Journal 6

I truly did enjoy reading "Sonny's Blues," by James Baldwin, it was truly heartwarming to finally read a story where the troubled person in the plot line of the story doesn't get into more trouble or die at the end.  There was one thing; however,  that I would have changed in this story and that would be to give the name of the narrator which is Sonny's brother.  The whole time while reading I was waiting for the story to reveal the narrator's name.  I feel that if they would have gave this character a name it would have made the story more inviting. If I were to give this man a name it would be Julius, Julius is the name of an African American character in the movie "Remember the Titans." In this movie Julius is a person with high character and is counted on by many.  I believe that the narrator in this story is synonymous with Julius and that is why I would name that.

Journal 5

There is a problem in America that has been a problem for a long, long time.  It involves all races and walks of life and it will most likely never be defeated; that is the war on drugs.  In "Sonny's Blues," by James Baldwin Sonny is addicted to heroin, this heroin addiction ruined not only his life, but the people that were close to him as well.  Not only, did the drugs harm him as a person, but the people he hung around with were incredibly bad.  For example, the man that the narrator encounters at the beginning of the story is a very shady person.

Drugs are humongous problem in America and all over the world.  They have ripped apart families and ruined many peoples lives in general.  This short story is a prime example of how drugs can bring extreme destruction to a persons life.  Fortunately, for Sonny it appears that at the end of this story he begins to find himself in his music and away from the things that brought on his demise earlier in life.

Journal 4

The story "Why I live at the P.O." by Eudora Welty really hit home for me in a specific way.  Being the older of me and my brother I strongly relate to being second fiddle to the younger sibling at times.
"She's always had anything in the world she wanted and then she'd throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when she was eight years old and she threw it away playing baseball when she was nine, with only two pearls."

This quote from the beginning of the story was the part that really hit home to me about it, the younger sibling being spoiled and the older sibling being upset about it.  I am definitely not the only person to ever experience and won't be the last one either.  A specific example of this happened to me when I was 8 years old and my family were remodeling our house so it was a pretty big mess.  My brother (who was 5 at the time) and I both had to use the restroom so we decided to race to see who would get there first.  Well, after 5 staples in the side of his head, it was determined that I was the first one to the restroom.  To this day I know I didn't push him and he simply took a sharp turn and hit his head on the wall, but that is beside the point.  For the next 2 weeks my little brother was the king of the house, he got away with EVERYTHING! He could say mean things to me, take my things without asking, and just be a downright jerk.  This story truly hit home to me with being the older sibling and I know I can't be the only one!

Journal 3

    After reading the Edgar Allan Poe short story entitled "The Cask of Amontillado" I have decided to pose one question, and that question is: "Why?"  Why would a man seek revenge on another man in this sort of way when it was clear that at the time he regretted doing it? In the story it says: "My hear grew sick." This is why posing such a broad question is relevant because of his immediate remorse of his actions.  Why does anyone feel the need to do this to anyone no matter what they may or may not have done to them?  I find it to be very interesting that Montresor never specifies what Fortunato does to him that causes him to seek such revenge on him.  Does he not want the reader to know because Fortunato's offenses were petty and no reason for him to be killed for it? This question along with the question "Why?" are the two that I drummed up after reading this short story.

     After reading this story and thinking about it for awhile I gathered an opinion about it that makes a lot of sense to me.  In today's world a common theory is that literature and other forms of media (video games, movies, television shows, etc) are directly correlated with violence among people.  While I find that to be accurate, I also think that authors like Edgar Allan Poe and stories like this one are the direct root of violence throughout history.  Stories like these that make killing as a form of revenge so easy to do are, in my opinion, a direct link to a portion of the violence that plagues our world today.

Journal 2

The story I have chose to reflect on is Cathedral by Raymond Carter due to its interesting plot line and the odd feeling the story left me.    The story is about a blind man and a married woman who share a certain connection throughout the story.  The husband has a very harsh and poor perception of how the blind man is towards his wife. The husband is a very down trodden person who refuses to view people that are different than him as equal. I personally believe that he is a poor man, he is very simple minded and the fact that he cannot understand a blind man for what he is is disturbing.  While reading some of the other blogs by students in this course I came across a point that I find very accurate and have decided to use it, and that is "It appears that the narrator is the blind one." I found this in Arielle's blog and find it to be very accurate upon reading this story myself!

Journal 1

A book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading in the past was a book entitled "The Outsiders," by S.E Hilton.  I read this book as part of a class project in 8th grade at Watertown Middle School. I found that this book gave great insight into two very different social classes that did not like each other. It gave me a very important look into how different social classes can treat and act towards each other.  It truly is a book I will always remember because of the important lessons it taught me.  A book that I strongly disliked reading was titled "The Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad.  I read it, or tried to read it, my senior year of high school for my AP Language class.  It wasn't the plot line, or the characters, or the outcome of the story that I didn't like.  It was how the book read.  It was written in 1899 so the language of the novel was terrible, and for me at least, almost impossible to follow.  It was an incredibly confusing book that I couldn't for along with whatsoever, I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone!