Everyday Use / Alice Walker / question 4

The mother’s refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change of character.  This is shown by Maggie’s and the mother’s contented position at the end of the story.   They seem set in their way and perfectly contented to stay that way.  Dee may be trying to change her out look and status in life but Maggie and the mother are not any were close to doing so.  Dee seems to want everything that has any meaning in their lives.  “This churn top is what I need,” (Walker 179).  This shows her need for the things of her past. This is odd though because the story makes it sound like she does not care for her past.  Dee seems to have always gotten her way because she was assertive while Maggie was shame faced.  The mother seems to finally decide Maggie needs her fair share especially since Dee seems to only care for history not the present.

Interpreter of Maladies / Jhumpa Lahiri / question 5

Mrs. Das thinks of Mr. Kapasi as almost a doctor.  She thinks of him as having the ability to decide what needs to be done to fix peoples problems.  She hopes he can fix her personal problem with her husband.  He however is less confident in his abilities.  He never glorified his position and is flattered when it is suggested he does more than just translate the people’s words.  “She sat a bit slouched at one end of the back sea, not offering her puffed rice to anyone,” (Lahiri 150).  This quote shows her indifference to her family. This is latter explained when she confesses her secret to Mr. Kapasi.  Mr. Kapasi thinks Mrs. Das is like him self which in a way she is.  She has a child that is not her husbands which has separated her from her husband.  Mr. Kapasi lost a child to disease which caused him and his wife to grow apart.

poems, how to?

I think Perrine’s approach to poems is a very efficient one.  His method seems very scientific.  He gives pretty strait forward rules for deciding the correct meaning of a poem. His ideas make sense.  Every poem has only one correct meaning.  I do disagree though some what.  Poems are like ink blots; they can be interpreted any way possible by different people.  Poems are often written for the enjoyment of others so if they find enjoyment out of interpreting the poem in a different way than it was intended than what is the problem with that. 

I found his explanations of the poems very satisfactory.  He explained in detail why they should be interpreted in the correct way.  He again sounds like a scientist or a lawyer because of his detailed explanations.  For the poem the Night-March it never occurred to me that it could be about the stars.  After he explains it, I can hardly picture it as anything ells.  At the end of his article he explains that symbols could be interpreted as a larger range of ideas.  I feel this kind of contradicts what he said earlier.  The poem of the Sick Rose is actually about a sick rose. This completely threw me of because I was thinking it was symbolic not literal, although the title does lend one to think of it literally.  Poems can easily become much more complex if parts of it are accidentally considered to be symbolic.

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald (pg 143-153)

Ops I did it again.  The main character dies again in the end of the book. After Gatsby’s death Nick takes care of his funeral.  Nick continues to be Gatsby’s leaning post even after death.  Finally in the end of the book you learn Gatsby actually has a father.  It was not until his father was introduced as Mr. Gatz did I realize that in the earlier story about Gatsby helping a sailor from not crash his yacht Gatsby was the grungy character on the beach.  The book that Mr. Gatz shows Nick reveals how meticulous Gatsby was from the beginning of his life.  “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated” (Fitzgerald 187). This statement reveals how connected Tom and Daisy were.  Although daisy may hove loved Gatsby her need for luxury seemed more powerful because she did not show up to his funeral.  Daisy seems to be successful at living a rich life when Lily Bart was not.

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald (pg 154-170)

In chapter 8 you finally find out how Daisy and Gatsby met.  Their meeting sounds very fantastical.  For only being with her for a month Gatsby show a lot of determination to love her for five years.  I find it interesting how he describes Daisy as being mysterious when he met her.  This is kind of similar to how Nick had met Gatsby in a mysterious manner.  “But now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail” (Fitzgerald 156).  This quote reminds me of Indiana Jones.  In one of the movies he searches for the Holy Grail.  In real life know one knows were it is and it seems to be a fruitless effort.  This is the point I think Fitzgerald was trying to make. He is saying Gatsby’s quest seamed to be hopeless but he was eternally bound to fallow it.  “‘I don’t think she ever loved him’” ((Fitzgerald 158).           This quote seems to show Gatsby’s insecurities. He is trying to give himself a pep talk and still looking to Nick for support.

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald (pg 143-153)

After there time in town Tom, Jordan and Nick headed home.  Gatsby and Daisy had left earlier after Gatsby’s and Tom’s argument.  On the journey home they top at the gas station because there is a commotion going on.  They discover that Tom’s mistress is dead. She was hit by a car.  “‘Auto hit her. Ins’antly killed’” (Fitzgerald 146).  This was a statement made by the policeman on the seen to Tom.  Fitzgerald’s word choice and misspellings give the police man a redneck kind of ascent.  In one day Tom started to lose both his women and then loses one completely.  Latter you discover that daisy was driving the car that killed Tom’s mistress.  This course of events leads me to think that Gatsby may get blamed for that accident by Tom as a way for him to regain control of daisy.

The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald (pg 119-142)

At the start of chapter 7 it sounds like Gatsby has lost himself.  He fired all of his staff and hired a smaller number of more reclusive people.  He stopped having parties as well.  You discover that Gatsby is not having parties because Daisy is coming over many afternoons and she did not like his parties.  Gatsby and Nick are invited to Daisies for lunch. At this lunch Tom is their and much hostility is felt between Tom and Gatsby.  The whole dinner party goes into town and stops at a hotel. While there everything explodes and Gatsby and Tom get in a fight over Daisy.  “‘I just got wised up to something funny the last two days,’ remarked Wilson. ‘That’s why I want to get away. That’s why I been bothering you about the car’” (Fitzgerald 130).  On the way into town Tom stops for gas at Wilson’s station. While there he learns that Wilson suspects something with his wife and is planning to move west.  This is ironic because at the same time Tom is finding out about Gatsby’s and daisy’s relationship.  Tom seems to be on both sides of the mistress equation.