Response: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

This story was quite disturbing to me, personally. I am not quite sure why, but it definitely shook me up. I was scared for Connie and was extremely disappointed and sad when she ended up going with Arnold Friend and Ellie in the car. I realize that she didn't necessarily want to do this, but the fact that she did was saddening. Ultimately, I thought that this story was a new sort of "coming-of-age" tale that focused on the harder aspects of growing up, rather than the cheerful and fun aspects that most stories focus on.

The beginning of the story is focused on showing the readers how desperately Connie wants to be separated from her family. The author spends most of those first few paragraphs describing how different Connie is from the rest of her family and I think that this is done in part to show Connie's perspective. While the story is not written with Connie as the narrator, I thought that this aspect of the writing gave great insight into Connie's perspective. The author does a great job of painting Connie's family in a negative light in order to show how she sees them and how she feels when she is around them. I think that this is a good representation of how many teenage girls feel at one point or another in the process of growing up. There is often a sort of alienation that is felt and the author shows that in her writing. This was all an effective method of setting up the main action in the story.

When Connie first sees Arnold at her house, she is not exactly eager to see him but she is also not completely opposed. She seems to be toying with the idea of at least talking with him. This playful spirit is quick to leave, giving Connie a sense of discomfort and fear. This is what often happens when a teenager first does something on their own; they get scared. There is excitement surrounding the idea of being on your own but fear is often an accompanying emotion because it is a new experience and there are lots of unknowns in the situation. In Connie's case, the fear is legitimate and should be attended to, while in other situations the fear should rather be overcome. Connie overcomes her fear of Arnold by screaming and releasing emotion. This might be a good strategy if the situation poses no real threat, but for her, it was a a bad choice.

The story ends as Connie walks out the door to Arnold, seemingly unaware of what she is doing. She sees the land all around Arnold and has no idea what is to come, but simply that she has just made the decision to go there. I saw this ending as one filled with consequences, concerns and fears. This is why this story saddened me. I wanted justice in the situation and for her to be strong in her decision to stay inside. But unfortunately, this is not always the case in real life situations, so it doesn't have to be in stories either.

Response: Saboteur

This is a very ironic story in which Mr. Chiu experiences injustice within the Chinese government and reacts in the only way that he knows how. He is wronged by police (government officials) and is forced into a moral dilemma in order to regain his freedom. This story has a lot to say about injustice in the world and how people are often forced to deal with it.
When I asked myself what this story was about, I came to the conclusion that it is ultimately about a cycle of injustice. I have always been incredibly bothered by stories of injustice, so reading this story got me fired up. I was very upset that the police treated this man the way that they did, despite my lack of jovial feelings towards Mr. Chiu. He wasn't a likable character as introduced in the story. The fact that he saw a honeymoon as an obligation and was happy to be through with it did not make me fond of him. I suppose that some of this could be attributed to the culture, but it was nonetheless a little bit disturbing. So despite his unlikable characteristics, I was still upset by the police and their actions. I was also upset by the way the prison keepers treated him. I thought that their characters represented the corrupting nature of power in a couple of ways. They were given a little bit of power within the system and they used it to exploit an innocent man. Then they used that same power to harm another innocent man. They were put in charge of very little so they used the power that they did have to harm others and make themselves feel more important.
I had a hard time reading the story when it got to the part about the lawyer and Mr. Chiu's decision to either lie and accept responsibility for the crime, in turn setting himself and the lawyer free, or to stick to his guns and remain in prison and take the lawyer's life as well. I was pleased, however, to see that Mr. Chiu chose the first option. He stopped the cycle of injustice (momentarily, as we will see) by accepting blame for something that he did not do. He showed compassion to his lawyer student and was humble enough to plead guilty for a ridiculous crime. This was encouraging to me, and made me think that the story might be describing the human condition in a more positive light. However, this wasn't the case.
When Mr. Chiu is freed from prison with the lawyer, he is not satisfied with his freedom as recompense for his time in prison and the injustice which he experienced. Instead, he knows that his body is ridden with illness and he chooses to spread that illness all over the town. Many people die from hepatitis after he goes on his dining spree, and this is where the cycle of injustice continues. The people that died were most likely in no way related to the corrupt prison keepers, yet they suffered.
After reading this story I began to question whether or not injustice and cruelty to each other is truly a cycle, or if the story is simply portraying it as such. I came to the conclusion that I think that we face a series of choices each day that can either help or harm others whether directly or indirectly and we need to be careful how we choose.

Response: In the American Society

I found this story to be very interesting and thought provoking. I think one of the main reasons for this was the separation that I felt between myself and the characters. I do not have any similar experiences to those written about in the book and my socioeconomic situation is different than that of the author and the characters. These differences helped me to see a different perspective and put myself in someone else's shoes.

One of the most interesting things about this story was the separation of the two "societies" to "his own" and "American society." It seemed to me that the father had separated the two societies in his mind and chose to live in his own society while being forced to live in American society. He approached business differently, interacts with his neighbors differently and simply lived in a different way than the people around him were living. This is evident in the way that he ran the diner and the manner in which he hired employees and dealt with their legal issues. He wasn't concerned with the issues that most American business owners deal with, such as legality of their employees, etc. He was more concerned with making money and being successful in the present, and ignored the potential for bigger issues.

The father also conducted his social life in a way that reflects his individual view of society. The way that he interacted at the party "in American society" showed that he still viewed himself as an outsider in a foreign society. He was unable to interact with the Americans comfortably because they seemed to lack a "common ground." This gave me insight into the lives of immigrants, not only years ago, but in today's society as well. I have not ever felt this way but I have neighbors that are from Korea and I have had similar encounters with them. Reading this story made me realize the possible extent to which immigrants might experience feelings of displacement or discomfort in their new environments.

Over all, to me this story was mostly about awareness. Through reading this story I felt like I was able to expand my horizons and better understand what an immigrant might feel when immersed in American culture for the first time. I also began to think of some of the ridiculous customs and traditions that we consider to be "norms" and how other cultures might perceive these customs. We, as a society, do not do a very good job of welcoming other cultures into our own and tend to expect people from other cultures to assimilate to our own quickly and without any difficulty. To me, this is a bad system and requires some updating. Unfortunately, that would require many changes to many different view points across an entire population.

Response: The Cask of Amontillado

After seeing Edgar Allen Poe's name on this story, I knew that I should expect it to be disturbing in some form or another. My expectations were definitely met as I proceeded to read the story.

I must admit that the story was confusing at points because of the language. I don't know much about wine and the way that the story was written made it a little bit difficult to understand exactly what was going on. However, once I did figure out what was going on and what the story was about, I realized that this story has a lot to say about relationships and the human condition.

The relationship between the two characters in the story seems to be characteristic of many relationships today. They appear to be friends from an outsider's perspective, but on the inside there are feelings of bitterness, resentment and animosity. Readers are aware of this because of the way that the narrator begins the story. He tells us that he has suffered thousands of injuries from Fortunato and that he bore them as best he could, but had vowed revenge. Through this we see that he is trying to keep up the front of friendship but has no true feelings of friendship for this man. I think that this pattern is common among adults today. We may not like someone or have been hurt by them, but for the sake of keeping up appearances we will mask those feelings and be friendly to the person. While this may be an effective means of saving face for a while, we see in this story that it will not last and that true emotions will eventually be revealed. In this case, they built up and caused the narrator to seek an awful revenge.

The narrator takes advantage of Fortunato's state of inebriation and tricks him into believing that he is looking out for his best interest, when in reality, his intentions are the opposite. He also calls Fortunato "friend" many times throughout the story, further convincing Fortunato that he and the narrator are on good terms. After all of the convincing that the narrator does, Forunato is trusting of the narrator and walks blindly into his trap. Many times, this happens to people who are not cautious in their actions or aware of the ways in which they impact those around them. They do not realize that others might be upset with them and are in turn too trusting of those that they have hurt.

Once Montresor has completed the task of walling in Fortunato, he lets out a loud scream. I saw this as a sort of release of his emotions and realization that he could not ever fully receive closure and peace about the situation with his friend. This is especially due to the manner in which he chose to handle the dispute with Fortuato. He ran from conflict and was deceitful, and now he has to live with the consequences. While his choice to murder Fortunato may have brought some relief, I assume that his guilt will counteract that. I think that this story shows the depths of depravity of the human condition and the importance of honesty in dealing with conflict, as opposed to running from them.

Response: The Story of an Hour

In my opinion, this story was heartbreaking and maddening. I felt for the woman when she lost her husband and was frustrated by her extremely short grieving process. I don't believe that she could have actually completed the process in an hour, because it takes people months, and even years, to grieve the loss of a spouse. I think that the author minimized this by giving the woman an attitude that looks beyond this present moment. "She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that 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 a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome."Making plans based on this sort of attitude is a dangerous thing to do, and Josephine learns this lesson quickly, but not soon enough at the same time. She receives immense joy from the thought of having freedom to live "for herself" and when her husband returns and her new world view is suddenly flipped upside down, she dies. She goes through a huge swing of emotion and experiences both the highest high and lowest low within an hour. To me, this just seems unhealthy, and is proved to be so in the story.
It is also clear through this story that the author, Kate Chopin, is of the feminist mindset. This was evident to me through the joy that Josephine found in the loss of her husband. The author chooses to make the situation more about Josephine's gain of freedom as opposed to her loss of a loved one. She also shows Josephine questioning her love for her husband. This idea an extremely feminist idea, as well as the idea of women not needing men, or even being worse off with a husband than without one. I don't typically take a feminist stance on issues, so I did not particularly agree with Chopin.
Overall, the story seemed to be a good avenue for thought on topics such as marriage, love and relational independence.

Response: The Man Who Was Almost a Man

After reading "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" I would consider it to be a rather sad and disappointing story in the sense that the boy, the main character, fails to show growth throughout the story. He so desperately wants to be a man and be grown up but his actions show that he is still immature in judgement and responsibility. The reader is lead to this realization in many places throughout the story and the conclusion of the story is especially telling of Dave's continuing immaturity.

To Dave, the gun means manhood and independence. He doesn't even receive the money from his own pay check yet so he has never bought anything like this on his own. He also is still too intimidated to directly ask his father for the money and permission to buy the gun. These things all show signs of immaturity in Dave. His desire to be considered a man has not yet translated over to his actions and he still acts like a boy. His decision to get on the train at the end of the story tells me that he is still very immature because he is running from his problems. He has created a mess for himself and rather than doing the work to clean things up and make things right with his boss and family, he runs. After disobeying his mother, shooting the gun and killing Jenny, he is in trouble with his boss and family and he is incredibly ashamed. In this shame, he makes another poor decision and lies about what he has done with the gun. The gun goes from representing his freedom, independence and manhood to representing his boyish and shameful actions and thought processes, onto which he is still clinging. This choice, of course, leads to more trouble and the growth of bitter emotions inside of the boy. He got off the hook relatively easy for what he had done, but he is still angry and refuses to accept his punishment and therefore accept responsibility. I believe that responsibility is one of the most important characteristics associated with maturity. His boss and his family had shown him grace for the most part, but he doesn't choose to see that. It seems to me that he is choosing to see himself as the victim in the situation because he will have to work for a long time to pay for Jenny. This thinking is twisted and doesn't fit with the model of manliness and maturity that I believe he is looking for.

I think that this story goes to show that maturity and growth cannot come from physical events in someones life. Symbols of maturity are just that, symbolic. They don't mean anything unless the person receiving the symbol is ready for it. For Dave, it was the gun. He wanted a gun because of the message it would send to the people around him. He thought that he would get respect by carrying a gun. He quickly found out that this isn't the case, but was not able to follow through and take responsibility when the opportunity to do so arose. In my opinion, if he were to have stayed, told the truth about the gun and not emptied it he would be much better off in terms of being a man. But he didn't, and that is why I believe he was only "almost a man."

Response: Hills Like White Elephants

This is the fourth time that I have read Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" allowing me to approach the reading with some previous knowledge of the symbolism, etc. I know that there are multiple ways to interpret this story and in my opinion, this story serves as an excellent allegory for American views and lifestyles post World War I, when this story is thought to have been written.

The American in the story can be seen advising his lover (most likely a much younger girl) to have an abortion. This is implied at multiple points throughout the story. He assumes that an abortion will fix whatever problems are occurring in their relationship because he thinks that the pregnancy is what caused them in the first place. This is a great example of the kinds of lives that Americans were leading in the 1920's. They were looking for immediate pleasure, and living more wildly than they had been, especially during the war. It could also be said that there was a lack of responsibility in this era, which is clearly depicted through this story. The American does not want to assume responsibility and face the consequences of his actions, and the girl seems to be looking for more. By saying that all they do is "look at things and try new drinks" she seems to be saying that she wants more from life. She has a desire to face challenges (i.e. the baby on the way) while he is happy with life as it is and wants a quick fix for conflict rather than confrontation and resolution.

When you compare the "white elephants" in the distance to the conflict in the couples' life, which is the baby, it is easy to see the differences in the man and woman's thoughts on the matter. The woman says they look beautiful. She sees the challenge of raising a child to be an inviting one. She sees beauty in the baby. They man, on the other hand, seems to see the hills as trouble looming in the distance. He is made uncomfortable by the fact that she refers to the hills as "white elephants" because it reminds him of the baby and the shape of a pregnant woman. He sees the white elephants as being an awful challenge, threatening to destroy him and the carefree life that he has created.

The maturity of each character is also depicted in this story, showing the lack of responsibility held by both characters. The girl is not only young, making her antics seem very immature, she handles the argument with the man by asking him to stop talking and pretending to be fine. She ignores the real problems at hand and settles for a quick fix of simply ending the conversation. The man shows his lack of maturity and responsibility by treating an abortion as a simple and painless procedure that would have no lasting effects. In this sense, he is completely ignorant and selfish. He argues with the girl not because he wants what is best for her, but because he doesn't want to lose his comfortable lifestyle. Their interactions throughout the entire story show the lack of understanding and responsibility in their relationship.

Overall, I did not enjoy reading this story, because of the style in which it is written and the lack of resolution in the end. I did, however, enjoy the symbolism and the process of decoding some of that. On the surface, this story seems dry, but when there is another layer of meaning hidden behind it, the story comes to life and becomes thought provoking.