The vignette that surprised me the most was, “Four Skinny Trees.” This vignette surprised me because of the description of trees. The way the narrator admires them and speaks of them, almost like the trees are sacred and important. Trees are magnificent and they carry life and fresh air and they provide beneficial aspects to our everyday lives. People may find this weird if you tell them but, talking to a tree isn’t entirely stupid or idiotic. “Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep.” To read about the way trees are being admired in this sense, I rarely get access to reading things like this, especially when it’s provided by class.
The vignette that intrigued me the most was, “Sally.” The way the narrator portrays Sally and is beautiful and almost “popular”. However her personality and aura changes as she’s away from the environment that keeps her uplifted. In reality, she is none of the things the narrator stated about her when she is away from everyone. She’s quiet, lonely and doesn’t seem to be living the happiest life or have the happiest home life. I can relate to this in a sense where when I was a young girl, school was a distraction for me, an escape almost. When I was surrounded by a person who made me “happy” or I was in an environment where I was surrounded by joy and distraction, I would be sad knowing I had to go home in the end, and to a life that was dark and quiet and not enjoyable.
The vignette that puzzled me in some way was, “Minerva Writes Poems”. It puzzled me in a sense where Minerva could be sort of young however, she’s already a mother of 2 kids and a troubling husband. To have a inconsistent husband who isn’t supportive and abuses her is a horrible life and experience for a young girl to face already. To gain no help and for everyone to know and see what you are going through is another hard thing to face.
