Hills Like White Elephants

This was hands down the most annoying thing I have ever read. I have never been so irritated. This short story was the pointless, obnoxious, repetitive conversation that drives me through the wall. The conversation between the man and the woman killed me. Apparently they had been passed lovers and were on some sort of mission which is vaguely mentioned while we're given this analogy, "Hills like White Elephants" to compare and link it to, so annoying. The people were extremely awkward and tense. The man kept telling the woman she was wrong about everything but I would be extremely aggravated too if I was stuck with her. Their conversations were repetitive and revolved around in circles. Sentences were short and they never really concluded anything. Some people might be wondering, "Why are they in Spain?", "Where is their train going and why are they going there?", "What is their history together?", or "Why is their conversation and communication so strange?". but all I want to know is, why did I just read that? Those kind of people knock me off my rocker. Clary, tell me why this was a good idea..

Essay 2

I really like the idea of the poisonous woman, like that of the story "Rappaccini's Daughter". This theme must be reoccuring for a reason. I do not think it is simply a made up theme, but that it does hold much truth about the nature of women in many aspects. Such as emmense external beauty that comes at a price. This seems also to not only affect humans, but the plant and animal kingdoms as well. An insect is attracted to the looks and smell of the sweet nectar of a venus fly trap, only to be unglufed and killed in the presence of its beauty. What a price to pay for such essence. As the fly was taken by beauty, so was Giovanni by Beatrice.
I think that it will be interesting to examine this theme and its reoccurance in many different places ammong unrelated species.

Fall of the House of Usher

This story was exremely lond and contained very distinctive details of every thing, event, and thought. Poe's descriptive words are very gand and often unfamiliar to me. He obviously had an extremely verbose vocabulary. I had to re-read many sentences multiple times each to understand and put the language into my own words. I also took breaks between reading each paragraph to figure out what was happening because I am so unfamiliar with this style of writing, particularly Poe's lush language.

I kept trying to relate the acutual story to the movie and saw some similarities, although many things were changed for the film. Having already seen the movie did help me to understand the setting and events within the story that I otherwise would have had trouble seeing due to my unfamiliarity with this style of writing.

Usher's madness did not seem as apparant in the story as it was portrayed in the movie. I think that Usher suffered from Schizophrenia, an illness "characterized by impairments in perception or expression of reality, most commonly manifesting as auditory hallucinations, paranoid, or bizzare dillusions.." (dictionary.com) This definately describes Usher's symptoms and state. Also, leading to him suffering the consequences of burrying his sister alive.

I was having trouble seeing the conflicts within the story.I don't understand why he burries her alive. What were his motives? That is, if he had any and was not just simply mad (a total oxymoron). And what was the narrator's role in all of this? Did Poe simply put him in there as to have someone to tell the story from an outside veiw? This story was very difficult for me to understand on my own, although I found it very intruiging. I need some clarification of the conflicts and events within the story to sort out all of my confusion.

Sonny's BLues

This story was indeed long and filled with ancecdotal information. The narrator went off on to many side conversations with himself and stories about events from his past. He spent a lot of time looking back on such past events in a way to figure out what was happening in the present. In this way he was looking for reasons for Sonny's actions and present behaviors. Also, wondering why Sonny began using heroine. The reason was, as he found out from Sonny, to escape suffering. This is the reason many people take drugs, because they don't want to deal with the problems for themsleves and instead try to cover them and their feelings with drugs. It is a weak way to deal with life. It also seems though, at the end that Sonny finds a different escape through the music. The narrator describes how he sees and hears the musicians enveloped in the intruments and the blues. Most people don't hear what the musicians hear. They only hear sounds. The people within the music hear so much more, that of which I cannot even describe. A feeling much stronger than that of most things. And this is what they live for. This is what Sonny described at the beginning of the story as what he wanted to do with his life, the only thing he wanted to do. His brother doubted him and they broke apart and went seperate ways. In the end, Sonny lived exactly how he had dreamed. He had his music and that seemed to be for him, an incredible satisfaction, that could come from nothing but the blues.

"Bone Black" was an intense story told from the view of the young girl growing up and watching her mother get abused by her father. It was emotionally horrifying and gripping. Hooks wrote in short sentences that quickly flowed together, leaving little time or space to breath between thoughts. Probably emulating the way the thoughts traveled through the girl's head. Constantly moving and thinking about many things at the same time. Such as what is physically taking place at her house, for example the father's words and actions, the mother's response. Also mentally; what is going on inside all of their heads. The girl seems to be wise for a young person. It seems that she has grown up very quickly and developed a high emotional intelligence level. One must grow up and become smart when faced with difficult situations such as the dysfunction of her family. Her abusive, stern, cold, unloving father, her mother's weakness towards him, and her siblings' betrayal of their mother, which bothers the girl particularly. 

This story is written like a journal within the young girl's mind. The narrator never stops to give specific explanations. She also many times refers to her mother as "the woman" as though to eliminate her identity as her mother so that the situations occur simply between a man and a woman and not necessarily anyone she knows. She also analyzes the situations between her mother and father and wishes to speak for she has many things she wants to say to them both, but only keeps it within herself. 

The end of this story left me confused. Was the movie about the man who killed his wife and daughter only showing a link between it and the girl's family, or was there more behind the whole meaning of that anecdotal information? Also, I am not sure of the meaning of the last sentence, "They are a gesture to the man that he can go on with life". Once again I am left wondering,"What does this mean!?" Will someone please tell me?

Cathedral

This story was very intriguing and caught my attention from the first sentence. The narrator, who is the husband of the woman with the blind friend, uses very relaxed and conversational language. Such as beginning a sentence with "this" and "so" and eliminating the use of pronouns at the beginning of sentences. Reading this story was much like the story was being spoken to you. This kept my focus more intently than the other stories we have read this semester. 

The friendship between Robert and the wife, who is unnamed seems almost too good to be true. It seemed, or the narrator made it seem, as if there had to be something suspicious or unusual about this blind man. At one point I started to think that he might turn out to murder the wife or something during the stay at their house because of the suspition in which the narrator spoke of him. I am also curious about the relationship between the wife and Robert and the time when he touched her face. It seemed to be intimate but at the same time it was not. It was quite an unclear situation that made their relationship seem odd, the way in which the moment was spoken of. 

I noticed that the couple in the story drink a lot. The husband and Robert had at least eight drinks over the period of which this story was told; While they were having a somewhat awkward conversation about Robert's trip after he had first arrived, over dinner, and after dinner, seemed to be filled with "drinks" and many cigarettes. I was surprised when the narrator brought out his "dope" and began to smoke it with Robert. It was interesting to see this being used in literature because it is not used and portrayed so lightly in most of anything you see or read about cannabis. Usually, it is a "drug" and is associated with bad, horrible things and people. I feel like so many people in real life do use it and portray it as not a big deal, but in the world of entertainment and everything we are taught, it is seen as something much worse than it really is. It's nice to be reminded that there are normal people out there. 

Robert's presence in the house and with the husband made for quite an uncomfortable situation for them as well as for me, the reader. I could feel the husband's uneasyness and feel his discomfort. I do not understand why Raymond Carver decided to have Robert and the narrator watch a show about Cathedrals and have him try to explain to Robert what they were. I don't know why they drew one together or what the meaning or significance of that moment was. Since the title of the story is "Cathedral" it must have something to do with the whole point of the story, although I have no idea why. It will be interesting to read what other people think it means and what it has to do with the blind man. This story has been my favorite so far although I did not like the ending because the it just stopped, without conclusion or reason. Hopefully by reading other writing journals will help me to draw conclusions.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

While reading the first half of this story, I was a bit confused about why we were reading it and why it was even in the textbook. It begins slowly with seemingly little significance. The mention of the "Misfit" in the beginning before the family goes on their trip does not seem like a substantial clue as to what will later happen in the story. I didn't really see the story going anywhere until the father crashed the car. Then, the plot began to climax with the arrival of the strange men. It confuses me as to why the men took the children and parents into the woods and shot them. Why did they shoot them? Why was the grandmother left alone to talk with the "Misfit"? I think that the men who shot the family had just escaped from prison, but we were not told where they were going or what they were up to. As soon as they arrived, the mood of the story became eerie and uncomfortable. I was on edge waiting to read what happened next, only to be left with many unanswered questions about this story. Is it fiction, or was it based on a true event such as "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" ? Why was the family shot? What happened afterwards? This story was quite creepy and ultimately "unsatisfying". Now I know that it matters not if I am unsatisfied with an assigned reading, but when I am left creeped out and unsatisfied, I think we should take notice.

The Power of Myth

This film was probably the most boring movie I have ever seen. I think it is extremely strange that two people can sit around and talk  about imaginary things for an hour. Their analyzations of stories, characters and "heroes" made me want to crush my skull. It is difficult for me to appreciate abstract ideas rather than those of real-life importance. Maybe the next movie will be a hit!

So I have no idea how to add people to my page or customize, ect. If there are any of you blogger geeks who would teach my how to be cool like you, I would greatly appreciate!

dont really know what to say yet. Taking a raincheck..

ew