Brianna Sanchez

“A Smart Cookie,” one of the vignettes from pages 81 through the end of The House on Mango Street, had the biggest impact on me. By sharing the experience of a role model, it emphasizes the significance of never giving up or quitting on yourself.  I learned from this vignette that the people in your life who value and care about you are there to support you as you develop and accomplish your objectives. “But she doesn’t know which subway train to take to get downtown. I hold her hand very tight while we wait for the right train to arrive” (Cisneros, page 90).” This vignette demonstrates Esperanza’s importance to and concern for her mother. She is with her mother to influence her life and has strong love for her. This resonates with me since I too like to help my mother when she needs help getting someplace or doing a task, especially with all the modern technology that she is not used to. 

I was surprised to learn that the family moving into Mango Street was expecting to move into the perfect home of their dreams, based on the story of “The House on Mango Street.” However, they were not expecting a dream crusher when they arrived. I found it fascinating how the narrator delicately and forcefully addressed the problems associated with moving from one house to another, particularly in situations when neither property was solid, yet the family was forced to relocate at any opportunity. The narrator portrayed the harsh realities of life. The fact that the house on the other side of town was still not what they had anticipated was one of the things that puzzled me. Every house the narrator lived in left her unhappy since something was constantly breaking. This family experiences mental and physical chaos in addition to struggling to find a place to call home.    

I compared Raymond Carver’s simple writing to that of the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” Both stories explore feelings of jealousy and insecurity. For example, in the story “Cathedral,” the narrator shows odd protectiveness toward his wife and jealousy toward her previous boyfriends. He skips over any information on her ex-husband and just makes passing references to him throughout the narrative. “The man she was going to marry…didn’t have money, either. But she was in love with the guy, and he was in love with her, etc.” (Carver). This behavior can be seen throughout the “Snow White” story because Snow White’s beauty and the fact that she was adored by everybody led to the Queen’s jealousy. The events and ordinary people in Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral,” like those in “Snow White,” portray real-life feelings like anger, jealousy, and the desire to harm others. It also teaches us that sometimes we cannot get what we desire.    

My topic for the research essay on fairytales is “Snow White.” I chose to explore this aspect of fairytales because it is more familiar to me and one of my favorites. I respect how many lessons, if any, fairytales have to offer. I enjoy reading fairytales and trying to learn every aspect of the story, including the characters, setting, and plot.  One of the fairytales I learned more about in this course is “Snow White,” which has multiple meanings that I was unaware of. When my niece was little, we used to watch “Snow White,” and she obviously enjoyed it. One of the loveliest ways to spend time together is to read or even watch fairy tales. No matter your age, you may connect over a variety of adventure stories. I have specifically done research so far using primary and secondary sources to look into child development in fairytales for my essay.   

According to Bruno Bettelheim’s psychologically informed interpretation of “Little Snow White,” the story is a coming-of-age story following a little girl’s growth. This interpretation reveals that we, as readers, have been misled by fairytale stories since we were young, which makes it compare with Anne Sexton’s presentation of the well-known fairy tale. It presents women as less valuable than men. Men are viewed as powerful, wise, and brave, while women are always perceived as weak and in need of men.  Women aspire to beauty because, in fairytales, they are often the princesses and are kind; in these stories, women who are labeled unattractive would be nasty witches. As an ordinary girl, Snow White was naive and developed her ability to deal with society’s evil behaviors.  Both Anne Sexton’s and Bruno Bettelheim’s psychologically informed interpretations of the well-known fairy tale “Little Snow White” make remarks about women and the need for young women to be more self-reliant and considerate in a culture where they are frequently mistreated.    

Like the ancient Greek viewers of tragedy, readers “should know what is going to happen in this story so that the element of suspense in it will be transferred from its surface to its interior,” according to O’Connor’s essay about suspense in her story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” We know what the story is about on the surface. I believe the story’s internal labeling of “good” comes from the grandmother’s abuse of the word, applied to the wrong people and in the wrong situations. The grandma considers herself a “good lady” while hiding her inner imperfections behind nice clothes. The grandma is used as a metaphor of ignorance in the story, which is based on a social problem like racism. Her choice of the term “good lady” to characterize herself suggests that it might also be a reflection on society and the women that inhabit it, given her hypocritical and gossipy nature. 

“Reading a poem is part attitude and part technique,” Poetry has the power to spark your curiosity and make you want to learn more about its meaning.  Reading poetry might be challenging. It requires practice, and as you advance, your knowledge and abilities get better. In her poem “Train to Brooklyn,” Patricia Jackson describes how she arrives in Brooklyn feeling calm and focused. Based on my own experience, the Bronx remains my home and my childhood neighborhood despite all the strange things that go on there. “Where I’ve tried and failed,” (26). I prefer to go to the Bronx to get myself through tough times. Living in a multicultural neighborhood allows me to feel like I can be myself because of the diversity of music and cultures. The New York Botanical Garden and the zoo are the ideal places to visit in the Bronx if you enjoy the outdoors. Personally, I enjoy taking walks in Central Park while listening to my favorite music.     

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” and the greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” both refer to love. The terms “trust,” “memories,” and “laugh” are used in the greeting card to express aspects of real love. She expresses her desire and affection for her husband in Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?”. She uses the word “thee” often throughout the poem to emphasize her love for her spouse. She essentially responds to the first line of the poem, “How Do I Love Thee,” every time she uses the word “thee.” “I love thee freely,…” (Line 7). “I love thee purely,…” (Line 8). “I love thee with the passion put to use…”(Line 9). The greeting card uses the word “why” to describe reasons for falling in love and reasons to love someone, but Browning uses the word “how” to describe how someone feels about someone, which is, in my opinion, more significant than using the word “why.” 

Timeless human experiences or behaviors I found in my reading of Oedipus the King is that Oedipus makes choices based on his personal thoughts and feelings, which he utilizes to generate new and unusual behaviors because of several influences, such as seeing his parents run their kingdom and feeling good about himself. Oedipus developed his personality through harming others, and as a result, he evolved into who he is now. Oedipus’ parents, for instance, were King and Queen. He has spent his whole childhood surrounded by the royal family, so by watching his father, he learns what a king is supposed to be like. He could be portraying the powerful behavior of his own father. The main motivation beneath Oedipus’ actions is pride, he acts in ways that make him feel emotionally rewarded. With the position of power that comes with becoming king, he turns rude and harsh. Our decisions are influenced by our emotions, which play an important part in decision-making. 

The modern world suffered from the COVID pandemic. I was in the United States at the time that COVID occurred. During the play “Oedipus the King”, when Oedipus first arrived at Thebes, he saw the city to be in terrible suffering. The people were being tormented by the Sphynx, who would tell a riddle and murder everyone who didn’t know the answer. By solving the riddle, Oedipus overcame the Sphynx, which then self- isolated in anger. The king and hero of the city was Oedipus.  Our government in the United States is comparable to Oedipus ruling the city because they gave us vaccinations to keep the majority of us from getting sick. The next best thing you can do to prevent infections is to wash your hands, avoid touching your face, and disinfect your home and the items you use on a daily basis. Oedipus, also known as the King, is honored for his strength and bravery when he overcame a monster-like antagonist.  Unfortunately, the majority of people, particularly the elderly, lack healthy immune systems and were at risk of infection. 

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it” by C.S Lewis In other words, through the eyes of literature, everyone can view the world in a fresh, new approach. It is an active and imaginative interpretation of the world around us rather than just a passive reflection of it. Literature can change how we view the world and provide new ideas and insights. Children are taught in Toni Cade Bambara’s story “The Lesson” that despite their poverty, they may overcome social obstacles and eventually earn the toys and be treated equally. Sylvia went on the journey with the most attitude and ignorance, expecting to learn nothing at all, yet she was the one who fully understood the most. She lacks the knowledge necessary to understand that there is a struggle in society between the rich and the poor, which may be characterized as social classes. Although there is no obvious ending, Sylvia does understand the lesson Miss Moore has been trying to teach to the children.  

The theme in the nineteenth-century Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” echoed in “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin because It portrays loneliness and the benefits and disadvantages that come with it. The events in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” develop swiftly; it appears that a person’s life and personality may change significantly in just one hour. Less than an hour passes while Mrs. Mallard processes the death of her husband. By doing this, she quickly progresses through her sadness to reach a “dream” or “story” of what life would be like for her on her own. In the story it states “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” She has become used to the concept of a completely different future; one she looks forward to rather than one she fears. She later finds out that her husband is still alive, and destroys her brand-new vision for the future.    Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” it says, “She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife.” Both the poem and the story convey the idea that women sacrifice their lives to be a wife to their husbands and experience less independence and freedom.      

This quote about literature is embodied in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara because it strengthens the required skills that everyday life necessitates and supplies, and in this way, it maintains the already-existing defects in our lives. In the story, the lesson of the field trip is social and economic inequality. The children are taught that despite their poverty, they can overcome obstacles in society and, in time, not only purchase toys but also be treated equally. They take a field trip to the toy store where they discover that they are not bound by the rules of society. Once you acknowledge that you have the ability to do so, I believe you can overcome society’s obstacles. This is true when the narrator says, “And something weird going on, I can feel it in my chest. Anybody else learned anything new today? Lookin dead at me. I walk away.” The narrator resolves her inner battle regarding her ability to change her situation at this point.

I can connect with the narrator of “Salvation” because of my faith or life experiences. It was his method of verbally expressing his thoughts and feelings exactly as he had experienced them. the emotions of regret from being let down and remorse about lying. The phrases “I cried” and “I don’t believe” stand out as indicating a relationship of cause and effect between getting hurt because of a cause and its impact of not believing. This confirmed my belief that a person cannot be compelled to feel or think anything against what they choose to believe. In the story “Araby,” I can connect with the narrator because he showed the contrast between the reality that the church or society constructs and the real world. In “Araby,” he illustrates the abrupt transformation brought on by losing innocence. At the end of the story, the narrator had an epiphany that everyone had at some point. He sees that the world he assumed was flawless is corrupt and weak. The narrator also makes use of imagery to highlight the differences between how he sees his everyday life and that of Mangan’s sister and Araby. He describes his street as “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers’ School set the boys free”. He describes his house and his street with phrases like “uninhabited,” “blind,” “detached,” “imperturbable,” “musty,” and “littered.” On the other hand, he portrays Araby as a lovely, happy, and mystical environment and Mangan’s sister like you would imagine an angel. I agree with the narrator’s desire to escape his dull and depressing daily routine in favor of the wonderful idea of romantic love and a bazaar.

I think Professor Conway has assigned this as the first story of the course because she wants us to understand the concept of what people can do to move forward and change the future. In the last paragraph, it states, “While they fought for the privilege of carrying him on their shoulders along the steep escarp- ment by the cliffs, men and women became aware for the first time of the desolation of their streets, the dryness of their courtyards, the narrowness of their dreams as they faced the splendor and beauty of their drowned man.” I’ll note that the tone fluctuates a few times throughout the narrative, but overall it seems to be very authentic. It transitions from being depressed over the man’s passing to being joyful and admiring of his appearance. The villagers discuss what they would do differently in the future after imagining how their environment has altered.