Mao II: Part 3

I would tend to agree with my classmates that the end of this book was fairly predictable.  I sort of figured about halfway through the book that Bill would die at the end.  However, I didn’t think he would die from his own stupidity.  He could have easily gone to the emergency room after being hit by a car and he wouldn’t have died on the ferry.  Although I criticize him for not getting help, I think many people now-a-days tend to ignore their symptoms and refuse to go see their doctor to get checked out.  As a future nurse, this makes me very sad.  One of the most astonishing things I have learned in nursing school is that almost all of the major diseases our country suffers from are preventable.  If people would simply take care of their bodies and get frequent screenings, they would live longer and spend less money on health care in the future.  However, this is easier said than done. 

Mao II: Part 2

After reading through chapter 11 I would have to say that I am not a huge fan of this book.  For one it feels like it takes forever to read because of the crazy switching from one character’s point of view to the next.  It seems like once I actually start enjoying one character’s story, DeLillo would switch to another character and I would have to readjust to what was going on in their story.  Although I have read many books that jump around like this, I found this one to be more frustrating and harder to get into. 

Another thing that I find frustrating is that DeLillo separated all of the characters.  We start out the book with learning how all of the characters came together only to have them be separated from each other.  For most of the book so far, the four main characters are in different places and hardly have any interaction with each other.  Personally, I would have liked to have had the characters be a little bit more connected throughout the story.  

Mao II: Part 1

The preface of this story was very interesting.  I actually really enjoyed reading about the mass wedding.  As weird as it was, it was interesting to hear the story from Karen’s parent’s point of view as well as her own.  DeLillo has a very unique style of writing that is a little hard to get into.  He definitely tends to jump around a lot which can be frustrating at times for readers.

It was definitely a complete shock to go from the preface into chapter one.  I was almost a little mad that the story didn’t continue on from the mass wedding.  I found the first five chapters to be little boring.  I am not a fan of not knowing where a story is going to go.  I like to have a general idea of what the book is going to be about so that I know if I will like it or not.  However, DeLillo keeps readers out of the loop for quite a while, jumping from character to character.  

Howl

I really struggled to get through this poem.  All I could think about while reading it was how long and confusing it was.  I was glad we talked a lot about it in class because after I first finished reading it, I had no idea what it was about.  Although Ginsburg uses some really unique descriptions, I had a lot of trouble keeping up with what was going on in the poem.  The way this poem was written reminds me a lot of an auctioneer.  It seems like it never has a stopping point or a spot where a thought it finally finished.  I really wanted the speaker to stop and take a breath so that I could comprehend what he was trying to say. 

After talking about it in class the poem makes a little more sense.   It was interesting to hear Ginsberg read it himself.  However, I think he could have made it better that he did because he read it almost a monotonous voice.  I did like that the poem had different sections.  At first glance these sections don’t really fit together but after digging into the poem more, they become more connected and help develop the poem as a whole.  

Cathedral

I really enjoyed reading this short story.  At first I was appalled at how incredibly rude and selfish the main character of the story was, however he made up for it at the end.  Carver does a really good job of building up the main character’s  ugly personality throughout the story in order to display to the audience just how much progress the blind man made on changing the main character’s view on life.  The one thing about the story that I found the most interesting was how simple it was.  When I was explaining the story to other people, I was amazed at how boring and simple it sounded when I explained it.  To me, this just shows how incredible Carver’s writing is.  He has an amazing ability to write a story that has little action or climax and yet engage readers; even leaving them wanting more.

Everyday Use

This short story was very peculiar to me.  When I first started reading it, I was confused as to who was narrating the story and where the story was going.   Once I figured out that the mother was narrating the story it began to make a little more sense, however Walker still eluded the audience as to where she was taking the story for quite some time.  We don’t really find out until the end why the short story is titled Everyday Use.

Although Dee comes across as very selfish and conceited, I have a tendency to cling onto family heirlooms much like she does.  I have trouble throwing things away or using the items for their intended use if they are old and have significance to my heritage.  I can also see Maggie’s and her mother’s point as well though.  Many of the items I have kept over the years are simply collecting dust.  The original owners of the items would probably rather see them being useful for someone.  

Collins

I loved the poem Forgetfulness.  It was a huge relief to finally read some poetry that made me laugh.  This poem was very ironic and witty.  In his writing, ­­­­­­­­­­­­Collins does a really good job of being serious and funny at the same time.  Both Forgetfulness and his poem on the Three Blind Mice have a very comedic feel but yet they also have a significant meaning in them.  Out of all the poems we have read so far, I definitely like Collins’ work the best.   A lot of poetry is just too serious and complex for my taste. 

Good Country People

What a weird story.  It took me awhile to figure out where O’Connor was going with this story.  However, about halfway through I got a really bad feeling that it wasn’t going to end well.  Sadly, this turned out to be true.  As much as I wanted Joy/Helga to not be so naïve, she kind of let me down.  Although she thought she was so intelligent, her became a little overconfident and ended up getting burned. 

I really liked how O’Connor kept up the suspicion of the Bible salesman throughout the story.  Although readers begin to distrust this character early on, O’Connor does a great job of making us question if he truly is the bad guy in the story.  Even in the moments before he betrays Joy/Helga, readers are secretly hoping he is actually a good guy.  This characteristic of the short story made for a really good read.  

Invisible Man

I thought Ellison’s first chapter of this book was very good.  I really liked the amount of action this story had especially because most of the poems and short stories we read don’t have a lot of action in them.  However, this story had a couple fight scenes that were very interesting to read about.  One thing I have to say is that I never would have gone through what he had to endure just to possibly get the opportunity to get a scholarship to go to college.  That fact that he was willing to get beat up several times over in order to give a speech to a cowardly group of influential people who don’t care two cents about him says a great deal about how much he wanted to go to college.  Although we find out at the end that they really only gave him the scholarship so that they can “keep this Nigger Boy Running,” I don’t think they can prevent him from becoming something great.  Someone who is willing to endure that kind of pain for education is bound and determined for greatness.  I think I would like to read the rest of the novel to find out where Ellison takes this story. 

Roethke

Wow, what a sad poem My Papa’s Waltz is.  Child abuse is so incredibly sad and inhumane.  Although it is a really sad poem, I did enjoy the way in which Roethke intertwined the concept of dancing with the abuse the speaker was going through.  There was also a unique tension between the speaker’s knowledge that abuse is wrong and his remaining tenderness towards his dad.  Roethke does a great job of describing just how complicated child abuse is.  In this short poem, he also describes the mother as frowning.  This description suggests that the mother probably didn’t know what to do about the situation.  Although most people might think she is an idiot for not intervening, Roethke portrays through the poem that this might not be as easy as we may think.  Overall, I thought it was a very well written poem.  Roethke says so much in such a short poem.