The Lottery & Goodman Brown

I did not like the story of Goodman Brown. As I understood it, he was a man of faith and had high trust in the Church. Yet, he was led down a journey by whom he thought a man of the devil and there was a worship going on in the dessert forest. It was possibly a dream at the end and the character of Goodman Brown could not understand if it was a dream or not. He had a hard time going to Church and feeling comfortable afterward. I feel the story was truly a dream of what he fears or that he is struggling with his faith and is having nightmares of what could happen if he falls into the trap of sin.

However, The Lottery  was a much different story. It was about a community coming together to select a paper from the black box. At the end of the Lottery one family has to go through the lottery together and had to see who ended up with the black dot. It turns out Tessie was selected. The community seemingly stones her to death? I feel that this was possibly population control? I think the society was severely messed up and had a demented tradition going on. I liked this story because it was easier to read and unpredictable.

Also, as discussed in class we are to blog our paper topics. I would like to write about my take of Edgar Allen Poe's Tell-Tale Heart. I want to write about my perception of the narrator being schizophrenic. I feel the story would give me ample evidence to support my inquiry. 

The Yellow Wallpaper

This story was very slow. I had a hard time keeping my attention because it felt like reading someones diary except it was not new information but the same feelings and thoughts repeating themselves again and again.  I feel that the story was a portrayal of the actual author in some ways. After reading the biography at the beginning and the reasons why she wrote it at the end it becomes clear to me that it is in many ways, except for the delusions. In the story this poor woman is treated like she is ignorant and knows nothing because 1) she is a woman 2) her husband is a doctor and 3) she is not to be taken literally by anyone. I feel she has so many obsessive ways about the wallpaper because she is just BORED. It says the windows are closed and have bars on them and the door has a gate in the hall. It is almost like a jail to her and she is not allowed to leave. Without any way to get out, she feels trapped and is bored and feels more crazy because she is being locked away in this tiny old room with ugly wallpaper. Therefore, her obsession is began and she has delusions about a woman in the wallpaper. I feel like this woman is her but she is unaware of it until the end when she lets herself take the persona of the wall woman. I also feel that at the end she was going to kill herself by hanging herself with the rope. Yet the story does not let you know that she does or not. I think she does because John passes out, and why would he if she wasn't in the act of committing suicide? The story definitely brings light to the need for someone who is depressed to not be hidden but to be given opportunities to socialize and just feel better about themselves. If John had allowed her, she would probably have been okay because it's all that she wanted... a life.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe's story was very amusing to me. He wanted to portray to his audience that the main character was not 'mad' but skillful and 'wise'. I feel the character was trying to cope with the guilt he had for having such thoughts about killing the old man by seeing the good in what he was planning (his skilled attack, his clever breaking in, his sneaky movements inside the old man's room, etc.).  He waited and watched the old man sleep several nights until one night he is caught and the old man sits in bed in fear (you can hear his heart beating). Yet, he does not just kill him then. He stands and 'plays' with the old man opening the lantern and then finally he goes through with it. He then butchers the body and buries it in the floor & replaces the floor boards so fantastically that you would never know they were taken up. However, he IS proven to be mad because at the end of the story he thinks he can still hear the mans heart. How can that be if he dismembered the body? It is just not possible. He is obviously paranoid and guilty due to his actions. I think the title of this is kind of comical because it is the Tell-Tale Heart and he ends up tattle telling on himself because he can hear the heart beating. Over all, I enjoyed reading this and felt it was easier for me to comprehend in comparison to A Rose For Emily.

A Rose For Emily By: William Faulkner

After reading the assigned short story, I was lost. I went back and reread the story and still am lost. I had a hard time following along because I was not familiar with several words used in the text. So, I used my dictionary and looked the words up and went back and read it once more. I feel the author really 'jumped around' in the story and I had a hard time understanding past from present information he gave to the readers. I also do not understand if she killed Homer (why would she?) (did she buy the arsenic for him?) and was sleeping in bed with him at night or what the significance of her hair on the pillow next to him was.  The way I understood the reading she was buying the arsenic to kill herself not someone else. I am still very confused over the literature and do not fully understand what is happening. 

I feel the handout about active reading ties into my problems with my understanding. I need to use the tools and techniques described in the handout to go back and reread the text and really break it down to understand it. Perhaps after another try I will understand the story.

Background Information & Introduction

Hello friends! My name is Emily but mostly I go by Emmy (that is unless one or both of my parents is mad at me). I am enrolled in this course because it is a requirement for my degree in elementary education and also because I do enjoy to read and write. I actually write quite frequently in my spare time as I have a strong interest in singing and song writing. My hobbies include singing, watching movies, visiting my family, snowboarding in the winter, boating in the summer, spending time with my little cousins, baking, and I highly enjoy traveling places (I have been to every state in the US including Alaska & Hawaii as well as Mexico & Canada). 

Me in Chicago, IL

My Family in Denver, Co

I find that writing is an outlet for my personal thoughts, feelings, and a great way to express myself. I am currently uninvolved in any extracurricular activities as I just transferred to USD this semester. I am still trying to learn my way around campus and familiarize myself with the different class sizes and lecture styles.

I am originally from Sioux City, IA and attended Western Iowa Tech Community College for a couple of years. With that said, I have not taken the course English 101 at USD. I am assuming this would be a composition course. I did take composition I & II at WITCC. Composition I at WITCC was a basic grammer course with focus on some writing and reading. Composition II at WITCC involved writing an 8-10 page research paper and the entire semester was a focus on formating and technicallities (proposal, outline, notecards, annotated bibliography, etc.). I feel I have a strong background for future writing assignments and also have acquired strong reading comprehension skills from my previous courses.

I look forward to learning advanced strategies for writting and organizing my essays more effectively. I am also looking forward to learning how to practice active reading as I have never engaged in doing so prior to this course.