Short Stories Thesis

Of the eleven short stories I read, the stories I read independently were: The Girls in Their Summer Dresses, The Rocking Horse Winner, and The Kugelmass Episode. A common pattern I found in them all was the cycle of desire and satisfaction. The main characters in every story desired something – Kugelmass, being able to be with his current wife as well as another woman (fictional from a book) from The Kugelmass Episode, Paul, the son who wanted to bring luck to his mother from The Rocking Horse Winner, and Frances, wife of Michael who wants attention given to her from him and not towards other women from The Girls in Their Summer Dresses.

Common literary elements that I identified in those three stories were point of view and the temporal setting. They all have a third person omniscient perspective. Each of these stories seem as if they take place in the past, not set in modern time (from the vocabulary, the social rules, and physical setting). These elements matter because they all tie into how desires in the past are very similar to what people desire today, and how desire leads to satisfaction, which leads to more desire. As demonstrated in these stories, the stories end with the main characters with their unresolved problems – still having a craving for something even when they were temporarily satisfied.

I can't decide which story to choose for my thesis, but for the next few days I'll be considering which story to use and a strong thesis to correspond with it.

Reading Times

10/23 - The Girls in Their Summer Dresses - 50 min., 10/24 - The Kugelmass Episode - 60 min., 10/28 – Jillian Michaels, Master Your Metabolism - 60 min.

Total: 170 min.

Reading Times

Nicole Johns, Purge Rehab Diaries

10/16 - 30 min., 10/17 - 60 min., 10/18 - 60 min., 10/19 - 40 min.

Total: 190 min. pages 7-129

Literary Element - Dry September

I've noticed that characterization is an important aspect in Dry September. This story was written in 1931 when most whites were bitter towards African-Americans and treated them harshly. Dry September includes direct and indirect descriptions which is extremely helpful to learn about the characters, their relationships, and the society they live in. We are able to find out many things about the characters, especially from their words.

""Except it wasn't Will Mayes," a barber said. He was a man of middle age; a thin, sand-colored man with a mild face, who was shaving a client. "I know Will Mayes. He's a good nigger. And I know Miss Minnie Cooper, too." "Who is she? A young girl?"" "You damn niggerlover!" A white barber, a "man of middle age," is defending a Black man. The other white men defend the white woman instead of the Black man, even though they don't truly know of her. This shows that they were racist and unjust towards Blacks. They frown upon the white barber who is defending Will Mayes. 

"She was thirty-eight or thirty-nine... Minnie's bright dresses, her idle and empty days, had a quality of furious unreality. She went out in the evenings only with women now, neighbors, to the moving pictures. Each afternoon she dressed in one of the new dresses and went downtown alone..." "She ain't married. That's why I don't believe..." "She passed and went along the serried store fronts, in the doors of which the sitting and lounging men did not even follow her with their eyes any more." Since she was old and not yet married, we can assume how lonely and rejected she must feel. We learn that she dresses to impress, and craves for attention with her clothes. She wanted men to notice her. It was uncommon for women her age to be single. "This ain't the first man scare she ever had, wasn't there something about a man on the kitchen roof, watching her undress about a year ago?" "Do you suppose anything really happened?" 

Without having these details, we wouldn't have known about Will Mayes or Minnie Cooper. Will Mayes must have been a responsible person in order that a White man would want to defend him (which was against their cultural norms). We learn that the white people were quick to defend a white person over an accused African-American without taking the time to investigate. They wanted to punish a Black man without getting evidence that he actually committed a crime. We learn that Minnie Cooper is still single and desires a husband. She's lonely. We can assume that her story might've been false since she isn't married yet and she has been claimed to have gone through harassment before. 

Reading times:

Dry September: 30 min.

And of Clay We are Made: 50 min.

Harrison Bergeron: 30 min.

Waltz of the Fat Man: 30 min.

The Rocking Horse Winner: 60 min.

Total: 200 min.

First Quarter Evaluation

I think the first quarter has rolled by smoothly. Coming to class prepared and focusing in class was easy for me. I seldom ever packed up before the bell rang since there is never an idle moment in English class. We are always working. Well, I am. Once or twice, I forgot to bring my outside reading book, but other than those times I was always prepared with my materials. I never went to the restroom during class (afraid to miss something during lectures) and I regularly emailed Dr. deGravelles when I had questions. I hastily took notes during lectures and discussions on things that I felt were important. Keeping my attention on class discussions is easy since I like class discussions. I also stayed away from the side conversations around me, and I only talked whenever I was asked to by the teacher or if a classmate had a question about what we were discussing in English. The only challenge for me was to stay focused in class near the end of the day. Around 2, I feel lifeless. I'm alert and awake when I have English before tutorial, but after tutorial is a different story. Halfway through class, my eyes would shut without my permission. It's a struggle fighting with my eyes to remain alert.

For the second quarter, I will not change anything about how I conduct myself in class or staying consistent with homework/essays. I think I've been working hard in English class so far, and hopefully I will keep these habits. The only thing I worry about is staying awake when I have class near the end of the day. I will try to find a solution for this, because it sucks struggling with my difficult eyes!

Reading Times

By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead, Julie Anne Peters
10/01- 30 min., 10/02- 30 min., 10/03- 30 min., 10/04- 30 min., 10/05- 30min.
Total - 150 min., pp. 3-132

Short stories:
To Build a Fire: 60 min.
To Dah-Duh: 30 min.
A&P: 20 min.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: 40 min.
Total: 110 min.

10/1