William Dean Howells - Editha

                I was very interested in the story “Editha” by William Dean Howells.  Howells is not merely known for writing short stories and novels, but he is also known for publishing many stories that were for more than just enjoyment.  In this short story it is obvious that Howells is affected with the nation’s involvement in war.  In reality is seems as though he is more concerned with the motives behind our involvement than the actual actions we take.  Howells is also troubled with a much smaller, more personal matter, which is the relationship between the two main characters in this story.  The two main characters in this story are Editha and George.  I think that in writing this short story Howells wants us to see, and question, not only the reasons behind large issues such as nationalism but he also wants us to see, and question, the reasons behind smaller issues, such as our everyday relationships with those we are close to.  This short story shows a battle between George and Editha over whether the Spanish-American war is morally wrong and should be opposed or is the war ethical and worthy of support.  This portrays a study of realism and idealism.  I believe that Editha is used to show the beliefs of the American government.  Throughout the entire story Howells paints a picture of the intense battle between Realism and Romanticism through a war-torn couple, George Gearson and his fiance Editha.  The character of Mrs. Gearson, the realist mother of George, who is crippled with age but by no means is she weak conveys two points to the reader which is that one cannot have all of one and none of the other.  This short story states the unattractive realities of war among the false but determined attitude of some people.  Editha is the main character in this story and she is a naive young woman who pushes her man to enlist in the war.  She believes that fighting in the war would make George a hero and she would be honored to be the wife of a man who fought for his country.  Editha believes war to be a wonderful thing in being that it would free the oppressed and her country, the great liberator.  On the other hand, George symbolizes the other half of people which is those who believe that war means breaking the peace of the world.  When George dies in the war Editha is confronted with the truth when she faces George’s mother.  Mrs. Greason tries to make Editha see behind her naive ideas by lecturing her about young men killing each other and sons killing sons of other mothers.  These men are sent by their countries and not fully knowing the reasons for their violence.  Through Mrs. Greason, Howells makes the reader see through the romantic concepts and pro-war feelings of many people like Editha.  Mrs. Greason reveals the childishness, simplicity, senselessness, and recklessness of believing in war for the sake of patriotism.  I was hoping for a different outcome from the short story but through this I can now understand the real meaning behind it.

Joel Chandler Harris - Free Joe and the Rest of the World

     I enjoyed reading the short story “Free Joe and the Rest of the World” by Joel Chandler Harris.  This short story was easier to read than “How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox.”  There was still slang used in some parts but I understood this story much better.  An important point that was made in this story was that freed slaves had to endure a lot from people in their area.  The slaves were only considered free in the sense of the law.  Free Joe didn’t really have true freedom like he should have.  He was allowed to roam freely but his troubles with other slaves and white people showed us that he was just as limited as slaves in many ways.  There was one line in the story that stood out to me and it was when Harris’ said, “When he was a slave Free Joe would have scorned these representatives of class known as poor white trash…”  This line was ironic in that there were class differences between people which were so strong that even the slaves looked down at people for their social standing within society.  I would have thought that during this time period slaves would have realized that they weren’t lower due to the insignificant differences and realized that about others as well.  Joe was a generous and humble man to all he came in contact with.  Even after Joe was freed he still wanted to see his wife.  It breaks my heart to even think of how slaves were separated from their families during this time period.  Once Joe was freed all he had was his dog, Dan.  He was separated from his wife and not allowed to see her at all.  Joe had patience and determination in waiting for Lucinda no matter what it took.  I was really hoping that he would save her but that never happened.  By viewing Joe’s ability to remain optimistic and positive until his last breath shows us just exactly what the human soul can overcome.  This story showed how faithful a person should be to their spouse.  If we had this kind of commitments in the world today, the world would be a totally different place.  Joe never once gave up on his wife Lucinda no matter what others told him.  He was truly committed to his wife and their marriage.                      

Joel Chandler Harris - How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox

While reading "How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox" by Joel Chandler Harris, I found it to be very difficult in understanding.  I was able to find a link on the internet and it read the short story to me.  I followed along in our textbook as it read it to me.  Here is the link that I used www.archive.org/details/uncle_remus_librivox.  After listening to someone else reading the short story and me following along with them I was able to understand it much better.  Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit are always in a struggle for authority and demotion.  In this short story Brer Fox always wants to hurt Brer Rabbit so bad that he took Rabbit’s advice and let him go.  I think that this demonstrates to us that when we try and squeeze someone too hard they have a better chance of sliding through our fingers.  Harris claimed that his documents of these plantation narratives were solely for the purpose of continuing this tradition of the Old South for future generations.  In the tales there is an element of social observation.  The struggle for authority in the animal kingdom precisely matches the struggle for social dominance in the antebellum and Reconstruction-era South.  During the antebellum period, slaves may have told a version of this tale in order to document their dominion and demotion by whites through the institution of slavery.  During the Reconstruction era, when Harris was collecting the tales, the story also had importance in showing the social uncertainty of a society that could no longer rely on the institution of slavery to maintain social boundaries.  Regardless of what Harris was trying to get from these tales it shows how closely related this time period was with how the animals in the wild live as well.  Harris’ stories are so inspiring by the way that he presented them and because of their humorous wisdom.  Different from the other stories during this time period, Harris’ stories were taken from blacks that he had actually known. This short story was told first hand through a black character, Uncle Remus.  Stories wrote this way made more of an impression on its readers that did a story that was wrote about blacks.  By having stories wrote in this fashion, everyone would be able to read the stories without being offended.  People enjoyed Harris’ writings because of the wisdom that they were left with after reading them.  This story made me laugh at the end but it also left me with a little more wisdom.                                

Sarah Orne Jewett - A White Heron

     I enjoyed reading the short story “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett.  As I read this story  I could actually picture the scenes in which Sylvia was describing.  This short story is a narrative that suggests the struggle between two sets of values, nature and industrial.  The main character, Sylvia, is represented by nature.  The young hunter is represented by industrial.  Sylvia, a young girl, who has moved from an industrial environment to a rural setting on a farm.  This was a great change for Sylvia and she enjoyed living on the farm and experiencing nature all around her.  She had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town.   Sylvia becomes alive in nature because she learns to respect the natural forces of the land.  The young hunter seems inconsiderate of nature.  His world becomes an irony because its industrial values seem to kill the things it proposes to love.  His values represent a practical and emotionally detachment from the world. 

            I believe that the significance of this story is to give us a crucial and empathic view of nature and the dangers of industrial values that an industrial society can place upon it.  Jewett seems to favor nature over industrial throughout this short story.  The hunter’s desire of collecting and preserving birds threatens Sylvia because she loves the things of nature and he only wants to kill them and stuff them.  It seems as though Jewett encourages her readers to protect nature, cherish our values and rights, and resist temptations of other influences that can pull us to destroy nature.  The hunter’s beliefs show that his industrial world is strong on collecting and developing untamed forces, particularly the heron.

            Symbolism is used greatly in this short story.  I see the white heron representing the purity of rural life.  The tall tree that Sylvia climbs in the forest symbolizes clarity of thought.  She can think high in the tree without having everything and everyone pressuring her.   Sylvia sees all  from her elevated branch and from this branch she realizes that the heron's life is more valuable than $10.  The geranium that stands out in the city setting symbolizes Sylvia as someone who belongs in nature. It also represents the suffocating nature of the city in comparison to the farm (Lorcher). The name Sylvia comes from the same root as sylvan, which is a spirit that frequents or lives in the woods (Lorcher).   The hunter represents the interference of civilization and technology which is a common element of Romanticism.  There is an internal conflict that focuses on Sylvia’s battle of whether or not to reveal the location of the white heron and his nest.  I also saw an external conflict from the story’s rural setting being set up against the urban setting from which the hunter comes from.  Throughout the entire story all the characters are female such as Sylvia, the grandmother, and the cow which are all living a peaceful rural life until they are interrupted by the young male hunter. Romanticism and Realism is revealed throughout this short story.  Romantic ideals are shared through the importance of nature and the individual.  Realism is shown through the stories style, use of details, realistic setting, and the realistic people (Lorcher).  Even though this story was written long before the environmental movement had taken hold, it still embraces environmentalist ideas (Lorcher).  “A White Heron” expresses Romantic ideals of nature and individualism (Lorcher).

 After reading this short story I believe that I will look at nature differently now.  I have always been an animal lover.  Reading about someone who is so passionate about birds though is very unusual.  I have never seen or heard of a white heron.  Where I live we have seen a blue heron and we usually see it near a small creek or stream.  This is a very pretty bird and now it is illegal to kill them.  I have seen one pretty close up and they are huge especially when they spread their wings.  If people continue to kill them they will become extinct.  I have only seen one blue heron around my house but you do not see him all the time.  What a great story to read about nature that this was.  Reading anything about animals interests me.    

Works Cited

Lorcher, Trent. ""A White Heron" Analysis: "A White Heron" Symbolism, "A White Heron" Summary, "A White Heron" Lesson Ideas." Find Health, Education, Science & Technology Articles, Reviews, How-To and Tech Tips At Bright Hub - Apply To Be A Writer Today! SForsyth, 11 Dec. 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. <http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/65962.aspx>

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman - A New England Nun

     I enjoyed reading “A New England Nun” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.  This was a short story that made a lot of sense to me.  One common theme that I found in reading this short story was the idea of freedom and autonomy.  In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there was a need and want for independence from men.  Many female authors during this time period often focused on these issues in their writing.  Freeman expresses this theme often in the form of a strong-willed character which is normally an aggressive or scandalous woman.  Mary uses this type of form to show the difference between a dependent woman and one that is independent.  Although this is not true in this short story of the character Louisa Ellis.  Louisa Ellis is very soft spoken throughout the short story and she is quite the opposite of scandalous but she loves her independence.  Louisa spent fourteen years waiting for Joe Dagget to return to her but during that time she had both grown up and had grown accustomed to doing things in her own way.  Louisa was very comfortable with her life and with herself.  Joe Dagget had come back unexpectedly and that was understandably conflicting for Louisa.  She was set in her ways and she was not willing to uproot her life for Joe at this time.  She was very unhappy with the idea of leaving her own home, which she had set up to her liking.  Louisa knew that she was about to lose her independence not only to Joe but also to his elderly mother as well.  She was afraid of losing the simple things in her life that made her happy such as sewing a seam.  She knew that Joe’s elderly mother would find things that she loved doing foolish and more than likely Joe would agree with his mother and she would be forced to quit doing the little things that made her happy.  Louisa had come to define herself by her independence.  She developed that independence after being left behind by Joe for fourteen years.  The more she thought about marrying Joe Dagget, the more she feared of losing the stable and comfortable life that she had created for herself.  She thought that Joe would only disrupt the peace and happiness she had discovered for herself.  If she married Joe, she thought that she would be losing herself and her independence that she had found through loneliness.  When Joe returned from Australia, he had taken away Louisa’s peace of mind and her freedom.  Neither Joe nor Louisa would back down from the promise that they had made so many years ago even though neither of them desired to keep this promise.  Louisa was able to regain her freedom after hearing the conversation between Joe and Lily Dyer.  Lily was the one that would break the chains of duty for all involved.  Louisa Ellis may have given up a “normal” married life but she could not have been happier.  All Louisa ever wanted was her own life that was determined by her own mind.  This alone would bring her the independence and freedom that she had come to love and by which she defined herself.  Louisa Ellis had to make a choice between her happiness and marrying Joe.  I think that she done the right thing since he was seeing another woman.  After fourteen years of being engaged and then just calling it off would be hard to do.  Louisa went fourteen years without seeing or talking to Joe.  This was a very interesting story but I really believed at the beginning they were going to get married.  After hearing the conversation between Joe and Lily I am glad that Louisa decided to call things off.      

Emily Dickinson and her poems

     Emily Dickinson used death as the theme for several of her poems.  Dickinson spent a great portion of her life in seclusion.  Despite the fact that others worried themselves with normal daily activities, Emily was content to imprison herself to her house, her garden, and her poetry. Due to her uncommon lifestyle, Dickinson was considered abnormal and was never valued as the great poet she is now acknowledged as today.  Living life as an outcast, her poems are written from a standpoint that the reader is not used to seeing in common culture. Dickinson’s poems offer a creative and refreshingly different perspective on death and its effects on others.  Dickinson combines creative diction with stunning imagery to create amazingly powerful poems.  In most of Dickinson’s poems, death is often personified, and is also assigned to personalities far different from the traditional horror movie roles.  Three of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died” and “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” are all about one of life’s few certainties: death.  Each of these poems looks at death in a different way.   

     In the poem, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” Dickinson tells a tale of a woman who is being taken away by Death.  This is the reader’s first indication that Dickinson believes in afterlife.  In most religions, where there is a grim reaper, this body will deliver a person’s soul to another place, usually a heaven or a hell.  

     In the poem, “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died -”, Emily Dickinson prominently describes the mental distraction posed by extraneous details at even the most essential moments – even at the moment of death.  The poem then becomes even weirder and more chilling by transforming the tiny, normally disregarded fly into the figure of death itself.  In this poem the speaker says, “The Stillness in the Room / Was like the Stillness in the Air - / Between the Heaves of Storm –” (lines 2-4).  Here the room is still, but this stillness resembles the interval between the surging of a storm.  Dickinson uses a simile to compare the air in the room with the feeling of the air during a break in a storm. The storm is emotional and personal and the reader knows that more is about to come.  The old saying is, “There is a peace before the storm.”   

     In the poem “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” Dickinson explores the workings of the human mind under stress and attempts to repeat the stages of a mental breakdown through the overall metaphor of a funeral.  A metaphor that Dickinson uses in this poem is that the mind cannot go numb because minds are not physical objects. 

     Emily Dickinson had an exceptional ability to skillfully transform death into ingenious and highly thoughtful pieces of literature. Dickinson’s poems show new ways of looking at death and its effects on people.  Through creative phrasing paired with graphic imagery and sometimes shocking viewpoints, Dickenson captures the reader’s imaginations with her continuing works.  Dickinson’s poems have been a help in understanding life in general.  With every word read new beliefs are formed that will stay with the reader and these beliefs undoubtedly will be passed on to others until their origin is long since forgotten and people will begin to accept them as the truth.  These poems allow the readers to look back on their own lives with new insight and will help to make better decisions and observations in the future.  Death is a fact of life and looking at it through someone else’s eyes can help to better cope with death when it comes.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The book of Huckleberry Finn was a great book and I enjoyed reading it as our first book in this class.  I believe that I have read this book before but I was much younger and I didn’t really pay attention to the minor details or the significance of the plot and meaning.  As we get older we begin to look at things very differently than when we were when we were younger.  I think that the Mississippi River is a major scheme in the book.  The Mississippi River plays a major role for Jim and Huck throughout the novel.  They both need and want freedom and the river is one way that they can have that freedom.  Huck’s father is very abusive to him so Huck is running away from him to be free from all the beatings.  Jim is running from slavery.  They are both seeking freedom from their lives that they are living.  As the two of them are floating down the river in their raft they both feel contented and protected because they know that they are on their way to freedom.  The two boys know that they are safe from the previous life while they are floating down the river.  The river is like a safe haven from society and a source for adventure for Huck and Jim.  As Huck goes through each adventure it is as if he experiences a growth and rebirth.  Huck learns something from each adventure and becomes more aware of the things around him.  Huck learns something new from each adventure and that makes him a new person in different ways.  Through reading this novel, I found in my own opinion that society was wrong in the fact of the way that the slaves were treated.  As Huck is helping Jim escape the life that he has lived, Huck realizes that black people are people to, regardless of what society teaches him and others.  The dialogue in the book was a bit hard to understand but it was very appropriate for the time that it was written.  A theme that I got from reading this book is that just because everyone else does something you do not have to do the same thing.  We are all human and we deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.  Even today we can still see these things go on but it may be with a different race or minority.  Throughout the book I think that Huck and Jim are the two main characters.  As I was reading the book, I could see things through Huck’s eyes because he was the narrator.  Huck has a very literal mind in that he tells or reports everything he sees or hears with straightforward accuracy.  This helps to make the book more realistic.  For the most part, Huck is always down-to-earth and natural with his common sense.  He has an awesome inventive ability to survive in all situations.  Huck has a heart for others and other living things around him throughout the whole book.  As for Jim, he is a developmental backbone for Huck.  As they both travel down the river Jim is dedicated to helping Huck in every way possible.  Jim has a big heart as well and that touched Huck in many different ways.  Through reading this book it has touched my heart and made me think about the way that I may treat people and not even realize it.  As we all know the old saying “treat others as you would like to be treated” in all walks of life we should think back on that phrase.                   

All About Me - Misty Haas - ENG 232

Hello fellow classmates,            

          My name is Misty Haas and this is my 5^th year at CCC&TI.  I have been attending since fall 2006’.  Seems as though I live here.  I am on the Caldwell campus in Hudson.  I am graduating in May of this year with 3 associate degrees and a diploma.  I am graduating with an Early Childhood Associate (Diploma), Early Childhood – Fundamentals Option (Associate degree), Early Childhood – Business Option (Associate degree), and General Education (Associate degree).  I currently hold four certificates in Early Childhood which are Child Care Operator, School-Age Provider, Infant/Toddler, and Teacher/Caregiver.  I decided since I have all of these classes, I should just continue and get my Associate in Arts or Science degree.  I am currently working on my Core 44 to transfer to a 4 year college.  I want to be an Elementary School teacher.  I am happily married and have been for 10 years now.  I am currently unemployed and my husband is disabled.  We have two handsome boys whose ages are 10 and 8.  The oldest is in the 5^th grade and the youngest is in the 2^nd grade.  Our family loves animals we have 4 outside dogs (2 Pit-Bulls, Boxer, and Labrador), 4 inside dogs (Teacup Female Chihuahua (CKC registered), Toy Male Chihuahua (CKC registered), Female Chihuahua (CKC registered), and Teacup Chihuahua/Chinese Crested) which I am going to breed and sell the puppies, 4 outside cats, 2 rabbits, 2 turtles, 2 pigs (to eat), 2 gerbils, hamster, white mice, and a Ball Python which eats the white mice.  I am very busy through the week with their homework and my homework.  I am taking 4 classes this semester for a total of 13 credit hours.  I am in Rel 110-620 (on-line course), PSY 241-620 (on-line course), ENG 232-620 (on-line course), and BIO 110-680C (hybrid course).  I love on-line classes and wish that all of them were on-line.  I like working at my own pace and in my own environment.  I have taken several on-line classes in the 5 years that I have been here.  I love taking on-line classes but you have to have self-discipline and be able to study on your own.  I chose this class because I needed it for my degree but also because it interests me.  I enjoy reading if it is something that interests me.  I love to read the books by Dave Pelzer.  Some of his books are the “A Child Called It” and all the sequels to that book.  I had to read “A Child Called It” in my Child Development II class and it was a great book even though it is horrifying that way that a mother could possibly treat her own child.  If you have never read the book I encourage you to read it because these things are happening in our world today.  I like to read romance and mystery books as well.  In my English 113 I read “Serena” and I loved that book.  In my Reading 090 class I read the “Hot Zone” and it was a wonderful book as well.  As you can see I do enjoy reading books but it has to be interesting in order for me to get into it.  The assignments in this class seem to be interesting and most of the readings are in a decent time frame.  I say that because it is not like old, old, old literature.  I chose to take American Literature II instead of American Literature I since this class focuses on pretty recent material.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful semester.  I am looking forward to read everyone’s blog, so that I can get to know everyone better. 

                                       Have a great semester,

                                                   Misty Jane Haas