#18 Week 11 "Hope" Lisel Mueller pg.478

Summary

This poem is I suppose about Hope. Mueller compares many different aspects of life, objects and vivid detail to hope. Mueller is telling her reader to open their eyes to the world around them, and to realize that hope is in every little thing around us. Mueller tells her readers that they can see hope in all aspects of life, and explains that even blind people have hope which could be a play-on words for “blind hope”, which is somewhat ironic. Mueller gets her readers thinking about her points and eventually makes them agree that even the most normal things in life can become amazing, depending on how we perceive them. Mueller concludes by saying that hope can even be found in the very poem she is writing.

Reader Response      

Whoa, that was by far the weirdest poem I have ever read. I was a little confused about the two ending stanzas, because up until then I saw how hope was linked to the other examples Mueller wrote. I am still a little fuzzy on how Mueller’s poem itself has hope in it? I guess because Mueller hopes her audience will understand and like what she is writing in her poem. I think the poem would have benefited by ending with the word “Hope” in it, because if the title of the poem where not there I would have been totally and completely lost and not have understood the message.

#17 Week 11 "Schoolsville" by Billy Collins pg.467-478

Summary

“Schoolsville” is a poem, told from the point of view of an ex-teacher. Collins uses the use of metaphors and analogies to compare school items to everyday life. The narrator remembers the days when he was a teacher to all types of students; from the slackers to the hard workers. He gives examples of where the A students are in terms of the present and where D students wound up due to their “I don’t care attitude. The narrator states that over the course of his career he must have taught enough students to fill a small town, and says that he would be the mayor of that town if it existed. The narrator ends his poem by telling of his life now how past students still come by from time to time to ask him a question or two, and that many stare in his windows to watch him teaching past lessons to his possessions.

Reader Response      

This was a cool poem. I like the style it was written in, how easy the words were and how simple the metaphors are. I especially like how he is truthful of where A and D students ended up in life. It is interesting, how Collins is only twenty- seven yet he writes this poem from the perspective of an older literature teacher. Collins makes his narrator seem so old that he can no longer remember the names of any of his students. Over-all I like how realistic the poem was, the style and use of literary elements were awesome and related to me. But my favorite part was the reference to the Scarlet Letter. (I love that book!)

#16 Week 10 John Updike "A&P" pg.311-315

Summary

 Sammy a nineteen year old boy working at an A&P store one day, notices three girls walk in dressed completely different form everyone else in the store. The girls were all in two piece bathing suits and were barefoot. Sammy observes each girl and gives each of them a nickname “the fat one”, “the tall one” and the “queenie”. Sammy notes that the girls each have different feature and strange quarks. When the girls finally find the item that they were searching for, they go to Sammy’s cash register to get checked out, at the very same time Sammy’s manager walks in and starts to harass the girls. He tells them there is a dress code and they are not at the beach, the girls faces turn red with embarrassment as they finish paying and hurry out of the store: Sammy turns to his manager, Lengel, and says he quits. Lengel who is a friend of Sammy’s parents warns him that his parents won’t be pleased. Sammy takes off him apron and tie and leaves them folded nicely on the register. As Sammy leaves Lengel tells him that he will “feel this for the rest of your life”, Sammy agrees and exists the store. Feeling uneasy about the future ahead of him, Sammy knows he has experienced what the world can be like but knows that he can be the change in it.

Reader Response      

This was a cute story! Cute to me anyway, because Sammy stood up for what he believed in and for the girls and quit because his jerk of a boss was so rude for no good reason. I liked the moral of this story, which is to stick to your morals and always stand up for what you believe in. Although it kind of stinks because of the stories we have read before  that  have mentioned this story and the way it ends so really the whole story was spoiled for me. I think Lengel is just one of those ugly people who just like to make others feel bad about themselves so he can feel good about himself, which I think is pathetic. I felt however that Sammy, at the end of the story, felt like he had seen and witnessed how harsh the world was going to be but at the same time he knew that he did not have to be the same, he could be the good and different individual. Overall I liked the story, and I liked how it was written in a not so serious, joking way, it was funny.

#15 Week 10 Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour" pg.293-295

Summary

Mrs. Mallard, a young, pretty woman who had heart problems is unaware that her husband had just died in a terrible railroad accident. Her sister, Josephine, along with one of her husband’s friends Richards, go to break the news to Mrs. Mallard. When Josephine finally broke the news to her sister, Mrs. Mallard went to her room in tears, and wanted to be alone. She sat in a large comfortable chair facing a window. As she looked out the window at every little feature outside including the smell, Mrs. Mallard was overcome with an indescribable joy; she told herself repeatedly that she was “free”. The reader can only assume that Mrs. Mallard was often put down by her husband and possibly abused by him.   When she emerges from her room, Mrs. Mallard has come to terms with her husband’s death and is embracing life as she never had before. But at that very moment Brently Mallard walks through the door and had no idea a crash had even occurred, as Josephine and Richards run toward Mr. Mallard, in amazement Mrs. Mallard dies of heart failure, to do her overwhelming joy.

Reader Response      

This was such a weird story! I thought Mrs. Mallard was dying when she went to her room, and that she was having like a spirit like encounter with her dead body as a spirit. The story definitely had a cool twist of fate.  I liked how Mrs., Mallard was finally at peace and happy that her husband was dead, only to die a few moments after her husband arrived home. The irony in this story was just ridiculous, in a good way. I love stories that have such powerful irony like this one did I also like stories that have a turn of events and this story had not just a twist, like the majority of stories do, but two twists which really worked for the story. I also enjoyed the voice as well as the tone in this story, it was well written.

#14 Week 10 "Tone and Style" pg.286-287

Summary

Tone is how the authors/writers show the feelings or attitudes characters might have toward certain situations they are exploring or telling the reader about. Style is the way the writer presents his/her story to the audience: the way they organize their thoughts, arguments, and the way the write overall. Writers, depending on their subjects, give their readers credit on how much they know about their subjects as well as what they know. Authors also acknowledge their readers ability to comprehend the ways they present their materials. Writers often choose words that help their works according to circumstances, and differentiate their styles by using descriptive paragraphs and dialogs. A crucial part of style is the use of diction. Writers must choose words that work for their stories, and that are understandable, and precise, so that readers fully grasp their concepts. If the authors are successful in their works, their readers should be involved, curious, and interested in the work.

Reader Response       

I knew that an author’s style had a lot to do with an author’s tone. The way an author writes using diction, voice, descriptive words, and vivid details all help establish the works’ or the authors style which in turn establishes the author’s tone. I think it’s really cool how so many different literary elements can come together to create a tone or a style. I also love how the same literary elements and devices can also be used to make a completely different tone and style setting so many authors apart.

#13 Week 8 Edgar Allen Poe "The Cask of Amontillado" pg.226-230

Summary

A man who used to be very wealthy and prominent in society, one day his friend, Fortunato, had been teasing him as he often did. But, when Fortunato insulted his friend, his friend vowed to get his revenge. The man instantly thought of an ingenuous way to trick Fortunato into a trap. Fourtunato was an expert at fine wines, he knew practically every kind made, which when the narrator says he might have found a great and rare find, Fortunato cannot resist tagging along to see if the wine truly is real. The pair travel under the city in catacombs modeled after Paris’, the entire catacombs where one consistent wine cellar. The narrator knowing that Fortunato was ill at the time kept using reverse psychology on the man making Fortunato more persistent to reach the end cellar to see the fine wine. When the two reached the cellar with the wine, the narrator told Fortunato to continue on without him and he would be waiting when he returned. But all the while Fortunato was gone the narrator was sealing up the cellar with bricks to seal his “friend” in. When Fortunato returned and saw the wall he laughed thinking it was a joke, the narrators skin crawled at his laughter and placed the last brick in place leavening his friend s body to rot and never be found again.

Reader Response

This like Poe’s other works was creepy to read yet the ending was pretty predictable, since Poe likes to kill off many people in different ways in all his stories. Poe’s dark humor sets a tone for his story and his dark setting make his story that much more intense. It was not until I started typing that I realized the irony in Fortunato’s name. Fortunato in Spanish means fortunate, the irony in this work is that at the end of his life Fortunato is anything but fortunate in the way he dies. I have always oddly liked Poe’s work, and like the way he skillfully makes good things turn dark so fast.

#12 Week 8 Cynthia Ozick "The Shawl" pg.223-225

Summary

A Jewish mother, Rosa, and her two daughters, Stella and Magda, are walking in a death march during what the reader assumes to be the Holocaust. Magda is a fifteen month old infant who had been hidden the entire time of the march; she was wrapped in a shawl that lay across Rosa’s bosom, which made her undetectable. Magda was a quiet, happy child; she never cried which left Rosa thinking the child was born a mute. Rosa thought the shawl was magic, because after her milk dried and Magda had nothing left to suck on but the shawl, it kept her alive past the time she should have died. Stella always envied Magda, and wanted to be the one wrapped up in the shawl. Rosa always thought that the way that Stella looked at Magda was a way that carnivores look at their prey: Rosa felt that her daughter would eat her other daughter if given the chance. But one day in a concentration camp, Stella takes Magda’s shawl to cover her during a roll-call of the camp. Rosa always hind Magda behind a wall during roll-call wrapped in her shawl, Magda would never cry.  But one day, the day Stella takes the shawl, Magda starts to cry. Rosa notices and runs to a sleeping Stella to take the shawl she had stolen and wrap her younger daughter up in it before her crying became noticeable. But while running toward Magda, Rosa realizes she (Magda) has already been discovered by a Nazi guard and is being taken toward an electric fence. Before Rosa even has time to react she watches while her baby cries the loudest she has ever cried then is thrown to the live electric fence. It takes mere seconds for the child’s life-less, burned body to fall to the ground. Knowing she would be killed to if she tried to run to her fried daughter, Rosa falls to her knees and stuffs the shawl into her mouth hoping to be magically fed by it as her daughter once was.

Reader Response

This is a very powerful story that had me gasping from beginning to end. As I type this I have a giant lump in my throat and an upset stomach. I know just how gruesome the holocaust was and how many god awful things the Nazi’s did to innocent people. But it is this very knowledge that the writer wants the reader to go off of and recall while reading the story. This story is a good example of cultural and historical setting. It explores practically every aspect of that horrible time in history, the concentration camps, death marches, human ovens, and inhuman guards. This was a well thought out, well written story that explores a very touchy and hard to talk about subject but also sheds light on a horrible possibility that could very well have happened during that time in history. It is a very sad and moving story to read, but I’m glad I read it.