Randall Jarrell

Randall Jarrell was very well known for his amazing pieces of poetry, I enjoyed reading his poetry most when being compared to Sylvia Plath. Randall served in World War II, which I believe is where he came up with his imagination as well as own experiences to present his poem called “Losses” although it seems a little confusing when reading the poem because he contradicts himself several times, saying “It was not dying, Everybody died.” I found that a little hard to understand but I perceived it as the many things that he seen out in the war that it wasn’t him so much worrying about his death anymore because he was so used to being exposed to his friends deaths as well as his enemies, so when it came his time to die it was a part o the nature. Overall I think that his poems were very real when you read them it is like the characters come alive in his short stories/poems.

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath has stated herself these exact words about her poetry, "I think my poems immediately come out of the sensuous and emotional experiences I have, but I must say I cannot sympathize with these cries from the heart that are informed by nothing except a needle or a knife." With that being said it is very apparent that Sylvia had several issues throughout her life, shortly after her father died Sylvia begin to become depressed and even attempted suicide. She wrote down her thoughts and emotions in her poetry as you may be able to see when she wrote her poems that we have read. In her poem "Daddy" it sounds like she relates her poem to a nursery rhyme called "the old woman who lived in a shoe" because she uses the words "Blacks hoe in which I have lived like a foot." With this particular nursery rhyme the mother whips her children and sends them to bed, I think that is a relation to the kind of relationship she had with her own father because they didnt have that kind of close relationship together, which may be why she went down hill from the time her father died and later on.

Sonny's Blues

Sonny’s brother was a math teacher in their old town of Harlem. Sonny himself was a drug addict on heroin and spent a good deal of time in his drug rehab. One of Sonny’s old friends shows up to tell sonny’s brother that Sonny was sent into rehab, and it rekindled memories from the past. Of course when it deals with your siblings whether it be a younger/older sister or brother you always feel that protectiveness over one another. The two brothers hardly talked or communicated at all throughout the years but as time went out they begin to make that same connection that they once had as a young child. When it says “Blues” in the title of the story I feel like the “blues” is the emotional rollercoaster the two brothers experienced with one another, as well as the rekindling of their relationship as two brothers that have taken different paths in life. The music in the story plays a big role in their life as well, I think at this point when they were hearing the music at the Barbeque joint the brother begins to listen to Sonny and his troubles. Anyone with a drug addiction it’s extremely important for that person to have some sort of support from either a family member or friend, to have someone there to listen to you and talk with you about your sufferings. I feel that is exactly what sonny’s brother did towards the end of the story is he found a place where he could sit and listen to Sonny’s hurt and pain that he was feeling why going through this terrible addiction he had started.

Powerhouse

Powerhouse seemed to be a story comparing the differences between the blacks and whites. I think the story was probably written around the time of when being prejudice was a major issue in society at the time. In this story it focuses a lot on the music and bands playing. White folks did pay to come and see this particular musician. When everything was said and done though, the blacks had to go to their side of the streets where they had their own restaurants, stores, homes, and everything else involved. As well as the white people had their side of town. I don’t agree with this at all, I feel that everybody is equal no matter what color, race or religion they are, I guess that is the complete difference between society now and they way their outlook was back then. This was my least favorite short story that I read this week.

Native Son

The Native son is probably one of my favorite short stories that we have read all semester. Bigger was living in a small one room building with his mother and siblings, he wanted better for himself so he went out to seek a fine job. Mr. Dalton offered him a great job chauffeuring his family around to different places, paying him a great deal of money and giving him a nice place to stay. Bigger took the job and had all intentions to work his hardest and do the best he could to please everyone. Mr. Daltons daughter gave him issues right from the start, she called him out on things making him uncomfortable. Bigger was ordered to take Mr. Dalton’s daughter to the university that evening, but that was all about to change. Mary was taken towards to college, but she had different plans for her agenda. Mary had Bigger take her to meet her boyfriend and spend the rest of the afternoon, something her parents would never agree upon. Bigger didn’t know what he had gotten himself into, Mary and her boyfriend had alcohol in which they all proceeded to get drunk in the backseat. Bigger thought that if he did as well he wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable being with them so he did as well. That night when going back to the house he had to carry Mary up to her room where he was almost caught by the owner. Mary ended up dying, I’m not sure if she died from drinking too much or for some other cause. Bigger never planned on killing the young girl, which I don’t feel it was his fault to start with, although if he had taken her to where she suppose to go then it would of never happened to start with.

Flight

John Steinback was raised in California where he spent most of his life, he wasn’t very big on traveling with his works of writing as much as other writers you may come across. The story flight is of a mother and her children living in Monterey on a farm. Her son Pepe was sent into town to fetch some medicine in case they would need it. Mother always would talk about how Pepe was “becoming a MAN” especially since his father had already passed. When Pepe went into town he came across someone who was calling him names so Pepe decided to take it into his own hands and ended up killing the man. Pepe hurried home to explain to his mother that he must leave immediately. While Pepe was on his journey he was followed my someone who wanted justice for the crime he committed. Along the way Pepe ended up losing his food and jug of water along the way, he was left for dry basically. His horse ended up dying due to the fact that Pepe didn’t take very good care of it as well, so he was to walk the rest of his way. I think Pepe should stayed home instead of running from his problems, I don’t think he would of suffered a infected arm or possibly wouldn’t of even been killed if he had stayed home. I think Pepe did a fine job at attempting to keep his self alive, he dug the ground to soak up water to drink from, and found things he could eat, although that still wasn’t enough because he was killed in the end anyways.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is very well known for his African American writing in his poetry. I think the poetry that was assigned for us to read was pretty straight forward and easy to read. One of my favorites would be "The Weary Blues" it seems as though the man that is playing the piano is sad about something going on in his life. It talks about how he plays this piano underneath a spot light and he is swaying back and forth to a "mellow croon". It talks about how his sway was so mellow and gentle, that you can just tell that he is a easy going, "mellow" person himself.

Faulkner

William Faulkner has obviously strange taste of topic in his stories, I cant say that The Evening Sun is my favorite I have ever came across. In this story the father of the children never wants Nancy's husband Jesus on his property. With that being said its apparent that Jesus is bad news, especially if he is never even around in the story anyways. Nancy is afraid that Jesus will hurt her therefore she is scared to go home and stay there alone. She tries to con the kids into walking down to her house with her because she is afraid Jesus will come out an hurt her. In the story it talks about Nancy being pregnant, but thats where it leaves off, it never tells what ever happened to her unborn child, and it seems like she may be pregnant on more then one occasion? Her belly was rounded and big when she was in jail, after she had been beat and kicked in the mouth, stomach, and head. Also when she was in the kitchen it tells of her belly resembling a watermelon. I dont think Jesus was ever out to get Nancy, she was a bit of a drunk anyways, so maybe she was having ellusions in her mind that he was out to get her, but reality is that he just up and left one day apparently.

Trifles

Susan Glaspell wrote the play “Trifles” before the women’s movement came along. This basically meant that men thought that their wives, children, property, money and anything else was of their property and not of their wives. In this play John Wright has been murdered and the sheriff, Mr. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hale are at the murder scene, which is of the home of Mr. Wright. The Sheriff has come to the house to try and come up with evidence so that he can use it against Mrs. Wright for the murder of her husband. When they get there they find that the house is a mess, towels all over the place, food laying out everywhere, and not kept up like a normal home would be. The men seem to view the distortion of the house differently then what the women see. The men aren’t looking things in a deeper view. The men look at the house as being cluttered with mess, and not taken great care of like women should keep it. Although when the women look at the mess they look it as Mrs. Wright probably didn’t have the time to keep her house clean because she was too busy doing other things such as, out in the garden picking the vegetables, making jams and quilting. John Wright never really paid his wife much attention, and Mrs. Wright loved to sing but that disturbed her husband. She had a bird that she kept in a cage that loved to sing along with Mrs. Wright and her husband killed the bird. I think that since her husband didn’t pay her much attention and seemed to not care about his wife’s feeling that led her to killing him.

Willa Cather

Aunt Georgiana was born into a middle class family and never had to work hard for what she had. She married a man named Howard Carpenter, who her family greatly disliked mostly because she was a lower class family then their own. Georgiana married Howard more than likely out of rebellion from her parents knowing that didn’t approve. After giving birth to six children and working hard every single day to survive she gave up one of the most important things she loved most. Her fingers were crippled from the hard work she put into work and she could hardly play the piano any longer. After going back to Boston her nephew set up arrangements to take her to an orchestra concert. When the orchestra came on stage it brought back memories and she begin to tap her fingers to the rhythm. She begin to cry because she realized what her life could have been like had she taken a different path in life. “Paul’s Case” is perfect example of someone who isn’t happen in their own skin. Paul was born into a relatively poor family. He was always picked on by the way he dressed he was always getting kicked out of school. After being forced to work and unable to get his education leads to Paul stealing money. He takes off to New York to live the life he always wanted, but not for long. Paul was able to stay in nice hotels, wear fancy clothes, and attend the musical concerts he admired. Once his father heard about his son staying in a New York Hotel, Paul fled. Paul thought of committing suicide with a gun but he didn’t quite have the nerve to do so, he ends up taking his life into a oncoming freight train, and his life was never completely fulfilled.

Zora

Zora Neale Hurston seemed like a very down to earth lady. Growing up her family flip-flopped around taking care of her. Her father never took care of her it was the upbringing of her mother that got her through until her mother died, that would probably be very hard for a young daughter. Zora made it through the rest of her life on her own putting herself through school and beginning her writing career. “How it feels to be colored” seems like a story of Zora herself, she is the narrator of the story and calls herself by name. In this story she tells of how she always was an outspoken lady, always talking to the white folks that came through town and would even sing to them. I think this story really goes in depth about how it’s not what is on the outside of a person that depicts the kind of person they are. She always felt like she could be herself no matter who her surroundings were, whether it be white or black people, she always stayed true to herself and the person she was. “The Gilded Six-bits” is a story of a woman who has an affair on her husband Joe. Joe goes on and on about Mr. Slemmons, while his wife seemed very uninterested in him. Joe comes home one day to find his wife in bed with Mr. Slemmons. Missie May thought Joe would leave her and could never understand why he stayed with her after the heartbreak she had caused him. I can’t understand why she did that to Joe to start with after all the nice things he would do for his wife, I think the only reason she had the affair with Mr. Slemmons was because of the money she “thought” he had. In the end of the story she has Joe’s child, and I think that having the child brought them together closer once more, I’m sure she won’t make that mistake again.