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.