The Lesson

interesting story, sorry i couldn't blog sooner. My computer crashed and i just got it fixed. I feel the true meaning in this story is definatley to show people less fortunate than us that there is more than the world and community they live in, there are bigger, better and greater things. This helped them maybe realize that they can strive to be better and they don't have to always live in the "slumps" and wear old clothes. They can make themselves something and someone. This trip was "The Lesson".

A & P

A&P is a supermarket where the main character and focus of the story, Sammy works. I don't get why Sammy quit? Pretty stupid to me it seems. All because the manager told the girls to put some clothes on? It seemed in Sammys mind from the second the girls walked into the supermarket he created his own relationship with them. Not really , but in his head he was trying to figure them out.

"Everyday Use"

Maggie, one of the main characters in the story shows great changes from the start of the story to the end of it. Maggies mother stuck up for her and let the other sister know that even though she was getting married now, the 2 specific quilts she wanted was for Maggie when she got married. At the end it says that the mother had hugged Maggie for the first time ever. I beleive this leads to a strong reason and result of Maggies changes.

"A Worn Path"

An older black lady, not in the best shape walks through her down on Christmas to get her grandson medicine. After getting her grandson his medicine in which she didnt pay for she collects a total of 10 cents on her way back. She decides to buy her grandson a paper windmill with that money. i feel that the major moral of this story is that the grandmother put her grandson before herself. She showed her care and concern for him. Even though she got the medicine for free and then found the 10 cents she still decided to buy something for him other than herself. Usually when something is old it is considered worn, which symbolically makes a relation to the grandmother and the title of the story.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

Good story, seems as if the mother of Bailey referred to as the grandmother is basically the main character. I was so surprised that the Misfit killed the whole family, shocked!!!
i found it odd that the grandmother was very calm through all of this and was trying to tell the misfit to pray, even after he said no several times. Maybe she was trying to use her faith in God to help her. It was pretty obvious that she was most likely next to be killed.

"A Hunger Artist"

Very different, and interesting!! Seems like he was meant to be put in a cage to be a show, he was the art. People were actually excited to see him. At first i thought it might have been for attention. But later on in the story it says he showed no mind to all of the people around him. Eventually when his "audience" starts to disapate he joins a circus to be their show. He eventually tells us that the reason it was so easy for him to fast for such long periods of times was because he didn't like any food.(odd)! I like this story a lot, best one iv'e read in this course so far!

Young Goodman Brown

This short story takes place in Salem during witchcraft period during the witch hunts. Why was this story written so much after it actually happened. It almost states something like do not let history repeat itself. I wonder why it was basically women who were accused of being witches? It was very possible that a man could have been a witch too. I also really can't figure out if him seeing his wife within the meeting in the forest was a dream or not. I'm confused..i'm about to go read it for the 3rd time.

The Purloined Letter

Taking place in Paris, a police man Monsineur G. visits the narrator and Augustine Dupin. The reason for his visit was to ask them for help on a so-called "top secret" case which if it got out to the public he would be in jeopardy of losing his job. The letter in which the queen had was stolen and they can't get it back. Minister D was figured to be the victim but when they searched his house it almost seemed as if the letter had disappeared. The narrator and Dupin trying to help suggest the case is much easier than what their making it and the letter and answers to this conviction are right in front of their eyes. Many days pass and Monsineur G. arrives yet agin with still no clues. He spoke about raising the reward and once he said that Dupin asked for a check and pulled out the missing letter.
To me, wasn't a greatttt "mystery story" i found it a little dull =/

The Use Of Force

In this short story the doctor is trying to treat a young girl which in turn refuses for his help. Her family tries to convince her to allow him to help her but she refuses them also. I believe that the doctor is maybe a symbol of a hero so to say. Even though the young girl refused his services, he tried whatever he could to help her out and would not back down. "After all, I had already fallen in love with the savage brat" this quote shows how the doctor had seen her, she was nasty to him but he knew he had to help her. Towards the end the doctor finally is able to see that her throat was covered in "membrane" and discover that she was hiding a soar throat from her family.."She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes." Diphtheria was what was assumed by the doctor and now finally discovering that that was what it was furiated the girl. Perhaps she didnt want to hear the truth??..Freaky story sounds a little like the exorcist as I was reading it.

Hills Like White Elephants..

A young couple sit conversating with each other waiting for their train to arrive. Not much about their relationship is explained. The only fact that was implied was that the young man wanted his "girlfriend" to get an abortion and she didn't want to. Jig says, “And you think then we’ll be all right and be happy”. As Jig observes her surroundings she points to the mountains in a distance and tells her boyfriend that they look like "white elephants". I believe that perhaps the "white" elephants symbolize purity and innocence just as the unborn baby within her does. Jig maybe felt upset with her boyfriend because he was telling her it was a simple operation. Maybe to him it would be simple but to her it was a bigger deal because the operation was being done to her. To me, her intuition is telling her to keep the baby but the thought of her relationship with her boyfriend being effected negatively keeps her in a state of confusion. In conclusion as to how i feel, maybe her boyfriend isn't who she is meant to spend her life with. If you truly loved someone and they were your soul mate they would not try and convince you to rid the life that was made between the both of you. Without actually telling us i believe she sticks with her gut feeling despite of what her boyfriend says and does not have the "simple operation" of which he claims.

The Story Of An Hour

Pretty good story!!! My take is that Mrs. Mallard was confused about her marriage. When she had found out about her husbands death she was thrilled about the fact that she was finally free, than about the fact that he had died. After finding out the the death of her husband was a fake, her feelings were once again abruptly changed and it worried her in an unsatisfying way that she truly was never "free" and could take on the freedom in which she always wanted. I was surprised about the fact that in the end Mrs. Mallard had died and Mr. Mallard had lived. This to me in a way makes me believe that after somewhat being disappointed when Mrs. Mallard found out her husband was still alive her death was another way of her still being free.

The Yellow Wallpaper

Interesting story! Perhaps the wallpaper that boggles her mind and disturbs her relates to her sickness. The inconsitency of the walls design relates to the nervous sickness that she possesses. Like the narrator ,the ghost she sees is confused and stuck in the pattern, just like she is which results in me believing that the lady in the wall is a mirror image of herself. Despite of what her husband thinks she keeps a journal to give herself piece of mind. Her husband also her doctor does not want her to write so she can not truly let him know what she feels in her heart. Although her husband didn't REALLY help her in the ways she wanted i think he did in a sense. She wanted the wallpaper to come down because how it was disturbing her but he refused because he didnt want to give in to her neurotic thoughts. If John had taken the wallpaper down she would have never been able to releases the "ghost" from the wall and come into terms with herself by "releasing" herself from the wall.