Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 24th, 2009 No Comments »
“The Rocking-Horse Winner”, by D. H. Lawrence, is a short story filled with different symbols and allegories. An obvious symbol in the story is the whispers the protagonist Paul hears in his home. They constantly say things like, “There must be more money! There must be more money!” So, these imaginary voices represent the greed [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
There are two main archetypes that are present in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”. The more obvious one is that of the social outcast. In most pieces of literature or film there is an “outsider” character that does not fit in and is disliked for some reason. In “The Lottery”, the social outcast is Mrs. Hutchinson. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 21st, 2009 No Comments »
The short story “Paul’s Case”, written by Willa Cather, gives the reader an interesting glimpse into the human desire to improve one’s circumstances. The protagonist Paul has a literal “case”, he is sick of his inferiority and wants to live a more glamorous, fashionable life like those of the upper-class. Cather uses specific choices in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 17th, 2009 No Comments »
After reading Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, it is clear to me that the main character Sylvia is a static character. At no point in the story does she change herself, her way of thinking, or the way she acts. For instance, the first sentence says, “Back in the days when everyone was old and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 15th, 2009 No Comments »
The short story “Gooseberries”, by Anton Chekhov, deals mostly with the belief in going after one’s dream and doing whatever it takes to achieve that. However, it seems to me that the author’s purpose in telling this story was to show that sometimes people strive so much for a certain goal that they end up [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 14th, 2009 No Comments »
In the short story “Good Country People”, by Flannery O’Connor, the theme of Christian redemption in everyday life is discussed. At the beginning of the story the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Hulga. It is clear that Hulga does not believe in anything. She is an atheist, so she doesn’t believe in God. She [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 11th, 2009 No Comments »
Alice Walker is a writer and activist. She was born in Georgia in 1944 into a poor, but loving, household. She was particularly close to her mom, and their relationship actually inspired some of her writing, such as her essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” An interesting but sad fact about her is that [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 10th, 2009 1 Comment »
The short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell, starts out with the main character Rainsford on a yacht with his friend Whitney. They are discussing hunting as a hobby, and overall the tone is light and fun. However, Rainsford gets shipwrecked on a mysterious island. From this point on, the story becomes much more [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 7th, 2009 No Comments »
1.) overwhelming, thought-provoking, repetitive, “huh?”
2.) “[T]he narrative structure of Gatsby reveals time as a malleable and fluid concept, juxtaposing past and present in ways that show how they momentarily merge in human memory through the social act of telling stories” (118).
3.) In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the dreams and desires of Gatsby’s past to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 3rd, 2009 1 Comment »
So far this course has caused me a fair amount of stress. On the first day I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect or what the class would be about exactly. But I am very excited to delve into multitudes of literature and broaden my scope of thinking. I plan to work very hard this [...]
