The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is one of those books that is so easily read. Jeanette Walls is a NYC journalist now, but she went through many trials throughout her life as she grew up homeless. Her parents come off as educated however they struggle with alcoholism and decline to conform to societies views of how a family should be, meaning that Walls' and her siblings were left to fend for themselves as far as food and shelter was concerned. Walls' family was constantly on the move from place to place, she tells of how at age three she was cooking for herself and one day her dress caught on fire. Her mother was in the next room painting and asked a nieghbor to take her to the hospital where she spent six weeks, her own father was against this stay. Her took her from the hospital ignoring medical advice and moved them once again. Walls became obsessed with fire after this, something extremely innapropriate for a three year old to be dealing with. While living in Battle Mountian, Walls became fascinated by what we are left to assume is a whorehouse. She writes that she and her brother walked past it all the time but could never figure out what it was; the many women who worked there spent a majority of thier time lounging on the front porch. The two siblings decided to talk to the ladies and learned that they were very nice. Another part of the story that I thought was insightful was when Walls learned to swim, she was thrownover and over into the deep end of a spring until she learned. Each of these little anecdotes gives an idea of childhood, and responsibilty, or lack thereof, of Walls parents. How many people let thier kids hang out with prostitutes when they are barely even old enough to understand anything sexual, or allows them to be thrown repeatedly into a deep spring until they learn how to swim? Not many at all. On the other hand, who are we to judge this woman's family? Yes her parents were alcoholics and thier motives as far as children were concerned could be considered questionable, however, Walls grew up to be a successful fully funcional member of society. Perhaps her parents did not do everything wrong. A majority of children growing up in an adverse family enviroment such as this would most likely grow up as criminals or with serious mental problems, yet Walls seems to almost take pride in her situation. In my opinion, the book is very interesting and I am looking forward to reading more about this woman's struggles.

Nonfiction

Nonfiction, in literature, is truthful writing told from certain perspective(s). There are many different kinds of nonfiction writing; memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, articles in a newspaper, magazine, or journal, as well as how-to books, directions or instructions, etc. etc. Any factual type of writing.

Everything That Rises Must Converge

This story is very melancholy. I immediatley recognized the relationship between the mother and her son as one I've seen before a million times. A woman who talks too much, a man who puts up with her because he's obligated or feels bad. Julian's mother seemed to be completley oblivious in her own little world. Throughout the story she talks a lot of her past, her mind seems to be stuck there, ""Since this was a fashionable nieghborhood forty years ago, his mother persisted in thinking they did well to have an apartment in it. Each house had a narrow collar of dirt around it in which sat, usually, a grubby child." (O'Connor 401). Julian's mother embarrassed him with her old fashioned ideas and way of thinking. She views african americans almost as if they were like pets, or a horse or something. Her grandfather owned a plantation with over 200 slaves. She thought they were better of that way, and talks of how she cared for them like you would an animal. When she talks like this her son becomes angry, and makes a point to sit by an african american man. I do not necessarily think badly of her, she was a widow and worked to put her son through college and support him. Her family came from money and she sacrificed everything, I believe that living in the past and constantly thinking about better days was her escape so she didn't need to see how bad things had gotten. She could be proud of who she was in the past.

A Rose for Emily

I felt like Emily was a very mentally ill individual. She came from a fairly wealthy family and lived with her father, who died and left Emily alone which I believe is when her sanity started to deteriorate. The narrator is not a specific person, Faulkner described situations with the word we, which implies that A Rose for Emily is the towns story- as a whole. They did not like her, the towns people, she was stuck up and smelled funny. Neighbors complianed of a strange smell coming from the house, "So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork, and at the cellar openings," (Faulkner 469). This was a a critical part of the story that does not become resolved until the end of the story, after Emily's death. The story spans out over a number of years, and talks of Emily's relationship with men, "That was two years after her father's death and a short time after her sweetheart-the one we believed would marry her-had deserted her. After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all." (Faulkner 469). Clearly Emily did not recieve enough affection from men, and strived for an intimate relationship. I feel like she attempted to sero in on Homer Barron, the "man's man", not the marrying type, and for this reason she had to take matters into her own hands. Emily killed Homer with arsenic, so that she could be with him forever. In the end, the townspeople discover his body in her bed, and finally realize what the strange smell was coming from. The interesting thing is that throughout the story, Faulkner describes the individual times that the people in this small town encounter Emily, as well as her appearance. For example, "When we saw her again, her hair was cut short." (Faulkner 470), by the end of the story, Emily's hair has grayed and she is an older woman. She had kept Homer Barrons decaying body in her bed for about ten years, and slept with it at night. "Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron gray hair." (Faulkner 474). I like how Faulkner used this as the last sentance of the story, a technique to insure the uneasiness of the reader-like when you watch a good physcological thriller and walk away from the movie feeling shocked, or disturbed; this may sound a little bit morbid, but only means that the story was a good one.

There are many different ways to write a fiction story, good and bad. One of my instructors for a different english class was telling us on our first day about the way he writes, and I found his technique very interesting;

1. sit in a busy place and listen to people talk about life, stories, conversation. Some suggestions:

-airports

-low key bars

-cafes

-parks

-diners

Write down people's comments or remarks, gain ideas.

2. Develop Characters, Plot, etc. This can be based on people you know or have met, even previously developed or borrowed characters.

3. Use experiences and/or other ideas to build your story. The process takes a long time but if you are constantly writing down interesting experiences, and finding ideas while you're out and about in the world, eventually you will have a good story even if it takes years and years.

 

Roman Fever/The Cask of Amontillado

Roman Fever was a story about two middle aged women who are visiting Italy with thier daughters. It becomes apparent that the women have known each other for awhile now, and because of this, the reader can sense certian issues between the two of them just by the way the narrator describes them individually. For example, "The smaller and paler," and the "Fuller, and higher in color, with a small determined nose supported by vigorous black eyebrows," (110) descriptions insinuate a sort of jealousy or competitiveness between the two which becomes more evident when the narrator continues to use words such as "The dark lady laughed again," (111) to describe thier conversation. Mrs. Slade, the beauty, and Mrs. Ansley happened to meet in Rome years earlier when they were very young. Mrs. Slade seems to be somewhat cold-hearted, by the way she talks about her friend Mrs. Ansley who she has known since childhood, It is almost as if she thinks she is better than her. As the story continues we discover that Mrs. Ansley had an affair with Mrs. Slade's husband who has since passed away and that there was a letter written. The women argue for awhile, and Mrs Slade puts up the defense by saying she feels sorry for Mrs. Ansley because she never got to have as this man in the same way as she did. In the end a bombshell is dropped, when Mrs. Ansley shoots back with "I had Barbara." Barbara being her daughter that is in Italy with them. It had to be like a slap in the face for Mrs. Slade, and it is definately a little ironic considering the way the narrator describes her somewhat cynical opinions about Mrs. Ansley before she even knew about this. Overall, the story was not the most interesting but I liked the ending. There could have been more things to catch the readers attention that had the same effect as the last paragraph.
The Cask of Amontillado was very good, but also a little creepy. I was confused as to why Monstresor wanted to kill Fortunato, but it had to be something previously planned and thought about for awhile. He knew that his attendants would not be at his palazzo when they arrived, and Monstresor proceeded to lead a drunken Fortunato deep down into the catacombs where he chained him up and left him in a crypt full of bones. To make it even creepier, he puts bricks up to block off the entry way into the crypt, and hides it with a pile of bones. Edgar Allen Poe adds in the end, "For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!" which means "May he rest in peace!" (128). I was wondering through the whole thing what Fortunato did to deserve this type of end, he seemed pretty innocent to me through the whole thing. The story was written in such a way that the author wanted you to feel bad for the victim but at the same time you have sympathy for the narrator as well, in the end it says, "a low laugh came from the niche that erected the hairs upon my head. It was suceeded by a sad voice-Ha! ha! ha!-he! he! he!-a very good joke, indeed-an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo over our wine-he! he! he!" It is his like his last attempt to convince the narrator to change his mind about leaving him there to die.