Miss Brill

"She sat there for a long time. the box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly: quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying." p. 186

This one I thought was kind of weird yet sad. I was mainly curious about the ending. I feel like she was a very lonely character. All she had to look forward to, it seems, were Sundays and the cake she got after she went to the park. However, on this particular day things were different. She was made fun of for her furs and was basically called unwanted. So she went home and took off her fur. This part confused me the most - she said that she heard something crying. Was the crying coming from her? Or did she think it was coming from the fur? Because I know that she thought she was talking to the fur earlier and I wasn't sure if she believed that it was alive or something. Other than that, she seems to be a very sad character and this story really did nothing for me. At all.

Once Upon a Time

"Next day he pretended to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty back to life: he dragged a ladder to the wall, the shining coiled tunnel was just wide enough for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor teeth in his knees and hands and head he creamed and struggled deeper into its tangle." p. 236

The main thing I noticed about this short story was the irony. The whole time the husband and wife are looking for ways to keep people out. They are hearing of all of these horrible occurrences that are supposedly happening to their neighbors and they presume that they, obviously, are next. They put up a sign that says YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED and think that if that sign is merely removed, then their house if free to the general public. So this whole time they are worried about people getting in, when they really should have been worried about people getting out. Their only son - who they fought so hard to protect - wants to get out of the property because he reads a fairy tale book and wants to save the girl. In his story, it says that he must get out of the trap. Well, that nice, new fence the husband and wife just put in looks perfectly like a trap a villian would set up. So he goes inside it and is essentially ripped to threads. It is ironic that they spent time protecting their loved ones against what was outside, but the thing protecting them is what brought their downfall.

A Worn Path

"Moving slowly from side to side, she went into the big building and into a tower of steps, where she walked up and around and around until her feet knew to stop." p. 228

I think that this short story was pretty similar to that of "Eveline" when comparing themes. In "A Worn Path" I think the theme was primarily that desire and unspoken promise to do anything for one's family. That is clearly represented in the main character, Phoenix. I believe that Phoenix is an old, senile woman who doesn't really have a great grasp on reality. She believes that her dead grandson is still alive and that she needs to get him medicine for his illness. However, I inferred that the grandson had actually died and she was merely looking over this significant fact. But her intentions were good, all the same. The "worn path" implies that she has taken this journey countless times. It is also later mentioned, as the above quote demonstrates, that her feet knew to stop. That means that, even though she is walking for a hopeless cause, she still receives some satisfaction because she believes that she is doing all that she can to help out a family member in need.Phoenix makes it her duty to help her grandson and will make the journey as many times as needed until he is nursed back to health.

Eveline

"She felt her cheek pale and cold and, out of a maze of distress, she prayed to God to direct her, to show her what was her duty. The boat blew a long mournful whistle into the mist. If she went, tomorrow she would be on the sea with Frank, streaming towards Buenos Aires. Their passage had been booked. Could she still draw back after all he had done for her? Her distress awoke a nausea in her body and she kept moving her lips in silent fervent prayer. A bell clanged upon her heart." p. 221

In this short story, I believe the theme to be not wanting to leave your family and what you love behind. I think this is something that we all go through and it is definitely the main struggle for the character of Eveline. In the beginning of the story, Eveline tells of a time when she was younger when she was having fun and enjoying life. It shows a more innocent time in her life. However, there is a dramatic shift from this carefree, easy life as she entered adulthood. Her mother died and she had a somewhat abusive father who was hardly supportive of the things that she did. In addition to having to support herself and her father, she was also caring for two young children. She worked constantly and was basically scraping money wherever she could. Even though she went through all of these terrible things and hardships, she still did not want to leave. She was supposed to marry Frank, a sailor who made her feel safe. But she never left with him because she felt a sense of comfort in the house and land that she has lived her whole life. She had made a promise to her mother that she would be there to make sure everything is alright. So a part of her wanted to uphold that promise and not give up on the life that she had. She felt a tie to her family and knew in her heart that she could not abandon them.

Bartleby the Scrivener

"Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" p. 675

Ah , Melville! Why did you write such a horrific piece of literature?!

Both Bartleby and the narrator annoyed me the most out of all of the stories. Bartleby was downright annoying. The narrator knew this. Yet, he did nothing about it. Which makes the narrator equally as annoying. The narrator is very passive aggressive in a way. He is also a pushover. This is shown by how he does not do anything to Bartleby. But it is also shown in the fact that he lets these people work for him even though they are not really the best for it. I'm not sure if this is sympathy or just because he has no backbone. I did not really see any point to reading this piece of literature because it taught me no moral or lesson. Maybe it showed me what NOT to be like. I am not supposed to be like Bartelby. Check.

Hunter in the Snow

"His knuckles were hairy. He wore a heavy wedding band and on his right pinky another gold ring with a flat face and an "F" in what looked like diamonds. He turned the ring this way and that." p.189

In this short story, the character of Frank stood out to me the most. He was by far the most interesting because of his relationship with his babysitter and his wife. In addition he was probably the most normal. As in, he wasn't always picking on Tub (i.e. almost running him over) nor did he shoot someone. I did not necessarily like Frank as a character but I enjoyed reading his parts. Especially the part when they are eating food and Tub comes clean about his eating problems and that he really wants to change, then Frank makes him eat a ton of pancakes... And what better time to do this than when your best friend is outside in the cold bleeding to death? Opportunities like that don't just come all the time. Anyways, Frank was the only character that I read in this chapter that really had some sort of change or growth. This was shown as he transitioned from sticking by Kenny's side to having Tub's back, even though he did something wrong.

Everyday Use 2

"I use to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49. Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way." p.175

Another symbol in this story that stood out to me quite a bit was the reference of the cow. This story has a minimal amount of seemingly insignificant back story or stories of occurrences prior to the events in the story. So, as a reader, I can infer that because the narrator mentioned a story from the past, it most likely has some relevance within the story. That was showed at the very end when Dee wants the quilts that have been promised to Maggie. Mama sees Maggie's face when she says that Dee can have the blankets and Mama is deeply upset about this. Because of this, Mama sort of unleashes something inside of her that protects Maggie's rights and denies those of Dee. She is "rubbed the wrong way", similar to the cow. The whole story she is calm and passive, but when Dee is demanding the quilts, Mama realizes that she no longer has to be soothing like a cow.

Everyday Use

"In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero degree weather." p. 174

In this short story, the character of Mama stood out to me the most. The fact that she is the narrator and talking about herself and her two children allowed me, as a reader, to understand her more fully. She directly characterized herself in the beginning, "in real life, I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (p. 174). She also refers to herself being uneducated by saying that her school closed down while she was in the second grade. Finally, she infers that she is African American: "colored asked fewer questions then". In addition to her direct characterization, the reader can infer that she is a pushover and not assertive. This is showed throughout the story whenever she gave her daughter, Dee, her way. For example, she sent her to a boarding school and let her take all the things she wanted from the house in the very end (pictures, salt and pepper shakers, etc.). However, she had a major character shift towards the end of the story when Dee wanted to take the quilts and she denied her that "gift" because it was supposed to go to Maggie. This shift showed her transitioning from someone who was a pushover to someone who was rubbed the wrong way and could be assertive.

Interpreter of Maladies

" 'So these patients are totally dependent on you,' Mrs. Das said. She spoke slowly, as if she were thinking aloud. 'In a way, more dependent on you than the doctor.' "

This part of the short story really stuck out to me. Today, I job shadowed in the ER at the hospital so my mind is kind of already in the whole doctor-patient thing. So when this line was read, I little part of me perked up and payed closer attention. I never knew that jobs like that really existed. I mean, I guess I knew but I never really payed attention to them before. But that job is actaully really important. This is kind of sybolized throughout the entire story as well. Mr. Kapasi is like an interpreter in more ways than his job. At this point in the story, he is interpreting much more things than just a language. He is discovering through the use of body language and the how the couple acts around each other that they are no normal family and have some issues.

A Rose for Emily

"She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly
until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt. Then they could hear the invisible
watch ticking at the end of the gold chain. Her voice was dry and cold."

The Character of Miss Emily was a very odd one. She kind of reminded me of Bathilda Bagshot from the Harry Potter series. She is creepy and old. And I'm not going to lie, I definitely thought she was going to be dead the whole time (just like in the books or even from "The Sixth Sense" when the little boy is like "I see dead people" when in fact he was a ghost the entire time... I definitely thought something like that would happen). I feel like she had some sort of psychological problem even though that was made pretty apparent based on the fact that she killed someone. Also, she had a way with people and no one messed with her. I'm not sure why that is. Intimidation, perhaps? This was shown through her never paying her taxes, not allowing mail, and how she got the arsenic from that guy without her having to give him an excuse. Also, she had a servant for all of that time and there is no way that he didn't know that she was crazy (there was a dead guy in their house!) but he didn't do anything about. Well, at least to the town's knowledge. In short, the character of Emily was a creepy, controlling, psychotic one.

A Rose for Emily

"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary
obligation upon the town..."

From the very beginning, the author set a mood that was sort of uncharacteristic (at least to me) of what they were writing. Further, the author was talking about a lady who had passed away and the whole town was in attendance for her funeral or showing. As a reader, I would expect the mood to be somber or something like that. However, the mood the writer chose was kind of nonchalant. The way they worded how people came to see her "like a fallen monument" and the women just because they wanted to see the inside of her house kind of surprised me a little. That then set the mood for the rest of the short story. Because the author forshadowed Miss Emily's death, the reader already knew what was going to happen and that it was not something they should feel saddness for. This carried out the whole way and actually made me expect the ending. I think the ending was meant to be an "Aha! moment" (as Ms. Sander would say), but the way the author presented the details in the story through the mood, I felt like I already knew the ending.

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"

What stood out to me the most while reading this short story was how the main character sort of settles in the end. I think this is a main theme throughout the story. This is shown by the fact that Edie always is looking for something more but deals with what is presented in front of her. For example, the part where she tried on the dress could symbolize her yearning for something more. This is also shown when she gives up on schooling after receiving the lowest marks. Because of these she does not expect much of herself and settles. Perhaps the part of the story that stood out to me the most as contributing to the theme was in the very end when she is waiting and waiting for this love letter to come, and it never does. The reader gets a tiny bit of hope that she will finally move on when she states that she does not want to spend her entire life waiting. Yet, that is taken away when Edie receives that phone call and -again- settles for Chris.