My favorite and least favorite stories

Out of the many short stories the class has read over the past five weeks, my favorite is "The Veldt." I really liked this story for its fun futuristic concepts and facinating use of technology. I loved the desciptions of the veldt. I thought the depscriptions were very vivid; I could "see" what the room looked like. I was also very intirigued by the characters and unexpected twist at the end. The characters the author used were very suspensful and used as clues to the ending. I loved the children,their parents, and their connection with the veldt; I thought it was a very accurate representation of the power of technolgy over the parents' roles within the family and the children's absorption of it.

My least favorite story was "Gorilla my love." I thought this story was hard to read and not very interesting. I thought the descriptions of where the characters were was very confusing. It was as if the Hazel was in the car driving back from the country and then all of the sudden she was seeing a movie. I honestly had to go on the internet and look the story up to understand it. I also did not like the part about Haze's uncle not keeping his promise to marry her. I knew she was a little girl when he promised but I found it disturbing how she was still upset about it.

"Conscience of the Court"

I think this story provides a good explaination about the relationships between blacks and their white employers. This story provides a very historically well written story of Laura Lee and her friendship and loyalty to her employer. In the time period, in which this story was written, many black families (like Laura Lee's) lived on their employer's property while working for them and it was not uncommon for their children to grow up together. During this time period, the relationship between an employer and the employee was very important and very close. If the black went against this relationship and did not do everything they were commanded to do, the punishment could mean loosing his/her job (very fearful for blacks at this time) or a beating. The love and affection Laura Lee had for Celestine was partially fear and was also not easily gone against because she has grown up with her.

"Conscience of the Court" also gives readers a sense of the general relationships and conflicts between black people and white people. At this time, blacks were seen as the "inferior race" and whites felt as if they had superiority and control over them. For example, Celestine had control over Laura Lee and was, in a sense, playing with her emotions. Celestine's "love" for Laura Lee was driven by her dominance over her; Celestine knew she could control Laura Lee and that Laura Lee was so loyal that she wouldn't dare leave her. Another example are the actions between Laura Lee and Clement Beasley. When he got angry with Laura Lee, he kicked her. If this story were written in a contemporary time period, he would not have just resorted to violence. At this time, because blacks were "inferior," hate crimes were very prevalent and no consideration was put towards black people's lives.

"A Worn Path"

In this story, I do not think Phoneix tells her story from the right state of mind. I think that this whole story is made up of thoughts in her head. When I read this story, my mind drove me to believe that Phoneix is on her dead bead and that she is having her last thoughts. I saw the plot of this story as a journey she is taking to rest and the path she is taking to get there. Phoenix's story led me to this conclusion because there were many pecular instances I thought were just figments of her imagination. For example, throughout the entire story (althought she does "talk" to some people) she talks to inhuman things. For example, on page 1545, she talks to the trees and asks them who they are watching. Another hint to my conclusion are all the instances when she tells readers (even though they can gather from the context) what she is doing. She does this several times almost like she is reminding herself what she is doing. Another thing that led me to beleive this about the story was when I read, "I bound to go to town, mister" "The time come around" on the top of page 1547. Phoenix's statement was another hint to death and that her time has come.

"The Lady with the Dog"

In this story, the fence can be seen as the barrier between the two lives that she leads and also as the threshold between heaven and hell. The fence around Anna's house is ugly, gray and has inverted nails hammered into the top of it. Inside the fence can be seen as hell and her unhappy married life; the "cage" that keeps isolated from freedom. The outside of the fence can be representative of freedom, heaven, or her life with Dmitry. When she is with Dmitry, she is free to be her own person and is not "locked up" like she is inside of her married life.

"The Girls in their Summer Dresses"

As I was reading this story, I have impressions about who Frances was and her role in the relationship. Frances does not like conflicts. If once could observe her in real life, she would not appear as a "go getter" that takes actions and flights for what she wants. Throughout her relationship, she has a one-sided war going on inside of her; she "fights" for what she wants not internally, not externally. Because she does not like conflict between her husband and herself, she settles and tries to ignore and not deal with the fact that he is attracted to other women. Towards the end, just before she calls the Stevenson's, she shruggs off her feelings about her husband being attracted to other women and asks him to keep his comments about other women to himself.

"Desiree's Baby"

The cultural time period in which this story is set, previous to the Civil War, has a profound impact on it's plot. Before the Civil War, in which slavery was abolished, slavery was wide spread across the United States. This was especially true in the South. In the South, interracial relationships were not acceptable in the culture of the time. In "Desiree's baby," in the last paragraph, readers learn that it was not Desiree who was black, but it was Armand. In an old, hidden love letter from Armand's mother to his father, readers learn that Armand's mother was of the "slave race" and his father was white. Because of the culture of the time period, Armand's mother and father hid their relationship. They also hoped that they could arrange their lives so Armand would never find out his mother's race. Towards the end of the story, when Armand did find out about his mother, readers learn why he was acting so oddly towards Desiree and the baby; all his life he lived like someone of a white race, and he found out that he was no more "superior" than the slaves. He was the same as the slaves that he treated so poorly. Also, because of the time the story was set in, he lost his love for Desiree; he knew, as a person who was of equal status of slaves, he could not be married to her or be in the presence of the child who was bore from an interracial relationship.

"Everything that rises must converge" and "Good country people"

In both stories, there are many similarities between Julian and Joy/Hulga. It is obvious that both Julian and Joy are educated and are out of school, but they are also both negative in their views on life. They both dwell on their past; Julian because he thinks his mother's "good job" in his upbringing is doing no good and because he has been out of college for a year, and Joy because of her disability. They are also both very rebellious against their mothers. Both Joy and Julian want control of their own lives; their mothers want to control their lives for them. Their actions in both stories sygnify that they will not let let their mothers control them. For example, Joy changes her name against her mother's wishes to prove that she is head strong and will do what she wants.

In both "Everything that rises must converge" and "Good country people," Juian's mother and Joy's mother are very much alike. In the stories, both mothers live in the past and do not seem to adapt well with the changing of the world. For example, in "Everything that rises must converge," Julian tells us that his mother stops riding the bus alone since it became integrated; she still views blacks as inferior to her and does not approve of them. Both Julian's mom and Joy's mom are also alike in that they "put on a happy face" just to get by the unpleasantness of the presence of those people they do not like. For example, in "Good country people," Mrs. Hopewell (Joy's mom) smiles and lies to the bible seller; she finds this bible seller annoying because she does not want to buy a bible. Another example is in "Everything that rises must converge." Towards the end of the story, Julian's mom smiles and acts to the black person that sits next to her on the bus; she acts as if the woman's presence is plesant, when it really bothers her.

Contrary to all the similarities between these stories, there are also some differences. In "Everything that rises must converge," the mother has a medical condition. Unlike that story, in "Good country people," Joy, instead of her mother, has a medical condition. There are also some differences in the mothers as well. In "Good country people," Mrs. Hopewell has false hopes for her daughter; deep down feels that her daughter will have no future. In "Everything that rises must converge," Julian's mom is truely hopeful for her son She encourgages her son about the future and tells him not to give up. She tells him that "Rome wasn't built in a day."

Good Country People

I think some of the names in this story do hold symbolic, yet at times ironic, meaning. As the story opens, the readers meet the two characters, one of which is Mrs. Hopewell. Mrs. Hopewell's name contains the word "hope;" readers see throughout the story that Mrs. Hopewell contains hope. She has hope that her daugher will have a normal life and that everything will go well with her new employees, The Freeman's. She is also rather postive, however, her positive attitude comes with a twist. She does not have hope in the spiritual sense; readers see later in the passage, when she is angered by the persuasion to buy a bible, that she is not all that spiritual. Aside from the spiritual sense of hope, she often lies about her hope. She appears that she is very hopeful, yet longs for her daughter to be as smart and as beautiful others, and longs to be like Mrs. Freeman. Unlike Mrs. Freeman, who is the second character readers meet as the story opens, Mrs. Hopewell is not "free" and is in a constant state of worry for her daughters. Mrs. Freeman is free and does not have to worry about her independant daughters.

Mrs. Hopewell's daughter, Joy, is named for Mrs. Hopewell's hopefulness and denyal of her daughter's true nature. Mrs. Hopewell has named her daughter Joy because she wants her to have a normal, beautiful life and hates that she has a heart condition and a wooden leg. When we think of Joy, we think of happy and postive. Joy's name is ironic in its meaning because she downplays things for herself and always looks on the negative side of everything. In the story, Joy changes her name to a more fitting name: Hulga. Her mother proclaims that it is the ugliest name she could have changed it to. The name Helga represents her spitefulness towards life and her belief that she is ugly because of her wooden leg. With the name Joy, her hatredness is mearly"sugarcoated."

In the story, Hulga meets a bible seller named Manley Pointer. His name is ironic to its meaning. The name Manley reminds reader's of the word "manly." With this name and his occupation, readers thoughts are directly pointed to the phrase "good man." While his character seems like a good man at first, readers later learn that he is a twisted manipulator without morals. His name can also be true to its meaning. If reader's set aside his occupation and just think of "Manley," they might assume that he is a "manly man" and is a player who gets what he wants; by the end of the story, readers learn that this is true.

A Spinster's Tale

Our group chose "A Spinster's Tale" to base our project on. We chose this story beause, as we were reading, we saw literary elements that would work well for this project. With the stories' flashback and first person point of view, we thought it would be a great choice. In this story, there are many thoughts described by the main character (also who is telling the story) and insighful references to her character that would work well for status updates and group discussions (on a group page).

"The Conversion of the Jews" and "Angel Levine"

I do not feel that the adults in "The Conversion of the Jews" handled Ozzie's questions the correct way at all. When Ozzie poses questions about God to his mother and to the rabbi, all he gets in response is anger and frustration. In this story, I feel like he is wrongly being punished for his own thoughts. I do not think he was out-of-line at all for asking such questions. Everybody has a right to their own beliefs! Ozzie is mearly just expressing them. His mother and the rabbi do not like that his beliefs are not the same as theirs, and they lash out at him. In this story, Ozzie says "He shouldn't hit me. You shouldn't hit me about God, mamma. You should never hit anybody about God." He knows that the rabbi and his mother are wrong, and he stands by his beliefs.

In "Angel Levine," the main character poses questions about God, but in a very different way. In the story, the main character has lost his store, his children and his wife is on her death bed. Because of this, he begins to question his beliefs. He blames God for all the pain in his life. I think that his questions, unlike Ozzie's, are extremely wrong. I can understand that, if in his situation, one could be caused to questions their beliefs and blame God, but God should not be held accountable. There is a reason for the suffering in his life, but the reason is not that God is making his life this way.

Author's Note

At this time, I have completed the outline drafts and I am in the finishing stages of my film adaptation proposal. I have finished typing it, but still need to go over it to finalize the details and correct any errors. I am very excited about my piece and the story on which I have chosen for it to be based. The context, for which my proposal is based, is the story of "A Rose for Emily." After reading this story, I chose to make it into a movie because the plot was both exciting and mystifying. I knew this would be a fun proposal to write and a good story to adapt into a movie! The story, "A Rose for Emily" is full of possiblities for expanding it's literary elements! The mysterious plot, the symbolism, and the irony of the story was presented in such an intriguing way, that expanding them was a fairly swift process. I started by thinking how I could extend the plot, irony, and symbolism to develop the story into a full length film. In the original story, there was no background information that pertained to Emily's life; in my film, the audience is presented with such information. I expanded the story to include more symbolism and added childhood flashbacks that serve as building block for audiences' creative scenarios about the mysterious plot.

I enjoyed this assignment and am very excited about my proposal! I also liked this assignment beause it presented me with a challenge. My goal was to pitch my movie and persuade it to be turned into a full length production. After I proceeded to expand the plot of the story, ideas flooded my brain! I got so wrapped up in my film version, that I could visualize my movie as I wrote it!

Overall I liked writing my proposal for this assignment, but I did not always enjoy it. I found this assignment a little difficult at times. When the proposal was assigned to me, I started to write and develop a formal essay. After a little under halfway through the paper, I was unsure how to connect all of the parts and make them flow together. All of the parts that were requried were about the same movie, but I never figured out how to make smooth transitions within the paper. I thought the "characters" portion of this assignment would turn out to be a random part that did not really fit with the rest of the paper. After I started over, I developed a letter to the producer and then an attatchment of the portions of the movie. I am happy with the way I chose to complete this assignment and I hope you will too!

Paul's Case

New York City is so wonderful and different for Paul because he can be his own person there. Back home, Paul lives his life feeling "trapped" by his father; in New York he is free from that. He feels like his life disappoints his father. In the story, readers can sense that his father wishes Paul was different and had a life that he approves of. At the bottom of page 240 and at the top of page 241, while Paul's father is talking to one of the magnates of a great steel corperation, the narrorator explains to readers the father's comparison to that man and his wishes that Paul was and will become different. This man "was daily held up to Paul as a model, and after whom is was his father's dearest hope that he would pattern" and "was look upon as a man with a future." From this, the reader's sense that Paul's father wishes for him to have a bright future just like this man, but is not going the right way to achieve it.

Paul likes New York City because, not only is he free from his father, but he is finally accepted into society. In the city, noone knows him and is telling him what to do. He does not have anybody lecturing him about a bright future. Paul is also very enumerated, among other ways, because he has noone to please or displease (such as his father), He can also make and follow his own decisions about life.

Royal Beatings

In this story, I think that the character, Rose, is a victum of Flo's lies. Flo, her stepmother, is someone that her father's will automatically listen to in times of conflict. Her father silences Rose and refuses to hear what she has to say. The only voice he hears, is Flo's angry remarks towards Rose. I think that Flo, having years of built up anger towards her life, lashes out a Rose.

Flo, like Rose, is also a victum in this story. She is a victum of her own anger. She is angry because she entered into a life she didn't want. In the story, Flo tells Rose that she is is the ONLY reason she is here; she sacrificed her life to be with Rose. This lets the reader know that, if Flo told Rose that, there may be some negativity that she has towards her life. Also, in addition to this anger, is fear. In the story, after she gets Rose's father to deal with her, she is quickly apologetic that she disturbs her husband from work. After Rose's beating, Flo and her father have a fight. From this, the reader gets a sense of power that Rose's father has over Flo. As we read, we also get the sense that Flo is fearful because she distracted him while he was working and is afraid of what he might do to her.

Film Adaptation Proposal Plan

This is an outline for how I plan to cover all six aspects of this proposal:

Title: The title will be changed to "The Rose Garden." This change is important to the plot because the rose garden and the roses within it have special symbolic and ironic meaning. It is also important because much of the story is told from the rose garden surrounding the backside of Emily's house.

Characters:

• Miss Emily Grierson; played by Christina Ricci: In the film (unlike the story), Miss Emily is an attractive, young, mysterious, and very isolated woman. Her slender figure, dark hair, and dark eyes make her physically appropriate for the part of Miss Emily, but she is also very skillful in the potrayal of dark and misunderstood characters; such as in “The Addams Family."
• The Rose Gardener; played my Morgan Freeman: In my film, the rose gardner is a wise, old man who has servered Emily’s family for years and has watched and oversaw Emily from childhood to adulthood. In many movies, such as "Batman Begins," he seems to play the “all seeing,” brainic whose intellect proves to be worthwile to the characters around him.
• Homer Barron; played by Denzel Washington: In my movie, Homer Barron is an attractive, strong-willed road worker who, at his own risk, becomes romantically involved with Emily. A relationship such a Emily’s and Homer’s, that was mixed raced and social class, was not only a high risk to ridicule, but also hate crimes. Homer, despite the odds for Emily and him, entered into a such a relationship. Denzel's dashing looks make him physically appropriate for the part, but also his roles headstrong characters, such as in "Remember the Titans."
• The servant who first discovered the room; played by Joseph Marcell:
  In my film, this is a short part, but like the gardner, provides us with information on what goes on inside the house. Joseph is perfect for this role in my story because, similar to Geoffery in "The Fresh Price of Bel Air," his curiousness reveals charactristics from the people around him.

Setting: Like in the short story, much of the setting will be in Emily's house. I chose to keep the setting in the house to add mystery and skepticism to the story. Much of the stoy will also be set in the rose garden; where our narrorator (gardner) works. The story will include his personal encounters from inside the house and in the rose garden.

Plot/Conflict: In this film, a wealthy, light-skinned southern belle (Emily) who’s childhood witnesses of murder and adultery play a significant and dark role in her adult life. As a child, Emily's mother cheats on her father with one of their servents. Out of fear that her husband would leave her, and because her affair is now unveiled (which the audience does not know) she kills him. This story is told from the rose gardner, who has been with the family for years and has witnessed Emily's broken childhood. This mystery is set in a world torn by the isolations of social status and rasism (early 1900's). She falls in love with an attractive dark skinned worker named Homer Barron. After months of townspeople seeing them together, he vanishes suddenly. Towards the end of the movie, the viewer does not know why she has killed Homer, but they are taken to a bridal room containing Homer's body, that is filled with roses. Laying next to Homer, she (wearing a wedding dress with a bouquet or red roses laying on her chest) lights the room on fire and kills herself.

Symbolism/irony:

• Roses (from the rose garden): her life (ironic because her life is not beautiful like a rose); herself as very attractive; the delicate state (like a flower) of her life; how, like a rose, her life "wilts" over time.
• Color of roses: Red-murders and dirty blood
• Rose petals: Innocence, over time a rose looses its petals-Emily looses her innocence
• Color of brial dress: Yellow-decay of her life
• House: Isolation

"Gorilla, My Love" "For Everyday Use" "Girl"

Each of these three stories represents two different generations: the older generation and the newer generation. All three of these stories are embedded with family members who are overbearing and often assume that they are smarter than younger kids (older generation) and the children who do not understand them (newer generation). One example, in "Everyday use," the mother is determined to do things her way because she has been around longer than Maggie and knows more about the value of the quilts. I think the struggles between the generations represented in these stories are mainly because the older generations want to protect the younger generation with their wisdom. For example, in "Gorilla, My Love," Hazel talks of how her parents will not let anyone treat their children badly and how her mom is always giving her advice and dosen't back off so easily from any confrontation involving her kids.

I think that most of these stories are applicable for most families. Many present day families are full of controlling parents who just want to "spread their wisdom" from their life expreriences to protect their children. For example, in "Girl," the mother's demands and advice are just the result of overwhelming love for the child. Her mother just wants to protect her and ensure that she grows up the way she desires her to do so. In reality, advice will guide the children, but it cannot ensure that they will grow up the way their parents want them.

A Rose for Emily

I choice to write my movie adaptation proposal for a movie based on "A Rose for Emily." I loved this story! I choice "A Rose for Emily" because I thought it would be an exciting "nail-bitting" mystery film that would keep audiences coming back over and over again. Faulkner's gothic thriller keeps audiences guessing what will happen. I want audiences to keep guessing about the mysterious plot of the story and keep coming back to see my movie. Another reason I chose this story is because Faulker does not explicity describe to the reader what is going to happen and how something should be interpreted, he lets the readers interpret whats going to happen; this will let audiences decide. I believe, that in this kind of horror story, it is important to keep the audiences guessing and they will never be bored; that is a making of a great movie!

Minority Report

As a film, this short story would be a suspensful thriller! I have not seen the film yet, but in order for the story to be a good feature length film, the writers would need to expand on a few things. I think one of the things that should be elaborated on more are the relationships present in this story. The relationship between John and Ed should be elevated and the relationship between John and his wife. I think that including more about these relationships would add more suspsense and emotion to the film. In this story, it is suspected that Ed is framing John for murder and John's wife is helping him. The viewers interests and suspense would be heightended, and a more emotional response would be given (when the suspects are revealed) if they saw and knew more about their relationships. I would also like to any possibility of a secret relationship between Ed and John's wife. This may or may not be true, but this kind of information would only add to the mysteries!

I also think that that some other roles from this story should be elaborated on a bit more. After he is kidnapped from his house, John meets a series of people (that all have to do with what is happening). In order to create more suspence and expectancies for these new characters, more information about them should be provided. This will only give the viewer reason to think one or more of them is framing John, or lure them under false pretences. The new information will stir up the viewers emotions and create scenarios for what might happen!

Discussion question: The Story of an Hour

The grief displayed by both Mrs. Mallard and Shalia Bhave ("The Management of Grief") compare in how they view their husbands' deaths. Both Mrs. Mallard and Shalia loved their husbands, but do not view their deaths as the "end." Both characters view their husbands' deaths as new found independances and as opportunites for their lives to grow. While it is definitely clear for Mrs. Mallard, after their husbands' deaths, both women seem to embrace life as if their husbands were holding them back. At the end of this story, Mrs. Mallard realizes that she now can take control of her own life and start living it that way that she wants. Throughout"The Management of Grief," Shalia seems like a strong character in the sense that she does not need a man to take care of her and "watch over her." Both of these womens' reactions could also be connected with the time periods. During the times these stories where published, some women where raised to beleive that one marries a man and he will take care of her; that she is somehow uncapable. After following their husbands all their lives, Louise (Mrs. Mallard) and Shalia are now responsible for their own lives and independant from them.

The point of view "The Story of an Hour" is told from greatly impacts how it is read and the grieving process. This story is told from an omniescent point of view. Instead of it being from a close "inside- look" first person view, this point of view provides readers with an overview; how someone observing these events would interpret them (not how it is experienced by the characters). In this story, we are told (not really shown) what Mrs. Mallard is going through. With this point of view, we not given insights into feelings or thoughts of the character. As a result, the grieving process could be different if it were based on Mrs. Mallard's views. An omniescent point of view in a short story leaves readers to intepret what has happened. While and after it is read, the reader creates numerous scenarios about the characters, meaning, and plot of the story.

Both of the settings of "The Story of an Hour" and "The Management of Grief" impact how the information in the stories is handled. In "The Story of an Hour," the setting is inside Mrs. Mallard's house. Inside her house, she can only look from her windows at the world in which she can now live. "The Mangement of Grief" has many settings: Shalia's house, the bay in Ireland where the plane crashed, the hospital to identify bodies, and Canada. In each of these stories, the settings are specific; in so many ways that the author could have been more specific about the actions that are partaking in in those places, their feelings towards those places, etc. Instead, the omniescent point of view of the stories handle the information given in a very broad sense; limited information is shown about the characters (it's told from one point of view!), and no information is provided on the feelings of these women. Had the point of view not been omniescent, it could have been simple to connect literary ideas with these settings.

Response to "Hills Like White Elephants"

I am suprised that this story was written by a man in the time era in which the story was written. It is suprising to me because, the throughts and presumptions this story circulates around, is mostly a woman's. During Hemingway's life time, it was a very common societal practice for women to marry for money and support. At the time, women did not have the opportunities available to them that they now have and, therefore, pursaded that they needed a man to maintain any sort of lifestyle. Due to this, I could imagine, that many women would just "settle" and instantly agree with their husbands on their opinions and ways of life; they would put their feelings aside. For example, in this story, the woman disregards her feelings about the pregnacy in order to keep the man happy. The actions are purely the result of fear that their husbands may not be pleased at any given time within the marriage and leave them.

If this story were written by a woman in this time, I think it would be a little different. If it where written by a woman, the story would be more in depth and in tune with the feelings and emotionals of the woman. In the story, Hemingway does touch on feelings of the woman, but his writings are open to interpretation. From a woman writer's point of view, the feelings would be more expressed and elaborated on throughout the story. The female writer may have more to say about marriage and women's desire (back then) to "keep the peace" in the relationship.

Hi! My name is Kristie and I am a senior at TCU. I am 23 years old. Orgionally, I am from Villas Hills, KY, but I have lived in TX for the past 6 years. I am a bit of a nomad in that I have moved around quite a bit with my family. My family is currently lives in Brentwood, TN, but I stayed here to finish school. My major is Elementary Education (EC-4) with an empasis on special eduation. I love children and am currently looking for a teaching job within/around the metroplex.

I am taking this course because it satisfies a literary tradition requirement for TCU's core curriculum. I chose this particular course because it is called "Introduction to Fiction" and what I love reading most are fictitous novels or fictitous short stories. Previously, I have taken many literary courses! My favortie by far is a seminar I took here freshmen year: Hero's, Myths, and Harry Potter. The class was a lot of work, but I enjoyed every minute of it because I always have had an interest in reading stories about wizards, magic, and any other kind of mythological creatures. I am also a huge Harry Potter fan and it was very interesting to me to read, interpret, and analyze the series!

I do love to read! I must admit, I am more partial to reading in my spare time. It does take more to caputure my interest when the reading is required. In this class, I hope to accomplish a better understanding for the literature I love and perhaps unveil some more favortie stories! Something that might be helpful to know about me ais that I am very visual person. I like to have things right in front of me to highlight and make small notes in the margins. I also like to plan things out. I like to know things ahead of time and be "ontop" of things at all times.

I have thorougly read and understood all of the terms for this course.