Rosalia Mayancela

The poem “The Wife,” written by Emily Dickson, expresses what it represents to get married; when a woman becomes a wife, she losses her independence and identity, as indicated when the author says, “dropped the playthings of her life” to carry out wife duties as “his requirement.” Metaphoric words such as “pearl” and “weed” describe marriage elements. She needs to be submissive and respectful to hold the “Wife” title as her new identity. The conventional practice of a wife was to please their husband because they belonged to men’s property. That was a reality for a married woman during 19 century. Similarly, the narration of “Story of an hour?” by Kate Chopin contributes to the topic of marriage. When Mrs. Mallard finds out that his husband is dead, she starts crying because of his abandonment but quickly realizes that his husband’s death means freedom. Her moment of enlightenment, staring at the window, changed Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state from sadness to relief, empowerment, and independence. The narrator whispers, “Free! Body and soul free!” to dictate her coming years. Even though the protagonist died at the end of the story when she found out her husband was not dead, the moment of imagining her life as independent was already a victory.

The reading “Oedipus the King” discusses some timeless human experiences and behavior. For example, in the play, the citizens constantly pray to god, begging for Thebes because they are experiencing a horrific plague, faithfully believing that the king can save them. Similarly, in contemporary society, we can see how religion is still dominant; countries such as Iran and Yemen have an example of theocratic governments. Religious beliefs have been passed from generation to generation. Another example is pride, a negative human trait that can affect your self-growth. The consequence of having a superior and antisocial personality can result in a tragedic outcome. In the play, the oracle reveals to king Oedipus his inevitable fate, and he immediately protects himself using excessive pride as a shield. Despite his internal and external fights, he fulfills the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his wife. Those two characteristics are general aspects of life.

In “A good man is hard to find,” the grandmother’s actions and opinions are interpreted as prejudice. She is described as religious, talkative, and discriminatory, which is perceived every time she innocently refers to the people and her surrounding. The audience can sense the interior side of the story when the grandmother emphasizes the importance of judging somebody by their appearance, the way she idealizes the fugitive criminal- Misfit. First, she tries to point out some positive observations about his identity, and then she faithfully attempts to declare his innocence to convince somehow he is a good man. Still, the criminal has already accepted he is guilty, and a bad man so ends up killing the old lady. Even though The grandmother is represented as a “Lady” who is morally superior and caring, her actual character is that she is a hypocrite and dishonest which lead her family to a tragic ending. This is a clear message: You can judge a book by its cover.

The two characters from “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Mercedes, and Sylvia clearly show contrast in their experience and point of view in response to the visit to the FA0 Schwarz toy store.  I associate Mercedes with a wealthy family(one little portion of the society) when she emphasizes that the price tags of the toys were not much of a surprise for her and whenever she wishes to have one, she can get it. On the contrary, the rest of her classmates were stunned by every piece in the store, especially by the price tag which didn’t make sense to them since similar products were found in a different location at a way cheaper price. Sylvia was one of my classmates and all she could think of was who would pay for those insane prices.  She expresses her anger by asking Miss Monroe “Watcha bring us here for, Miss Moore?” but later on everything falls in its place and the lesson of the experience is revealed. At the end of the trip, everyone was overwhelmed to know that there is a part of society that lives differently from what they used to see and live.  When did Miss Monroe ask what did you learn from the class? Mercedes responded that she will return when she has her birthday money while the rest of the class including Sylvia thought that price tags could equal to the rent or feed six-seven family expenses. The inequality gap between poor and rich was huge that so the lesson was “poor people have to wake up and demand their share of the pie” and change the system.