Choppin Support for Thesis Activity

Thesis #1:

Chopin makes the point that Mrs. Mallard was oppressed by her husband like many of the woman of the era. Mrs. Mallard was excited that she would finally “live for herself” after her husband died. She also states that she would live “a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely,” more specifically, not with her husband.

Thesis #2

While Mrs. Mallard stared out the window she saw an image of life that contrasted with her own room. Chopin shows this by describing outside using phrases like “new spring life” and when Mrs. Mallard tells her sister “'I am not making myself ill.' No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.” Whereas, when Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard sitting in the armchair he describes her as being “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.”

SSRJ #4 Minot

Because I did not particularly care for Carver's short story, I'll share my views on Minot's "Lust." Seeing as I'm one of the only males commenting on the story, I'm thinking that it is a tough story for males to connect to. Mirroring what others thought, this was a story that was tough to get into. The way it was presented seemed like diary entries of a teenage girl, maybe that was Minot's intention but regardless I didn't like it. The story itself made me feel bad for the girl, she acted like she needed male companionship even though she seemed to hate herself for it. This is a prevailing theme with most addicts, addicts usually share the feeling that even if they do not want to do something they have to, even if they feel terrible afterwords.
I thought it was somewhat ironic that even though sex was supposed to be a loving experience it just made her feel worse. This reflects on the title and how she never really cared too much for any of the people who she had a relationship with. Another key point was how she used comparisons to animals quite a bit. Sheep, squirrels and shrimp are all used to describe the narrator at different points. This shows how insignificant the narrator feels after sex with these boys and how much power they have over her. One last thing I wanted to point out is that Minot makes both teenage boys and girls look bad in different ways, yet I don't think one is worse than the other. At first you may question me, saying "all the boys seem to be machines with one thing on their mind and after that dump the girl to the side with no remorse." Yet Minot portrays the girl as weak, powerless, and unable to function if she does not have the constant pursuit of the male, which in some ways is worse. Now, keep in mind, while there is the few people who fit these descriptions, I find both of these to be tremendous stereotypes of both sexes. But Minot wanted to make her point, and maybe tell the sad story of a young girl's chase for something that she may never find; or maybe doesn't want to find.
My final question is what made me write on this story. Does your own sex change the way you interpreted and/or connect with the story?

SSRJ D. Walker

The story I Am the Grass was the story that fascinated me the most. The way the author started by contrasting the narrators family life and the violent time in the war showed me that the character has grown through his experiences but is still quite haunted by them. After the author's first paragraph you are hooked into the story to see what happens next. When he decides to take the trip to Vietnam he may be wanting to find closure, to help what he had once damaged and also to make peace with himself. The narrator sees the base, or lack thereof, that he was once stationed at and feels a sense of sadness knowing that there is nothing there to connect him to the land. Seeing the base reminds him with the poem by Sandburg which fits really well into the story and gives the reader a clue as to how the story continues on with it's theme of forgiveness.

Another part of the story that i particularly enjoyed was the character of Dinh. Dinh creates a complex relationship for the narrator since he once was one of the North Vietnamese that the narrator fought against but now is a doctor that must work together with him. I believe Dinh is much more than just a foil as he is much too similar to the main character and that is why he is so unique and keeps the story as interesting as it became. The fact that Dinh asked a person who he once fought so hard against, who he would have every reason to hate, to try to do the toe/finger transplant shows a great deal of trust and understanding to do. Eventually the main character returns that understanding that they are not so different and really wants to help him. It was both moving then saddening to read on where the doctor tries very hard to succeed, yet upon seeing the results, is sincerely distraught with the procedure failing.

Now this may be a bit of a reach, but I felt that Dinh's hand was symbolic for the memories they had about the war. A scar that really should not have happened but did because of other people. They both tried to ignore it but it was always still there, and finally no matter how much we try to fix it always ends up the same as before. If I did have a question it would have to be why didn't Dinh come to the airport? Was he just to disappointed in the procedure or was it something else?

SSJ#2 Hemingway

This story was very emotional, it showed a person who was desensitized by war. Knowing that Hemingway was probably going through many of the same thoughts and emotions it made the read all that much more real. Coming from a military family I know many people who have been in and around war. These people have all handled it in different ways but every one of them have had their lives changed forever by being around that environment. One of the more depressing parts of the story was the way that the main character Krebs was unable to really feel anything after he came back from the war, most notably love. He sees girls walking around the town, but knows that he can't have a conversation with them and really can't have a real relationship. This desensitization of feeling shows up again after the mother asks him if he loves her and he says no. In fact he can not even pray with his mother because he does not feel connected in that way. Perhaps this is because the nature of war where personal feelings make it hard to be a good soldier as it would be very difficult to keep fighting if you really cared about the person fighting next to you. Maybe Hemingway wanted to show the world that even if the war didn't take his or Krebs's life it took a great part of his soul.
Another point I thought was interesting was how Krebs missed the "heroes welcome" that preceded his own homecoming. When Krebs tried to find a sort of acknowledgment from the town and his stories, he finds out that most of the people have heard a great deal about the war and really don't find his stories special. This of course leads to his lying to generate a response but even then people do not want to hear. This must have been hard for Krebs because he has seen what war was like and perhaps wanted to tell somebody for a theraputic reason but nobody cared to listen. Maybe they did not want to hear about the war anymore, maybe they wanted to get on with their life. In fact a bit of symbolism was associated with the town as most of the town remained unchanged. It was in direct relation to how much Krebs changed and how he was not able to function in a world he once knew. If there was a question I would ask it would be what happened to Krebs was he able to get on with his life or did the war eventually destroy him.