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."