"Keep on Swimming Swimming"

Throughout my childhood I participated in triathlons hosted by the Mansfield Community Center.  Like all triathlons, this one contained a swimming portion.  This was the first section of the competition.  Another kid, Bryce, was very talented at swimming and I knew he would be my most threatening competitor if I wanted to win the entire triathlon.  The race was four lengths of the pool and I was extremely nervous.  When the gun went off Bryce jumped out into the lead immediately, I was not far behind.  The first length was down and Bryce only opened up the gap between us a smidge.  Unfortunately for me, not being in the greatest swimming shape, I cramped and Bryce left me in the dust.  He beat me by a tremendous amount of time (at least ten seconds) and I knew I had to blow away the entire field of competitors of I wanted to win.  Fortunately I placed first in the one mile run and bike ride. 

During the award ceremony I was still a little unsure whether or not I had secure my first place position.  Everybody receives a bronze participation medal except for the top 3 athletes.  After the last participation medal was handed out only Jonas, one of my friends, Bryce, and I didn’t have one.  Bryce and I knew that Jonas was receiving the third place medal so we waited to find out who would be crowned the champion.

 “In second place!” the announcer shouted, “Jared Taintor!”  I was furious.  I quickly stood up, claimed my prize and medal, and sat back down. 

Soon after that I learned that I only lost to Bryce by less than a few points and I would have won if I didn't cramp during the swimming.  The swimming aspect of the triathlon destroyed my dreams (only for that day though) of claiming a first place medal.

In The Light

I think it is very strange that the older waiter ends up going to a bar. Towards the end of the story he tells the younger waiter, “‘you do not understand. This is a clean and pleasant café.  It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves.’”(344).  In the end the older waiter goes home and falls asleep when the sun is starting to rise. I don’t think he has an epiphany because he doesn’t realize anything new.  It seems as though he goes through the same cycle every night when he says, “After all, he said to himself, it is probably only insomnia.”(345).  This does not seem sudden to him and earlier in the story he was telling the younger waiter he would rather stay open late than close early and get home at a sooner time.  The older waiter can relate to the old man but he knew that they were similar throughout the story or else he would not try to defend him against the young waiter’s rude remarks.  This also is not an epiphany for the older waiter because he could relate to the old man since the beginning of the story and it was not a sudden realization that he and the old man live similar lives.

Steller- "Baby please don't go"

            I chose the background for my cover photo as the road going off into the sunset because it really represents the theme of running away.  It is a road leading away from where somebody just came from and it is going off into the unknown.  The quote I used for “Paul’s Case” is really the first time where the fact that he is running away from home is obvious.  The picture of the boy following the quote on the next slide represents Paul alone, running away, and miserable.  The black and white and the position the boy is sitting in shows those three things.  For “The Chrysanthemums” I used a quote that symbolizes Elisa’s craving for adventure and a new life.  She is tempted to run away but in the end she does not run away from her life, the valley, or her husband.  The picture of the valley with the sun setting over the mountains perfectly represents the quote from the story.  Elisa mentions it looking bright in the distance and so the sun setting over the mountain is the brightness in the distance disappearing.  For “Barn Burning” the last sentence of the entire short story is about running away.  It clearly describes the boy running away and not looking back.  I chose the picture of the dark trees because it says he went into the dark forest and never looked back.  It shows the gloominess of running away and how the boy feels.

"Run Forest! Run!"

In "Paul's Case", Paul is trying to run from his depression.  He is getting in trouble in school, live in a gross home, and is not enjoying any of it.  Paul acts happy while he is being ridiculed by his teachers but on the inside he is really hurting.  Running away to New York was his was to "escape" his sadness but he nobody can run away from depression.  The author is trying to examine the effects of running away but clearly it does not help Paul because in the end he commits suicide.  Running away from home will not fix any problems and that is clearly shown through the end result in "Paul's Case".

In “The Chrysanthemums”, Elisa never runs away.  She contemplates it though when the traveling man shows up at her house.  He tells her that traveling as much as he does is “a scary life” (357) for a woman.  Also the man says to Elisa, “’It would be a lonely life for a woman.” (357).  These statements irritated her and if she tried to run away it would have been a type of rebellion. It would be against stereotypes and sexism towards women.  Elisa never ran away or tried to change the man’s thoughts of women so she wasn't successful. 

Behind Bars

The act of rebellion in "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is when the narrator starts tearing the wallpaper off of the walls at the end. I think this is the act of rebellion because throughout the entire story she says she sees a woman trapped inside of the wallpaper and is trying to get out. I think this lady who is stuck represents the narrator and how she is trapped by John and Jennie inside this house and inside of a strict daily routine which is making her unhappy. By tearing down the wallpaper it is shows that she is breaking down restrictions John and Jennie have set for her for the last three months. A quote from the narrator in the last few lines of the book supports all of my reasons on page 198, "'I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!'"

"What will yo' mama say?"

"He scraped the mud off Bibi's bare legs and feet with a stick and carefully removed all traces from his heavy brogans. Then, prepared for the worst--the meeting with an over-scrupulous housewife, they entered cautiously at the back door." (145).

These few lines from "The Storm" written by Kate Chopin represent a large change in the attitudes and respect towards housewives from "The Revolt of 'Mother'" and this story.  The men are nervous about returning home dirty to the housewife because they assume she will be mad. In "The Revolt of 'Mother'" the husband shows no respect or any signs of nervousness when his wife sees a barn being built instead of a new house.  The change in roles of women is remarkable and is showing the progress women were starting to make at the time to becoming more equal and having more respect.

The Real Thing

The narrator changes drastically throughout the story. He starts off thinking the Monarchs are going to pay him but soon learns they are there to be models. He becomes acquaintances with them and changes into a person who wants to help them. The final line is saying that the memory is better than being paid and that all of the work was worth the price.

Hawthorn's Comments on Poe's story "The Black Cat"

Dear Edgar Allan Poe,

I really like how the Black Cat is such a large symbol in your short story.  It causes transformation in the narrator in a negative way.  It highlights human flaws and shows how the human race will inflict damage on each other without reason.  Also, the cats name is Pluto which is genious!  The god of death is following the narrator around all day which eventually leads to his death.  The cat can represent so much more than these two examples listed but these are the most prevalent out of all of them.  Your story and my short story "The Birthmark" have some similarities between them.  One was mentioned above about how humans transform and have many, many flaws.  The narrator in your story transforms and shows his flaws because of the cat and Alymer (character in my story) transforms and shows his flaws because of the birthmark on his wife's face.  The second is shown through the wives in our stories because they only try to please their husbands and in the end they end up dead.

Sincerely,

Nathaniel Hawthorn

What is American Literature?

I think that American literature is any novel, short story, poem, or essay written by a well-known American author. When I think of literature I think of pieces of writing that can be analyzed and taught in classrooms. I don't think of essays I have written or what my peers have written in English class because they aren't masterpieces. The poems and novels read and analyzed in classrooms have been revised and rewritten so there are no flaws and that is why they are being taught in school. Pieces of American literature utilize all writing techniques and literary devices in the correct way. I have never read a short story or novel in English class or outside of class that has incorrectly used literary devices. The literature students read is supposed to teach us new styles of writing and new and correct ways to use symbolism or the power of repetition. Since the literature is flawless it becomes well-known and that is why I think that American literature is a novel, poem, short story, or essay that is written by a well-known American author.