Fog

The fog comes on little cat feet. To me he is comparing the movement of the fog to the silent, spry font step of a cat, on animal who is able to creep toward its destination without warnng. Fog often arrives quickly,yet completely, as it covers a city or a harbor. Akin to a cat who dose as it pleases fog obeys no rules, often shrouding the surrounding like a blanket that does not allow any light.In this poem, the fog arrived above the city where it sits looking over the harbor, and city much as a cat does when it arrives at its destination.The next thing I notice it says that the fog is sitting on sileat houoches as it looks out over the harbor and city, and indeed , few creatures can sit as silently as the cat.Finally , Cat are known to be wandering creatvres , stopping for a time and then moving on from destination to destination. Again the fog is compared to the cat in that the fog hovers silently , but it never stay in one place too long . Fog either rolls on anther destination.

The Open Boat

I enjoyed the short story the open boat, This story tells us about us about four men on a samllboat trying to find land. There naames was the cook, the oiler known as billy, captain, and the correspondant. The cook was the most talkative out of the four men. The four of them were al in danger of survival. No food and water because of the rough river, salt water. But the captain was sure that theyll make it to shore. He spootted a light house not to far away. Basically the light house was deserted. The men not understanding that as time continues to pass that they would grow weaker. Somebody spotted them on the shore waving at them. But they were only tourists that thought they were fisherman. So thats when the four men figured that there was no help coming. So while the men set off continuing to sail across the sea looking for light. They wasnt successful trying to find that so thats when thoughts of drowning came to heads. But i think this story was interesting because it takes courage to sail across rivers for days in a small boat like they did. But it was fattle for a coupe that died in the end.

Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice"

In this poem, Robert Frost blatantly tells of how the world will end: with fire or ice. Many critics believe that he is not talking about the world being destroyed by the two elements but instead comparing them to the actions of humans. It refers to Fire being desire or lust and Ice as hate or violence. These two emotions are frowned upon in society and are normally not tolerated; typically punishable if caught performing any of these feelings.

I feel that he is a great poet and deserves every Pulitzer Prize he won. He was always known to write poems that had moral meaning behind them. These poems were, in my opinion, meant to make the reader stop and think about the wrongs committed by the people he was surrounded by. This poem is just another great example and is used to revile the immoral behavior of those who are committing wrong. These actions are harmful to everyone around you and eventually, according to Frost, will help destroy the world we know. He really speaks to the reader in only a few lines and in a way asking us to look inside ourselves and observe our sins; we are to correct them less we pay the ultimate price of the end.

"Poker Flat"

in the story of "Poker Flat" the town has become pious and has either kicked out those they feel lacking in morals or they hand from a tree just outside of town. the main outcast in the story are Oakhurst, the Duchess and Mother Shipton who are banished and eventually meet up with a young couple. the outcast in the story try their best to act moral for the couple who don't know sin or evil and eventually at the end of the story sadly everyone dies but Innocent and Uncle Billy. from the story we learn that people are free to choose how they want to act and how just because some is lacking in morals doesn't make them bad people. Oakhurst was the best gambler in town and never lost a card game but he was kind in the fact that he sang hymns for the couple and how we gathered firewood for the rest of the survivors and at the end shot himself to give the others a better chance. Duchess being a prostitute in Poker Flat tried to keep everyone spirits up by singing and comforting the others. Mother shipton who we don't know much about her since starved herself to give the others more food as to survive. this story shows that just because one part takes in less than descent acts doesn't entirely make them evil or lesser than anyone else.

Home Burial- Robert Frost

This poem is about a child dying. The child's mother and father seem to be at different stages of grieving about their son. the mother is having a hard time letting go of her son, while the father seems like he has already moved on. The wife feels like the father simply does not care and is just living like the death of his son does not matter while she is still grieving. The mother also feels like the people around her have already moved on in their minds, even before her son is laid in the grave.

I, personally, think that the grieving period should be short... I do not want people mourning two years after I am dead. But then again, it is a case-by-case situation. Last year, I had a friend who lost his brother, who was also my soccer coach. seeing as how it was his brother, he is still grieving to this day. But since it was my soccer coach, I was only sad for a couple of weeks... but the world kept turning. I just think if someone is grieving, they should have all the time in the world to be sad and finally let go, as long as they do not force it on others- that is what the wife seemed like she doing to her husband and the boy's father.

The Road Not Taken.

The speaker tells of how he is walking the woods and comes to two roads. He stands looking down each one trying to see what is down each one. He can’t take both so he still stands looking and trying to decide which one he wants to take. He looked down the first road to where he could see the “bent in the undergrowth” and then thinks that he should take the other path for it looks to be less travled on. The speaker than decides that both are about the same after all. The speaker continues to analyze the paths and notices that both roads have leaves on them that have not yet been disturbed. He also thinks about going down one path and coming back just to see whats down both but “knowing how way leads on to way”, he chooses not to. The speaker ends the poem saying he will be telling his story with a sign. The sign may be either good or bad depending on the future if his decision to take the less traveled path was a good one or bad. This is one problem that falls into everyone’s life sooner or later. A decision between two things, and having to pick one along with not knowing what the outcome will be.

The Open Boat

He was forced to remain for thirty hours in the Boat, rowing frantically aginst the tide and bailing constantly to keep the craft afloat in the treacherous water , before they were ablle to come ashore at Daytona Beach. He would expect that this story would be writted as a heart-pounding adventure tale;yest it is very cerbral in its approcach , focusing less on the adrenaline rush of danger than on the philosophical question of man's relationship to the would of nature that so completely overwhelms him.

Bret Harte. Poker Flats.

This short story seems to be about karma. The four exiles were not killers, but they were not the cream of the crop. Mr Oakhurst, a professional gambler, The Duchess and Mother Shipton, who were prostitutes, and Uncle Billy, who was a thief, were all exiled from the town of Poker Flat on the account of the town trying to cleanse itself.

They were sent to Sandy Bar. Along the way, they set up camp in a cave-like area. As they set ip camp, the true inner selves of the four come out. The whiskey, cussing, and bad-mouthing begins. After a couple of days there, they end up snowed in with two new additions to the camp- The Innocent and Piney. These two were in love and engaged to each other.

As the story goes on, Uncle Billy steals the mules, and the food supply is running scarce. It seems as though the four exiles were getting what fate had in store for their careless lives. Mother Shipton dies of starvation, Uncle Billy is gone, and the days keep getting longer. Eventually, Piney and the Duchess die while The Innocent is going back to Poker Flat to get help. And Mr Oakhurst dies as well.

The suicide of Mr Oakhurst seems like a symbolism of that of Jesus. I pictured it as his own way of cancelling out his own sins, or the camp's for that matter. The symbolism in this story did not seem so strong to me. However, his death at the end seemed to bloat symbolism.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

This story by Bret Harts tells a tale of of four outcasts that have somehow, all together, performed evil acts within the town they reside in. With a combined group of a saloon girl (Duchess), a brothel owner ("Mother Shipton"), a suspected robber (Uncle Billy), and a professional gambler (John Oakhurst), they are thrown out of the town. This is done in part because of a "cleansing" of bad elements and a way to get out the rift raft.

These four unfortunate travelers set out for the next town in hopes that they will be accepted and their mishaps will be over looked. They meet a couple along the way that do not see the wrongs of the band of misfits as the town of people do. But the road is long and harsh and they end up being confined to a abandoned cabin by a snow storm. When they go to retrieve help, Uncle Billy has made off with the horse and the mule. The ending of the story is tragic and you find that everyone dies except the young boy lover who is assume to have gotten the help that finds the bodies of the Piney Woods, the young girl lover and Duchess holding one another as they passed on. They also find the body of Mr. Oachurst lend up against a tree dead by his own hand with the pistol that laid by his side.

Some how, even though these band of misguided soul as the towns people describe them, they find a way to rectify their own wrongs in the end, but in such a way that they are still not saved according the Christian Doctrine. The story states that as Piney and Duchess are dieing they do not pray yet look so innocent as the law of Poker Flats find the bodies. Not repenting in the eyes of the church will not save you as because you are not asking forgiveness from the lord. Also, Mr. Oakhurst kills himself. This too is another sign from the church that even though it seems that he has rectified his wrongs, he is still considered a sinner.

Now my understanding, from the discussion we had in class, Harte is not trying to tell the story from a religious point of view but from the romantic ideal that a person can change from their evil ways given the right setting. I support this idea that anyone person can perform good deeds and that is can and will change an outlook on life.

This story to me presents a few life's lessons such as treat others as you would have them do unto you and also that a few good actions can change the lives of others surrounding you. Now the question is: Can you and I follow this road of change or are we too afraid to do so because of fear of being an outcast?

Daisy Miller

"Daisy Miller" was a great read, although the actions of some of the characters annoyed me to an extent. Daisy Miller is just a rich girl that doesn't have too much worry in the world. She has traits that I both admire and dislike. I admire her free-spiritness and independence. I really dislike her aimless flirting, ignorance, and love games. Her independence shows that she doesn't need to depend on anyone else, and her free-spiritness shows that no one can influence her in any way. Her aimless flirting makes me think that she is a skank, and that her sense of well-being is getting men's attention. Her ignorance ultimately results in her death. I think Daisy carried on with Mr. Giovanelli to shock her social circle, and to manipulate Winterbourne into starting something with her. She liked him enough, but she could never love him, nor Giovanelli, because she is so self-centered. Of all of the characters in the story she annoyed me the most. Now on to Winterbourne. Winterbourne's worldliness and matureness is appealing to me, but his lack of initiation is a flaw. Winterbourne is very intelligent; he analyzes Daisy's character to the end of the story, and, with now avail, tries to put Daisy into a class of women. I'm not convinced that Winterbourne loves her yet, but he definitely has unresolved feelings for her, and he is charmed and mesmerized by her. Most men actively go after the woman they want; Winterbourne makes passive attempts to go after Daisy. He's not weak, but he is too much of a gentleman, therefore Daisy stays with Giovanelli. I feel sorry for Winterbourne in this story; he tries his hardest to help Daisy, and he gets nothing in return.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

When I first started reading The Outcasts of Poker Flats I got a little confused at first. I thought Poker Flat was a person when the author referred to it as being "after somebody". After reading over it again I finally got everything situated. This piece was very easy to read and I didn’t have to force myself to read it like some others poems. The main reason I like the story is because there are so many characters in it. To me it seems like there really isn’t a main character in the story. I know that Mr. Oakhurst is introduced first, but the author talks about the characters for the most part evenly. It just seems like Bret Harte wanted to stay away from the typical story line of having a main character. I also like how he changed up the ending as well. Most stories people read are ones of happy endings, this one ends with everyone dying. I’m not happy that everyone dies but after seeing so many stories that ended in happy endings, and knowing life isn’t like that; it was nice to see some change. I would defiantly read more of Bret Harte’s stories, seeing how this one’s stays away from the everyday story.

Twain

Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a widely known story. I recognized the story from a previous reading course I have taken. Twain does a good job making the story entertaining by incorporating humor into it. He, like many other writers, has a common theme behind his writing, but does a better job keeping interest high. His theme in “Jumping Frog” of course was be careful whom you trust. He left his frog that he bet money on in the hands of his opponent who he did not know. This was foolish and he paid the price for it.

One could even venture to say that Twain’s theme went deeper than that because the whole story was unnecessary information about a man that he was not interested in. He was looking for an entirely different person altogether. This was a good chance for him to put more humor in but also gave him the opportunity to add some local color to the story, which he had been known to do. By showing that the people in that area of the world are capable of talking your head off about something you did know want to know about, Twain was describing the people there according to his perspective.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

I enjoyed the short story the outcasts of poker Flat written by Brett Harte. This story was about a professional gambler named Mr. Oakhurs who goes on a journey with four other people. While they were on there way to their destination. They got tired and wanted to stop and camp out for the night but Mr. Oakhurst doesnt want to he wants to keep going. Later on they they meet a horseman named Tom Simson he was known as the innocent. With him was his wife Piney she traveled with him from the sand bar to get married at Poker flat. They went to a cabin to stay the night. away from the camp before the snow came. While staying there Oakhurst wakes one morning and realizes that one of the people traveling with him has stole their mulesduring the night. Later throughout the story one by one each one of the people started dieing. From starvation, disappearance,and shot. The only too that servived was the thief billy and the innocent Simson. I really found enjoyment reading this story it showed me how helping out people you dont know can be disasterous to you and others you know . Because they can be theives, prostitues, and serial killers. It help me understand alot.