"A Rose for Emily" #5

I was confused a lot of the story the first time reading it, as I believe, were others. I think that a first person POV would be slightly advantageous at some parts because the speaker was a vague person or maybe the town as a whole. If Emily was telling the story, the reader would know a lot more about her, but less about the town's perceptions of her. If another person told the story in first person, the reader would have to assume that a relationship once occurred or that the person has special knowledge that others didn't. However, if the story was to be told in first person instead of third, that whole mystery would be lost and the confusion of the town would not be as evident. By seemingly rolling the town into one POV, the audience can consider all of the events and the mixed up chronology. The only point of view that is missing really is Emily's and I don't think her view matters that much to the story. As I think about it, I think that the story is not so much about Emily's life, but more about her effect on the people of the town and the history of it. They said at the beginning that she was a "fallen monument" which I think exemplifies her impact on the town perfectly.

"Interpreter of Maladies" #1

I think the central conflict of this story is Mr. Kapasi's general unhappiness with his position in life, whether it be his job, home, and education. He spends a lot of time in the story struggling with his life. He especially focuses on what he does and how marrying held him back or how he used to know a lot of languages but only remembers a few now. I think that Mr. Kapasi needed to be reassured or even see how much he actually does. Mrs. Das arrives and she does just that for Mr. Kapasi and while he is dreaming of writing letters and having an international correspondence, Mrs. Das is just filling the time until the car stops. I think she is genuinely interested in Mr. Kapasi's job, but not to the degree that Mr. Kapasi thought she was. I think the central conflict is resolved because Mr. Kapasi did get his reassurance and started to reflect on his life. However, it is also resolved when the address gets lost and nobody except Mr. Kapasi notices. This completes Mr. Kapasi's revelation because he can move on and start to rekindle his life instead of pining over the affection and interest of a younger woman thousands of miles away who didn't care for him the way he imagined himself caring for her.

"A Rose for Emily"

The author of this short story added a little surprise for us at the end which clarified a lot of things in the story. However, I cannot decide whether it was part of the stories structure and plot for it to come out as a surprise or not. The ending included the corpse of the man that Emily was supposed to have married and a strand of long grey hair. This leads the reader to assume a couple of things; however, it is never really clarified. This ending affects the plot because, for me, I would have never suspected it and it changes or affirms a lot of what I thought during the story. A couple things that stood out to me after I read the whole story was the smell that the town covered up, the purchase of the rat poison without Emily dying (I was pretty sure she was going to commit suicide), and the fact that Emily's father never let men get close enough to her for a relationship. These all should have been bells going off in my head alerting me of a twist, but it never really happened. Another element of plot was Emily's relationship with her father. This struck me as kind of odd because she lived with him her whole life, he kept sending away potential suitors, and then he died. It made me feel kind of sorry for her because I really think she was confused on what to do. I think she never really got a chance at anything, which drove her to kind of be an odd ball and do crazy things. The plot and structure emphasized certain elements and foreshadowed events.

"Edward O"

This poem really annoyed me, probably because I got the notes from a friend before I actually read the poem, but still. I was confused at reading the notes first because two things were classified as lie and one as truth. The killing of two animals were the lies and the killing of the father was the truth. It was only after I read the poem that I began to understand the meaning behind the poem and everything that occurred. The mother convinces her son to kill his father and the son gives the mother a curse because of the evil she made him commit. Also, when the son told his mother that he killed those animals, she knew he was lying the whole time. I wonder what type of sick person would convince her son to kill her husband and still try to keep his favor. It is a weird poem according to me.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

First, I kind of thought it was funny that in the title it said "good night" and that is usually what you say before you go to sleep; however, it was meant differently in this sense. Back on track though, I think I can relate to this poem more than the rest because all or most of the poems are about death in some shape or form. In this poem, though, the speaker is saying how much he wants his father to stay with him, to "not go gentle." I just didn't comprehend how some of the other poems didn't care or didn't have a respect for life. Anyway, I also thought it was interesting how the tears could be a blessing and a curse at the same time. It really brought death into perspective for me. The tears are a blessing because the father tires to stay and it shows the love of the son. On the other hand, the tears are a curse because it shows the pain of the father and the son. The pain is of the father's struggling and of the son's loss.

#10- "That Time of Year"

I think that there is a lot of imagery in this poem to show the theme of death and things coming to their end. In the first quatrain of the poem, there is the image of autumn. I usually think of autumn as beautiful, but here it signifies an end because it starts to get cold and only a few leaves hang, signifying life. In the second quatrain, there is a image of twilight, which is after sunset where the sun ends and the sky is dark. Finally,in the third quatrain, the author organizes another image to show an end of things which is one of a fire dying. As the fire dies, the room starts to get colder, the light fades, and soon only the ashes are left. These images show that the speaker is nearing the end of his life and soon he will become fire, autumn, or twilight. Finally, all these images show the constant progression of time and that everything will always end.

#17- Delight in Disorder

The pattern of this poem achieves the sense of disorder. This poem is all about disorder and the lack of perfection. The speaker seems to enjoy disorder and even like it and they show the lack of care throughout the poem. Such words like "careless shoestring" and "flow confusedly" show the lack of order and the chaos that seems to be present. Most eye-catching for me, though, was the pattern. The rhyme scheme was broken and had no particular reason except to show disorder in the poem. It stuck out to me most because I read poems out loud and there is usually a certain rhythm or flow to the poem. For me, this poem did not have one and I often found myself getting caught on a word. Therefore, the disorder was evident to me and the pattern was the reason for the broken rhyme scheme.