The Necklace

This was the second time that I have read “The Necklace,” but I didn’t remember much of the story from the first time I read it 4 years ago.

“The Necklace” is filled with detailed descriptions that clarify the differences between the world in which Mme. Loisel lives and the world she dreams about. One of my favorite contrasts in this story was when the couple were leaving the party and Mme. Loisel’s husband “threw over her shoulders the wraps which he had brought, modest wraps of common life, whose poverty contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this, and wanted to escape so as not to be remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs.” This one passage was rich with descriptions and imagery signifying how vast Mme. Loisel’s life is from the other women’s at the party. It is evident just how much she wishes she could join them and never have to return to her clerk husband and lowly life.

Another contrast that was revealed later in the story was Loisel’s understanding of the important things in life. He understood what it would take to make his wife happy and when she carelessly lost the necklace, he took every means to fix the problem. He did everything to get enough money to buy a replacement necklace. His loyalty to his wife shows that he understands there are more things in life than just money and riches, I believe he cares for his wife and feels sorry that she is so miserable with the life she was given.

The important thing is that Mme. Loisel finally learned her lesson. She realized that because one pretty necklace, which turned out to be fake, she sacrificed her entire life for one that was even poorer and had to really work and live as a commoner. The point is that there is more to life than luxuries and sometimes you just have to make the most of what you have and enjoy the small things in life instead of wishing for something more. If you spend your whole life wanting more, you will eventually lose the few good things that you already have. Mme. Loisel learned that lesson the hard way.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

When I first began reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” it immediately reminded me of my time in Junior High School. Connie is superficial and concerned with her looks and also feels like she doesn’t live up to the standards that her older sister sets. I thought in similar ways when I was in junior high. I didn’t like telling my mom what I was up to or what was going on in my life. My sister seemed like the perfect child, hard working and always doing extremely well in school, and I saw myself as the “nothing special,” middle child.

On the other hand, I didn’t really like how the mother always treated Connie with such contempt. Even though Connie seems too mature and confident for her fifteen years, it’s always extremely difficult for a child or teenager to feel as if her mother dislikes her. A mother should look after her children and encourage them instead of treating them as if they are a burden and disappointment.

It seems that Connie feels isolated and left out from her family. This was especially clear when she was left alone at home after declining to attend the barbeque at her aunt’s house. Even though she chose to stay home alone, Connie seemed surrounded by her loneliness. Her loneliness was characterized by her need to drown out the silence at home with sounds from the radio. I believe that her self- awareness and confidence are a façade and that deep down she probably feels like a small and neglected child.

Her relationship with her family has caused Connie to become an irresponsible and naïve child. Connie’s carelessness finally caught up to her when the man from the night before basically revealed himself as her stalker. She was put in an intense and traumatic situation, a kind of situation that most girls her age still have to worry about. It really unsettled me how much he knew about Connie and her friends and family. He really started scaring me after a while, trying to take advantage of such a naïve girl. By the time I finished the story, I was so worried for the girl and her family. She was helpless and had no idea what to do. That man completely disgusted me.

Yellow Woman

I enjoyed reading “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko. I was a little lost when I began reading the story and it took me a little while to figure out exactly what was going on and what happened. I thought it was interesting how the narrator and Silva continued to draw a connection to the Native American story of the Yellow Woman. On the other hand, I didn’t really like the narrator’s character. I believe she let this whole situation happen, and if she had never known the story of the Yellow Woman she never would have gotten seduced by him.

The narrator is very weak minded and lets herself be controlled by Silva because she believes he is stronger than she is. She seems to be a stereotypical adulterer. The narrator has a quiet and dull personality that reflects the lack of excitement in her life. She is probably unsatisfied by her life at home with her husband, children, and family, and therefore found herself vulnerable to the seductions of an unknown man. He was her one chance to feel the excitement and love that she was missing from her life, and she justified her actions by trying to convince herself of the story of the Yellow Woman. It seemed like the narrator possibly believed that if a woman became legendary for doing something similar to what she was doing, then her actions must not be extremely immoral.

On the other hand, Silva seems like the typical man who enjoys the physical pleasures of a woman instead of the love and compassion that one can offer. To put it simply, he is the generic “non-commitment” type. It seems like all that really happened in the story, underneath the tales of the Yellow Woman, was that Silva saw a pretty woman walking along the river and decided to “go for it.” My guess is that he has had experience with taking advantage of women, considering his knowledge of the old Native American tales. He misled the lonely woman to satisfy his physical needs. I realized this when he basically forced her to make love with her by holding her to the ground and declaring, “’You don’t understand, do you, little Yellow Woman? You will do what I want.’” At that point in the story, I understood that he probably cares more about satisfying himself than caring for the narrator. Silva is the epitome of a womanizer.

Once I got past the tale of the Yellow Woman, I realized that it was only an excuse and ploy for Silva to take advantage of a lonely woman. Underneath the tale, it became apparent that this was mainly a story of an unsatisfied, weak woman who was seduced by a womanizer.

The Cask of Amontillado

The “Cask of Amontillado” but Edgar Allan Poe is certainly an interesting read. I read it for the first time my freshman year of high school and probably didn’t understand half of the story because of Poe’s writing style. After reading it again and even though it’s a little disturbing, I definitely enjoyed reading it; it is definitely in the spirit of the season.

One of the things I noticed after reading through it again was the abundance of foreshadowing throughout the entire story. Montressor immediately hints that he will “be avenged; this was a point definitely settled.” From the beginning of the story, it is evident that something is going to happen, and referencing Poe’s track record, the outcome will probably disturbing.

My beliefs that something bad would eventually result were only supported when Montressor mentions that he had dismissed his staff early for the night. As if Montressor wasn’t mysterious and creepy enough to begin with, why else would he dismiss his staff early other than to have privacy to seek his revenge against Fortunato? Later in the story, Montressor often mentions bones and skeletons that they pass in the catacombs. At that point, I had a pretty good idea that Fortunato would soon be joining the other “human remains.”

Along with the presence of foreshadowing, Poe used a lot of irony. One of my favorite bits of irony was Poe’s choice to name the victim “Fortunato.” I think that it is pretty obvious that Fortunato’s fate was not exactly fortunate. Personally, being tricked, chained up, and suffocating to death wouldn’t be my preference of how to die. I also appreciated that because of the carnival, Fortunato was dressed in a motley and “had on a tight-fitting partistriped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.” He was basically dressed as a fool; and we eventually find out that he was the fool of the story. He was a fool to trust a man he had recently betrayed and was distracted by wine to realize what Montressor may have been up to. He stumbled, drunken, into Montressor’s trap without even realizing it until he was chained up.

Though Poe has certainly some eerie works, I enjoyed them, “The Cask of Amontillado” in particular. This story put me in the mood for Halloween.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

To start off, my initial reaction to “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is “Wow, just wow.” Though “The Lottery” was similarly disturbing, it was also somewhat interesting to read. On the other hand, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” basically transitions from being a boring, slow read immediately into a vivid, grotesque scene of the family facing a serial killer. I don’t often enjoy reading such morally disturbing stories like some of the ones we have read this year, but I must admit that these have also been the most memorable.

When I first began reading this story, I was nearly falling asleep. The plot basically consisted of an unappreciated grandmother going on a road trip with her family, and included were her two bratty and disrespectful grandchildren. It is obvious from the start that the grandmother is the intelligent, maternal character of the story. When the family’s car crashed and the serial killer and his gang arrived to “assist” them, she was the only one of the family who had an idea of what was going to happen. In her attempt to save her unappreciative family, she tried to save and help the man threatening their lives while her family walked straight into the lion’s den.

Each character in this story exhibited obvious flaws in their personalities, including the grandmother. She was the easiest to pity because of she was obviously neglected from the family, but it was also apparent that she still believed in a sort of hierarchy system, wanting to be known as a “lady” and looking down upon other poor black people when telling stories from her past. The children’s mother was slightly aggravating to me, because she was the quiet, out-of-the-way sort of person whose basic purpose in the story was to hold the baby. I disliked the children the most out of all the family, due to their blatant disrespect for others and their sheer ignorance. They insulted the men that were practically holding guns to their heads, not even understanding when to be afraid or figuring out that their lives are on the line.

I think the main reason I enjoyed this story less that “The Lottery,” despite the fact that both were a little unnerving is that I disliked all of the characters. The entire family frustrated me as I was reading this story and I frankly was glad to see the story end.

The Lottery

This marks my third time to be reading “The Lottery.” I read it twice in high school and wrote a paper on it my senior year. The first time I read the story, I never expected the ending. Jackson uses many descriptions to create an image of a warm, happy summer day, the kind of day that would make a person feel happy and carefree. The kids are playing and gathering normally and the adults are discussing regular topics, as if a stoning of a randomly chosen family were not about to take place.

Though the setting is misleading, it is apparent that the adults understand the situation more than the children. Even though they are making small talk, there is still a sense of apprehension in the air. This is apparent because the men “stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.” These small motions were too subtle for me to catch the first time I read it, and I’m pretty sure I overlooked them again after reading it for a second time. This hesitation and fear among the townspeople becomes more apparent as the story progresses; marking their hesitation to even help the set up, possibly attempting to delay the ceremony.

After realizing what “the lottery” actually is, it is odd that Jackson compares it to the other social gatherings that take place in the town, such as the “square dances, the teen-age club, the Halloween program.” The tradition has been present for such a long time that the administrators of it seem to overlook how morbid the activity really is. The townspeople also try to go along with the activity as if it were any other social gathering, gossiping and chatting with friends and neighbors, though it is apparent that fear and nervousness is present in the back of all of their minds.

Jackson uses the box to foreshadow the kind of event that will soon be occurring, describing the very old black box as shabby and “no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side.” This dreary image is the most obvious sign that the lottery is far from the typical idea of a lottery. Most often, a lottery is selects a winner at random for a fantastic prize, such as money or vacations or other great things. However, even by the description of the box, from which a name will be drawn, it is evident that the “lottery” will have an ironic outcome.

The story is marked throughout by irony. The most obvious example is the outcome of the lottery itself. Another bit of irony was Tessie Hutchinson’s tardiness to the event and her mentioning such trivial matters such as doing the dishes when she would soon be facing the end of her life because she drew the piece of paper with a black dot on it.

After reading this story a few times, I have decided that I don’t enjoy it. Though the story is made to be ironic, the ending of the story is sickening. It is not very fair for one person to be stoned to death on the basis of drawing a slip of paper with a black dot on it. Just because it has become a tradition, does not make the practice justifiable.

The Use of Force

After reading this story, I did some research on William Carlos Williams to try to gain more understanding and perspective of “The Use of Force.” What stood out the most to me was that aside from being a poet and writer, Williams was also a pediatrician and general practitioner. That explained to me why he chose to write about a sick child and a doctor. I also discovered that he enjoyed writing more than being a doctor, which may explain why the doctor in “The Use of Force” lacked passion for helping others, unlike most doctors.
Unlike the common belief that most doctors choose their profession because of a desire to help and cure the sick, Williams developed the doctor in the story to be quite unlike that stereotype. The doctor is the narrator of the story, and his general lack of interest for patients and for his profession is apparent in the structure of the writing itself. Williams’ general lack of structure, such as a separation for quotations, and the monotony of the punctuation, lacking exclamations and commands, personify the doctor’s indifference towards his patients. This indifference only ceased for aggression created by the game of prying the child’s mouth open.
Like most writers involved with Imagism, Williams incorporated a lot of imagery in his writing to develop the characters; describing the child as gazing at the doctor with “cold, stead eyes, and no expression to her face whatever,” though she was an “unusually attractive little thing.” It was soon apparent that the child would not go down without a fight, exhibiting stubbornness that would inhibit her ability to be helped and cured by the doctor.
The doctor developed a relationship with the child that would be considered dangerous and inappropriate by other medical professionals. He almost immediately lost his patience and instead directed his pent up frustration and aggression towards that girl, having “already fallen in love with the savage brat.” He eventually saw her as a game instead of a needy child; the girl never bothered to surrender but chose instead to egg him on. Her parents were too worried for the child to be able to provide any sort of assistance for the doctor, and too ignorant to prevent the child’s behavior. The child never gave in until the doctor successfully “overpowered the child’s neck and jaws,” and instead chose to “fly at [him] while tears of defeat blinded her eyes."