Sunday, April 14, 2013

Hills Like White Elephants

Hemmingway enlightens us in this short story of how the decision making process goes hand in hand with your future happiness. As humans, we all look at a situation's positive aspects if we are considering it and sometimes forget about the negative things it could hold. The setting is vital to the story because on one side of the mountain is lush grass, life, and beauty but on the other side there is dry land, fire, and death. Jig is the main character with an uncertainty to keep her baby or not. She is simply a booty call for the American man and he has talked her into getting an abortion so that "they can be happy again" The American man obviously wants nothing to do with Jig, therefore is giving off a mentality that the abortion would be no big deal and it seems that he is trying to get her drunk so that she doesn't over think it and make the decision to keep her baby. I believe that Jig makes the choice to keep her baby to make her happy, and she did not care what the American thought. She came to a realization that to be happy she must be happy with herself and her own choices even if someone that she loves is telling her otherwise.

The Cask Of Amontillado

This eery short story by Edgar Allen Poe completely revolves around revenge. I read this story when I was younger, but I did not really understand the meaning. Montresor felt that he was insulted by Fortunado, he describes it as "a thousand injuries" And even though it is never mentioned exactly what he was insulted about, I always thought it was about his family, or the wine. But I did some research to conclude that it is explained at the end when Fortunado begs for his life saying "For the love of God" (like saying Come On) and Montressor replies, "Yes. for the love of God." Montresor kills Fortunado in the name of his religion (Catholic) Because Fortunado was a Mason, and back then Mason's were against the Catholic church. So the vengeance is kind of geared toward an insult of Montresor's family because they obviously were religious. It's so ironic that he is leading Fortunado through the Catacombs and "helping" him along the way because he is drunk and allergic to the Nitre. So he is pretty much trusting him throughout the walk in the catacombs to lead him to his death. Also, the fact that Montresor seems to give Fortunado many chances to leave if he is too drunk and should perhaps want to turn back, but he always denies these chances to escape and rather drinks the wine over keeping his life. After a while, it is evident that Montresor has bad intentions for the drunk man. The appropriate revenge that Montresor wants is a tricky and elaborate plan to kill Fortunado, and he definitely succeeds.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

This story by Flannery O'Connor seems to be about a fairly normal family. This little old grandmother is very paranoid and reads in the newspaper that there is a serial killer on the loose in Florida, and the family wants to road trip there. So, grandmother insists that they go to Tennessee instead because "I couldn't answer to my conscience" she said if her family were to run into this murderer. I believe that this is the only time when the grandmother actually makes a good decision from her first instinct because every decision she makes after that in the story steers them literally into a tree.. During their drive, they actually pass a cemetery that grandmother says is the family's ancestors. This foreshadows the death of the entire family at the end, I think. Of course Grandma is the one to literally flag down the hearse full of murderers! I think this story is religious in some ways, and that it kind of says that everyone is doomed and has sinned; therefore, we will all have our day of reckoning and punishment. The entire family is killed, though there is no mention of what happens to the baby. The most interesting line in this short story: "She would of been a good woman... if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." is ironic because the Misfit is saying that the grandmother would have been a good woman if she was in the midst of death and had a change of heart and was super nice because she was begging for her life. It is ironic because it seemed that out of the whole family, the grandmother was the one who lived by God and tried to teach the children about peace rather than conflict and was really a good woman.

We Real Cool

This poem by Gwendolyn Brooks is very short, and it rhymed... so I liked it. :) But when analyzing the poem it has much deeper meaning than you would think an 8 line poem would have. I believe that she is speaking of all African Americans back in her day, and how they took chances and broke the law to make money and survive. The number 7 is a lucky number and she says that they go to the pool hall, I'm sure to make money and gamble on the games. I think it is interesting that she mentioned "thin gin" like watering down the booze to make more profit. She speaks of young black men who skip school and are not educated, and at the end I interpreted it as their lives are shortened due to the risks they take, but they don't really care. They like the crazy life they live of "lurking late" and "singing sin" and "Jazzing June" because they are rebellious! Her voice is very cool and it makes the poem a trillion times better when you hear it from her.