The Red Convertible

Taking place in the late 60’s/early ’70s, The Red Convertible is a story about Lyman and Henry of the Chippewa tribe.  The two brothers purchased a red convertible and took a road trip across the country.  Like many brothers, they shared many memorable times during the trip but they had to return because Henry had enlisted in the Marines.  Henry was sent to Vietnam a happy, friendly, and caring brother.  He did not come back that way.

Upon Henry’s return three years later, Lyman seemed as though he did not know his brother.  The times where they could joke around and have fun were no more.  Lyman and his mother discussed where they could get Henry some help.  Unfortunately, in the Chippewa tribe, there were no doctors.  So Lyman decided to try another form of help.  He “injured” the convertible so that Henry would notice, try and fix it, and he would work to become himself again.  This only led to something much more unfortunate.

Henry asked Lyman to go on a ride to the river.  Prior to leaving their sister takes a picture of the two brothers and during the break of the story (memory), Lyman says he can’t look at the picture anymore.  Back to the story, the brothers drove to the river and Henry confronted Lyman about the damage to the red convertible and it lead to a physical fight.  When Henry started laughing, Lyman got a feeling that Henry was starting to come back to his old self.  His feelings led him to the wrong idea as Henry said he needed to cool down and jumped into the river.  Henry quickly got taken away to the middle of the river in the dusk of the day and Henry said to Lyman in a nonfreightened voice, “My boots are filling.”  Henry is lost in the river and Lyman sends the convertible in as well.

As the convertible sinks to the bottom and the lights can no longer be seen, the symbolic meanings are a plenty.  The lights short out and it signifies the death of Henry, but more importantly to the story, it signifies the death of the brother’s relationship.  A relationship that had died over three years earlier when Henry went to war and became a different person.  This story also emcompasses the notion that war changes people in different ways and its hard on families and loved ones when they see this change and do not know what to do.  All in all, I had read this story once before but I enjoyed reading it again and I enjoyed the symbolism throughout.

Aunt Moon’s Young Man

Aunt Moon’s Young Man, written by Linda Hogan, is EXTREMELY similar to Seventeen Syllables.  The story is told by a young girl named Sis who lives in the town of Pickens, OK.  Other characters consist of her mother, her father and the other men in town, Aunt Moon (Bess Evening), and Isaac (The Young Man).  Sis and her family are part Native American and have blood “mixed like Heinz 57” as did most of Pickens.

Aunt Moon aka Bess Evening lived up on a hill for everyone to see.  There she lived alone, unmarried, and as Sis put it, “she had life in her”.  By that she meant that she didn’t have to tend to a husband and children.  In addition, Aunt Moon cooked up remedies for illnesses.

The story takes off as a mysterious “young man” comes to Pickens.  Good looking and full Native American, the women can’t help but stare.  Meanwhile, at a dance, the young man, Isaac, plays poker with the men in town and wins all of their money which doesn’t put him high on their list.  Aunt Moon and Isaac enter an unmarried relationship which causes a stir in town and the focus left Aunt Moon.  She ends up getting pregnant and Isaac ends up leaving.  However, he ends up coming back but the story ends with “Bless Sis’s aunt Moon and bless Isaac, who got arrested for trading illegal medicine for corn, and forgive him for escaping from jail.”

The story focuses on the bond between Sis and Aunt Moon and again the new world verus old world society comes into play again.  Sis’s family and the majority of Pickens is living under the typical “family” model but Aunt Moon “had life in her” and in today’s society many more women are like Aunt Moon in the sense that they work for a living and make a living doing something they love.  That is what Sis wants and at the end of the story that is what I think Linda Hogan wants the reader to grasp.

Seventeen Syllables

Seventeen Syllables, written by Hisaye Yamamoto, was an intriguing story.  Rosie, the main character, is a young Japanese-American girl who is growing up in a small farm house in the Central Valley of California.  Rosie’s parents both came over from Japan and emphasize to Rosie the importance of her culture but she doesn’t truely appreciate it.  The introduction leads to a discussion about Rosie’s mother and her love for Haiku.  The title, being named after the amount of syllables needed for a Haiku, in my opinion, symbolizes the importance that the Haiku had in the mother’s life, but most of her Haiku’s resinated within the Japanese culture and Rosie struggled to connect with the culture.

Another interesting piece of the story was Rosie’s relationship with Jesus.  Jesus, a Latino worker on the fields near Rosie’s house, is engaged in a secret and small friendship that escalates to Jesus kissing Rosie on the lips during a secret trip to the barn.  Rosie, stunned, ran back in and didn’t know what to do or say but the story would later pick up and enforce the questions that went through Rosie’s mind.

The conclusion of the story is where I gathered everything together.  After Rosie’s mother entered a Haiku piece into the San Francisco paper, Mr. Kuroda visits their house and gives her a small picture as a reward but more importantly Rosie’s father was not appreciative of the award.  He never had been happy for his wifes love of Haiku.  That is when Rosie was asked if she knew why her parents married.  I then learned that the couple had married when Rosie’s mom was 19 and she would have had a brother who was 17 had he not been a stillborn child.  In addition, Rosie’s mom told her it was a forced marriage; rather an “alternative to suicide”.  Her mother asked her never to take part in marriage and if I were in Rosies position, and I think that the author does this on purpose to add another scene, I would be confused as to what I see in day-to-day life (new world) and what my mom is telling me (old world).  We are left wondering what Rosie decides and how her life ends up but I have a feeling she would have been a part of the new world’s society.

A Jury of Her Peers

This short story, A Jury of Her Peers, was a story that did not interest me as much as the first time that I had read it.  I had read the story and watched the short film freshman year so the story this time around was not as “suspensful” even though it isn’t suspensful to begin with.  Susan Glaspell, the author of the story, writes about a murder that is supposedly done by Minnie Foster on her husban John Wright.  The couple’s background was not a normal relationship as they were extremely quiet and the other characters, although they knew of and had a few encounters with the pair, never formed a friendship with either of them for that very reason.

The plot revolves around a view from a male and female perspective in my opinion.  The sheriff, court attorney, and Mr. Peters, began to search like detectives all over the house for clues that may help prove Minnies conviction.  At the same time, the sheriff’s wife and Mrs. Peters were left in the kitchen because that was “their” area and they must not have been intelligent enough to search the premices.  However, the women found the most clues as the found a bird cage with no bird.  In addition, they found a quilt that was sewn poorly (recently) so they were concerned.  When they went to find a needle to stitch the quilt better, they found a box with a bird and its neck was wrung.

The women never say anything to the men and this is inspite of the fact that they looked down upon on their intelligence.  All in all, the women prove that Minnie murdered her husband because he had come in one day and heard the bird singing and wrung its neck.  Minnie therefore strangled her husband in anger, most likely from years of anger that had built up inside and the bird was the only thing keeping her sane.  The story is a great illustration of how gender roles have changed over the years from the story’s roles to today’s society as there are many women in power positions such as detectives.

Battle Royal

Battle Royal, written by Ralph Ellison, is a sort of excerpt from his famous The Invisible Man.  I was not fond of most of the story as it was semiconfusing.  Wether it was the introduction regarding the narrators search within to the graduation speech or the invitation to the ballroom where a battle royal was mysteriously taken place to the final ending where the narrator receives his reward, the story was full of twists and turns that were unsuspected.

The central theme of racism makes me believe that this took place in the ’60s when African Americans were fighting for liberties but still had colleges for African Americans.  The narrator gives in an incredible speech at his segregated high school and is asked to go to an event at a ballroom where white dignitaries will attend to hear his speech.  Unsuspectingly, the narrator arrives and is thrown into a battle royal with nine other mine to fight.  Prior to the fight, a naked women entertained the men which was extremely suprising to me.  After being struck hard enough to bleed, the narrator eventually gets to read his speech to a rude, laughing crowd.  However, to my suprise, the end brought an applause, scholarship to an African American college, and brief case.

This story was extremely confusing at times but brings out the issues of racism in the ’60s and builds upon the idea that the white man had an institutionalized privilege like no other back in the day.

A Rose for Emily

“A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner was a very troubling story.  Emily Grierson, a troubled woman, in so many different aspects, died at age 74 and Faulkner writes about her morbid life in the town of Jefferson.  In several sequences, the story is told about Emily and how her father abandoned her, an awful smell coming from her home that causes a stir, her relationship with Homer Barron, and in the end,  a long struggle with society that involved her leaving Homer’s corpse to rot on her bed.

In the time that I spent reading the story, I continued to be confused with how the story was written; the flashbacks, point of view, and all in all, the plot of the story.  One this is for sure though, I was constantly flabbergasted with the grotesque style of writing that Faulkner portrayed in “A Rose for Emily”.  In my opinion, the story is has a very intriguing plot but could have had a stronger and easier method of telling the story of Emily Grierson.

In conclusion, “A Rose for Emily” was a very intriguing yet hard to follow short story written by William Faulkner.  Emily’s life was told through the eyes of a townsman and although it was extremely difficult to follow at times, Emily’s tough path to death at the age of 74, from the loss of her father, the death of Homer, and finally her separation from humanity, I can see why we would read this story in this class.  All in all, I would not say this was my favorite story but I would also say that it was interesting and had some strong, intriguing aspects to it.

Hills Like White Elephants

“Hills Like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, was not my favorite story but in my opinion, it has a strong, short plot.  The short story, based mostly on a conversation between a couple starts by the girl talking about the hills in the distance and them looking like white elephants.  The description is important to the girl but the man dives right into the basis of the story.

 

The couple begins to discuss the idea of Jig, the girl in the story, having an abortion.  The main topic that keeps getting thrown back and forth between the couple is if their relationship would go back to being the same way it was prior to the pregnancy.  Jig continually looks for the reassurance from her boyfriend but as the story moves on, Jig seems to lean more and more towards having the baby.  The boyfriend on the other hand, thinks that the abortion is an easy procedure and in a quiet manner, tries to imply that he wants that (although he continues to tell Jig that he will love her no matter what).

 

Jig finally realizes, as many women do, that no matter what her decision is, life will never be the same.  Therefore, she decides, in a concealed manner that she will keep the baby.  Whether or not the couple stays together is unknown.  However, I think the couple will break up because the boyfriend is so against having the baby (he doesn’t say it but that’s what I believe from the dialogue).

 

All in all, I thought this story is a good representative of the pro-life, pro-choice fight that will always be in the eye of our society.  Jig and her boyfriend have an afternoon discussion as do many couples every day.  Depending on the way you view life, one option may be the only option or both options may exist and if that is the case, the couple must make a life changing decision.  However, does their life really get any better with either choice if they have to really think about the options?

The Use of Force

“She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such an outcome as this.” This line summarizes the main plot of “The Use of Force” written by William Carlos Williams.  The young girl, Mathilda, has diphtheria which is a disease in the throat that can cause death.  Williams writes an extremely short story that allows the reader to see the events happening through the eyes of the doctor that is trying to examine Mathilda.

 

In my opinion, I believe the main theme of this story is fear of death.  Mathilda knew that other children had the disease in her school, knew their symptoms, and as a result, knew she potentially could die like her classmates.  Throughout this semester, we have looked at stories from several writers but Hawthorne and Poe clearly stand out.  This story has a lot of Hawthorne qualities as it describes the human aspect of life and the moral and social values that disease and fear of death play in the world.  In contrast, Mathilda’s thrashing and vicious actions towards the doctor could be considered Poe’s influence.

 

All in all, “The Use of Force” is a short but strong story that portrays the fear of Mathilda towards her potential death of diphtheria.  The fear of death is common amongst many people but others do not fear it at all because they know that they will go to a better life.  This aspect of society varies and is an interesting piece of the psychological breakdown of the world.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, written by Katherine Anne Porter was a very intriguing short story.  First of all, the title threw me off immediately as I did not know what to expect.  However, as I began to read the story, I started to understand what the premise of Porter’s ideas was going to lead to.  Granny Weatherall is an 80 year old woman who is on her death bed.  Her personality and heart is still very strong.  The reader discovers this a lot when Granny uses a lot of sarcasm and “tongue” with Doctor Harry.  However, Granny has lost a lot “up stairs”.  She believes that it isn’t her last day to live and she does hallucinate as to who she is talking to.

 

As the story moves along, her family members and the local priest show up because they know it is her time to pass on.  Granny Weatherall did not want to believe it although she saw signs of light change and noticed all of her family.  The conversations were not coherent though.  Her preparation for death years back was still not enough as death finally was upon her.  “She stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light.”  This final line that Katherine Anne Porter uses is key to the conclusion of the story because it sums up the light changes and ultimately ended her beating heart.

 

All in all, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a strong short story that really showed the human aspect of the final hours leading up to death.  Whether it was the visiting doctor or the stories about her husband and almost-husband, Granny Weatherall lived her last day to the fullest and her family was there to see her off to the next life/world and I hope that I can live my life and in the end, my last day to the fullest with the people who I love most.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is a very sneaky story in my opinion.  Peyton Farquhar, the main character in the short story, is on a plank at Owl Creek Bridge where he is about to be hung by the Union (he is a confederate) for a very minuscule reason.  Never the less, Farquhar is to be hung.  However, author Ambrose Bierce throws in two unique aspects to the way the story flows to trick the reader.

 

First, Bierce begins the story at present day with Farquhar on the plank, seconds away from being hung.  He then stops the scene and begins a whole new section with “II” and goes to the reason for his hanging.  This then develops into a dream that Farquhar has.  This dream is the main catch.  I, as I am sure others were the same way, were blown away by the fact that Bierce spends almost the entire story explaining his escape and making the reader believe he has actually reached his wife and can be happy again, only to complete Farquhar’s death by hanging.

 

This short story written by Bierce is an incredible tricky story when reading it for the first time.  Multiple readings will never have the same impact as the first because of the trickery in the dream and the intense ending; “Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.”  All in all, I enjoyed this story because of its description and way that it put me in Farquhar’s head and let me see what he was seeing whether it was a dream or not.