Examine the narrator from either "The Yellow Wallpaper" or "A & P." What does the narrator reveal about him or herself indirectly? What sort of transformation, if any, does the narrator experience during the course of the story?
1) This was one of the most interesting things we’ve read so far this semester. I liked reading to find out how things would turn out in the end and why this wallpaper bothers her so much. Even though it was extremely confusing for me I seemed to pick up the summary of the story, which I very much enjoyed.
2) This woman felt as though she had a sickness of some sort, which I believed to be the insanity she was having after her husband suppressed her. After being locked in for so long her imagination which is really her insanity kicks in the moving of the walls and the women behind them. Her husband would not allow her to write or do many things she wished to do. She was no longer following a normal society schedule; she was living her life in darkness. The wallpaper bothered her at first but seemed to be an interest to her as the story went on. This woman had a mental problem that no one was addressing, except her husband who kept brushing it off as nothing more than a tiny problem that he thought could be fixed secluding her. The women was trapped not only by her husband but her mind as well.
April 30, 2007
"Leda and the Swan" by William Butler Yeats
What does Yeats hope to accomplish with his portrayal of a rape from mythology? What themes does this poem reveal about the present through its portrayal of the past?
1) This poem to me was very disturbing, to think of a women being raped. I thought it was repulsing to make a poem about such a topic. To describe such a horrific action is repulsive. I understand the portrayal of power but in this sense it was just wrong.
2) Of all the years men and women roamed this earth, there has always been a sense of power and strength, especially physically. With this poem describing an action of rape is showing the physical strength a man has over a woman. It describes the women as helpless showing the strength of men. The news today always seems to have a case in which a man has raped a woman. I feel as though men have always strived for this superiority and have their ways, even horrendous ways, of showing it.
1) This poem to me was very disturbing, to think of a women being raped. I thought it was repulsing to make a poem about such a topic. To describe such a horrific action is repulsive. I understand the portrayal of power but in this sense it was just wrong.
2) Of all the years men and women roamed this earth, there has always been a sense of power and strength, especially physically. With this poem describing an action of rape is showing the physical strength a man has over a woman. It describes the women as helpless showing the strength of men. The news today always seems to have a case in which a man has raped a woman. I feel as though men have always strived for this superiority and have their ways, even horrendous ways, of showing it.
March 14, 2007
"Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
How does Fitzgerald represent the nature of identity in "Bernice Bobs Her Hair"? Is identity a static thing or is it something we can change? What does Bernice's actions at the end of the story reveal about her identity-- has she changed?
1) I found the wording in this short story a little hard to understand without rereading things. I also got lost in the way they talked to each other, their direct dialogue was different. It was boring for me to read, it wasn’t an interesting choice. I felt like it was one of those stories your looking for a topic so you just pick anything, which I didn’t like the topic.
2) Fitzgerald represents the nature of identity in the story through the character of Bernice. He shows the difference in how you portray your identity and other do. She is described as a pretty girl and rich girl, where at home is the popular one. Now in a different atmosphere she is confused to why she isn’t a person of interest and that the girls at home who are low on the popular scale are better than her now in this new scene. At one point she over hears her cousin talking to her aunt and finds that her flaw is her boring personality. She then agrees to try to become “one” of them and be socially accepted. When trying to find a different identity the boys are then interested, one in particular that sets her cousin off. Bernice is then tricked into taking one more step to becoming accepted by getting her hair bobbed. She then becomes the social outcast and figures out that her cousin ad it all planned out. This even triggers a different identity in Bernice, one with scorn, hate, and revenge. She takes scissors to her cousin’s hair and cuts her braid. I feel as though everyone has multiply identities in their one true identity. We all have our own ways, but within those identities their sin. I believe that we are all born with an identity but it can be altered and changed through events we live through in our lives. Bernice’s actions at the end of the story reveal many things about her identity; it’s changed in both good and bad ways. She has become more understanding of a social identity but has gained an evil part of her identity as well.
1) I found the wording in this short story a little hard to understand without rereading things. I also got lost in the way they talked to each other, their direct dialogue was different. It was boring for me to read, it wasn’t an interesting choice. I felt like it was one of those stories your looking for a topic so you just pick anything, which I didn’t like the topic.
2) Fitzgerald represents the nature of identity in the story through the character of Bernice. He shows the difference in how you portray your identity and other do. She is described as a pretty girl and rich girl, where at home is the popular one. Now in a different atmosphere she is confused to why she isn’t a person of interest and that the girls at home who are low on the popular scale are better than her now in this new scene. At one point she over hears her cousin talking to her aunt and finds that her flaw is her boring personality. She then agrees to try to become “one” of them and be socially accepted. When trying to find a different identity the boys are then interested, one in particular that sets her cousin off. Bernice is then tricked into taking one more step to becoming accepted by getting her hair bobbed. She then becomes the social outcast and figures out that her cousin ad it all planned out. This even triggers a different identity in Bernice, one with scorn, hate, and revenge. She takes scissors to her cousin’s hair and cuts her braid. I feel as though everyone has multiply identities in their one true identity. We all have our own ways, but within those identities their sin. I believe that we are all born with an identity but it can be altered and changed through events we live through in our lives. Bernice’s actions at the end of the story reveal many things about her identity; it’s changed in both good and bad ways. She has become more understanding of a social identity but has gained an evil part of her identity as well.
February 14, 2007
"Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes
What does the last line of Hughes’s “Dream Deferred” imply? What does Hughes see as the consequences of a dream deferred?
1) This poem was very interesting for me to think about how he basically says that a dream has a time limit before it’s not worth anything. Although it’s very short I believe he says a lot in a very few words. He explains the results that time has on not only objects but dreams. This poem was easier for me to pick apart and understand than most which allowed me to enjoy the reading.
2) In Hughes’s poem, “Dreams Deferred”, his last line asks, “Or does it explode,” which implies to me that when a dream is not fulfilled, it can have an effect on the people and atmosphere around you. A dream deferred is compared to a ticking bomb, in which only you can change by either achieving the dream or letting it go to waste. A bomb not only affects everyone around you, including yourself, but your atmosphere in which you live. He then takes that idea and puts a dream in the place of the bomb to show that when you don’t follow through with your dreams they don’t ever go away. It’ll just hang over you and have an effect on the world around you. The consequences of a dream deferred “sags like a heavy load” on your conscience. It was once a dream of ideas and is compared physically to things that go bad overtime. As time passes the dream is no longer a beautiful thing, but something that has been neglected and spoiled. The theme throughout the poem is the consequences of time and the effects it has.
1) This poem was very interesting for me to think about how he basically says that a dream has a time limit before it’s not worth anything. Although it’s very short I believe he says a lot in a very few words. He explains the results that time has on not only objects but dreams. This poem was easier for me to pick apart and understand than most which allowed me to enjoy the reading.
2) In Hughes’s poem, “Dreams Deferred”, his last line asks, “Or does it explode,” which implies to me that when a dream is not fulfilled, it can have an effect on the people and atmosphere around you. A dream deferred is compared to a ticking bomb, in which only you can change by either achieving the dream or letting it go to waste. A bomb not only affects everyone around you, including yourself, but your atmosphere in which you live. He then takes that idea and puts a dream in the place of the bomb to show that when you don’t follow through with your dreams they don’t ever go away. It’ll just hang over you and have an effect on the world around you. The consequences of a dream deferred “sags like a heavy load” on your conscience. It was once a dream of ideas and is compared physically to things that go bad overtime. As time passes the dream is no longer a beautiful thing, but something that has been neglected and spoiled. The theme throughout the poem is the consequences of time and the effects it has.
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