The Memory of Swimming

The first memory of me swimming was when I was eight years old. I was in this huge swimming pool with a lot of crowds. I was kind of scared at  that time. The fact that I never swam in the pool where I couldn't touch the ground with my head above the water made me scared however, the thing that made me more scared was the crowd. Obviously, except my family ever one else was stranger to me. They were loud, ran around the pool and played in the pool like a mad bull. Because I was so young back than everything around me just freaked me out. I wanted to leave that place. I begged my mom to leave. However rather bringing me back to my house my mom brought me into the water which I was also afraid of. I thought she was evil or something. I thought she was making the situation even worst. Then she told me to go into the water telling me that it will be peaceful in there. She said "You will hear nothing and barely see anything." Even though I was scared going into the water I was more frustrated with the crowds around me, I decided to go into the water. I hold my breath and with some hesitation I went into the water. Shockingly at that time I couldn't hear anything and only thing I could see was empty place of water with just some legs around me. It was so peaceful and it made me feel that I have come to different place. I loved the feeling of isolation from the crazy outside world. From that point I swam for more than one hour enjoying that feeling of calm and peace.

What the ending of 'A Clean, Well-lighted Place' tells us

 At first the story "A Clean, Well-lighted Place" seems like its main focus is the conversation of old waiter and young waiter about the old man who tried to kill himself. However as we approaches the conclusion of this story, we can realize that the main character of this story is actually the old waiter who is going through similar situation as the old man but the reaction toward his situation was different. Both old man and old waiter is in situation where there both feel loneliness because there old and there is no one around them. The old man chooses to kill himself to run away from this situation. However the old waiter decides to be in 'well lighted place' where people's always around which is the restaurant for him. However as the night comes and people leaves the restaurant he got epiphany that how hard you try to run away from the loneliness, it will always follow you. The 'well lighted place' was just a little illusion that made him think that he is not lonely. The truth is he was always lonely.

Using Steller To Tell the Story

Three short stories "Paul's Case", "The Chrysanthemums", and "Barn Burning" have different contents however they all possess same themes to each other. Most significant theme that those three stories share is 'isolation.' Paul was isolated by society because he had strange characteristic, the family in the "Barn Burning" was isolated by society because of the stereotype they had, and Elisa in "The Chrysanthemums" was isolated just because she was a female.

First, the picture of disabled man in a jar which is held by the bigger hand represents the isolation of Paul. Paul wasn't physically disabled however he was somewhat mentally disabled. He thought differently from others and couldn't combined with society because of it. The hand that is holding the jar represents the society. It is true that Paul was different from other people but he was not wrong. However just because Paul was different, the society trapped him, like the man in a little jar. That is why that picture represents the situation of Paul really well.

Second, the picture of two women looking outside the window represents Elisa in "The Chrysanthemums." Elisa was intelligent and passionate woman. However she is unsatisfied about her situation. Even though her interest is in the business side, the fact that she is a female makes her to stay in her house and just do house chores. So this two women who are looking outside the window as if they are admiring the outside the world represents her really Elisa really well. Like this two women, because Elisa is isolated in her house from the society, she admires and wants to live the outside world.

Third, the picture of one person getting pointed by bunch of people represents the family in "Barn Burning." Even though people in the town couldn't find the evidence any evidence of the criminal of barn burning they decided to kick out the Snopes family just because the people thought they have done it. So the society is the one who is pointing at the poor little boy and the boy represents the Snopes family who are getting harmed by the society.

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The Great Runaway

In the short story 'The Paul's Case' written by Cather, Paul is shown as a disabled individual who failed to join the society. He thinks he is very different from the society. The fact that he is kind of homosexual and the fact that he doesn't like the poor society that he is living in, makes him even harder to join the society. So the object that Paul is trying to run away from is the society that he is living in. He first tries to run away from society by hiding his real self by lying to other people. Later on he eventually runs away from the society by killing himself. After he realizes that there is no place that he could fit in, he jumps into the train and ends his life by himself. His runaway can be considered successful because, death is always the ultimate form of escape. By sacrificing your life you can get away from everything. That's how suicide works.
Also in the short story 'The Chrysanthemums' written by John Steinbeck, the main character also tries to escape from the situation that she is in. She it a wife of man who is sexist. He doesn't respect what she does and thinks that the work she does is not productive. Furthermore, he isolates her wife from the society. So the wife one day, tries to escape from this situation by having affair with the man who respected herself and her work. However, the result of her escape was failure because that man who respected her wasn't that different from her husband and was actually being kind to her expecting profit. Consequently, this act of escape made her more miserable.

Rebellion in "The Yellow Wall-Paper"

I think the active rebellion in the short story "The Yellow Wall-Paper" was the act of ripping the wall paper that was done by narrator. In the book wall paper meant the control of narrator's husband John, toward the narrator. He told the narrator what to do and what she shouldn't do. He made a cage that she should live in. And the wall paper did similar job. It isolated the narrator in small room from the big world. So by ripping the wall paper narrator showed her feelings that she wants to be free from her husband and do whatever she wants.

02/10/14

Quotes from 'The Storm'

 "As she glanced up at him the fear in her liquid blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire."

This is a quote from a short story 'The Storm' by Kate Chopin. This is important quote from her short story because this quote shows the internal confusion that the main character Calixta go through. Like the storm happening outside she is going through her own kind of storm. Her 'sensuous desire' is telling her to have sex with the man in front of her but her conscious is telling her not to betray his husband. Even though consequently, the 'sensuous desire' over the consciousness and have a sex with her friend, this quote show that it was tough decision for her.

01/10/14

Short Letter to My Friend

Dear Poe,

First, I would like to tell you that I really enjoyed reading your book 'The Black Cat'. I definitely loved the dark atmosphere of your story, but I especially liked how you showed the transformation of one person. Someone who loved animals becomes animal abuser and consequently becoming a murder... What a perfect way to show the change of one person and that show that how humans cannot be perfect. Furthermore I loved how you made the narrator to say this stories as if he is innocent and some un-known force made him to do such horrible things. I think this emphasis really well that every human naturally possesses evilness in themselves. As I end this letter to you I would like to recommend one of my short story call 'The Birth-mark'. The reason that I want to recommend you this book is because I wrote this story with similar thoughts and similar styles as your story 'The Black Cat'. I hope you enjoy it and I would really love to know what you think about my story.

Sincerely, Hawthorne

Change of the Man

 In the story 'The Real Thing' the drastic change of narrator is shown by how he reacts to Monarches. When Monarches first visits narrator he gets really excited. He gets excited not only because he saw the real loyalties but also because he thought that they might be visiting him to ask for portrait. However this excitement changes to little bit of disappointment as narrator finds out that Monarches visited him to ask him for a job as models. But at this point he was still happy to work with 'real things' rather than imitations because the life of the narrator was more like imitation rather than being a real thing. So he had enormous dreams about real things and hope that someday he would also be a real thing. However as he works with Monarches he finds out that real things are not so beautiful as he thought. Finally at the last part of his story he totally changes himself realizing that staying what he is is better than trying to be real thing.

The Hope of Benjamin Franklin

• wanted America to have an independence over British
• think that America should have different government system than British
• patriot who only though of benefit for America
• thought morals and harmonic life is important
• believed that every thing should be in its integrity
• always stood up for the weak and the poor
• thought that people in power should not abuse their power

What is American Literature?

     I think American literature are all about hope. Even though some people argues that American literature is extension of British literature, I think that American literature is unique because they are so hopeful even when American writers are writing about the darker ages that Americans went through such as civil war and black slavery. I think the American writers see the God as holy giver of everything so if they have faith on themselves, whatever they want will succeed. I think that is why a lot of American literature deals with religion and the eager of freedom. Furthermore I think American literature contains distinctive style that differs from other region's literature. The most unique style of American literature of what I think is that they are realistic. Some people might argue that American literature are realistic because they are contains mostly about true based stories. However, even when they depict ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances it feels so realistic that it makes me think that it might be a true story of America. The things that I have mentioned was only two small characteristics of American literature. There are so many more uniqueness to American literature. That is why people get attracts to it and cannot stop reading it.