Response to Midnight In Paris

 

Woody Allen’s film Midnight In Paris takes you back in time to the thriving 20’s in Paris. The main character, Gil, who is played by Owen Wilson, is a struggling American writer. Gil lived in Paris once before and very much regrets leaving; he is a romantic who enjoys walking the streets of Paris in the rain. His fiancée, Inez, who is played by Rachel McAdams, is more so the opposite. She is a more logical thinker, not so imaginative and outside the box. She does not long for this cushy lifestyle of literature and passion in Paris; instead she wants to live in Malibu.

While Gil, Inez and her parents are visiting Paris, Inez goes out dancing one night and Gil decides to walk home alone. Gil gets lost, but stumbles upon time portal that brings him back to the 1920s each night at midnight. The 1920s is what Gil views as the “Golden Age”, the picture-perfect time period to live in. While Gil is visiting the 1920s, he meets some remarkable people. He meets Zelda and Scott Fitsgerald, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker as well as Ernest Hemingway. Gil could not be more amazed at his experiences. Hemingway agrees to show Gil's up-and-coming novel to Gertrude Stein to look over.

The following night, Gil attempts to show Inez this remarkable gateway to the 1920s but while they wait she becomes annoyed and impatient, thinking he is going crazy and that nothing was going to happen. Inez takes a taxi home and Gil waits, and as the clock strikes midnight, he travels back in time again.

For the next couple nights, Gil spends his time in the beautiful past time of Paris. He meets many more historical writers and artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, just to name a few. His late night wanderings make his fiancée suspicious, as well as her father. Inez’s father hires a detective to follow Gil each night to see what he is up too; however, this plan does not work out too well. The detective ends up “going missing”, in other words, going back in time along with Gil, except to a further back time period.

In the end, Gil retrieves his edited novel from Gertrude Stein, and based on her edits, Gil believes his fiancée is cheating on him. He confronts Inez, in the present, and she admits to these accusations. Gil, not to heartbroken over it, ends up cutting things off with Inez and moves to Paris.  

Overall, while visiting, Gil begins to sort out his unhappiness with his job, his life and his fiancé. However, after talking to people in that era, he begins to realize that almost everyone wishes to live in a different time that they themselves have pictured to be perfect and better than their present. I really enjoyed this movie! It was beautifully done. The scenes of Paris were gorgeous and the way the artists connected with the readings and research we have been doing in class was very interesting. Also, I liked the modern twist it had with the romantic story line, as well as the actors.

Ernest Hemingway: Dialogue

After reading the stories of Ernest Hemingway I have a good idea of his style of writing as an author. These stories are memoirs written by Hemingway from the 1900s. His writing style is very unique. While reading, many different characteristics of his style stuck out to me. His short sentences, descriptive nature while explaining characters, setting and plot, as well as his use of dialogue throughout his pieces.

Hemingway’s style of writing is direct. His sentences are short, but I like how he gets to the point. The dialogue is also written this way. When Hemingway does decide to use dialogue in his pieces, which does not seem too often to me, the messages are short and specific. This allows the reader to have to find other ways to connect to the characters rather than connect with them through their words. Though the dialogue itself is short, Hemingway writes long detailed paragraphs about the plot, setting and what is happening to balance out the short excerpts of dialogue. I really like this technique because it really paints a picture in the readers mind and allows you to enjoy the story. Also, this pushes the reader to learn about the characters in other ways rather than through the dialogue. Hemingway is very focused on giving the reader an essence of the situation rather than have them focusing on the things the characters are saying to one another.

I believe you do not need to have quotation marks in a story or book in order to describe a conversation someone is having. I enjoyed the descriptive ways Hemingway showed the reader different characters personalities and characteristics without dialogue but some people may believe the only way to understand a character is to actually have them speak. I consider this because generally, dialogue is used to give life and personality to characters and without it, readers may get the idea that the characters are emotionless or dry. But Hemingway uses his description of plot and the characters to show the reader those characteristics in different ways, which I personally enjoy.

Responses to 3 Pieces from The Ocean State Review

1.       Response to “George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill”

I know leaving the grill was the right thing. Knowing it’s there with mother gives me a sense of security, a sense of solidity. I had to take it out of our pile to take home three times before she gave in a let us keep it there. Both of us so stubborn to get our way, but why? Why so much tension and pressure behind this grill. Just knowing it is in that cabinet, where it always has been and where it always should be gives me a sense of warmth and happiness.

 

2.        Response to “Fickle” and “Nuance”

 Interminable

Are you here to help or to hurt? H asks It with no response. H’s confused whether ignore It or to acknowledge It. The mystery the confusion all muddled into one. Why are you with me? Why are you here? Never an answer or a solution, just a ride that never ends.

 

3.       Response to “Sour Birth”

Dear Poem,

What did you mean when saying “Just a sour birth”. How can a birth be sour and why would you change the context of something so simple into something bizarre. A sour birth? Please respond.

 

While reading these pieces in The Ocean State Review I was really intrigued and I got lost in a lot of the poems and stories. They were very mind altering and made you really think about hidden meanings. I loved it. The ones I chose were “George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill” by Halina Duraj, “Fickle” and “Nuance” by Jim Elledge and “Sour Birth” by Pierre Joris.

“George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill”is about a couple that is going to visit the girlfriend’s mother’s house. The couple cooks on the mother’s George Foreman grill and it, of course, has significance in this piece. The way I interpreted the grill’s importance to the girlfriend was that it almost stood for a common variable in her life. Something that would not change, something that would always be there. I believe she got upset with the fact that the mother was pushing for her to bring the grill home with her was because she thought that so much was changing, that if she took the grill home more and more things that she once knew to be true would change as well. I decided to respond to this piece as if the girlfriend did not take the grill home what would have happened. I changed the scenario and rewrote the ending. I believed she would have less anxiety if she had just kept the grill at her mother’s house and not stressed about it so much. It would have involved less alteration in her life and made her feel more stable.

“Fickle” and “Nuance” were both short poems but had a lot of depth. To me, the poems were about a man seeing a spirit. I believe he was confused as what the spirits purpose was, and what to do about it. Whether It was something that was ultimately going to hurt him, or to help him. I got this impression from when he states “H’s pissed that The Unseen keeps Itself hidden from him when he needs It most” almost as if H looks to It for guidance and direction yet does not receive any. For my response, I wrote an addition to this poem sequence. Writing as if I was the author, continuing the story of H and H is questioning The Unseen’s purpose.

Lastly I chose, "Sour Birth". This poem was extremely brilliant to me. It made me connect with the saying, everything happens for a reason. Although this poem is short, it had so much to say. I liked how it personified the poem, as if it had an opinion as to what it wanted the line “Just as our birth” to say. This connects to so many scenarios of peoples mistakes turning into something to ultimately benefit them or detriment them. I believe everything happens for a reason and this poem just showed an example of that. For my response I wrote a note to the poem, asking it why it changed the context of the poem, and what it meant by it. If only the poem could answer my question…

 

 

Junot Diaz and Lorrie Moore: Voice

The two stories "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)” by Junot Diaz, and “How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)” by Lorrie Moore both were written from the narrator talking to the narrator. While reading these stories, I got the sense as if the author was writing to themselves from the future.

The first story "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)” is pretty much about what the title describes, how to effectively go about setting up a date with a girl of a certain race. This story goes through different circumstances on the date from who will drop her off, what to do if she is late, and if she will put out at the end of the date and how to deal with these circumstances based on their ethnicity.

The way the other is speaking is as if it is from experience, as if he has done this before and know what is to come. This is why I believe he is writing to himself. Also, the author’s voice has got some slang to it. This gives the reader an idea of where the narrator is from by giving his voice some personality. For example, he uses some Spanish slang as well as improper English such as “ain’t”.

In the second story “How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)” is written out year by year, but backwards. This made it interesting yet confusing because as the reader you know what is happening but not what happened, that is until you read what happened… if that makes sense. This story was intriguing due to that style of writing. This story was also written in a way as if the author was writing from her own experience. She was almost telling herself what she did during those years, what happened, and how it affects her.

The story was extremely sad. It mentioned the death of her father and mother as well as her going through three abortions. You can tell by her tone of voice she gets more and more sad during the years not knowing why her life is turning out the way it is. She sleeps with random men, cuts all of her hair off “short as a boy”, and watches her mom suffer being sick and has to take care of her. This story does not mention many positive things that happened throughout the years.

These stories definitely connected when it comes to the author’s voices. They both spoke from a place of experience and from a place of knowing what to do next and what was going to happen. I enjoyed this style of writing especially with the way Moore added in the backtracking aspect. As the reader you had to really pay attention and put the pieces together throughout the reading.

1,000 Word Modern Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time in the year 2012 lived a young girl named Bella Cruise. Bella Cruise was shy and timid, yet romantic and a daydreamer. Bella laughed at her friends joke as the bell rang. She ran off to her next class, physics… her favorite class. Honestly, Bella hated physics, what she liked rather was who she sat next to, Jeff Andrews, the most handsome popular boy in eleventh grade. Although Bella was a freshman, she had her heart set on Jeff. Jeff had sexy brown hair, caramel skin, light eyes… perfection in Bella’s. Bella had her mind set on her dream boy but knew he would never even look at her twice. He was muscular and confident, while she was bashful and quiet. But a girl can dream right?

         She walked into the classroom and sat at her desk. Jeff came in her eyes glued to him as if he was moving in slow motion as he walked to his seat jerking his head to flip his hair like skaters do. Jeff sat behind her today and as Bella focused on Jeff she did not realize a geeky kid with duct tape holding his glasses together taking the seat next to her. She had never seen him before but was upset he took Jeff’s seat. She hurried up to the desk and asked the teacher, Mr. Brennan, why the nerdy kid was sitting next to her. Mr. Brennan smiled and replied, "That's Howie, and he’s new here. I expect you to be kind to him Bella, make him feel welcome." Poor guy, his name was Howie.

         Although Bella was shy, she was always kind. Ever since her mother past, she promised herself she was always try her hardest to be the nicest and kindest she could be. Of course, that was back when Bella was seven and in second grade. Almost anyone would have broken their promise by now... but not Bella, she loved her mother too much. And Bella loved her Grandma, her mother's mother. Grandma was old and wrinkly, she was thin and dying. Bella loved her dad as well. Bella’s dad owned a local diner and he never seemed to have time for Bella ever since her mom died. Grandma said that was because Bella reminded him too much of her mother and he didn't want to be reminded of her.

         One person Bella did not like, was her stepmother to be. Bella hated her stepmother to be.  The marriage was planned for two days. In two days, Bella would have a “stepmother,” Heather. Heather also had two daughters, Crystal and Ruby. Her stepsisters to be looked like girl versions of Jeff Andrews. All three were equally as mean and coldhearted.

         Math that day was hard for Bella, since she couldn't daze out staring at Jeff by accident, since she would have to twist around in her chair, which would be way too obvious. Instead she held her phone under the table the whole class checking Twitter and Facebook.

         School was almost over for the day, when a voice came over the intercom: "Attention, students. This is your principal, Mr. J. I would like to announce the dance next Friday night. Just a week away. The dance's theme this year is fairy tales so, when you get a date for the dance, choose a fairy tale to dress up as. Have fun!" The bell rang almost cutting off the end of the announcement and the whole school flooded with anxious teenagers trying to get out.

         Bella texted her best friend Carly, “Fairy tales? Sounds fun. Who r u going with?"

Bella’s phone vibrated within seconds after sending the text, "Yeah, it duz sound fun. Ummmm, I don't have a date yet."

Bella replies, “Come on, Carly of course u do! U had one last week, remember? U wuldn't tell me who it wuz!”

         “Fine, I'll tell u. Michael Dawson.”

         “Ooooh! Ur so lucky! Did u guys decide on costumes?

         “Yeah, we're gunna b Riding Hood and the Wolf”

         “Jealous”

         “ Wen someone asks u, who will u want to go as?”

         “ U mean if someone asks? Cinderella and the prince, of course.”

         “Really?”

         “Yup.”

         Bella’s phone vibrated again but it wasn’t another text from Carly, her father was calling.

          "Bella, come down for dinner!"

         Bella ran downstairs to her dad and smiled at him. "Hey, dad, what's up? What's for dinner?"

         "I'm going to order pizza. What kind do you want?"

         "Pepperoni, please.”

         When the pizza came, Bella’s dad opened a soda and they ate in silence until the doorbell rang. Both confused, Bella went to the door and it was a pizza man with two more pizzas, one with mushrooms and one with pineapple.

         "Um… we already got our pizza.” asked a puzzled Bella.

         "Dad, why'd you get these? You know I hate mushrooms and pineapple on pizza!"

         “I didn’t get them, must be a mistake.”

         Bella began to explain to the pizza man that these pizzas must be a mistake as a red car pulled into the drive way. "Ah! Heather!" exclaimed Bella’s father. "The pizzas must have been for her daughters, they love pineapple and mushroom!" Bella rolled her eyes, put the pizzas on the table, put on her best fake smile, and went out to see her soon to be new family members. Crystal came lively up on the porch and gave Bella a huge hug, a fake forced hug at that.

         They all sat down, drinking soda, eating pizza. Bella was forced to eat mushrooms because her father and Heather ate the rest of her pepperoni. Later in the night, Bella was sent to her room to do her homework while Crystal and Ruby were allowed to watch TV.

         A couple of days passed and Bella’s father had got married. Her father was in such a honeymoon phase that he could not recognize that his new wife had quickly isolated Bella treating her like crap. Bella had become a servant in the house and was expected to cater to all of Heather and her daughter’s needs.

         One day at school Bella was sitting at her desk in math exhausted from her life at home. She laid her head on the desk and felt a nudge in her back.

         “Tired?” questioned a voice.

         Bella with her hair draped over her face turned around to see what Howie wanted. To her surprise, Jeff was sitting next to her.

         “Um, no, just um resting…” Bella said flustered as she ran her fingers through her hair to make herself look presentable.

         “Haha” he laughed as he watched her troubled. “Well I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me.”

         “Yes of course!” she said with such excitement. “Well I mean I could” she said after realizing her excitement sounded a little too desperate.

         They talked and as Bella wished, they decided to go as Prince and Cinderella.

Crystal and Ruby desperately tried to find dates, but couldn't. They decided they would go by themselves in old dresses they found in the attic. In between chores and school, Bella had no time to make or find or buy a Cinderella gown. The night of the dance came and Bella helped Crystal and Ruby into their costumes and they took off in their car.

         After they left, Bella just wasn’t up for the dance anymore. She had no dress and was so exhausted. Bella heard a knock at the door, her Grandma appeared on the front door step asked Bella why she wasn’t at the dance. Bella reminded her that she had no costume, quickly bursting into tears. But Grandma cheered her up by presenting her with a soft satin, periwinkle gown. The top was strapless and the whole gown was covered with sparkling beads. Underneath the skirt were about twelve skirts made of tulle. It was beautiful, just like a Cinderella gown should look like. She pulled her hair up and she slipped plastic shoes onto her feet. She arrived at the ball and linked eyes with Jeff.

         They had a grand time at the dance. Crystal and Ruby kept giving Bella dirty looks. At midnight, Jeff told Bella he had had a crush on her for so long and was too shy to admit it. He expressed how beautiful he thought she looked and how happy he was to be with her that night. Then, Jeff asked Bella to be his girlfriend.  Shocked, Bella stared as he admitted he had always liked her. Not sure what to do, Bella fled the dance. As she ran out, Grandma was in the parking lot. As she jumped in the car, a plastic shoe fell out the door. Not having time to let Bella grab it, Grandma sped out of the lot.

         At school the next day, Jeff asked Bella what happened at the dance, and if she would go out with him. She said yes and he looked down at his shoes because he was so embarrassed and so glad. He noticed Bella had mismatching shoes on, one was a sneaker and one was the plastic shoe. He ran to his locker and came back to trade the sneaker for the second plastic one.

`They lived happily ever after.

Comparison of Fantastic Mr. Fox Film and Story

After reading the story and watching the film of Fantastic Mr. Fox I see many differences. I believe the movie was geared toward a more mature audience. It involved a lot of humor and funny moments that adults would understand more than children. I caught myself laughing many times during this movie. The film has a modern twist to it making it very relatable and made me as the viewer find humor in the way the animals acted so similar to humans. I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it.

On to the comparison, the story and film were of course similar because they are they “same” story, but the mood, style, plot and even story line differed. The characters were all the same, from the mean farmers, to Mr. Fox and his wife, and the other animal friends that come along. The mood of the story is more of an innocent, happy, victory of the animals feel. The mood of the film is more humorous, witty, suspenseful feel. I enjoyed both in their different ways.

In the beginning of the story Mr. Fox is living on a hill under a tree with his four children. He goes out to fetch dinner one night and the three mean farmers shoot at him and catch his tail. He survives but soon realizes the farmers are digging toward his underground home trying to kill him. In the beginning of the movie Mr. Fox lives in a hole with his wife and son. He is unhappy with the way that he is living and feels “poor”. Mr. Fox is a newspaper man and is determined to move into a tree to feel less poor. The Badger who is a lawyer warns “Foxy” that moving into this tree is not a good idea due to the danger it would put him and his family in because it is located near Boggis, Bunce and Bean’s farms.

In the middle of the story, Mr. Fox is digging and digging to get away from the farmers. The farmers realize they are not going to reach Mr. Fox by digging so they get mechanical diggers to dig faster. As they are digging they are getting very tired and helpless. Mr. Fox must think of a new idea to save him and his family. In the middle of the movie, Foxy’s nephew arrives to his new home. They get settled in but Foxy is still not satisfied and decides to go out and do “one last job” and steal from the farmers, and he has Opossum as his sidekick. After visiting all three farms, the farmers realize what Foxy is up to and wait outside his house for him and shoot at him but only catch his tail. The famers begin to dig out Foxy’s home and so the fox family digs in the opposite direction to run from the farmers. The farmers go to extreme measures to catch Foxy. They assemble their workforces around his home with guns, they use machinery and also bomb his hole.

In the end of the story, Mr. Fox thinks of a new plan to dig to the three different farms and enter from underneath. This way he can steal the farmers produce without them seeing him and without being in danger. Mr. Fox digs with his sons. He ultimately creates numerous underground trails which allows all of the underground animals to access the food and be able to survive underground without having to go above ground in danger. In the end of the movie, Foxy thinks of an idea to save himself as well as all the underground animals. He decides to dig to the three farms and steal their produce, same as in the story. Unlike in the story, Foxy digs with a huge group of animals underground. They end up succeeding and getting enough food for all of the animals. They assemble a feast underground and meanwhile, the farmers have put a hose down the whole and flood their feast with cider. Before they were all flushed into the sewer, Foxy’s son Ash and nephew Kristopherson go out on their own mission to steal back Foxy’s tail. When Foxy is in the sewer, he decides to surrender himself, white flag and all, in order to allow his friends to live again and stop hiding. The farmers end up kidnapping Foxy’s nephew for ransom and then there is a meeting for exchange for the nephew and Foxy.

The ending of the movie is much more detailed and the main difference between the movie and the story. Ultimately, Foxy and all of the animals live happily underground in the sewer and also find their way underground a trap door leading to the nearest grocery store. Overall, the movie was much more modern, detailed, funny and fresh. There were many twists and detailed scenes that made the movie enjoyable. Also something I really liked were how developed the characters were and how they each had their own personalities. Every animal had a job, Ash was kind of weird and different while Kristopherson was intelligent and almost like the “perfect” kid. This made the characters personable, relatable and more significant in the movie.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Story)

Fantastic Mr. Fox begins by introducing the three mean farmers of the town. There is farmer Boggis, farmer Bunce and farmer Bean. Farmer Bunce owns a duck and goose farm, Boggis owns a chicken farm, and Bean brews cider. All the farmers are extremely nasty and not well liked in town. Each farmer takes great pride in their farm and their worst enemy is the fox that comes and steals their produce from them; this fox being Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox lives in a hill with his wife and four small foxes. Every night his wife tells Mr. Fox what she would like for dinner, and to provide for his family, Mr. Fox goes out to one of the farms owned by Bunce, Boggis and Bean to retrieve dinner. Although this is a tricky task seeing as how the farmers all want to kill Mr. Fox, he is very clever and knows how to not get caught. He places himself in certain areas so that the wind blows toward him and he can smell the farmers if they are near. This has become a tradition with Mr. Fox and the farmers have had enough and are going to do whatever they can to catch him!

One day, the farmers went to Mr. Fox’s house and waited for him to crawl out of the hole to kill him. Mr. Fox again outsmarted the farmers by realizing they were waiting for him to kill him. Although they clipped his tail, they did not kill Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox went back into his home and waited with his family for the farmers to leave. The farmers were getting impatient waiting for Mr. Fox to leave so they began to dig into Mr. Fox’s home. The fox family began to dig in the opposite direction to escape from the farmers. After about an hour they thought they were far enough and safe, but the farmers did not stop. After a couple of days of being down in the tunnel, they were getting hungry and the farmers were not budging so Mr. Fox had to think of a new plan. While Mr. Fox thought of a new plan, the farmes got mechanical diggers to dig faster deep into Mr. Fox’s tunnel. They were determined to catch Mr. Fox. “‘Did you hear that, Mr. Fox!” yelled Bean, bending low and shouting down the hole. ‘It’s not over yet, Mr. Fox! We’re not going home till we’ve strung you up dead as a dingbat!’” (p. 22)

Mr. Fox thought of an idea but did not share it with his family in case it did not work he did not want them to be disappointed. Mrs. Fox had become ill from lack of food and from digging so Mr. Fox and his four kids left her behind as they went out to pursue Mr. Fox’s new plan. They dug and dug and finally reached a wood floor board. Mr. Fox lifted it up and celebrated because his plan had worked. “’I’ve done it!’ he yelled. ’I’ve done it first time! I’ve done it! I’ve done it!’ He pulled himself up through the gap in the floor and started prancing and dancing with joy.” (p. 30) He made it to Boggie’s Chicken House Number One. He grabbed some chickens and had one of his children run them back to his wife as he was on to his next undertaking.

He again, dug and dug and along the way ran into an upset Mr. Badger. Mr. Badger explained that all of the underground animals had to hide underground and were starving all due to Mr. Fox. “’I know it’s your fault!’ said Badger furiously. ‘And the farmers are not going to give up till they’ve got you. Unfortunatley that means us as well. It means everyone on the hill.’” (p. 38) Mr. Fox filled Mr. Badger in on his news about the chickens and asked him to help finish off the mission. Mr. Badger joined and in no time they arrived at their second stop, Bunce’s duck and geese farm. They grabbed ducks, geese, carrots and bacon without leaving a trace and went on to their last stop, Bean’s Cider Cellar.

When they arrived to Bean’s Cider Cellar, they were not the first ones there. Rat was there, upset that Mr. Fox and Mr. Badger had arrived. “’Go away!’ shreiked Rat. ‘Go on, beat it! This is my private pitch!’” (p. 48) They of course went in instead, grabbed some cider and were so excited to return to their families and friends for the great feast.

At the feast, Mr. Fox announced that now that they had these underground ways to get food, there was no reason for anyone to go above ground anymore. He explained “’We will make,’ said Mr. Fox, ‘a little underground villiage, with streets and houses on each side – separate houses for Badgers and Moles and Rabbits and Weasels and Foxes. And every day I will go shopping for you all. And every day we weill eat like kings.” (p. 60) As they enjoyed their meal, the farmers still waited and waited and “as far as I know, they are still waiting.” (p. 62)

Overall this story  revolves around a witty, clever fox who outsmarts three farmers and ends up benefiting all of the animals that live underground by creating tunnels that take them directly to the farmers produce and none of the underground animals will ever have to live in fear above ground again. I really liked the way this story was written. I loved the imigary and how although it was a short story it was broken down into chapters. I overall really enjoyed reading this and I am excited to see how the film differs from the story. 

Lydia Davis & Carson McCullers

The stories by Lydia Davis and Carson McCullers were all very interesting yet odd.  There were three stories by Lydia Davis, “The Fish Tank”, “The Center of the Story”, and “The Other”. “The Fish Tank” and “The Other” were short and captivating. “The Center of the Story” was longer but more confusing to follow. Carson McCullers’ story “Correspondence” was a little more straight forward as far as author’s language goes, but the story behind it was odd and somewhat disturbing.

 

First, “The Fish Tank” was probably my favorite of the three out of Lydia Davis’. It was very short and the authors writing painted a clear picture of what was happening in your head. He or she was staring into the fish bowl, analyzing the fish as they swam. The narrator imagines eating the fish and how “fresh” they would taste, but as she is thinking this, she recognizes her shadow in the tank referring to herself as their “predator.” I believe the word “predator” showed the reader that she felt bad and not want to eat the fish anymore realizing she would be the one to end their innocent lives in the fish tank.

Next, “The Center of the Story” was extremely confusing to me. I read it multiple times to try and comprehend it better. The story is about a woman who is trying to write a story but cannot seem to determine what should be the “center.” She has many different thoughts going into this story ranging from a hurricane, to a sick man, to her study of the bible, etc. I believe her problem was that none of her thoughts that she wanted to put into her story really related to one another so that is why she could not determine the “center.” Throughout the story she flips back and forth on what she believes to be the most important point to be the center. The last paragraph of the story helped me to understand the concept a little better and wrapped up her thoughts. She was searching for the “center” or the purpose of her story, yet nothing she was talking about really had a center itself. The hurricane never struck, the man was sick but never died, and she had a religious interest but no faith.

The story “The Other” reminded me of two sisters. One sister does something to purposely annoy the other, and the other puts it back the way she wants it. The sister continues to do it knowing it is going to annoy the other. The sister talks about it to her friends and finds it very funny and entertaining and the other sister hears, of course not thinking it is funny. That is what I got out of that story.

 Lastly, “The Correspondence” was a longer story about a girl named Henrietta or Henky for short. Henky is an unpopular girl in school searching for a pen pal to befriend from South Africa. The story starts off normally, Henky writing a letter introducing herself and how excited she is to exchange letters with her pen pal Manoel. As the story goes on, we see that Manoel never answers and Henky gets very upset. She continues to write letters describing her disappointment. This made me feel bad for both characters, for Henky because she was so excited about the thought of a pen pal but also for Manoel because Henky was writing to him as if it was his responsibility to answer. Manoel probably had a language barrier or was frightened from all of the aggression in the letters.  

Aimee Bender and Rick Bass

The two short stories “The Rememberer” by Aimee Bender and “Fires” by Rick Bass were both stories about lovers who had difficult relationships. In “The Rememberer” the character Annie was in a relationship with someone who was experiencing a reverse evolution. In “Fires” the narrator seems to be falling for a runner named Glenda. Their relationship is a bit complicated. The narrator tries not to become more then friends with her yet throughout the story they seem to become very close.

“The Rememberer” is narrated by the character Annie whose lover is experiencing a reverse evolution. When reading this, I was confused as to what the author was trying to present when explaining the reverse evolution. Annie talks about how her lover, Ben, rapidly is changing ultimately becoming nothing. She reminisces on their relationship and on how they never could seem to just enjoy each other’s company or have fun with one another because they were always overthinking things. For example, Annie reminisces on the first time they had sex, saying that they both kept their eyes open, the lights were on and they ended up having an hour-long conversation about poetry. I believe the metaphor of this story is that sometimes over thinking things too much in the long run makes you end up not realizing what is going on to begin with. Annie was over calculating her life with Ben, not allowing herself to just enjoy each other’s company which eventually led to her losing someone very special to her. This story was very captivating and I enjoyed the background message the author put in using the reverse evolution.

In “Fires”, the narrator is a low key man living a simple life in the woods. When I began reading this and it was talking about the animals and the nature I was confused as to how it was going to connect to the first story, but then, Glenda was introduced. Glenda is the other main character, who turns into the narrator’s lover. She is a runner and they become friends, he follows behind her on a bike to protect her as she runs. This story moved along very slowly and was not as suspenseful as the first story. From what I knew at this point in the story, I inferred they would become close as they were together every day and he protected her as she ran, then they went swimming together and he slept next to her as she napped, but that didn’t happen. In the end she just ended up leaving him with nothing more than a goodbye. I believe the reason she did this was because she began to feel herself falling further for him. They did have somewhat of an intimate moment in the lake after she lit a fire in the valley, but that did not lead to anything either. Something that made me ponder was the title of the story, “Fires”. There must’ve been some meaning to the fire that Glenda lit, which could’ve ultimately killed them both.

Both of these stories deal with lovers and I believe they connect in a sense that the lovers did not quite know how to connect with one another so they left the situation. In “The Rememberer” Ben ended up ultimately leaving Annie because she could not do anything but overthink situations, and Glenda ended up leaving her lover because she began to realize she was falling for him.

Story I Love

For as long as I can remember, every Christmas my family has attended a neighborhood Christmas party. “Santa Clause” comes bearing gifts and all the kids sit around in patience waiting for him to, of course, hand out presents, but to also read a story. Every year he reads the same book, The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. You would think the same story every year would become boring and less enjoyable, but I loved hearing this short story every year and letting it take my imagination somewhere else. This short story is also considered a poem do to its rhyme and rhythm.  

The story begins with the author painting a picture of the setting in your head. It is a quiet Christmas Eve, and “not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.” Stockings were hung and everyone was in bed innocently waiting for St. Nicholas to arrive. Suddenly, the narrator hears a noise outside on the lawn. He springs out of bed and opens the shutters to see what the noise is, and of course trying to see if he can witness St. Nicholas arrive, and to his surprise he does. He sees “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer” as well as St. Nick! St. Nick addresses the reindeer to fly by calling them each by name. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen! The sleigh is filled to the top with children’s toys and the narrator hears the sounds of each hoof of the reindeer on the roof. 

The narrator then witnesses St. Nick come down the chimney dressed in all fur and covered in soot from the chimney. He describes his twinkling eyes, merry cheeks, snow white beard and jolly round belly. He watches St. Nick go to work, delivering his toys, without a word, and then quickly he arose back up the chimney. The end of the story wraps up with St. Nick leaving the house with his reindeer effortlessly with a whistle, and wishing “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

This is by far one of my favorite stories for many reasons. First, it was something I always looked forward to every year as a child to hear “Santa Clause” read this story at the Christmas party and allow myself to get lost in the story and paint the picture in my head. To this day I still enjoy listening to this story at the Christmas party. It has become an annual tradition that has been passed down, and I will introduce this story to my children. 

That being said, the reason I truly love this story is the immense amount of detail the author puts in and makes you feel like you are the narrator. You can picture every moment of the story. For example, when Moore is describing how the reindeer fly, he describes it as how leaves during a hurricane fly, and mount in the sky. I enjoy the way Moore writes and focuses on the descriptive words to make the reader feel very involved in the story. Another reason I love this story, which is also considered a poem, is the rhyme. Every line rhymes creating a gentle, musical effect and it makes the story all the more fun and pleasing to read. 

This story is also very relatable when you are a child. Children of course believe in Santa Clause and are always trying to sneak into the living room on Christmas Eve and catch him delivering presents. This story shows how the narrator did catch Santa, so it makes the reader use their imagination as to what it would really be like if you were to catch Santa Clause on Christmas Eve. The element of wonder in this story makes the reader get lost in the magic of Christmas and the true meaning of what it stands for.

Overall, this is one of my favorite short stories due to the tradition and memory I have experienced with it as well as the description and the way the author wrote the story. Every time I hear this story I get lost in the magic of Christmas and feel as though I was the one who caught Santa Clause delivering presents to me. Every year I look forward to hearing this story around Christmas and I fall in love with it again every time I hear it.

Heyyy

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