A small good thing

this is a truly heart breaking story yet at the same time also heart warming, because it shows how traumatic events in peoples lives can bring them together even if there from different races or backgrounds. in the story a little boy is hit by car and goes into a deep sleep. as the story progresses a stranger keeps calling the family asking about their boy and then hanging up. at the end of the story the parents find out thats it the baker calling bout a cake and then the parents go to the baker to hurt him but things changed. how this story brings people together can be seen when the parents are in the hospital and the mother meets a black family whose son was stabbed an the mother jimmy sits down with an talks a little with the black family telling them about jimmy and how hopefully both their sons come out OK. another way this story is heart warming is how the baker brings jimmy family into the bakery an offers them food to help deal with their grief even if it only helps a little because eating is a small good thing one can do for their bodies.

Good Country People

I really enjoyed this short story "Good Country People". This story was mainly about joy she lived with her mother on a small farm. She was a handy cap she has only one leg that she lost hunting. Now she walks on a fake leg that she is very affraid of . People called her hulga she is a smart individual with a PHD and does nothing with it but lays up around hr mothers house doing nothing but reading. Her mother wants and trys to help her but all she does is complain about things and gets angry wanting to fight her. A man that sales bibles he visits her home shes excited because she like this man he stays there for dinner with her sort of like a date and they plan one the next day. Hulga likes this man alot and she thinks she can get him to liking her as well by seducing him. Well the next day the bible saleaman takes her into the barn and trying to take her fake leg off. He places it into a case with alchol and porn and then procedes out of the barn with her leg then she finds out that this man is not a bible salesman he steals fake legs. i really enjoyedthe way this aurthor wrote this story it seems as if this story is relly true.

A Small, Good Thing... Cobb.

In "A Small, Good Thing," written by Raymond Carver, The story is of a child named Scotty. Scotty is having a birthday coming up, so his mom orders him a cake from the local bakery. But one day, while walking to school, Scotty is hit by a car. He gets up, however, but goes into a coma later on in the afternoon. While he stays in the hospital, his mom keeps recieving a call from the baker, who says "You forgot about Scotty." So eventually Scotty's mom, Ann, goes to the bakery and fills the baker in on what has recently happened. To get to the point, the baker says that forgiveness is a small, good thing. I think that this point is awesome. This is not seen in today's time; forgiveness is a lost art in America. It is almost to the point of every one person always wanting their way and not stepping back to forgive and forget the past. I think that forgiveness can go a long way in one's rough day, and it needs to be brought back to houses across the nation. If forgiveness would have been sought in "Separating," their family would not have went through that rough time, and/or the divorce. Everyone always deserves a second chance, and one could tell that the husband in "Separating" was really sorry for his mistake.

A Small Good Thing

This is one of the best storys i did a paper on. It is also the hadest paper i ever did it on. People can look at this story in different ways. One of the ways i look at this story is from a commution part.This is one of the main parts of the story that maks the story baing.Let start from the beigging when she was talking to the baker. When she started talking to the baker, she started off on a good foot.The more she was talking she started to make her self look very crazy.She was saying things like i bet he never had no kids. She started to make her self very open to karma. If ever heard the old saying what gose around comes around. I personlly think that was one part of the foundation of this story, that made A Small Good Thing very good.

Good Country People Summary

In the story Good Country People, joy lives with her mother on their farm. She has glasses, a heart problem, and lost her leg in a hunting accident. She now has a prosthetic leg that she takes very fond to and treats it as the most sacred thing in her life. Her mother tries to help her with everything throughout her day but hulga only wants to complain and fight with her. She also has a PHD and all she does is sit in her house and read all day and every day. She is visited by a Bible salesman one day and she invites him to dinner. They plan a date for the next day and hulga is very excited. That night she things to herself that she could seduce him and make him like her. The day of the date he takes her into the barn loft where he precedes to take off her glasses then her fake leg. He then puts it into his case between some alcohol and some porno cards. He tells her that he goes around stealing prosthetics from people and that she will never see it again because everywhere he goes he uses a different name. She is left in the barn helpless and without her leg. In the end she thought he was Good Country People but it turns out he wasn't.

Good country people

Good country people to me was a good story to read because its easy for the reader to become intrigued quickly by what he/she is reading. Joy/Hulga is the central character of the story who changes her name to make herself seem as a unfortunate lady who loss a leg in an accident. And though she has a handicap she is well capable of doing better than she does. This indeed is one of Flannery O'Connor best works of writing he puts a lot of detail into this reading that one can't help but be amazed with the outcome. Mainly Pointer comes along one day and tries to sell Hulga and her family bibles, enjoying the company Hulga believes she can seduce him in a barn one night and she fails. It so happens that Mr. Pointer is a scam who has pornography and a host of other explicit items that he carries with him. The end result of the story Pointer seals Hulga's leg and leaves her in the barn puzzled and helpless. I enjoyed reading this because it allows you to capture the full extent of what the story is portraying. The most shocking event was the manner of man pointer was and the total of his dealings that was for certain immoral.

The Swimmer

I really enjoyed the swimmer by John Cheever. This story was mainly about the acholic named Neddy Merrill. He was a man of highly expected skills who had money as well. He and his wife lucinda they attended this swimming party that was full of rich people who thought highly of themselves. If you was at this party you had to be rich they didnt except people with no money here. They got filthy drunk here at this party everyone. Neddy was a swimmer his wife wounld drive him to different places where he could swim through every one pools. This story reminds me of a time when i was in high school people where high class and had there own groups they would hang in. i remembered this particular party that they had for one group it was big pool party. Everyone that was popular was there and if you wasnt you was a no go. So it was this one guy who was the basketball star everyone knew him he was a swimmer sort of like neddy was he showed peopl how good he could swim. they also dranked and smoked at this party this guy never touched a drink of acohol in his life until this night. Later what i remebered that he didnt finish school he was drunk all the time in high school he had problems and it ended his life sort of like neddy.

Babylon Revisited. Cobb.

The story talks of Charlie Wales, a man who hit it rich then went broke with his decisions. Charlie has had some rough spots in his life. He has had drinking problems to where now he only limits himself to one drink per day. Another issue is the losing of his daughter, Honoria. Honoria lives in Paris with her mother, and Charlie wants custody of her. But it does not happen. One of the things that stands out to me is the symbolism of Charlie Wales being broke. I think he is not only broke in a sense of money, but in a sense of life as well. I think that Honoria was his life and because of his drinking problems, he lost her- his life. I think that Charlie would turn back time just to have Honoria and his old life back. Not necessarily because of the money b ut because he was rich on the inside; he had Honoria and his wife. But I do not think he should be penalized for being seen with the wrong people. He should have been able to prove himself to Honoria alone, not society. And I think that was another major deal. Society at that time seemed to be focused on looking good in front of strangers instead of focusing on their own lives.

Babylon Revisited

The main reason why I picked Babylon Revisited is that i can realate to hit really well. Charlie Wales is alot like my dad not in the fact that he lost all of his money but made bad decesions which lead to other things. Another thing that i noticed was how Duncan Schaeffer and Lorriane Quarrles kept poping up and trying to get Charlie to come drink with them. That the same excat things that some of my dads buddies would do. I didnt like how Charlie really never told them to leave him alone. He tries avoiding them and when they ask for his address he says he will call them later. Then when he goes to the bar hoping he can find Duncan and Lorraine so he can confront them there not there. later he Calls Lincoln Peters and Marion doesnt think that Charlie should have custody of Honoria and that he should wait six more months. The fact that Marion saw Charlie with his two old friends was the main reason why see made this decesion. All he had to do was tell them the first time that he wanted nothing to do with them and none of this would have happen. Other than that I thought the story was great, it made it more interesting for me because of the fact that I could relate to it.

Babylon Revisited

in this short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story takes place in Paris with a young man returning to win back the love of his daughter and to break away from the sins of the past. at the beginning of the story the main character Charlie returns to Paris in hopes to reclaim his daughter from his in-laws. from this point in the story i felt that Charlie wanted to be a true father an prove to everyone that he can be the loving father Honoria needs which i also felt was ironic about her name because by getting his daughter back he could also reclaim his lost honor of the sins he committed back in his past with old friends, his wife, and his daughter. also in the story Charlie tries to break free from his past because it contained alot of sins that he regrets such as the death of his wife and the actions he committed with his friends Loraine. From this i gathered that Charlie wants to find redemption to show that he can be a respectable man not just a wealthy one and to prove that hes changes from a partier of Paris to a responsible man that just want to be with his daughter.

The Evening Sun

The story of the Evening Sun is one of irony and yet humorous because the constant meaningless calamity of Nancy the slave girl. To me Nancy is very unstable in her mind about her husband (Jesus) who believes that she has slept with a white man and plans to kill her for her adulteress ways. Not only is that problem angering him but also the white man they worked for could enter and exit his house when he felt like it and he was banished from stepping foot on his property, this was a major problem. It makes you think and wonder if Nancy is guilty of prostitution with her being so fearful of her husband. It got so bad even the man she worked for children knew the problem that gripped her and she was allowed for a certain time to sleep at his house, because she thought he (Jesus) would be hiding in a ditch and surprise her and kill her. At the end of the story she takes the kids home with her and is in terror of heartache that he husband has left a bloody pig bone on her table that illustrates to her her time is shortly coming to an end. I think the story was interesting and great to read although it never gave true proof or evidence of her innocence or her husbands true motive for his belief of her infidelity.

Barn Burning

I belivee Barn Burning " is everyone's double ,and that is the source of the misery in which he immerses his family and all of those with whom he comes into contact. Snopes feels challenged,it seems , by the pure existence of others and succumbs on each occasion to the demon of incendiary rivalry.At the conclusion of the first courtroom scene, for example, when the justice of the peace , failing to find Snopes guilty of arson against Mr. Harris nevertheless orders him to "leave this. It also poses a problem for me as a reader in several instances more intent upon explaining and justifying Abner's barn-burning than in registering the pain his family suffers in the context of these fires. The often quoted fire-bbuilding passsage provides a good illustration: The night were still cool and they had a fire against it , of a rail lifted from a nearby fence and cut into lengths-a small fire, neat niggard almost, a shrewd fire; such fires weree his father's habit and custom always, even in freezing weather.

"I Thank You God"

This poem gave me such wonderful feelings and made me think of home in so many ways. I grew up in a home where going to church every time the doors were open was necessary if you want to live in my mother's house. She required us to praise God and pray to him everyday giving thanks for all that he had done.

In Cummings view of praise, he thanks God for all that is natural and what is in nature. He thanks him for the day at hand that was not promised the day before as well as the trees and sky that God has graciously put here on Earth that is amazing.

He then goes on to ask how can God can be so close and dazed the senses yet some do not still believe. He clams he is alive once again by asking forgiveness. This to me is showing how he repented and excepted God.

"(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)"

He can now see the truth and hear God's word. This poem is jaw doping and to me takes a leap of faith in poem where most of our previous poets haven't.

Dream Boogie

I really enjoyed this short poem the Dream Boogie by Langston Hughes. This poem really made sense to me I understood the way he placed every world in this poem. Its about a person dreaming of a dance that they had in their dream. By reading this poem if it have not had the title Dream Boogie or dream deferred in a verse of this poem you would have thought it was really true. or maybe the Dream Boogie is real and this person is trying to get her dad to dream about the boogie dance. this person is probably telling there dad about this because of there experience of the boogie dance as well. This dance is probably a dance that all the people who grew up in Harlem knew this dance unless you were a blues dancer and you liked to a Harlem night club. But this poem is a classic it really explained the rhythm that people in Harlem in the 1940's and 1950's use to move to Hey, pop! Re -bop! Mop! Dream Boogie. I really think this poem will show and help the readers who doesn't understand how the people of Harlem showed how they had a good time and where true soul of the blues came from the streets and clubs of Harlem New York.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

River have been a powerful force thoughout human history. Many earaly mythologies made the river a symbol of both life and death. It is easy to understand the reason for this since most of the gteat early civiliization grew up in river valleys. The Euphrates, which is the first of the rivers mentioned in the poem, helps to form Mesopotamia. The Nile, too, played a central role in early civiliztion.It ensured Egyptian prosperity.It can be a allusious to deep dusky rivers, the setting sun , sleep, and the soul, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is suffused with the image of death and, simutaneausly, the idea of deathlessness.I notice that the soul of the Negro in this poem goes back to the Euphrates , it goes back to a pre-" racial" down and a geography far from Africa that is identified with nethier blackness nor whiteness.

Song for a Dark Girl- Cobb.

"Song for a Dark Girl," wrote by Langston Hughes, talks about a time in history that was about racial inequality, and it was also during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time period of intellectual movement for African-Americans through poetry, literature, and jazz, or the Blues. Langston Hughes, along with Claude McKay, pressed this movement forward with works like "Song for a Dark Girl." This poem talks about Whites being abusive mentally and physically towards the African-Americans of that period. In the first stanza, it talks about the hanging of the speaker's black lover. It just shows an example of racial discrimination that was happening in that time. In the second stanza, the speaker talks about another "bruised body high in the air." Once again, it talks of inequality, as well in the final stanza. The last stanza mentions that love is a shadow. This makes one think that all African-Americans had in that time was love, and that was the most important thing for them. It also says that love is naked and hanging on a "gnarled and naked tree." These last two lines are moreso of an oxymoron. In most's opinion love is beautiful and worthwhile, however, this states it is hanging from a gnarled tree. The word gnarled to me is more of a grotesque word. In that one word, it describes the people of that time period who supported racial discrimination.

the negro speaks of rivers

in this short poem Langston Hughes talks about the many rivers the character has seen and about how is soul has become deep like the rivers. from this poem it seemed to me that Langton Hughes character was talking about the history of his race since one the rivers dates back to the beginning of time and about how he has known rivers that are older than the flow of human time. from this poem i thought about how the soul can be deep like rivers an i thought that it meant that he and others has endured alot of hardship an turmoil that have made them better people much how rivers become deeper an more expansive as erosion over time deepens and widens the river bed.

Harlem

When I first started thinking of which poem I wanted to write about I immediately went to Harlem. The reason is it reminded me of the poem The Red Wheelbarrow. These poems both ask a question and also create amazing images in your mind when you read them. Harlem is a little longer but now much and still accomplishes the same objective that The Red Wheelbarrow did. The first thing that Langston Hughes asks is “What happens to a dream deferred”, it’s the first sentence of the poem and I find myself already having to answer a question. Then he begins to create images with the Sun, Sore, and rotten meat. Just like in The Red Wheelbarrow the reader is either attracted to the questions or to the images that Langston Hughes is trying to create. I paid more attention to the Images that were created rather than the question that was asked. There is also another question asked at the end of the poem, “Or does it explode” which I didn’t pay any attention to at all. There is one thing for certain though; this poem definitely makes the reader think. This defiantly goes down with The Red Wheelbarrow as being one of my favorite poems.

Numero Cinco

William Carlos Williams wrote "The Great Figure" in 1919 and it was later published in 1921. The speaker talks about how one rainy evening he sees a golden number five on a red fire truck moving by quickly with the sirens howling and the gong clanging. I really don't find this to be a very deep work of literature but I see it more as a person recalling an experience that could have changed their life. For all we know after seeing this sight the speaker decides he wants to be one of te brave and become a fire fighter. Maybe the speaker wants to be the one getting looked at as he cruises by in a big red fire engine with the sirens blaring. Maybe this changed nothing about the speaker. It's possible it could just be a memory and had no effect on what the speaker did or wanted to do. We've all seen emergency vehichles fly by. I don't know about you but they don't change what I want to do, but I do remember seeing them on their way to do their duty to their community and not having any doubts or fears.

Dirty Underwear

In "Washerwoman" Sandburg is telling a story in a few lines. This is about a woman working for the Salvation Army. Her duty is to wash the laundry. It compares people to the dirty underwear and compares Jesus to the suds. As she sings her songs of rejoice and washes the clothes it's as if God is washing away sins and the wrongs people have done just like she washes the filth off the underwear. He does the hard work washing away our sins and bad conduct knowing that more will come and he will once again have to clean us up. The washerwoman has decided to give back to the community and try to correct some of her own wrongs and give back to the community. She is trying to do God's will and earn his respect so she will know when it's her time she'll be waiting in line at the pearly gates. We should all strive to be like the woman depicted and earn our way in, not just do a lot of wrongs and expect our records to be wiped clean every now and then and actually be productive people.

Road Not Taken

In this poem the speaker comes to a fork in the road and doesn't know which route to travel. He takes some time to analyze both roads and notices that both roads were grassy and wanted wear. He then thinks about going one way and then turning around and venturing down the other just to see where they both go, but doubted he should ever turn around and come back. He then stated that he would tell his tale ages later, possibly to grandchildren. He finally decides to take the one less traveled. In the end it seems he has made the right decision since it has made all the difference. This is a great life lesson. A lot of our peers come to forks in the road everyday whether it be drinking, drugs, sex, etc. Most are overwhelmed with peer pressure and end up doing whatever it is. The road less traveled is the smart and sober way. One incident could make all the difference in being a successful adult providing for your family or spending all your money on drugs and end up living on the streets.

Sandburg's Fog

To me it seems like he is comparing for to the cat. When he states that the fog comes on little cat feet it seems like he is talking about it creeping up as a cat would it's prey. While the fog sits it's like the cat is setting there mid prowl watching his target and observing. As the fog moves on it's as if the cat's prey either got away and the cat continues like nothing happened or like when after a cat catches his prey and is done playing with it or eating it the cat just leaves what is left lying there and continues on with it's life like nothing happened. I suppose this could be related to other things in life. I think it could also compare to love. When you do finally find love it creeps up on you like the fog. If things go bad and you break up then it sets there for a while and you feel in the dumps and it slowly fades away, as fog does, and you move on to the next thing like fog would move to the next city.

Class notes online

You can access the class notes here: http://sites.google.com/site/cptoreillymmi/

"Sunday Morning"

This poem is lengthy and if you are not out to find the true meaning of it you probably won't. I had to look up most of its meaning of articles written on the internet. These sources gave me a deeper look and meaning on the message Stevens is trying to sell to the reader.

In my opinion the poem had a masculine voice as well as a feminine one as well. The female was trying to justify her reasoning behind not going to church and believing in the same old way her forefathers had in the past. She asked the question when will this time of religion come to an end? Why does my soul have to live here on Earth and experience all the pain and love? She is finally answered by a masculine voice saying that it will always be there and her predecessors are the ones that mad these laws that we follow today.

To me Stevens is seeding the answer for truth and defines it in his poem by separating religion and desires; separating God and Palestine. It is as if he is saying that there is nothing wrong with desires as long as they do not effect, in a negative way, others around you.

In the end he some how finds the truth but still leaving the question if religion is the right answer, then what about faithful followers of previous religions? Are we all not going to end up living in the same after life in a similar heaven?

Stevens did a great job at making a reader not question his own religion but instead try to prove our faith. If we can all justify our love for our religion than it will lead us all to great deeds as just men.