Once Upon a Time

"Someone has written to ask me to contribute to an anthology of stories for children. I reply that I don't write children's stories... And then last night I woke up- or rather was awakened without knowing what had roused me."

The entire story is ironic, from the characters' actions to the story itself. The author was told to write a story for children, a request she did not want to oblige. She comes up with a story that is definitely not meant for children. The story was prompted by sounds she heard in the night, and she considers the possibility of burglars. When she tells the story, she includes a string of burglaries that gives the neighborhood motivation to protect the homes. What prompted their protection crusade was the wise witch, the grandmother of the little boy, warning them to not let anyone in. Even though they kept building their defenses, all of the fences and alarms couldn't protect their son. The people were warned, but they took they witch's advice too far. The theme is that the best may not always be the best; the greatest protection equipment caused the death of the little boy. The family worked to keep harm out, but that defense system harmed the boy. The author introduces her point that defenses can't always protect us in the beginning of her story, saying that a woman was murdered in broad daylight and fierce dogs did not save a widower.

A Worn Path

"'Tell us quickly about your grandson, and get it over. He isn't dead, is he?' At last there came a flicker and then a flame of comprehension across her face, and she spoke. 'My grandson. It was my memory had left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip.'"

Phoenix is an interesting character, making a long, difficult journey in order to get medicine and a toy for her grandson. Many obstacles slowed her journey, but she kept walking, slowly getting closer to town. She gets around the obstacles and interacts with people in unique ways. She asks a complete stranger to tie her shoe, even though the woman had a handful of boxes. When a hunter points a gun at her, she never blinks and tells the man that bullets have come closer to her before. She then steals a nickel from the man, saving it to buy her grandson a paper windmill. In addition to dealing with these strangers, she moves around natural obstacles at her slow pace, eventually moving closer to goal. She must also deal with her old age and her memory loss which almost causes her to forget her purpose. Based on her age and memory, I thought that her grandson could be dead. She mentions how he sits there with his blanket with his mouth open, and I thought that she could have forgotten that he died. She may not have wanted to accept his death because she loves him so much. Her intense love for her grandson is the theme; her love knows no bounds, allowing her to routinely make the journey.

Eveline

"No! No! No! It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy. Amid the seas she sen a cry of anguish...She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. Her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition."

Eveline reflects on her life, agonizing over her decision to leave her home to travel with Frank to Buenos Aires. Even though her descriptions of her life paint a bleary picture, Eveline admits that her life is not undesirable. She had many ties to Dublin, including a job and her family. Even more pressing was a promise she made to her dying mother to take care for the family as long as she could. Keeping the home together was not an easy task; her brother traveled and her father was abusive. Although she dealt with many difficulties, this life is familiar to Eveline which is why she did not get on the boat. She did not make the conscious decision to stay; she simply could not leave her tiring but predictable life behind. Buenos Aires offered a new, exciting, and unfamiliar life for Eveline, but circumstances beyond her control tied her to Dublin. Even though a theme can be applied directly to Eveline's story, the theme can be extended to include the people of Dublin. The author wrote about a "spiritual paralysis" the people of Dublin faced, and Eveline embodied this idea. Not only was she not physically able to get on the boat, her inner conflict kept home. She was not able to overcome those circumstances in her life, like her family.

Miss Brill

"But today she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room- her room like a cupboard- and sat down on the red eiderdown...She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying."

I completely misinterpreted this story when I first read it, and I did not understand how the story had a plot, much less a theme. After another read, more details became apparent, and I began to understand Miss Brill. She is a foreigner, teaching English. From the conversation between the young couple, she might be in France. Since she is in a strange land, she is trying to fit in with the community. To accomplish this, she puts on her favorite fur and goes out into the park to listen to people. Although she is an English teacher by profession, she also considers herself to be an actress. She listens and watches people, taking in the smallest details. Miss Brill reflects on how everyone acts in public, like they are in a play. She watches their performance, enjoying the scenes before her. Her actions directly tie into the theme of her not fitting into the community. Even though she tries so hard to be accepted, Miss Brill is rejected by the community. She passes up her customary almond cake, dejectedly putting her fur away. Her prized fur was mocked by the people of the community, making Miss Brill realize that she would not be accepted.

Bartleby the Scrivener

"His face was leanly composed, his gray eyes dimly calm. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him. Had there been the least uneasiness, anger, impatience or impertinence in his manner, in other words had there been anything ordinarily human about him, doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises."

I will now attempt to characterize Bartleby and the people he bothered. I'll start with Bartleby because he is the character I understand least. I think the quote from the narrator is very telling, especially the part about Bartleby not exhibiting any human emotions. This shows that not only is Bartleby not like any other normal person, but he probably has something wrong with him. The author suggested that the man might be deranged, and I agree that Bartleby seems like someone with a mental illness. He refused to do anything, lived in the office, and then starved himself to death. He was firm in his refusals, never taking the narrator's bait to make him mad. Bartleby may have resisted change which would explain why he wouldn't leave the office. The narrator tried to understand his employee, but his methods were questionable. He often tried to avoid direct confrontation, and he never fired Bartleby or sent him to jail. I don't understand why the narrator felt close to Bartleby, or why he felt like he needed to help him. I especially don't understand why he tried to help him when Bartleby caused him nothing but trouble.

Bartleby the Scrivener, Who Wasn't a Scrivener because He Didn't Do Anything the Entire Story!

"But ere parting with the reader, let me say that if this little narrative has sufficiently interested him to awaken curiosity as to who Bartleby was, and what manner of life he led prior to the present narrator's making his acquaintance, I can only reply that in such curiosity I fully share, but am wholly unable to gratify it."

This blog post's purpose is solely to let me vent my frustrations about this story and the characters. I dedicated a decent amount of time to reading this story which was no small feat. To get to the end of the story and still not have any significant insight into the purpose of what I just read was frustrating. What was even more frustrating was the fact that Bartleby and the narrator are two of the most annoying characters I have ever encountered. I knew Bartleby was weird from that movie clip we watched in class, but I did not gain much additional information from the story. Maybe I didn't read enough into his actions or his motivations to understand who he was, but he still came off as just really weird. Why would he get a job just to refuse to work? Why would he refuse to leave the office? The narrator does not help much in understanding Bartleby because the narrator himself didn't know Bartleby. I didn't understand their relationship at all, especially why the narrator concerned himself with Bartleby's well being. Even though he has a strange connection with Bartleby, the narrator went about dealing with his weird scrivener in an annoying manner, essentially avoiding the problem.

Hunters in the Snow

"'I'm going to the hospital,' Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back."

This story was like a sadistic episode of the three stooges. These three guys, Kenny, Tub, and Frank, were all idiots, and I had trouble sympathizing with any of them. Tub was set up to be the most sympathetic character in the beginning, with Kenny playing the role as the jerk. Once Tub shot Kenny and they left him in the back of the truck, my sympathy turned to Kenny. Tub was the stereotypical fat, dumb guy, always enduring the jokes of his friends. Frank and Kenny enjoyed jokes at Tub's expense, and Kenny even went as far as to pretend to almost run Tub over. Tub could never keep up with them, with their private jokes or when they were walking through the woods. Frank was fickle wit his loyalty, at first aligning himself with Kenny because he was the strongest in the group. Once Kenny was no longer the leader, Frank befriended Tub, telling him his secret about the babysitter. Both lie to their friends and family, covering up their secrets. They act like their problems are incredibly significant while Kenny is freezing and bleeding to death in the back of their truck. Frank and Tub's alliance may have been much stronger than any relationship either of them had with Kenny, and they may have shared resentment towards Kenny. This maybe true because of the wording of the "different turn," not wrong turn. Perhaps sharing their secrets brought Tub and Frank so close, and they decided they didn't need Kenny around anymore.

Everyday Use

 "'What don't I understand?' I wanted to know. 'Your heritage,' she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, 'You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it.'"

When I first read the story, I had trouble understanding the characters or their motivations. They turned out to be much more complex than they seemed on the surface, especially Dee. Mama described herself like a man, saying she has characteristics of a man, dresses like a man, and works like a man. This is probably because a husband is not mentioned, so she has to play the roles of mother and father to provide for her family. She seemed to give into Dee, adjusting to her new man and her new name. Even though she let Dee have her way until the end, I don't think this was because she was weak. Mama is a strong woman since she cares for her daughters, acting as their mother and doing the work of the father. Maggie, however, is not a strong character. She is extremely self conscious because of the scars she sustained from a house fire. Maggie lets Dee step all over her, afraid to speak up and get anything for herself. Dee is the exact opposite of Maggie; she is overly confident and knows what she wants. What was interesting about Dee is her conflicting actions and beliefs. She had previously made her distaste for their way of life known, and then she returns with a new name, distancing herself from her family's heritage. Even though she distanced herself from her family, she was trying to reclaim their African heritage. It seemed insincere and hypocritical, like she was just trying to keep up appearances for whatever reason. This is shown through the quilts and her wanting to display them, not actually put them to everyday use.

A Rose for Emily: Observations

"We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will."

I made a series of observations that may not have any significance whatsoever, but I was looking for details to help me understand the plot better. One thing I noticed after reading the questions was the significance of Homer Barron's name. My interpretation was that his name is similar to barren home which describes the home of Miss Emily. After her father died, she had no one to share the house with until she made sure that Homer would be with her indefinitely. Another detail was Miss Emily's appearance. When the town pitied her and the reader saw her as a strange, lonely, but harmless woman, she was slender and pretty. Once she got older and committed murder, her appearance worsened. She became fat, and her hair turned that telling iron-gray color. Her appearance changed when she murdered Homer, signifying the loss of her innocence and the people's pity. Faulkner called this a "ghost story," and I think that is because Miss Emily was a ghost of a person. She was not seen often and exhibited strange, antisocial behavior; she was a mystery to the town. Everyone in town knew about her, but they didn't know her.

A Rose for Emily

""Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair."

This story was so creepy! A reason for the story's unappealing nature is the surprise ending. The reader may suspect that Homer Barron is dead, but it was difficult to anticipate that his dead state did not stop Miss Emily from sleeping with him. A possible motive for Miss Emily's murderous act maybe that Homer did not want to marry her. The reader gets pieces of the story from the collective narration, and some details suggested that Homer was gay, or at least "not a marrying man." This attitude would not be acceptable to Miss Emily who had difficulty letting things go, as seen by her refusal to bury her father's body. The structure of the story also added to the suspense because it was not in chronological order. The reader tries to understand Miss Emily's situation, but the plot raises more questions than it answers. Because of this, the reader is led to certain conclusions but cannot know for a fact what really occurred. The story is told like a group of people sitting around gossiping, adding bits of information out of order to develop the story. Since the narrator is not Miss Emily, the reader does not get to know her thoughts which may have shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding the story.

Interpreter of Maladies

"When she whipped out the hairbrush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasi's address on it fluttered away in the wind. No one but Mr. Kapasi noticed. He watched as it rose, carried higher and higher by the breeze, into the trees where the monkeys now sat, solemnly observing the scene below."

Throughout the story, I sort of pitied Mr. Kapasi. He had these impressive dreams of becoming "an interpreter for diplomats and dignitaries," but those crumbled as he had to care for his family. Instead of such an important position, he settles for giving tours and interpreting for a doctor. He also is very lonely, becoming accustomed to his wife's indifference towards him. It was the culmination of these things that led to his overall unhappiness and his brief obsession with Mrs. Das. He planned out the relationship they would have, even going so far as to calculate when her first letter would arrive. His hope seems desperate and a little pathetic, but his pursuit of Mrs. Das is resolved at the end. His dreams of being with her float away with his address. Even though this conflict was resolved, I don't think the story had a happy ending; nothing really changed for Mr. Kapasi. Another smaller conflict in the story was when Mrs. Das demanded Mr. Kapasi to ease her pain and guilt. This situation was ironic because they interpreted the meaning of his position as an interpreter in two different ways, and the title lends itself to this misunderstanding.

How I Met My Husband

"He always tells the children the story of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day, and naturally I laugh and let him, because I like for people to think what pleases them and makes them happy."

This short story's plot and structure revolved around the surprise ending. The author set up the story so the reader would expect Chris Watters to marry Edie, but he never comes for her. Looking back on the story, Edie's relationship with Chris did seem too good to be true. She was a young, innocent girl, and he was the pilot from the war craving adventure. Since Chris was always searching for excitement by traveling in his plane and offering rides, he was not the type of man to want to settle down. He had not married his fiancee yet, and they had been engaged for awhile. He would not suddenly settle down with young Edie, and eventually she realized that and stopped waiting for the letters. It was then, at the end of the story, when the reader is finally introduced to the husband, the mailman. I changed my expectations when Edie started to talk about how long she waited by the mailbox, and I doubted whether the letter would come. It seemed like Edie then settled for the mailman, and she ends with a humorous telling of how he thinks she was waiting for him.