"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.