Kathyann C Myers

One of the vignette that stood out to me was 79-80, Rafaela who drinks coconut and papaya juice of Tuesdays” it gives of the the fairy tale Rapunzel, because she was so pretty and being locked up because her husband was afraid that she was going to leave tells us how insecure he were. Women don’t have any say in their decisions but men does , what they do and that they must be controlled and “locked away”. Being controlled just give me anxiety, i love that we live in this day and age where men cannot speak for us, we have the right to have our own opinion and stand up for our rights as women, like Maya Angelou said “We promise to accept nothing less than justice for every woman”. Esperanza must avoid being controlled and “locked away” so to speak and drifting into the wrong crowd. My pitfalls I must avoid are different because I have to avoid are slacking off on my schoolwork, but we both have to worry about falling into the wrong crowd.

The vignette from page 15 of The House on Mango Street that made the strongest impression on me was “Alicia Who Sees Mice”. In this vignette, Alicia is a young girl who lives in the same neighborhood as Esperanza, the protagonist of the novel. Alicia is scared of the mice that live in her house, but she is also brave enough to confront them. This vignette resonated with me because it reminded me of my own childhood and the times when I was scared of things, but still brave enough to face them. It also reminded me of the importance of having courage and being able to confront our fears     The vignette from pages 32-33 of The House on Mango Street that made the strongest impression on me was “Alicia Who Sees Mice”. This vignette resonated with me because it showed how Alicia, despite her fear of mice, was still able to take care of them and make them feel safe. This vignette showed me that even when we are scared of something, we can still find ways to take care of it and make it feel safe. It also showed me that even when we are scared, we can still be brave and do what needs to be done. This vignette made me think about how I can be brave and take care of things that I am scared of.

“Our good day” stood out to me because friendship is not always based on how much money somebody has, but how people treat you based on your situation in life. Having a bike as well as good friends, which she did it on her own was part of Esperanza’s desire and not having to share with Nenny why it was a “Good day”. Esperanza like the fact that she has a lot in common as sisters with Rachel and Lucy. Although Cathy said “they smell like brooms” but they were similar to Esperanza than cathy, Esperanza was embarrassed to tell her new friends her name and the fact that they didn’t laugh or make fun of it made a big difference to Esperanza. She rode around the block with her new friends playing and sharing and riding the bike and giving them a geography lesson about the neighborhood. I think that Esperanza was longing for her life and home.  Making friends is hard because you sometimes try to avoid the judgement that comes with it.

Although Snow-white is a familiar fairy tale, there was some different parts in it. This read was interesting, Walt Disney’s version was very cute for children, but this version was more for adults. The evil stepmother tries to kill snow-white because she was jealous and vain, the evil stepmother went as far and told the hunter to bring snow-white into the woods and kill her and to return with her heart as proof. She wanted to eat her heart because she wanted the power of immortality. The queen was tricked with a wild animal’s heart instead. When the step mother found out that snow-white was indeed alive she disguised herself as an old woman, a peasant woman to trick and killed snow-white, the poisoned comb and the poisoned apple were what she used to kill her or so she taught, but snow-white had help by the seven dwarf who was her protector. I think snow- white was very kind and trusting why she believed  the evil step mother disguised as the old woman.

The short story “where are you going, where have you been”?  was dedicated to Bob Dylan because the Author was inspired after listening to his song “Its all over now baby blue”. Connie did not feel appreciated at home because her mother always criticized her and always comparing her to her sister June, so she uses her looks and action to get attention from boys. Connie’s relationship with her mother and sister were unfortunate, the mother always make a references to June because she were more responsible. Her father seems like he’s very distant at home and that maybe is also a problem in her eyes. This was very sad to read!

In the poem The Lake Isle Innisfree by W. B. Yeats. The poets fantasize about going to a peaceful life in Innisfree where he would build a small cabin of clay and waffles (line 1). He was providing a great vision of a place where he was going be at peace, he hopes to plant nine rows of beans in a clearing (line 3) which would buzz with sound of honey bees tending to a hive. he believes that this place would bring him peace. Maybe the message he was trying to send was that he wasn’t happy where he were and he needed to escape to an environment where he would be happy. He needed to be around nature and natural beauty, he mentioned “I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore” (line 10)  that gave him  pleasure just to enjoy it which gave him solace and comforts. This also teaches us that when things get overwhelming we should also build a cabin of solitary place.

The activity that broadened my ideas about poetry and taught me something new which also surprised me is activity 1 2 and 3. I’ve learned rhythm and rhyme from a young age its fun singing along poems but i never understood anything about it. Rhyme adds power to the lines of poetry that’s why we remember certain childhood poems, poetry is a form of expression and it let us get our feeling out. I love to see how words get connected that make our experience excited while writing it. I’ve never heard of the word sonnet until today it took me by surprise and i will be looking at poetry very differently. Sonnet make poetry fun because we put the rhyming words together which are Octave meaning eight lines, and sestet meaning six lines.

Flannery O’Connor produced a few works in her short lifetime of 39 years. She was considered one of the most important short story writers of the twentieth century because of her interesting characters. O’Connor was the only child of wealthy parents she went high school in Milledgeville, Georgia. Her father Edward Francis O’Connor died when she was sixteen from Lupus, that same disease later took her life. In college she majored in Social Sciences and edited and wrote for school publications. She later received a master’s degree in writing from Iowa State university in 1947. After completing graduate school, she attended the prestigious Yaddo writer’s colony in upstate New York then moved to Connecticut to live with her good friends Sally and Robert Fitzgerald. She wrote steadily through the 1950s. She won three o. Henry memorial awards for her short stories, a ford foundation grant, a national institute of arts and letters grant in literature and two honorary doctor’s degrees during her lifetime. http://”A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Short Stories for Students, edited by Kathleen Wilson, vol. 2, Gale, 1997, pp. 97-114. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2694900016/GLS?u=cuny_mancc&sid=bookmark-GLS&xid=92e4a36c. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022.

“The story of an hour” was about this married woman named Mrs. Mallard who had a heart condition. She got news that her husband passed away in a horrific train accident. Her sister Josephine told her about the news but Mrs. Mallard was rejoicing, well she was not happy in her marriage but all she can think about was her freedom from her marriage and that made her happy. She was depressed because she loved her husband sometimes, but with him gone all she can think about was being  “free”. Her sister was so concerned about her health because Mrs. Mallard was just in her room. She was surprised when she saw her husband was opening the door well she fell because she got a heart attack.

It started off with the grandmother who was trying to persuade her family to visit Tennessee instead of Florida for their vacation because she had motives, she tried everything in changing his mind and said “the kids already been there” they suggest she stays home but  they knew that wouldn’t happened, the  grandmother hides the cat in a basket in the car. The grandmother was dressed in the finest clothes, while driving and they were seeing some beautiful scenery. The grandmother conversations with the misfits reveals a lot about the grandmother and her religious beliefs, the misfit on the other hand does not  believe the grandmother likes red Sammy because he agrees with her. The  grandmother is so manipulative she convince Bailey travel off course.

Jocasta is a very important character because she is Oedipus mother and wife. Jocasta didn’t believe in the prophecy that was told by the Oracle she said 815 “do not concern yourself about this matter listen to me and learn that human beings have no part in the craft of prophecy”. when the messenger came by to bring to Oedipus that his father Polybus was dead he was relief because the prophecy didn’t come through, Polybus was his father after all and him dyeing of old age was a good thing. Oedipus fear mislead him Why should man fear since chance is all in all  for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing?1101 Best to live lightly, as one can, unthinkingly. As to your mother’s marriage bed, —don’t fear it.  Before this, in dreams too, as well as oracles,  many a man has lain with his own mother. But he to whom such things are nothing bears his life most easily.1105

Well Oedipus the king was a play and an example of the great Greek tragedies. The play was interesting to read because I’ve never read anything like this, to me it contains great imagery which is relevant today. Oedipus was a good king who was loved by the people, they also wanted him to find the murderer of Laios  and to left the plagues that’s destroying the city. Oedipus was running away from his fate that was told by his oracle Delphi and he was doing everything to avoid it. Killing his father and marrying his mother was told by the oracle, but it was tragedy when his mom hanged herself because people knew about it.

“The lesson” was about these group of kids that were taken on a field trip to 5th Ave by Miss Moore. She took them on this trip to teach them about money show them how the other side lived, the group noticed how expensive things were. They were one person in the group that stood out her name were Mercedes it was obvious she was a clear difference in the group because it seems like money wasn’t hard for her to get so she was treated different. They noticed how expensive things were on  that side of town, Miss Moore also were teaching them the value of money and to see how the other side lived. It also show how unfair the system were in the United States, Miss Moore opened their eyes to their reality of the world.

This read on Salvation was a great one. Salvation makes you question your faith and beliefs in Christianity and your faith in people and Jesus. He believes that he would see Jesus if he got saved, when he finally got up the church rejoiced and his Aunt was happy,  but he was disappointed because everything his Aunt told him never happened so he cried. The fact that he was 13 it made me questioned, what sin he committed at that age? he was just a boy, and  He was believing the hype because all his life he was told if he’s save from sin he would see Jesus. I can also understand that because gowning up as a little girl i was told certain thing about Jesus but I never experienced it.

The handsome drown man was an interested read, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has a great imagination. The drowned man symbolize Esteban. It were an overwhelming, dramatic experience for the villagers especially the women. The way how they honored the dead was something special it bring the community together  as a whole. The men was upset or maybe jealous of the women because how much they were attached to a dead man, some of them were emotional to this complete stranger. Everyone was shocked how big and tall he were they never saw anything like it.