Nothing Gold Can Stay - Robert Frost

Frost is trying to say that everything that is beautiful or purposeful eventually fades away or stops existing as it once did. I think it is also a more complex way of talking about the change of the seasons and the day/night cycle. As time passes the purity of ideas, objects - everything is lost. Symbolism in this poem shows a plant dieing and the sun going from early dawn to afternoon.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 9

Gatsby is one of those people who seems complex, they have an air of mystery about them, but in reality there are only a few things about them that hold their entire essence together. Gatsby is a middle aged man, the same as Nick, he is good-looking, wealthy, and mysterious, they are the only things he has going for him. He lies about his past, trying to cover it up, and did some not-so-honorable things to get rich after being discharged from the army. Entirely obsessed with Daisy, his love for her controls his daily life and most of his major decisions. As a character, Gatsby is very static, his views never change; he continues to do everything in his power to get closer to Daisy until the day he dies.
His character evokes many emotions on the reader, a certain curiosity for who he really is, amazement for his accomplishments, sadness for his unattainable love, a hate for all the lies he has told, and annoyed feeling when he just will not come to realize the reality that he and Daisy will never be together.
Gatsby does and does not appeal to me. He appeals to me mostly because he had enough will power to go after what he wanted in life, a lot of people lack that kind motivation, which is really sad. So i liked that Gatsby was very inspired to go after his dream. On the other hand, Gatsby really makes me mad, he does things that he shouldn't, the way he made his wealth, the reasons he does things, it's just not something that i like.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 8

“He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go – but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail.” Page 156 (in my book) Where Nick is narrating on Gatsby falling for Daisy when he met her.
When Gatsby found Daisy, he was poor and had nothing to his name. Daisy on the other hand had everything and more. When they met, he was completely amazed by what she had materially and how she acted; he fell in love with her. When he went to the war, he lost essentially what he had dreamed of, and then spent a great deal of time dreaming of and searching for what he could no longer have. I chose this quote because I think a lot of people are this way, they have no intention of doing anything, or falling in love with something, then when it disappears they spend their lives looking for it again.

The second quote I really like is a few paragraphs on page 167 in my book, it starts: “Wilson’s glazed eyes turned out to the ash heaps, where small grey clouds took on fantastic shape and scurried here and there in the faint dawn wind…” and continues ending with: “ ‘God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson. ‘That’s an advertisement,’ Michaelis assured him.”
Wilson is probably insane just from being himself and what had happened to him in the past few days, but I think this quote is pretty meaningful in general. Wilson is commenting that God sees everything, everything Myrtle had done as he looks at the billboard of Dr. Ekleburg. Michaelis thinks Wilson is saying that the advertisement is God. I’m not sure if Wilson actually thinks that, but its kind of easy to assume that Michaelis is thinking Wilson is a little off the deep end after this comment.
I chose this quote because I think it shows that everyone believes in something different as a higher power or God, and others are sometimes critical of peoples beliefs even when they try not to be.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 6 & 7

A major theme I see in the Great Gatsby is dissatisfaction with life. Some are dissatisfied with money, others with love and marriage, some with life, and they destroy others lives in an attempt to be satisfied. Gatsby was, and still is, dissatisfied with his life and wealth. He spent five years trying to become richer, to be come Jay Gatsby instead of James Gatz, just to impress Daisy. Tom destroyed the love between himself and Daisy by cheating on her, and Daisy in effect destroys love also by wishing to have a life with Gatsby. Nick is dissatisfied with his life, and his wealth, he is far from rich, and sometimes I think he feels like he just doesn’t fit in with his very wealthy friends. Myrtle is dissatisfied with her marriage, a key reason for leaving, or wanting to leave George (but of course, we don’t have to worry about that now, since Daisy supposedly ran her over).

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 4 & 5

The fourth chapter begins with Nick talking about Gatsby's summer parties, or moreso who attends them. He rambles on for quite awhile about the people, so different from each other and how they maybe know Gatsby. It goes on, Nick is on his own property when Gatsby drives up to him and asks to take him for lunch in the city. On the way there Jay tells nick he will be meeting up with Jordan for tea to discuss a matter. Nick gets royally annoyed that Gatsby won't tell him what the matter at hand is. Nick sees Tom in the resturaunt and introduces Gatsby to him, only to find that Gatsby has disappeared from his side for no apparent reason. Jordan and Nick have tea and go for a walk, Gatsby wants nick to invite Daisy over, and to have him be there also.
The fifth chapter goes over Nick inviting Daisy over to his house, and having Gatsby there. Its awkward for the most part, but they reminisce about old times, and Gatsby shows off his house to them.

These chapters were pretty interesting, it really took away some mystery, but at the same time intrigued me more, and made me want to read. Nick talking continuously about who goes to the parties in the summer got rather boring, and I kept asking myself why he was naming off people that probably won't show up again. I was kind of suspicious of gatsby being incredibly nice to nick, taking him to lunch, paying for things, introducing him to some friends, and all the while having "a matter" to be discussed that Gatsby clearly avoided for the most part. It was really odd. After Jordan explained that Daisy and Jay were once together before the war, everything started making sense.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 2 & 3

Chapters two and three, have both the common cultural setting of being at parties, and place of being near New York. The characters are both Simple and complex-realistic, Nick, the narrator making up for most of the complexity, and perhaps Jordan also. The other characters, I think, make up simple characters. I haven’t yet decided what Jay Gatsby is, not much as been said of him really. There is a lot of disillusionment within the story so far, whether it being personal, or non personal. All the drinking, cheating, and lying bring the disillusions to life.

The text to world connection I see most clearly is definitely the disillusionment between reality and what people want. Constant through these two chapters, is lying, and cheating. Granted those things are definitely part of reality, everyone does it in someway or another, not necessarily being in a relationship. The other thing is the drinking. People seem to love consuming alcohol in this time period, especially at gatherings. Today, people do the same thing. I must admit though, I hope I never find an extremely intoxicated man in a library because he thinks it might help him sober up.

The Great Gatsby - Chapter 1

The first chapter in the Great Gatsby gave light to 4 characters, the narrator, Tom, Daisy and Miss Baker.
The narrator, later mentioned as being named Nick, is originally from a Middle Western town but now lives in “the east”, particularly a part of New York, on what is called West Egg. He is rather poor, and can’t afford the luxuries his friends have, but he is a bond man, and attended college, something he dreamed about doing.

Tom is a former football star that attended New Haven University with Nick, now around 30 years old he lives off of old memories and tries unsuccessfully to make new conversation topics that make him happy. He is very wealthy and married to Daisy.

Daisy is Tom’s wife, she is well spirited and seemingly happy when really things aren’t (Tom cheating on her), and she has a two year old daughter with Tom also. Nick is her second cousin, once removed.

Miss Baker, or Jordan Baker, is described vaguely. She is younger than Daisy by a little, and seems to be in some sort of sport. She travels a lot.

I thought this was a very interesting first chapter; it makes me want to read more of the story. At first I had a hard time following it, but after a few pages it became less vague, and had more details to add upon others.

The Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams

In this play the there was no clear protagonist or antagonist, or really any type of character that I could pick up on. The physically present characters (Laura, Tom, Amanda, and Jim) were all major characters, the minor characters included Laura and Tom’s father, who had left them, Jim’s fiancée Betty, and the woman whom Laura thought Jim had married, but he had not. The conflict of the story was between everyone, Tom wanted to go travel and be adventurous, Amanda wanted a caller for Laura, Laura was battling her shyness, and Jim was fighting to get Laura out of her shell and not be so shy. Conflict in itself was a very vicious circle for Laura in particular. She suffered from such shyness that she could not even go to school, and Jim and her mother bring in that education is key to doing anything in life. I thought a neat symbolism occurred with the glass unicorn that was Laura’s favorite. It was different from the others because it had a horn, and as Laura warmed up and started being more social and talking to Jim, he hit the table as they danced and broke the horn off of the unicorn. I thought it symbolized Laura becoming less shy, or getting rid of her shyness around Jim.

I really loved this play because I could connect to the shyness that Laura has, even though I’m not shy to that extent, and how adventurous and dream oriented Tom is. He wanted something amazing for his life, something that he loved. I couldn’t help but laugh at Amanda sometimes, she seemed so silly, her highest priority is finding a caller, more importantly a husband, for Laura, which is crazy to have as a priority, especially when Amanda had no real hold on reality. As much as I liked the play, I was really disappointed in the end, when Jim said he was dating Betty, I was so hopeful for Laura!!

Act Two - Death of a Salesman

This play isn't something I really liked. It continually goes over that being well-liked is the key to everything, even though Biff and Happy already realize this, it kind of got annoying. Willy annoyed me for that reason, I know a lot of people think in really irrational ways like that, and it drives me nuts. So I think thats why I disliked it. Although I did dislike it, I must admit that it had a ton of good morals, and positive things to take away from the story and use in everyday life. The theme could be so many things, but I think the most obvious one is that being well-liked is not everything, or that it does not make a person successful.
I felt a little bad for Willy in the end, he just seemed like he could never get it right, from the way he thought, to being fired, to his sons flat out leaving him in the restuarant, it made me a little sad, because even though he is basically a crazy old delusional man, he shouldn't be treated like that.

Act One - Death of a Salesman

The major characters are Willy (the father), Linda (Willy’s wife), Biff and Happy (their sons). The minor characters are Charley (Willy’s brother, and neighbor), Bernard (Charley’s son), and Bill Oliver (Biff’s former boss). The protagonist of this play is obviously Willy; he is the focus of the action. The antagonist could be a few different people, but I think Biff, Willy’s son, is the character who goes against Willy the most. Willy talks about Biff a lot, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way, they both seem to butt heads equally with each other. Linda is a stereotype character, she does not really change, and she seems to be the typical housewife of the time period, stereotypically. The conflict is coincidence conflict, because Willy is constantly contradicting himself, with Biff being lazy and talking about how the car is worthless one minute and the best thing ever made the next minute. Willy is always talking to himself, and letting the audience hear him as he goes back into his fantasy’s or the past in his life, so the audience is the confidant. I’m not sure on what theme is for this story yet.

I really dislike this story/play, it is very confusing. Especially when Willy is contradicting himself, I just kept having to stop, and think “didn’t he just say the opposite?!”. I just seems like Miller jumps back and forth a lot between present and past, and not being able to visualize it makes it difficult to follow. I kind of feel bad for Biff, because he knows what he wants, but on the other hand he wants to make Willy proud of him so he stays at home instead of going out west.

A Jury of Her Peers By Susan Glaspell

“A Jury of Her Peers” is told in third person limited point of view. The setting is in the Wright house in Dickson (possibly Dixon) County Nebraska, near Omaha, during the cold, snowy month of March. The mood is cautious and lonesome. The protagonist and antagonist roles were unclear to me, because there were numerous conflicts. My best guess is the investigation party (the three men and two women) being the protagonists, and Mrs. Wright being the antagonist. The men are static and the two women are round characters and change views on how they think about the case. The context is essential to the plot, creating the life of a farm wife and troubles of being in a lonesome place with really no social contact. The way the women take every little thing, like the stitching in the quilt, and evaluate it, to come to some conclusion, is very important. The conflict of this story has many layers. First, is the Wright couple having problems (man vs man). Mrs. Peters wanted to tell what the women had figured out because she is “married to the law” (man vs circumstance). Mrs. Hale wishing she had visited Mrs. Wright more often (man vs self). Mrs. Wright not keeping the house tidy and clean, like women should, according to the men (man vs society). The theme is to not dismiss people or seem as if you don’t care about someone. Mr. Wright didn’t care about the bird, or what it meant to Mrs. Wright, he didn’t seem to really care about her. Mrs. Hale felt bad for dismissing the opportunities to visit Mrs. Wright. And the Men dismiss how intelligent the women really are. Symbolism is shown with the canary loving to sing, and Mrs. Wright loving to sing.
This story is really interesting. It’s the whole murder mystery thing that makes it fun to read. But it shows how women were so easily dismissed years ago, before people realized we’re just as smart. It shows how many conflicts can be going on, visibly, silently, with only hints. And it shows how people wish they had done things that it is too late to do.

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall By Katherine Anne Porter

When I was reading, I was confused on point of view being either 3rd person limited or first person, because it seems to jump back and forth between the two within the paragraphs, but for the most part it is 3rd person limited. The main characters are Granny, Dr. Harry and Cornelia. Granny, I think, is the protagonist, and Dr. Harry and Cornelia are the antagonists because they both conflict with Granny rather equally. The setting was also slightly ambiguous, obviously Granny was bedridden even though her thoughts wandered to normal activities, but being either in a hospital of some kind or her own home was left for the reader to decide. I felt like the mood was kind of dreamy and sad, almost like a state where you’re too dazed to really feel a strong emotion, like with Granny moving in and out of her consciousness. Granny’s conflict was man versus circumstance, her fate, her life, being left at the altar by John, and George dying put her in a position where she had to do everything, and now life is taking the only thing she wants to do, which is be alive and carryout everything like she was before. The theme is that people shouldn’t discard others, or “jilt” them out of their lives, because everyone means something to someone.
This was a challenging story, not as much as The Yellow Wallpaper, but I definitely had to pay attention to the point of view and who was speaking when. It made me think about what was going on and what that means in the story and outside the story, applying it to me. Personally, I loved how Granny was basically bedridden but thought she could still do anything she wanted.

The Tell-Tale Heart & Catbird Seat

The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

This short story by Poe is told in first person, stream of consciousness, point of view, by the protagonist. The protagonist is a man that is quite obviously insane, who believes he is clever in every act he sets in place in order to kill the old man, who is the antagonist. The old man is a tenant of the same building as the protagonist, his one blue-eye is fixated on by the narrator, and it is supposedly the reason why he is killed. The protagonist is a round character whom is very complex, the way he tells you what he is doing and how he is doing it and why he is doing it shows you everything. The setting is in an older time period, no electricity, gold is of importance on a private level, the floor is wood planks. Everything takes place at night or in the early morning. The mood of it is creepy and dark. I think the conflict is very much external, the protagonist is so fixated on the old man’s blue eye that nothing else matters to him except killing the old man just to get rid of the eye. There is also an obvious struggle internally for the protagonist, he’s definitely insane. The theme for The TellTale Heart I think is that when you know you’ve done something bad, your conscious will still haunt you about it, so you shouldn’t want something and realize it wasn’t a good choice. The protagonist didn’t realize that the “heart” beating under the floorboards while the police were there was probably just his conscious taking over.

I really like this story; I like most of Poe’s work. The protagonist is so creepy that it’s interesting; you just can’t put the book down after you’ve started reading it. Its one my favorite short stories. I can’t imagine someone fixating on something to the point of wanting to kill someone over it, that’s just crazy.

The Catbird Seat By James Thurber

The Catbird Seat is written in third person limited omniscient point of view. The protagonist is Mr. Martin who is a very intelligent man who doesn’t drink or smoke, and has a regular schedule for everyday. He is a round character, complex in thought, and hard to predict what he will do. Mrs. Barrows is the antagonist; she is very annoying and obnoxious. She is a static character because she never changes, she is predictable. The setting is in New York, in 1941 and 1942, in the office of F&S where Mr. Martin has worked for 22 years. The conflict is external, the protagonist Mr. Martin is against his department at F&S being changed under the decisions of Mrs. Barrows and he tricks her into making herself seem crazy mentally. The theme is to take charge of what you do in life, or in the workplace, to make the right choices. The social context of the story is that women in the 40’s didn’t work much in offices, other than maybe being a receptionist and that could be why Mr. Martin disliked her so much. There were allusions to quotes used by the Brooklyn Dodgers announcer. It was ironic how Mr. Martins plan was carried out, making Mrs. Barrows seem insane. It was also ironic that Mr. Martin did eventually “sit pretty” in the catbird seat, still having his job, and how he wanted his department in the end.

For the longest time in this story I thought Mr. Martin was going to murder Mrs. Barrows, it just seemed that is what he was up to. But, the foreshadowing with getting the cigarettes told us otherwise I suppose. It was an interesting story, not what I expected it to be, not that I expected it to be boring, just that it took turns in directions I wasn’t expecting.

First Confession & A Clean Well-Lighted Place

First Confession By Frank O’Connor

First Confession is written in innocent eye point of view and told by the protagonist, Jackie. Jackie is a young seven year old boy who lives with his parents, older sister and grandmother. He is a dynamic character, because he changes from being an unruly, rude, and fighting child, into a truthful confessor at the church with the priest. The antagonist is Nora, Jackie’s sister, she is mean to him throughout the story, attacking him verbally and a few times physically. She is a static character because she never changes her ways of being mean, hypocritical, and lying. The setting of the story is in two locations, at Jackie’s home, which has a feeling of anger and repulsion, as the location changes to being in the church, confessing his sins, it turns humorous and lighthearted, almost happy. The conflict is both external and internal. External being Jackie’s disagreements with Nora and his grandmother, internally being his anxiety and overall not wanting to go to confession. The conflicts are essential to the plot. The context is religious, not that one would need to have a vast knowledge of Christianity, the context in which it is used is simple enough to not need a lot of background knowledge. Overall the theme for this short story may be that telling the truth isn’t as bad as it sometimes may seem. Some symbolism I seen was perhaps when Nora and Jackie were going down the steep hill to the church, it being similar to his thought of going immediately to hell because he didn’t want to confess anything. Also an allusion, Adam leaving Paradise can refer to John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, where Adam and Eve are forced to leave “paradise” or the Garden of Eden.

I actually liked this story, more than I thought I would, honestly. It related to me in a few ways, especially with the communion teacher. She reminded me of my confirmation teacher, with the exception of her ranting on pre-marital sex, not the general sinning. So it kind of made me laugh. I also liked the priest, being protective over Jackie when Nora basically hit him in the hallway of the church and really going easy on him, kind of laughing it off but still being serious with him. This story was kind of a nice surprise, I really like religious type fiction, or sermons from back in the day, like Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Its just really interesting to read, peoples views are always different.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway

Third person, limited omniscient presides over this short story. Characters in this story are the Old Man, the young waiter and the older waiter. The protagonist is the older waiter, because he keeps his mind positive about what is going on, and tries to bring the concept of people having a need to be in the café at night. The antagonist is the younger waiter. He continually complains about everything – wanting to go home, being tired, having a wife and not being with her, and so on – he is also very gossipy and rude, he argues with the antagonist that the café doesn’t need to be open late. They are both static, because they stick to their thoughts throughout the story. The setting is in Spain, from anywhere around 1869 to 2002, the peseta mentioned when the old man left a tip, was currency in Spain within that time period, the Spanish language throughout the text also hints at this. The mood of the café section was sad and irritated, moods expressed respectively by the older waiter, and younger waiter towards the old man. The customs within the setting fit, being out late is somewhat normal for Spain, at least from what I know, also the high religious expectations which the older waiter mocked while saying the “Our Father” prayer, repeating the word nada or “nothing” over and over. The conflict was external in a man versus man set up (or young man versus old man), being the older waiter arguing with the younger waiter. The theme, I thought, was to not judge people you don’t know, because of the gossip over the old man being suicidal, and the older waiter having apparent insomnia. You never really know someone so you shouldn’t judge them on their reasoning.

This story was interesting. It really showed how people are different, and why they think differently. The foreign setting made me more interested in it. Something I disliked, not necessarily about the story but in general, was that the younger waiter was so rude and really talked about the old man in a gossipy way. How does he even know if the old man tried to commit suicide, really? It’s a pet peeve of mine.

The Yellow Wall Paper & The Lottery

The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In this literary fiction, the protagonist is an unnamed narrator who tells the story through first person point of view, she a subdued woman who is fighting to be well, to be free from behind the walls she is kept in. She is a round character that is complex in thought and how she acts as she pushes to be heard by her husband. The antagonist is the narrator’s husband, John. He believes there is nothing wrong with the narrator’s condition of depression, anxiety, and slight hysteria. He is a physician and thinks he knows what is best, and although John wishes narrator well, he is really not helping her to get better. John is a static character who never changes his ways of taking care of his wife. The story is set in early America at an old family estate, or a “haunted house” as the narrator called it at the beginning of the story. The change between night and day changes the setting within the room that the narrator must stay in, in the day things are calm and relaxed, at night she stays awake and concentrates on the wallpaper, on the woman held barred behind it. The social condition is in which women were thought of as child bearers and to take care of home life, the protagonist had decided or couldn’t take on those roles, she feels she has lost everything because of misunderstanding. The mood is depressed, dark, and curious. Conflict is first internal when the narrator is battling her illness, trying to convince John she needs to be around more people. Conflict turns to external when she tries to help the woman in the wallpaper escape, “woman” turns into “women”, the conflict issue becomes a slight anger towards society. The external context was that of society’s view of women as a whole. The theme is that women have talents, and knowledge that have a need to be respected.

When I read this story the first time, I was entirely confused about what was going on. Parts of it made sense, but putting it together as a whole I was lost. After rereading and taking breaks away from it to think, it started to slowly click together. Grasping the concept of this story was not easily done, its very complex, which I liked and disliked at the same time it was a brainteaser on a huge level. To what the protagonist’s condition was it really didn’t make sense, but that wasn’t the main part of the situation. In the “Essay on the story” section it was relayed to post partum depression, which would tie in the “nursery” and why she was not let near the baby. For the most part it was about facing down the personal issue with John ignoring her, and the larger view society has for women at the time. It was a very interesting story to pick apart and read.

The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

With third person limited omniscient point of view covering the text, I didn’t feel a grab towards either protagonist or antagonist upon any one of the characters. I felt that maybe the lottery and the village were in those categories but I was not sure. Even though the “lottery” is inanimate it seemed similar to a dynamic character in the fact that the idea of it changes from the beginning to end of the story, occurring ironically in a sense from lottery being generally thought of as a chance at winning something good, to changing to winning a stoning, and possibly death. The setting was very precise in it being June the 27th, on a clear sunny day in a village square. The mood was happy - almost excited, and anxious for the lottery to begin. Conflict is classical Man versus Circumstance, in this case the chance of winning the lottery. The context of the story was very social, with importance on tradition. I felt the theme was that tradition is of high importance, and that however high some traditions are held it doesn’t necessarily mean they are morally/ethically right.

It was hard to get over how extremely ironic this story was and how surprising the abrupt change in what I believed the lottery game was. Even though the young boys foreshadowed the stoning, with collecting rocks and pebbles, etc in the beginning, I still did not expect the denouement. I thought it was odd that the people of the village felt that tradition was of utmost importance but rituals were not, and how critical of other villages that were not keeping traditions when their lottery was so brutal.

Every Day Use & I Stand Here Ironing

Every Day Use By Alice Walker
This short story brought a sense of local color, with the customs that the mother, protagonist, told us about in her life. Living in a rural area, living like people did in the old (butchering your own livestock) days, and not being formally educated. When I reread the story I felt like there was a motif of the hurt feeling between all of the characters. When the mother is thinking of Dee or Wangero, the antagonist, and how she always wanted something better, it felt like that sort of hurt her. Maggie, the daughter was hurt by a fire physically and mentally, she was always timid and not wanting to be upfront about anything. Wangero or Dee, was hurt when she abruptly was told that she could not have the quilts and churn top.

I liked this story, I have read parts of it before. I think it was unfortunate that there was fire and that they have a poor quality of living even though they seem to like it. The mother, I feel, was right for not letting Dee take the quilts, she was never there, and really did not have a connection with the family other than being a daughter. The characters are very diverse which was interesting when reading. I could really relate to the mother hoping Maggie put everyday use to the heirlooms, and Dee wanting to treasure it with out use. My grandmother has many objects from the farm she lived on that now sit in her basement, she tells about different things and treasures them in use or not.

I Stand Here Ironing By Tillie Olsen
The mother and the narrator of this story took me through her life revolving around Emily, her first daughter. Conflicts dotted around the plot. Allusions to the Great Depression were many in number and hidden in the texts, having a tough time finding jobs and overall poor quality of life for the single mother. The entire story was a flashback to the mothers first occurances with Emily and as the young girl grew up, the story came back to the present only at the very beginning, around the middle, and at the end.

This story was interesting, but kind of depressing in a way. The characters obviously had a rough life, especially Emily's. I can't imagine growing up in the Great Depression. Even though i know that I live in a bad recession, I still see food in my kitchen, and have a kitchen and a house, so I know I'm lucky. The other thing I can't fathom is sending my child away because they couldn't learn things as fast as the other kids, or having to give my child up for a few years. It seems impossible.

The Story of an Hour By Kate Chopin

Mrs. Mallard, a young woman, is told her husband has died in a railroad accident at work. She is sad and departs from her sisters company to be alone for a few minutes. Mrs. Mallard begins to think about her freedom without her husband, she is almost delighted at the thought of doing what she wishes as a free woman. She believes also that she never truely loved her husband. After realizing these things, she comes out from her room and as this happens Mr. Mallard walks through the opposite door, alive and unhurt. Mrs. Mallard dies of supposed shock from seeing her husband and her heart condition.

This was very ironic, and mostly sad. The story itself had situational irony, the Husband supposedly had died.. but in the end the only one who had died was Mrs. Mallard (Louise). What I thought was sad, besides thinking people had died when they had not, was that Mrs. Mallard only thought about being able to "live for herself" after she believed her husband had died. Of course, in the time period of the book it would most likely of been a norm, but I found it sad none the less. The second thing I thought was sad was that she thought she never really loved her husband. Again, different time periods have different customs, rules and such, but I always dislike hearing about unhappy relationships, especially in marriage.