Everyday Use

This is not the first time I have come across this story. One would like to think that I would remember it but to be honest I probably don't because it always makes me mad. The character 'Dee' (for I refuse to call her that fake a** name of "Wangero") is a clear depiction of the type of person that I detest. She, who thinks that by changing her name, and wearing a dashiki frock, by putting her hair in a fro, by dating a Muslim, is what is wrong with a great deal of black people back in the day. For whilst she changed her name, she didn't insist on being called as such by her mother because she probably had no idea what it meant. Most (if not all) African or Muslim names have a meaning to them and the way that they are arranged together is supposed to reflect the person that you are or will become. She could be named "she who shits with pigs" and she wouldn't know it. (this also annoys me about people who get "Chinese" symbol tatoos who aren't chinese so they have no idea what the heck they are saying about themselves, only what someone told them it means) this is example number 1 of her ignorance. Also whilst I'm sure her frock was very lovely indeed and many African frocks are very colorful, they are also made from rich fabrics and fine dyes whilst I'm sure Dee just bought hers from a shop, probably owned by the people she states "oppress" her. example #2 of her ignorance! then there is her partner "Hakim-a-barber" who honestly and truthfully should realize that this selfish creature who he is parading around as his partner is as shallow as the water in the dried clay of her mother's backyard. Dee is only dating him because he is an honest representation of someone who represents more than she feel she represeents herself; someone with a connection to their heritage that she will never grasp because she is too shallow to do it for real. I mean, its really quite simply put out when she continues to eat the swine when her new beliefs clearly states that you shouldn't. but does she care? no! as long as she wears the garb, professes the mantras, and looks the part she doesn't actually have to be one with her true heritage, which is that of an african AMERICAN woman. borne out of a line of other AFRICAN AMERICAN peoples who have done their damndest to make roots in a country not originally their own and where they are persecuteod for the color of their skin but they continued to live and make rich families filled with treasures such as those quilts which she wants to frikkin HANG!!!! EXAMPLES NUMBER 3,4,5 and A MILLION of her ignorance!

*sigh*

and last but not use, every day use was an interesting story not because of Dee's character but the true characters, the Mom and Maggie who represent the spirit of accepting one's heritage, as mixed up in others' heritage's as it is. they live their heritage every day by being themselves. they put it to everyday use. unlike that wench Dee.

Ok. I'm going to go and have a glass wof wine now and actively try to forget this story again.

A Good Man...

exists? (I kid, I kid)

Points:

1. it is rather strange how O'Conner calls who I assume to be the main character by not her name but her station in her family.

2. that she would have been a "good woman" had there been someone to shoot her every day of her life. Interesting because she was really rather sweet to me, except she was the reason her entire family and herself found their deaths.

3. the misfit and the grandmother are both misfits in their own rights. interesting dynamic they have in their conversation in the end.

4. how selfish the grandmother is throughout the entire story. up until her very death she really cared for no one but herself.

Young Goodman Brown

Note #1: Creepy story.

Note #2: Still better than the Poe story.

Note #3: Ok I really only did the note thing so I could make note number one.

As I was saying, I really think this story was creepy but I liked it. It could be because I have a weird attraction to witchy stories since maybe even before I watched "The Craft" but aside from that this was a great exploration of good and evil! Because Brown was such a "good" character it surprised me that he turned out to be so cynical of the world, I would think that he would pray that it was all a dream and go back to living in supposed bliss but alas, the poor chap just couldn't hack it. For the most part I think that many of the happiest people in the world have come to the realization that they are both good and evil. And they understand that about others as well.

The Purloined Letter

I have never been a fan of Poe. Oh sure everyone says he is a classic but I have never liked reading anything he's written. The sentences contain so much information I have to reread it about 3 times before I can comprehend what is going on. also, there is the fact that I don't exactly speak either french or Latin fluently so his continuous use of those languages throughout the story had me thrown. I put this story down 4-7 times in reading it. Couldn't even read it all the way through. The Prefect was a likeable guy but the foreshadowing that occured in the beginning of the story with him laughing at D---'s suggestion that the letter's hiding place was more simple than he thought, was an easy guess. This guy, D---- is a smart fellow, I like his character, up until the point where the paragraphs got all preachy and then going on and on about some kid and his marbles. *Sigh* Here again is a point where I put it down.

The Use of Force

Well this story is just a bucket of joy! Although the narrator was enamored by this bratty little minx I will say that I was disgusted by her behavior! And in my culture we do not stand for such behavior from children, much less a sick child! Aren't you supposed to be sick? Then why in the hell are you fighting the doctor? You better not waste my damn $3. That's how those parents should have approached the little wench. Instead their actions are defeating the entire purpose of why they have invited the doctor to their home. I agree with him for his contempt of the parents. There love for their child clouded their ability to use the proper amount of force to get the child to open up. And I don't mean physical force either, I mean their control over their doughter was lax from before this meeting with the doctor which makes this little brat think she can do whatever she likes. "Oh sure, I'l just keep this little secret from them. They don't have to know. What do they know anyway?" I am almost certain that character, Mathilda was it?, would have thought such things.

This story not only brings up issues of child rearing (just exactly what type of people should procreate...Jon & Kate do you hear me??) but it also raises the ethical issue of health care providers and how far they should go to save someone's life. I mean sure it all started out good and dandy, he had the best of intentions this doctor but as the situation became more frustrating (what with the coddling mother and the embarrassed father) the more pleasure he recieved from making sure he got what he wanted rather than take a step back and trying a different approach with the child. he also noted that he could hae come back in an hour or so but the sooner a diagnosis was made then the sooner he could have saved her life. but now instead of coming back in an hour and getting a less riled up brat they are wasting an hour to strangle her to see her tonsels! and then another half an hour for her to take her vengence out on them for discovering her secret. he should have been like "House" and just treated her for the dyptheria first then asked questions later. would have saved a whole lot of time.

Hills Like White Elephants

First reading, honestly and genuinely confused as to what was happening between the couple. I could read the tension building and the fact that this is something they've talked about a great deal. I also wished I was there to try the Anis del Toro. Then when I came back to it I wondered what this operation was they were speaking of. Why go to another country for it? Was the woman not American also? She had to have been because she didn't speak spanish. At first I thought this 'simple' operation was a breast enlargement. You know because he said "Let the air in" and when I was younger I thought that was how women got bigger breasts all of a sudden. Didn't think there was something in it. BUt then I thought, no. She doesn't want this operation. It's not for her. It's not for her and it is for him. What can one sex do and not the other? Have babies. And that's why they were in a Spanish speaking country because probably at the time, abortions were illegal in the US. Aw, I hope she doesn't die.

Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Well that was an interesting little nut-job of a piece. Or so I thought as my first reaction. Lies. My first reaction was that this was a horribly boring piece and when was it going to get creepy or just end already (sorry Charlie P.G. but it was a bit of a bore at first). Now that I've paid my respects to the author, I will say that by the time I noticed a change in the creep level the story was basically over. So I had to read the silly thing again. However this time I discovered something new.

It was creepy from the very beginning. That a woman should have to take to secret diary entries as a way to express any of the thoughts she had was shocking. Once I noticed this she (the protagonist) immediately turned into Anne Frank to me and all I could think was "You're gonna die. You're gonna die. Get out! Get out!" Well obviously that was no use since the story was already written but I must say I was proud of the emotion I now felt for someone I thought was boring me to death. Also too late as she was already dead. Much like Mrs. Mallard in the previous story I think the people around her treated her like an invalid of the highest proportions rather than give her the freedom to express herself and this my dear friends will kills the spirit. Then the mind. Then what else is left? For they'd already determined the body ill in the beginning. By the end of the piece she changed from Anne (whom I adore) to Gollum (whom) I despise because of the fact that had she the balls to "save" herself (yes I know I said balls and I don't mean if she were a man, merely figurative cahones,) speak up for herself and not allow herself to be walked all over and taken advantage of then she wouldn't have gone nutters. Sad stuff here. Sad stuff.

NOTE: Must discover what "creeping" means. I mean I know what it means but she appears to be English or speaks like an Englishwoman and "creeping" could also mean something other than the act of creeping on ones knees. ooooh, maybe the idea of being secretive? you know with the journal and having to know she isn't ill but taking everyones word for it because it's "proper". how i hate the idea of being "proper". Ok that's a lie. I just hated taking etiquette courses as a kid. but at least i said something about it. maybe almost maiming my dance partner Barrington with the heel of my shoe wasn't the best way to express myself but what do you expect? I was 6. He got over it. I think.

NOTE 2: Did her husband die of a shock that kills? Lol. That wold make me laugh.