The Lesson

Respect for Miss Moore. College educated Miss Moore comes (back?) to the neighborhood and takes on the responsibility for teaching the young ones not just school style education but a little about life. If any of these kids manage to escape their neighborhood surely they will look back and give Miss Moore credit. I liked that before she took them to the store she was talking about how 'money ain't divided up right in this country'. Words are one thing but the kids seeing how much she was right really drilled the point home. Even Sylvia who likes talkin like she all tough probably won't admit it to Miss Moore but she's questioning things. Of the people who can afford to buy things in the store she wants to know "What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain't in on it?" Sugar says out loud what Sylvia is thinking. Eventually she will probably speak her thoughts but I think that she walked away very quickly when Miss Moore looked at her while asking "Anybody else learn anything today?" shows Sylvia is having a problem coming to terms with what she learned on their outing.

A&P

Oh small town mentality. When I was a teenager we, my family that is, used to go upstate every summer and stay near a blink your eyes and you miss it town. I can remember getting looks as I would walk into a store with my long hair, cutoff jeans and ripped sleeveless rock-n-roll t-shirts. You would think they would be used to it, it being a summer tourist town, but like I said it was small. Older folk cast suspicious, unapproving looks while from the guys my age I would sometimes get the 'Oh to be anywhere but here' smiles. Sammy, our 19 year old cashier storyteller, may not leave his town right away but you have to know he's going to. From the way he describes the shoppers (sheep) to his contempt for Lengel to his fear of becoming like Stokesie (married with two kids at 22) oh for sure Sammy is going to be leaving sooner rather than later. The bathing suit girls have sparked the desire to escape the mundane life in the mundane town.

Everyday Use

I like these feel good stories. The ones where someone realizes they've been, either consciously or unconsciously, favoring the wrong choice of two people. Yaaaay mama. She had been looking at the confident, attractive, intelligent Dee as a success and at the end realizes it is Maggie who is the success. Maggie is the success because without even knowing it, it is her values that have true meaning. Awareness of the heritage of your race is good but if it comes at the price of your family heritage then noooo. Too costly and blind, in my opinion, to what is really important. That being family. When Maggie says Dee can have the quilts it is a concession. As Walker writes Maggie says it 'like somebody used to never winning anything.' However when Maggie says "I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts." That hit me. She is saying it is the memory of the person not the material things that matter. Yaaaay Maggie.

A Worn Path

I think I got it. I think I got it. My wife always laughs at me because I'm very good at writing creatively but not so strong in the insightful department but this time, well, I think I got it. I was starting to think that there was some symbolism referring to race issues and when I got towards the end of the story Phoenix said "I never did got to school, I was too old at the Surrender." Now I'm sure that's a reference to the Civil War so that makes this a story about race relations. I'm taking English 24 this semester and the whole course is dealing with racism so I found this story especially interesting. Phoenix has some spirit. As a 'Negro' who has seen some of the worst racism she is resilient. This is a story not only of the struggle of Black people in general but of the strength of one, Phoenix, who became strong from all she had seen.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Oh boy. Talk about wrong place, wrong time. Guess they should have listened to the racist and manipulative grandma and gone to Tennessee. Though she dressed as a lady so she would be recognized as one if she were found dead on the side of the highway, she certainly was not one. Found with three bullets in her chest maybe she will be seen as one though. Seems like she believed that the clothes you wear and the family you're from are what makes you who you are. Too bad her grandchildren were rude and her son had no patience for her.

A Hunger Artist

I wish I knew why I liked this story. I read it twice and still I'm not sure but I did like it. Perhaps it is the fascination with something that one does not understand. That would make it similar to the reason people were so interested in the hunger artist. The interest certainly would be in part from not understanding why someone would do what the 'artist' was doing. It could also be a morbid curiousity in watching one wither away. The filled amphitheatres to watch him emerge from the cage to break his fast show an attraction and appreciation to the testing of human endurance. I wish that the artist had once declared his purpose. What was it that made this man do this? Was it disdain for society? At the end after the crowds had died and he no longer received the attention he once had, he achieves his goal by fasting for longer than even he knows and finds that without the attention it is a meaningless deed.

"Could this be the end my friend. Satan's coming 'round the bend" Black Sabbath - Sorry couldn't resist the lyric quote. Poor young Goodman Brown. Did he put himself in harms way to see if he could resist temptation? He talks about his wife having a bad dream as "if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight." and he makes 'haste on his present evil purpose'. Whatever his errand was he knew it was not good. When Goodman Brown is greeted in the forest he is not surprised to see his fellow-traveller. He is even told that he is late so this must have been a pre-arranged meeting. Did he already know it was the devil? I liked the way Goodman is slowly broken down by being shown how the people he thought were pious are not. The final straw being symbolic as after he cries out for his wife a pink ribbon flutters down from the sky and catches on a tree. His wife, Faith, had been wearing a cap with pink ribbons when he left her. Beleiving his Faith is not the woman he thought he loses it. At this point the devil must feel he has him. If indeed the devil was trying to tempt him and turn him 'to the dark side' then he makes a mistake for when Goodman sees his wife at the ritual he cries to her to "look up to the heaven and resist the wicked one." He suddenly finds himself alone, no ritual, no devil and no 'Faith'. Although he was able to resist, the experience has left him with doubts. The things he was shown affect him for the rest of his life. Is it himself that he questions or those around him?

The Purloined Letter

This reminided me of a Sherlock Holmes tale just a bit. This because of the reasoning Dupin used in finding the letter. It was simple and yet complex. He reasoned that the Minister would know that the police would search his premises and search thoroughly but would not look at what was right in front of them. "Think like your enemy" is the main thought here. A wise thought in many circumstances. Vito says to Michael "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." This is not just a statement of physical location (so you can keep an eye on them) but one of a mental sense as well. So while the Minister thought like the police, Dupin thought like the Minister. His explanation of this to our unnamed narrator may have been a bit complicated but that is what he is saying and eventually did say. I also found this story had some humor in it. I had to smile at the way he descibes what can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. For his point he mentions a game in which one person chooses a word on a map for another to find. He says that sometimes the harder word to find is one which stretches across the whole map. As a last thought, I'll be interested in seeing if I can get translations for all the French used. Anyone know French?

The Use of Force

Many children are afraid of doctors. Many children will lie to their parents to avoid seeing one. Here we have a very typical child when it comes to a doctor. Uncooperative and fiesty. The child, Mathilda is young but old enough to be in school. Old enough to perhaps remember a bad experience with a doctor. Is this why she is hiding her sore throat? Perhaps she is old enough to be conscious of what she may have, diphtheria,and is afraid to know for sure. The doctor had mentioned there had already been a number of cases at her school. He also mentioned that he had seen a couple of dead children from it. It is possible that she knows one of the dead children. This could be a reason she would be so afraid to hear she has the same sickness. The doctor is more impressed by the child than her parents. I though it interesting that he likens her to animals in several descriptions "as strong as a heifer in appearance." As he moves closer to her to examine her throat "with one catlike movement both her hands clawed." He also calls her a "savage brat." Still even as he starts to grow impatient with her and says he could tear her apart and enjoy it, there seems to be an understanding of why she is acting so. Her parents become contemptible to him and become "crushed and exhausted" in the challenge of the examination while Mathilda "rose to magnificent heights of insane fury." I think he admires her stubbornness. The doctors terminology sometimes has sexual overtones such as the afore mentioned "magnificent heights." That part left me slightly uncomfortable but I don't think they're supposed to be truly sexual in nature. Geez, at least I hope not.

Hills Like White Elephants

This story is a 35 minute conversation between an American man and Jig his lover (girlfriend-wife-we're never told of the relationship between the two) as they wait for a train. Their conversation is about a 'simple' operation. It did take me a couple of readings to say ohhhhh- they're talking about an abortion. The conversation is probably one alot of couples goes through in making such a decision. One could feel that she is being talked into the procedure. I do not believe it is that way. First off, it is her that suggests they drink beers and Anis. Here it is me making an assumption and that is that she would not be drinking like that if she intended to keep the baby. The second thing is that I feel her questions are from the guilt that many women feel when having an abortion. She wants to make sure that nothing will change between them. It is not such an unusual feeling to have in this situation. Another thing that makes me believe it is a mutual decision is his statement that her pregnancy is "the only thing that's made us unhappy." He assures her of love for her and sounds sincere. My wife says I always look for the good in people. I hope that is not the reason I believe him. In the end I did have just a few questions though. One was what the reference to the hills as white elephants meant. I can't wait to do a little research and get opinions on that. A second question is about her assertion that all they do is "look at things and try new drinks." Is this possibly a hint that they do not have a truly meaningful relationship? The last thing I questioned was a statement she made as she was looking at the view past the train stop. She says "And we could have all this. And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible." Could this be her way of saying that in her heart she knows that even if his feelings don't change afterwards hers will? Could it be that she knows that she will not be able to look at him without thinking of what she did? Even if it is the right decision to abort her pregnancy I think she is saying that she knows it will change what she sees when she looks at him.

The Yelow Wallpaper

Left alone with no stimuli is it any wonder that a woman who is admittedly suffering from a nervous condition would start to create her own? She is writer and as such probably has a very active imagination. When told by her physician husband that lack of stimuli and bed rest are the requirements for her recovery she does not agree but complies. In a room which she assumes had been used as a nusery then as a playroom and gymnasium is wallpaper she describes as having "sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin." With her husband gone much of the time she has nothing to do and no one to see and she becomes obsessed with the paper. She starts by analyzing the patterns but before long is seeing a broken neck and bulbous eyes in it and finally she is convinced she sees a woman behind bars. She believes that at night the woman is shaking wallpaper trying to escape from it. I guess the lack of stimuli her husband recommended was not what she needed. Clearly she feels trapped and has projected her feelings onto the paper. It is obviously her that feels the need to escape. I found it interesting that the paper had become such a part of her thoughts that even when she is not in the room or in the house she feels as if she can smell it.

"The Story Of An Hour"

Ironic tragedies, geez how I love them. Mrs. Mallard realizes she is free to have her own life then in a heartbeat it is taken from her. It seems like she had resigned herself to living a life with a man she loved only sometimes. Whether in 1894 or today one sad truth is that there will always be people who for one reason or another stay in unfulfilling marriages. Is it because of an individuals fear of failure or because of a fear of how they may be perceived after a divorce or perhaps something else? She grieves for him when hearing of his death but only for a short time. As the feeling of freedom begins to come out it sounds like she feels guilty. However once she gives in to the feeling of now being free and allows it to overtake her she looks forward to a long life when only the previous day she had "shuddered" thinking of one. And still I think she was even more unhappy than she realized. Since the feeling of now being free is so strong one may gather that she had felt deeply trapped in her life and marriage and it is only when she is free that she realizes how unhappy she was. After all she is now "drinking in a very elixir of life" through her open window and she has an "exalted perception" which allows her to not think of her new joy as "monstrous". These phrases both hint at not only her past despair but the level of her new joy.