Cathedral

I went into this story wondering if the wife or female would receive a name. As I began reading it was evident that no one had name in this story. The first name mentioned was Beulah, and she wasn’t even a main character. I think the significance of this name being mentioned was to reveal the color of the main characters. The second and last name mentioned was Robert, the name of the blind man. Even after he received a name the narrator still referred to him as the blind man, the first time he called him Robert was when he referred to "Robert’s trip." (p. 124) I think it also important to remark that the narrator was a drinker, this may have been a cover up of his insecurities, but by the end of this very short story he had a total of five drinks.

The narrator was indeed jealous of his wife and the blind man’s relationship. While they had a relationship where love was present it had become somewhat convenient, she talked to Robert, she told him everything, and I believe they connected on a different level. But I believe she and her husband had a good relationship, he was just not in touch with his feeling, expressing what he felt, and putting it into terms others could understand. He was very ignorant in the area of blindness. He only had preconceived notions and had learned these from the movies and TV. When he saw and met the blind man the notions had to fly out the window, because he was nothing like what the narrator imagined. By the end of the story the blind man became the teacher and helped him see that there was more to life than what the naked eye see, it what one feels.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

I found that this story was very unfortunate. It was unfortunate that the entire family was killed in the end. I really wasn’t expecting it to end this way, it had a tremendous twist and was very unpredictable. In reading this story I felt that the entire family had grown accustomed to the very talkative grandmother. They sort of ignored her and probably tuned her out. No one ever responded to anything she said, but this didn’t bother her. Honestly I just think she liked to here herself talk and having people in the room was just convenient. The character of the grandmother made me feel no remorse for anyone, especially her even when they got killed. She grew very annoying and was very fake in my opinion.

The children were very rude to everyone. This was probably a product of their parents’ leisurely attitude toward anything that they did. They weren’t punished for their rudeness or smart remarks. Their parents were almost nonexistent in this story, especially the mother who doesn’t receive a name. And the father doesn’t appear to be happy. He barely has a relationship with his mother, who is always talking to him. This is a typical story where the character worries so much about something that it happens them. The grandmother worries about The Misfit and doesn’t want to travel to Florida because that’s where he is going. But runs into him when she gets the crazy notion of going to visit a house that she remembers so vividly. And all the while the house is in a completely different state than they are currently in. (If this happened to me and I found out I would be SO MAD.) what bothered me was how the family was saw to be kind of ignorant. After the father and son were taken away and two gunshots were heard, I would expect their loved ones to be hysterical. Instead the grandma continues to carry on a conversation and the mother and daughter don’t even budge. The last I would do is go freely with men that I knew were going to kill me. But the grandmother being her selfish self continued talking, in hopes of saving her own life; and of all people to try to get sentimental with and touch she chooses a man that gets nervous by the appearance of children.

Once Upon A Time

Nadine Gordimer wrote "Once Upon A Time". I loved the tone of this story. It flowed beautifully. Gordimer’s word choice and sentence variety made this a great work. It started out being about an author who didn’t write children’s books. Then later being awakened by something, from there the mind wandered and the imagination created something extreme. It is so true that when a person is home alone any sound examined can be morphed into something so scary that otherwise would be ridiculous to believe. The bedtime story she tells herself is not the typical bedtime story. It talked a family and a neighborhood that get too caught up in security systems. This family has electronically controlled gates, burglar bars attached to the doors and windows, an alarm system, high walls on the outside, and pieces of glass embedded on the top of the wall. When people get this caught up with protecting themselves, you can no longer live and enjoy it. And this is shown when they go for a walk, but can see no yards only other options for more security. They don’t get the joy seeing the world the way it was intended to be seen they see the world behind bars. I feel that if someone wants to break into something bad enough they will find away no matter what type of security one has. The couple that lives in this house may feel safe but eventually their high security system turns against them. Their son pretended to be a Prince from a story that was read to him. He dragged a ladder to the wall and climbed through the barbed wire; only for the embedded glass to stick into his little hands and knees. And what more is there to do for a kid than panic. When he panicked his injuries grew more in depth and he cried. Only when the alarm went did the parents come running to his rescue. This story teaches a great lesson of something that can go wrong with being too careful.

A&P

Sammy seems very bored with his job. Everything from his body language to his thoughts shows how unhappy he is with being a cashier. The author John Updike uses great figurative language and I could just picture Sammy leaning against his register arrogantly making assumptions about the customers. Sammy was very sarcastic and I thought some of his sayings were amusing while others were rude or offensive; like calling the customers sheep for example. The biblical meaning for sheep is very different from Sammy’s. Sheep in this story has the meaning of being stupid and ignorant. It is very evident that from working in the grocery store he has really learned to read people from first appearances. I feel that the three girls who walked into the A&P were screaming for attention. Walking into a public grocery store with nothing but bathing suits on was rude in my opinion, and the fact that didn’t even have the audacity to put shoes on was beyond belief. When Sammy quit, in hopes of being somewhat of a silent hero, it was surprising. The girls had no idea of how he felt about them, and probably didn’t care. Sammy showed no interest in them on the exterior, we as readers were fortunate enough to hear his thoughts and understand everything from his point of view. At the end of this story Sammy had an epiphany. He realizes that he did make a mistake and cannot take it back. It is kind of tough reality when one longs for something but its not there (i.e. the girls in Sammy’s case). But one must learn from such situations. Throughout this story it shows how Sammy has grown and he now feels that he is in the real world and knows that the world was going to be hard to him after this step stone in his life.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Hey everybody, sorry I wasn't at school today but I was sick and just couldn't get out of bed. And on top of that I had no voice. But I did complete the reading here's my response.

I found myself very interested in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" It kept my attention and was very suspenseful. All the while keeping me thinking and wondering of what was going to happen next. But I was kind of disappointed with the way ended. It felt incomplete like it wasn’t a finished story. I was still confused looking for more at the conclusion of the story. I knew from the beginning that the man in the gold convertible was kind of scary. If I were Connie I would have been extremely scared of him. Not only did he know everything about her but her also started threatening the lives of her family members. It wasn’t clear who Arnold Friend really was, but I think it was very evident that he was an older man who had a bad limp and should not have been trusted. This story leaves me with a very perplexed feeling. The story does not end with a feeling of closure. I was left still wandering: What happened to Connie? How old were Arnold Friend and Ellie? How did Arnold Friend know so much about Connie? I guess the author, Joyce Carol Oates wanted the reader to continue wondering where are you going and where have you been? And I’m still wonder why this story was dedicated to Bob Dilan.

Ummm.....

IDK if we're supposed to blog on that story because it's not on Clary's but I'm going to do it anyway. I think the girl in the story was conceited. But I could tell that there was some doubt and jealousy in her mind, because of how she describes herself in comparison to her sister. And also how she's always like she knew she was pretty and looking in the mirror. It seemed like she had to keep reassuring herself. But obviously music has a special meaning because it is repeated several times. And just to put my guess out there I think something is going to happen to her. She might get hurt, raped, or stalked by the dude in the car that said he was gonna get her. Then again he could just be a character that showed that others also thought she was attractive.

The Power of Myth

...I think that's what it's called. Well that goes to show how EXTREMLY BORING the movie was. From the moment it was turned to when it was turned off it may have caught my attention a mere 1 or 2 times. He seemed to have no emotion...almost like the paragraph Clary read to us about a lot of five letters words combined in a paragraph. It was monotone. I wad so lost and I felt restless and the one time it did catch my attention his little story had no point it went no where. I'm sure there are other more interesting movies out there that talk about the connection between myths and religion and I wouldn't mind watching them, but as for another Joseph Campbell film....WAKE ME UP WHEN ITS OVER PLEASE!!!

What Does SDCC stand for?

Well I didn't really mean for that to be my title, but it stands for Sunny Day Child Care...it's where I work. It's cool I like but those kids are so bad and I'm only there for four hours. So since I explained that I don't really have anything else to talk about, I'm not really for this blogging thing...so all my blogs will probably sounds like this. You know pretty random! I can't wait to go get my slurpee....Goodbye!!! :D