Recitafif/ Arabi

The first story I really didn't like. It was dull and hard for me to follow. The women were vastly different and as time passed they seem to grow farther apart. They were originally innocent and young but society seemed to change them and they outlooks/opinions. As far as characterization goes, Roberta seemed to live more on the edge and liked to think of herself as part of the worlds upper class and Twyla had to work for everything she ever had. They both ended up living meaningful lives but will remain in argument about their pasts until the end of both of their lives.

Araby was slightly better than the last story but still fairly uninteresting. The boy was hitting puberty and was infatuated with this other boys sister. He builds her up to be this supreme goddess , but when he meets her he can't really spit out the words. She mentions a bazaar and he jumps on the opportunity to impress her. He goes and is very disappointed and then it basically ends. The main character is the only one who we know the feelings of. He is the average teenage boy and is lovestruck. The girl is fairly shallow and their is not much too her.

The lady with the Dog/ Rose

The Lady with the Dog has many different settings in the short story. It starts in Moscow with the male adulterer, when he vacations to Yalta he meets a women and they take several trips to nearby Oreanda. When he returns home to Moscow again he realizes that he may have fallen for this female adulterer. He then becomes obsessed and travels to her hometown while in nearby St. Petersburg. Upon meeting her he finds that she also has fallen for him and the two meet again in Moscow to discuss their future. The story manages to pack many settings in a small tale.

A Rose for Emily was an odd and dark story. The setting is simple , as it only takes place around the town of Jefferson and at The Griersons house. Emily was seen around town when she was younger but as she grows up she is never really seen. She is recluse and upon her death her house is invaded by curious townsfolk. When they arrive at her house they see that she poisoned her long time boyfriend and may have been having intimate experiences with the corpse. This story's setting is really simple in comparison to The Lady with the Dog.

Girl/An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

The definition of plot ,in my opinion, is simply the sequence of events that take place in a story. In Girl, the plot was hard for me to follow. As the only events that actually took place were the different types of advice that the mother would give to the girl about growing up and becoming a women. There was the occasional childish interuption from the little girl but that aside, not a whole lot was accomplished in the narrative. The second story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, I really enjoyed. I had seen it on televison in the form of a Twilight Zone. The plot was complex and was difficult to understand when reading it the first time because it went out of sequence. The most simple version of the plot was this: man is tricked by enemy soldier to destroy bridge, man is caught and sentenced to death, man believes he escapes but really just fantasizes about it seconds before his death. The ending gave a nice twist.

Recap

Hills Like White Elephants is about a couple who are set to have a child but are considering have an abortion. The women is very confused about what she wants and would just like to make her husband happy. The husband thinks that getting an abortion would be best and if the women got one then things could go back to the way they were before. The plot is fairly simple. They are preparing to travel somewhere in Spain and are basically just debating what they should do about the baby. The reference to hills looking like white elephants is meant to symbolize a look similar to that of a pregnant women.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find surrounds a family traveling to Florida. It comes down to a women who when her life is in question realizes that she has not lead a very good life. During the story she is very negative and complains the entire trip. However, at the end when she comes with terms to the fact that she achieved nothing in her life she attempts to reach out to this outlaw and make him change his ways. She proves to be unsuccessful and is killed. The plot starts very dull and has sveral stories within the story that do not really seem to tie into the plot.

Ths Story of an Hour

Sorry this is late. I guess I was confused on what we were expected to do after the reading , but nonetheless here it is.

When I first read the story I thought of the women as being someone who I should have felt bad for and may have been neglected or treated poorly by her husband. I thought that for her to show such excitement over his death that she must have been treated very poorly.

The second time that I read the story I saw the women as more of a selfish and spoiled type. Throughout the short story it is never mentioned that her husband treats her badly at all. In fact, it mentions how he lovingly looked at her at times. I found the womens response to the death inappropriate and very selfish.

I am not sure on the theme. If I had to choose something then I would say that it has to do with how if someone is selfish and acts/behaves that way then they may be punished.