Coming Home again

            The story Coming Home Again by Chang-rae Lee is about a Korean family that burdens a mother who is dying of stomach cancer. The story’s protagonist is a young man who reflects and analyzes his relationship with his mother. As a boy the main character is fascinated by his mothers cooking. His mothers cooking represents the eternal bond of the mother child relationship. This is very powerful because of how real it is. I know from my own experience growing up, as a kid who was very fortunate when it came to eating home cooked food that home cooked food isn’t like giving someone a gift or doing work for them. A cooked meal is nourishment and somewhat personal.

            For the protagonist in the story his mothers cooking is special because it’s what makes her his mother. He also really appreciates a home cooked meal after going to boarding school. I can definitely relate to this because I went from living on campus to living at home and both settings have their perks. When I was at school I was around my piers all the time but I didn't have the luxury of cooked food. Now that I commute I am around my piers when I choose to be and I have the luxury of home cooked food. I can’t make a decision about which is better; they both have their strengths. If I was the main character I probably would have reacted the same way when asked If there was any regret when leaving for school.

“The meat needs the bone nearby,” she said, “to borrow its richness.”

I chose this quote because I think it tells the metaphor for the story. I think that in the story the meat is the mother and the bone is her child. After her child went away to boarding school there was a big sense of loss. This is represented in the story by how distant they tell us the mother is. I wonder if the cancer developed in her stomach because she could no longer borrow the richness, or energy from her son. I don't think this is too far of a stretch because in the story they tell us that these two people were kind of destined for each other.  Not to mention the cancer hit her right in the stomach.

Edison, New Jersey

            The story Edison New Jersey fits the contemporary realism genre perfectly. This story is about an average man who delivers pool and card tables to peoples homes. He works with a man named Wayne, and together they go to people’s homes and assemble pool tables. At times when a customer is unfair or doesn't tip, they take a walk around the house and try and find little things to steal. Most of the time it is something like a cookie or bathroom supplies. The main character is a thief yet he is still a likeable character. Since we see the story from his perspective we learn why he steals and what he does with the money.

            He steals from the store he works at by pocketing the money that he gets when the customers purchase something. A lot of times he stole this money to pay for useless stuff for his ex-girlfriend. Somehow it would take the main character two and a half years to buy his own pool table if he saved; yet he still spent all of his money on his ex-girlfriend. This tells us that although the main character doesn't have a lot of money he enjoys spending the money to make him feel like the people who he works for.

            This story has an interesting perspective for precisely this reason. It shines light on how people who can’t afford to live a luxurious life have to abide to those that do. Also it shows what it is like watching the ultra rich live this life. How do people give value to themselves in a scenario like this?

“Most people don't realize how sophisticated pool tables are. Yes, tables have bolts and staples on the rails but these suckers hold mostly together by gravity and by precision of their construction. If you treat a good table right it will outlast you. Believe me. Cathedrals are built like that. There are Incan roads that even today you couldn't work a knife between the cobblestones. The sewers that the Romans built were so good that they weren’t replaced till the 1950’s. That’s the sort of thing that I can believe in.”

This passage has a lot of meaning because it shows how a person who has the simple job of putting pool tables together gives value to his life. He thinks that he his job has a lot of meaning because of well he does it. For him its not just building a pool table, it's a masterpiece. This could even be the same for someone who works at a subway. They can create the perfect sandwich and feel accomplished just because of how well it’s constructed.

The cariboo cafe

            I see the story The Cariboo Café as a story that has a very deep meaning, and at times can be confusing. What is confusing about this story is the jumps the story makes from paragraph to paragraph and also from section to section. The first section is about the struggle that these two kids have. A reoccurring item in the first section of the story is when the boy keeps saying coke. I think it’s hilarious that the only word in the English language this kid can say is coke. It’s very simple, yet special in a certain way.

            After learning about these two kids the story changes direction and we learn about the man who owns the café. There is a part of this section when the man describes the shop and he calls it the double zero café. I think that this has a connection to the very end of the story when he says that he will never let go of his son. My best interpretation of this is that zero is an important number, and calling the café the double zero café gives an equal sense of importance that both him and his son have.

            Aside from his son we also learn that the main character has an ex-wife who’s name is Nell. It almost seems that the main character is paralyzed without her. He can’t call the police with confidence because she was the one that always pressured him to do that. We don't know much about Nell other than what she did for the main character. I wonder what she was like. I feel like if I knew more about Nell then I wouldn't think that the main character was so superficial. He calls one of the kids that comes into his café a sweetheart without really knowing the kid at all.

There were a few great analogies in this story. I thought that between the three or four analogies I got a good sense for the message of the story.

“I think about moths and their stupidity. Always attracted by the light, they fly into fires, or singe their wings with the heat of the single bulb and fall on his desk writhing in pain.”

I like this quote because of what it means. It is a paradox. Moths are stupid because they fly into places with light that ends up hurting them, but they are doing what they want. A moth wants to get as close to the light as possible for warmth. It is sort of a smart, stupid way for the moth to get what it wants.

Hisaye Yamamoto Photo

Seventeen Syllables

            The short story Seventeen Syllables is told through the eyes of Rosie. Rosie is apathetic when it comes to studying her Japanese, and she doesn't have clean-cut perspective of her parents. At the end of the story we learn that her mother, Tome Hayashi is in an arranged marriage to Rosie’s father. Rosie’s aunt arranged this marriage because Tome had an illegitimate child with a young man in her village. After birthing the child Tome was neglected by her family and threatened to kill herself unless she could move to the states.

            The background of Tome is important because it connects to the bigger picture of why this family is normal on the outside, but has a lot of internal conflict. Not any different from other families with secrets, the secret eventually arises and changes a characters perspective on their family and life in general. For this story the secret comes out when Rosie’s Dad destroys a picture that is a prize won by Tome for her haiku. In the beginning of the story we learn that Tome becomes two people. The first person is the person she has always been and has the duties of a mother. The second person is Ume Hanazono. Ume is a bitter person who doesn't like to respond to her family and spends her time at night writing Haiku’s.

            All of this is valuable information when learning about Rosie. Rosie starts off not really caring about Japanese or Haikus. When she learns this it seems that Rosie doesn't really care about her culture or her ancestors. Then she decides to care when she realizes that she has a brother who is in Japan.

All of that aside, there are parts of this story that need to be analyzed. One of the most important parts of this text is when Rosie thinks that she is more shocked by the request of her mother than the revelation. This is important because Rosie has such a concrete depiction of her mother that she doesn't believe she would make such a request to tell her to not marry. The secret seems less important because of how obtuse the request is. This relates to a pretty much everyone. This relates to people that know their parents and people that don't know their parents. By the time that most people have kids they have already grown up, made important life decisions, and created a network of people that they know. A lot of times parent’s kids don't even know who their parent were before they were born. Also this story is a great example of how we are not defined by a past secret, what really matters are who that person is on a day to day basis.

Vocabulary from the story:

Garrulous – Rambling in a roundabout manner

Rambunctiously- difficult to control

Haiku – Poem of seventeen syllables

Dead mens path

"This path was here before you were born and before your father was born. The whole life of this village depends on it. Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it is the path of children coming in to be born."

            This story raises the argument of church and education. In the story the fight is between a school and a village. The village in the story represents the church because of the spiritual beliefs that are held. Unfortunately for the characters in the story both sides lose. At the end of the story the path is still closed off and the headmaster of the school gets a bad report. However, does this mean that children in schools cant have a spiritual belief as well as a hunger for knowledge?

            No. The education of the next generation, and the generation after the next generation, and all the generations to come will not lose a spiritual sense. This is because people need to believe in something, whether its that our past ancestors are still with us, or something as simple as wearing a cross everyday. The reason why people need these beliefs is because it gives us a sense of meaning. There are certainly people who don't have spiritual beliefs, but these people still believe in something. That something could be the idea of being the best. This idea and belief gives motivation, drive, and meaning behind acting. For example, a person might not believe in god or anything spiritual, and if they believe in an idea, they suddenly have meaning.

            This idea of believing in an idea or something spiritual cannot be taught in school. It can only be learned through action. This is why my position on the main character in the story is that he is arrogant, and I am glad his school didn't pass the inspection. Although knowledge through education is important, meaning through action is equally as important, so, if people in the middle east want to kneel before God however many times a day they do, let em.

police brutality Image

Saboteur

“When a scholar runs into soldiers, the more he argues, the muddier his point becomes.”

            I struggled to find a deeper meaning to this story. The only thing that I can think this story is about is how the police officers in this story were being brutal to this man for no reason. Although there could be a deeper meaning to the story that I am not getting, the focus on police brutality in this story could be important. The authors purpose could have been to zone in on the mundane of police brutality.

Brokeback Mountain

“It was his own plaid shirt, lost, he'd thought, long ago in some

damn laundry, his dirty shirt, the pocket ripped, buttons missing,

stolen by Jack and hidden here inside Jack's own shirt, the pair

like two skins, one inside the other, two in one.”

This quote is important because it brings a lot of closure to the story. It sums up the relationship of Jack and Ennis into one line. I think that this describes how attached Jack and Ennis were. In the beginning of the story when Ennis is driving away from Jack he becomes physically sick. His stomach starts to get cramped and he tries to puke but cant. I found this part of the story interesting because I have never read a story or saw a movie where the characters were that entranced by one another.

            Certainly, I have read stories when the characters become irrational and emotional when their partner leaves them. However in the stories I normally read the characters usually just get depressed after a breakup. And they may do irrational things, for instance some people think so irrationally that they cant move on at all. Although that is not the way the story goes. Neither character in this story thinks irrationally because of the way that they feel about each other.

            This story is a great example of a paradox. Jack and Ennis meet and their lives are changed forever. The power of their attraction controls their life. When they see each other they begin to feel whole again. Through out the story neither of the characters becomes irrational. Normally if something has complete control over a person it can cause them to act out irrationally.

the voorman problem

This film made me think about God as a cynical creator. When Mr. Voorman is asked why he seeks amusement in humans I found it interesting how he considers himself to be a bored God. For the sake of this blog post let it be known that there is a God, and there is only one God. Now if this is true and I am not saying if it is or isn’t, but if it is would you be afraid of God? If there is a being that can control every aspect of the universe is that something to be feared? This film shines light on how it is very frightening to not actually be in control of your own life.

            Mr. Voorman embodies the reasoning behind God. He is very cynical, and the reason why he creates what he creates is for pure amusement. To think that the reason why we are here is because God is bored and he is looking for entertainment is a frightening thought. That makes me feel very much like Dr Williams at the end of the film. If God were actually as cynical as Mr. Voorman I would feel helpless. I would think that every decision I made wasn't my decision. I would begin to think that my whole outlook and perception is just the way that someone else wanted. I figure if there is a master plan that god wrote there are two ways to look at it. The first way is I can choose to not do anything important because I don't want to give in to a god. The other way of looking at it is I can choose to change and grow for myself. But the catch 22 is if I choose the latter is that all part of Gods plans. Was it he who decided my fate or was it me.

            Fortunately I don't have to worry about it. No one knows if there is a God, and no one can prove if there is or isn’t a god.

tim parrish blog

“And at that moment I hated him, for hitting me, for making bob go to war, for being an adult in a place that made no sense. But mostly I hated him for being week in the way a child sees weakness, hated him for being unable to solve complexity with a single gesture, hated him because when he held Mr. Ramos I’d seen the limitations of his strength.”

             This quote has multiple meanings. There is the meaning that this quote has in general, the meaning of this quote for this particular part of the story, and the meaning this quote has in the grand scheme of the story. In general to hate someone because they are acting like an adult shows that the main character, like many other kids, doesn't want to grow up. The irony of this is that the main characters sense of strength is that of an adult. From the perspective of the main character solving a complex problem with a simple solution is the best way to do it, even if that means losing that sense of pride that many adults carry with them. In his eyes this makes him weak as an adult.

            As and adult the characters father makes many decisions that are questionable. He hits his child, and he doesn't try to convince his other son to stay home from Vietnam. This quote is important because it sums up what the main character has been thinking and leading up to the entire time. And it is written in such a formulated way that this is probably exactly how the kid felt, but could a kid in real life articulate his thoughts like this.

            In the grand scheme of the story I think that this quote goes a long way in helping the reader find meaning. For most of the story I didn't have a sense of what the point of all this was going to be until I read this line. This line highlights the limitations that adults have when faced with tough decisions. Sometimes it is easier to think like a kid when deciding something important.

SQ response

“He used to say, “ Once you know what you’re doing, the only thing you need to think about is how to do it.” I believe that is deeply true.”

            This story was different. I think that its an original idea to create a post-modern world where mental health is being perfected, and I think the author captures what this world might be like quite well. My opinion on this world and the world we live in today is that everyone is a bizarre in their own sense. If people weren’t interested and passionate about bizarre things the whole world would be grey. The people that are interested in something out of the ordinary is what makes them sane.

            I find this quote intriguing because it manages to mention the what and how of living, but it doesn't mention the why. There is always a reason why someone does something. And if the why of the equation isn’t strong enough to that person then they will lose interest and stop doing what they are doing. To elaborate on this story, I don't know why people where failing this test, or what for that matter was even on the test. Most people are sane in a very unique way. The world is filled with millions of toys, gadgets, books, culture, music, and religion, that one person from one side of the world might say to a person from a different culture who listen’s to different types of music and reads different literature, and say “You are crazy”. However that person is doing may seem completely normal to them. It is what that person believes to be cool, true, or normal.

            In this story there is also the narrators motif of believing. The narrator talks a lot about belief. In the beginning the narrator says that she believes people need beliefs. What I find interesting about this is the connection that it has to the secretary running the world at the end of the story. The secretary is running a world that is basically empty, with most of the civilians in an asylum. She acts like running the world is easier than one might think, and I think that this connects to believing in something. I like to think that this is a metaphor for how everyone runs their own little world by believing in something that matters to them.

the most dangerous game played

“Maybe. But sometimes I think sailors have an extra sense that tells them when they are in danger. Sometimes

I think evil is a tangible thing--with wave lengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak,

broadcast vibrations of evil.”

I think this quote is interesting because Rainsford didn't know what the Casscus was talking about when he said that he was hunting something new.  He didn't have the slightest idea until the man went on about how what he was hunting was a creature with reason. I also think this quote is interesting because it doesn't really fit in with the story. After this quote is written there isn’t anything else that references evil in the story, besides that a man is hunting humans. It almost seems like this quote should belong in a horror story rather than a thriller like this one. So what does it mean?

My best guess is that this means that the theme of the story is how evil in the story is being hunted. This would mean that the humans in the story are evil and are being hunted because they are evil. But that contradicts the ending of the story—a man who began the game of hunting evil dies from that same evil. Although this could allude to the quote if you live by the sword you die by the sword. Meaning if you live to hunt evil, you will die from that same evil. If this story is anything like dying by the sword than this would make sense. Also if evil is tangible maybe it is released when hunting a human. In the bible it says that we are all born sinners, and although we have done nothing wrong we already have sinned. I can see how if the writer had this in mind maybe the wavelengths are the energy of the soul exiting the body.

Thinking on a more grounded level, I think that this story’s lesson is that a person gets what they have coming to them. At the end of the story the man knows he has lost and simply bows before being killed. This can project what happens when a person who knows they are in the wrong, yet still equipped with reason, will do when they are being killed.

reflection on Owl creek

Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.”

            I don't know where to begin. But if I had to choose a place in the story, it would be this quote. I like this quote because it connects me to the author of the story. I understand what his definition of death is as it pertains to the story. I like to think that when the author wrote this story, their purpose was to write about how death reflects life and vice versa. The noun reflection means a fixing of thoughts on something. It is clear in the story that moments before this mean dies he has a reflection on his life. That reflection of his life is viewed as a journey where he makes it to his destination and is then killed. The manner in which his imagination brings him to the harsh reality that he is no longer alive alludes to a respectful notion, a notion that his beautiful wife will be waiting for him when he gets home.

            Everyone has hears the phrase there is a bright light when you die, and that your life flashes before your eyes. I like how the author sticks to this idea, but doesn't it in a way where it isn’t such a cliché. The author took great care in making sure that this story was realistic and poetic at the same time. Even the name of the bridge, Owl Creek Bridge, it's a name that made me think of a something very wise. Then of course there is great lines in this story that makes my mind flow smoothly, and can enjoy the sophistication of the vocabulary.

            The last thought I had pertains to fear. I enjoyed reading a story about death that didn't have to do a lot with fear. I think its safe to say that most people are afraid of dyeing, and if that's true what does that say about life? Does it mean that people are afraid to live? This story really makes me believe that death isn’t something to be fear, just respected. Just as life is to be respected so is death.

Story of an hour response

When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!"

            This is not the first time that I have read this story. I have read it once before for my EN102 class. Now having a chance to reread it, I have a different perspective on what I think the story means. I think the theme of the story is that we are all trapped in some way, shape, or form. In this case bending to the will of her husband traps the main character of the story. I chose this quote because it is a great description of what happens when that entrapment is released. The main character had a sense of abandonment from her self. I think this is a great line because freedom comes with a sense of abandonment. It reminds me of a little kid who is abandon at the zoo. Although the kid is lost and afraid, that kid is still wandering around looking at all of the different animals on his own, and is free.

            And although that kid is free, his parents at the end of the day find him. This correlates to the end of the story when Richard is waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She is no longer free from her husband. She is once again trapped. This makes me think on a bigger scale about freedom. When people say that they are free of something it normally relates to not having to deal with something ever again. That is, of course, until that thing comes back. Does freedom last forever? Or is freedom just an illusion of the mind that allows us to feel at ease.

            

Omelas

  This story reminded of a TV show called True Detective. There is an episode of this TV show called “A Dream”, and during that episode there is a scene when the main character talks about a locked room. He says “All your life, all your love, all of your hate, all of your memory, it was all the same thing. It was all the same dream. A dream that you had inside a locked room. A dream about being a person.” This alludes to the boy in that locked room, and how he had no understanding of time. He wasn't even a person. He was a symbol for the people of Omelas. So that they could live in happiness and not have to feel trapped by their society. And sure enough their were people that saw this boy and realized, “Hey maybe I don't have to live out this script like it was planned, maybe I will write my own life script and live it out.”

            The people that leave the society, all of em, they left on their own. They didn't go to their friends and say we gotta get out this place. No. That's not what writing your own script is about. “I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going. The people that walk away from Omelas.” What I think this means is that the people who stay in Omelas aren’t really living their own life. They are living what is planned out for them. The people that walk away are the ones who choose their own fate. They are the ones who aren’t going to live inside of a locked room, because in a way if all the people of Omelas live in happiness all the time, they aren’t actually happy.

            They think their happy but they don't know for sure. How does anyone know what happiness is without pain. And the irony of it is that the only thing that that 10 year old understands is pain, hunger, and darkness. That ten year old boy has no understanding of time because all he knows are these three things. The people on the outside, living in quote on quote happiness don't really know what happiness is. All they know is that its better than being in a locked room.

Saint and Phoenix review

       Of the two stories I enjoyed reading the Phoenix story. Although both stories had good content, I can appreciate the meaning of the Phoenix story. This may be because the meaning is clearer than the saint story, whatever the case, I like how the meaning behind the Phoenix story was about listening to  Thomas's story. One of my favorite lines in the story is the line about the Indians taking care of one another. It almost seemed like Victor forgot about his own culture and the story that Thomas told, reminded Victor of who he was. And I think thats the point of the story. Its about how stories have something to offer everybody. I also really like the ending of the story. Thomas, who was always telling stories, was the one to preach about how nothing stops. When the story fades to black and the only thing left is silence a new story pops into his head.
      Now the second story is less clear. I think that the part about humility is very interesting. Humility in the bible is about being humble and people are brought to humility through a remembrance of sins. In the story she doesnt remember being scalded by the kettle. But she knows that the pain kept her strong. When the pain went away she couldnt remember and she knew that it should have been the most important thing in the world to remember. Anther thing that I found interesting was the reference to dust in the story. Although this is just a guess I think what it means is that the more you know, the more you have to argue and fight for what you think is right. And there is no limit to standing up for you rights.

A tell-tale heart response

"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. "

          This line implicates to the reader that the character in this story is going to have to solve his problem to stop thinking about this one idea in particular. I chose this line to analyze because of the irony this line brings to the story. This line also tells the reader how a conceived idea can make a person act irrationally. I also think that this line is important because the character doesn't know how his thoughts led up to this idea. I think the reason why this idea haunted this person is because the eye of the old man was a symbol for the all seeing eye. In reality it was just a regular eye, though, the character didn't perceive the eye this way. In his world this eye was that of a vulture, making the all seeing cynical.
            The idea of an all seeing eye bothered the main character, and as a result he had to destroy it. But destroying this old mans eye came with a price. This old man from what I understood from the story was a person just like anyone else, who had a soul. The soul in this story is represented as the heart of the old man. I think that this story is a metaphor for the connection of a persons soul and some type of all seeing eye. In this story the mans eye represented something bigger than himself, however he still has a soul. We all have souls and each persons soul is connected to a higher power. Thats why when the old man was killed his soul still lived on and it haunted the main character to the point of breaking down in front of the police. A persons soul can not be silenced, nor can the all seeing eye.