Human Stain Initial Response

My initial response to the "Human Stain" is that this is going to be kind of a scandalous book because of all of the things Philip Roth has already written. For example, he starts out by talking about a nude Miss America in an issue of Penthouse Magazine. Also, he talks about the Clinton/ Lewinsky scandal. I also like the way the story is coming out so far because I can relate to the things occurring since they are all modern day events like Clinton and the other things they talk about, like Nelson Mandela's experience in prison.

Gatsby People and Women

So far, up to chapter 2, in the Great Gatsby, we have met a fair amount of characters, one of them is Miss Myrtle. She is a rich, stuck up housewife that always gets what she wants pretty much. For example, on p.35, she talks about how she was in love with a man and married to him, but as soon as she found out that he is "below her" and borrowed another man's suit for their wedding, she left him. The female characters in this story have pretty much all been portrayed like Miss Myrtle. The men treat them badly and care more about their money (p.31).

Just Keep Swimming

I have been on a summer swim team for the past 11 years of my life and we live on the beach in Charleston, SC so writing about a swimming experience is quite easy for me.
I'm going to go all the way back to when I first started to learn how to swim. My family and my friend's family went camping on a lake and all the kids went swimming while the adults stayed up at the campsite. My sister, being 7 years old, swam out really far to where you cannot touch anymore. When all the kids left except me, being the curious 4 year old I always was, I wanted to go out in the water as far as my older sister, so as I walked out, there was a drop off and my head went under. I was sure I was going to drown and die, but thank God my sister's friend was watching me from the campsite. She sped down the hill and grabbed me out of the water like a guardian angel. I am so grateful that she was there and was able to save me that day.

Clean well lighted ending

In the end of Hemingway's "A Clean, Well Lighted Place", The young waiter asks the old man to leave early and denies him of another drink. This causes the old man to leave his peaceful clean well lighted cafe and causes the old waiter to talk to the young waiter about the value of the old man's time. While laying in bed not able to sleep because of his insomnia, the old waiter has an epiphany and realizes how important it is not only to him, but to the old man, to have a safe place to go to such as the clean, well lighted cafe rather than bars and bodegas.

A "Steller" Escape

We used the Steller storytelling program to show how quotes from the three stories we have read this week and their matching pictures can portray one of the common themes of the stories. The theme I chose is escape. The quote I used for "Paul's Story" shows that he had to take extreme measures and commit suicide in order for him to be able to escape society and be at peace. My quote from "The Chrysanthemums" describes how happy Elisa becomes when somebody finally recognizes and respects her work with her flowers and sees her not as like a man. She escapes the way her husband thinks of her when the tinker compliments her work. The quote from "Barn Burning" portrays how Sarty escapes his problems with his dad. He runs away to De Spain's house to tell him that his father is planning on burning down the barn. Sarty's father is caught and killed because of Sarty, which means Sarty has finally escaped the abuse from his father.

This is the link to my Steller story:       https://steller.co/stories/362441038075266442

Paul and Chrysanthemums

Paul, in Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" wants to run away from society because he feels that he is not accepted because he is homosexual, so he goes to New York. Although he is successful in getting away from society, he is not successful overall because he commits suicide. Cather is trying to portray her own struggles of not being fully accepted into society because of her sexuality. Elisa in John Steinback's "Chrysanthemums" is successful with her gardening and housework, but when the tinker comes and asks for work and pretends to be interested in her chrysanthemums, he tricks her and gets her excited. All he really wants though is the pan and money, so I would not call Elisa successful because she gets tricked.

The Wallpaper Rebellion

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the real point of rebellion is the climax of the story where the narrator rips all the wallpaper off her wall. This is the first time she takes action towards freedom. "There are things in that wallpaper that nobody knows about me, or ever will" (Gilman 192). The narrator says this because the wall is what confines her and her depression thoughts. When she finally rips it down, she feels a little more relieved and free now that her depression is literally being ripped off the wall.