The Story of an Hour- Kate Chopin

http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0052-story-of-an-hour-kate-chopin.html


This story tells of a woman who has heart troubles as it is, but is astonished at the news that her husband has been killled. She sobs and weeps as any woman would do at first but then she stows away to her room and sits in a chair that faces the outside. She sits there and ponders on the past events that have just occurred but she whispers to herself "free, free, free." She sobs a little at the news of her husbands death once again but begins to think about the life she was about to face on her own. After sitting there for a while her sister knocks at the door and tells her to come outside. When she finally gets up and walks outside of her room and down the stairs, her husband is standing in the doorway looking at her. He wasn't dead indeed after all but the woman didn't seem excited about his presence.

This story sounds so familiar but I can not remember where I have heard it before. The woman was at first startled with the news of her husbands death, but then she seems at peace with it. It mentions in the story that she loved her husband, but sometimes she didn't. The lady seems to be accepting her new life on her own as she sits by herself facing the window. She doesn't seem to be saddened by the death of her husband anymore. "Free, free free" is what she says to herself. I think she is talking about herself, like that she's free from her husband now. Since he's dead she has no one to answer to, no one to worry about, no one to tell her what to do anymore. The lady seems kind of disappointed when she walks downstairs to see that her husband was not dead. She feels trapped again and knows that she is going to have to live the life she had been living ever since they got married.

What do you guys think?!

The Red Convertible

This story starts off with the author telling us about how him and his brother went in together and bought a red convertible, "Red Olds." But he went on to say that they both had owned it, but now his brother owned it to himself and he didn't know why. Lyman (the narrator) was really good at making money. He once owned a restaurant called the Joilet Cafe. He started off working there as a busboy and then became part time manager, then he fully owned the whole place. But that all went down hill because a tornado came threw and tore the place all to pieces. Lyman and his brother went into town one day with all their money and that's when they saw "Red Olds." Before he knew it they had bought her and were driving around everywhere. One summer they decided just to drive where ever the road took them and they would stop and take breaks along side of the road. One day they were driving and they saw a girl standing aside of the road so they picked her up. Lyman asked her where she was from and she told them "Chicken" which was in Alaska, so thats where they went. The girls name was Susy and her family took them in like they were their own children, they even had their own tent beside their house. But it began to grow cold outside and it was time for the two brothers to leave. The night before they left Susy went into their tent and they broke the news to her. She told them that they have never seen her hair and she unpinned all of it and her hair reached the ground! Henry picked her up and put her on his shoulders, because he always wondered what it would be like to have long, pretty hair. The next morning they left the family and headed towards home. They got home in time for Henry to be deployed to be a Marine in the services. He only came home once for Christmas and then he was off again, but he did write letters. He only got two letters written before the enemies caught him, so he had to stop. But Lyman kept writing him letters hoping that he would get them and he told him all about the things he was doing to the car. Lyman kept referring to it as Henry's car, even though Henry gave it to him when he was deployed. When Henry returned home, he had changed dramatically. He wasn't the same person anymore and Lyman wasn't happy about the change. He couldn't joke around with his brother anymore and I guess it was just hard for him the accept the fact that he brother wasn't the same person anymore since he had come back from overseas. One day Henry and Lyman were watching TV, when Lyman heard a clicking noise and looked over at Henry and he had bitten through his lip and blood was running down his face. Lyman tried to help Henry but he just pushed him away and tried to act like it was nothing. After supper that night when Henry left the room, the family was talking about how they needed to get Henry some help but they didn't want to take him to the hospital because all they would do was give him drugs. Lyman figured maybe if he destroyed the "Red Olds" that Henry would pay some attention to it and it might bring the old Henry back. Henry finally noticed after a month that Lyman had let the car get beat up and run down. He fussed at Lyman about it and Lyman just kept his mouth shut and didn't say a whole lot because he wanted Henry to go back to his old self and maybe the car would do the trick. After that day, Henry was always working on the car..day and night. He even strung a lamp outside to be able to see at night to work on the car. He was much calmer now and he was getting back to himself, but Lyman still wasn't happy. Lyman was used to him and his brother doing things together and now Henry was a loner. One day, Henry asked Lyman to go for a spin in the ole car and their younger sister took a picture of them outside of the car. Lyman hung the picture up on the wall but after a while the picture creeped him out. One night he was drunk and high and had to leave the room because of the picture and his friend came over and they put a paper bag over it. Lyman then goes on to explain the drive that him and his brother took. Henry was calm and quiet which made Lyman happy but all of a sudden Lyman lost it and grabbed his brother and yelled wake up, wake up and Henry knew exactly what he was talking about. He said he knew it and he knew that Lyman had destroyed the car on purpose, but that Lyman should take the car for himself. They get into a fight over this stupid car and start hitting each other and after a few hits, Henry starts laughing and says "you take it" and finally Lyman agrees. They drink the beers that were in the cooler and then Henry decides to go for a swim in the river to cool off. The current starts to get a hold of him and suddenly he's gone. Lyman took the car to the edge of the bank, put it in first gear and got out, and slowly let it roll into the water.

Woahhhhh I did not expect this to be the ending of the story. After reading this story, the quote that comes to my head is "Appreciate the things you have in life, because one day..they could disappear. I feel really bad for Lyman throughout the whole story because he feels like he's lost his brother completely since he went off overseas. But when he finally gets him back to his old self, the river current takes him away again. I can't imagine what was going through Lyman's head as this was happening, that poor kid. This story just really teaches you that you should always appreciate the people and things you have in life, because one day you might not have those things anymore.

From Blossoms

When I first read this poem, I knew it was about peaches but I also could tell there was a deeper meaning to it and I couldn't figure it out until we had the class discussion on it. The poem seems like its in the perspective of a young or older couple. The author uses "we" a lot, which is what made me think that it was referring to more than one person's perspective. In the beginning it says "we bought from the boy at the bend in the road where we turned towards signs painted Peaches." This line kind of seems like the couple that was traveling along had no intention of buying peaches, they just stumbled upon the signs and didn't pass up the opportunity. The poem kind of is making symbolism to me with the peaches referring to someones life maybe. Like you go through good experiences and you go through bad ones, but you just keep moving forward regardless of the situations. When the author says "peaches we devour, dusty skin and all, comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat," kind of uses the peach representing life, like saying that not everything comes as desired but you just keep moving along with it. 


"O, to take what we love inside, to carry within us an orchard," this line seems like the author is saying take the good things or memories and cherish them inside to carry within you and you can always relive those moments in your head regardless of the new memories or adventures you face..you'll always have those good moments in your memory.

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web is one of the oldest movies that I can still remember to this day. The very end of the movie is the saddest part of all and it was the piece that was taken out of the story for us to read. It starts out with Charlotte and Wilbur in the stall they were placed in at the fair grounds. Wilbur had just won first prize at the fair and he was very proud of the metal he was wearing around his neck. Wilbur and Charlotte were talking about how they were soon to be going back home when Charlotte broke the news to Wilbur that she would not be returning with them. Wilbur threw a fit and whined about it because he didn't understand. Charlotte explained to him that she was becoming very weak and wouldn't make it but only a few more days. Wilbur finally understood where she was coming from and he decided that he was going to take her sacs of eggs that would soon become babies with him. He had to beg and bribe Templeton, the rat, to get the egg sac down from the web and finally with the bribing of food, Templeton got down Charlotte's babies. Wilbur carried the sac in his mouth home and they finally broke loose from the sac and took Charlotte's place in spinning webs at the door. Charlotte finally died a few days after everyone had left the fair grounds. Wilbur said that he would never forget her because she was a great friend and also a good writer as well.

In the beginning in paragraph two, Charlotte was trying to easily tell Wilbur that she wasn't feeling well at the time but he wasn't understanding what was going on with her. Wilbur was still very young and Charlotte kind of took the mother role in his life. She meant a lot to him and it seemed like he would do anything for her. This story even though its super old, still makes me sad, because its kind of like loosing your best friend..no one would want to go through that, human or animal.

Feed Part One

In Feed Part One, Titus and his friends decide to go to the moon for their spring break. On their ride there Titus is trying to sleep but his friends keep making so much noise to the point where he can't sleep. His friends Marty and Link kept playing around and when they reached the no gravity zone, Titus finally gave up. They got to the hotel that they were going to be staying at and it seemed kind of sketchy to them but Marty reassured him that it would be fine. When Titus got to the moon he was saying how he wanted to "hook up" with someone because he felt lonely all the time. He hadn't been with anyone in a while and he always felt lonely, even when people were with him. Once the girls put their stuff in their room and the guys as well, then they walked around and tried to find something to do. The group tried to get into this college party but when they attempted to get in the college kids just looked at them like they were crazy. They all kept complaining about their lesions on their bodies that were oozing liquid and gross stuff out of them. The lesions were on a different part of the each one of their bodies and they continued to spread. The group then decided to go to the Ricochet Lounge. In the Ricochet Lounge you put on helmets and pounded in to each other and the walls as well. Titus didn't really want to participate in the game so he just stood in the corner and admired this girl that had just walked in the Ricochet Lounge. Titus was extremely attracted to her and he couldn't figure out why. She was wearing unfamiliar clothes, a gray wool dress, and sat in the corner at the snack bar by herself. Titus sat in the corner of the Ricochet Lounge and admired her. She pushed her juice out of her mouth hoping no one was watching and she watched as it floated in the air and then sucked in back into her mouth. He was hoping that none of his friends would say anything to him and they didn't. Marty and Link kept playing in the Ricochet Lounge and they kept getting rougher and rougher and finally the manager said something to them so they had to leave the lounge. The girls went to the bathroom to fix their hair, because their hairstyles had changed and when they returned Quendy was complaining because no one told her that her lesion had spread. The guys told her it was fine and that it wasn't noticeable. She didn't believe them so they told her to ask the girl over there (referring to the girl that Titus had been admiring). When she asked her the girl responded and said that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was because it was within the lines. If it crossed over the lines then it would appear more clearly to everyone. The girl showed them her lesion which was on her neck and she said how she was wanting it to spread around her neck so it would form like a necklace. They finally left the Ricochet Lounge and tried to find something else to do. The guys kept hitting on Violet and asking her questions about their lesions, which disgusted her and she was hoping that Titus was going to say something flirty as well but he didn't which surprised her. The girls kept playing with Quendy's hair to fix it so it showed off her lesion. They couldn't find anything to do so they decided to get drunk and go to a club. They went to this place where they thought they could get fake ID's but it was closed down. So they tried to break into the mini bar, but that didn't work either. So they decided to go to the club sober. Violet felt very uncomfortable in the club because she had never been dancing before. Violet and Titus began to talk and he didn't seem to be as interested in her as he thought he was but all of a sudden the gravity cut off and Violet grabbed Titus's arm and apologized for it. An older man then began to speak to them and say "we enter a time of calamity" over the speakers. The police finally came and beat the man over the head so he would shut up and they warned the kids that they're chips were about to be cut off. When the chips cut off everyone dropped to the ground. 

At first when I started to read Feed, I didn't understand any of their language, well the way they worded some of the things, like "null" and "meg." After reading for a while I was able to translate their words and understand what they were talking about. I didn't understand what the "feed" chip was in their brains     either. I finally got that the chip was kind of like a little dictionary/advice giver in their brain that helped the out when they needed it. It also provided them with shows to watch and stuff like that whenever they wanted. So it was kind of like a portable tv, dictionary, and therapist all in one. 

The School

So as I was reading this I was real confused at why in the world everything that embraced that one school died. Those poor children probably had no hope for anything. The poem seems like it's trying to capture the audience and give them a perspective of life maybe? Everything that they tried to take care of died. The salamander, the puppy, the trees, the tropical fish, Matthew and Tony, their parents...where did they all go? The poem might be trying to tell us that you need to appreciate what you have. I'm just not really sure where Barthelme was going with this. At the end the children wanted the teacher to make love with Miss Helen, the teaching assistant. That kind of threw me off guard with the events that were happening in the poem. Was Barthelme trying to add in a positive environment for the students by placing love into the school. Because once the relationship between the teacher and Miss Helen sparked a gerbil appeared. So if their was a positive environment in the classroom all the time, then would things in the room stay alive?

A Silver Dish

The silver dish is a story about a man who is grieving the death of his father. He mentioned in the beginning of the story that he mentioned how his father had a wife and a mistress and only cared for himself. Woody also told the audience how he had two sisters, who were in their fifties and lived with their mother. Woody dressed his father for the burial in the way that he wanted and buried him amongst jews, like his father requested. Woody told the audience about the time his father left his mother and sisters and he made Woody the "man of the house." Woody tells the story of how his father's family had previously abandoned him when they were traveling to America because of his eye infection, which could also affect his decisions in leaving his family. He was left as a young boy, so he probably sees that it's okay to leave his family as well. He told us how the preacher looked down upon his father as well. On pages two and three its Sunday and the bells rang, which reminded Woody of his father. Woody hadn't really come to closure with the death of his father until he heard the bells ringing on Sunday, which is the day he would visit his father.
Aunt Rebecca kept giving him a hard time of showing characteristics of his father. Aunt Rebecca had previously had her breasts removed and Woody was told that it was because women who didn't have their breasts fondled and played with obtained breast cancer. This was kind of interesting to me because I have previously heard this somewhere else but I don't remember where, it seems kind of silly that this would be true..but you never know!
While Morris was laying in the hospital, he begged Woody for help. He told him that Halina's husband had taken his money and he wanted to protect her. He didn't think that her new husband was good for her. Pop also mentions that he can only "help" Woody. In A Silver Dish Woody states "He wanted me like himself, an American." I think this means that Pop wants to teach Woody how things in society really are and not how his mother and aunt want them to be. They're extremely religious and there's nothing wrong with that but Pop has a more actual view of how society is and actually faces hard times.
Pop completely used Woody for money and ended up getting him kicked out of seminary school, which meant a lot to him. He got Woody to get him fifty dollars and while he was getting the money Pop stole a silver dish from a locked cabinet that he thought was going to be worth a lot of money. After Pop and Woody left their house, it wasn't long after that, that they figured out it was missing.
Woody took his "dependents" to Disney World in Florida when it opened. At first I didn't understand what he meant by dependents but he was referring to his mother and sisters and the mistress. He didn't refer to them as family because he felt as if he was taking care of them out of it being his duty and not out of loyalty.
The last few paragraphs Woody was describing to the readers the pain he was going through as his father was slowly dying. He never really showed compassion for his father throughout the story, he just did little things like stick up for him with the silver dish situation and see him behind his mother's back. Pop was really the only relationship Woody had in the story. Woody referred to his mother, mistress, and sisters as people he had to take care of. He made it seem like it was his "job" to take care of them and not him doing it out of willingness.