Those Winter Sundays

Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" really made me think. The poem talks about a father who without thanks works hard every day to keep the house warm, and the family happy. No one ever thanks him. "Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well" (Hayden). This tells the audience that he does these things, not for the thanks, but simply for the well being of his family. The author realizes that he has not fully understood the great things that his father had done for his family. I fell I sometimes too act in this way. I simply assume my parents will do the great things they have always done for me. I don't take the time to thank them for their work. From this poem, I've reflected upon my own life. I know understand I can't take those who are dear to me for granted. I must thank them for their work they do to help me and make my life better, and try to repay them in whatever way I can.

The Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking by Elaine Magarrell, is a perfect example of a metaphor. The poem speaks intensively on a rather disgusting topic. Magarrell writes as if she is creating a cannibal cook book. Rather, she is describing the problems she has with her siblings. First she writes "I have prepared my sister's tongue..." (Magarrell). She is not hoping to have a nice dish of tongue however, she is simply explaining her sister's shortcoming. It seems her sister has a problem involving her tongue, perhaps she is harsh with her words. She uses her words as a weapon, perhaps hurting her sister with them. Whatever the case, Magarrell is fed up with her sister. She is also fed up with her brother. "I will have my brother's heart" (Magarrell). Her brother must be a cold, mean person. He does not act with the compassion that one's heart provides. She is frustrated with how both her siblings treat her. Rather than trying to eat her siblings, Magarrell is simply trying to explain her frustrations with them.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time by Nadine Gordimer, follows a quite interesting story. A man is a awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of his house settling. When he tries to go back to bed he tries to get himself to fall back to sleep by telling himself a bedtime story. He tells a story of a world full of robbers, and of a competing neighborhood to get the latest and greatest security. One family even puts a constantine wire, to keep the intruders out. The story seemed rather odd while I was reading it. I wondered where the story was headed, and what the point of it was. The people had a seemingly innocent goal, to protect their property and livelihood. The outcome from these was not ideal. Rather than ending in the hopeful security, destruction is the outcome. Gordimer writes "...The shining coiled tunnel was just wide enough for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor teeth to his knees and hands and head he screamed and struggled deeper into its tangle" (Gordimer, 236). The son ends up being mutilated in the wire that was meant to protect him. Even the truest goals can have the worst consequences.

The Drunkard

The Drunkard, by Frank O'Conner utilizes the literary technique of irony, throughout the story. The irony helps to show the humor of the story, and overall makes the story interesting. The story involves a father and son, and the relationship between them. The father is a drunk, and the son notices this about his father, and can see the warning signs and effects of his drunkenness. After a funeral, when the father orders a couple of pints of beer, the son decides to see what it takes like. The young boy is immediately plastered after one beer. He goes on to go on drunken slurs, and overall make a fool of himself. O'Connor writes "Who are ye laughing at? I shouted, clenching my fists at them. I'll make ye laugh at the other side of yeer faces if ye don't let me pass." (O'Connor, 350). This is a great example of irony due to the role reversal. The son is acting in the way his father usually would. What is especially ironic, is the father's reaction when he sees his son. The father is embarrassed, and gets angered. He fails to understand the way his son and wife are forced to see him, whenever he himself gets drunk.

A Worn Path

One of the things I picked up on in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, is symbolism. The story revolves around a grandmother on a journey to get medicine for her grandchild. As is typical with most journey related stories, the central character faces many challenges along the way. At the beginning of the story, the grandmother, phoenix says "Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and little bobwhites....Keep the big wild hogs out of my path" (Welty 223).The journey in the story represents the journey of life. Along the way, many challenges come up. Life does not simply move on without trial, it moves in an unpredictable way that brings us challenges unimaginably difficult. That being said, man still perseveres. Just as the grandmother keeps on moving, undeterred by the obstacles, man too must move on. He must not get stuck up on one of the many curve balls life throws. Rather, he must adapt, find a solution to his challenges. Even though it is often difficult, man completes his challenge, just as the grandmother finishes hers.

A Raisin in the Sun Question 8

In Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun," there are two deeply contrasting characters. They revolve around Beneatha Younger. Her two suitors are stark opposites, in their approach to society. The first, George Murchison, is a wealthy black man. He has assimilated into the mainstream society, in order to increase his value. He believes the black culture should move into the popular culture in order to keep their relevance, and importance. The other suitor of Beneatha is Joseph Asagai. He is a Nigerian student, who is deeply in touch with his African heritage. He rejects the idea of african americans moving merging with the white society. He believes they should preserve their cultures separately.  Beneatha ends up choosing Joseph. That is, she chooses her African American heritage, over the new aged African American society of the day. She believes she must look to the past of her culture, rather than the future of her people. She is against assimilation, and thinks it is better to be separate. Beneatha says "The only people in the world who are more snobbish than rich white people are rich colored people" (Hansberry 456). Beneatha believes she should focus on her heritage rather than the wealth of George.

A Raisin in the Sun Question 3

In a "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, three characters can be distinctly described. Three can be considered those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. The person who makes things happen in the story is the family's father. It is because of his hard work that the family has been able to stay afloat. The insurance check gives the family their first glimmer of hope, in the gleam wall of dispair. The person who could be described as watching things happen, is Ruth. Ruth does not actively make any major decisions in the story, but she supports those she loves, and hopes they reach the proper decision. She always has the family's best intentions in mind, and is always hopeful that they will come out better in the end. Ruth says "You know what you should do, Miss Lena? You should take yourself on a trip somewhere. To Europe or South America or someplace... "(Hansberry 451). Ruth always looks after others, over herself. The one who could be described as those who wonder what happened, is Travis. Travis is not involved directly with much any of the story. He is unaware of the drama unfolding, happy enough in his own little world. The characters together make a quite interesting story, helping to show the values of the family, and the rewards of their struggles.

A Raisin In the Sun Symbols

While reading "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, I noticed two primary symbols. The first is that of the window in the apartment. It is the only window in the apartment, and as such, the only source of natural light. I believe this window to represent hope to the family. The family hopes that they can move up, and get out of this apartment. Mama specifically, is always hoping to move into a house, that they own, rather than paying rent to an apartment. The window represents the hope to move outside of the apartment. The other symbol I found, involves Mama's plant. Mama's plant represents hope, as well as the window, but in a different way. In the small patch of dirt, with the small amount of sun available in the apartment, the plant is constricted. It can never grow to it's full size within the small confines of the apartment. As the family leaves the apartment, their hope increases. The amount of space available for the plant to grow increases as well. The plant can grow infinitely large at the family's new home, just as their hope, can go nowhere but up, with the ownership they have just recently acquired. Towards the end of the play, Hansberry writes "Open It! (She does and lifts out an elaborate, but very elaborate, wide gardining hat, and all the adults break up at the sight of it" (Hansberry 514). Mama has moved from being the caretaker of a single plant to being a gardener.

A Raisin in the Sun Dynamic Character

In the Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, one character stuck out to me as a dynamic character. Walter, the new man of the house, after his father's death, strikes a crucial change. He realizes that the family's hopes are bigger than him. While in the beginning, and almost to the end, Walter is bitterly obsessed with opening a liquor store, seeing that as his only way to move up in life. Walter sees his ambitions as dramatically more important than the rest of the family's, and as such promotes them in that fashion. After Mama puts the down payment on the house, Walter tries to put her into a guilt trip, so she will give him the money. He never stops to think that he is not only putting his goals in front of the rest of the family, but using his goals to squash the rest of the family's goals. When he uses both the money allotted for his investing, and for his sister's medical school, for his liquor store venture, Walter's ego hits the top. He then later comes down to realize that his family is more important than he is individually. Walter says "We arwe very proud people. And that's my sister over there and she's going to be a doctor..." (Hansberry 532). Walter understands the family's source of hope is the new house, and that their dreams would fit together around the structure of the house.

A Raisin in the Sun Setting

The setting of "A Raisin in the Sun," by Lorraine Hansberry is critical to the story. The main setting for the story, is the apartment of the Younger family. "The once loved fabric of the couch upholstery has to fight to show itself under acres of crocheted dollies and couch covers which have themselves finally come to be more important than the upholstery" (Hansberry 435). This shows that while the apartment was once a symbol of hope, neatly created by mama, it has now become a symbol of the family's oppression. The couch is stuck underneath the couch covers, exasperated by the weight of them, just as the family is of living in the small apartment. The whole family of four adults, and a young child live within a two bedroom apartment. The only source of light in the apartment is a small window, showing how the family has little hope, just as they have little sun. The family believes that the life insurance check will bring them out of their dispair, and as such out of the small apartment. The apartment seems to represent all the broken dreams that the family has had, and all the challenged that came up along the way. Mama had originally planned on living in the apartment for only a short time, moving into a house. That never happened. Instead, Mama has spent the entirety of her adult life inside the apartment, and needs to move on, and as such will move on to a new segment of her life, one where her dream is the limit, rather the confining walls of the small apartment.