Which one of the vignettes from pages 56 – 109 of The House on Mango Street made the strongest impression on you? In a post of at least 150 words, identify the vignette and discuss its theme or central idea, explaining why it resonated for you. As with last week, please do not discuss the same vignette someone else has discussed, if possible. For this one, I picked “Linoleum Roses”. The name first caught my eye since roses are my favorite flowers. Reading the vignette I realized how similar it is to stories we had before ( think “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates) where both girls try to escape their lives but end up in a worst/ similar situation as before. Sally married really young to escape her life, ” She said she is in love but she did it to escape.” Similar to modern times especially in NYC, a lot of people stay with their partners simply because they cannot afford rent on their own. Sally sits at home and is not allowed to talk to her friends and is afraid to go out without her husband’s permission, she traded her prison for an entirely new prison and realized that her life has not changed for the best but for the worst. Her husband shows abusive and controlling tendencies and the fact that her husband has already broken a door because he got angry is a red flag and a sign of more abusive behavior that might spiral.
Vivian Tan
Which one of the vignettes from pages 3 – 53 of The House on Mango Street made the strongest impression on you? In a post of at least 150 words, identify the vignette and discuss its theme or central idea, explaining why it resonated for you. Please do not discuss the same vignette someone else has discussed, if possible. The vignette Hairs made the strongest impression on me. It tells us how even though they are a family and are blood-related everyone still has different hair. As an east Asian no one actually knows that we also have different textured hair. Everyone just assumes we all have straight black hair which is not actually true. The stereotypes people have for different races are not okay and very prejudical. For example I have wavy hair so having a vignette that explains everyone in the family has different hair even if they are closely related speaks to me. It also shows how much the mother loves them and the family and does alot and how the mother’s hair reminds them of baked bread a homely smell and feeling. The calm sound of rain and snoring creates this blissful setting for the entire vignette and you can just picture the setting.
What specific observations in Bettleheim’s psychologically oriented reading of the story strike you as insightful and relevant to “Little Snow White,” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, or the poem “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Anne Sexton? In Bettleheim’s psychologically oriented reading of the story and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” By Joyce Carol Oates both stories touch on parental complexes and how they affect the main protagonist in both stories. In Bettleheim’s psychological reading of Snow White, he touches on the Oedipus complex the stepmom imagines is going on between Snow White and her father which creates this jealousy and motive to get rid of Snow White. The father does nothing even though traditionally and culturally the father is supposed to be the head of the household and is supposed to protect their children, especially their little girls. Snow White’s father is nowhere to be found and very absent in all the cruel things that are happening to Snow White, just like with Connie in “Where are you going, where have you been?” where Connie’s father chooses to be absent and Connie’s mother is jealous of Connie’s looks perhaps also a nod to an Oedipus complex where Connie’s mother thinks if Connie is too attractive it might attract her husband as well.
Wow this story is dark and very triggering for me. The story starts with Connie who is always compared to her older sister June who in Connie’s opinion is fat, plain, and boring. Connie is a bit egotistic and is aware that she is very pretty which is something expected of someone her age. Her mother seems to give off narcissistic tendencies and constantly picks on Connie while praising Connie’s sister. Perhaps Connie reminds her mother of how her mother used to be when the mother was young and now the mother is bitter. Connie meets this guy “Eddie” who is actually Arnold Friend which name is ironic since he is not friendly at all. Arnold Friend grooms Connie by taking her to a restaurant for some burgers and they might have possibly fooled around in his car in the alley which implicates alot. When Arnold Friend pulls up at Connie’s house knowing she is all alone and did his research on her and bought a friend this gave off alarming red flags. It is also implied that Arnold and his friend might be under the influence of drugs. Arnold did his research on Connie and tells her to go with him, threatening her. Arnold is definitely a predator and has done this before in the past, Connie realized that Arnold is older than he seems possibly in his thirties. Connie leaves with Arnold in the end but she imagined this wailing while she hangs up the phone planning to call the police, I believe the wailing is in her head and is a sign of her wailing in her despair and realizing this is her reality. This is her life. She thought nothing of just hanging with her girl friends in the plaza and maybe talking to some boys, […]
For this week’s discussion, I chose “The lake isle of Innisfree” by W.B. Yeats. It’s a beautiful haunting record of what I believe is W.B. Yeats himself reciting the poem adds another mystical layer to the poem and in a way brings the poem more to life. You can close your eyes and listen to W.B Yates himself describe ” I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore” and “And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade.” You can imagine the imagery and scenery for this poem more vividly with W.B. Yeats himself describing it. The poet has set in motion the imagery of this scene of the lake isle of Innisfree and the yearning and longing of the scenery. You can picture everything described in the poem and with the way of W.B Yeats himself reciting the poem it brings the very imagery of the Lake Isle of Innisfree to life.
Prompt: How does the theme of the Emily Dickinson poem “The Wife” relate to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour?” The theme of Emily Dickinson’s poem ” The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an Hour” by showing how in the poem the wife laments on how she is drowning in her marriage and cannot find herself, Mrs. Mallard is grief-stricken at first with her husband’s death but realizes she is free to do what she needs like the waves have calmed down and she can finally breathe again. In that time era, most women’s entire lives are dedicated to their husbands and domestic life. For Mrs. Mallard to finally enjoy her life it’s like her husband’s death bought out life in her in a way.
I just want to say this is probably my favorite story. A southern gothic classic in my opinion I love it. It has been a while since I felt so passionate and mesmerized by a story. “We know what the story is about on the surface. What do you feel the story is about in its “interior?” is a very ironic question since the story is about how appearances can be decieving. The grandma acts like she is a top class lady and thinks she is more superior than others by the way she is very racist and classist, calling the little black child who has done nothing but be a bystander living his own life a slur and showing her racist and very snobby side. She doesn’t even feel the need to learn her daughter in law’s name or get to her and just simply refers to her own daughter in law and mother of her grandchildren “The children’s mother” The family’s demise is all based on cause and effect of the grandmother manipulating the family to see a plantation that is not even in Georgia but in Tennessese. The Grandma thinks herself as so smart and cunning and can get her own way no matter what just like how racist and classist and every bit of a snob she is. The Grandma warning the family of the dangers of traveling is also a self fullfilling prophecy at the end since she is also the cause of getting her own family killed. The Grandma tries to see the good in the Misfit because of the way he is dressed and his demeanor which also plays into her being snobby and classist and only judges people based on their outer appearance and their outer appearance only which in the end […]
“Araby” by James Joyce is not a love story. What is “Araby” really about?. The narrator is blinded with his obsession for his so called love for Mangan’s sister. It is not reality and only delusion obsession. This so-called ” love obsession” forces the narrator to grow up and face reality and take off his rose-colored glasses. He viewed the Bazaar as an exciting and exotic place to go like a white knight on an honorable quest to fetch something for his fair maiden, his one true love but in reality, he is not in love with her it is more of an unhealthy obsession that he bases his existence on until he finally gets to the Bazaar and is forced to take his rose-colored glasses off to see how it’s just like any other market there is nothing exciting or exotic, people are just going about their everyday life just like Mangan’s sister is and in this way the narrator has a realization and grows up and sees that he’s been delusional.
Prompt: Why do you think I might have assigned this as the first story of the course? I think the professor assigned this as the first story of the course to give us a taste of what literature can represent and show us how it can make us feel, think or speak. Literature is an abstract of expression and we will come to learn and understand that as we continue with this course. The story made us think about what could have been when Esteban was alive and the same is with real life. Life imitates art and literature is no different. The villagers in the story show the general empathy humans can have towards strangers and this is something we should practice more every day. Esteban or should I say Esteban’s corpse represents hope and what could of been even if he is dead. Esteban’s corpse is a metaphor and an interesting one at that.
