Eng 1121 Spring 18

Perspectives: The Surreal & the Real

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Renee Mans Blog 5 A sound of Thunder

Loved this story, I also saw the short movie in the 80’s. Ray Bradbury had a science fiction show called Ray Bradbury Theatre. It was a bit scary and suspenseful.  The ending was unexpected. Time travel stories are always my favorite. They all follow the same theory that when people go back in time they shouldn’t disturb anything because it may have grave effects on future events. Good storyline even though the main character got what was coming to him.

blog #4 Sharon B.

This story was very intriguing and horrifically suspenseful I knew or perhaps figured that Kress would somehow get what he deserved in this story. First you knew that he was a rich ,eccentric person who spared no expense when it came to the things that fascinated him and you also knew that he loved collecting rare breeds of animal, but what followed was the fact that he was straight up a wicked or perhaps cruel person who really didn’t care what happened to these pets that he collected. When he went on is business trip the Hawk and shambler had to fend for themselves and the fishes ate each other
Now he’s back and he wants to replace these pets but he is looking for new exotic animals so he finds this shop with Jala Wo and when she explains the nature of these creatures his curiosity gets the better of him because he’s told that they actually worship their owner.one thing about Kress even though he got instructions on how to care for these creatures he changes things starving them changing their environment.After Kress sees them war against each other he decides to show his friends these pets but they also find pleasure watching now he begins to show his dominance over these creatures by hurting.When reading this novel I also observe where the god complex was definitely taking over

 

Blog #4

From reading the short story Sand Kings, it makes me realize that there are some wicked people in this world man. Especially people like Kress, a true wicked man. Not even a man I wouldn’t describe him to be human because he’s not. Who on earth starves animals on purpose to just let them died as “entertainment”. This just makes me think more about society in general. If we have people who basically torture animals for selfish enjoyment, then there must be other people in this world who tortures something else and enjoys it. Point blank of this story is that Power & Selfishness combined can have an affect on the good things in this world. People shouldn’t be cruel with power and not only think about themselves, they should think about the world as well they are apart of it.

Blog #4

SandKings is an intriguing story that grows in intensity till the end. This is the story of Kress a man who collects and displays exotic pets to impress his friends until he grows tired of them and lets them die. The story begins with Kress going on a vacation. When he returns most of his pets have died of starvation. He doesn’t care because to him they aren’t truly pets they are entertainment, but he does want something new, something that he just hasn’t encountered before. He is then introduced to Sandkings. SandKings are small insect-like creatures, though they aren’t insects. They build castles in the sand and war with each other. They will easily worship you and if you project your face into their aquarium they will even worship you building your face into their castles. Kress is primarily interested in the wars, but they don’t come fast enough so he begins to starve the creatures so they will war over the small scraps of food he gives them on the nights when he invites people over to watch the wars. The seller had warned him about the potential dangers if he continued on this course but he didn’t listen, you could have imagined that sooner or later he would be ratted out to the authorities. These are something that was expected since the introduction of Kress. In the end, Kress experienced what he had his sandkings go through and it was only a glimpse of it. I don’t know if the moral of the story is that you treat your animals right or the importance of being kind to any living creature. NO matter what the moral is at the end of the day this short story is worth reading.

Blog 4

Sandkings was by far the most bizarre and violent horror story we’ve read in class.  On the surface it was about Kress and his poor treatment of his pets (which lead to his incredibly gorey end).  To me it was about the abuse of power and how you shouldn’t use those you control for only your selfish needs.  Similar to how Kress was abusing/starving his sandkings for his enjoyment and forcing them to go to war for his self-serving needs, politicians should also stop taking advantage of the lower income families, immigrants, and the elderly.  Like the sandkings we cluster into our castles and attack those who do not look/think/act like ourselves.  We attack each other for resources, food, money, jobs, homes, etc. but we never go after the “Kress”.  If anything, this story shows that we have the power, if we work together toward a common enemy, to stop the abuse of power. We are not pets, after all.

My reaction to Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin

I would have to say that so far this is the best story I have read about in this class. That is because it’s orobably the one I understand and can interpret the most.  I say this because just like Sonny, music is my getaway. It helps me forget all the things I’m going through or have been going through. At times people criticize me for singing or wanting to sing  and it makes me very uncomfortable, even pushes me away from it. That is what makes me connect to Sonny in the story. I feel like the story portrayed Sonny as the lost one. The one that needed saving but in the end I came to the realization that it was his brother that needed saving. Sonny knew that he needed in order to get better, he knew his problem, he had accepted his fears but his brother, on the contrary did not. His brother thought his whole life was put together because he was able to escape the community. I kept asking myself, did he really escape that community though? The fear of the effects of the community was still in him, the hurt of not being there for his brother was still a burden on him. That conflict is was interested me in this text. When you first read the story you would thing everything is about getting Sonny in the right mindset, fixing his life, and all that but I think on a deeper level of understanding, the narrator was the one who needed fixing.

Blog Response #1: The Yellow Wallpaper

I would have to say that throughout the passage the narrator did seem a bit crazy but as I went on I began to get a better understanding of what she was feeling. When we had the dis us sign in class, we came to an understanding that she expressed, in many ways, how she felt trapped by her husband, brother, and doctor. This intrigued me the most because it brought me to my own self and the things I deal with in my culture. Even through the narrator was trapped by her sickness, I can connect with her because I believe I am trapped by the traditional practices in my culture. For instance, it seems as if the male figures in the text were the ones dictating and deciding what was best for her and she had no say because of whatever was going on with her. In my tradition, when men speak or tell you to do something it is only proper for a woman to obey everything they say, even when we don’t agree. At times it could be frustrating, like how this narrator felt but deep within ourselves we obtain an understanding that we can’t do anything about things like that.

Blog 4

The story of the Sandking was chilling and grew more and more horrific with the passing of the pages. Kress is a demonic character that enjoyed seeing life suffer and fight against each other. He seems to have a mental condition like a serial killer that enjoys the thrill from people being tortured and killed. Kress started small. He started with a few piranhas in a tank and a hawk. The story spoke about how much Kress would be delighted when he had starved the piranhas and they would end up eating each other. When he brought the Sandkings, he did the same thing to them. For his selfish satisfaction, he caused war upon the Sandkings.

One of the morals that this story shows is the gradual worsening and barring of a person’s conscience. Once somebody does something wrong, it seems that it gets easier and easier to do worse. Instead of trying to come to a halt when  a person realizes that they have made a mistake, when ones try to cover for their mistakes, things start to get out of control. This is exactly what happened to Kress when he tried to hide the killing of Cath.

Another side of the story seems to be a ruler or god against the ones being ruled. When the Sandkings had Jala as their “god” they lived a relatively peaceful life and only waged war against each other when it was necessary. She did not hold back good or the necessary food and climate control for the Sandkings. However, when their ruler changed to Kress, even the face and their idea they had painted of him grew to show the man that they were worshipping. The Sandkings, as ones being ruled and reliant on Kress for the basic necessities knew him as a cruel, violent and evil ruler. In a way we see how people change and how their lifestyles are affected by the ruler of their country. For example, with the situation occurring in Venezuela, the people are suffering and cannot get food because of the corruption present in the government.

Sandkings Blog#4 Renee Mans

The Sandkings story was creepy, and horrifying. I got the chills while I was reading it. There was nothing in this story that I enjoyed. From the very beginning of the story I noticed that the main character Simon Kress was a sick and demented piece of crap.  His strange need for lifeforms was disgusting. The whole story got on my nerves. He didin’t listen to any of Jala Wos instructions when handling the Sandkings. His total disregard for them was unbelievable. He is a sadist who gets off on the injuring of animals and things smaller than himself. I hated this character so much I didn’t even want to read any further.

However, I continued on.  The sick war game parties, the puppy, his anger and madness at the Sandkings when they created a twisted version of his face all indicated that this man was a psycho. He was so busy trying to be in control that he didn’t even realize how out of control he really was.

The dismememberment of Cath was tormenting to read. The only satisfaction I got from this story was seeing him get what he deserved. The ending was also disturbing. The little orange ones all having his face was too much for me.

I guess George R.R. Martin achieved his goal in writing this creepy tale, I was very scared and nervous by my reading of it.   As much as I wanted to stop reading it was as much as I wanted to continue to see what happens next. That’s what good writing is all about, taking the reader on a journey.

 

Blog #2

“This Blessed House” is a story of a newly wed couple, who’s relationship starts to strain with the differences in their tolerance and intolerance. Sanjeev seems to represent a more traditional Indian man whereas Twinkle represents the modern Indian girl. She doesnt cook traditional Indian food, loves the statues and idols of Mary or Jesus that she finds in their new home and has a charming and outgoing personality. Although Sanjeev seems to be admiring parts of her personality, his reservedness along with his set  ways causes friction between their relationship. This story doesnt seem to be about just a strained marriage between 2 different people. It portrays on a bigger scale the differences people in society can have when they have 2 very differing opinions. For example, not only does a differ viewpoint of religion at times pull apart marriage mates, it has done that to close knitted countries and nations of people. The importance is having respect for the other person’s beliefs.

 

Patricia Lee

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