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?