A Good Man Is Hard to Find

After finishing Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"I was not surprised by the ending. In the beginning, I noticed some foreshadowing of what happened at the end when the grandmother was worrying about The Misfit in the car. Also, when O'Connor wrote the passage about how the grandmother was dressed and if people would know that she was a lady if she had been laying on the side of the road, that was foreshadowing. As a result of that, I predicted what would happen at the end of the story.

I would say that the title of this story means that no one is fully "good" inside. The murderer seems nice at first, but is really just manipulating and tricking the family. Then he turns out to be bad and kills them. However, I don't know why it says "man" specifically, because women are the same way. To me, it's like this for everyone, since no one is completely perfect.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

I just read "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, and can say that this story was very well written, but cannot say that I enjoyed reading it. The subject matter was disturbing to me, and I was actually a bit freaked out by Arnold Friend's character. Looking past the creepiness of most of the story, I noticed that in the beginning, the author was trying to create a certain personality for Connie, which was pretty much a self-centered brat. This was interesting considering how the story continues once she is left alone in her house one morning. You would think that the author would want to connect the reader to Connie in the introduction by writing about Connie doing things or feeling things that most people can relate to, but she basically just turned the reader in the opposite direction of liking or connecting with Connie (at least for me). However, having said that, I did end up feeling horrible for her by the end of the story. This piece made me realize that no matter who the person is, good or bad, nothing this severe and horrifying should ever happen to them. 

Below is an image that I think captures the mood of the story. The woman's face looks like she's trying to be brave, but holding back fear and/or dread, which is how I perceived Connie's character.

http://www.psypost.org/2012/03/smiling-through-the-tears-study-shows-how-tearjerkers-make-people-happier-10740#prettyPhoto/0/

A & P

I really liked John Updike's style of writing in his short story "A & P". It was entertaining, and I could relate to some things that the characters said and their tones. Also, at the beginning of the story, I definitely thought that Sammy would be more interested in the girl that he was describing with the bright green swimsuit that was a "chunky kid, with a good tan". The names that Sammy (the narrator) used to reference the three girls were Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony-Goony, which seemed to fit them well.  

My favorite passage from this piece is the following:

'"That's all right," Lengel said. "But this isn't the beach." His repeating this stuck me as funny, as if it had just occurred to him, and he had been thinking all these years the A & P was a great big sand dune and he was the head lifeguard. He didn't like my smiling- as I say he doesn't miss much- but he concentrates on giving the girls that sad Sunday-school-superintendent stare.'

I liked this passage a lot for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that it brought out some character in Sammy and showed us some of his attitude and sense of humor. The second reason that I liked this passage is because you see a great example of alliteration in "sad Sunday-school-superintendant stare", which is just a snippet of all of the great poetic devices that Updike uses. This passage is important to the story because it shows how Sammy thinks and could be perceived as a preview of him quitting the job, since he was (in a way) mocking his boss.

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Gabriel García Márquez's story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" had some interesting ideas, however I did not really enjoy it that much. It was a bit too fake and far-fetched for my taste, but putting that aside, the author did have some really creative ideas integrated into his story. I noticed a religious motif as Father Gonzaga and a bishop were often mentioned. When I first started reading I thought that it was all going to turn out to be a dream or something, I mean the author did say something about it being a "nightmare".

Three questions that I have about this reading are:
1. Where are the authors ideas about what angels are supposedly like coming from?
2. Why did characters in this story continue thinking that this man is an angel when he is so confused about everything going on around him?
3. Did Elisenda really want the man to leave in the end? When he did, I noticed that she kept watching him until he disappeared, which gives a sense of longing for him to come back.

Half a Day

In Naguib Mahfouz's piece, the beginning starts off with the narrator as a young child starting his first day of school, but ends with the narrator as an old man looking around and seeing how his hometown has changed. I thought that the idea of this flashback to the memory of childhood was a very interesting thing to write about and it made me think about the meaning of the story even more than I normally would. Also, the end was a bit open, so I got to take some guesses about why the elderly man had this experience and what it meant to him.  

"How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)"

Junot Diaz's piece "How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)" is about how to act when you are on a date with a girl that you have just asked out, whether she is black, white, or a halfie. While reading this story, I mostly noticed the humor and tactics/advice that I agreed or disagreed with.

One quote from Diaz that I thought was just hilarious was when he said, "She'll say, I like Spanish guys, and even though you've never been to Spain, say, I like you. You'll sound smooth." There were a lot of other lines like this throughout this piece, which I enjoyed and found entertaining. These are entertaining because of the tone of voice he writes with, but not because of the racism involved. He makes some racial references regarding his treatment from certain people and how to treat others of various races. He advised the reader on what to do and what not to do on a date like this. 

I agreed with him on some things and disagreed with him on others, but this would be my advice:

There are four simple rules.

First off, never even think about taking her on a movie date to a "guy" movie, (and you know what I mean), unless you know for a fact that she likes those kind of things beforehand. 

Secondly, you shall not, under ANY circumstances, speak to her while you have food in your mouth, no matter where it is located. I don't care if it's hidden under your tongue, tucked in between your teeth and the side of your cheek, or stuck to the roof of your mouth: if your date sees even the tiniest bit of that stuff, you're done for. 

Third of all, be a gentleman by doing nice things like opening doors for her and carrying her popcorn to the theater. Maybe even buy her the popcorn if you are feeling exceptionally chivalrous.  

Last but certainly not least, do not let her fall asleep the night of the date without receiving a nice text from you saying how much fun you had and thanking her for coming. 

"Happy Endings"

In Margaret Atwood's story "Happy Endings", the author just begins by saying that a man and a woman meet. The next thing she does is very interesting, because unlike most authors, she doesn't only continue the story one way she imagines, she writes six different endings. I don't really like the first ending as much as the others, because it is very general and seems a bit cliche to me.

The next five endings have more variety and an actual plot to accompany the outcome. My favorite of all of Atwood's endings would probably be C, in which John falls in love with Mary, but she is younger than him, is involved with someone else, and he also has a wife and children. All of those things could stop someone from "going for" that person, but John doesn't care, and I love that. But suddenly, John sees Mary and her partner together, gets jealous (or maybe just plain old sad), and then shoots them both and himself. I was disappointed in this ending at first, but then I thought about it more and realized that these killings were possibly acts of love and mercy. I have to admit, I am kind of a hopeless romantic, so when a person sacrifices himself for someone he loves, I am automatically going to enjoy that story. And yes, I know that some people might think of these killings as murder and think that I'm crazy for thinking that they aren't, but everyone is going to see these endings differently, which is part of what makes reading stories so fun.

If I were to write my own additional ending to this story, it would go something like this:

G.

They were both sitting at the bar in Bear Tavern one Wednesday night, drinking alone. The bartender was going back and forth to each of them and constantly refilling their glasses. Mary was on her fifth margarita, and John was on his eighth shot of tequila. She glanced over at him, as they were the only two people there. He caught her glance and winked. She rolled her eyes, laughed to herself, set down her drink, and got up to leave. Before she could take her coat off the back of her chair, John rushed over, very sweetly got her coat, and offered to help her put it on. Mary, being both drunk and stubborn, refused his offer and left the bar, completely forgetting about the coat. He ran out to give it to her, and found Mary sitting on the curb with her head buried in her arms. He sat down next to her and asked what was wrong, but she just sat there silently. Not knowing exactly what to do, John hailed a cab and got in the backseat with Mary, still holding her coat. When the taxi driver asked John where he wanted to go, he gave him the address of his small, stuffy apartment.
Once they were both seated in John's living room, things started to get awkward when neither of them spoke. John knew Mary wouldn't start the conversation, so he did. It worked. After the ice was broken, they talked and shared personal stories, including why Mary was so upset earlier. This heart-to-heart lasted all night. In the morning, when they had finished talking, things were awkward again because Mary didn't want to leave John, and John didn't want Mary to leave him.

If you noticed the same pattern that I did in the very end of previous stories, you can probably guess what happens next. Everything continues as in A.