Seventeen Syllables

This story by Hisaye Yamamoto is a very interesting story that keeps the reader thinking. At first the story describes a big conflict that lies between Rosie and her mother. Rosie is able to speak English while she struggles with Japanese because it is harder for her. She doesn't always understand her mother because of her mother's lack of English. The two struggle to communicate and thoroughly understand one another. The sad part is that sometimes Rosie pretends to understand and either her mother buys it or resigns out of frustration.

Then the story then almost turns into a love story between Rosie and Jesus Carrasco. He asks her to meet him because he has a secret for her. The secret turns out to be that he wanted to kiss her, which he does. Then in a shocking reveal her mother tells the story of how her and Rosie's father got married. She once was in love with another man and became pregnant. When the baby was stillborn she was cast away from her love because he was high in society. To alleviate the problem her Aunt arranged a marriage between Rosie's parents. Her mother was clearly unhappy. He mother desperately tries to get Rosie to promise never to marry. This is interesting as it comes immediately after her kiss with Jesus. I thought the story was a nice read and that it dives into the cultural differences of generations in families and races.

A Jury of Her Peers

I thought the plot of this story was very well written and completely creative. Minnie Wright murders her husband and is about to be blamed for it, however, there is there is little to no proof accuse her and have it hold in court. This is when the county attorney and Mr. Peters start to investigate her home. They are desperately trying to find any clue that can hold her accountable for his murder. When they get into the house everything is a mess, up to the stitching of the quilt that Minnie was making.

There is a little bit of chauvinism in this story but in the end it is the women who are the most insightful and prevail. They are the ones who find the motive, not Mr. Peters. The women hide the evidence because they feel bad for their friend. This story seems to look at the women's role in society as well as some human ethics. I think the story shows a great example of ethical behavior and what is not ethical. It is important to understand from this story that the women's behavior is unacceptable and their choice could be detrimental to their society.

Battle Royal

This is a story of an African American man who is extremely intelligent in a time when the intelligence of his race was doubted. The story takes place in a small southern town, where inequality was rampant. The main character narrates the story through the memory of his lifetime. He was taught through his grandfathers actions that to get as close to equality as possible he would need to be humble. He was taught to do as he was asked and never speak out. For this reason the white community accepted him more so than other African Americans. He is told that he will be a speaker at the graduation in his town. When he arrives he soon finds that it is all a set up. They more so brought him to be the entertainment and fight other African Americans than to actually speak intelligently. Without being discouraged he speaks anyway. Not everyone listens at first, and many yell at him during the speech, but his thoughts are heard.

This story was hard to read because of the pure injustice and prejudice that exists. It is painful to think that humans are capable of such hate. I think the message of this story is to speak for what you believe in. Someone will hear your thoughts and needs. In the end the main character feels invisible. That is the hardest part of the story because no one should feel invisible.

A Rose for Emily

This is a story about the life of a woman that almost mirrored the life of her town. Miss Emily Grierson was an upper class and wealthy woman. It seems that throughout the story as Emily deteriorates in health that the town seems to mimic that deterioration. She lived single and alone for a long time because no man was good enough to keep her company. Emily always held herself a little higher than necessary. After her father’s death a man named Homer Barron begins to court her. She does not seem very interested and his name could symbolize how he holds no future for her. She then buys some arsenic and uses it to poison Homer. The townspeople begin to notice a horrid stench coming from her mysterious home. I think that this part of the story was the most climactic. Stupidly the townspeople believed Barron just left because it was known he was not into “marriage.” In the end Emily dies at the age of 74 of old age and when people go to investigate this they find that Miss Emily had let Barron rot in her bed, and continued to sleep next to him for years. Emily couldn’t bear to part with Barron because she was so used to losing everything she had in life. The chronological order of the story was very unique and I struggled a bit trying to figure out exactly what was going on. This was the very reason I couldn't stop reading it. I found that even though the story is somewhat dark and twisted that it was so interesting to read. This was a great story.

Hills Like White Elephants

I found that even though this story left the reader hanging that I still enjoyed reading it. The story starts off with a girl, Jig and her companion waiting for a train in Spain. While they waited they drank many drinks, including trying some new ones. She also was trying to make what seemed to be small talk while they sat and waited. Then after some silence the companion tried to convince Jig to get some sort of procedure or operation. It sounds a little weird and the author never quite divulges what exactly it is that he wants her to do. They proceed to argue about it until Jig is so sick of hearing him talk about it that she threatens to scream.

It almost seems like in this conversation that the companion is trying to convince Jig to get an abortion. They are arguing about whether to do it or not and mention each others happiness. The companion doesn't want Jig to do it unless it is what she wants, and Jig says that she does not care about herself and if it'll fix their relationship then she will do it. It seems like with the male's comments that instead of actually caring about her feelings he is attempting to manipulate her to make the choice he'd like her to make.

Also in the story Jig comments on the white hills many times in their conversation which may symbolize the conflicts in her life and their relationship that she thinks have developed. With her actions and comments it seems pretty clear that Jig is going to have the procedure done. This story was really great because it was mysterious and kept the reader involved.

The Use of Force

I thought this story was kind of strange in a sense that it was a story that really had no point to it. It was simply just a tale of a doctor and one of his visits. It starts off with some sense of mystery as he got a call to see a new family urgently. Then he comes to find out that they have a daughter who has been sick for 3 days with a fever but they have no idea what from. Little do they know that their daughter is lying to them about a lack of sore throat. Through the story the doctor is trying to examine the child's throat but she is persistent and will not allow it. This is a problem because there have been other children at the school she attends that have died from diphtheria. After losing his cool and almost abusing the child to get what he wants, the doctor finally finds out that the girl indeed has diphtheria. I feel like the only climactic part of the struggle is when the child tries to scratch at him. Otherwise this seems more like a dull everyday thing. There is also no resolution at the end. It does not say whether it is too late for the child or if she will be fine. I did not enjoy this short story and think that if more actual story was added that maybe it would be less dry.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

I felt like the story was very well written in a sense that it grabbed my attention from the very beginning. There was no sort of back story or lead in, you just jumped into the mindset of Granny Weatherall. I enjoyed the way that Granny's mindset continued to move rapidly from one stream of thought to the next. The story starts off with a Doctor Harry who is examining Granny. The reader gets a sense in the first few sentences that this woman is opinionated and probably pretty old. She is persistent in the fact that she thinks she is perfectly healthy and that the doctor is wasting his time. The doctor on the other hand thinks that this could be Granny's last day. After he leaves, Granny begins to think of many of the important things that have happened to her throughout her life.

The way that Katherine Anne Porter jumped between what was happening, the dialog, and the flashbacks of Granny Weatherall is what made this story so enthralling. The reader finds out about Granny's past and what has made her so strong until this point. It truly is well written and interesting. The best part of the story is the last page or so. Granny has finally come to grip the fact that these people are there because she is dying. She starts panicking about things she hasn't accomplished, things that the children should keep, people she hasn't seen. In the end she finally calms down and accepts death. The last sentence when Porter writes about Granny blowing out the light leaves such a lasting impression. This story is by far my favorite that we've read so far.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a story about a man who is about to be hanged. The man who is to be hanged is Peyton Farquhar, a civilian caught up in the Civil War. Farquhar is a wealthy plantation owner from down south. As a plantation owner of the south he allowed Confederate soldiers to enter his house. He let one soldier in that explained to him about the railroad near by and that the Union was taking over the land quickly. He stated that the Union force was already at the Owl Creek Bridge and that if any civilian was found trying to tamper with the bridge he/she would be hanged. This is why Farquhar’s is being hanged. As he was about to be hung, he could feel the rope tighten around his neck and couldn’t breathe, but the rope failed and all of a sudden he felt himself underwater. Then the soldiers started the shoot at him. They shot a cannonball, which made a huge wave that threw Farquhar onto the land. Once on land, Farquhar ran through trees and straight home. When he got there he saw his wife but before he could say anything or make it known he was alive, he died due to his injuries from the hanging which did not work. Then at the end you find out that the entire excitement of him getting away is merely a dream as he sways from side to side underneath the tree at the Owl Creek Bridge.

One thing I found interesting about this story was the narration. It was quite interesting that the author used a narrator that knew everything about the character but was not involved in the story (third person omniscient). I liked this story due to the setting. It was described in so much detail that it made me feel like I was standing next to Farquhar. It was also attention grabbing that the author went back and forth between the present and the past to give details about what was going on. I did find the end a little disappointing rather than exciting. It seemed unrealistic to believe that he got away initially but then when he ran home I truly thought he had done it. Then it explains that he had a broken neck and died before he reached his wife which to me seemed completely unrealistic. I was not surprised to find out that the entire escape was just something that Farquhar dreamed up. I think the author did a great job with this book but that it lacked suspense.

The Child

Out of all the stories we have read so far I found "The Child" to be the most disturbing. I found that the nature of the story and the way it was written drew me in as a reader and kept me wanting more. The sentence structure of this story is unlike that of the other short stories we've read. The sentences are very short and concise; some being only a word or two. I think this makes it more thrilling and it almost seemed like you were in the thought process of the narrator/main character.

The story is about a man who hasn't been sleeping. At first I suspected it to be a typical insomniac story. It is interesting once you get into the story to find out that the reason he hasn't been sleeping is because he is possibly hallucinating a child. The story never really divulges if the child is real, but it can be assumed that it is purely a hallucination. Once the man sees the word "DAD" on a door to a cafe he becomes obsessed in figuring out if this child could quite possibly be his. He goes through all past relationships writing down details about the women sporadically. He becomes completely dependent on his notebook. His thought processes become that of a typical insomniac which are paranoid and paranormal. He keeps finding differences in his notebook and the feelings in the room which he believes are due to the child. There may be a chance that the man developed some type of mental disorder which makes him forget that he was indeed the one writing the messages in the notebook. He almost becomes kind of schizophrenic at points.

Then the really weird part of the story happens. This man goes on a rampage through a store which causes him to be arrested. When the officers are looking through his stuff they find his notebook with all the females' names in it with the descriptions. To the officers the notes seem disturbing and disgusting. As they read further they start to realize that the women who are mentioned in his notes are the names of women on the missing person's list. This seems a little far fetched and the ending almost ruined it for me. But it proved that his insanity was truly insanity. There had to have been no child, and no reason to be as paranoid as he was. The story was written very well and was interesting from start to finish. It may have felt disturbing to me because it felt like being inside a mad man's head. I think that is what Roddy Doyle was trying to do and I think he did it well.

The Cask of Amontillado

I again have read this story before now but I remember it well and it was one of my favorite short stories that I read in high school. It involves revenge and ultimately torture. A big difference in "The Cask of Amontillado" as opposed to "The Black Cat" was that the narrator actually had a legitimate motive in this story. In "The Black Cat" the narrator was an alcoholic with a rage for absolutely no reason other than his alcoholism. In this story the narrator had obviously felt wronged and was going to do something about that insult.

This story is narrated by Montresor, who tells the story by stating that he seeks revenge on Fortunado due to the man insulting him. He plots out his revenge perfectly. Montresor tells Fortunato that he has just gotten a shipment of something that could pass for Amontillado, a type of sherry. Because of Fortunado's love for wine and because he is a lush Montresor knows that this plan will work. Montresor tells Fortunato that he can ask a man to taste it if he is not up to it. Fortunato dislikes the man and claims that he could not tell Amontillado from other types of sherry. Because Fortunado is so insulted by this comparison to that man he immediately insists on going to the vaults to taste this sherry. The dampness of the vault aggravates Fortunado's cold but even after many attemps Montresor cannot convince him to turn back.

In the end Montressor traps Fortunado in a small cask and builds a wall so that he will die in that cask. I think that this was the biggest shock for me when I initially read the story. I thought I had it all figured out, the revenge. I believe when first reading it that I thought the narrator would poison Fortunado with a nice glass of Amontillado. The work cask to me had no meaning the first time I looked at the title. I was completely shocked when it seemed so easy for the narrator to just tie Fortunado up in chains and then build a wall so he would die slowly in the damp, dark cask. I thought the story was riveting and kept my attention because it was so twisted. I knew as a reader that this story would keep me guessing up until the last moment.

This story has a lot of the same qualities as "The Black Cat." In both of these stories there is a main character/narrator who is looking for the ultimate revenge. Poe, just like in the last story, put a lot of thought into how the narrator would kill his nemesis. Especially in this story the cause of death for Fortunado would be slow and painful as he died in solitary in the small cask. The plan was also a good one because the narrator would not want anyone to be able to like him to Fortunado's disappearance. The narrator also seems to have no worry that the people at the party that night will not even notice that the 2 men were gone for an extended period of time. This is another trend in Poe's stories; the narrator not thinking that he is going to be caught.

The Black Cat

Having already read this story in the past I well knew that this was a typical Poe story. It is gruesome and graphic and also a great read. It is one of those stories that keeps the readers guessing and shocks them with something completely out of left field. This story also unlike "The Purloined Letter" was much easier to read and get interested in.

The story starts off somewhat on a good note and then goes slowly into the dark and twisted style of Poe. In the beginning the narrator describes his cat, Pluto which was once a huge part and love of his life. He describes his relationship with Pluto as a "friendship". Pluto got old and the narrator seemed to develop an alcohol problem. As the story develops the character becomes more and more ill tempered, angry and clearly has less external feelings towards his actions. He begins to abuse the animals that he and his wife possess. I found it disgusting that the narrator actually almost got joy out of torturing these animals. He was even driven so mad that he felt the need to kill these two cats that were significant to the story. In fact, when he killed his wife in pure madness, he felt no remorse whatsoever. The only feeling he has at all is how to cover the murder up. He does not feel guilty about the crime he committed. He does not worry that the police will catch him. He thinks that everything will just continue to be. When the murder is discovered he does not even seem worried. This is the epitome of karma and it almost seems that the narrator himself understands that. He had it coming. I think it was incredibly ironic that it was the cat in the end that gave the narrator away.

Delmonico

I really enjoyed reading this story. I think it was so intriguing because the characters were so out of the ordinary. There was Mr. Jones who goes to the bar on a regular basis because he was in love with Davis the bartender. Then there is Davis who is one of the smartest bartenders around because she can solve people's problems. There are also two men who appear in the bar at the beginning of the story who are the ones who stir up some trouble.

Mr. Jones is the narrator of the story and plays the role of the observer. Before the start of the actual story he gives some background information on the bartender, Davis. He recalls some stories of when her expertise helped a person in a situation. Then the story truly begins. The story starts off with a mysterious entrance of the two strange men into this bar called the Slow Night. It is interesting and a great setting because the lighting is described so well. As they make their way into the bar and order drinks the reader comes to find out that the two men are Bruno and Callahan Jeffers a convicted murderer. Bruno has heard about the wonders that Davis has with solving problems and brings his friend here to try and figure out his problem. Jeffers is accused of murdering his wife but he claims that she just ran off and disappeared to try and frame him. He gives a detailed story of the happenings of the night she disappeared to Davis. During the entire time he is rude and loud and just plain mean. I liked this because it actually caused me to harvest bad feelings towards Jeffers and Bruno. I actually truly disliked them by the end of the story.

In the end Davis gives the men a simple hint and kicks them out of the bar. She tells them that the glass disappeared because the wife broke it at the same time the window was broken. Because of Jeffers' rudeness she does not divulge how she thinks his wife escaped. This story is similar to “The Purloined Letter” because it seems like a complicated conundrum but in actuality it is fairly simple to solve. Davis and Mr. Jones later discuss the possibility of the glass being a distraction so that the men would look a different way while the wife simply slipped out of the house. The story is different from others we've read because it allows the reader to constantly think and be active. There is also no true answer to the question because the reader never finds out what actually happened that night.

I thought that it was interesting that the story started and ended with the love Mr. Jones has for Davis. It seems a little off topic and out of place in a story like this. It seems that during the story he felt the need to protect her a little against Jeffers anger but in the end he is in the same spot as he was before. Jones loved Davis in the beginning of the story and loved her in the end, but was too afraid to tell her because he figured she already knew. It almost makes it seem like her being smart is a bad thing for Jones.

The Purloined Letter

I thought the story “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe was an interesting story but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. The plot kept my attention but I think the way it was written made it difficult for me to really get into it. I thought it was also interesting because it was not exactly like many other stories that Poe has written. This story was a detective story but one with a fault. I constantly got the feeling that this man Dupin knew more than G.

The story is about a robbery of a letter that is being investigated by "G", who is the Prefect of Police in Paris. G then goes on to describe not only how the letter was stolen but also how they have investigated the theft so far. The Minister, who is the culprit, stole the letter out in the open but because of a third party the owner of the letter could not stop him. The police then spent the next week searching high and low in the Minister’s hotel room every night while he was absent. As he describes the search you get the feeling that even though it seemed incredibly thorough, G and his police force had to have overlooked something. Then after several weeks G, Dupin and a third man all have another meeting about this letter. G has still not found the letter even though he searched through the Minister's quarters yet again. Dupin on the other hand knows exactly where the letter had been. He somewhat cons G into promising money to whoever finds the letter and the produces it from a concealed spot. Dupin then goes on to explain to the third man or narrator that the reason he found the letter was because he put himself in the Minister's shoes. He thought about it reasonably and the answer was rather simple instead of intricate.

This story has a moral because in the end the reader realize that some things are not as complicated as we think they are. Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face. So even though the basis of this story and the actual story were exciting and fun to read about, the language was still harder to get into because of the constant description of every tiny detail.

The Birthmark

Although I found this story easy to get through and interesting, I did not enjoy it. I found it was constantly making me mad that the people in the story, especially the men, were so superficial that something as simple as a birthmark would bother them. I found that the story was almost boring because it revolved solely around Georgiana's one imperfection. Aylmer spends the entire story obsessing over his wife's imperfection and how it could be fixed by his scientific skills. He seems to be under the impression that without that red hand shaped birthmark on her cheek Georgiana would be perfect. That impression leaves him very unhappy with his wife and her appearance.

One day he suggests to his wife that he remove that mark from her face. He had a disturbing dream about trying to remove the birthmark and having it sink in and grasp her heart. Because his wife is troubled by his absolute hatred for the make on her cheek she agrees to let him remove it. Georgiana even states that she considers her mark given to her by nature and thus connected to her heart. She has some of her own foreshadowing that the removal of this mark was wrong but due to her husband and her feelings for him she still agrees to the surgery.

Aylmer makes up a concoction or "potion" that is intended to remove the birthmark. Georgiana wants so much to please her husband that she feels she would rather go through with the process and possibly see death than go against him and live with the mark on her cheek. To Aylmer's great delight after Georgiana ingests the potion it starts working just as planned. The birthmark starts to fade, but at a price. As the birthmark fades so does Georgiana. She proclaims to her husband that she is dying and as the birthmark disappears she breathes her last breath. The adverse obsession that Aylmer had with Georgiana's birthmark ultimately led to his wife's death. Perfection is unattainable no matter how hard we try, and here in the story Aylmer went against nature and paid the price.

Sleepy Hollow

I have already read the story "Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving in either early high school or late middle school but it was interesting to read it again. Knowing what was coming in the story made it seem contradictory that the beginning of the story is so serene. It starts off describing the setting of a small town called Tarry Town. It describes a tranquil setting in the hills of the town with a brook near by that creates a constant and soothing sound. It sounds like a beautiful place.

The narrator then goes on to describe the little valley and how it has long been called Sleepy Hollow by inhabitants that descended from Dutch. Sleepy Hollow is a dreamy and enchanted place that tales often derive of and is thought of as enchanted or bewitched. The most widespread tale of haunting in the area is the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. The story is that of a trooper from the Revolutionary War who lost his head in battle and still haunts the valley and adjacent areas years and years later.

We soon as readers are introduced to Ichabod Crane who ended up in Sleepy Hollow with the mission to teach the children there. The story went into great detail about Ichabod Crane and his teaching and how his life in the town proceeded. Washington Irving was very descriptive, almost to the point that I was trying to bypass some of the build up of the story to get to the actual action. I almost found the build up of the story like to be a bit dull. It is something I feel like I've heard a million times. A man (Ichabod) becomes infatuated with a woman (Katrina Van Tassel) but there is another so-called better man (Brom Bones) who tries to take the woman instead. Ichabod loses this battle for the dear Katrina and is dismissed. During his fateful ride home he becomes extremely superstitious and nervous. After Ichabod Crane comes into contact with the Headless Horseman the real action begins. What happened exactly that night is just speculated by the people in the area. Some claim Ichabod disappeared, some say he died and some say he still lives nearby. The pumpkin has a sort of Halloween feel to it which makes it seem like that is what was thrown at Ichabod.

The story leaves the reader with questions. Did Ichabod really see the Headless Horseman or was it the dreamy atmosphere of Sleepy Hollow and just an old wives story? Where did Ichabod Crane really go? I thought this story was a great one even though it was a little drawn out.

Lusus Naturae

"Lusus Naturae" by Margaret Atwood was by far the most interesting story that we've read so far. The story was about a girl who had some sort of deformity or genetic disorder that caused her to look almost like a monster. It wasn't a feel good story at all but at the same time it kept me reading and wondering after I was finished. There was so much emotion in that very short story. I felt a range of emotions from anger to being truly upset to actually feeling at peace with what was happening to complete shock. It was truly a story of an outsider. I thought it was interesting because even though it was almost science fiction there was still a lot of truth to this person who was so different being outcast from society. Maybe it isn't as drastic, but people are still cast out from society for even less differences. People still judge based on looks

I think the part of the story that bothered me the most was how her family treated her. I find it strange that she was born "normal" and then somehow morphed into something weird. There must have been a simple explanation for what was happening but the story was set in a time when things like this were explained by saying there was a devil or demon possessed the child. It was mind boggling for me to see that the only solution the family had to their child’s disease was to fake her death. Was social status really that important back then? Apparently, and I think to this day it still is for some people. Fortunately it didn’t seem to bother the narrator that much. She almost seemed at peace with the fact that she was not wanted. She began to gain independence as she tested her boundaries at night after the town thought she was long dead. During one of her runs of independence she stumbles across two people who she naively thinks are like her and is seen. When the townspeople began to charge her house I almost thought of it as normal at this point due to the feel of the story and the setting. The thing I was shocked by was that her family had joined in for the cause. They were right by the townspeople’s sides to charge the house and try to kill this “thing” that was part of their own flesh and blood.

This is when the narrator surprises me the most. As death approaches her she seems to look forward to it. Life has been so bad to her that death actually seems like a better option. When she hopes aloud that the she will be pretty as an angel or that all angels will look like her I finally understood that even though she seemed at peace with her life she was not. She was not okay with the life she had and wished that she could be normal and accepted which was clearly placed in her wish to be like everyone else in heaven.

A & P

I did enjoy reading John Updike's short story because it was incredibly descriptive. It was a little different and although at times I felt as if it had too many details it still made me feel like I was in the story. The story didn't lead onto what was going on at all the entire time so it kept me interested and guessing. I found it interesting how intrigued Sammy the narrator was with the girls. He noticed every detail about them and even started to make assumptions about how they lived and interacted with each other. He seemed a little surprised at first to see them waltz into the store in bathing suits but aside from the initial surprise he almost brushed it off. The story gives off a feel that it is in a time when it is completely inappropriate for women to be dressed scantly let alone for 3 girls to walk into a store in bathing suits. One silly thing in the story that bothered me as a person majoring in something in the health field was that the girls were walking around the store barefoot. It was funny but I really could not get past how much of a hazard and how gross that really is.

I think the most influential part of the story that I read was when the girl actually stood up for her and her friends. In the face of authority many would cower away in fear of getting into trouble. Sammy notices a tone in the girl's voice but she does not cower but instead stands up for herself. It seems as if Lengel was surprised that the girl actually spoke up to him. The entire time this disagreement is going on Sammy is having thoughts that confused me. He seemed to have made a connection with these girls and his fantasies about their lives. When he decided to quit his job because he believed that Lengel intentionally embarrassed the girls I was incredibly surprised. As a person who has never even thought about quitting something, who in face was raised to believe quitting is failing I was completely caught off guard by his move. He didn't even know these girls and here he was quitting his job to prove a point for them. I was still left with the feeling of confusion at the end of the story. He never explains the real reason that he quit the job and I wonder if it's because he fantasized that it would impress the girls or if it were for the simple reason to prove a point.

The Lottery

I was not surprised by this story. I was suspicious from the beginning and knew there had to be something bad that was going to happen. At first the story bored me but after the first page I was hooked. I think the reason that the beginning is so hard to get into is because Jackson described every little detail. It seemed a little overdone.
As the story developed I tried to decide what this whole lottery was about and why it was so significant that the entire town had to gather for it. This is why the story is so good because it has you constantly wondering. Jackson makes the lottery seem like a great thing that should be continued because of tradition. As a reader you soon learn that tradition isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes traditions are kept going simply because it is a tradition. People in these situations never look at it with the idea that maybe as the world around us changes that we should change also. This is a huge thing to think about especially coming from a college where tradition is so prevalent.
I think I almost knew from the beginning what the stones would be used for but there was still an element of disgust when it was confirmed. I think it is a little strange that the entire town was so nonchalant about the situation. No one seemed to think that killing someone through a lottery was wrong. Even the children sat around excited to see who would be the lucky person to be stoned that day. I was left with the feeling of anger and sadness after reading this story. And also the fact that they believed the other towns that were doing away with the lottery were in the wrong was horrendous. How could these people actually believe that killing someone through a lottery is alright? It's an interesting story because it made me completely re-evaluate the term tradition.

The Story of an Hour

I found that this story to be thought provoking. I think it was normal of Mrs. Mallard's family members to want to break the terrible news to her as easily as possible and with the least amount of pain possible. It's interesting because that is such a major thing in human nature. Sometimes people even avoid the truth to protect another person's feelings. I think that's an important thing in human nature, how we care for others.
Then came the emotional rollercoaster that Mrs. Mallard was sent on which I found extremely realistic. Loss provokes many emotions in a person and sometimes it is hard to sort through them. It was nice to read the line, “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment into the long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” It is in this line in which she realizes that she will cry again over her husband, and she will miss him, but she will also live.
This story also made me think about marriage. When Mrs. Mallard came to the realization that she was free: I thought that to be the last thing I would see in this story. Then also hearing her thoughts as she realized all the things she was missing and she could now do; it again made me think. A person could be in a perfectly healthy and happy relationship and still feel trapped. Sometimes with all the compromising you stop being yourself and you start being who that other person wants you to be.
The end was a huge surprise. It was almost a way of saying you can’t always get what you want. Mrs. Mallard finally realized how happy she would be as a free woman and then luck had it that her husband was not even dead. They had been so careful about saving her heart with the news of his death that it is almost ironic that him being alive is what killed her.