A Rose For Emily

The story starts out with Emily’s funeral and then it goes back to talk about Emily’s life and events that took place up to her time of death.
The narrator of the story are the townspeople, they talked about how the “whole town went to her funeral” (206) and other parts of the story the narrator uses the word we when telling the story.
Emily buys arsenic and poisons Homer. Emily felt alone most of her life, losing her father was hard on her. After her father died I think Emily felt she was truly alone. She was a very lonely person. When Emily starts dating Homer, I think she was scared that he would leave her; he had said “that he was not a marrying man” (210). I feel that Emily was so scared of being alone that she killed him so he would never leave her. She kept him in the upstairs bedroom and even slept in the same bed while he was decaying away. The story kept you interested leading up to the events that happened in the story.

Did I get it?

I am good with computers but this blogging thing got me stumped for the last two weeks. I almost gave up on it. But, I think I got it and it was nothing. I think I just got overly frustrated. So, I am posting this so I can go back on and make sure it posted!! -Katie

A & P

The story A & P by John Updike is a story about conformity. In the story the town has certain social standards in which they find acceptable and they have unwritten “rules” about how the people in the town should dress. Sammy refers to all of the customers as “sheep” (221). As Sammy was watching the girls walk down the aisle he made the comment that they were walking “against the usual traffic” (221). This shows that even in the store there was a set standard by the way they walked down an isle in the store. They each followed each other in the direction they were going. As if it was an unwritten rule that you need to follow. Another example of the town having socially accepted standards is Lengels reaction to the girls’ appearance. He made it known to them that their outfits were only acceptable at the beach not in public. He felt so strongly about this that he repeated this statement twice. The town had such high standards as to what was adequate that when Sammy confronted Lengel about embarrassing the girls Lengels response was “It was they who were embarrassing us” (223). This showed that if you were different that others it was wrong and that everyone should act/look the same. Sammy quitting showed that he didn’t want to follow the standards that were set in the town and that he was no longer a follower. Sammy realized that because he turned against conformity he would have many struggles going off on his own. He displayed this in the text by saying “my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (224). The reasons that led to Sammy quitting were very good reasons. The first reason was that watching the girls acting rebellious made him want to be free too. He found their attitude and uniqueness intriguing. Seeing how unique they were compared to the other customers is shown in the text in the statement “The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle—the girls walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything)—were pretty hilarious” (221). Another reason that Sammy quit was because he was upset with Lengel embarrassing the girls for dressing how they wanted to dress and because Lengel told him that the girls embarrassed “us” (as in the town) (223). Sammy also felt that nothing would ever change if he didn’t stand up for the change he wanted to see as shown in the sentence “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it” (223). This was also Sammy’s epiphany. If he wanted to see a change in the standards that the town had he would have to stand up for them. It he didn’t quit he wouldn’t be giving in to the conformity. Sammy realized this after Lengel had embarrassed the girls for being different and while he was putting the herrings in a bag. If Sammy stayed he would be a follower to and he didn’t want that anymore.

Story of an Hour

In Story of an Hour, the author, Kate Chopin (I feel) demonstrates her resentment towards men by writing this piece with all direction of life without being bound to a man.
The story begins when a women; Mrs. Mallard is informed that her husband Brently Mallard was killed in a railroad accident. This naturally causes her despair and heartache. She falls asleep in her chair in gazing out the window. I think the significance in paragraph 5 is that she ends her feeling of despair and is kind of gazing, searching for a feeling that is tugging at her. I feel that Mrs. Mallard may have been abused by her husband, or even she maybe was married to Brently as a result of an arranged marriage and just never truly loved him perpetually. I think what she meant by: "suspension of intelligent thought"(193) is that while she's gazing off, it isn't in reflection of good times had with her husband, she is in search of something such as her silver lining. The opposite of this state of being, is found in passage 11, when this feeling that was tugging at her finally clicked: she was "Free, free, free!" (194). She was filled with excitement of her life to come without burden or containment. I feel the climax of this story really is found in paragraph 16: which really just a sentence: "Free! Body and soul free!" All points leads up to this state of being, for example, even at her death, it wasn't really elaborated on or even slightly set up as the main point of the story.
I really feel this reading as a narrator is telling the story, you could view it as the townspeople telling the story, but I don't get that vibe. One thing I also would like to comment about: "There was a feverish triumph in her eyes" (194). It could be taken due to the fact she had lost her mind. Possibly a kind of shock? In closing, it is interesting the way the author: Kate Chopin sets this story up, so mysterious, it makes it completely ambiguous. Which makes it a good reading story, but not something that could be made into a movie.

The Yellow Wallpaper

At the end of the story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the narrator who we may know or may not know as Jane has become hopeless. She is starting to think that she is a part of the wallpaper and is living in it. She thinks that she too is one of the many women who are escaping out of the yellow wallpaper. She refers to her freedom from the paper and her husband as well as the life she was living in the passage "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (378). She feels as if she was forced to live this life that led her to insanity. Throughout the story she starts off as somewhat sane and refers to surroundings as any person would do. She is very descriptive and hopeful in her passages, especially "There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden--large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lines with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them" (367). Then as the story continues to progress she becomes to be more weak and negative, having no hope little by little. What was once a middle-class optimist woman, she now is a weak, despairing pessimist. At the end she is simply existent in her mind. Nothing around her matters anymore and she too, body and soul is starting to dwindle. So many things bother the narrator about the house, room and surroundings that abide her. She first off does not understand as to how they couldv'e afforded this summer house, she thinks it could be haunted. She also notices a smell that surrounds her and believes it is coming out of the yellow wallpaper. She begins to become fond of it but in the end she believes as if the yellow wallpaper has swallowed her whole and she finally escaped and she ripped it down. She is very aware of her surroundings and how they began to encompass her. This story makes you feel like you are in there with her and suffocating as she tries to escape.

"Story of An Hour"

In “Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses paragraph 5 not as a way to move the plot along but as a means of showing the reader Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings about her husband’s death. The window she is gazing out of represents a whole set of possibilities for this new widow. She is like the “tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (193). The end of her husband’s life signifies the beginning of her new, free life. Just as the sparrows have been liberated from the bitterness of winter, she too has been liberated from her husband’s controlling grasp. “The notes of a distant song” (193) symbolize the lighthearted, carefree life that awaits her. For a moment in the story Mrs. Mallard “indicated a suspension of intelligent thought” (193). She is not yet thinking clearly. In her own way, she is soaking in the fact that her husband is truly gone. However, by paragraph 11 she realizes she has been liberated and begins to repeat the phrase “free, free, free” (194). This paragraph states that “the vacant stare and the look that had followed it went from her eyes” (194) because Mrs. Mallard has now gained control of her conscious thoughts. The sentence “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (194) strongly states the story’s significance. Mrs. Mallard believes she has been released from the life in which she was bound to her husband and his controlling ways. She will now have the ability to make decisions on her own and live according to her own desires.

The Story of an Hour

In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, I feel that windows were opening up and promises of a better tomorrow were being made when reading paragraph 5(193) . It doesn’t move the plot along but it makes the reader think that when even in times of sadness, good things can be around the corner. All one has to do is open their window and smell the fresh smells of the earth, listen to the sounds around them and know that only blue skies are ahead. I think that this foreshadowing is what made me think that she was secretly glad her husband had died.
I think that “suspension of intelligent thought” means that Mrs. Mallard is finally taking in that her husband has died and she has to think hard about the fact that she is actually going to be free.
When Mrs. Mallard’s eyes stayed keen and bright, diminishing the vacant stare and look of terror (194) is the opposite of her being in a suspension of intelligent thought.
I choose the passage, “There would be no one to live for during those upcoming years; she would live for herself” (194). I chose this sentence because I can relate to it. Being a young wife and mother of three I sometimes wish myself back to simpler times when I only had to worry about myself. Taking care of a family brings on a lot more responsibility and stress than only making sure one’s self is happy.

'A Rose for Emily'

I believe the story was written by many different views of the residents in town. The fact that the narator never refered to as "I" or "me", rather it was "we", as in everyone in town. I felt like I was sitting around listening to a few different people talking about what had accured with Emily and her life. The sad things that happen to her that made her what she was toward the end of her life.
Emily obviously had mental health problems. More than likely they were heretitary, and also from the enviroment that she lived in with her father. Even though it seem like an odd relationship between her and her father she didn't want to let him go or I should say his body. I think that is why she kept the murder of Homer a secret, as well as his body. It was keeping him with her in body even if she couldn't have him with her anyother way.

A Rose for Emily

The short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is not in chronological order to give readers a foreshadowing. The author gives hints as to what will happen next in the story. The narrator of the story is one of the people who live in the town as shown, “our whole town went to her funeral”. This has the effects of giving readers a sense of hearing about it from someone close to the story instead of an outsider. Emily did not want to lose another loved person in her life like the ones she had lost before. When her dad had died she had not wanted to give up the body of her father, denying he had even died. “Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly”. So by killing Homer and putting him in the bedroom she was able to keep Homer close to her evident by the “ long iron-gray hair” found next to him on the pillow.

"A Rose for Emily"

In "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner the story is being told by the town’s people. In the beginning of the story the narrator says, "Our whole town went" (206) and throughout the rest of the story the narrator uses phrases like, "we were" (209 and "we watched" (211). As the narrator the town’s people are telling about their experiences with Emily whether it is in the present at her funeral and going into her house for the first time or in the past when they would see her walking around town or going to the store to get poison. The way that the story goes back and forth makes me as a reader get the notion that the town’s people have been watching Emily for a long time and it gives me the sense that Emily is an outsider in the town. While Emily's father was alive he drove the young men away from her (208) so when he died the only person close to her was Homer. Emily killed Homer with the poison and I believe that she did this because she was afraid of being all alone and she did not want him to leave again (210). Emily wanted Homer to be with her forever so that she did not have to be alone. I think that this is evident when the pillow next to the body of Homer is found with a piece of Emily's hair (212).

Hello,
This is my first time posting on a blog page. I'm a little nervous about this class, hopefully everything will go smoothly with no problems. I'm not the best at writing papers, they really scare me.

The Story of an Hour

In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, it seems to reach out to many people who might have every felt trapped in a relationship. Most people who recieve news about their loved one dying would grieve. However in Mrs. Mallard's case she finally felt free and untroubled. In paragraph 5 I believe it is stating how she now felt young again, she felt as if she was an entirely new person with a purpose. I believe Chopin may have used the passage "suspension of intelligent thought" (193) because Mrs. Mallard was not in her conscious mind. She could feel but not think clearly at the moment. When the passage "She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her" (194) refers to how she knew what she felt but could not think about what she was feeling, she was too overcomed with joy. My favorite passage in the story would have to be "There would be no one to live for during those coming years. She would live for herself." (194). It just goes to show that even in times of happiness or sorrow it is your life that you are living and you need to remember that it has its ups and downs. She although is sad at first and then overcome with joy she realizes that she needs to live for herself now that there is no one to look after any longer.

A Rose for Emily Unit 2 Blog

In the story A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, i believe the narrator would be the towns people. For example "our whole town went to the funeral" 206. I seems that maybe after her death, everyone had their story to tell and this is how it was all compiled. On page 208, "When we saw her again her hair was cut short", this makes me feel that it was many people telling what they knew or more or less their story. Emily has been kept from relationships due to her father feeling that none of them were quite good enough 208, so Emily made sure due to the emptiness she felt after her fathers death, that Homer would never leave her. She went and purchased arsenic 209, and people thought it was to kill herself 210, but it was intended for something else. After Emily's passing, when Emily's cousins arrived 211, it unfolds to me that Emily gave the arsenic to Homer to keep him with her forever.

Hi I finally got here i think. My first blog i hope it works!

A Rose for Emily Blog

In the story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner the narrator is Emily’s neighbors. I can tell this by how the narrator always says “we” and how they say “our whole town” (206). This influences the development of the story because the neighbors narrate in the present of what they are witnessing, and they flashback to what happened in Emily’s life that caused what they are witnessing to occur. It also influences the tone of the story. Since they are narrating they make Emily seem rather crazy and harsh. Where if Emily was narrating she probably wouldn’t make herself appear crazy or harsh. An example of this would be in the story when she was trying to get the arsenic from the pharmacist and the text reads “Is…arsenic? Yes ma’am. But you want--” “I want arsenic.” “The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a strained flag.”(209). Another example of this is when her father died and when people would come to see her she would tell them that her father wasn’t dead. In the story Emily killed Homer using arsenic and then put his body in the upstairs bed in a room filled with men things. Emily falls in love with Homer and he’s her last chance at getting married because of her age. Now that her father had died she would be able to marry him. The only problem is that Homer didn’t feel the same way and an example of this in the text was “Homer himself had remarked—he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club—that he was not a marrying man”.(210). After killing Homer she would lay next to him in the bed he lay in. It is almost like she was living a married fantasy in that upstairs room with the dead Homer as her husband. She wanted to marry him but since he was going to leave her she had to kill him so she could be with him forever.

"The Story of an Hour", unit 2 Blog

In paragraph 5 the author’s paragraph does not move the plot, but it does convey her thoughts. The sentences in the paragraph all pertain to happy things, for example, “new spring life”, and “delicious breath of rain”. These thoughts are all of happy things, just as the thought of her husband being dead was a happy thought to her.
By the phrase, “suspension of intelligent thought,” I think that Chopin is referring to her thinking hard about what terrible things her husband had done to her to cause her unhappiness. The passage that I think is the opposite of this is, “The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes.”
The one passage that I would pick from this story to sum up the theme and feeling is found near the end of the story before she finds out that he is still alive. “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” This paragraph just states that she would be so much happier without her husband and life would be better, it would be worth living.

I do not consider myself technically advanced, nor am I a total newby. However, this blogging has got me rethinking what is good or not so great.
I personally love cookies but after 4 days of error messages, I am not craving a plate of them right now. In the past I had thought of fire as bad and a fox was not my favorite animal. Today I have found both of them to be my friend whereas the explorer, well, not so much.
I am quickly discovering that I have a lot to learn.

Hello all

I too am 23 years old and this is my first blog. I think that this is going to be a great class being I love writing. Even know I am a little shaky with grammar and spelling sometimes I still love it. Hope everyone has a great time in this class as I know I will.

Also New!

Well, I am also new to blogging, but it seems like many of us are! This is also my first online class so I am a little nervous to get started. I'm sure once we're into the swing of things all will be well!

My First Blog...EVER!

Wow...23 and this is the first time I have blogged...is blogged the correct term? Anyway, I'm Darin, looking forward to a good semester of good ole English!

Into to Blogging for College Writing II

Hey Everyone,

I am so nervous for this class because I have just graduated so i'm a beginner. I also have never taken an online class. It is already so weird. The hardest part I think is to try and stay on top of things and get everything in on time because you do not have a teacher telling you everyday what you have to do. Hope that we are all successful. Good luck to everyone!

Carly

interesting online news

On Yahoo! News, there was a story of a young girl who was kidnapped in 1991. She had turned herself in to a police department in California. I can’t imagine being the parents of that girl, to have her return 18 years older then the last time they had seen her. She would now be 29 years old and apparently has 2 children from the man who had kidnapped her. I can't imagine how psychologically messed up she is, and how hard it will be to get back to a "normal" life.

WOW!!! I just Blogged!

Hello everyone. My name is Rachael and I've never even attempted to blog before and I'm quite confused. I am excited to work with all of you throughout the semester. Have a good week.
Rachael

Learning a new skill~ Blogging!

Hello there!

I am so relieved to hear that I am not the only one who has never blogged before!! I have always been interested in documenting the months of my life on a blog for my friends and family to read throughout the year, so this is great practice! I look forward to working with each member of this class and can't wait to learn from everyone. This blogging thing is also a new learning adventure that I am excited to experience! Have a wonderful week and happy blogging!

New to Blogging

Hi everyone. This will be my first blog! Well, I have read about them and looked at a few but have never had the chance to do one. It should be pretty interesting. I love the internet and it seems pretty simple so far. If anyone has any tips to share that would be great. Thanks!

First Blog

Hello Class,
This is my first blog post and I would like to extend my greeting to fellow bloggers. Even though I've participated in reading fellow's blogs in the past, this class will give me an opportunity to share hopefully some interesting things about myself. I wish everyone the best.

Beginner Blogger

Hello fellow classmates, this isn't my first blog but definately my first writing blog. The only blogs I have done are pictures of my family for distant family members to enjoy. I am looking forward to meeting all of you and sharing my views with you. Thank You!