Tamar Abelson

The vignette from The House on Mango Street that made the strongest impression on me is Sire. I think this vignette is about self-confidence, jealousy, and passion. I loved this vignette because I can relate to young Esperanza whos growing and starting to have love feelings, which is beautiful. The description reminds me of when I was younger. It started with her seeing Sire looking at her and the confidence that she had to look back! I wish I had this confidence as a young girl. Then we can see how jealous she is of his girlfriend, Lois, even though she didn’t say it explicitly. We can understand it by the way she’s scanning her, watching Sire and Lois together, and trying to compare them both (Esperanza and Lois) saying how Lois cannot tie her own shoes while she can. She fantasizes about a boy, not a specific one but she just feels as if she’s ready for something like this, to be an adult and not a child who “every evening talking to the trees”.

The vignette that made the strongest impression on me from “The House on Mango Street” is “There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn’t Know What to Do”. This vignette is about Rosa Vargas, a woman who lives in the neighborhood and has too many, and too wild children. She is a single mom since the father of her kids left her alone. This vignette specifically caught my attention because I thought it would be a funny story (from the title and the first 2 lines of it) until I realized it’s not funny at all. Rosa is struggling to take care of her own children, who cause a lot of trouble, all by herself. It seems like her neighbors tried to help her but gave up because the kids are very naughty, and at the end of the day, they’re not their responsibility. I can tell that this vignette, along with the others, is written from a young and naive point of view. The way she writes about some unfortunate experiences in a nonchalant way, and not giving them much of the attention they should have gotten.

In the analysis of “Snow White,” Bruno Bettleheim refers to the hunter as the father character in the story. He writes that “a male who can be viewed as an unconscious representation of the father appears—the hunter who is ordered to kill Snow White, but instead saves her life”. The hunter obeys the queen’s order and takes snow white to the woods to kill her. He decided not to do that and let her go but didn’t try to save her (he thought that if he’s not going to kill her, she would probably get eaten by a wild animal in the woods). According to Bettleheim’s interpretation, the hunter comes out as a weak character, or as he claims a weak father figure. He’s not trying to save the kid from death in the woods, and also bringing back a dead animal’s lungs and liver instead, so the queen would think he killed snow white. This observation reminds me of the story from last week’s reading “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. In both stories, the father captures as weak, and as he “fails to take a strong and definite stand” character, while the wife has the power and is more present in the story, and the child’s life. Also, both stories put a strong emphasis on beauty and it has a connection to the mother’s love. Bettleheim states that kids who don’t have strong, protective parents have to find a way to manage on their own in life, unfortunately, in the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Connie, the child couldn’t save herself.

The story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates was definitely not what I was expected to read. I thought this story is going to be light and funny by the begging of it. A story about family matters, or a love story maybe. Surprisingly I discovered that this story is very dark, and although in American stories you expect a happy ending, this one was a scary and sad one (since we anticipate what’s going to happen to Connie after she went with Arnold). Reading the critical overview of the story written by Rena Korb, the interpretation that touched me the most was “feminist allegory”. I find it true and very sad. The way Korb describes it in the article was very powerful: “When Connie, the innocent female, walks out of the house to meet what may be her demise, she also represents the spiritual death of women at the moment they give up their independence to the desire of the sexually threatening male”. Although there is much more awareness of it nowadays, there are still a lot of young girls and grown women who try to satisfy men’s desires, even if it’s not what they want. When men use their power over women in sexual situations to get what they want, many females feel weak and as if they need to obey. We see women get raped on the news all the time, and people blame them for being too sexual and highly maintained. As Connie in this story. She does put a lot of attention to physical appearance, but that is what she cares about as a young girl, and shouldn’t get punished for it.

I enjoyed reading the article “How to Read a Poem” because the author uses many references to life that makes it easier to connect to the challenge of reading a poem. For example when he says that reading a poem might make you “sweat” a little, but that it’s like a sport – it takes practice and in the end, you get better.  The poet William Carlos Williams, in acknowledging the challenges of reading poetry, writes that a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun. One example from this week’s readings can be the poem “My Last Duchess” in which you need to “talk back to a poem” as mentioned in the article. The author of the article gives some questions to ask yourself which I think are helpful in order to understand this poem better, such as who is the speaker, and what situation is presented? In this case, the speaker is a Duke, he shows someone the painting of his first wife, the Duchess, and tells him about her and a little about their relationship. The Duke says “She had A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere”.  She had a big heart and saw good in everything, she was friendly. He also mentioned that she treated others with gratitude and warmth, as treated him.  

I’ve never read poetry before, therefore these pieces are completely new to me. I watched the first video in this week’s material and then read all of the pieces. The thing that talked to me the most from the description of poetry in the first video is “Poetry = Power Packed Lines”, I find this definition the most accurate and common for all of the pieces from this week’s readings. It seems like they all were written about love and indeed used a lot of imagery – what makes them so powerful. The one I loved the most was “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare. I feel that the use of parody helps the reader to connect to it perhaps more than the traditional love sonnet that Petrarch tended to write. Maybe that is why the last two lines made me smile, it feels as if his lover is very special.

My essay is about the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. The main idea in my essay claims that this story is about expectations and disappointments, as well as that the resulting epiphany in the story makes him doubt what he has believed in all his life. I would like to use it for my research essay on Langston Hughes’s Biography. Langston Hughes was one of the most promising black writers, and a leader of the Harlem Renaissance (The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s). they put art before religion and that connects to the part in my essay where young Langston lost his faith in Jesus at a such young age (He was around his 20s when was part of the Harlem Renaissance, and his experience in the story was when he was 12). I would also like to use critical analysis about “Salvation”, or if I will be able to find articles about the connection of the African Americans to church during the same times (1900). 

In their works, both Mrs. Mallard and Emily Dickinson discuss the notion of being a woman during highly patriarchal times. Living in a patriarchal society, both describe being married or associated with their man as suffocating and limiting. While Mrs. Mallard is relieved to hear of her husband’s death, Dickinson also sees being a wife’s role as limiting. It is apparent from her poem that she feels lost or depressed in her new role of being a wife; “If aught she missed in her new day. Of amplitude or awe. Or first prospective, or the gold. In using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea. Develops pearl and weed,” In entering the life of marriage, the woman leaves all her ‘playthings’ behind to be a wife instead- it automatically connects to the sense of losing oneself. Therefore, both authors explore the powerful theme of womanhood and identity in patriarchal societies.

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a story about a family that had unfortunate luck and got killed by a criminal on the surface. I think the story in its “interior” is about human behaviors and punishment. The grandmother is very arrogant and judgmental. She thinks of herself as a good person but in real life she is racist and superficial. It’s funny how all of her decisions, which her family followed by her manipulation, lead them to this terrible incident. She chose to take the cat and hide it which led them to the accident when the cat jumped on Bailey. The accident was on a road where there was almost no one to help them because she decided to take the dirt road to see the house she thought was in Georgia (she also lied saying there was a secret panel in this house to convince the kids to go there). And finally, she wanted to go to Tennessee instead of Florida trying to convince her son not to go there because a criminal that just escaped, the misfit. Ironically they ran into the misfit on this dirt road and they all got killed. The grandmother was also very selfish – when she realized the man is the misfit she called “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?”. Looks like she didn’t care at all about her son, his wife, or her grandchildren, but herself. Right before the misfit shot her she told him he is one of her own children and reached out to him. She showed some emotion, but he shot her anyway. The misfit talks about punishment a few times, maybe because of the punishment he got (maybe for a reason or maybe not). Even the misfit noticed that she […]

Literature is the story of what is universal in the human experience. Reading Oedipus the King I could identify several timeless human behaviors. Human beings are emotional creators; it is clear to see that in this story since it is very dramatic. The characters in this story are very impulsive, and moved by passion. The most outstanding behaviors are Oedipus’s and Jocasta’s when the truth comes to light. Jocasta hanged herself and put an end to her life while Oedipus blinded himself claiming that there is nothing for him to see. They both were frightened by the terrible discovery and that lead them to their deeds. I find these behaviors as timeless human behaviors because at the end of the day they are both human beings who reacted by their emotions. I feel like this type of story comes as a mirror for human behavior in an exaggerated way in order to make us wonder about how our mind works. How will people act when they’re suffering, where is the limit?

In Oedipus the King, the Chorus functions as the collective voice of the citizens of Thebes. The chorus’s role is also to reflect the feelings of the audience and the citizens of Thebes and to interpret what is happening on the stage. In this week’s reading part, we see that the chorus is also serves as the king’s adviser when they suggest he call Teiresias. Oedipus is trying to find out who murdered the last king, Laius, and the chorus tells him that Teiresias sees things similar to the way Lord Apollo used to see and that he could help him find who killed the king; “I know that what the Lord Teiresias sees, is most often what Lord Apollo sees. If you should inquire of this from him you might find out most clearly” (Line 305). We can also see how the chorus is loyal to their king and won’t say anything bad about him, after he saved them. “Truly Zeus and Apollo are wise and in human things all knowing; but amongst men there is no distinct judgment, between the prophetand me—which of us is right. One man may pass another in wisdom but I would never agree with those that find fault with the king till I should see the word proved right beyond doubt. For once in visible form the Sphinx came on him and all of us saw his wisdom and in that test he saved the city. So he will not be condemned by my mind” (Line 578). Teiresias blames Oedipus for killing king Laius, and although the chorus said before that he sees things clearly, in other words – that they trust his prophecies, they stand by Oedipus, their current king, until a clear proof would say else.

The coming-of-age story “Araby” by James Joyce is about a young teenage boy who has a crush on his neighbor, Mangan’s sister. The story’s setting is dark and gloomy Dublin, and when the narrator tells us about Mangan’s sister he writes about it as he is charmed and fascinated by her, she is like a light in all the darkness. I chose to use the word crush because he didn’t really know her or even talk to her but he had strong feelings maybe even an obsession with her. Finally, she spoke with him and asked if he’s going to Araby. She said she would go there if she could but unfortunately, she can’t, and then the narrator promised her that if he will go he will bring her something when he is back. Going to the bazaar wasn’t very important for him until he made this promise to her. We can see that it is really important for him to go there since he doesn’t want to disappoint her. The story ended up with his disappointment that he didn’t make it on time to the bazaar. When he finally got there most of the stalls were already closed and it was mostly dark. He was very eager to go there; reminding his aunt and uncle about it, and walking up and down the stairs impatiently while his uncle was late. This is why when things did not go as he expected he was upset and angry.

In the short story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara we read about the kids’ visit to FAO Schwarz and their experience there. We understand that those kids come from a poor neighborhood. They went to FAO Schwarz with the new neighbor who they hated, Miss Moore. Miss Moore believes in education for the young generation, which is why she took them to this store, to let them see and experience something that they never see in their neighborhood. The goal of this trip was to teach them about money, democracy, and equal chances for all citizens. How rich people can enjoy the possibility of buying luxury goods, in this case, expensive toys. The two characters I decided to compare between are Sugar and Sylvia. Sylvia is talking about her and Sugar as one team during the story, they both were “the only ones just right”, and they both hated Miss Moore together. That is why it was such a shock to Sylvia when Sugar decided to respond to Miss Moore’s question after their experience at the store. It seems like Sylvia is more stubborn and is not open to new people or views. On the other hand, Sugar, who suppose to be on Sylvia’s same page was suddenly answered Miss Moore’s question of what they think about the trip to Schwarz.

In the short story “Salvation” written by Langston Hughes we can see the change that the he is going through from the beginning and the end of the story. The narrator is telling about the experience he went through when he was 12 years old. His aunt Reed’s church had a special meeting for children in which Jesus comes to them and saves them. The way he writes about it at the beginning of the story is very enthusiastic, using many exclamation points. This experience, as he tells it, was not good and even painful; he was pressured to see Jesus, and because he couldn’t see him he chose to lie. At the end of the story he cries because he had to lie at church, but also because what he believed in for so long, what he was told all his life was not true. Not only that his faith was questioned but he had to do something against what he felt.

The short story  “The Most Handsome Drowned Man”, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an example of society’s behaviors. We can see how the appearance changes the way people behave. The author describes the drowned man’s physical appearance very detailed. I find this type of story interesting because it isn’t obvious to understand (although the author describes everything in details), you have to read it a few times, and it can be interpreted in different ways. I think this is why professor Conway chose this story first; it gives us an idea of what the course content will look like and what to expect. As I see it, this story is a way to emphasize the relationship between men and women and also how physical appearance affects people’s behavior.