The Country of the Pointed Firs

In the first chapter of Jewett's stories she says, "When one really knows a village like this and its surroundings, it is like becoming acquainted with a single person. The process of falling in love at first sight is as final as it is swift in such a case, but the growth of true friendship may be a lifelong affair" (1). This passage clued me in to what the people of Dunnet would be like. It made me feel as though everyone was connected in some way; everyone knows the story of everyone else. I thought it was interesting that Jewett compared this to falling in love at first sight. Maybe she was trying to imply that what you get from the people in the town is what life is really like. There are not necessarily any secrets or confusing elements to life. You are certain of your place in Dunnet, just as you are with everyone else's.

In Mrs. Todd's section of the story she gives more insight to the way people in Dunnet are: "...I have never had nobody I could so trust" (4). Here Mrs. Todd is talking to the narrator about her life. It's interesting to think that even though the people in this town all seem to have a connection, they are also very much apart too. They each have such a distinct story that separates them from the rest of the town. This could be why Jewett divides up her stories the way she does. She wants each character or each situation to have its own distinct attention brought to it. Everyone's story is important in Dunnet.

The Use of Force

William Carlos Williams' story "The Use of Force" was different from many of the other stories we read. I thought it was interesting that the story consisted primarily of dialogue but there were no quotation marks. This reminded me of Hemingway's' "Hills Like White Elephants" because it was difficult at times to follow without really knowing who was speaking. Once and a while Williams would throw in "I said" or something, but still it was confusing. The fact that the story was told in first person and made up of dialogue made it seem to me that maybe this story is not fully true. Because there are no quotation marks how is the reader to be certain that what the mother and father are saying, for example, is what they really said? I also thought it was strange the doctor had such strong urges of killing. He said, "till I wanted to kill him" in regards to the father and "I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it" in reference to the daughter (1171-1172). Doctors are normally looked at as wanting to save lives, not wanting to destroy them. In the same sense, though, I can see where the doctor's anger stems from. He feels this child has been neglected and he eluded to the fact he sees this frequently.

The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is similar to many of Poe's stories where he convinces you that the narrator is a normal person, in the beginning. Poe's word choice and ability with talking in the first person convinces the reader to think the narrator is a good person who had been wronged. I think its brilliant that Poe uses different phrases and word choices to hint to Fortunato and the reader that the narrator's intentions were not what we initially thought. The narrator tells Fortunato the motto of where they were going was "Nemo me impune lacessit" which means "No one harms me unpunished" (937). This is so ironic and funny to put into the story as he is convincing Fortunato they are going to do something worth while. Fortunato's name in itself is ironic because fortune is the exact opposite of what Fortunato gets. One of the best parts of the story for me was the very end. The narrator says, "My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so" (939). Realistically one would assume he was sick because he just buried a man alive, but of course this is not the case. This is another way of Poe trying to fool the reader that the narrator isn't as crazy as we were lead to believe. For a split second we considered the narrator to feel guilty for what he had done, but it was the opposite.

The Rocking-Horse Winner

D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" gives you a lot of information simply off the first paragraph. You learn a lot about the mother's character just from this paragraph. You immediately learned the tone of the story right from the first sentence: "There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck" (709). You learn what an important role luck is going to have in this story because Lawrence first described the mother by relating her to luck. I found it interesting that right away Lawrence lets the reader know that she felt her children "had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them" (709). It's rare that you hear a mother talk about her children in such a way. The fact she did not love her children is ironic because her son does so much to earn this love. He feels horrible for his mother that she has such horrible luck that he lets this desire to please her consume his life. I also thought it was interesting that we learn so little about the father. The only things we really learn about him are through his wife who claims he has high tastes, but horrible luck. She talks so negatively about him even to his own children, which I found odd. You would think in most cases you would speak highly of your husband and father of your children, but this is not the case. It seems that nothing is good enough for this woman. Even when her son has the lawyer give her money she does not act with happiness, she simply wants more. The first thing she does is ask her lawyer for all the money because they are in debt. It is clear the family wasn't in debt because the mother just bought furniture and tutors with the money. If you were in debt you would not spend your money on creating a better image for yourself, but its obvious this is one of the only things she cares about.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is an extremely ironic story. She puts in many details throughout the story that later on you realize she was trying to foreshadow and be ironic. I found it ironic that the grandmother wanted to go to Tennessee instead of Florida and the entire outcome of the story was because the grandmother gave directions to an abandoned house that was really in Tennessee. If the grandmother would have remembered the where the house was, the family would have never been killed. The grandmother is such a funny character regardless because she always has something to say. This is ironic because her talkative behavior is what in the end gets her killed. The Misfit even says, "She would have been a good woman if it had been somebody to shoot her every minute of her life" (914). The grandmother isn't a bad woman, she is just extremely opinionated and frankly annoys everyone else in her life. Her only son even ignored her and made faces when she talked. The children in this story are also funny. They say exactly what is on their mind, most of it extremely rude. This is ironic because the grandmother complains about the way the children act, but people could say similar things about her. The son's name "John Wesley" is also ironic because he was a priest in the 1700s who started the Methodist beliefs. I'm not sure if O'Connor did this on purpose, but if she did it would be ironic because he was such a holy man and this boy is a rude and blunt child. One thing I found interesting about this story was that they always referred to the mother as "the children's mother" and not by her name. Everyone else in the story had a name besides her so I found it strange she did not.

The Lottery

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" is an incredibly ironic story. The title in itself is ironic. One normally considers the lottery a good thing. If you win the lottery, you win money. In this story that's not the case. If you win the lottery you get stoned to death. It's also ironic that Tessie was the one who got picked for this year's lottery. She was late to it and made jokes about it and ended up being killed in the end for something she took so lightly. Probably the most ironic part of this story and one of my favorites is the way Old Man Warner talks about the lottery. He overhears someone saying that in other villages they have stopped the lottery and is outraged. He says, "Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves, nobody work any more, live that way for a while" (565). Warner is talking about this barbaric act as if it is a good thing. The way he talks about the lottery would make you think it had to happen or bad things would happen to the town. A first time reading of this story would make you believe that the lottery is a good thing. Warner says that nothing is good enough for the young people and they will want to "go back to living in caves." That statement in itself is extremely ironic because the act of the lottery is so barbaric, but yet he is comparing those people who recognize it as barbaric cave men.

Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" is a lot different from the other stories we have read. For one, the majority of this story is told through dialogue. We also never learn the characters' names, where they are going, and especially what the "it" is they are going to do. In the very first paragraph the narrator describes the characters as "the American and the girl" (552). Clearly the girl is not American, but I wonder about her age since she is referred to as a girl. She is referred to as "the girl" throughout the entire story while the American she is with is referred to as "the man." So now we know not only is there a difference in cultural background between the two, but there is also a difference in age. I like to think the girl is younger in age because she is very imaginative. She is constantly staring off and the landscape and says the mountains and hills "looked like white elephants" (553). The man is obviously a lot more serious because he cannot see it nor can he describe what a white elephant would even look like. He is not nearly as imaginative as the girl he is with. At first I thought maybe this was a couple and the "it" they were doing was running away together. Now I think maybe this is a father and a daughter. Maybe the daughter lived in another country with her mom and he is now taking her. I do not think finding this out is a necessity, however. The dialogue between the two, regardless of their relationship, is more important than their actual relationship.

Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" relates to us the message that you can never be too sure about what is going on around you. Towards the end of the story the evil figure says, "Evil is the nature of mankind" (Hawthorne 546). This statement scared Goodman Brown and made him feel uneasy, but it is a truthful statement. Many people do evil things, possibly without even realizing it. A person would be extremely hypocritical to say they never have committed an evil or bad act or that people did not do these things all the time. Hypocrisy is a central focus of this story. Goodman Brown finds the most influential people in his life are all a part of this cult that promotes evil. This goes back to the notion you are never really certain about anyone. He looked so highly upon his wife Faith and then looked at her with disgust for being a part of the evil cult. Goodman Brown at the end of the story is just as big as a hypocrite as the rest of the people in Salem. He looks so poorly on the people in his town, but yet he remains there for the rest of his life. He also stays with Faith and has children with her. If Goodman Brown was so against this way of thinking then why did he spend his life in that society with a woman who was a part of it? Faith's name is also something I must comment on. To have faith in something is to have confidence in it, regardless of substantial proof. This is yet another hypocritical element to Hawthorne's story because Faith's own husband has no faith in her. The last time Goodman Brown had faith was with his "parting kiss" to his wife (539).

The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" was such a change for me for many of the things we have read. We are focused inside the mind of one character again, but this time the character is crazy or at least is crazy by the end of the story. In the very beginning Jane describes her husband as a physician and says "perhaps this is one reason I do not get well faster" (487). I immediately became suspicious after John from this comment. It was foreshadowing for me because I realized this man was going to have strong control over Jane's life. Looking back at the story after finishing reading it this comment bothers me, however. If Jane realized in the beginning that John may have been the reason she never got better then why didn't she do anything about it? Throughout the remainder of the story she simply obeyed him and followed every rule and plan he laid out for her. Jane says, "I have a scheduled prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more" (488). If you were describing someone who took care of you, one would normally say "he takes all care me" not "he takes all care from me." Again she is acknowledging her husband has all the power. He has taken even the power to care for herself away from her, but she feels as though she must be grateful to him for taking care of her. Later in the story Jane once again comments on John's love and care for her. She says, "he asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind" (495). He "pretended" to be loving and kind. So maybe Jane does not really think her husband is caring for her in the right way. If this is the case then why is she letting it happen? The only assumption I can make is Jane made a connection between herself and the woman in the wallpaper. Once the woman is the wallpaper was free then she would be free as well.

A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" contained such strong imagery of the characters, especially Emily. The way Faulkner describes Emily and the other characters in certain stages of their lives is so vivid you can easily picture the characters. The funny thing about these descriptions is that he does in it such a funny way, a way one would not normally describe someone. For example, he says, "She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue" (Faulkner 405). Faulkner easily could have simply said she was bloated, but my adding the rest of the sentence you can actually see this woman in a tub of water. I just really love the way he words things. Another example of this is when he is describing the Negro man who takes care of Emily. He says, "...his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse" (409). Not only does this description help you understand the actually sound of her servants voice, but it keys you in to the relationship the two had. It makes you think that this woman never talked to anyone, not even those who surround her on a daily basis. I loved the way the town's people talked about Emily. They go so back and forth. For example, at one minute they are happy she is with someone and thinks she is going to get married, but once he leaves they all say they aren't surprised. They are so obsessed with this woman they don't care whether or not she is happy or sad. I love how Emily does not care about the town's people even though they are obsessed with her. She has plenty of bad things happen to her, but she is "too furious to die" (408). I loved this quote. This made me want something good to happen to Emily. She realizes what is going on around her, but is not just going to give up and die. I was so happy at the end of the story how you see she had someone to be with inside her little home. I really don't know who "the man" is though (409).

We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

Philip Dick's "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" really did not interest me at all. I really do not find science fiction stories at all appealing and I honestly may have let that influence my reading of the story, as horrible as that sounds. There was this one line in the story though that I read over a few times and keep thinking about. On page 365 it says, "The advantages of it being a memory-and nothing more-could now be appreciated" (Dick 365). At this point in the story Quail is going back and forth trying to figure out whether or not he actually did visit Mars or it was just put into his memory by the scientists. This back and forth that Quail was doing in his mind was starting to drive him crazy. Everyone seems to be telling him something different and he is not quite sure where he will find the truth. For me this line is dealing with his desire to find out the truth. Sometimes when you really wish something would happen you think about it so much it almost becomes a memory. This imagined scenario is now stuck in your head as if it really happened. I think what Dick is saying here is that sometimes its good to be able to fathom up anything you want in your mind because our minds give us the power to do so. It is also good that sometimes what you fathom in your imagination is just an imagined event. Its easy to imagine good things to happen, but its just as easy to imagine bad things as well. Being able to distinguish the good and bad ideas from reality and your imagination is what's key to keeping from going insane. Because Quail does not see the difference at this point he wishes he could make that distinction.

The Open Boat

Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is an interesting story. For the most part I really thought the story was going to end up being a dream. I felt when the men kept seeing land or the lighthouse or the man waving his jacket, they were only imagining these things. I thought they were so delirious these were only figments of their imagination. I really thought this was the case because they men kept saying, "Funny they haven't seen us" (Crane 345). This makes me wonder if people were even there to be seen or not. These men could have been lost in the ocean for so long that they just made up people. I didn't really understand why when the guys got closer to shore they would turn around and go back out further into the ocean. This doesn't make sense to me. Why wouldn't they just continue to go to shore so they could save themselves? I would like to know what happened that these men are in the boat together. Its clear their ship got wrecked, but why are these people in the boat together? What made these individuals get into the boat together? Are they the only survivors?

The Story of an Hour

This story was only two pages long, but it evoked such strong emotion from me! When Chopin describes the emotions felt by Mrs. Mallard, I couldn't help but get upset. "There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul" (Chopin 267). This imagery is so precise I could see the old woman exhausted in the chair. I could see the physical and emotional exhaustion's toll on the poor old woman. Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things to deal with, especially a significant other. This reminds me of when my grandfather passed away. My grandmother was so exhausted from the news my father had to carry her to bed because she could not move. One thing in the story that confused me was Chopin's description of Mrs. Mallard's love for her husband. She said said, "And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not" (268). Why did she only love him sometimes? What happened that affected her love for her husband? I wonder if Chopin is just making a statement about marriage. Marriage is something you have to work at and it may not always be great all the time. Or maybe Chopin is literally hinting at a problem in the Mallard's marriage. I was also taken back by the statement "life might be long" (268). This statement got me so upset. The woman realizes now that life without her husband will seem a lot longer than she anticipated.

Second Life/Avitars

In Second Life I chose my avatars name to be StephKate Akina. My first name was simply the nickname of my first name and my middle name combined. I really couldn't tell you why I picked Akina for my last name besides I thought it was such a beautiful name! It was one of the first one's I saw and I had to have it. Its kind of strange to be a "default" shape. It makes me want to question why does the default of a woman look like this? Why is she a brunette? Why does she have a fit body? I guess I cannot complain about having such a perfect body, but I wouldn't even mind looking the complete opposite. I'm actually at a point in my life where I'm somewhat ok with my body so taking on whatever the default shape is really isn't that big of a deal I guess. The only thing I would really want to change is the hair color to blond because I am a blond!! Now I think maybe it would have been cool to make my avatar a man. I always joke that I would love to be a man for a day and I could have lived this desire through my avatar. The only good thing about Second Life is you don't know who the person is behind the avatar so you really can't (well shouldn't) judge the person based on what their avatar looks like. They could look like some demon, but have the most intelligent things to say. I don't really care if anyone knows who I am in Second Life. I haven't told anyone my avitar's name, but to me it doesn't matter either way. Maybe with the avatar I will have conversations with people I never would have before and maybe I won't think twice about saying certain things. This can be a great thing about Second Life. You can hide behind this avatar in a way. By using the avatar you can explore different ideas that you would normally be nervous doing so in "the real world."

Paul's Case

I cannot believe the ending of this story!!!!! The entire time I was reading this story I had a weird feeling in my stomach about Paul. I really thought that at the end of the story Paul was going to wake up and everything he went through would have been a dream. I found it so strange that he was perfectly content living this fake life. When the narrator said, "He was not in the least abashed or lonely. He had no especial desire to meet or to know any of these people; all he demanded was the right to look on and to conjecture, to watch the pageant" (Cather 211). I can't figure out how he was so satisfied living a life completely detached from the world around him. The people around him only mattered so he had something to watch. When Paul went to New York I couldn't get over how no one noticed or even cared that he was gone. This is part of the reason why I thought maybe it was a dream. Maybe he was just imagining a life apart from the world he used to know to get away from it. I also thought maybe he was telling the story from a mental institution like in "Catcher in the Rye" but once again I was wrong. I just cannot seem to figure Paul out. I guess the unhappiness he has in life and the lack of understanding from everyone in his life has forced Paul to block out the world in a way. He only needs to view the lives of others to create happiness in his life. This must have not been enough happiness however if he decided to take his own life at the end of the story.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

One of the things I loved about this story was the dialect. The first three paragraphs sound intelligent and formal and then all the sudden it breaks into this southern dialect. Each part where Simon Wheeler was speaking was hilarious to me. I could actually hear some southern man telling me this story and I could even envision the story he was telling. Right before Wheeler begins his story the narrator says "I let him go on his own way, and never interrupted him once" (Clemens 273). I found this line to be ironic. It was as if the narrator was saying the story you are about to hear really means nothing at all. I also didn't know if that line was supposed to show that maybe this story could be slightly fabricated. Its as if the narrator knew Wheeler was a story teller and this story could be slightly exaggerated. I feel this notion of fabrication and exaggeration is what Clemens' story and the Borges' story has in common. You are never really sure if what you are reading is the complete truth or a fabrication of the story teller's imagination. I also find it funny that both stories give you the impression that what you are about to read really does not matter at all. I like that about both these stories because once I came to this conclusion I just tried to enjoy the story. Its such an ironic statement to put into a story, but it makes each story that much more interesting. Why even create a story if there is no point to it and it doesn't even matter? The only answer I can come up with is why not!

The Other Duel

I found "The Other Duel" to be a strange story. I found it funny the narrator made it clear this story may not be as exact as it could be by saying things like "in my memory" (140) and "I have no way of knowing whether the events I am about to narrate are effects or causes" (141). Maybe Borges did not mean for the story to seem not exact because the story sounds like it is, but comments like that made me thing that maybe the narrator was supposed to exaggerate the story slightly. In the very first paragraph the narrator says, "...and its tragic end still calls up the medicinal fragrance of the eucalyptus trees and the singing of the birds" (140). I found this sentence to be very ironic. He refers to the event as tragic but yet ends his sentence with a pleasing image. If the event was so tragic then why would he mention the birds singing. I took this to mean that maybe the event that occurred was not looked at as a negative thing by everyone. I found it interesting that Silveira named his dog Thirty-three. I circled it as I was reading thinking the dog's name held some significance, but I did not find any. I may be over analyzing the dog's name, but I feel its weird he named his dog a number and why thirty-three? Another ironic thing about the story was the way the two men died. First, Cardoso asked to be able to kill someone by slitting their throat for pleasure because he had never done it before. Ironically this is how he died. Their deaths were also ironic because Cardoso was going to take pleasure out of slitting a man's throat and all the prisoners took pleasure out of watching him die. They even bet on who would die first!

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Even though I have ready Bierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" many times, it still amazes me how he can convince the reader that Farquhar is still alive. Each time I seem to pick up on more details that hint to you he is really dead and I noticed even more as we discussed them in class. On page 138 Bierce details, "The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which-once, twice, and again, he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue." At this part in the story I feel Farquhar is getting extremely close to his realization with death. He is lost in the woods that should be familiar to him. He cannot even recognize the sounds of the woods that surround his own home. Its as if now he is too distant from his home, he will never be able to familiarize himself with the sounds of his own home again because it is no longer his home. The "singular noises" Bierce describes convinces me more of Farquhar's death because now he is alone. When everyone travels to the after life I feel as though their journey is now an independent one. Maybe all the "singular noises" Farquhar hears are the noises of other deceased people making their way to the after life. They all realize there is something going on around them, but they cannot grasp it nor get into contact with it. The "unknown tongue" that is described seems to me to be the voice Farquhar is subconsciously moving too. These voices are unknown to him (maybe the voice of the after life or death.) If this voice really was death it would make sense it was unfamiliar because Farquhar clearly has never experienced that until now.