Over and Out

http://kassiehansen.blogspot.com/2012/03/big-two-hearted-river.html

http://kassiehansen.blogspot.com/2012/02/passing-of-grandison.html

http://kassiehansen.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-read-storm-three-times-and-every-time.html

I chose these three because I felt I was confident in what I was reading and I enjoyed reading the stories.  The Storm, Passing of Grandison and Big Two-Hearted River were my strongest blogs because I could either relate to them in some way or I was very interested in the plot of the story.  I could read the stories and take a deeper look at what the writer was saying or what they wanted us to find.  I enjoyed The Storm because she left us with questions and we could make up our own ending or ponder about the story besides putting the book down and that was that.  The other two always kept me wondering what was going to happen and what the hidden meanings were.  I enjoyed them very much.   

I have always enjoyed picking up a book to read because I love a good book.  I’m always looking for the next book to read.  After I finished reading the book I would put it away and not think twice about the story.  I chose to take this class because I wanted to have a better education and understanding of literature.  I did not know what to expect when I walked into this class.  I thought it was just reading stories or books and talking about them like a book club.  This was not the case.  I learned more about irony, foreshadowing, how to analyze a story and to appreciate a book for how the writer would want us to read it and explore what they were saying.  I know I will be challenging me to pick up book that have more to them besides novels that are for pleasurable purposes. 

I would evaluate my performance in this class as hard working and dedication.  I wanted to learn more and not to just get by, so I pushed myself to dive into the homework and the readings we did each week.  My strengths as a writer are the research aspect of writing.  I love to find all the information I need to be successful but my weakness is putting it all together to form a paper that flows.  I’m always struggling with grammar and I would love to strengthen my vocabulary.  I have been a good thinker when it comes to classes such as math but I never have given it much thought when reading a book.  Now I have a new outlook and I will be picking up books with more of a challenge to analyze the story instead of something that does not take thought at all. 

If I were to give myself a grade for the class I would say an A.  I believe I currently sit at a high B.  I’m hoping it will change when I bring my analysis paper back to get regarded.  I could have kept the grade I originally received but I wanted to achieve an A for this class.  I would read the stories week by week to participate in group discussions so I could communicate and find out more.  I know during this class I would check, check and recheck my readings and make sure I did my blogs so I could succeed though out the semester.  

One step at a time

When I walked into class last week I felt like the title of the book, I just wanted to be in a lot somewhere crying because I just read half the book and I felt as if I was lost in the story. I did not comprehend most of the book.  After the class discussion I’m intrigued to see what happens.  This book is almost like a love/hate relationship with me.  I want to know what it all means but I get so lost and I feel like I’m looking up so many words in the story to find more clues. 

Scott left a comment on my blog saying to look for clues and not a big picture.  I had mentioned the title of the book and what it had to do with the story.  He said that I should take a look at the names and what it might have to do with the story.  As I was reading I found one name and that was Koteks.  However; I have yet to see the connection. 

I just want to find out where this is going and in order for me to find out I have to finish the book but I feel lost.  I bet this will be a book I will re-read over the summer so I can listen to the last discussion with class and then when I have digested all the discussion and finished reading it, I will be able to read it over and find out more and have a better understanding.  Maybe one day I will pick up another book written by Thomas Pynchon and I will be able to analyze that story on my own or I will be just as lost.  We will have to see.  

When reading books I always get into the story and want to fast forward like in a movie to see what is going to happen.  Well in books we do not have to press a button, we can just flip to the back and read the last chapter.  I have never done this but I’m always temped to read it to find the answers to my questions. 

I have some idea of what I’m reading but I get lost for a while.  I do have questions such as her relation to Rapunzel.  Does she feel trapped between her husband and her ex-boyfriend?  I would have to say no because her ex-boyfriend is dead but she does have an affair with Metzger. 

I think the story is being told or the way the writer communicates is through letters, shows, plays and stories from the past.  But why, if in fact he (the writer) is telling the story in so many aspects.  Am I on to something or am I in left field.  I think that is why I get lost is because of the change in stories and all the people she is meeting along the way.  

Are there going to be 49 different stories, letters, people she meets or something horrible going to happen to her?  What does the title have to do with the story?  Have we gotten that far and I missed it?  Back to the whole movie and book thing.  When watching a movie I listen to see if they say the title in the movie.  I enjoy that because at that moment it makes sense.  Will this happen here?  

Small Group Discussion

When I signed up for the story I decided on “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”.  At the time I did not know I had read the story before in my English 101 class.  I remembered most of the story but I could not remember how it ended.  I knew someone died but I could not remember if the whole family was killed and how.  When I read it the first time I felt like I was consistently trying to remember what happened next instead of actually reading the story for what it was saying.  I reread the story but this time paying attention to the little things and pondering more because I had questions to follow that were predetermined instead of just showing up to class and talking while having it lead from one thing to the other.  I felt as if we have been preparing for this discussion all class long by learning how to analysis stories and having class discussion with small groups and as a class.  So I have been learning and preparing since the beginning of class.  I also learned how to have a back up with the conversation.  I knew we had to talk so I wanted to make sure I could say things and understand what others were saying so I could add to the discussion.  When we are doing a big class discussion I do not talk much.  When we get into smaller groups I talk but we do not have to do it for an extensive amount of time.

When reading stories or poems from class I would look up a little bit of things but when doing this I dug a little deeper and brought my notes and pages to class so I could either look them up to quote or to help with my though process during the discussion.  I would not do that for a class discussion.

Honestly I felt this discussion I was more prepared for class because I had to be able to answer most if not all the questions because I knew I would have to talk but you never know where the conversation is going to go and what we are going to talk about.  I enjoyed how it was student lead and it allowed us to be able to agree with our classmates or disagree.  We had our own opinions and we had facts.  While having the discussion I heard answers that were very thorough and I learned from them.  This story had so many different things we could have looked up to answer the question so I felt I did more research on this one than all the others except for the analysis paper. 

When we started class Scott mentioned the small group discussion.  Not much was said about what it was and what we were going to do with it until the time came closer and closer.  I believe we have been preparing for this small group discussion since class started but did not know it until the time came and we were unleashed to run the discussion.  I enjoyed it.  In the beginning I was nervous because I felt the pressure of making sure I got my responses in and complete before the time ran out.  I had more that I wanted to say and add tot the conversation but I had used up all my responses.  Scott said there were some of us, myself being one of them that should let others respond.  I understand there needs to be a way to grade the discussion but I wanted to keep going.  There were moments were I felt instead of a conversation we were competing with one another to be the first to comment because that is the one we wanted to comment on the topic.  When I first heard 45 minutes I was wide eyed because I thought that was a long time, but when our time came I wanted to keep going but we had to move on.  Kind of wish we had more time.  

How Ironic

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

I have two favorite things in this story, the irony and the foreshadowing.  In the beginning of the story the grandmother does not want to go to Florida.  She is desperately trying to change her sons mind on the destination because she wants to go to Tennessee.  One of the ways she tries to persuade her son is by saying “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it.  I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.” The ironic thing is the grandmother is the one that leads them to The Misfit.  She couldn’t talk her son into going to Tennessee where they would not run into The Misfit but she talks him into going to this house and in the end she leads them to The Misfit. 

In the beginning of the story I feel as if it is more carefree and O’Connor allows the story to have a tone of humor and it’s relaxed.  However; when they get into the car accident I feel the tone turns dark.  Right after the accident June Star is disappointed because she says “But nobody’s killed.”  Be careful for what you wish for because she gets her wish when the whole family is killed. 

Bailey says “we’re in a terrible predicament! Nobody realizes what this is.”  When he said this I felt as if it could go two ways.  In one direction he could be talking to The Misfit saying are you going to help us?  What is going on?  Is he still clueless at this point?  Or is he saying this to his family saying we need to work together to get out of this situation or they are going to kill us?  Still Bailey does nothing but walk away holding his sons hand and yelling back to his mother of all people saying “I’ll be back in a minute, Mamma, wait on me!”  Again is he still clueless?  

The grass is always greener

A song in the front yard

Out of all the poems we had to read this week this poem was the one that I understood and related to the most.  I have learned that all poems have different meanings according to who is writing the poems and who is the audience.  The one reading the poem can read it and think it is one way because of their life and their experiences.  As they go through life they experience more and when they go to read the poem again it might have a completely different meaning. 

When I read a song in the front yard I pictured a little girl in a beautiful white dress with blue flowers and her hair in curls.  She matches the description of the front yard.  She is sick of the roses and most would say a rose is a beautiful flower with an amazing smell.  The front yard is the first place people have to walk when going to your house.  Everyone on the block works a keeping their yard green and clean.  When the weather starts to get warm outside you start to hear the lawn mowers.  It’s like a chain reaction.   The neighbor on the left starts his lawn mower and then the neighbor on the right starts his.  With no time wasted you pull your lawn mower out and do the same because that is what everyone sees and society tells us to keep it looking great.  This is what you do when you have a yard. 

Now your backyard is a place that is covered by a fence.  It is the place that sits behind your house and only the residents go back there.  It is your private area and the only way visitors will go back there is if they are invited to go back there.  In the poem it says the grass is rough and it has weeds.  When I think of weeds I think of dandelions.  When we were younger and did not have money to get our mother flowers we would either get lilacs or dandelions.  Of course we know that lilacs are beautiful and smell amazing, but sometimes we had no other option but to pick dandelions.  They did not smell beautiful and they were a weed that looks like a flower. 

This poem is like the saying; the grass is always greener on the other side.  Yes, it might be greener but you never know what will happen if you choose to go down that road. 

The little girl wants to go to the backyard and down the alley because she is tired of living a sophisticated life.  She wants to play with the poor kids and get dirty.  The little girl wants to bend the rules and get into trouble.  However; society will not allow the little girl to run around with children with that status. 

When I read this I thought about how the little girl in the front yard gets things she wants such as toys, food, clothes and more.  The kids in the backyard or alley have to work hard and do not always get the finer things in life. 

Be careful what you wish for in life.  

                                                                                                                                

Response to Me

My guess is the hidden meaning is not about a boxing match.  I think that his reality has changed now that he has experience this battle royal.  I think he now realizes that has a choice to either give up the fight and not participate in this battle or he can keep up the fight and go on with this new outlook on life.  Life is not always going to be easy or go the way you want but you have a choice when you are faced with reality.  He hates what is going on now and does not know what is going to happy but he has a choice.  I’m not saying this is right or that it’s ok to treat people this way but he is learning from this experience and realizing he needs to play their game for now. 

I never thought literature was so deep.  I would just read the stories and think “That was a good book” and then put it down and didn’t think about it much more.  I have a hard time trying to find the hidden meaning but when we have a discussion we get to dig deeper and find multiple meanings.   By taking a deeper look into the stories we read is helping me experience life and helping me gain wisdom.  

The Invisible Man

I thought I had experienced life by being exposed to many different cultures and ways of living.  However; when I read stories like “The Invisible Man” I feel as if I’m walking around with a white cloth over my eyes because I’m lost as to why he feels invisible.  What I have gathered from the beginning of the story is the grandfather said “Son, after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight.”  Did he hear him say that to his father and now he feels like he needs to live according to the words of his grandfather? 

Is this story all about a boxing match for the white folks at the battle royal or is there another hidden meaning?  Is the hidden meaning to show how blacks were treated?  The boy is working to keep up the fight and work hard for what he wants but at what cost?  Where does he say enough is enough?  He has to fight his schoolmates and then jump on a rug for what fake coins!  All of this for the entertainment of white men.

 

The other way that I look at it is for now he has to do what he needs to in order to get a scholarship.  If he does this now and gets it over with than for the moment he can be invisible and live this moment and later he can go about his life living the actual dream of having a good fight.  Now he has achieved his goals and he does not have to be invisible anymore.  He can be who he wants to be and stand above the crowd.

On the other hand I could be way off and when I get to class tomorrow I’m going to be responding with “Oh I get it now, boy was I way off.”  I guess I will see what the future holds.  I will say this, the reason why I was thinking he is invisible is because sometimes I do the same thing, go through moments in my life where I wish I was invisible because I’m feeling humiliated.    

Past, Present and Future

"Burnt Norton"

I love the way this poem begins

 

“Time Presents and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past”.

As the minutes and days pass, it turns into the past and all we have are the moments we are in at this very moment and the future.  We need to focus on the present moment because the present turns into the past and “All time is unredeemable”. 

“Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take”

This part reminds me of Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”.  We have had many times in our lives, more than we can count where we have taken different passages that had changed the lives we live now.

The last lines are perfect and well said,

“Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present”

We have a past and a future but we will always be stuck in the present.    

Reading about time and how precious it is in our lives was an eye opener.  It is true we should live life to the fullest we can make it because we would look at time negatively and say we are prisoners to the ticking clock because we will forever be forced to move forward in time to have a past and future so make it the best it can be. 

I wonder however, what the nature and the rest of the poem are saying.  I will not be in class and I wish I could hear the thoughts on this poem and The Wasteland.  They are good poems but I’m lost in a lot of areas.  

Response to my blog

       I’m glad that we are able to comment on our own blog because I post my blog and I have many questions about the reading.  There are times when I feel I have posted so far off the topic of what the story is about and then when we are in class having a discussion I feel a little better but now know how to answer my questions or would like to elaborate on my blog. 

        After class I can now say that I do believe the grasshoppers represent people.  Scott asks do I see any connection between the way the hoppers are used in the story and how an infantry man in WWI might feel?  I do, I would say the back grasshoppers represent the time when he is in the war.  It is not the same, things have changed and now he is in a war filled with destruction and change, just like the grasshoppers.  When he gets to his camping spot the river is beautiful and the view is amazing.  Nick says, “They were good grasshoppers.”  Is he saying the men he served with were good as well or are the grasshoppers that were black, represent the time when he was in the war and the green ones are like his present life? 

          I could be way off but when Nick finds hundreds of hoppers by a log is that a reminder when the troops were under attack and there was nothing they could do?    

          There is a time when Nick takes the grasshoppers and uses them for fishing and it is very descriptive about how he gets them on the hook.   Again is this talking about the war, after the war, or his life now?  I said earlier that I believe the green grasshoppers represent his life in the land of beauty but as they are talked about more in the story I believe them to have more to do with the war more and more.  I believe they are him and the people he served with while in the war and just like the grasshoppers life was not always easy and death was all around.  

"Big Two-Hearted River

Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River”

I enjoyed reading this story.  Hemingway made me feel as if I was the one writing the story because it felt as if I were actually there describing Nick’s every move.  He was so descriptive throughout the story.  For example when Nick “broke off some springs of the heathery sweet fern, and put them under his pack straps. The chafing crushed it and he smelled it as he walked”.  I could almost smell the fern as he walked.  I could have done without the description when Nick pulled out his knife and grabbed one of the trout while holding on to it and whacked it on the log.  Yuck! I cannot even do that when I catch a fish.  It was hard to read the first time.

I know the story has more to it besides Nick getting off a train in a burnt city and carrying his heavy pack to find the river to go fishing.  Is Nick escaping life?  When he gets off the train he sees Seney burnt.  My first thoughts were this story is going to be a disaster or sad story?  However, the story is quite lively with Nick’s happiness and his enjoyment with nature.   I’m just not sure what the hidden meaning is with Nick and his fishing trip.  I’m excited to see where this will go if we discuss this story in class.  I would love to dig deeper and see what it is that Hemingway really wanted us to get out of the story.

While reading the story I found myself pondering on the many different things in the story.  Do they have all have meaning or am I just way off the mark?  The big one would be Nick’s fishing experience but I want to dive into two different questions.  My first is the river.  It flows though the burnt town of Seney and through the pine plain.  The title of the story is “Big Two Hearted River” is one heart the sadness of the brunt town and the other heart dealing with exploration and new beginnings?  At the end the river is a swamp.  I have no clue what the swamp represents. The last line in the book says “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”.  The swap was past the river but he does not want to go there now.  Why?  Again is there a hidden meaning?

My other pondering question is the grasshoppers.  What do the grasshoppers represent? In the beginning he is stretching his legs and having a smoke when he sees a grasshopper but it’s black.  He picks it up and inspects the grasshopper and it has absolutely no color.  Later he walks on and when he sets up camp he goes and gets grasshoppers so he can use them as bait.  Was he just inspecting them for bait or do they have some symbolic reason for the description and how much detail Hemingway goes into when he is fishing?  Nick goes to get the grasshoppers and they are cold and the dew is still on the grass so he is grabbing them and putting them into a bottle.  Nick finds a log and there is a grasshopper lodge where there are hundreds.    

I could go on with much more until I could ask every question imaginable but I will leave it with the rivers and the grasshoppers.    

Frost: The Road Not Taken

Honestly I have never read this poem.  I have heard about it and heard the line “The one less traveled” and I feel like my life is all about the paths we take.  Sometimes we take the correct path and other times we decided to take the wrong path.  I know I have taken the wrong path and have turn around and have made it on the correct path of success.  It’s hard to decide which road it right for you when you cannot see where the road takes you.  Life’s decision can be hard at times but ultimately the choice is yours, you might not know where the road will take you after the decision has been made.

The title of the poem fits perfectly.  If I could have picked the title I would have changed it to “The path taken” because it sounds more positive.  This poem is short but the words have been passing on by many people and they use it in their lives on a constant basis. 

Frost says “Had worn them really about the same…”  Is he saying they are the same but two different paths?  If in fact he is saying that then why does he go on to say “I took the one less traveled”?  Let’s say the roads both look the same and we are placed with two choices or decisions but which one is correct?  This could be a moral dilemma, both are correct but which one do you choose?  You cannot have both. 

Frost also says “Oh I kept the first for another day… I doubt if I should ever come back…” Is he writing this after the fact and now he wished he had taken the other road?  Or is his curiosity killing him?  What would it been like to take the other road?  This he will never know, just as we will never know because we cannot pause, rewind, or fast forward time.  Oh but if we could… would you go back and change your road or stay just as you are?

For the midterm essay I decided to talk about the story "The Storm" and "The Passing of Grandison"  I enjoyed both stories and I would like to find an interest in the stories that I can write about.  I'm going to read both of them over the weekend and really dive into the reading to look at them in different perspectives.  I'm going to take a closer look at both women, the irony, and romanticism vs. realism.  From there I will either narrow it down to one or I will talk about them all individually.

Conservative or Militant?

Booker T. Washington

I honestly believe he is conservative.  I was actually surprised when he was a former slave.  I would think because of his younger life and the things he experienced he would have been militant.  I would imagine with all the things he had been through and seen when he was younger he would speak with a more aggressive tone and use harsher words to express his thoughts.  Instead he chooses more powerful words that seem to find a way to have both races become equal. One of my favorite things he says expresses how they can be equal.  He says “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress”. 

I know I can take that quote and apply it to my personal life and pass it on because I believe it has a lot of power and truth.  I think he is basically saying if the Negroes should be taking their skills and all the qualities they possess and show the white race how they are useful with their trade and skills.  Although they are not the same they have an ultimate goal they both want and if they are more like the hand that brings them together they can accomplish more instead of always being separate. 

W.E.B Du Bois

I had a harder time with him because you would think with his background he would be conservative.  I would say he is conservative but it could be the way that I’m reading the story.  DuBois says “He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and pit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.”  I thought this was conservative because he is fighting for equality.  I read this and thought about the passion and the strength behind his words.  However, during the story he is demanding that America give the same equality that they have and he wants all the doors of opportunity to be open to the Negros just as they are to Americans.  He wants it all stopped now.  My mind starts to change when I read on and I see how he is militant because he is being more aggressive with his words and the meaning behind them. 

He talks about Washington saying “it is no ordinary tribute to this man’s tact and power that, steering as he must between so many diverse interests and opinions, he so largely retains the respect of all”. 

With all that said I have been feeling like a teeter totter since I read the words of BuBois.  Is he conservative or militant?  Did I go in reading this thinking that I wanted him to be a conservative because what does he know he was born free and Washington was the slave.  This one I’m stuck on however, I’m sticking firm to what I said about Washington.  I really liked what he had to say.  

Response to Decker

I really enjoyed reading your post.  You have two really excellent points and I agree with them.  I like the one where you said http://deckeramericanlit.blogspot.com/ “Dick (his name is even ironic)” I was telling my husband about the story and when I was finished telling him about the story I had said that the name Dick was ironic in the story because of how he is kind of a dick by doing nothing with his life and when he finally does do something it’s still all for him.  I think the girl’s name also is a little ironic because her name is Charity and she would like Dick to help others and do more with his life such a charity and free a slave. 

The other thing that I like what you said was “The author tricks us all.  While “passing” many times serves as a metaphor for “death”, the passing in this instance is the passing of a slave into freedom.  Final though; think if the title has read, “The Escape of Grandison”, gives it all away doesn’t it?” http://deckeramericanlit.blogspot.com/

That is so true.  When I read the title and started to read the story I thought that he was going to be killed and I thought that because of the word “passing”.  To me I thought he was going to pass away or be killed and this was the story of how he passed away.  I never actually thought of the meaning behind the title until you said something.  It really would have given away the story and how it ends if the title of the story was in fact “The Escape of Grandison”.  

The Passing of Grandison

Verbal Irony

1. Charity says “ You must be losing your wits.  Steal another man’s slave, indeed, while your father ones a hundred!”

I think this is ironic because Charity says that she could love someone who would do something for someone else.  Dick Owens wants her to love him and marry her.  However, she says to him "Except that I do hate to see a really cleaver man so utterly lazy and good for nothing." Dick goes through all the trouble of getting his slave to run off but what he is doing is still good for nothing.  Dick is the heir of his father’s estate, why does he need to free another man’s slave when his father owns so many and one day they will all belong to Dick.  When that day come he could just set them all free, why does he need to steal another man’s slave when he will have them all one day. 

2. I love this one Dick says "Oh, come now, sweetheart! I'v been courting you for a year and it's the hardest work imaginable." 

The reason why I enjoy this one so much is because Charity does say that he is too lazy for any use because all he does is play cards or fox hunt.  Dick has not had a hard life.  He thinks its hard to court her wait until they get married.  With this conversation the story starts to unfold.  He goes on his adventure for it only to fail when he tried to get Grandison to run away.  He can not even do that right.  Grandison runs away but he did it all on his own. When I read this line it sounded as if he was whining when he said it which added the cherry to the top of the ice cream.  

Situation Irony

1.The one that I though was the best one was when the story was ending.  Grandison returns after the being held in Canada.  The colonel says that he came back to where is master, friends, and his home is because he is loyal.  

The next day Grandison and Grandison's whole family are gone and no where to be found on the plantation.  When the colonel finally catches up to them they are on a steamboat.  The story says

 "One last glimpse he caught of his vanishing property, as he stood, on a wharf at a port on the south shore of Lake Erie.  On the stern of a small steamboat which was receding rapidly from the wharf,with her nose pointing toward Canada, there stood a group of familiar dark faces, and the look they cast backwards was not one of the longing for the for the fleshpots of Egypt.  The colonel saw Grandison point him out to one of the crew of the vessel, who waved his hand derisively toward the colonel.  The latter shook his fist impotently - and the incident was closed."

I love the way it ended because Grandison shows he is devoted to the colonel the whole time.  When Grandison returns the colonel boast because he believes Grandison returned because of how well he is treated.  In reality he returns for his family.  He does not want to be owned he wants his freedom.  Who would want to be owned?  He would not be free without his family.  He got his freedom and the colonel was shocked by the reaction Grandison gave him in the end.  

2. In the story Dick wants to take one of the slaves with him on the trip because the whole reason for the trip is to prove his love to Charity and do something good by freeing a slave.  His father has him take Grandison.  Dick's father and Grandison are talking about how good of a life he has being owned and how he gives him whiskey and tobacco when he wants or needs it. Grandison gets worried that the abolitionists will come in the night and take him away.  The father replies saying "Your young master will protect you.  You need fear no harm while he is near."  

I find that funny because the reason for the trip is to get him to leave and to run off and be free, however, everything Dick tries does not work.  He should fear Dick because he is trying to get him to be taken or to leave on his own.  

Response to AJ's Chickamauga

A.J. states the more he read Chickamauga story, the more he could relate two things in his mind.  I have to say going into the story I would have never thought I would be relating to it because of the picture above the story. However, from the first paragraph it brought me back to my childhood playing with my brothers.  We would have our fake guns and we would use our imagination for hours.

When I read the beginning I could smell the grass and feel the sun just like I remember it when I was a child.  It was as if I was there once again.  We had "opportunity of exploration and adventure".  I know the story is nothing like my childhood but I could relate to it as well.

I could relate to the story The Storm but I did not have the same ending only the beginning when she saw Alicee standing there and how she felt at that moment.

I'm beginning to enjoy the stories because of the experience and how I too can relate to them so far. I like the different perspectives everyone has towards the stories, for example the zombies.  

The Storm

I read The Storm three times and every time I read the story I felt the same way I did when I read it the first time.  The reason why is because of my personal experience in live and love.  I didn’t have the same fate as the woman in the book but I do have past loves that I will always cherish.  I was intrigued to read this and write about it because our instructor said “you will either love it or hate it”, I was hooked on wanting to read it. 

I looked at the story as saying she loves her husband and her life but one rainy day a man she once loved happened to be riding by and they had not been alone since they had been dating but something stopped them from getting married.  Through the wind and the rain there was this worry in her eyes and she was frightened for her husband and son who were not home and safe in the house.  I think with that old memories and sparks flew and with the touch of his embrace when he put his arms around her brought up the love they have always had for one another. 

They went on the emotion of the love and they were not living in the now.  When it is all over there is a line in the story that I love, “ The rain was over; and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems.  I love this line because I feel like its saying that this is what the couple has always wanted to in the past but it didn’t happen.  The world looked different.  Now they can move on, they have closure. 

Now I’m not saying that infidelity is a good thing and if it makes you feel this way then you should do it ban fulfill that burning love you have had for someone else if something like this happens to you.  The story does not go on to say that she live the rest of her life with guilt.  Maybe she did and maybe she didn’t.  Who knows?  When it says the “So the storm passed and everyone was happy” that might mean that neither one said anything to their spouses nor to each other again because that void was fill when they had their moment. 

When it comes to the portrayal of marriage, to me it can go many different ways.  I really don’t know what her marriage was like.  Was she happy and in love and this was something that happened and wished she could take it back or was she screaming inside because she didn’t love him the way she loved the other man or the way a married woman should love her husband.  With the love aspect I believe that you can love more than one person in your live that you will cherish forever but still be married and have that same love for your husband.  The choice is up to you if you choose to go after the other man and fulfill that burning love for him and go behind your husband’s back for a moment in time or keep him as a memory just the way you two left it knowing that you will always have him in your heart.  

What would I have done if I was African American and in the situation that the majority of African Americans were after the war?

From the beginning when our country was formed there were slaves.  I know for a fact I would not want to be a slave in the south.  If I had to be owned by someone I would want to be owned by President George Washington.  He was a slave owner but he was kind and probably the most thoughtful of slave owners.  If the slaves had families or were married he would not let them get separated.  Even if he didn’t need the slaves he would not sell them because he didn’t want to separate the families or the husband and wife.  George Washington also worked with Congress to allow slaves to work for their freedom by joining the army.  If they enlisted they could work off their freedom by fighting in wars. 

However, if I was a slave and the war was because of me and how some people still wanted to possess slaves, I would have tried to escape.  That is if I didn’t get my wish to be Washington’s slave.  I would want to run away and join a group of people and help with the war against slaves.  I would want to die trying instead of being owned and not have rights.  I don’t know if it would be worth the risk if I was caught but my situation might have been better to escape because I am a woman and who knows what type of treatment I was getting. 

What would have happened if the transcontinental railroad was never assembled?

They say the world got smaller when they completed the railroad.  California and the east coast were connected due to the railroad system.  The final touched on the completion were in Utah and it was completed in Promontory Point May 10^th 1869.  They needed the railroad for several different reasons; to replace oxen, the use of steamboats and stage coaches to help them transport goods or personal items. 

Now that the railroad was complete people could get on the train and travel from California and go all the way across the country to the east coast in about a week.  They no longer had to go by horse and camp or take the boat from the Panama Canal to get from one side of the country to the other.  People started to move and start up towns along the railroad to startup businesses and shops.  Moving was easy because you would load up your cargo and put it on the train. 

I believe that the railroad system change our world dramatically.  These times the world was inventing more and more things to industrialize the country.  I think it was a matter of time when the world would have come up with a way to move large amounts of cargo because taking the boat was far too long.  If the country is going to become a land of promise and a new start then they needed to find a way to move the products faster. 

I have enjoyed reading the introduction of the book.  I guess you can say I love to read about history.  My mom and I had a discussion last week about the time period when Lincoln was president, and we questioned what would have happened if he never got shot.  What would it be like today had he lived?  With the question we though about Kennedy and what would it have been like if he lived as well.  What would our government or our life as a country be like?  What would be different?
My second question was if I lived back in this time period, I wonder what I would have done and where I would have lived?  I know how my family came to this country but had I lived during this time I wonder would I have traveled to help with the railroad or would I have moved to Chicago to the booming city?  The bigger question is would I have lived in the north or in the south?  Would I have been fighting for the rights of all men or going against them?  These are questions I will never know the answer to but I could give you an answer as to what I would want to be or do in history, however, I would not be able to answer where we would be if the Lincoln lived.  What would you want to do back in that time?

                                                 Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"