James Terry

Surprised, Intrigued, and puzzled. I was puzzled by “Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold” because reading this vignette, I was lead to believe that this item would have been bought and cherished by Esperanza or her sister. The way the story hones in on this one music box. The way the store was described was is if there was really nothing of much value in there. As the story came to a close, I realize there was much value in the music box as Gil say’s it’s not for sale I was intrigued by “Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”. This man is obviously dedicated to his family, head of the household and the one everyone is relying on. So Esperanza has never seen him in this emotional state, as many times you don’t have the space to be emotional when you’re in those leadership roles. This vignette brought a human side to her father, and gave her view of his emotional moment. “The House on Mango Street” surprised me because even though it was an improvement from where this family lived prior, it was still not was Esperanza expected. The house still had flaws, and lacked adequate rooms and bathrooms. It just goes to point out the importance of being content. There will always be bigger better houses, but it’s a home when you live and create memories there, Which is exactly what happened in this house. Who knows what could’ve happened if they actually did hit the lottery.

One observation that stood out to me in Bettleheim’s reading is him pointing out the narcissism in the story. This narcissism was not only pointed out for the evil queen, but for Snow White herself. Snow White even though already being the fairest in the land, wanted to enhance her beauty more, the letting the evil queen in the house twice, one item being a comb, and one being a corset. Before I read this breakdown of the story I did not view Snow White’s folly as narcissism, however I can see that conclusion being made. This led me to think of Connie in the story “Where are you going, where have you been”. In this story Connie is very proud of her looks and in love with her self. This leads her to seek out attention which unfortunately gets the attention of Arthur Friend. Connie’s narcissism leads to her demise, her loss of herself as we don’t know what actually happened after she left the house. It was intriguing to me that when reading both of these stories, I was a bit annoyed by the gullibility of the protagonists from both of these stories.      

In the story “Where have you been, where are you going” I believe this story was about the inevitable. Connie starts out as this young care-free teenage girl and ends up stoic and accepting of her fate. The twilight of the teenage years is the last time being a silly unaware child is acceptable in American society. In the article by Korb, he mentioned the feminist view of this story being about a woman giving into a male culture. I have a more universal take. This story in my view is the reality of life everyone must face. Whats so interesting about this story is that nothing is as it seems. Arthur Friend, is more likely a 30 year old man that attempts to pass himself off as a 18 year old. The diner she went to and described as “fly-infested” though she thought of it as a sacred building. Connie, as many teenagers do has a skewed view of the world. This skewed view does not help her fend off her impending possible demise. This story represents the realities of life that we all face after the end of our childhood, a death of childhood so to speak. We realize as adults that many thing we believed as children are not real, the fun places aren’t so fun anymore and the candy makes you sick. The paint begins of fade, and the shine of the world begins to dull, however just like Connie did, we accept it.

When reading the poem “White Lies” I made one mistake which inevitably led to another. I initially believed lines 1 – 6 were some sort of code that would help me understand the poem. This blunder led to my second mistake which was trying to understand the poem on the first read through. Though I quickly realized that there was not code in the mentioning of all these colors, I should have read through the poem completely before I made any assumptions. When I read a poems, I’m looking for the deeper meaning. As I am constantly learning, sometimes the author is being literal, and there is art in that. As I continued through the poem, I realize that this is about a girl that lies to boost her social status, because she’s not proud of where she is actually from. A child telling white lies is something I can relate to, which is something I understood after correcting my aforementioned mistakes.

“Reading a poem is part your own understanding, and part understanding the format”. When I read a poem, the first thing I do is try to understand the format of the poem. I look at how it is written, if it rhymes, and how does it all come together. My personal experience is there is usually a format, this helps me understand how to read the poem. Once I understand the format then I delve into my understanding of the poem. I try to understand what the author is saying with this poem. I try place myself in the person writing the poems shoes. I also try to relate to the poem itself if possible. “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any belied with false compare” (Shakespeare). I used these two methods to understand this poem, and I totally relate to it.  To me this poem is about love being unconditional, not about beauty which fades. My attitude, and personal experiences help me not only understand the poem, but also personalize it.

Both of these poems are a declaration of love. The authors both describe why they love and how much they love. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height. My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight” (Browning). This is flowery language and powerful imagery used by the author to describe her love. I can picture how she feels throughout the poem. “Why Do I Love You So Much? Because you’re a part of my favorite memories as well as my most important dreams. (Unknown). This description also makes me visualize that feeling of being had over heels in love. That special person overtakes your every thought, even your dreams. Both of these poems remind me of the cloud 9 phase where the other person can do no wrong. We all know it doesn’t last forever, but it’s great while it lasts.

For my research essay I will be using “The Lesson” By Toni Cade Bambara “Sylvia emerges from her trip with a different view of her world and a deeper understanding of her reality than she had in the beginning, she wonders about the people who can afford the toys, she reflects on her living situation, and she takes time to process the lesson she has learned.” I have found some biographical articles that will support my thesis. I used the JSTOR database and I was able to find many articles about the short story and author. I had to narrow down what I could use based on relevance to my thesis.

I was very surprised by the end of the necklace. It is comical that this couple dedicated their life to this task of replacing the necklace only to discover it was a fake. All the effort was for nothing. It ended up being a sad ending to a sad story. What intrigued me was that I see so many examples of this in today’s society. People strive to acquire material things, trying to convey an image of success. The reality is the celebrities or influencers that people look up to have a carefully curated image that in most cases are unattainable. The fact that this story highlights the same social economic views is astonishing to me. Classic example of keeping up with the Joneses. The Irony is in this frivolous pursuit, the the couple lost themselves, which to me resonates with todays society. What puzzled me is how much we as a society still cling to the gender roles described in the lecture on the “Cult of Domesticity”. Many current roles that women are expected to fulfill are derived from these principles established in the 19th century. However there is hope that peoples (men and women) views are changing.  

The story ” A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Conner took me completely by surprise. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did not expect that. That being said, what this story is about on the interior in my opinion is the darker corners of American society, and the horrific fascination with murder. In the beginning we get familiar with what would have been a typical southern American family preparing for a road trip. The grandmother seems to be the protagonist, she is the one leading the family. Her son, Bailey seems to reluctantly follow her orders the whole time. Unfortunately, it’s by following her order of visiting this house she suggested, that leads to the families demise. This story turns into an American horror story after they take that turn on the dirt road. Being a big fan of murder mysteries and horror movies, I can see this story playing out on the big screen. I was now fully engaged in the story once I realized the strangers they encountered happens to be The Misfit. My curiosity was peeked, I wanted to understand why this character would do this. It’s like trying to understand why the killer in slasher movies does what he does. In reality there is no answer. He was honest, for him it was fun. He says “it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you go left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him”. We have seen so many movies, stories, and documentaries about murders and serial killers. We as a society seem to be fascinated by it. The tragic ending of this story with the family being murder in and thrown in the woods […]

Overconfidence, good intentions, led by emotions, and disastrous consequences. The human experience has no shortage of these. In Oedipus the King, our protagonist is an emotional and proud man. Throughout the story, he gets his way by threatening people for information concerning his past. When the prophet Teiresias eludes to knowing Oedipus’ fate, he keeps essentially forcing him to tell him. Once he does learn of his fate, he doesn’t want to accept it. Oedipus is led by his emotions, mainly anger and fear. In his anger is how he ended up killing his father. In his fear is how he ended up right back in the land his parents were from. Overconfident that he has avoided his fate, he ends up marrying his mother. This story is littered with classic human experiences. So many time we as humans make decisions based solely on our emotions, and the lead to terrible consequences. The consequences of Oedipus’ actions are that his fate comes true. He had every intention to avoid this at all cost’s, but to no avail he walks right into his doom. The people around his also took action to make sure this fate was avoided though they weren’t successful. We sometimes believe we have more control than we do in life. Human’s have an overconfidence in our abilities, and we soon learn how human we really are. Even though I would consider Oedipus a fool, I can identify with so many of his traits. I know I’ve made some of these mistakes, thankfully not as grave. Overconfidence, good intentions, led by emotions, and disastrous consequences.

In the passage listed below, the chorus has just witnessed the argument between Oedipus and Teiresias the prophet. The have heard the prophecy that would ultimately destroy the reputation of Oedipus who is a hero to them. They adore Oedipus as their kind and savior, he solved the riddle of the Sphinx, he is at this time in the text trying to find the murder of the previous king. They cannot deny the accusations made by Teiresias either. This leaves them in a state of confusion and uncertainty. “I am in a flutter of foreboding”. They up until this point have had no reason to doubt the king. They question Teiresias’ wisdom, after all he’s only human. They will stand by their king unless some irrefutable proof is presented. The chorus is in a precarious position. Do they believe the hero or the prophet? Why would Teiresias lie? He was very confident in his accusations and did not want to say them at first. This point in the story is the beginning of the end of Oedipus’ glorious reputation. Line 564 – 594 “The augur has spread confusion, terrible confusion; I do not approve what was said nor can I deny it. I do not know what to say; I am in a flutter of foreboding; I never heard in the present nor past of a quarrel between the sons of Labdacus and Polybus, that I might bring as proof in attacking the popular fame of Oedipus, seeking to take vengeance for undiscovered death in the line of Labdacus. Truly Zeus and Apollo are wise and in human things all knowing; but amongst men there is no distinct judgement, between the prophet and me which of us is right. One man may pass another in wisdom but I would never […]

This story “Araby” by James Joyce to me is about an adolescent boy that has become curious about his friends older sister. He is starting to recognize his feelings and affinity for the opposite sex and he starts to fantasize about the young lady described. He is not yet at the point where he is ready to approach her and confess his feelings. He has only had a few mild interactions with her, small talk. The fantasy he as poured so much though into exists only in his mind. He seems to be at a time in his life where he is transitioning from a child to a pre teen or teenager. He still plays with his friends and hides from adults, but he also has all these powerful emotions that he doesn’t quite know how to process. He can’t take his focus off of the young lady, he thinks of only her while he is in school or at home. He takes the time to watch he door, waiting for her to appear. When he finally does have an impromptu conversation with his crush, they end up talking about the Araby bazaar, she casually mentions that she would love to go and it would be splendid. He takes intense notice of every movement she makes and it seems as if he amplifies it in his mind. It is in this fashion that he takes on the mission in his mind to make it to the bazaar. He had promised to bring her something if he went, he could not miss this event. This was his chance to actually show his crush some affection in real life. He makes his plans to go by getting permission from his aunt and uncle. The days leading up to the bazaar he could […]

This story “The Lesson” gives a glimpse into the mind of a child growing up in the ghettos of the inner city. The narrator, Sylvia and her peers are taken on a trip to F.A.O Schwartz by Miss Moore. Miss Moore seems to be kind of a mentor to the children in the story. She is described as a college educated black American woman. She has a sense of obligation and duty to expose the children to the differences in class and society. Sylvia points out every detail of Miss Moore, from her hair, the way she speaks, even the way the parents react to her. I think Miss Moore being the opposite of what Sylvia is used to elicits her negative feelings towards her. I detect a great amount of destain from Sylvia towards Miss Moore. It’s as if Miss Moore’s way of mentoring gets under Sylvia’s skin. I believe Miss Moore does this knowingly to provoke thought. This is the set up of the day described in the story. Something that really stood out to me in the story was the power dynamic in the group of peers. Sylvia though young, seemed to be very opinionated and head strong. I view her as a leader in this group. It seems as if Miss Moore pointing out the glaring inequalities they all experienced, was a threat. This is highlighted when Sugar was intrigued by Miss Moores lesson. Sylvia immediately attempted to stop her from engaging with Miss Moore. After the day was concluded, Sylvia did get the lesson that was intended, thought she never admitted it to Miss Moore. She considers a toy clown that costs $35.00, and ends up questioning who are these people that shop here. I believe the job Miss Moore set out to do was […]

This work “Salvation” is very interesting to me. It gives you a glimpse of a young Langston being pressured into accepting Jesus Christ into his life. From a 12 year old perspective, he’s describing all the behaviors of the adults in at the revival. The moaning, wailing, and also the coercion. I can imagine the intense pressure he felt to go up to the alter. The last hold out before him, Westley gave in to the pressure. He felt like he had no choice at that point. I do find a bit of comedy in the writing, as I remember being in similar situations growing up. In the end he gave in just to end the whole ordeal. I believe from the adults perspective, they had good intentions. They were extremely concerned with the salvation of these children. Interestingly enough, even though they had good intent, the way they went about it got the opposite reaction. Young Langston ended crying and lying about accepting salvation. I would like to believe that as a society we have moved past this. I see so many examples of ideas being forced on people through media. The only difference is we’re not at a revival.