Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Hairball
The main character is a weird woman named Kat. She has an operation to take out a tumor and asks the doctor to save it for her. He puts it in a jar and fills it with a preserving chemical. The tumor is big and has a hairlike look on it. She takes it home and puts it on the mantelpiece and named it Hairball. She has a boyfriend who is her boss at work. He has cheated on his wife with her before. Ger tells her he needs to meet her at work so she goes to meet him and he tells her that the board of directors have fired her and gave her job to him. She goes home and checks the mail. She finds an invitation to a drinks party that is the next night. She gets mad thinking about what has happened and slowly gets angry at Ger. The next day, she goes to a fancy chocolate store and buys a big box of expensive chocolates. She goes home and takes Hairball out of the jar and pours out the chemical. She wraps Hairball in Saran Wrap and tinfoil and then in pink tissue papers. She thinks it is her gift, valuable and dangerous. She writes a short note on the card. When the time is right, she calls a delivery taxi to deliver it to Ger's house. She imagines what will happen when they discover the surprise. I think it is a weird story because she kept the tumor then uses it to get back at her lover.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Mary Postgate
Analysis of Mary Postgate
By Katherine Kimbrough
The author describes Mary Postgate as the main character in the story and she is thoroughly conscientious, tidy, companionable and ladylike. She is 44 years old, and has worked for Miss Fowler for eleven years. Miss Fowler is her boss and a supporting character in the story. She is 60 years old, and she takes in her orphaned nephew Wyndham Fowler when he was eleven years old. She spoils Wynn because she never had kids.
Wyndham Fowler always liked to insult Mary Postgate with rude nicknames like “Gatepost”, “Postey”, or “Packthread”. He mistreats her by hitting her and chasing her around the yard. When he was old enough to join the army at the war starts and he joins the Flying Corps. He begs his aunt for an allowance and she gives it to him. He asks her for a new cardigan before he left for training. Every time he came home for a visit, he would be really mean to Mary Postgate and made her to memorize a chart of the different airplanes that are in the war and when he would test her on that, she failed every time. He would call Mary Postgate even meaner names and descriptions of her. He was in the service for a short time then he got killed in a trial flight.
Mary Postgate and Miss Fowler gets the news that Wynn is dead and they don’t mourn for him. Miss Fowler doesn’t go to the funeral, but sends Mary in her place. Mary is angry at Wynn because he had mistreated her all those years but she is relieved that his punishment is death. The women decide to burn his things but only keep his army outfit. When Mary goes out to put his things in the incinerator, she finds a French injured man lying on the ground. He tells her that he is hurt and he needs a doctor. She refuses because she somehow believes maybe the man may have killed Wynn. She goes back to the incinerator and ignores the man who keeps calling her to get a doctor. She realizes that she is glad that Wynn is dead and it is her way of “mourning” is to burn his stuff, because the fire she used to burn his stuff represents her anger. She keeps the fire going because she still is mad at him until the last piece of his stuff is burned out.
By Katherine Kimbrough
The author describes Mary Postgate as the main character in the story and she is thoroughly conscientious, tidy, companionable and ladylike. She is 44 years old, and has worked for Miss Fowler for eleven years. Miss Fowler is her boss and a supporting character in the story. She is 60 years old, and she takes in her orphaned nephew Wyndham Fowler when he was eleven years old. She spoils Wynn because she never had kids.
Wyndham Fowler always liked to insult Mary Postgate with rude nicknames like “Gatepost”, “Postey”, or “Packthread”. He mistreats her by hitting her and chasing her around the yard. When he was old enough to join the army at the war starts and he joins the Flying Corps. He begs his aunt for an allowance and she gives it to him. He asks her for a new cardigan before he left for training. Every time he came home for a visit, he would be really mean to Mary Postgate and made her to memorize a chart of the different airplanes that are in the war and when he would test her on that, she failed every time. He would call Mary Postgate even meaner names and descriptions of her. He was in the service for a short time then he got killed in a trial flight.
Mary Postgate and Miss Fowler gets the news that Wynn is dead and they don’t mourn for him. Miss Fowler doesn’t go to the funeral, but sends Mary in her place. Mary is angry at Wynn because he had mistreated her all those years but she is relieved that his punishment is death. The women decide to burn his things but only keep his army outfit. When Mary goes out to put his things in the incinerator, she finds a French injured man lying on the ground. He tells her that he is hurt and he needs a doctor. She refuses because she somehow believes maybe the man may have killed Wynn. She goes back to the incinerator and ignores the man who keeps calling her to get a doctor. She realizes that she is glad that Wynn is dead and it is her way of “mourning” is to burn his stuff, because the fire she used to burn his stuff represents her anger. She keeps the fire going because she still is mad at him until the last piece of his stuff is burned out.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Smokers
Analysis of Smokers written by Tobias Wolff
The narrator is an unnamed boy who is probably in his teens going to a boarding school for the first time. He is one of the main characters in the story Smokers. He becomes friends with Talbot Nevins but he doesn’t like Eugene too much. As the story unfolds, the narrator is learning more about both boys’ personalities but he likes Talbot because he perceives that Talbot is much cooler than Eugene is. Talbot apparently is from a rich family who had donated a lot of money to foundations and his father is a famous race car driver. Eugene and Talbot are roommates but have clashing personalities. Eugene wants to hang out with the narrator but the narrator thinks Eugene is uncool; he would rather to be seen with Talbot than with Eugene. Talbot and Eugene smoke, but the narrator doesn’t, but he decides to go along with them because he wants to be cool and he knows it is risky because he doesn’t want to be caught by Big John. Talbot likes to hunt, and he is a better tennis player than the narrator. They both aren’t very good basketball players, but Talbot is a terrible writer, but the narrator is really good. Talbot tricks the narrator into doing his essay homework for him. The narrator has written for the school paper, which I think that is why Talbot decided to manipulate the narrator into doing the homework for him. Eugene has a completely different sense of style than the other boys, because they were wearing the school uniform but Eugene wore clothes that weren’t allowed at school. He liked to wear belted jackets, white buck shoes, and tab collars, and he disregarded the school rules like not following the dress codes, smoking where he shouldn’t be smoking. When he got caught by Big John, he realized that being kicked out of a prep school was a big deal and he would be picked on by the other kids. Envy is a big theme in the story, because the narrator wants to pretend to be well off like Talbot is, and he wants to pretend that he didn’t grow up with the poor or middle class background that he was raised in. I think he is somewhat envious of Eugene too, because he was willing to take a risk of getting in trouble with the school.
The narrator is an unnamed boy who is probably in his teens going to a boarding school for the first time. He is one of the main characters in the story Smokers. He becomes friends with Talbot Nevins but he doesn’t like Eugene too much. As the story unfolds, the narrator is learning more about both boys’ personalities but he likes Talbot because he perceives that Talbot is much cooler than Eugene is. Talbot apparently is from a rich family who had donated a lot of money to foundations and his father is a famous race car driver. Eugene and Talbot are roommates but have clashing personalities. Eugene wants to hang out with the narrator but the narrator thinks Eugene is uncool; he would rather to be seen with Talbot than with Eugene. Talbot and Eugene smoke, but the narrator doesn’t, but he decides to go along with them because he wants to be cool and he knows it is risky because he doesn’t want to be caught by Big John. Talbot likes to hunt, and he is a better tennis player than the narrator. They both aren’t very good basketball players, but Talbot is a terrible writer, but the narrator is really good. Talbot tricks the narrator into doing his essay homework for him. The narrator has written for the school paper, which I think that is why Talbot decided to manipulate the narrator into doing the homework for him. Eugene has a completely different sense of style than the other boys, because they were wearing the school uniform but Eugene wore clothes that weren’t allowed at school. He liked to wear belted jackets, white buck shoes, and tab collars, and he disregarded the school rules like not following the dress codes, smoking where he shouldn’t be smoking. When he got caught by Big John, he realized that being kicked out of a prep school was a big deal and he would be picked on by the other kids. Envy is a big theme in the story, because the narrator wants to pretend to be well off like Talbot is, and he wants to pretend that he didn’t grow up with the poor or middle class background that he was raised in. I think he is somewhat envious of Eugene too, because he was willing to take a risk of getting in trouble with the school.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Roman Fever analysis
There are two main characters in the story Roman Fever. They are middle aged American women vacationing in Italy with their daughters. Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley are the weird characters in the story. They first talk about their daughters and then somehow the conversation turns to a memory that happened in Italy years ago. They talk about they both loved the same man, and talks of what they did in Rome with the man. They say something about a moonlight meeting at someplace in Rome, but they weren’t supposed to be out at night because people were afraid of catching the Roman fever. They live at an apartment as neighbors and Mrs. Slade was always jealous of Mrs. Ansley because of her husband. Mrs. Slade did something to Mrs. Ansley through her friends, but Mrs. Ansley never noticed what was going on. After that, their husbands died within months of each other. Mrs. Slade’s husband was a famous corporation lawyer and he always had something interesting going on with his clients and that kept her busy. Now Mrs. Slade is bored because all the excitement and social activity has stopped and her daughter takes care of her. Mrs. Slade considers Jenny an accident but I think it means an unplanned pregnancy. Mrs. Slade has always envied Mrs. Ansley about her daughter because Jenny is beautiful but not smart, while Barbara was both beautiful and smart. Mrs. Slade starts talking about meeting a man at the Coliseum because of a letter. Mrs. Slade confesses that she had written the letter to Mrs. Ansley that was supposed to be from Delphin Slade. Mrs. Slade starts taunting Mrs. Ansley by quoting the letter and Mrs. Ansley said that she had burned the letter. Mrs. Ansley was in love with Mrs. Slade’s husband that time and Mrs. Slade knew about it and was jealous of them so she wrote the letter. She saw Mrs. Ansley as a threat to their courtship. Mrs. Ansley confessed that Delphin did meet her at the Coliseum because she had written him a letter in response. Mrs. Slade mocks Mrs. Ansley because the only thing that she has from Delphin is the letter. Mrs. Ansley ends up confessing that Barbara’s father is Delphin. I think that both ladies were in love with the same man but they were friends. They let that problem come between their friendships, so every time they are together it is awkward.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Good Country People
Good Country People Analysis
The main character is a young woman named Joy. She lives with her mother who babies her constantly because she has an artificial leg. She lost the leg in a hunting accident when she was ten years old. She calls herself Hulga because she dislikes the name Joy, but her mother thinks that is a name for a ship. Joy liked the name Hulga because it sounded ugly and she is happy that her mama doesn’t accept the name so she can really pretend that her name is Hulga. Mrs. Freeman is the house helper, and she calls Joy by the new name. Joy doesn’t like it because she considered it her private name. One day she realizes why Mrs. Freeman calls her that is because she is fascinated by Joy/Hulga’s artificial leg. It is because Mrs. Freeman likes incurable diseases or chronic ones. Joy has a Ph.D. in philosophy. Joy meets a Bible salesman who has a weird sense of humor. He notices that there is no Bible in the parlor and asks why it is not there. Joy’s mother lies and says it is on her nightstand. The real reason it is not there is because Joy is an atheist. She agrees to meet the salesman that night and lies about her age. He gets curious about where her fake leg joins on the real leg. He tricks her to go in a barn and he tells her that he loves her but she refuses to tell that she loves him. Then he asks her where the leg joins on to the fake one. She finally tells him that it is joined at the knee. He knows she is different than everybody else that he has met and asks how she takes the leg on and off, and then he tries it. He refuses to put the leg back on and he stole her leg. He confesses he steals things that make people different like a fake glass eye, a leg, etc. He tells her his name isn’t Pointer and uses a different name at each house that he visits and stays a short time. Joy is stuck at the barn but her mother doesn’t know that. Joy is proud to be different than the people in her community because she is disabled, has a degree but I think the theft of her leg has reduced her to realizing she isn’t so different than good country people.
The main character is a young woman named Joy. She lives with her mother who babies her constantly because she has an artificial leg. She lost the leg in a hunting accident when she was ten years old. She calls herself Hulga because she dislikes the name Joy, but her mother thinks that is a name for a ship. Joy liked the name Hulga because it sounded ugly and she is happy that her mama doesn’t accept the name so she can really pretend that her name is Hulga. Mrs. Freeman is the house helper, and she calls Joy by the new name. Joy doesn’t like it because she considered it her private name. One day she realizes why Mrs. Freeman calls her that is because she is fascinated by Joy/Hulga’s artificial leg. It is because Mrs. Freeman likes incurable diseases or chronic ones. Joy has a Ph.D. in philosophy. Joy meets a Bible salesman who has a weird sense of humor. He notices that there is no Bible in the parlor and asks why it is not there. Joy’s mother lies and says it is on her nightstand. The real reason it is not there is because Joy is an atheist. She agrees to meet the salesman that night and lies about her age. He gets curious about where her fake leg joins on the real leg. He tricks her to go in a barn and he tells her that he loves her but she refuses to tell that she loves him. Then he asks her where the leg joins on to the fake one. She finally tells him that it is joined at the knee. He knows she is different than everybody else that he has met and asks how she takes the leg on and off, and then he tries it. He refuses to put the leg back on and he stole her leg. He confesses he steals things that make people different like a fake glass eye, a leg, etc. He tells her his name isn’t Pointer and uses a different name at each house that he visits and stays a short time. Joy is stuck at the barn but her mother doesn’t know that. Joy is proud to be different than the people in her community because she is disabled, has a degree but I think the theft of her leg has reduced her to realizing she isn’t so different than good country people.
A Rose for Emily Questions
1. What metaphor is used to describe Miss Emily in the first paragraph?
She is a fallen monument.
2. How is the house personified in the second paragraph?
It is described like a stubborn and flirty but an old falling apart house.
3. What had Colonel Sartoris done for Miss Emily in 1894?
He pardoned Miss Emily's taxes.
4. What did the next generation of town leaders do on the first of the year?
They mailed her a tax notice, but she didn't reply.
5. How does Faulkner describe Miss Emily in the sixth paragraph?
She is a small, fat woman in black clothes with a thin chain descending to her waist and vanishing in her belt. Her sleleton is small and spare. She looked bloated with pale skin.
6. At the beginning of Part 2, how long had Miss Emily's father been dead?
Two years
7. What are the neighbors complaining about? What does Judge Stevens say probably has caused it? There was an awful smell at Miss Emily's house. Judge Stevens thinks that the black man must have killed a rat or a snake.
8. What did Miss Emily tell visitors the day after her father's death?
Miss Emily told the ladies that her father is not dead.
9. Why did the townspeople not think she was crazy for this?
They thought she had to do that because she couldn't accept that her father is dead.
10. Who began to date Miss Emily in Part 3? Why was he in town?
She began to date Homer Barron. He was a foreman overseeing the construction of sidewalks in the town.
11. What did the townspeople think of Miss Emily and her new boyfriend?
At first, they were happy for her. Then they thought she must have forgotten her social status as a rich woman.
12. Miss Emily is 30 at the time and holds her head up in spite of the rumors she must be aware of. How does she show she has kept her dignity (thinking she is better than the other townspeople) when she visits the druggist?
She doesn't tell the druggist the reason why she wants the rat poison.
13. In Part 4 who does some of the ladies go to see about Miss Emily's situation? Why?
They forced the Baptist preacher to talk to her because she was setting a bad example for the young people and a disgrace to the town.
14. What does Miss Emily do that makes the townspeople think she and her boyfriend have gotten married?
She had bought him a toilet set with his initials and some clothes.
15. Why does the townspeople believe her boyfriend/husband has left?
Because the cousins have left the house.
16. When was the last time the townspeople saw the boyfriend/husband? When the black man let him in at Miss Emily's house.
17. Why had the men sprinkled the lime around her house in Part 2?
To help get rid of the awful smell coming from Miss Emily's house?
18. When Miss Emily was about forty, what had she done to earn money?
She taught china painting lessons.
19. In Part 5, who returns to hold Miss Emily's funeral?
The two female cousins held the funeral for Miss Emily.
20. There was a room upstairs that no one has seen for forty years. After Miss Emily's funeral, the door to it is broken down. What does the townspeople find there?
A man's body.
21. What is noticed about the second pillow on the bed in the last paragraph?
There was a strand of gray hair.
22. What had happened to Homer Barron?
Miss Emily killed Homer Barron with the rat poison.
She is a fallen monument.
2. How is the house personified in the second paragraph?
It is described like a stubborn and flirty but an old falling apart house.
3. What had Colonel Sartoris done for Miss Emily in 1894?
He pardoned Miss Emily's taxes.
4. What did the next generation of town leaders do on the first of the year?
They mailed her a tax notice, but she didn't reply.
5. How does Faulkner describe Miss Emily in the sixth paragraph?
She is a small, fat woman in black clothes with a thin chain descending to her waist and vanishing in her belt. Her sleleton is small and spare. She looked bloated with pale skin.
6. At the beginning of Part 2, how long had Miss Emily's father been dead?
Two years
7. What are the neighbors complaining about? What does Judge Stevens say probably has caused it? There was an awful smell at Miss Emily's house. Judge Stevens thinks that the black man must have killed a rat or a snake.
8. What did Miss Emily tell visitors the day after her father's death?
Miss Emily told the ladies that her father is not dead.
9. Why did the townspeople not think she was crazy for this?
They thought she had to do that because she couldn't accept that her father is dead.
10. Who began to date Miss Emily in Part 3? Why was he in town?
She began to date Homer Barron. He was a foreman overseeing the construction of sidewalks in the town.
11. What did the townspeople think of Miss Emily and her new boyfriend?
At first, they were happy for her. Then they thought she must have forgotten her social status as a rich woman.
12. Miss Emily is 30 at the time and holds her head up in spite of the rumors she must be aware of. How does she show she has kept her dignity (thinking she is better than the other townspeople) when she visits the druggist?
She doesn't tell the druggist the reason why she wants the rat poison.
13. In Part 4 who does some of the ladies go to see about Miss Emily's situation? Why?
They forced the Baptist preacher to talk to her because she was setting a bad example for the young people and a disgrace to the town.
14. What does Miss Emily do that makes the townspeople think she and her boyfriend have gotten married?
She had bought him a toilet set with his initials and some clothes.
15. Why does the townspeople believe her boyfriend/husband has left?
Because the cousins have left the house.
16. When was the last time the townspeople saw the boyfriend/husband? When the black man let him in at Miss Emily's house.
17. Why had the men sprinkled the lime around her house in Part 2?
To help get rid of the awful smell coming from Miss Emily's house?
18. When Miss Emily was about forty, what had she done to earn money?
She taught china painting lessons.
19. In Part 5, who returns to hold Miss Emily's funeral?
The two female cousins held the funeral for Miss Emily.
20. There was a room upstairs that no one has seen for forty years. After Miss Emily's funeral, the door to it is broken down. What does the townspeople find there?
A man's body.
21. What is noticed about the second pillow on the bed in the last paragraph?
There was a strand of gray hair.
22. What had happened to Homer Barron?
Miss Emily killed Homer Barron with the rat poison.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Miss Emily
I think Miss Emily is a weird lady with strange ideas and actions throughout the story. When I read the story I kept thinking " where is the rose? How does that title fit the story?" I think the author should have given a better title related to the story that would make it more sense.
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