Lady With Lapdog

"Lady With Lapdog" by Anton Chekhov is a fictional short story set in the late 1800's in Russia. The story was narrated by the main character, Dmirty Dmiritch Gurov, who was an unfaithful womanizing macho man. At the beggining of the story Dmirty talked about how he despised his wife, talking about her with such a hatred in his voice "narrow minded and inelegant, he was afriad of her and disliked being at home." He thought of all woman as a "lower breed." He didnt seem to be able to respect woman on any level, he couldnt stand to be faithful to one, yet he cant stand to stay around men for so long because they are boring. Dmirty seems to be full of himself and cant stand to let anyone else be better than him.

Dmirty is staying at Yalta, which seems to be a place for sick, wealthy, people in Russia. While he is there he meets a woman, Anna, the woman with the lapdog. She is young and quite, drawn back and is young enough to be his daughters. He starts having an intimate relationship with Anna and soon is spending every day with her, and cant stop thinking about her. When Dmirty goes back home to Moscow he is miserable, he cant stop thinking about Anna and has to see her. He goes to her little town, that we know as S. It is strange to me that we do not know the full name of the town where Anna lives.

By the end of the story Dmitry finally finds love, it is not a traditional love, and it is not honest. THey seem to really understnad eachother but Dmitry still has a hard time showing affection and that perplexes me. He has changed drascitaclly through the story but not enough to prove to me that he actaully loves Anna. I want to know more i wanted Dmitry to verbally show us his emotions.

Essay 2

Essay 2 is about family life. We ahve many stories in this unit including, "Bone Black," "I Stand Here Ironing," "Sonnys Blues," "Rappaccinis Daughter," and the film Ordinary People. For my essay I am going to talk about the idea of safety and security in a household. I have been talking about this idea through most of my blogs and it was brought up that this would be a good topic to write about. I feel passionatly enough about safety in homes that I think I can write a good essay about it.

For my essay my main focuses will be "I Stand Here Ironing," "Bone Black," and the film Ordinary People. All of these stories/movies are against the idea that saefty is a huge part of home life. In all of these stories/movies safety and security is missing and therefore, could be the cause of many problems. For my outside resources I am going to try to find other stories that show safety in homes, and benefits from that. I was wondering if we could use personal interviews with friends or family members.

I am more excited about this essay and I hope to use my time wisely and produce a wonderful essay.

I Stand Here Ironing

"I Stand here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen is an interesting story about a young mother and her first child. I really enjoyed reading this short story, there were a lot of ideas throughout the story that posed many questions. Every mother seems to believe that their child is beautiful, all babies are thoguht to be beautiful, little miracles. The baby in the story, was said to be actually beautiful, not like baby beaustiful, but glowing. The baby grew up to be not so beautiful and charming as it once had been. It must have been so hard for the mother to send her new baby away, to her ex- boyfriends families house, while she made enough money to support the two of them. The baby comes back, what seems like a yaer or two later, complelty changed, she is walking and she is more shy and not as beautiful as she once was.

You dont get to know the childs name until the middle of the story. Her name is Emily. Emily does not complain. When she comes back to live with her mother, she goes to a pre school where the teachers are not great, the food is bad and none of the kids seem to have a good time. Emily never crys or refuses to go, she tries to come up with reasons to stay home though. "Momma you look sick, momma I feel sick" (Emily,pg. 416). Always reasons not to go but never an out right objection to it. The mother seems to really love Emily, but not in an obvious way, that most children, when they are growing up need and strive for. THe mother is said to not smile enough at Emily, therefore Emily does not smile a lot.

It is confusing when Emily gets sent away, I understand that she is sick, but what kind of sick must she be for her mother to send her away to a strange place. Do they send her away so that she does not infect the new baby, Susan, with her diseases? The place that Emily gets sent to seems like a perfect little home for children on the outside, but they are not allowed to keep possessions, they get fed horrible food, and they are not allowed to show emotions "They dont like you to love anybody here" (Emily, pg. 417). When Emily comes home again she seems to have a hard time fitting in and knowing how to love back. Her self esteem seems to be completly gone, yet she still does not complain. Her little sister is so different from her, she is chubby and blonde, what all the girls want to look like, a little Shirly Temple.

The idea of safety is yet again thrown around during this story. I feel like Emily can not feel that safe being in an environment where no one is like her and no one understands her, she never stands up for herself and her mother seems to pay more attention to the other four children. Emily is an after thought to everyone in her life, she does not have her own voice and no one takes the time to listen. Towards the end though, Emily makes us all proud, when she finds her voice in comedy. She wins the high school talent show and realizes that ther eis something important about her. Though the story was not classified as being happy or sad, it ended well, with EMily finding something that she could fit into.

Sonnys Blues

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin is a thrilling story about the relationship between two brothers. There are many ideas that I noticed while reading this story, there is the idea of safety. Safety is a key part in family, I think. THere is always the security of knowing that your family will be there for you and protect you. Safety was talked about a great deal throughout this story. Sonnys brother wanted to protect him from the bad things he had gotten into. It may not have been apparent at the begginning of the story, when the brother really had no reaction to Sonny being in the news paper. Towards the end though, the brother took him in, he went to one of Sonnys shows, which in a way itself is safety and security. He supported his brother, when it may have been hard or difficult for him.
Safety is also talked about when they talk about where they live. The brothers did not grow up in one of the safest neighborhoods. After their parents died, Sonny just wanted to get out. He did not want to be around the things he knew he would get into if he stayed. He ended up staying and the things he wanted o get away from, ended up hurting him.

Relationships is the biggest theme throughout this story. There are many differnet relationships that we see. Some we see between the same people, they seem to evolve throughout the story and others are between different people from the past. There is a lot of talk about their parents during the middle part of the story. About the relationship their father and his brother had. I thoguht that it was good for the older brother to hear that story. I think that maybe that is how he helped Sonny in the end, by thinking about his father and his brother. The relationship is strained between Sonny and his brother throguhout the whole story, it even seems that when they were kids it wasnt all that great. It might have been the age difference but it could have been that they were so different from eachother. The ending was so simplistic and classic I thought, it was beautiful. I thought is was so amazing that the brother got to see Sonny play and that everyone in the club admired him so much, the people in his band admired him. Sonny let the music take him where it wanted to go.

This was a long story but it was easy to read becuase it was interesting and their were so many ideas that palyed throughout it.

Rappaccinis Daughter part 1 and part 2

Rappaccinis Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a very difficult story to get through. It is a story about a young man, Givoanni Guscanti. He is a complex character but not nearly as complex as the young poisinus Beatrice.

I noticed while reading that there are many religious and biblical references. There is the idea of an Adam and Eve story going on within this story. Before I get too far into other ideas, I will explain more about the story.

Young Giovanni is staying in a place with an amazing view of a garden, its like a secert garden that only few know about. It is taken care of by Doctor Rappaccini, this is where our story begins. Rappaccini is a mystery to the world around him and he is a mystery to Giovanni. His daughter, Beatrice is even more of a mystery, esrecially when Givovanni needs to differenciate what he sees to be truth or what he may be making up in his mind. THe plants in the garden seem to be poisinous as Beatrice is playing with them and a few drops appear to kill a lizard and some insects. This can only be a figmant of Giovannis imagination, why would such a plant harm an animal and not Beatrice? Giovanni is seeign things, so he thinks.

Bagleoni, a friend of Giovannis father, is skeptical about Rapaccinni and the way that Giovanni has taken an interest to his daughter. Bagleoni has warned Giovanni many tiems to stay out of the garden and that how ever mysterious and appealing Beatrice may be, she is not good news. Lizabetta shows Giovanni into the garden and all goes down. He is mesmerized by Beatrices beauty which blinds him from seeing the ugly truth.

He soon realizes, with the help of Bagleoni, that Beatrice is indeed poisinus and that he himself is as well. Tragicly ending in a Romeo and Juliet- esque way Beatrice dies from taking the potion that Bagleoni offers Giovanni.

While reading this story I was very interested in aLL the ideas coming out through it. There are many different ways to precieve what you have read and what goes on through the text. Who is at fault here? Who is in the wrong, Rappaccini or Bagleoni?

Unit 2: Haunted Houses; "Bone Black"

The introduction to chapter five talks about different relationships, mainly those between children and their parents. Some are benefitial and children grow and learn from it, while others are failing. This chapter is said to have stories about different relationships, and sense of longings, such as in communities, or extended faimlies. I am excited to start a new chapter and to discuss different ideas in literature.

These are chapters 49 through 51 from "Bone Black" by Bell Hooks. "Bone Black" was an interesting story. I really enjoyed reading this story. This story being narrarted by the daughter was very well written in my opinion. It interested me that it was narrareted by the daughter and instead of calling her mother and father by, mother and father, they were always talked about as, he she that woman or that man.

This story was about a daughter witnessing the destrcution of her mother. Her father was an evil man who beat her mother all the time. THe part that seemd to confuse the daughter was that the mother would never stand up for herself, and that her siblings would never try to fight back. She never felt comfortable leaving her mother while her father was yelling and beating her. She always wanted to fight back for her mother. The father was the type of man who thought that the man was always right. The man was in charge of the family and everything he said goes. He was a better cook, better cleaner, better at everything but he still left it all up to his wife. He was a horrible man.

THe ending confused me, why the mother went back to his house after everything. THe man almost killed her and yet she still went back to him, and threatened her daughter with him. She threw her daughter back into what had hurt her. THe mother was being hurt so it seemed that she was taking the hurt out on her daughter. Instead of fighting back or dealing with the pain, she hurt her daughter in the same ways that the man hurt her.

Essay 1

3. Discuss "Our Hurried Children" as it relates to "A&P" or "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

I choose to do one of the topics Clary purposed, her choice 3, to discuss "Our Hurried Children" as it relates to "A&P" or "Where are you Going, Where have you been."
I think that for my first essay I will compare the thoughts of Elkind with the way that Connie and Arnold Friend act throughout the story. Connie is a prime example of what Elkind was talking about, how a child grows up much too fast.

In Connies case, things went wrong, and throughout my essay I will provide an argument as to why it is bad for children to mature to quickly and the counter argument discussing why sometimes it may be necessary for a child to mature before it is ready.

I am excited about reading everyones first essays, and seeing what their ideas on how to take these short stories we read and turn them into argumentitive essays. I think this process will be very different from the process of writing our other essays becuase we are comparing a fictional story to real life.

Our Hurried Children

Our Hurried Children by David Elkind was not a story in any sense, but an article, a non fiction piece. David Elkind talks about how short a childhood is, the stress that we all face is making us mature faster, leaving the safety of beign a kid. No one realizes how fast they grow up until they are adults and forget what it is to be a kid. The attitude of the child does not play as largely a role in the early maturity as the attitude of the parents and the society it lives in. If a child is being pressured to grow up, by having more stress, more responsibility than it should, it will inevitably grow up, too fast.

One of the biggest ideas of early maturity Elkind talks about is early academic achievments. There is so much pressure from everyone in a childs life to get good grades. Get striaght A's and you will go to a good middle school. Do even better there and a good high school is right around the corner. And in hgih school you better beleive that everyone has such great hopes that you will do the very best, do what you can to be accepted into an ivy league college. When does the pressure to do well stop? After school your career starts, and maybe a family.

At a young age it starts as dressing like an adult, looking like one. When someone reaches adolescents, the pressure to be older comes on stronger, to smoke to drink, to do drugs.
Childhood is to be enjoyed, live it as long as you can because once leave it, you can not respectably go back. Our generation is growing up so quick, every 12 year old has a cell phone, my 6 year old cousin just got an i pod. What has happened to the days when kids ran around outside playing school or princess. I realize now watching my brother and sister getting older that they are always on the computer, all of their 10 and 12 year old friends carryign around nicer cell phones than I have. Most of the girls wearing more makeup than I wear now, when I was not even allowed to wear make up until 8th grade. Children are dressing like adults now, tending them to act accordingly.

While reading this essay I learned alot. Some of the stuff I knew, from my mother, who is currently studying most of what Elkind was talking about. Some of the information I read I gathered from observing people through my life time. What really interested me were all the facts presented, all the ones about how young the children were who commented these felonies.

Cathedral

Cathedral by Raymond Carver was a confusing story. THe husband confused me at the begining as to why he was so skeptycal about the old blind man coming for a visit. He was complelty against it, not wanting to know about him or learn anything about this man that was such an important part of his wifes life.
I noticed that the relationship between the man and his wife was strained. Were they together becasue they loved eachother? It did not appear so, it seemed to me that they were together becuase it was comfortable, it was a "convient" marriage. His wife did not talk to him the way she talked to Robert. The man did not appear to be effected by this, but maybe subconsiously, that was why he was so put out by Robert staying with them.
THe man had placed every stereotype on Robert, being a blind man, as he could. When Robert showed up, the man realized that they were all wrong. He had a beard, a beard! He also smoked, drank, and watched t.v. THe man was amazed. I noticed that he Robert got much closer when they started smoking dope. They had a bit of a connection that the wife did not have with Robert, and seemed at the end, offended by it.
My favorite part was the end of the story, when they drew the cathedral. This up tight man who had drawn so many conclusions to the blind man was now completly changed. His opinions were switched and he took the role of beinh blind. He had time to realize that while he couldnt see anything, he was the most peaceful he had ever been. He was someone new, and he liked it.
During this story there were many different characteristics. There was jealousy, comfort, and bonding.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor started out as a tough read. Starting with the first paragraph, I was confused to who the characters were, what their intentions were and who the narrartor was. After reading a little further I started to identify with the characters, and the story line became more clear. WIth talk of the crazy misfit, I knew something was going to go wrong.
THe grandmother was over talkative, which lead her to her horrible fate, and the fate of her family. Her over talkative ways got her into trouble with her sone Bailey, who was not at all the type of person I would want to have a conversation with. The grandmother was the type of perosn to over do things, embelish the truth, her outfit for the car ride, was a good beginning to the rest of her story.
It interested me when the car crashed and no one was greatly harmed. Once again, with the grandmother over doing everything, she flagged down a car in the distance, that had seen everything. The misfit had arrived, and the story got better. Killing the family off one by one, leaving the grandmother for last. The grandmother was pushing how the misfit had good blood and all he had to do was pray. Pray pray pray. Pray to jesus and his life will get better. Pray that he could be saved, and she would be to.
THe grandmothers last words confused me, I did not know if when she refered to the misfit as her child, if she was talking as herself, or if someone, something was talking for her. It did not seem like something she would say, or that she would touch his face, which seemed to be what had done her in.
The chapter we are on is about heros, yet there have been no heroic endings where all ends well. I guess in a real story with a hero, all does not end well, there is a hero, but he/ she might die as well, or get harmed trying to help others.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer was a fascinating twist on fairy tales and childrens books. A man, his wife and their son. They all loved eachother very much. Nadine starts with the obvious dislike of writing a childrens book or a fairy tale, but tricks herself into it when she is paraniod into believing someone is walking through her house, when in fact, I am lead to believe she may jsut have some old floor boards.
This is not the story I would have told myself.
The man, his wife, or his possession, and their son. They loved eachother very much, they loved their cat and their dog, they loved their house and their neighborhood very very much. They had a gardener and a housemaid, they probably shared in on some of the love as well. THe story started off "happily ever after." So obviously ending in a horribly twisted version of a happily ever after story. There were references to different fairy tales, the biggest one I noticed being the "old witch." She warned her family to not let in any outsiders, that they would do much harm. The family did everything they could to protect their lovely home, soon turning it into a prision, not something to be admired and thoguht beautiful, but a gated house, with a horrible barbed wire fence. The one thing that had meant to keep them safe, ended up destroying them in the end. They let in the outsider, being the fence, and the little boy, who they loved very much, crawled through to his fate.
Every fairy tale has a moral. I believe that this one deals with paranoia, and how the most innocent, the one who lives life simplisticly, gets harmed in the end.

A and P

A and P by John Updike was an interesting read. I had to read it twice to really understand some level of significance the story had. I think a huge part oof the story was the time period it was set in, and things would be largely different, were it set at a more recent time. My guess is that it is set around the mid 50's. It was a scandoulus thoguht for three teenage girls dressed in bathing suits, without shoes to be walking threw a family grocery store. Out of the girls, there is an obvious leader of the bunch, a queen bee, walking around sporting a beige ruffled suit, with the straps off, exposing her white skin. She walked around the store, strutting her long white "primadonna legs."
The cashier narrorating the story had an obsession with these girls, and followed their every move, the way they walked, the way they strutted throguh the store picking up different items and then placing them down. The way that the leader walked hard on her feet, as if not used to walking without shoes. The queen bee dissapointed me when confronted with the store owner, I had expected her to stand up for herself and her follwers. Instead, she decided to shyly respond in a quiet voice, and get rather embarassed, blushing at the act of being caught. When Sammy quit I thought it was slight over kill. He quit to impress the three girls, when in fact they hadnt even noticed him or his actions. They were set in a world of their own.

"Where are you going where have you been"

I really enjoyed this story, and enjoyed the discussion we had on Friday about the first few pages we read. Alice lead a good discussion and gave us some ideas to think about while we read the last bit of the story. Connie lead a simple lifestlye, she hung out with her friends and joked around. What she thought was simple flirting turned out to lead her to a creepy older man, thought to be a 17 year old boy. Her witty personality and better than thou mentality lead her to a scary and uncomfortable situation. I like the way it ended, i wanted to know more, but it left me with questions and thinknig about the story. Im excited to see what everyone will see about the story, and everyones opinion on Arnald Friend.

Ps- hes going to be a a freaking astronaut when he grows up!

Ian

I love ian hes so hot. Take that clary!

Power of Myth

The Power of Myth with Joesph Campbell was interesting at first, the idea behind it was interesting and in a better setting it would have been great. THe idea of talking about his heros and who he had modeled himself after was intriguing but his tone was a little boring. When he was talking I couldn't figure out how excited he was to be discussing something that in words he was so interested in, there just didnt seem to be anything to really pull me in. I liked when he was talking about the different books and referencing them to real life, and talking about famous religous leaders and their obsticales and temptations.

Ok, so it's number 2

Uh, hey guys. This is the question blog. If you have any questions at all, which you may not, go ahead ask. And i might answer.

Numero Uno

Hey, I'm Jordan. So this is the first post on my 112 blog. My goal for my blog is to make it look cool and then figure out what I want to write about, mostly assignments. Hopefully I will get into it and write freely whenever I want.