The story that had the most meaning to me this semester was, “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bamabara. This story had lots of meaning to my culture and is very relatable. Not only did it include AVEE which means African American Vernacular English, it had showed how just one person in a kids life could change a lot for a kid. Miss Moore being generous and took time out her life to try and show these kids better then what they are used too. Most of the kids before Miss Moore took them on trips, never even knew places like this existed or even the prices on items, people can afford. The one student who took most of what Miss Moore was saying and wanted a change in her life was Sylivia. One of the many children who went on trips with miss Moore seen the outside world of Harlem and by the end wanted a change. I didn’t find any story bad in my opinion.
jayden cooper
The part in the story “The House on Mango Street”, surprised me when, Ezperanza desperations to make her and her family live in a nice big house. Even though with the family being able to move into an another house than before, she still haven’t reached her requirements for herself. It didn’t up to part rooms or bathrooms but, the family did make the house into a home and that’s what’s family is about. The part that intrigued me was, “The house on mango street”. This is because, I remember my family and I going from place to place at a young age and not even remembering half the places we even been since young. Most kids, when this is happening try to stay distant from the people in there own household but, in this story, they use the house to not only go through things as a family, but make memories to last them a life time. The part that puzzled me was, boys and girls part. For the males not being able to speak to their sisters outside confused me a bit. But further more reading and understanding the time period of this then lead me to understand it more.
In both stories “Snow White” and “where are you going where have you been” they both interacted with a fairy tail expression and experience. According to one theory, fairy tales assist individuals in exploring their unconscious minds and resolving psychological issues. The protagonist of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” experiences tragedy as a result of her thoughts and aspirations, this is accurate. According to a different interpretation, the evil stepmother from “Little Snow White” represents the ego’s need for dominance and control. Since the antagonist in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is the protagonist’s ego, this is significant. The perspectives of Bettleheim aid in comprehending the subjects in this world. But also Similar to this, Anne Sexton’s poem “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ ‘ delves into the darker aspects of the original fairy tale, like jealousy and the desire for power. Since Sexton portrays the dwarfs as flawed individuals with their own concerns and objectives, her account of Snow White’s interactions with them is particularly excellent. This is in line with Bettleheim’s observation that by projecting psychological problems onto fictional characters, fairy tales enable readers to confront their own problems.
In the interpretation of the story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Rena Korb, she interpreted that the story is an, enjoyed as a finely crafted story. She believes the main character Connie is having troubles understanding the world around her and meeting the not so good man named, Arnold Friend. She depicts that 15 year old Connie will be lured into a car with a not so good man that could potentially either rape her or kill her. But my interpretation of this story is about the real world that goes on around us today involving women. At the young age of 15, we all now the saying of not speaking to strangers but when someone is constantly begging someone to go on a ride with them and could potentially go on a dangerous ride with them is something you see today. Men try their hardest to take advantage of women everyday. Not saying every man intentions are to harm someone but when a man at the drive thru says, “Gonna get you babe” then shows up at her house is pretty creepy. At her young age it’s cool to be hanging around either girl or boys that are older to portray a cool image of herself for the friends around her but also isn’t smart as well. The story is warning young girls of signs like these to help them say no and seek help instead of trying to do things on their own. Young people make mistakes in life but some mistake can’t be taken back once done.
“Reading a poem is part attitude and part technique. .The quote from the reading “How to Read Poem” by Edward Hirsch. In my own words, I would instead use, reading a poem is part imagination and critical thinking. I say this because in poems you need to expand your min far then what the poem is saying. Most times in poetry, there is many many literary devices used such as, figurative language, metaphors and more. They use them to help make their points more memorable. In this week’s sonnet “What lips my lips have kissed, and where and why”, it was one of the poems that caught my eye. I thought of it as a sad poem. I thought this since how the author is talking about where her lips been on her past lovers that are longer connected with each other. “And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain for unremembered lads that not again will turn to me at midnight with a cry”. She is reminiscing on her past.
Both poems “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and “How Do I love Thee?” both express that true love is an all-consuming passion. One is coming more direct to someone and the other poem is just her love for the things going on around her. In text poem “Why Do I Love You So Much?” it says, “Because I trust you more than anyone in the world to listen, to help me through to remind me how to laugh when times are trying”. This greeting card represents the love someone has for somebody else and the way of telling this person is in a greeting card. The other poem “How Do I love Thee?” It says, “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love you thee with the purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old grief, and with my childhood faith”. Her love for the outside world helps cope with her old grief that sometimes gets in her head at times. Some people express there love in different ways but it’s used the same way.
The short story I will be using is “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. 2. The children and parents all laugh at Miss Moore, but she is actually an important character in the story and provides these children with knowledge they are not getting in the community where they live. 3. The secondary source that I found to be help is an article titled “Toni Cade Bambara’s Use of African American Vernacular English The Lesson” by Janet Ruth Heller. This article will help me back up my information as Vernacular English is the form of Black speech that distinguishes itself from standard English with its unique grammatical structure, pronunciation, and vocabulary. 4. In the BMCC databases I found many different articles, books, short stories and much more about anything you want to find. They have great examples to relate too and even have a section where you can pick the certain class to help you even better.
One Thing that surprised me in this book was the very ending of the story where she was in a state of shock thinking Brentley was dead but in fact he was alive. Why this surprised me is because we all thought the same thing in the story. I wonder what she was thinking. Did it seem like a dream to her or a nightmare ? One thing that intrigued me about this story was the whole point of the story, because I too as the readed thought certain things as the main character but at the end was shocked at the results it was giving. One thing that puzzled me in this book was the death of the husband because at the twisted end he was then found dead. Did someone plan to kill him or did they just assume he was dead from nothing in return from something he was doing?
“ A Good Man is Hard To Find” this story has a narrative of a 7 person household who took a family trip to Florida but had a disagreement with the grandma because she wanted to go to Tennessee. Which leads to a tragic road trip. In the book the family road was all superficially to the grandma because of her belief and upset feeling about the trip from not wanting to go to Florida, causing them to encounter major problems in life which they will soon realize. I feel like the interior of this story is to show the conflict the family has but hides it behind the trip. The grandmother wanted everyone to think that she knows what is best for them and with her action almost cost them their life. The family will now realize that some people are good and bad and some may have evil spirits that can cause the outcome of something very dangerous.
During my time reading the play “Oedipus The King”, they portray timeless human experiences and behaviors across the reading. One of the experiences/ behaviors that was mentioned was the truth. As us humans are, we are always willing to find out more and know the real truth behind certain things in our life. We sometimes sit and question ourselves thinking, am I the reason for this to happen or what am I missing from getting my answer. In the reading, Oedipus shows this by him wanting to find out about the truth of his life. He takes time and time over again sitting and thinking about it. But as he kept getting closer to knowing what he wanted, he started to push himself away to try and not listen to it anymore. The Reason for this is, not all humans are ready for the truth. The truth could hurt a lot of people so it best to go with the flow. As a result Oedipus found out what he wanted to find and lost everything because of it.
In the unnumbered death of its people the city dies; those children that are born lie dead on the naked earth unpitied, spreading contagion of death; and gray-haired mothers and wives everywhere stand at the altar’s edge, suppliant, moaning; the hymn to the healing God rings out but with it the wailing voices are blended. From these our sufferings grant us, O golden Daughter of Zeus, glad-faced deliverance. 203-210 The reason I picked this passage here is, it represents the hurtful tragedy’s these new born babies have to grow up into with the repetition of the word death. The chorus letting us know how people are pleading out to Golden Daughter of Zeus for the help and trying to understand why nothing is being done. I could only image how all these people feel on how that, the person they look upon, can’t grant them a promise to something better that they need.
In the short story “Araby” by James Joyce is about a young boy from the early 20th Century Dublin, Ireland. The boy realized in his life that he must make a decision and choose wisely to get what he really wants. He sat his eyes on a girl that he found attractive and set his mind to get what he wants. Thinking of her made him happy as shown in the story of, the lighten candle that represented that. He had a sense of what he wanted and even at a young age was very determined to get his way proving his maturity. This affects what happens at the end causing the boy to have one lighten up candle as things in his life start to not go his way. Now it caused him to try and finalize what he really wants and what truly makes him truly happy in his future.
The character I chooses from the book “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara was sugar and Mercedes, Mercedes was more of a well grown individual she seems very chill from the other kids more to herself and more of knowing when it’s too much when having fun with kids less fortunate than her like sugar. In the bookstore Mercedes responds that the toy store was just as if she didn’t pep the price increase etc. she didn’t fully understand or comprehend because she’s used to expensive things. Sugar on the other hand planned and documented things and tried to find a way of either saving or getting older enough to afford the cost of things she wanted.in the book sugar was more free spirited about everything. “Then Sugar lays bets as to how much it’ll be when we get there.” She was super excited and very informative, about everything. she also give off the life of the party vibe.
In the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. I would describe him as a loyal and trustworthy person. He’s also patient in the things he wants or believes in having. The boy seemed like an only child, someone who is easy to convince or easy to talk to. “Still I kept waiting to see Jesus.” This shows how patient he is about things he really wants, the author in this book shows how precious a human being is until things don’t go their way, they tend to change and adapt differently.in the end of the story he being sad and upset that he didn’t get the result he wanted too he never seen Jesus. He has changed in ways that sometime not everything that seems to be perfect are true and sometimes things doesn’t always happen the same moment you would like it too or the way you may like it.
I believe this story was assigned to us because of the real world connections most of us can make. this story elaborates on little thing such as feelings not being met some days, thinking about things people said to you as an Illusion to get you to think a certain way or feel a certain way about life. being open minded about something can lead to other things. this story also shares details about allowing some one to communicate with you brings new thinking and perspective on life. the book also inform me that someone can change a person with in a due time. In the book when the character was at his lowest point in life there were kind people who cared for his life that help him and showed or spoken word to him that made him realize that doing that only leads to one end but the other leads to a lot. I felt like this was shared to the class to tell us that communication with our peers might help someone in the future that need , not only for life saving events but for work or other personal use.
