Doe Season

In the story "Doe Season" by David Kaplan, Andy relishes in the thought that "They were the same woods..."(par 1). Andy thinks of the woods as being stable and never changing. Throughout this story Andy comes to realize that while growing up, things change and life is not quite so simple as it is when one is a child. Growing up a person comes to have more responsibilities and that things are always changing.
Andy thinks the ocean is like the world, "huge and empty, yet always moving." (par 45). Andy feels the ocean is similar to the unknown. As a child becomes older, they tend to venture out farther into the world and they learn all of the obstacles that a person must overcome to survive. Andy states, "If you walked in it, you couldn't see how deep it was or what might be below; if you swam, something could pull you under and you'd never be seen again." (par 45). This means that when you walk out into the world for the first time, say as a high school graduate, you are not quite sure how far to venture, you are a little intimidated by the unknown. If you swim a little farther out, meaning if you get caught up into something like drugs or the wrong crowd of people, it could break you.

Doe Season Question #3

The woods consist of the same trees, with small changes year after year, giving life and offering support, much as parents do with young children. Life is easy in the woods, peaceful and relaxing with not much demand. You can take your time, have fun and enjoy all parts of the forest (animals, smells, sounds). The forest has everything at hand that one would need to survive, streams for drinking, berries for eating, leaves for shade and branches for a bed. The woods in this story are a comparison of the childhood life that Andy is about to leave behind, in theory, with this hunting trip. While in direct contrast the ocean, as stated " it frightened her. It was huge and empty, yet always moving" (Kaplan 459) compares to teenage years and adult life she is about to enter. The ocean moves fast and is very loud, with each incoming wave, new water arrives. The sand at your feet is ever-changing, sometimes supporting you and at other times being swept from under your feet as you stand. The ocean is very demanding and one needs to be quick, fast and ready to react if a large swell comes up suddenly. Swimming in the ocean takes a great responsibility with regards to personal safety, not only with the pull of the waves but with things that are hidden beneath the surface.

"Doe Season"

In the story "Doe Season" Andy, a young girl has went on a hunting trip with her father and also another father and his son. As the four of them are driving out to the woods she starts to think about the woods and no matter how many miles there are, "...they are still the same woods. The thought made her feel good: it was like thinking of God..." (456). This part of the story shows the comfort that Andy found in the woods, this represents the stability of her childhood and the fact that it was never changing. Later on in the story while the four hunters were walking through the woods the sound of the wind made Andy think about the ocean. Andy begins to describe her feelings about the ocean, "...it frightened her. It was huge and empty, yet always moving." (459) Andy's thoughts about the ocean show that she is scared about her future and becoming an adult because it is unknown and unpredictable, just like the ocean.

"Doe Season"

The blood that is in the story represents of course the death of a deer and the running of purity and innocence. But another theme is that Andy is growing up and turning into a woman. The blood would represent menstruation and the change of life. She was scared of the death of the deer because she saw what was really inside of the life she has taken. The blood must scare her because she has not accepted all the change that she is going through. She must feel that she has made a grown up choice to shoot a deer and watch it bleed, there for she ran away and did not answer to Andy any more.

"Doe Season"

“Doe Season” by David Kaplan
This story is about a father taking his daughter on a deer hunting trip with friends. The friends throughout this story don’t think that a girl should be hunting. Andy must make a decision of being a girl or a boy. She recalls the woods and then she thinks about the sea which means different things to her.
Andy found the woods to be a great place to walk and spot animals. She thought, “the woods are the same and they stretch all the way to here.” (Doe season) This thought made her feel good and then she thought of God. I think this good feeling represents her childhood because it relaxes her to think the woods are the same. At this point she doesn’t need to make a decision to grow up or choose who she will be. She is comfortable thinking she will be the same no matter what she does or where she goes.
Andy did not like the thought of the ocean. “it frightened her. It was huge and empty, yet always moving.” (Doe season) The thought of the ocean is a change, the thought of growing up or becoming something different. She was afraid of feeling empty, yet in the last paragraph this is how she felt.

"The Chrysanthemums"

In "The Chrysanthemums" by John Steinbeck, Elisa plans to go have a nice evening with her husband Henry after Henry had just sold some cattle for a good price "I sold those thirty head of three-year old steers" (633). As he leaves to go to round up some cattle with Scotty, Elisa finds that she has time to transplant some of her chrysanthemums, which symbolize her God given gift not only that, her self worth. While doing this, a wagon pulls up with a man that fixes pots and pans, sharpens scissors and lawn mowers. The man (the book does not mention his name)tries to see if he can do some work for her, she shoots him down so to speak, in doing this, she essentially puts down his God given gift and means of survival (his work doesn't benefit her, so she blows him off). He finds that by talking about chrysanthemums he sparks an interest in her telling her that this other lady he knows would love to have some for her garden, so one thing leads to another and she ends up finding some things for him to fix (as well as giving him some chrysanthemums). After this he leaves, as he is leaving she says, "'Good-bye--goodbye.' Then she whispered, 'That's a bright direction. There's a glowing there.'" (637,38). This symbolizes her finding new respect for his livelihood (after pretty much thinking he was a loser). Then Henry comes home and they head off to town. On the way they pass just the chrysanthemums which had been dumped on the road but not the pot. Looking ahead Elisa See's the wagon creaking along, it is at this point she realizes how selfish she had been by not being willing to help this man who was obviously desperate and poor before he had caught her interest with the chrysanthemums. In this, Elisa finds an epihpany, "She turned up her coat collar so he could not see that she was crying weakly-like an old women" (639). This stories abstract symbol is simply our selfishness in our lives, and how we are unwilling to help those in need, if it does not benefit or amuse us.

Doe season

In the story Doe Season Andy finds comfort in the woods, “They were the same woods that lay behind her house, and they stretched for miles all the way to here…” (456). The woods to Andy were familiar and safe to her just as her childhood has been. When she thought of the woods it “made her feel good; it was like thinking of God;” (456), which made Andy, feel the comfort and reassurance. Then things in the woods started reminding her of the ocean, “Blowing through the treetops, it sounded like the ocean, and once Andy thought she could smell salt air.” (457).
She had very different feelings about the ocean than she did the woods, the first time she had seen the ocean “it frightened her.” (459). She described the ocean as “huge and empty, yet always moving. Everything lay hidden…” (459). The ocean was like adulthood, both unknown and frightening for her, the way she feels about each the ocean and the woods shows the transition she has to make from childhood to adulthood.
-Colleen

Yellow wallpaper

Yellow Wallpaper
This story is about a woman who has recently had a baby, but doesn’t feel quite right anymore. Her husband and brother are doctors, but they say she is just fine. In this story her husband takes her to a remote house to get better. This woman rarely talks about her baby and doesn’t want to be hidden away. She asks to have visitors, but her husband says she isn’t ready for guests.
This woman doesn’t like the house that her husband has her stay in. She first complains about the wallpaper. She doesn’t like the design or color on the wall. She says, “I never saw worse paper in all my life.” (Yellow wallpaper line 33) When the couple first gets to the house she says, “I would say a haunted house.”(Yellow wallpaper line 2) She got the feeling that the house was very different and something wasn’t right.
The character’s mood changes at about line 85 after she starts focusing on the wallpaper patterns. She claims in certain light, “I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, which seems to skunk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.”(Yellow Wallpaper line 81)
This woman could have been cured with the right diagnosis. She was suffering from depression after having a baby. Doctors are very careful to diagnose this early now, but then maybe weren’t well known. Postpartum depression can be very serious and make a person go crazy without proper help.

Doe Season

In the story "Doe Season" written by David Michael Kaplan is a story about a girl named Andy and her first experience with doe hunting with her father. Andy describes the wood as "always the same." This phrase really means she is feeling safe there. Just like being a child, things are really don't change hat much and she feels safe and sheltered. After she shoots the doe, it makes her see things in a different light. How her life is started to change and feel more scary as she will continue to grow up. Andy describes the ocean as "hug and empty, yet always moving". Much like the woods compared to her childhood the ocean is compared to her adulthood. She's not quite sure what the future holds. Her options are open and when she decides what her life will be then and only then will she not be so frightened of the ocean, and the changes that come with growing into an adult.

The Lottery

"The Lottery" written by Shirley Jackson is about a t town not like any other town in any state across the US. Except that it's residents are involved in a "lottery" that takes place once a year. Now when I think of a lottery, I think of someone winning something. Unlike the typical lottery this town holds a drawing where the winner, actually loses. Whom ever wins ultimately ends up getting stone by all of the other people who live in this town. There are people who would like to change this, but they can't it's just the way it has been.

"Doe Season"

In the story "Doe Season" by David Michael Kaplan, Andy finds comfort in that the "woods are always the same", which to her it is a security blanket so to speak, being a child it is comforting to have things the same. Andy is constantly reminded of how young she is, her father pouring coffee, pours her a cup also, and says, "we won't tell your momma" (459). Charlie also says, "I don't understand why she's coming", "How old is she anyway-eight?"(457).
In Andy's memories of the ocean, it frightened her, kind of like growing into adulthood, somewhat scarey, not knowing what lied beneath the water is kind of like not knowing what lies ahead when growing up. In the end when she ran from the men gutting the deer, she could also hear her mother's voice, "come in, come in"(467). It was all so frightening for her she tried to run from growing up.

"I Stand Here Ironing"

The events presented in "I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen does occur in today's world all the time. There are more and more teenagers having children, single parent households, and neglectful parents. It was obvious Emily's mother hardly made the time for her when the school counselor said "I wish you would manage the time to come talk with me about your daughter"(283). She was only nineteen and the father left. This is a common situation in today's world. Often teens have kids and the young boys don't step up to the plate to help care for them. If the mother doesn't have good family support they often end up homeless and living in poverty. Emily's mother needed to work however she left Emily with people who didn't show her love or care for her. She knew the teacher was evil, she just chose to ignore it (284). She never made use of her time with Emily. She was too worried and never smiled at her. I feel there are many mothers today who have kids but don't make them their number one priority. They choose to become involved with drugs or alcohol or even tend to their own social lives instead of giving their time and love to their children. By the time Emily's mother realized how she had been neglecting her, she had learned to be independent and no longer needed her mother's help. Emily had no desire or drive to live life. When asked about midterms she replied "in a couple of years when we'll all be atom-dead they won't matter a bit"(288). When a child doesn't feel loved they don't feel like they need to bother with life because there's no point.

"The Lottery"

In “the lottery” Shirley Jackson tell a story of a village annual ritual sacrifice in which one member of the family is picked to be stoned for the annual tradition. She uses the leading role of Mrs. Hutchinson to describe how she question the fairness of the drawing after her family draws the unlucky slip with a black mark on it. Mrs. Hutchinson tried to persuade others from carrying out the lottery. "I think we ought to start over," Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. "I tell you it wasn't fair. You didn't give him time enough to choose. Everybody saw that” (pg. 410)The village square connotes the center of attraction whereby all the people in the village will have the opportunity to participate in the drawing of the lottery, and also given equal chances to pick the next person to be stoned. The apron signifies Mrs. Hutchinson’s unreadyness and eagerness to see who the next victim is, but unfortunately, she got picked as the next person to be stoned. The old man Warner signifies the tradition, which means the lottery is been carried on from generations to generations. "Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery," Old Man Warner said as he went through the crowd” (pg. 409). The significance of the slip of paper is to clarify who get picked among the member of the family, as every member takes their chance. The black spot indicates death, for whoever has the slip with the black shot pay the ultimate price of being stone to death.

The Lottery

In The Lottery, Shirley Jackson detailed an event in which otherwise normal townsfolk, unleash their dark side to ensure a tradition continues.
The ritual of the annual Lottery could have similarities to our hometown summer festival. The townspeople anticipated the day and participated with loyal conviction. Seen as somewhat of a social gathering, the children played while the menfolk discussed crops and taxes. Yet the men were not talking lightheartedly, they were heavy with the responsibility that would befall them. "Their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed." (pg. 405)
"The villagers kept their distance, leaving a space between themselves and the stool." (pg. 406) showed that even though they were in attendance, there was a dislike for the black box and what it would mean for one of them. That the box was black is significant, as is the marking on the paper being a black dot, after all, black signifies death.
The significance in the town square is that the village is the center of all. There is a hierarchy here that the town comes first. Then the men, who drew first for their household. If the man of the home wasn't able, the wife or an adult son drew for the family. It was a responsibility to the town, not a privilege. The family is treated only as a unit and I find it unusual that even the youngest children are obligated to partake in the drawing and little Davy was given stones to throw at his own mother. Parents did not shield their children from the violence, rather they insisted they were a part of it. Even so far as Mrs. Hutchinson calling out that her daughter and son-in-law need to draw and face the possibility of death. And when Nancy and Bill Jr. opened theirs, they "both beamed and laughed" (pg. 410) even though this meant that one of their parents would face a stoning.
The author also shows how personal friendship is of no value in this town either. Mrs. Delacroix was chatting with Mrs. Hutchinson and acting as they here old friends, yet in the end, Mrs. Delacroix was in the front of the crowd, holding a rock so heavy, she needed both hands to lift it. The significance of this part of the story in relationship to the author is that she felt her town had never accepted her, that they town would have turned their back on her friendship, doing only what was good for the town, even if it meant harm to their own.

"The Lottery"

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" (1948) is a suspenseful story that leaves one pondering what the winner is going to receive as their "winnings" up until the very end. When a person thinks of a lottery, we tend to think that it will be some sort of fabulous prize. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. As the families gather and wait you can sense how much tension is in the air by the way the characters speak - or sometimes not - with one another. Idle chitchat and gossip to pass the time so they can get on with the whole process and get it over with.
When the black box is first mentioned, it gives one a sense that the whatever they may win may not be something that they want. A black box has never been known to hold something grand, generally it is something evil. Also, the black box that they use is made of old pieces of the original box which gives a sense of how old this tradition really is in this village. It must be something bad if no one wants to make a new box. They don't want to replicate the box, for fear that something even worse could happen if they did.
The paper containing the names are opened up with hesitation each time. Even Old Man Warner, who states he has been in the lottery 77 times, holds his breath until he hears his name. With the name "Old Man Wanner" it makes one think that he is quite knowledgeable of this whole process. He has been through this more times than any one else that is present and knows what this all means.
Shouts of unfairness are to be heard up until the very end. " "I think we should start over," Mrs. Hutchinson said, as quietly as she could. "I tell you it wasn't fair." "(p. 410) It was like she had a sense from that point that she was going to be the winner, even though they weren't even through calling names. Sometimes in a lottery the winner can actually end up being the loser.

"The Storm"

This story is really confusing and good at the same time. When you first start reading it you can feel what is going on and later you just kind of feel shocked. The story puts these people in this sense of closeness and it was not permissible for them to act this way. This shows weakness in emotions and desire in a bad way. Calixta had no self control and having Alcee pushing himself of her is him taking advantage of her.

The Storm

Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” is a wonderful short story that provides many emotions that women can relate to. The feelings for a past love or maybe even the feeling of being stifled in a marriage. The storm outside the house and the storm inside feed off of each other; however, I do not believe that the storm excuses the characters of their actions. Outside elements of a relationship can provoke certain behavior but it cannot excuse it. It is up to the individual to know right from wrong and to weigh the rewards or consequences. Calixta and Alcee had the storm of desire swirling in the house. A storm doesn’t stop to think about way lays in the aftermath just like Calixta and Alcee didn’t either. They felt the passion and the need and they went for it.
At the end of the story on page 259 the last sentence is written, “So the storm passed and everyone was happy.” As in real life, usually after the storm passes outside, the sun comes out and sometimes there is even a rainbow. A happy ending after a
whirlwind of forces.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

The short story, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson was first published in 1948. It shows the very cruel and passive side of humanity. The story presents a lot of symbolism in many different forms.

The first main symbol of the story is the black box itself. It holds a lot of meaning. It definetly presents the fact of death. It is what decides and what determines everyones future of the village. Everyone knows that their name is in the black box and that they may be the next one to go, but they still go on to live with it because it is just part of their culture. It also represents tradition.

Another significance in the short story is some of the citizens names in the village. Like Mrs.Summers, her last name is summers and the lottery happens in the summer. Another one is Mrs

Doe Season

In the story “Doe Season” David Kaplan’s character Andy is going through a transition from childhood to adulthood. Andy sees the woods as being “the same woods” (456). This description is how Andy sees her childhood. Her childhood stays the same and makes her feel good and safe. She knows what to expect already from her childhood but she isn’t sure about being an adult. She feels the same of being an adult as she feels about the ocean. She finds the ocean (and her transition into adulthood) to be scary. An example of this in the text is “Everything lay hidden. If you walked in it, you couldn’t see how deep it was or what might be below; if you swam, something could pull you under and you would never be seen again” (459). Andy was too afraid when she visited the ocean to go into water or to become an adult. Parts of being an adult even embarrassed Andy and made her uncomfortable like when her mother’s top came off in the water or when Mac brought up the conversation about her seeing a “pecker” (460). This showed how innocent Andy truly was. In order to go into adulthood she has to, in a sense, lose some of that innocence. Until Andy was ready she couldn’t cross the barrier of being a child to being an adult. Andy must step out of her comfort zone of feeling safe and having everything be the same and enter into a world where “everything lay hidden” (459). At the end of the story Andy had finally lost some of her innocence and realized that the ocean (adulthood) was too close to turn back on. An example of this in the story is “like the ocean where her mother floated in green water, also calling Come in, Come in, while all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea” (467). Andy had no choice but to become Andrea and enter into the world that was full of unknowns like the ocean and leave the safe world of the unchanging forest behind her.

"The Storm"

Question 9 at the end of the story, "The Storm," by Kate Chopin poses the question whether or not the storm excuses the characters in any way for their actions in committing adultery. To answer this question, without a doubt, I have to say no. In my mind there is no good or reasonable excuse for adultery. The fact that the two were ex-lovers I think makes in even more inexcusable because obviously the two had been there before and they should not have feelings anymore beings that they both are married to someone else. I think that the most inexcusable part of the story was in part IV when Alce'e writes to his wife and tells her not to hurry back (259). It is like he is saying that he has already satisfied his sexual needs so she can take her time. Maybe he was hoping that he would have the chance with Calixta again while she was away, that was the impression that I got from this comment.