Yellow Woman

Why do you think the “Yellow Woman” stayed with Silva after their first night together? Do you think she would have had a chance if she would have tried to flee?

In Yellow Woman, the Indian is “abducted” on the riverbank by Silva. I placed abducted in quotation marks, but I’m not sure that the “Yellow Woman” really didn’t want to go with Silva. On page 3145 she says, “I don’t have to go…” and then goes on to say “I walked beside him, breathing hard because he walked fast, his hand around my wrist..” She tried to resist him, but them stopped and actually enjoyed his company. I think the “Yellow Woman” stayed with Silva because it was something exciting, dangerous something out o the norm for a married mother of the Laguna Pueblo Tribe. She was enticed by his forcefulness and his spontaneity. I think she found in him, what she didn’t find in her husband. Al was more of a loving, caring individual, someone one would like to raise a family with; Silva was more someone you would like to spend a weekend with, his ruggedness and risqué lifestyle. I think maybe the “Yellow Woman” needed a change in her life, grew bored, and needed something to spice up her life. Or also, I think she may have been scared of Silva. Going along with the second question, I think the “Yellow Woman” may have stopped resisting because she knew she had no choice, she was going to have to follow him and do as he said. Silva said to her “You don’t understand, do you, little Yellow Woman? You will do what I want” (3147).  Then she says “I was afraid because I understood that his strength could hurt me (3147). I think the “Yellow Woman” knew that they were in the middle of nowhere, Silva lived alone, and was a very rough man. She thought he was very capable of killing her and feeling no remorse. She was scared of his strength and didn’t want to find out what he was capable of. That’s why I think is another reason she stayed with him longer than just the first night. Also, I don’t think she would have had a chance to flee. He was capable of killing her anytime he pleased. He lives away from any civilization, was a thief, and had a rifle and a knife that he could easily kill her without anyone ever knowing. Obviously the family wasn’t too worried about her because they assumed that she would come back and went on with their everyday life.  So, I don’t believe she would have been able to flee even if she was given the chance to.

The Man Who Was Almost A Man

Did the use of dialect add or take away from the overall message of “The Man who was Almost a Man?”

At first I was very confused by the dialect used. It was very different from many of the other pieces we have read this semester and it was hard to adjust my eyes to the improper grammar and poor spelling. I found myself looking forward to the parts where I didn’t have to analyze every letter to figure out what he was saying.  Although it was hard to get used to at first, I believe that the use of dialect helped add to the message of the story. It helps show the differences between the black and white characters. Mr. Hawkins talks with a Southern drawl, but he seems more educated. When Dave arrives early to the fields on page 2522, the dialogue between them it is quite evident who is the more educated one of the two. “What’re yuh doing here so early?” “Ah didn’t know Ah wuz gittin up so early, Mistah Hawkins. Ah wuz fixin t hitch up ol Jenny n take her t the fiels.” Mr. Hawkins talks more in complete sentences, with all the syllables and words complete. Dave’s dialect seems to leave out letters and syllables of words. His and his family’s dialect almost seem like a puzzle that needs to be put together. The dialect helps put into perspective that there is very little growth for Dave. It will take him two years to pay for Jenny. There is no room for opportunity and the dialect helps show that.

What does the gun symbolize?

The gun symbolizes power, respect, and becoming a man. It is everything that Dave wants. He wants to have power; he wants respect from his coworkers, boss, parents, village people, etc. Dave thinks that the gun will automatically get people to respect, “…feeling a sense of power. Could kill a man with a gun like this. Kill anybody, black or white...nobody could run over him; they would have to respect him” (2522). He thinks that by owning a gun everyone will treat him like an adult and not like a child and will no longer call him “boy.” Although he believed this, possessions can’t make you any more mature or respected, which is why Dave made the mistake he made. If he was a little more mature and his father taught him how to operate the gun cautiously he would have been able to avoid this situation. After seeing the consequences of their actions, most people learn from their mistakes, endure their punishment, and move on. Its shown that Dave hasn’t matured at all from his mistake when he wants to shoot the gun again and then pictures shooting Mr. Hawkins house, “Ah’d like t scare ol man Hawkins jusa little...Jusa enough t let im know Dave Saunders is a man” (2526).  He hasn’t learned or matured any from his mistake and still strives to be seen as masculine, and wants to be respected.

The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman

What does the woman’s thoughts about other people reveal about her true personality?

While she was at dinner with the businessmen she critically judged both a woman who passed by and the waiter. As the woman walks by her she things “She felt the urge to give that blonde prude of a woman playing the grand lady in her hat a few good slaps on the face….she was nothing more than a fishwife trying to pass herself off as a duchess” (2807). I think the drunk woman was critical of this woman because she hates that the other woman is truly happy and looks beautiful. The drunk woman isn’t happy with her current state in life and resents every other person in life that is happy. So instead of trying to work through her trying times in an unhappy marriage and children, she drinks her sorrows away. The drunk woman constantly tries to escape reality and find happiness in the bottom of a bottle. Once the effects of the alcohol wear off she returns to that unhappy state that she is all to familiar with.She wants to find a man that she is truly in love with and wants to spend the rest of her life with. The drunk woman wants to be the happy woman who can get dressed up and be classy and have the waiter “serve her full of gestures and finesse” (2807.)  Her thoughts of other people show that she is truly insecure and unhappy with her current stage in life.

The drunk woman is constantly worried about ruining her self-respect. Do you think she really cares about her self-respect?

After oversleeping and missing her chores the drunk woman says, “God, I’ve lost my self-respect, I have! My day for washing and darning socks…What a lazy bitch you’ve turned out to be” (2805).  She mentions self-respect many other times in the story like she said “What a slovenly, lazy bitch you’ve become.” describing her unclean floors (2808). I think the woman cares about her self-respect and image to an extent. Basically, I only think she cares about herself when she is sober. Such as, when I mentioned above on page 2805 she only says that after recovering from a drunken evening and sleeping it off all day. While drinking and drowning her sorrows she becomes completely oblivious to how she treats herself and others. She sleeps the day away and awakens only a few short hours before her children are supposed to be home and the house is still a mess. The drunk woman doesn’t have a job, the least she could do is remain sober for a few hours and clean the house, versus laying in her bed all day (2804-05). Also she displays a vast amount of public drunkenness which she shows herself off to the public by falling around, and barely walking.  The drunk woman truly respects herself only when she is sober. When she is drunk and delirious her view of respect is skewed and she ends up not having respect for herself at all.

Janus/The Swimmer

What is the symbolic meaning of the bowl in “Janus?”

The bowl in “Janus” symbolizes Andrea’s past life, the one she had to move on and leave behind. The foot note explains that the title Janus is “usually artistically represented as a figure with two faces, looking in opposite direction (87).  Andrea wanted to keep both her lover and her husband, she didn’t want to have to choose. So both her “faces” were looking in opposite directions. On page 90 when describing how her lover felt, the lover said “she was always too slow to know what she really loved.” I think that this statement shows that Andrea finally is realizing what she missed out on. She completely adores this bowl and even feels “guilty that she had such a constant secret” (89). The bowl represents her life and her lover. She treats the bowl like a secret, a lover of some sort. I think she uses the bowl to fill the void of her past lover that left her when she wouldn't choose. Andrea dreamed of the bowl, kept it a secret, and it was basically her number one priority. She treated it very carefully, "would remove all the other objects from a table." (89). I think the bowl ultimately symbolizes the affair and her guilt and love she had for the man that left.

What is the symbolic meaning of Neddy’s journey?

Neddy’s journey symbolizes his lifetime. In the beginning of this story he has “the especial slenderness of youth” and even slid down his banister that morning. This is to suggest the beginning of life when a person is youthful and full of life. He swims throughout the first few pools feeling energetic and ready to continue onto the next leg of his journey. He feels the warmth of the sun and wants to keep on. After the storm hits however he starts feeling chilled to the bone, and feel lonely. Soon after he becomes frail, not diving into pools anymore and climbing out of the pools using the ladders. I think the storm may represent a hardship in his life, maybe the affair he had with Shirley and his wife finding out. This event would cause him to be alone as he wife would leave him. By the end of the journey, Ned didn’t think he could make it across the street to his house. This shows the journey of life that life will take you through so many trials and there will be happy and depressing times and that one wrong decision can turn your life upside-down such as Neddy’s affair. In the beginning of the story he was extremely happy and eating lunch with his daughters, but by the end he went to his house it was empty, his kids and wife left, leaving him feeling completely empty and disheartened. 

Miss Brill/A Rose For Emily

Compare and contrast how Miss. Brill and Miss. Emily avoid reality.  What is the eventual outcome for each woman?

Miss Brill avoids reality through her weekly Sunday trips to the park. She dresses all pretty and makes sure she looks absolutely beautiful in her eyes. She immerses herself in the actions of others in the park trying to find happiness in other peoples’ lives. Miss. Brill sees the whole think as a play. She is just merely an actress and everyone else is an actor and actress. She uses this to escape her harsh realities that she faces everyday. Like Miss. Brill, Emily tries to avoid her reality in a more morbid way. After Emily’s father died, I think she is afraid of being hurt and left again. So as she gets a husband, she kills him so they can be together forever and she will never have to experience living without him. She sleeps with his dead corpse every night and stays inside her house to avoid the pressures of every day society. Both of the outcomes for each of these women are completely negative. Two teenagers talking about how ugly her fur was and how old she was bring down Miss. Brill back to her Earth from her illusion. Also Emily’s outcome comes as she dies. Some people of the town she lived in were able to enter her “save haven” and go upstairs into her secret room, which housed her dead husband and many mementos from her marriage. 

Discuss the endings of both stories.  What type of ending is it? Justify your answer.  Do the plot elements lead up the ending?  Explain how so.  Is each story literary or commercial, based on plot and ending?  Use the Plot handout information to help you. 

In “Miss Brill” it describes Miss. Brill’s typical Sunday evening routine of her going by the bakery. But this Sunday, Miss. Brill hurt by the children’s comments skips the bakery goes immediately to her room and sits, takes off her necklace and then hears a cry. I think the ending of “Miss Brill” is an indeterminate ending. No definite conclusion is solved from the main conflict. The reader has to form their own conclusions about whether Miss. Brill found happiness or found another way to escape reality.  I believe that “Miss Brill” is a literary fiction piece. It shows insight onto Miss. Brill’s character and the conflict between her internal self.  Like “Miss Brill,” “A Rose for Emily” is literary fiction. I think it is literary fiction because it gives insight into Emily’s character and it does focus on the conflict between Emily and herself. Also I think the ending is a surprise ending. Although we know, that Emily was acting kind of sketchy we didn’t know she was sleeping in the same bed as her dead husband so the ending is definitely a surprise one. This is more proof that this is literary fiction because the surprise is legitimate. 

Pick one story.  What are some examples of irony?  What type is it?  What do the ironies reveal? 

There are many examples of situational irony throughout “A Rose for Emily.” One example is the smell that her house had. Members of the town just thought it was a dirty kitchen saying, “Just as if a man – any man – could keep a kitchen properly,” or a dead animal. So even after it was cleaned the smell was still there. The town never caught on but the smell was in fact her husband’s rotting corpse. Also an example of dramatic irony is her husband’s disappearance. The townspeople also thought that Emily had grown sad and decided to stay inside because of her husband abandoning her. In reality, Emily killed her husband so she could be with him forever and stayed in the house so she didn’t have to face society. I think the ironies reveal that the townspeople didn’t really care. They just used their pity as an excuse to not have to investigate her problems.

A Lady and a Dog

Is Anna and Gurov's relationship simply a case of bad timing? What does "The Lady with the Dog" say about relationships?


I think that Anna and Gurov's relationship is just a case of bad timing. If Anna and Gurov would have met just a few short years earlier before they were married, they probably would been together under different circumstances. I think it's evident that both Anna and Gurov both care and love each other much more than they do their significant others. When Gurov went to St. Petersburg to find her and then found her at the theatre she said that she never stopped thinking about her, even though when parting she said that this was goodbye forever. Gurov also couldn't stop thinking about Anna and that was the reason he travels to St. Petersburg, and then he realizes that as an older, graying gentleman he finally fell in love the right way and knew she was the one (1533). I think they both realized they had found the one, but the predicament they were in would make them tear their families a part in order to be together without sneaking around. If they would have met a few years before and wouldn't have rushed into marriage, I think fate would have made them find each other and they would be in love and happy just as they were in the story. This story reveals through Anna and Gurov's relationship that relationships and love are more problematic and harder than what is shown in romance novels and Disney movies. People have to truly fight for who they love and sometimes the situations can be difficult such as the one in "The Lady and a Dog." I think their relationship shows that timing is everything. If someone rushes into something like Anna and Gurov, they are potentially missing finding their soulmate. Every decision that a person makes affects their future and potential relationships.  Also, you'll find someone that could be perfect for you, but because you didn't wait you can't have your soul mate.


What quest is Gurov on?  Is he successful? 


Gurov was "talked into marrying in his second year at college, and his wife now looked nearly twice as old as he did" (1524). I think his quest is to find happiness. He's so unhappy and unsatisfied with his marriage that he tries to find happiness with little one night stands with other women. The narrator says that, "every time he encountered an attractive woman...the desire for life surged up in him, and everything suddenly seemed simple and amusing" (1524). I think that this showed every time he saw a woman that got his heart racing he became happy and forgot about his wife at home and his unhappiness. He tried to achieve happiness through numerous encounters with random women. The women would satisfy him for only a short period of time, but then he just reverted back to unhappiness. I do not think his goal was to find love, I believe his goal was to find happiness. So I think Gurov was halfway successful at fulfilling his quest. He couldn't get Anna out of his mind and realized on page 1535 that "only now, when he was gray-haired, had he fallen in love properly, thoroughly, for the first time in his life." While he was with Anna he was extremely happy and never wanted to leave her side, but when he was away from her for 2-3 months at a time Anna was all he had thought about. So I think if the story was to continue and Gurov actually left his wife and married Anna then he would have fulfilled his quest and become happy, but at the ending I can say that he almost but didn't achieve his quest because for a large amount of time Gurov is still unhappy because he can't see his love.

Diary of A Madman

Throughout "Diary of A Madman", the "madman" always thought the excuses for people were "Just because its always been that way" (1926) and that the kids' parents had taught them that, do you think these are legitimate excuses to accept?


In "Diary of A Madman,' he thought the children who were "talking about him" were only doing that because they're parents had taught them that. I know at a young age that children basically only know what their parents teach them, like if a parent teaches their child that the color green is yellow and that the color yellow is green. The child is going to be in a world of hurt in kindergarten because they were taught the wrong thing for so long. I think this excuse kind of refers to the overall meaning about the attempt to conformity by the new Chinese government. Since Chinese children only grow up in China, and China censors what news, websites, TV shows, etc. that citizens see, Chinese children may think that no other society is different and just always do what they are taught. So, I do believe that this excuse is a legitimate excuse for the madman to make for the children. As for the "just because its always been that way" excuse, I think people try and make this excuse all the time. Like when you see on the news and you see fighting African tribes, most of the American people don't really care because a) its not in America/directly involving Americans and b) its always been that way. If something has always been that way people don't really try and change anything With that said, if something is terrible I believe something should be done and excuses shouldn't be made. In the madman's case he seriously thought people were cannibals and tried to convince people that they needed to do something about it such as on page 1926. When the madman mentioned the recent cannibalistic event that happened in the Wolf Cub Village and the man said,  "Maybe they are, but it's always been that way, it's --." I think the madman really wanted to make people see that cannibalism was wrong, but then when people blew him off and saw him as crazy he disillusioend them to being a cannibal.

What is the point or importance of the last line "save the children" (1929)?


The author of the diary thoroughly believed that children will usually always believe and follow what their parents have taught and told them, which is generally true because its their parents. I think the last line is meant to mean that in order to get away from the negative actions happening now, the children need to be shown the beliefs that will give a positive influence so they can be sure to make the "right" decisions. Also, the future of any country/community starts with the children. That's why people such as Hitler preached early to children so they would believe and grow up and carry on his legacy of the Nazi society. So in order to save the children from the oppressive, Chinese society, you need to start talking with the children about what is right/wrong in order to help save their futures and adult lives and their children's. In summary, I think what is truly supposed to come from this line is instead of pushing your views and beliefs on children, teach them right from wrong, and then let them form their own opinions on issues/dilemmas that way they become their own person and can make effective decisions.

Child's Play

Presentation

Emily Dickinson I

Poem # 449
Likes: I really liked how she portrayed death as a small thing, unlike many people who think its very grim. I also liked the imagery about the two people talking. Just trying to imaging two deceased individuals having a conversation in the tomb is very amusing and takes the mind away from the motif of death. Line 10, "We talked between the Room --" made me think of people talking through the walls or on the phone while sitting in different rooms.
Dislikes: The dashes really got on my nerves. I know they emphasized the words and her consciousness but they were annoying. Was it really necessary to include this many dashes? I didn't really like that the poem was so short. I want to no more about how they died from "beauty" and "truth." It also kind of bothered me that even though the poem seemed to be pleasant at first, she seemed to end it on a harsh note by saying, "We talked between the Room--/Until the Moss had reached our lips--." It reminded me that even though she was having fun with death, death is still a grim issue.
Puzzles: When she says, "Themselves are One" in line 7 referencing beauty and truth. I think she was saying that beauty and truth were one in the same, when really they aren't at all, so I was confused there. Why end the poem on a sour note? I know the subject is about death, but you could at least keep going with the positive images.
Connections and Motifs: One of the obvious motifs is death. She shows death as a conversational, calm event in someones life. Another motif I can see is that of a bond between friends. The way they talked to each other and then  it says in line 8, "We Brethren, are" shows that because they died from the "same things" that they are connected in some way.

Poem # 519
Likes: I like Emily Dickenson's simile in line 3, "A Chill -- like frost upon a Glass--." It's easy to figure out and relate to because almost everyone knows about the condensation on a cup. I also liked how descriptive she ways to describe the other events about how fast the cold spread and the "busy eyes."
Dislikes: I dislike some of this poem because I'm completely confused and have no idea what's truly going on. I mean i have a hunch, but I have no idea it I'm truly interpreting it right. This poem is kind of morbid to, I don't mind death, but this poem seems to take it a little too far by describing the "cold" and the "eyes."
Puzzles: What does the last stanza even mean? I just do not seem to understand how it fits in with the rest from the way I am interpreting this. Is she talking about the body? Its warm at first when alive, and then death comes and the body becomes cold slowly and then the eyes become stiff?
Connections and Motifs: This poem also deals with the motif of death. I believe she uses coldness to physically describe the coldness of a dead body.

Poem #712
Likes: This was my personal favorite poem. Because again of the light hearted way she describes death.The imagery of death picking her up, and her seeing a few stages of her life on the way to complete death kind of reminded me like "life flashing before your eyes" before you die. I also like her imagery, "we slowly drove" I think that this implies that the speaker had a slow death.
Dislikes: There wasn't much I dislike about this poem except the fourth stanza had me lost. I feel like Emily Dickinson went from describing one thing to a whole new subject.
Puzzles: It puzzles me why she goes into describing landscapes, that had me completely confused. Emily Dickinson puzzles me in general why she always writes about death. It leaves me wondering why she was so obsessed with death. Also I don't really understand the last two lines of the poems.
Connections and Motifs: Again, the most common motif in this poem is death. I also see kind of the motif of reflection. I feel like the speaker as she is riding in the carriage with death she is viewing her stages of life as a child while they're, "At Recess -- in the Ring--" and then as she grows older and they "Paused before a House that seemed/A Swelling of the Ground--"