to get Jig to "shut-up". When people are drunk, they tend to be really talkative. I couldn't figure out why Jig was so concerned at whether or not she should do "it". I wondered to myself whether or not they are comfortable and I think the American was just trying to be dominate towards Jig and taking advantage of her because she's naive and gullible.

"Lady with Lapdog"

"Lady with Lapdog"by Antov Chekhov

At the beginning of the story, I found it interesting how the narrator said that Dmitry was interested in new arrivals, then comes this lady walking downt the street with her Pomerianian. That right there got me thinking that Dmitry was going to try to pursue this woman. I noticed the attitude Dmitry had toward his wife, it seemed like he had no love for her at all.Yet I couldn't figure out why he was "afraid" of his wife. Maybe he didn't have a voice in the relationship, that could make one want to wander off to to someone who let's them have a voice. He seems like a perosn that always needs to be entertained because he's easily bored. When Dmitry figured he would try to seduce this lady, he only pursued her to get one thing. He wasn't expecting to have all the baggage that came with getting to know her. Towards the end of second part, Gurov shows his confidence that he could win her over. He kept telling himself that she had no idea of anything really and how there's something pathetic about her. This makes me think about how guyss go for women who are vulnerable and insecure. It's sad how they trick these women into believeing that they care and at the end and break their hearts. It's crazy how this stroy overall came about. This man and woman are married, yet are falling inlove or falling inlust with each other. Gurov only intention is to sleep with Anna and Anna later on feels like it's wrong. When gurov's alone without Anna he starts talking bout how he loves her, but earlier, he was no where near loving her truly.

Second Essay

I'm still pending about what to do for the second essay. All the stories that we've read have given me many ideas but I think I'm going to go with an essay on parenting. I found a greater interest in this after seeing "Ordinary People". I noticed how it's hard to find a balance in family and marriage life as seen by the Mother of Conrad in the movie. I could also get some research on why people divorce and how the roles of parenting and marriage have shifted. Another idea I had was about protection in families. I've kind of stayed away from this idea because it seems like a pretty obvious idea to talk about because it's played throught out all the stories we've read. But I don't know, we'll see what happens.

Ordinary People

While I was watching all the parts of this movie, I noticed alot of things. One of the things I noticed was the relationship between the parents. The mother is more introverted then the father. She keeps her feelings hidden from herself and others. I think that since her older son had died, she faults Conrad for his death. She doesn't have a relationship with Conrad like she did with her her olde son, Buck. Conrad had some mental issues involving his brother's death. He's been taking the fault himself. However, the parents feel like they need to keep Conrad straight and the mother feels that the family issues should stay within the family. The mother in a way reminded me of myself. I can be a very private person and I can keep to myself at times which can be a good thing and a bad thing. I noticed alot of things about parenthood. It's like a constant struggle within the parents relationship. This whole notion about "worrying" about your children and how you shouldn't because it's a waste of energy. I do think that that is true to a certain extent. It's natural for parents to worry about there children, but there is a time when parents need to learn that they can no longer control their kids. It's a time when the kids have start to use there own judgement and use what their parents have instilled in them. Another thin about Conrad's mother was that she is a very selfish person and also insecure. I got to wondering about how couples change in marriages. I thought about how important it is for BOTH parents to be level-headed and balanced in order to keep there families and marraige together. It's a big struggle being in a marriage and parenting, it's not all you see in movies and stories. It can be a big sacrifice, one that you may not be willing to take.

"I Stand Here Ironing"

"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen

This story took a while for me to get the principle or the main idea that the author was trying to express. What I got out of the story was the struggles of being a young mother and the competitiveness that siblings go through. With the mother, being that she was young, I felt that maybe she thinks she didn't raise her children right. She was having the same kinds of struggles and emotions that many single mothers have. Financial and mental difficulties plays a part on the limits that are set for a mother to raise her children properly. I noticed at the beginning of the story how the mother was saying how the baby was so beautiful and she was full of happiness. Then later on the mother had to send her baby to live with it's father's family and that caused a changed between the mother-daughter relationship. I believe that it's a crucial thing that a mother and her baby have a strong bond because it can cause setbacks between them in the future. At times while I was reading, I got confused about the ages of the daughters and at the end, I didn't really know which daughter she was refering to. In the middle part of the story, the mother was talking about how her daugher Emily had to go away to this place where they would look after her.

The mother described Emily as having low self-esteem and always downing herself and how she looked. But underneath all of that darkness lies a child who had a sense of humor and was able to make people laugh. Susan,who was the younger daughter, was the daughter who seemed to have everything going for her. When the mother started talking about how Susan had a gift and she won an award for it, I was wondering what the gift was? That confused me all the way until the last paragraph when the mother looked about on all the struggles she went through with her daughter, but I didn't know which she was talking about. The mother referred to the daughter as "she" not "Emily" or "Susan".Hmm...

"Sonny Blues"

"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

In the beginning of the story, I kept wondering about what he was reading in the newspaper and what it was about. Why does he feel like he should convince himself that what he was reading wasn't true. Then I was trying to figure out what he mean't by "being trapped in the darkness which roared outside"? I liked how Baldwin personified "darknes" as something that roars. As read on in the paragraphs I was shocked to find out that the algebra teacher who was reading the paper was Sonny's older brother. When I was reading the part about how he compared his brother and himself to the students at his school and how throughtout all the negative noise and cursing in th hallways, he found one student's calming whistle to drown out all the noise. The older brother talked about how limited his students where and that they are only exposed to darkness. I agree with him. Sometimes in low class neighborhoods, people are disadvantaged and aren't as exposed to as many things as they should be. This brought me back to the story as it went on talking about how Sonny reunites with his brother and his older brother is hoping that Sonny won't go back to doing drugs on the street. In families, members do feel like they have a responsibility to look out for loved ones who are in need of help. I also noticed how the older brother didn't really support Sonny's decision to become a Jazz musician. Towards the end of the story, I had a feeling that Sonny was going to die, but I was glad to find out that he had his own little family at the Village Jazz club and he was rocking that club with his piano performance.

"Rappacini's Daughter"

"Rappacini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne











Okay, I'm not going to lie...this story REALLY confused me at first.

The language and the whole tone of the story was difficult, but that's suppose to make you grow, right?

This story made me think about how father's are so protective of their daughters. It was also interesting how you could compare this story in some way to Adam and Eve in the Bible. At first I thought Rappaccini didn't want his daughter to be with anyone else. Like he wanted her all to himself. This makes me think about the "father-daughter" relationship. Sometimes I think a father may have sense of "jealousy" towards any man wanting to be with his special "flower".

I feel that a father may feel threatened by that fact that his daughter could love another man, other than himself. But the fascinating part about a father's jealousy is that it can be changed if he feels comfortable about who his daughter is going to be with.

Haunted Houses: "Bone Black"

"Bone Black" by Bell Hooks

At the beginning of the story Hooks tells the story of a controlling father. "They", I pressume, are referred to the children of the mother and father who are fighting. The first sentence says that " they have never heard their [parents]...fighting" That made me wonder if whether or not their parents where keeping that part of their relationship hidden from their kids? or Whether this was realy the very first time the parents had a fight. Then Hooks shifts the attention from the children,"they",to the daughter,"she". I was confused when I first read this section. At first I thought the "she" was referring to the mother when come to find out it was the daughter.

As I read on, It seemed that the "she" shifted from the daughter to the mother of "they". I noticed how the father seems to constantly feel angry. He comes home angry and displaces his anger on those in the family because he is hurt. He probably has alot on his shoulders and doesn't know how to cope with it. He likes to feel that he is the "Alpha-male" and it makes him feel powerful.The daughter seems to feel the mother's pain and wants to help her. The daughter, who becomes "I" as the pov shifts, can't bear to go visit her mother in the hospital, and is feeling betrayed by her siblings.

In the second part of the story, I found it interesting that the daughter felt like she should "rescue" her mother from her father's threats. I've learned that sometimes in most dysfunctional families, the children end up taking over the roles of the parents. They feel like it's "their" duty to make sure the family stays together and that the younger siblings are taken care of, robbing childhoods of the older siblings. Another part of the story that interested me was when the father was kicking the mother out of the house. The mother had some hope that her brother was going to be there and rescue her relationship and everything was going to be okay. Come to find out her brother wasn't much help at all. This reminds of how females are when it comes to their men. We can always rely on our fathers, brothers, or uncles to come support and back us up if we ever have problems with our relationship( especially if it's physical). The end of the story was in favor of the husband. The daughter is upset and angry that her mother is still under her dad's authority. One day she rebels against her mother and disclaims her. The daughter feels guilty for the pain she caused her mother and is willing to be punished because of it. I believe that alot of families have these secrets that they keep and feel like they need to hold their tongue so the family won't be looked down upon.

What 2 Do for Essay 1?

Hmm... I think that I will talk about the concepts of religion in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." I think that I will be able to reveal some ideas about how we as humans "claim" to have faith but aren't true believers.

The grandmother throughout the story had seemed to be a true Christian and believer of God, all though she wasn't necessarily acting christian-like. When she was but in a life threatning situation, she found that calling on Jesus wasn't going to help her and started to doubt her faith.

A Good Man, Is Hard to Find

A Good Man, Is Hard to Find

by: Flannery O'Connor

This story was very interesting. Alot of things puzzled me at the beginning, like the relationships between the family members. Why did the narrator refer to the Bailey's wife as," the children's mother", like there was no relation between them. I noticed how June and John are very disrespectful to each other and their parents. The grandmother is lonely, very paranoid, thinks highly of herself, and is very detailed oriented.

The end was very sad to me being that the Misfit killed the family and the grandmother, and she still believed that he had a good heart. Somethings that questioned me was whether the baby was a boy or a girl? What was the significance of the cat and the mother. What made the grandmother think that she was in Tennesee?

Our Hurriend Children

"Our Hurried Children"

by: David Elkind

I do agree with Elkind to some degree. Some parents are rushing their children into adulthood. Kids now days have alot more stress than earlier times because parents expect so much out of their "smart, gifted, and potiential" offspring. It feels at times like there is no room for "failure" or "mistakes"; well that's why erasers are on pencils because people DO make mistakes.

I've personally dealt with the struggle of a parent trying to shove the responsibilities of "adulthood" down my throat. It's no fun; I don't feel confident if I let them down or don't achieve what "they" wanted me to achieve. Everytime I messed up, I would get scorned constantly for it. That's enough stress right there, along with school work and preparing for college. Overall, I understood why my parent was so hard on me, they just wanted me to be extra prepared for the future. Now I can see how getting ready early has helped me now, and I have less stress. The reduction in my stress level has also came about because my parent started letting me have room for mistakes. This helped tremendously with coping with my problems. I believe when it comes to raising your child and preparing them for adulthood, you need to have the right balance.

Here's a research article on the expectations about timing of adulthood: http://www.transad.pop.upenn.edu/downloads/between.pdf

Once Upon A Time

"Once Upon A Time" by Nadine Gordimer


This story was far more interesting than the rest I would say. At the beginning of the story the narrator talks about how she doesn't write fairytales, yet the title of the story is "Once Upon A Time". None of the characters had names to show that it was universal and could be related to anyone. I also discovered that the setting wasn't in America, but in South Africa.

The setting was also in a secluded suburban neighborhood. It was interesting how they try to keep out the african people because of fear of destruction and riot. What also caught my attention the sign the people had outside of the gate. It said you have been warned and the sign didn't have a person showing there race, but the person had a mask on.

It's amazing to see the kinds of extremes people will go to, just to prove that they are not judgemental, critical or immoral.

A & P

"A&P"
By: John Updike
This story was quite interesting to me. At the beginning I couldn't really grasp what was going on. Sammy was an interesting character, and I liked the way he described the girls. He said that the leader of the group was "The Queen" or "Queenie" and the rest of the girls was "the sheep". Another character I thought was interesting was the Chubby girl. Sammy had an odd liking to this girl saying that she had a "good tan, a sweet broad soft looking can.." I got the assumption that he may be into "chunky girls". Another question that was brought to my attention was, how old he was? Alot of things didn't seem to go together through out this story, which made me have to go over and read it twice. I was confused by the Stokesie character. It startled me when he "Oh Daddy" to Sammy. Other than that, I thought that it was very bold of Sammy to quit his job just because of the way his boss talked to the girls. I wonder what made him want to quit? He probably had premeditated about quitting and was just waiting for the right time. I found it strange the connection he had with these girls.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Where Are you going where have you been:
by: Joyce Carol Oates

I think Connie is very self-centered. I don't think her mother is "jealous" of her, but that I probably irrates her that her daughter doesn't don thinks that are expected of her, ie: cleaning her room, cooking and being financially savvy.Maybe her mother is struggle internally at the fact that she's older and her beauty has faded. I think that Connie's family is dysfunctional; especially being that the "man of the house" isn't really involved with his family. I thought it was interesting how Connie would do things differently once she gets out of the house. I believe that alot of teens, mainly girls, try to get away with wearing certain clothes to gain attention from the opposite sex. The part of the story thatn became most interesting to me was when Arnold Friend came into the picture. He seems to be a random guy that had been stalking Connie. It really freaked me out as I was reading along. I understood what Connie meant when she said that he looked "familiar". Arnold knew how to potray the image of a young highschool teenager with the tight pants and the pullover shirts. It was like he was playing a role and Connie was confused by that. Eventhough she didn't get in the car, I'm sure she was considering it to some point. After reading the story, I started thinking about online predators and pedifiles that look for young naive girls to take advantage of. It's a scary world out there.

1st BLOG

Yea. Its me, Jovi. Just waitn here to see what Clary has in store for us this semester. Looks like it's going to be interesting