It's been a while since I last posted.  Almost a year, actually.  I don't really have anything to say, I pretty much just wanted to say I've been here and posted something new!

“Faulkner and Racial Prejudice”

            Racism is a horrible thing, in my opinion, but it is a part of our modern lives.  When someone is accused of being racist in our world today, they often lose much of their popularity.  Usually, famous people such as actors and authors are looked down upon severely for being racist.  This is an unheard of thing, people with so much to lose speaking badly of people of other races.  But when you take a good look at the author named William Faulkner, it is hard to decipher is true feelings when it comes to race.

            I’ve only read two of Faulkner’s pieces and I have my own personal views on whether or not he is racist.  In the story called “That Evening Sun,” he uses the N-word.  This doesn’t necessarily mean is racist because in order to write a spectacular story, you must get into your characters’ heads, speak their dialect, and make sure you understand their every movement.  If you can’t understand your own characters, how is anyone else supposed to? Because Faulkner is from the south, this immediately implies that he is racist because of the way he talks in his stories.  I believe that it is possible that he was racist and maybe he did go a little overboard on the dialogue in “That Evening Sun,” but as an author, he is supposed to surprise people, make them think.  And he writes very well, even if it is a little unorthodox.  In “A Rose for Emily,” I saw basically no racial remarks.  I understand that he constantly refers to Emily’s servant as a Negro, but there is no sign of disrespect or hate when he refers to this man.  Also, he uses the N-word in this piece once, but I believe that it is only to relay the character’s attitude and way of thinking.  There is a thin line between being racist and simply making your characters realistic and I believe that Faulkner definitely balances on it. 

A Summary on “A Rose for Emily”

This story is about a woman named Emily Grierson.  It tells us about the life she leads and how she lives it.  It discusses her love life and death.  “A Rose for Emily” is a story that rambles on and on about a rich, stuck-up woman that does absolutely nothing with her life.

            In the beginning, we learn immediately that Emily has died.  Judging by the way she treats the men that come to her house to talk about taxes after her father’s death, we can tell that she is every bit as stuck-up as everyone says.  She, in my opinion, was arrogant simply because she had money and her last name was Grierson. 

            Despite her flaws, a man actually courts Miss Emily.  His name was Homer Barron.  The town is so happy for Emily because she has finally found someone that will marry her and be with her.  But when Homer disappears, so does Miss Emily.  She never leaves her house and has her servant do all of the errands.  Finally, Emily dies and the townspeople go upstairs in her house and make a horrific discovery.  Homer hadn’t disappeared of his own accord.  Emily had killed him using arsenic she had purchased at the drugstore.  She had left him lying in the bed they shared, rotting and decaying.  She would lie beside his corpse, showing that she was quite obviously insane.   

“The End of Something” was written by Earnest Hemmingway.  It is about a young man named Nick Adams and his girl Marjory.  They go fishing together, just spend quality time with each other.  Towards the end of the short story, Nick tells Marjorie that their relationship just isn’t fun anymore and that he doesn’t think that it’s going anywhere.  She says nothing.  All she does is get in the boat and leave Nick (who is having second thoughts) alone to think about what he has done.

            In “The Three Day Blow,” Nick is still coping with losing Marjorie.  He goes to his friend, Bill’s house and proceeds to get drunk and talk about inane things such as baseball and books they’ve read.  The drunker he gets, the more the whole Marjorie thing bothers him.  Bill finally touches on the subject and Nick is able to express his opinion to a certain point.  We can see that Bill doesn’t want Nick to fall into marriage with Marjorie because men that are married get “a fat, married look.” So, Nick doesn’t say much, but it’s obvious that he is feeling the strain that he has placed upon himself.  Later, Nick thinks that he could always go into town on Saturday and see her.  This cheers him up, and, despite being drunk, the two men take down their guns and go hunting.

            “The Big Two-Hearted River” is all about Nick getting away from his main problem with Marjorie.  He goes camping by himself.  The setting in this story shows us things that the missing dialogue does not.  We gain the knowledge and symbolism just from reading how Hemmingway describes Nick’s surroundings.  For example, he leaves a burned, charred area for a deep, lush one.  This, to me, shows that he is leaving his problems behind (the burned area) for something different, different thoughts and feelings (the green area).  There isn’t much talking going on.  All Nick does is camp out by a river and go fishing.  He catches some trout and comes across a swamp.  This swamp also symbolizes something.  Nick’s biggest problem is the swamp.  He looks at it and figures that he won’t go in today, he’ll do it another time.  This shows that he isn’t ready to face his problems just yet. 

            The way that Earnest Hemmingway writes is very unique.  He uses little dialogue and doesn’t seem to get into his characters’ heads.  We only get a grasp on what is happening by paying attention to the symbolism presented by the setting and reading between the lines.

            Personally, I think that Hemmingway would be a magnificent writer if he’d use a little more dialogue and action in his stories.  You can’t always present a story by relying on the metaphors you’ve hidden here and there.  It gets tiring, always having to figure out what the author is trying to say when he doesn’t really even give you a clue.  Also, he writes like a child.  He doesn’t seem to have a wide vocabulary and after a while this gets rather annoying.  Things that don’t need to be explained are pounded into your skull using simple words that don’t make me feel as if he thinks he’s superior to me, that he needs to talk down to his readers.  All in all, I don’t care for Hemmingway’s writing technique one bit.

Love is different for everyone.  Thus, the relationships they share with the one true love of their lives differ as well.  The way some people see relationships can be completely different from the way someone else sees it.  This is so because, as we all know, nobody thinks like anyone else.  We are all different and have different opinions.  When I read these five stories and evaluated the relationships within each, I discovered that they were all quite different.

When we read “The Lottery”, I was rather disappointed in the way the author described the running of the little town.  It was obvious that in a relationship between a man and a woman, the man was definitely the dominant partner.  This is a very old-fashioned way of thinking, not all right in any way shape or form.  I think this because many of the characters’ actions and words show that this is their way of life.  For example, when a family is called to draw for the lottery and they only have a woman to do it, Mr. Summers actually asks if they don’t have a man or son that could do it instead of the woman that actually helped run the household.  This shows that women are held in low esteem.  The relationship between Bill and Tessie Hutchinson is different, but in many ways it is the same.  Tessie is a lot more rebellious than any of the other women, and her husband puts up with it, but she doesn’t show him much disrespect or dishonor.  She simply orders him around a bit.  The author teaches Tessie her lesson in the end by choosing Mrs. Hutchinson to be the one that “wins” the lottery.

 “The Lady or The Tiger” showed a kind of relationship with between the princess and her lover that proved, to me, that women can also have the upper hand in a relationship.  When the lover was being persecuted for committing a “crime,” his life was in the princess’s hands.  She knew which door contained the tiger and which contained the woman, so it was basically up to her, not destiny, to would determine her lover’s fate.  If she chose the door with the woman behind it, she would know that he could possibly be happy with another woman, which was definitely against her barbaric nature.  And if she chose the tiger, she would have to endure watching the love of her life die.  The author never tells us which door she chooses to send him to, but we can use our imaginations to finish the story the way we want it to end.  I personally believe that she chose the tiger because she couldn’t bear to send the man she loved to another woman’s arms.  She was selfish and would rather see him dead than lead a happy life without her.

             In “The Chaser,” a naïve man named Alan shows that his relationship with his wife, Diana, is dull and unhappy.  Alan goes to a shop in need of a love potion.  His wife isn’t as loving or devoted as Alan would like for her to be.  The old man that runs the shop constantly says things that have a double meaning, but Alan is either too stupid or too excited to realize this.  The potion is supposed to make Diana obsess over Alan, he is the only one that she would see or want.  The prospect of total and complete adoration from his wife only continues to charm Alan, which shows that maybe he is at the end of his rope.  His relationship might be going down the tubes and he desperately wants things to get better.  Overall, the relationship between Alan and Diana was unhappy and I get the impression that she is trying to let go of something that Alan is trying to cling to.

“A Haunted House” reveals a relationship between a man and a woman that was so strong that not even death could keep them apart.  The spirits of the two live in a house with another couple.  They are searching for something and, in the beginning of the story, we’re not sure what it is that they’re looking for.  By the end of the story, I figured that the thing they were looking for was love.  It never really comes out and says that that’s what they’re looking for, but it was hinted at.

The story “The Chrysanthemums” shows us a happy relationship in which the woman named Elysa doesn’t have issues with her husband, Henry Allen, but with herself.  A man comes up to her house in an old wagon in search of directions and something to fix so he could have a little bit of cash.  At first, she refuses his services, saying she can fix anything that needs to be fixed.  Then, he comments on her beautiful chrysanthemums and her demeanor changes.  She gives him some seeds in a pot and tells him to tell the new owners of the flowers to take good care of them.  She gives him many tidbits of advice on caring for the flowers and lets him fix one of her pans so he can earn a quick fifty cents.  Later, when her husband returns, she is spruced up and looking good, feeling strong.  At least she’s trying to feel strong.  She has issues with herself for some reason.  The reason she feels like this is never made clear to us, but there is a problem nonetheless.  By the way her husband acts, we can tell that he is used to comforting her and feels good when she does, which signifies a happy relationship.  He compliments her on how good she looks and when she says she’s strong, he simply agrees.  Whether he thinks she is or not is a mystery.  On their way to town, the woman sees the pot of chrysanthemum seeds lying on the side of the road, discarded like some old trash.  This hurts her deeply and we find that, even though she loves her husband, she can’t confide in him for fear of seeming weak.  She simply cowers down in the passenger seat and cries to herself.

              The way these authors viewed the relationship between a man and a woman differed greatly.  I found loving, barbaric, unhappy, happy, and very unique relationships within the pages of these stories.  I found that many of these relationships showed that the man was dominant, which isn’t in any way, shape, or form fair to women.  This, however, is how the author chose to show the relationships.  We don’t have to agree, but the fact is that some relationships are still like that today.  We all hope to have a happy relationship with the one we love, but do we always get what we want? No, but if we did, life wouldn’t be life now would it?

<!-- BEGIN bunnyhero labs pet code -->
<a href="http://bunnyherolabs.com/adopt/showpet.php?b=bWM9d29sZi5zd2YmY2xyPTB4YmZhZWNlJmNuPWNoZWVjaCZhbj1hbWJlcg=="><img src="http://petimage.bunnyherolabs.com/adopt/petimage/bWM9d29sZi5zd2YmY2xyPTB4YmZhZWNlJmNuPWNoZWVjaCZhbj1hbWJlcg==.png" width="250" height="300" border="0" alt="my pet!"></a>
<!-- END bunnyhero labs pet code -->

“The Chrysanthemums” was about a woman that had a garden in her front yard.  She had a magical touch with flowers, specifically chrysanthemums.  She could make them grow so big and beautiful that it was remarkable.  She’s out in her garden one day when a man that fixes things, such as pots and pans, stops by the house to ask for directions, and maybe fix something for some cash.  When he asks if she has anything that he can fix, she is adamant that she can fix those things by herself and won’t give him money that doesn’t need to be given.  Then he asks her about her flowers and her attitude is immediately lighter.  He comments on how beautiful they are and she finally gives him an old pan to fix.  He says that some folks up the road love chrysanthemums and would love to have some that would grow as beautiful as hers.  She eagerly gives him a pot with some seeds in it, along with instructions on how to make them grow.  He thanks her and heads out in the direction she’d told him to go.

            Later, when her husband gets home, they go to town to get something to eat.  As they are driving up the road, the woman sees something lying on the road and immediately knows what it is, but refuses to look at it.  The man had dropped the pot of seeds off by the road, never giving them a chance to grow and become beautiful.  This effects her deeply and she cries.

After reading the stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Lady or the

Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton, I have been thinking on the subject of fairness.  I believe that life, of course, is not fair, but when someone has the power to make something fair, they should.  Often, we find that things aren’t fair and we complain, but we must understand that we can’t simply have things handed to us on a silver platter because there would be no challenges or fun in life.  Though this is a hard concept to comprehend, I think that it is true.

            In “The Lottery,” I believe that, even though this is a barbaric thing to do in the first place, it was fair in its own way.  Everyone in the town had to draw a slip of paper from the same box, so everyone had an equal chance of being stoned to death.  The only thing that’s not fair about this whole ordeal is that someone is being killed for no reason.  They haven’t done anything wrong to deserve to be killed.  But, overall, this story is fair because everyone took an equal risk and nobody was biased. 

            In “The Lady or the Tiger,” however, I see absolutely nothing fair about the situation.  The person that has been accused of a crime or misdeed must stand in an arena in front of a crowd and the king and choose between two doors.  One door contains a tiger that will surely rip the person to shreds and behind the other stands a beautiful woman for him to marry.  Luck basically determines the person’s fate, not facts.  The person could be innocent and still get eaten by the tiger, whereas a guilty person could be married to the woman of his dreams.  How fair is it that the innocent should be punished and the wicked should be rewarded? Another thing that isn’t fair about this story is the situation the two main characters have been presented.  The princess and her lover have done nothing wrong, legally or morally, so why are they being punished? The princess should not have to decide whether or not to kill her lover, and he shouldn’t have to choose between death or a life without his love.  In a way, they are both being punished for loving, and there is nothing wrong with loving another person.

            In conclusion, I think that the difference between fair and unfair is huge, but we must learn to deal with the fact that we can’t always have things our way.  As I said before, life isn’t fair, but would it be much fun if it was all the time?

What is that feeling that burns in your chest
That makes you despise everyone around you.
That one emotion so different from the rest.
The one that makes your very soul so blue.
It will tear apart even the strongest man
From it's evil abuse, noone is safe.
And escape from its clutches, few can.
It wraps around you like a dark black cape.
It's a flame that burns the very heart
Nobody likes the person you've become.
Hurting and abusing are your sacred art,
In your desolate world, there is no sun.
And this, my friend, is the price you pay
When you allow hate to have its way.

I am sooooo bored right now.  I don't have anything to say cuz the creativity in my brain is currently on zero.  No poetry or cute little stories.  Actually, I never have cute little stories because cute little stories make me throw up and nobody likes to throw up. But I decided I have to write something down or else I'll feel like a failure.  And nobody likes that either.  I have to work tonight, so I'm really looking forward to that. I work til eleven o'clock tonight! Somebody put me out of my misery, huh? I have some stuff to do at the moment, so I gotta jet, but I promise I'll post some new poetry or something someday soon.  Have a great weekend everyone!