The Open Boat

This story has a lot of beautiful words, yet a lot of terms I didn't understand some of the boat lingo:  dinghy, stern, "bail her", schooners maybe these are not all boat terms, but I still didn't understand quite a few words.  In this story is a lot of nature, birds, water and shores.   Maybe the point of the story is how insignificant we are compared to the world or universe.  They were on a boat in the ocean.  No one cared and there was no where to go.  We are just a tiny, baby spec in this giant universe. But they never gave up, which was motivational.  Also, man can not change nature, they are no God.  They couldn't stop the birds from landing, or the waves from crashing.  Man may think they have all this control over things, when really, we have none. 

Trifles

I find these type of plays best understood if read aloud, and with different voices, so I did the best I could!  I enjoyed this, I couldn't stop reading once I got a few pages into it.    If he died at night, and she woke up to that why didn't she run around screaming bloody murder!  She just sat in her chair, rocking.  Then she laughed at some of the things Lewis Hale asked and she just kept pleating her skirt like a mad woman.  I was wondering about the bread that was sat out, why this was of importance for the writer to tell us.  I find it amusing that women are the ones that seem do the real investigating here.  They keep saying they wish the men would hurry but all the things they find, the bread sitting out, the bad sewing job, the bird cage, the broken henge, these things must be important, yet they don't really realize it.  A few things went through my mind about why she may have killed him. 1. He didn't give her children.  2. She lost her youthful glow, and her house turned boring and not cheerful. Maybe by killing him, she thought she'd be happy again.  And I almost threw up when they found that bird in the box, EW!  Someone broke that poor bird's neck, I bet it was John.    These women have seriously found some hard evidence, but the men think they are just being silly women talking about knotting or  quilting.  Then the women hide the fact they even found the bird and lie about it!  They are obviously protecting their fellow lady friend.  Mrs. Peters understands the love a pet, and when something happens to it, you get enraged.      I would like to say that since John Wright snapped the birds neck,  his wife snapped his!   Obviously this what the women think, and what the author wanted us to see.  Sometimes I find it better when you know a secret to keep it, because it's kind of exciting to know something no one else does.  These women play it off so well, though the men think they are just dumb ladies talking about quilting.

Reflection, YGB

The Romantic Era sounded like a tough place to be, but with these writers maybe it gave people a place to go when times were hard.  Though the stories were not happy endings, they still took your mind into a new world.   In Young Goodman Brown, the Romanticism showed through the mystical forest, ghostly characters, and the entire dream vs. reality concept.  Everyone likes a story when good and evil duel, in this case evil triumphed which was sad.  When you look at the 2 stories (brown and Spades), they somewhat ended the similarly.  Brown and Herman ended up with their minds severely messed with.  They were unsure about reality after their encounters.  In class it was brought up about the crick in the road, and how maybe Brown wasn't suppose to end up where he did.  I would say it is like a metaphor.  You should always watch where you are walking on your journey in life, one false move and you could headed in the wrong direction.

The Queen of Spades.

At first I was lost reading this, until I started making connections in each chapter.  There are so many characters in each chapter!  I had a hard time keeping them in order at first.  And everyone wants to know this card trick and that's what the whole story is about, except it has 2 stories, the boy wanting the trick, but then the life of Lisaveta.
The language in this story is hard to understand, because it is written very properly and some french appeared.  I think the quotes at the beginning of each chapter is cool, if I only knew what they said.
The Countess is really annoying.  She is so demanding and very picky!  So the Grandmother from the card story in chapter 1 the same person as the Countess.  I just figured that out.   I love the character Lisaveta.  She has a sass to her, but she still does everything the Countess says.  Who was the boy who gave Lisaveta the letter to meet him?  Why did the Countess die?  I loved how the Countess tricked Herman, he was too greedy anyway.  And now he is a mental case.  I like the conclusion at the end, even though the whole story was pretty random.

Goodman Brown

This is written beautifully!  It is written so romantically even though the story itself is far from it. Foreshadowing occurs the very beginning when he says goodbye to his wife Faith.  She tells him to stay one more night, because she has had bad dreams about him, so something bad is going to happen because the woman is usually right.  Also her name, Faith probably has some meaning to it, usually names are the biggest hints in stories.  When he is in the forest and is scared the devil could be near.. Then arrives the old man, with the serpent cane.  Those 2 things clicked to me for a moment because Satan was a serpent in the bible, so why did this man have a can that looked like a serpent?  Because he is the devil! Goody Cloyse says so.  The devil works in mysterious ways, he temps people everyday!  Goodman Brown really doesn't want to go attend the devil's meeting, but when he thinks Faith is there, he gives in. This story points out that everyone is tempted by the devil, everyone sins.  Goodman Brown seems to be judging every hardcore when he returns to the village, and that isn't very Godly or Christan.  Brown lets the Devil win him over in the end, because he is such a different person.  He seems to hate everyone, and only sees the evil in them.  Though everyone is trying their best everyday to be full of God, Goodman sees them as fake.  The devil has Goodman's soul, till the day he died.

Banana Fish Review

After reviewing in class, I can say that this is simply beautiful writing.  Dr. Lewis pointed out the detail of the writing, and I see why It's so easy to read, it is because of the detail and beauty put into each word.  I missed a few things the first time through, I didn't see the connection of the trees, and possibly the banana fish to suicide.  Someone said the maybe he tried to crash his car into the trees once as a suicide attempt.  Also the banana fish gets trapped in the hole, and ends up dying there.  Maybe this was his way of explaining he is like a bananafish, stuck in a hole, and there is no way out, so he will die.    I was wondering why Muriel was so un-effected by her mothers worries, I though maybe her mom should calm down, but she had a reason to be worried.  ( Mothers are always right, I wonder if I'll ever take this advice myself )  Muriel may have just wanted life back to normal, and the best way to do so, is to act like nothing ever happened, so I can see why she would chose to do that. 

The Things They Carried

In this story, I kept anticipating a horrific ending, like most of these stories have been.   I enjoy the detail that goes into explaining the items a soldier carries.  It is truly a reflection of themselves and their lives.  Martha seems like a sweet girl, the pebble she sent was so sweet, something I would do.   I am sure having someone back at home, while you were in the war, is a vital thing.  I would think they need something to take their minds off the whatever trauma is happening, so they slip into a mini day-dream where that one person who keeps them going is right there with them.   I love the line " he was just a kid at war, in love "  I suppose that is the best way to go off to war, in love, with something to live for, and someone to return to.  I am not sure I understand the mini story of the thumb that Norman Bowker carries.  Why was Lavender's death his fault?
There is one thing in the world I believe is truly the worst feeling of all and that is to love and not be loved in return.  Poor Lieutenant Cross;  he has so much on his plate and worst of all he believes Martha doesn't love him.  I also like the part where is says " by large they carried these things inside, maintaining the masks of composure.  That is so very true,  with all of the things they deal with, they must stay composed; because they have jobs to do.  I can only imagine how their dreams were, when they dreamed of freedom birds.  This part paints a great picture, yet its so sad because it is just a dream.   When he burned her pictures and letters, it made me sad.  I am sure he will regret it, because you usually do after something like that.    It was said he has a "hard hating kind of love" I feel that way about my ex-boyfriend.  I find it easiest to remove someone from your life and mind if you completely ignore any existence of them; hopefully it will brain wash you, so you can move on.  You have to be strong and carry on even with a broken heart.  It sounds like easy stuff to forget someone, and to go on with your duties.  But everyday is a struggle, and I feel very much in-tune with Lieutenant Cross.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

After the class discussion, I realized this isn't truly as simply beautiful as my mind believed.  I totally fell for the typical " hall mark card" interpretation, as many do when reading the road not taken.   Poetry is so beautiful and I tend to get caught up in that only.  I need to work on my reading as the writing and finding deeper meanings for pieces.  Someone in class brought up the possible suicide message this poem gives.  " The woods are lovely, dark and deep.  If you are wanting to relieve yourself from your problems, a lovely suicide is tempting, but this man knows he has much more life ahead before he can die (sleep)  Also I had the idea during class, that the snowy forest was a reminder of something that happened to him.  Like when I drive past a certain spot it reminds me of my ex boyfriend, or a memory that happened there.  I know if I revisit that spot, I would be overcome with a lot of emotion/memories.  You can't ever get those times back so they kind of wrench your heart.  So its just best to move forward.