"The Joy of Cooking"

"The Joy of Cooking"
by Elaine Magarrell

I find this poem humorous and amusing.  The title is deceptively innocent, because cooking seems like suck a simple, enjoyable, and innocent activity.  But the speaker is talking about cooking some of her siblings body parts! That just sounds evil.  "Best with horseradish and economical- it probably will grow back. Next time perhaps a creole sauce or mold of aspic?" (Magarrell).  The speaker is talking calmly and matter-of-factly about eating her sister's tongue, and even ponders how she will cook it the next time if or when it grows back.
The fact that the poem is a little gross and quite wicked only adds to the humor. It is very exaggerated, obviously the speaker is not going to eat her sister's tongue and her brother's heart, but in describing these activities, the speaker expresses her negative feelings toward her siblings.  Now these feelings could range anywhere from pure hatred, to strong annoyance, to simple frustration.  I know I have felt at least two of these feelings toward my siblings before, and I might have considered cooking their tongue for dinner.  But the fact that the poem is quite unrealistic, but detailed, is what makes it so amusing.

"Those Winter Sundays"

"Those Winter Sundays"
by Robert Hayden

This poem kind of made me sad- the imagery and indirect characterization of the father created a sense of pathos; I pitied the solitary but loving father.  The indirect characterization, the actions of the father, tell the reader that the father is a dedicated and hardworking man who loves his children and takes very good care of them. "...him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well" (Hayden, 782).  The father labors tirelessly during the week, then on the weekends, he gets up early in the bitter cold to make the house warm for his family. And "no one ever thanked him" (Hayden, 781).  The cold is imagery that is used a lot to show the hardships and pain the father goes through to care for his children.  He suffers for them.  I definitely feel an amount of pity for the man, and I hope now that the speaker is looking back on it, he realizes how much his father truly loved him and cared for him.

"The Drunkard"

"The Drunkard"
Frank O' Connor

There is a lot of irony in this story, especially situational irony.  The father is a known alcoholic, and wants to go to a funeral to pay respects to his friend, but also to have some drinks.  His son Larry goes with him to try to serve as a "brake" on the father's drinking.  It becomes ironic when Larry keeps his father from drinking by getting drunk himself.  "They all stopped gabbling to gape at the strange spectacle of two sober, middle-aged men bringing home a drunken small boy with a cut over his eye" (O'Connor, 349).  The boy and man have essentially switched places, because the neighbors would expect the man to be drunk, but never the child.
His father is embarrassed and upset, and the mother acts upset as well, but later congratulate her son for being his father's guardian angel.  Because the father saw the effects of drinking on his son, and felt irresponsible and was criticized in the situation, he swore off drinking.  The neighbors actually found humor in the boys drunkenness, but they gossiped about it later.  I find this ironic as well, because when the father got drunk, people either expected it, or got mad, like the wife.  But when something unnatural, illegal, and disturbing happens, like a boy being drunk, they find it humorous.

"Once Upon a Time"

"Once Upon a Time"
by Nadine Gordimer

One point I would initially like to make: I like that the main story was enclosed in the frame story, which we don't learn much about.  The speaker is tired and begins to tell herself a story, which is the focus of the short story as a whole.
This goes without saying, but this story was just messssed up!  The motivation behind the main actions of this story seems simple at first, but then becomes extreme.  At the beginning, the families in the quiet, beautiful suburb simply want to feel safe and protected.   I did feel like the "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" sign was kind of a foreshadowing that something would go horribly wrong, but I read on to find out. (It turns out that I was spot on).  Back to the motivation- the wife of the family is anxious about the riots happening outside the suburbs, so the husband reassures her and continues to instal more and more security- electronic gates, an alarm system, burglar bars on the window, and a concrete wall.  The ironic thing is, these increasingly protective and paranoid measures do not protect the family any more than before; they only serve as ugly marks on a once beautiful suburb.  The family's desire to be safe does not make them any safer, but only results in harm.  Ironically, after all the security, there where even more intrusions; nothing could stop it.
The story began with love and fairy tales- "there were a man and his wife who loved each other very much and were living happily ever after.  They had a little boy, and they loved him very much.  They had a cat and a dog that the little boy loved very much" (Gordimer, 232).  The wise old witch gave the boy a book of fairy tales.  In a way, the story ended with a form of love and fairy tales:  the boy wanted to be like the Prince, so he crawled through the barbed wire; and the gardener and the rest of the family showed love when the tried with all their might to get the boy's body out of the tangled wire.

"A Worn Path"

"A Worn Path"
by Eudora Welty

The third person limited point of view in this short story helps the reader to focus on the characterization of the protagonist, the old black woman.  The detailed description of the old woman and the difficulty of the terrain she traversed reinforces the intensity of her goal, which the reader later learns is to get medicine for her sick grandson.  "She was very old and small and she walked slowly...she carried a thin, small cane made from an umbrella, and with this she kept tapping the frozen earth in front of her" (Welty, 223).  From this description the reader learns that the old woman is small and weak and frail, and I initially thought she was blind, though I soon figured out that she just had really bad eyesight.  The woman travelled through the woods, up a hill, in a ditch, and even through a barbed wire fence.  Something that struck me as amazing at this point was that the main thing she was worried about was how "she could not pay for having her arm or leg sawed off if she got caught fast where she was" (Welty, 225).  Are you serious!?  She is so determined to reach her goal that even massive injuries would not deter her.  She even has a gun pointed at her face and refuses to turn around.

The fact that the reader is observing this from an outside perspective inspires even more awe at the woman's actions, and her pure determination.  The reader knows the woman's condition and the degree of hardship that she goes through every time she goes into town.  The third person limited point of view and the thorough characterization help the reader better appreciate the woman's great love for her son, and therefore better appreciate the theme of the story.

Generation Gap

A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
Question 5

Because three generations of people are living in the same apartment, generational differences are bound to arise.  Beneatha is the family member I believe is the most different from all the rest because of her age differences, causing different tastes in style, men, and a greater education.  Her education and her focus on culture are the two main points that distinguish her from her family.  "Her speech is a mixture of many things; it is different from the rest of the family's insofar as education has permeated her sense of English..." (Hansberry, 35)  On page 61, it describes how focused on her culture she is, like Dee from "Everyday Use."  She listens to tribal music and wears the clothes of her ancestors and authentic people.  On page 63, she declares, "I am not an assimilationist!"  Beneatha wants to be independent but also culturally proud.

Mama does not understand Beneatha's beliefs or style and does not understand why her culture is so important to her and why she would cut all her hair off.  Also, Mama does not understand Beneatha's desire for success and independence.  Mama just wants her to marry a rich man so that she can be comfortable.  The generation conflicts surfaces many times in the play, but the gap slowly starts to come together when Mama asks about George and Beneatha tells her that he's a fool.  Then Mama, coming to an understanding says, "Well- I guess you better not waste your time with no fools."  And Beneatha says in reply, "Mama- thank you...for understanding me this time" (Hansberry, 98).

Point of No Return

A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
Question 12

At the end of the play, there is a very important event that I believe is a turning point for Walter, a point of non return.  He changes drastically, and because of this, he and his family will never be the same.  At first I thought it was when Walter swore to grovel in front of the white man from the fancy neighborhood so that they could get paid to not move into the all-white area.  Walter wanted the money so bad, he was willing to sacrifice his dignity to get it.  But when the white committee member shows up, Walter suddenly develops an abundance of courage and tells the man right to his face that they refuse to back down and that his family would be moving into the neighborhood calmly and that he would just have to accept it.  Walter's dignity and pride manifested itself and he recaptured his manhood.  Walter tells the man the the family doesn't want his money and they will deal with whatever problems come along, just like any other family would.
Beneatha says to Mama, "He finally came into his manhood today, didn't he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain..." (Hansberry, 151).  Beneatha uses this charming simile to contradict and disprove what she said about Walter not being a man and  how there was nothing left to love.  Walter proved that he is a strong, willful man, and he will never go back.