"Aunt Moon's Young Man"

This story was an interesting story which was very similar to that of "Seventeen Syllables." In this story, haiku and a young man also play a critical role. Major theme's of this story include a cultural and generational gap between the protagonist and her mother, who was an immigrant. The narrator is very naive in the story, and it is easily seen how the mother knows more than she does.

The story is a coming of age story. The girls mother tells her to get out, and never to fall in love, because she did not. She says that the men in their small town are not worthwhile, that they are all drunk and spend all their time gambling. The resolution of the story is that the girl get out of the town, as her mom wants.

The girl has three locations of freedom. Aunt Moon's house is one of these locations. However, she was forbidden from going there since Issac moved in. The second location is the bathroom at the fairgrounds. Here she smokes cigarretts, and sees a pervert. Lastly, she feels free when she is on the road.

The story was alright, however, it was too similar to "Seventeen Syllables" to seem worthwhile reading.

"Seventeen Syllables"

Seventeen Syllables is a short story which is centered around the cultural differences of Japanese immigrants and their children, the struggles of an arranged marriage and the loneliness of Japanese women in the 20th century.

The story is about an American born girl whose mother and father are Japanese immigrants. The girl, Rosie, does not understand why her mother is so into Haiku. The girl also has a crush on a Mexican named Jesus. The girl and her mother have cultural and language barriers which complicates their relationship. When the girl's mother receives an award, the husband goes nuts and breaks it. The tirade causes Rosie's mom to tell her that she does not love her husband, and that she married him only as a way from suicide. This shocks Rosie, especially that she was having a nice relationship with Jesus.

This was not the best story of the semester. It was not the most interesting, and except for the climax, it was not fast moving. The take home message of the story is to not marry someone you are not in love with. During the 20th century, arranged marriages were very common, leaving no say to the people. However, this story is saying that marriage should not occur unless both parties are in love.

"A Jury of Her Peers"

This short story was interesting. The story was about a small town in which a murder occurred. Minnie Wright was a suspect in the murder of her husband, and some of her friends were rounded up to look through evidence at the Wright's house. When they get to the house, they notice it is messy, among other things. From the state of the house, the women infer that the marriage was falling apart. The quilts had uneven stitching, and the kitchen was a mess. The women also see the canary, which had been killed.

The women, who are going through the house try to justify what Minnie did by talking about the appaling conditions that Minnie had to live in. They talk about how their house did not even have a telephone. Becuase they feel pity for their friend who murdered her husband, they decide to conceal some evidence. The women take the canary, and make a story of how a cat came and took it.

This story seems to touch on human ethics. It is not right to hide evidence of a murderer even if the person is your friend. That is the major message I got from this story.

"Battle Royal"

The story "Battle Royal" by Ralph Ellison is the first chapter of the book Invisible Man. The story is of an African American man who is extremely well educated and smart. The story takes place in a small southern town, when conditions were far from equal for white and African American people. The narrator of the story is the main character and tells the story from his memory.

The narrator believes that the way to equality is through humility and not speaking up. He is well accepted in teh white community because of these views. The narrator is invited to speak at a graduation. When he arrives, he is told he has to take part in a fight with other African American men before he speaks. The African American men are the "entertainment" for the party, and not viewed as equal to the white men. It is very demeaning for the men, and when the narrator speaks, he is basically ignored, and none of his points are paid attention to.

This story is an example of how individuals should speak up to get things which they believe in. The main theme of this story is how people are invisible and viewed as stereotypes, which is a very disrespectful view.

"A Rose for Emily"

"A Rose for Emily" is an interesting short story written by William Faulkner. It is split up into five chapters, and describes the life of Emily. It seems Emily is a southern belle who is very needy. She lives in Mississippi, and is dependant on her Father for many things, for instance forgiving her taxes.

The story is sort of a flashback; it starts at her death and then talks about her life. It seems that Emily gets very desperate to find a man to court her after her fathers death. When her boyfriend does not propose to her, it is implied that she kills him with arsenic.

Emily make belives her fairytale by getting her boyfriend a suit and other things for a wedding. When she dies, the townspeople enter her home and find, in a hidden room, Homer's body, along side where she would have slept since his death.

This story is interesting and seems like it is of a woman who is desperate and a bit mentally unstable. The short story was not very short, written in a different perspective and was written in English that seemed very modern by 1930's standards.

"The Use of Force"

I enjoyed "the Use of Force." It was a short story in which the reader could not easily figure out when reading the story. Diphtheria is a disease in which forms a membrane on the tonsils. The disease progresses to destroy nerve fibers, eventrually inhibiting the individuals motor functions. This disease leads to death (at the time of the story).

Using clues from the story, it seems like it was written in the nineteenth century. This is inferred from when the mother says that she payed the physician $3 for the check up. Also, the physician comes to their house which was common during the 1800's.

The story is written in the point of view of the physician. Throughout the story, he does his best to diagnose and treat the little girl. He is a compassionate physician, who, after multiple attempts, gets fed up and decides that he has to use force in order to determine a diagnosis. It seems like the little girl know she may be afflicted with this disease but does not want anyone to know about it. She may not want to accept the fact that having this disease in the time period she was alive inevitably leads to death.

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter is an old fashioned story about a grandmother on her death bed. As she lies surrounded by her family, she begins to ponder her life and get ready for death. She tells her family about the event that left the most impression on her life. Sixty years earlier, on her wedding day, her fiance never showed up to the alter. This event made a lasting impact on the grandmother. As her last wish, she wishes that George could see her with her family, letting him know that she did alright with out him. As she dies, she waits for God to give her a sign, so she can feel reassured. However, she gets no sign, and she realizes this is the second time she has been jilted. When no sign from God appears, she realizes George is the least of her worries.

This story makes me think about life, and how all things are relative. There is no reason to get mad about small things in life, when there are much more important things. I did not really like the story. The language did not appeal to me, and it was confusing with all of the flashbacks.

"An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge"

I enjoyed to short story "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge." The story has an interesting feel to it, as it has three short sections. The timeline of the story skips around, and keeps the reader on edge as to what is actually happening. There is a major twist in the story at the end, when we find out that the main character, Peyton, has not escaped, but rather has seen his life flash before his eyes.

The way in which the story was written was very enticing. For instance finding out that Peyton's watch is the noise which he is hearing slow down as he waits on the bridge, and also finding out that the escape was actually just in his mind as he was hung to his death.

"The Cask of Amontillado"

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is another dark short story. Montresor plans revenge on Fortunado because of his insults. Montresor plans to have Fortunado over into his cellar to taste a new wine. When he gets him down there, he chains him to a rock and buries him within the wall. Fifty years later he admits the murder of Fortunado.

This story is extremely similar to "The Black Cat." In both stories, the protagonist acts to get revenge on someone who has wronged them. Both the main characters wife and Fortunado are murdered becuase what they did to the main character. His wife did not want him to kill the second cat in "Black Cat" and Fortunado insulted Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado." Both events led to their eventual murder. It was interesting to see how similar the killings were in both Poe stories. Both the wife and Fortunado were put in a wall which was then sealed up with plaster.

The writing of the story is in a very old fashioned vernacular. It makes it difficult at times to follow the meaning of the story. The story was fast moving, and creepy which made it appealing and a good read.

"The Black Cat"

"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe is a dark tale of an insane man who turns from being a loving pet owner to eventually a murderer of one cat, attempted murderer of another cat, and the murderer of his own wife. The protagonist changes dramatically through the course of the story, and all of the changes are brought on by the actions of Pluto, his first cat, and his second cat.

It is amazing how the man can go from loving his cat so much to detesting it once he gets drunk. Poe definitely has a negative view towards alcohol as is seen through the story. The negative things that the narrator does mostly come after the man has been drinking.

The ending of the story was very ironic. Although I figured out where the cat was prior to Poe's explanation, it was still a shock to have him tell the readers that the cat too was inside the wall. It only seems appropriate that this is where the cat was after all the trouble the owner puts the cat through.

I enjoyed this story. Although it was written in the vernacular of the 19th century, it still relevant today, compared to some other stories written in that time period. I can easily picture a detective drama about this story made for television. The story was very fast moving and did not have the long lull's in action like "Sleepy Hollow."

"The Purloined Letter"

Edgar Allan Poe's "Purloined Letter" is a fast-paced detective story. Poe was really the first author to introduce the detective genre, and this story is one of three short stories he wrote of this kind.

The story is about an important letter that gets stolen, and the Parisian detective who works to recover it. The police know that Minister D has taken the letter, and now is able to blackmail the woman whose note it is.

The detective protagonist, Dupin, and his police force search Minister D's hotel room and are unable to find the letter anywhere. After a month without finding it, the Prefect of the police department increases the reward. After the Prefect writes a check for the amount, Dupin immediately hands over the letter. He explains that he knew the Minister was hiding it in plain sight. Dupin had researched the room and switched the letter for a fake.

Dupin relates the hiding of the letter to a word map, commonly known as a word search. He talks about how the easiest words to find are the smallest ones; the words trying hard to be concealed. However, he says the largest, most drawn out words tend to be the hardest to find. He uses this deduction to find the letter, which was on the mantle of Minister D's hotel room.

"Birthmark"

I did not really enjoy Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Birthmark." The story seemed extremely outdated, and too long and wordy.

The story centers around a prominent scientist and his wife, who has a birthmark on her left cheek. After Alymer says he does not like it, she reluctantly decides to let him try to get rid of it. After creating a concoction to remove it, she dies.

The language of the story is extremely outdated. The story is set right around the time of the discovery of electricity, and the words used do well reflect that time period. Reading that type of language was not as interesting to me as modern-day English, which I can relate to much better.

After reading the story, it seems like Hawthorne could have made the story half as long, while still having the same meaning. He uses a tone and eloquence that really sets him apart from other authors, but makes it hard to relate to in this modern era.

It is dissapointing to see that Alymer is more concerned with outer beauty more than inner beauty. It is interesting to note that before the couple was married, Alymer never spoke of the birthmark. Although his wife is extremely beautiful, he cannot stand to put up with it for the rest of their marrried life. A major theme of the story is human obsession with perfection.

"Sleepy Hollow"

Sleepy Hollow, written by Washington Irving, is written in the third-person narrative. The main charachter, Ichabod Crane, was a skiddish, superstisious man, who wishes to court the beautiful woman of Sleepy Hollow.

Irving sets up the progatonist to be scared by the headless horseman by talking about how he used to spend time with the Dutch housewives and listen to ghost stories before he would walk home. After being told the stories, he would commonly be scared by shrubs and the forest at night.

After reading the story, it seems like it was very wordy. Many of the paragraphs, and even in some pages could be completely taken out of the story and it would still make perfect sense. Irving uses a tremendous amount of description about everything from the Van Tassel's estate set-up, to personal characteristics and looks.

Irving describes Ichabod Crane as sort of a greedy man even though all of his positive contributions to the town, such as being a school teacher and the leader of the choir. Crane, after meeting Katrina Van Tassel can not help but think about how weathly he could be if he married her, and inhereted the families estate.

The antagonist of the story, Brom Van Brunt, was a Dutch man known for his mischeif. He had been known to ride around on his horse in the middle of the night. However, in the town he was also known for being a good man. Brunt was also attempting to court Katrina, and this begins the dismay between Crane and Brunt.

Brom dresses up as the headless horseman, who lost his head during a revolutionary war battle. As Ichabod is leaving the party he was at with Katrina, he is scared by this "headless horseman" and never to be heard from again. Brom eventurally steps in and gets the hand of Katrina.

I had never read this story before even though it is an American classic. I enjoyed this story, even though it seemed lengthy.

"Lusus Naturae"

“Lusus Naturae” by Margaret Atwood is a dark, scary story about a young female human/monster thing. The protagonist is part of a family which does not accept her. The story seems to be set in a rural town during the mid 1800’s. This is inferred from the discussion of the characters dress, as well as the food served at the family meal.

It is interesting to wonder what in fact this creature looked like. How hideous and odd would a child have to look for a family to want it dead? The family is extremely cruel to the child. One prime example that is used is when she is described as a wart on her mother’s finger. Another example is the mothers “resentment” for her.

The “freak of nature,” was an extremely outrageous sounding creature. She was described as having yellow eyes, red fingernails and hair everywhere. Even more astounding was the diet recommended by the physician who initially treated her- lots of bread, potatoes, and that she will want to drink blood.

The author uses very dark, grim language. The story really does sound like a scary situation, and as a reader you are in constant search of what this girl looks like. Atwood does a very good job at leading on the reader. Details are slowly leaked throughout the story, but even at the end, it is hard to make a mental picture of what she looks like.

Atwood also changes the story’s tenses. The past tense is used to start the story, in discussion of her life with the family. As the story nears the end, she begins to talk in the present tense. One example of this is,” Now they’re marching towards this house…” At the very end of the story, the protagonist begins talking in the future tense. She wonders what the angels will look like in heaven, “…I’ll look like an angel. Or perhaps the angels will look like me.” This was an interesting use of tense by Atwood.

The story is in the first-person. The female creature tells the story as it is happening to her, in her perspective.

I liked the plot of the story, as well as the description of the character. The way Atwood led the reader on by only giving away little description of the “Lusus Naturae” at a time was very intriguing.

"A & P"

“A & P” by John Updike is a quick read, which actually seems like it is written by the teenager, Sammy, who was taking part in the story. The story is set in a Massachusetts town, just off of Cape Cod. The narrator, a teenager working a summer job at the local grocery store, is having a normal day as a cashier until three girls wearing two-piece bathing suits walk in. He immediately judges the girls—two are fat, one with a nice “can” and the last is beautiful to him. When they cash out in his line and his manager interjects because of their clothing, he tries to be a hero—and quits after ringing them out. When he walks outside to hopefully meet up with the girls he defended he finds them gone, and is immediately disappointed, regretting his decision.

John Updike writes this story in a very interesting way. The language used is very juvenile, and it sounds like the teenager’s experience first-hand. Rather than using extreme description, Updike rather uses simple terms and descriptions of what the characters look like and what they are doing. The story flows from the first sentence all the way to the sad ending for Sammy.

The thoughts of the protagonist seem extremely in line with the way a normal teenage boy would think. For instance, he talks about the beauty of the girl he just met, and more importantly envisions himself hanging around with her family, having the snack she purchased with them. Updike says,” All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room. Her father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties…” Another example of this is how Sammy thinks that if he stands up for the girls and then quits, the “queen” will think so highly of him that she will be crazy about him and wait outside the store for him.

I enjoyed this story and the way that John Updike writes. The language and flow that are in his story make it extremely enjoyable to read.

"The Lottery"

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson is an interesting story that shows the cruelty of humans and refusal to stand up to a horrible act. The lottery is an annual event, in which the winning person gets stoned to death by the townspeople.

Irony is also present in the title of the event and the setting. The story starts off by addressing the setting, a beautiful sunny, summer day. A gloomy, cold day would be more appropriate foreshadowing, however the author prefers to make the weather ironic. Calling something a lottery would typically indicate the potential of winning something positive, however in this sense it is quite the contrary.

The story is very ironic in that the villagers look forward to the lottery each year regardless of the brutality of the event. The characters mentioned in the story all come to the town square in positive attitudes, excited for the daily activities. Jackson relates the lottery to the towns Halloween party and other events. This is quite ironic, because of joy associated with these events even though during the lottery someone will end up dead.

One theme that Jackson touches on in the story is how outdated events can continue in society. The story states that the lottery has been around at least 77 years. Even though the event is horrific, the villagers continue the tradition. The lottery could easily be discontinued as other towns have already done.

Arriving late at the lottery, she puts on a false front of joy and an appreciation for the event. The winner of the lottery, Mrs. Hutchinson, shows her real personality after finding out someone in her family will win. She immediately accuses the organizer of tainting the event and also claims that two of her daughters, who have joined other families, should be choosing with her family to potentially win. Mrs. Hutchinson is a hypocrite, changing her feelings of the event once she finds out she has one. While the other townspeople accept the event, is she was against it all the time, I could understand her outrage. But seeing how she has taken part in the lottery before and stoned other people, I cannot sympathize with her outrage.

I enjoyed the story, and the ending was a bit of a twist. “The Lottery” is a discussion of hypocrisy and can be related to life in America.

"The Story of an Hour"

"The Story of an Hour" was very interesting, namely due to the major plot twist in the short story. Chopin starts the story talking about a "woman with heart disease" which automatically made me think the main character was an old woman. However, later in the story she explains that Mrs. Mallard is actually a young woman dreading her relationship with her perished husband.

It is easy to tell the social situations of the time the story is set. At the time, men had the upper hand in relationships. Women would very typically be viewed as inferior, and were under the control of their husband. The author many times references in a negative way about this practice, and Mrs. Mallard’s unhappiness with her inequality. Through reading the story, it seems as though Chopin is a feminist. Although the story is written about Mrs. Mallard, it also seems that it could be Chopin talking about a personal experience or disgust for the social situations of the times, using Mrs. Mallard as a vessel.

Early in the story, it can be deciphered that Mrs. Mallard is unhappy with her marriage. After she finds out about her husband’s death, the author makes it very clear that this is a positive thing for Mrs. Mallard. There are references to “spring coming” and this typically signifies when people feel free from being inside, or trapped.

I began to feel bad for Mrs. Mallard, for her unhappiness. If her husband had not died, she would be with a man for the rest of her life that she did not love, and she dreaded it. References were made many times to gloomy relationship, such as “gray and dead.” It seemed like she tried to convince herself sometimes that it actually was not as bad as she thought, like when she said,” yet she had loved him—sometimes.”

It was a complete shock that Mr. Mallard arrived at the end of the story. His arrival completely crushed the joy and freedom that she had just experienced. It seems fitting for her to pass away; now she is out of the misery that would have loomed over her for the rest of her life. I enjoyed reading Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” due to the writing style and major plot twist.