[Ashley Adhar]

The characters in the short story “Girl” is a mother and her young daughter. The narrator of the short story is the mother of the girl. The girl is probably in her teenage age as her mother/ the narrator is telling her what to do and what not. Most of the talking is done by the mother. You can tell when the other person is talking based on the way the text is formatted. When the narrator/ the mother is speaking, it is regular and the word “you” is constantly used. When the speaker changes, the font becomes italicized and “I’ is often said. Kincaid, the writer uses semicolons to excess ideas or points that the mother is trying to explain to the daughter. The semi colon adds emphasis and more meaning/depth to what she is saying. The story is about a mother teaching her young daughter basic manners and the way a “girl” should act or behave in society. For example, the mother states, “this is how to behave in the presence of men…” The mother is basically teaching her how to fall into the basic norms of society and how to be a girl society approves of. I can relate to a few of the things that the girl was taught. Growing up, my mom taught me how to behave in front of guests, how to act, and how to do basic household chores. She also taught me to how to attend to guest. Some of the things in the story I cannot relate to because times have changed and the way we do or learn things now are different. It is surprising and ironic in the last part about the baker because throughout the short story the mother is instilling manners and lessons to the daughter. At the end, the daughter questions whether or not the baker will allow her to touch the bread which makes the mother question everything she was teaching the girl.

[Ashley Adhar]

The story is written by Langston Hughes. In his narrative, he is around the age of thirteen. You can tell because it states “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen.” I do not have much experience compared to what Langston described. When I would go to the temple, I would always hear people say “this is the way to remove your sins and ask for forgiveness. On this particular day at church, the children are being “saved” from Jesus and are being forgiven for any sins they have committed. The boy says he sees Jesus because he does not want to feel embarrassed. Everyone else around him claimed to see Jesus but him so he lied to not seem like he was an outcast or different. I feel like I have been pressured many times without even realizing. For example, at times I may be pressured to try new foods I have never tried before just because my friends tell me how good it is. To me, peer pressure is giving into something because someone tells you about it or makes you feel that you should do it. I do not think it necessarily has to do with force; I feel it has more to do with creating the idea in one’s mind that they should do it because someone else is. My peers would be my friends, some family members and acquaintances. I do not necessarily think that peer pressure is wrong all the time. Sometimes, one can be pressured to do something good or improve upon them. It does have a negative connotation often because most parents always say “do not give into peer pressure or your friends” or associate it with the pressure of drinking or smoking. However, peer pressure can simply mean to be pressurized by someone to do something good like get a job because everyone around you is employed. Connotation is the idea or feeling that a word gives off in addition to its primary meaning. Denotation is the primary meaning of word in contrast to the feeling of that word. Our five senses are sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. Words are used to evoke those senses. For example, looking at an ad for a perfume, you cannot actually smell it. The words that are used have to appeal to the viewer first. The boy’s actual mistake was that he lied about seeing Jesus and actually thought it would appear in front of him. In the end, the boy implied that he does not believe. I feel that there is no set age to make a decision in having faith. At a young age, it is a hard concept to grasp on. However, at times some people can comprehend the true meaning in regards to faith.

[Elda Idrizi]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
“Salvation” is a story about Langston Hughes.

2 The narrative is told from a twelve-year-old boy..

3 No, I have never experienced worship or been involved with religious beliefs and morals. I simply don’t believe in worshipping, after taking a history class about what religious morals did to people’s mind in the past it enlightened me and gave me a different perspective on the worship of God.

4 At church, a 12 year old whom we can assume is Langston, is pressured by his aunt Reed to be part of the Jesus revival and save his life. He then met a boy named Westley, where he faked his salvation and Langston followed in those footsteps but ended up feeling guilty about it.

5 The boy lied about seeing Jesus to fake his salvation and say he was saved by Jesus. He was pressured by the church and his aunt to believe in Jesus but no matter how hard he tried to see him he could not. Also, he lied because he knew the disappointment he would get from his aunt if he told her he wasn’t seeing Jesus and was losing faith in him. He was feeling pressure from his aunt and the whole church to be saved by Jesus which influenced him to lie.

6 The peer pressure in middle school was very strong because everyone wanted to be a cool kid. Everyone was getting their own phone so I decided to lie about getting the new iPhone because of peer pressure to fit in. I felt pressured to have an iPhone in 5th grade so I lied about having one.

7 I would define peer pressure as influence by peers to follow what everyone else is doing. I would consider the peers to be the people you want to be accepted by.

8 Peer pressure is not always a negative consequence it can work both ways. An example of positive peer pressure would be those students who are committed to doing well in school. The pressure of everyone sharing their good grade would influence you to want to do good in school which is something beneficial for yourself.

9 Denotation is a straight-forward dictionary definition versus connotation is the feelings invoked by the word. For easier understanding it could be like expectations versus reality.

A mental note I took while reading the story was the way Westley looks and acts. From the author’s description I pictured him more of a bad kid that didn’t care about his appearance because he was the first to lie. Compared to the narrator he felt guilty so I imagine him to look more of a presentable good boy with a clean appearance.

10 The aunt thought he was crying because he was seeing Jesus but really he felt guilty for lying about seeing him and for not believing in him anymore. He felt disappointed and scared that he also disappointed everyone at church for lying about seeing Jesus.

11 Young children look up to mentors such as family members for guidance so I see why he would give church a try and then lose faith but as life carries on he will develop his own faith and maybe find himself back at church asking Jesus for guidance.

[Elda Idrizi]

1) I found out that there were many prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

2) The character names represent their role in the story and symbolizes who they are as a person. For example, Goodman Brown is a good Christian and the devil/old man who is presumed to be the devil.

3) In the short story, “Where is the Voice Coming From” by Eudora Welty, the character names are symbolisms in the story. For example, Medgar Evers name was changed to Summers in the story. This can symbolize freedom and innocence because he got killed even when he was innocent.

4) The pink ribbons associated with his wife’s appearance can symbolize innocence and her purity. They are mentioned more than once around Goodman Brown who is trying to escape the devil’s worship.

5) I picture Goodman and his wife to be young adults typically around 18-20. I also feel an age difference between them where his wife is a little younger than him.

6) Goodman leaves his wife and goes into the forest on that particular night because he had promised to meet someone.

7) The whole time reading the part where Goodman is in the forest sounded skeptical because there is always something scary about darkness. It is a time where evil things happen and he mentions the weather getting harder to see.

8) The maple stick was highly unusual because I never heard of such a thing and the man vanished when he tossed it which is strange as well. Also, the mention of the voices of the riders, two grave old voices, was unusual because Goodman said he could hear them coming closer but they were not visible. This is the scariest of them all it makes one believe ghosts are real.

9) When Goodman reaches his destination he sees the rest of the community participating in devil acts.

10) When he sees the pink ribbon he cries out and is convinced his wife is part of the devils worship as well. He says his faith is gone and cries out.

11) The double meaning of “my faith is gone” is his religious beliefs and his wife have been trapped by the devil’s worship. He feels as if he lost two of the most meaningful things in his life.

12) The author is a combination of omniscient and a character because the reader gets Goodman’s thoughts from the narrator point of view, which can be Goodman at times. The narrator might have asked if this was a dream because the story has fiction elements.

13) It does not matter to me if the story is told from a dreams perspective although in the end when i find out it was a dream it is confusing. This often happens in movies. I have yet to read a novel where a character wakes up from a dream.

14) I have not been influenced by my dreams to change my way of living but I have seen many motivational quotes about not waking up from a dream and to appreciate life. I often forget my dreams because they are short or I was too tired to dream. Most of the time I am relieved to be waking up from a dream because they tend to be scary although, those once in a while rich life dreams are very disappointing when I find out they are not real.

15) I believe that everyone has morals and good or bad moments in their life. I would say judging someone based off of one bad moment is not fair, but there are expectations. If one suppose was bad once in their life they can convert to be a good person that achieves good deeds for others.

[Nay]

“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid

1. The characters are a young girl and an adult most likely the young girl’s mother or relative.
2. The narrator in the story is the adult/ mother.
3. The girl is a teenager, so she is between the ages of 13-19 years old.
4. The mother is doing most of the talking throughout the story as she preparing and teaching her child basic life skills that she needs to know for when she gets older.
5. You know the other person is talking when the author changes the writing font of their dialogue. Their text is italicized while the other character’s text is written in the main writing style times new roman.
6. Kincaid, the writer uses semicolon excessively to help separate ideas that are related to each other. This also helps the writer stay organized which helps readers understand the different ideas being introduced to them without getting confused.
7. The story is about a mother teaching her daughter of the do’s and don’ts of when she becomes an adult. The woman gives the young girl tips and advice on how to do necessities such as preparing meals, cooking, cleaning, ironing, and how to present herself and act around different individuals that she comes across. The woman informs the young woman on these things in hope of her not becoming a “slut” in the future.
8. Yes I identify with the girl very much. Growing up, my mother has taught me how to set tables for different occasions, cooking and preparing different dishes, ironing, and how to be lady like.
9. The irony in the last part about the baker is despite all the advice that the woman has taught her daughter, it is obvious that the young girl has her own idea of what being ladylike is to her as she questions her mother’s advice by saying ” but what if the baker wont let me feel the bread?”

[Dawood]

Girl questions:

1 Who are the characters?
A girl and her mother
2 Who is the narrator?
Mainly the mother
3 How old is the girl?
The girl is a child/teen
4 Who is doing most of the talking?
The mother
5 How do you know when the other person is talking?
The mother is explaining to a girl how to act and how to be more of a lady than a slut, she explains how to iron a man’s clothes.
6 Why do you think Kincaid, the writer, uses semicolons to excess?
The writer uses semicolons to connect one idea to another because the writer is explaining in detail how to act like a lady.
7 What exactly is the story about?
The story is about a lady teaching a girl how to act more ladylike. There are many examples given about the narrator talking about how to act and the way you should be dressed.
8 Do you identify with the girl in any way due to things you were taught to do as a youngster?
Yes, it’s similar how on we were taught as a youngster because my mother and father taught me manners and how to act in front of people. The parents are the ones that teach their kids how to act and dress so you don’t look like trash.
9 Is there any surprise or irony in the last part about the baker?
The ending is surprising cause it explains that if she follows the rules of not becoming a slut she is allowed to do whatever. The last part makes her wanna be something and avoid being what people hate.
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“Young Goodman Brown” is a classic short story. It has all the trappings: relatively brief length, very few characters, and a surprise ending. Please don’t be put off by the archaic language. It was written almost 200 years ago and was current at that time. You may know the author’s name from another book he wrote, The Scarlet Letter, which has a similar setting, Salem, Massachusetts.

1) What do you know about Salem, Massachusetts? (You may Google it.)
Its where witch trials took place in 1692 after young girls in Salem Village in Massachusetts were the girls swear to be devils and did witchcraft.
2) What did you find unusual about the characters’ names?
The author has not named the characters although Goodman Brown and Faith are used to representing a good thing.
3) Can you think of any stories you have read or seen wherein the characters’ names seemed so appropriate and even symbolic? (We are not talking about nicknames, wrestlers, rappers, or superheroes, and supervillains.)
I don’t remember the book’s name that I used to read but there were some names that fit appropriately and make it something where it means a lot in the story.
4) What object is associated with his wife’s appearance? We see it more than once. What does it symbolize about her?
The way the wife is being told is the way she looks, the wife wears a ribbon as a symbolize of ladylike and you
5) Approximately what age would you estimate Goodman and his wife to be? They are recently married, but back then people married very young. (The general life span was much less than today, people did not go to college, and it was considered highly immoral to have sex before marriage – hence young people got married.)
The age that I would estimate Goodman and his wife to be is around 17-20 because they act very young and there love life is very different from older people.
6) Why does this newlywed young man leave his nervous wife on this particular night? Where was he going and why?
Newlywed had to leave his wife at night to go meet with someone he met in the forest.
7) At what point did you begin to sense that something odd was happening where he was walking?
When the elder travelers made a branch a walking stick and it dried up instantly.
8) Mention a few other highly unusual things he saw? (If you ever went camping in the woods, you realize it is very dark and not a place to be walking around.)
When he saw the travelers do weird stuff in front of him like making a maple branch in a stick and make the stick disrepair.
9) Eventually, he gets to his destination. What exactly is happening there?
There were a lot of voices talking and he heard his own wife talk.
10) When he sees that “wife object” how does he react?
When he say his wife object he was stunned and cried “my faith is gone”
11) At one point he cries out, “My Faith is gone!” What is the double meaning of this?
This means that his wife has been taken away his Faith was no more
12) Who has been narrating this story? (Hawthorn is the author, of course, but is the author omniscient or a character, or some other combination? Why then does the narrator ask if all this story was a dream?
The narrator asked if it was all a dream because there were some parts in the story where it seemed away to unreal for the character to handle.
13) Does it matter to you if the story has been a dream or not? Can you think of any stories wherein a terrific plot or sequence turned out to be just a dream? Were you disappointed or exhilarated by finding out it was a dream?
The story doesn’t matter if its a dream or not because there are lessons and some plots that can be very important for people to understand like it can give many examples of how to live life and show what is the unexpected.
14) Look at what happens to Goodman and the rest of his life. Have you ever been influenced by a dream to take some action? Or do you quickly forget your dreams? Are you yourself disappointed or relieved when you wake up from a dream?
There are very few dreams that influenced me to change to become a better person than who I am and the people that I surround my self with. I was never disappointed in a dream because most of the time its something to avoid then go after.
15) The author seems too pessimistic about people: they are essentially bad, even if they try to act well. How do you feel about that? Do you feel people are basically good or bad – and why?
I don’t agree with the author because people can be very different on the way they act and look at stuff in life, no one is born bad it’s all about the choices you make in life that will lead to where you will be in life because no one will tell you where/what to do in life.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
“Salvation” is a narrative essay, a memoir that is non-fiction. When you include it in your essay in a couple of weeks, please just call it an essay or a reading, not a short story.
Please do not just answer with a yes or a no. Imagine you are in a classroom and raising your hand. You would have more content to say in such a setting in college. However, since there are so many questions, your answers may be short.

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
The story is by Langston Hughes
2 How old is he in his narrative?
Langston Hughes is 13 years old in his narrative.
3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No, I do not have any similar experience because growing up as a child I learned about my religion then moved to prayers. It all different depending on who you worship.
4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
The children were told that they were going to be saved by Jesus and that he would forgive their sins.
5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
He saw Jesus get everyone to stop looking at him because deep inside he knows that he couldn’t see Jesus and thought his religion is not worth worship because it seems like a lie to him.
6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
I have done many things because I was pressured into doing, My friends told me to throw a football to them in a math class and I did leading the class closet glass being shattered and didn’t get in trouble because no one ratted me out.
7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
Peer pressure is when you wanna do something you not allowed to do, most of the time peer pressure is something bad, and most of the time its friends that make you do stuff.
8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
Most of the time peer pressure is something wrong and very little it can be something good because most of the time peer pressure is something that is not allowed to be done.
“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.
9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
The connotation is an idea/feeling of the original meaning and denotation is the literal meaning of the word. Our five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, the nose is what is used to small bad thing s and it can appeal in words too because the way a small can be explained in detail can have an effect on a reader. Smelling a perfume and watching an ad has different effects cause you don’t know what it smells like and the ad gives off a feeling but you are no there to fully trust it.
Good writing has sensory appeal. What are our five senses? Which of these senses are easier to appeal to in words? For example, with the sense of smell, if you read that something smells bad, does that have any appeal? When you look at an ad for a cologne or perfume, can you smell it in your mind or does the ad have to appeal to a different sense?
A movie is something to the mixed feeling because it depends on what you are watching some can have a bad and good effect like if a character falls in the trash it gives you an ugly/bad smell in your mind. I do remember seeing a part for “must”/”needed”
When you see a movie or show and something is supposed to smell bad or good, how do you know?
(In comparison, if something is ugly or pretty you can see it in a film or picture it in your mind’s eye.)
Without going back to look, did you remember seeing any particular visual in this essay? If so, what did you make mental note of?
10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy said he saw Jesus which was a mistake making his Aunt think Jesus was coming to save him but no one came.
11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
Yes because when a kid is growing up there thrown in many directions to see what they would have an effect from.

[Ashley Adhar]

I know Salem, Massachusetts is known for the witch trials and the execution of them. I find it unusual that the character’s names are Goodman Brown and Faith. They are not names that I would normally find in readings. The names are symbolic and appropriate compared to other pieces of writings. I cannot think of any stories that I have read wherein the characters named seemed so appropriate and symbolic. The object that is associated with his wife’s appearance is pink ribbons. It is seen more than once as it states “with the pink ribbons” a few times. The pink ribbon symbolizes Faith’s purity. Throughout the beginning of the story, the pink ribbons are often mentioned. It represents Faith’s innocence and a sense of her personality. Goodman and his wife seem to be at a young age, they are approximately in their late teens or early twenties. The newlywed young man leaves his nervous wife on this particular night to go into the forest. I sensed something odd was happening where he was walking when the man rose up at Goodman Brown’s approach. There were a few other unusual things he saw. For example, the maple stick was thrown and then “vanished into the deepening gloom.” Eventually, he gets to his destination. When he gets there, he hears voices coming from nowhere. When he sees the “wife object”, he cries out, “My faith is gone.” The pink ribbon was caught on the branch of the tree. The ribbon forever symbolized his wife. Therefore, when he saw it, he cried out. The double meaning of it is to show the connection between his wife and the faith he believes in. The story is told from a third person point of views. The narrator is constantly describing Goodman’s thoughts and feelings. Towards the end of the story, it states “had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of which meeting.” Many of the things in the story were unexpected and uncommon which caused the narrator to question it. I cannot think of any stories that turned out to be just a dream. Many of my dreams are forgotten about quickly after I wake up. Sometimes I am disappointed especially if I am wakening up during a dream. At times, my dreams involve things that have been on my mind for a while or bothering me. At other times, I am relieved if it is a bad dream and I forget about it. I feel that everyone has a good and bad side. It depends on who the person is in general and the type of relationship you have with them. You may see the good side of someone while others see the bad side of them. It all depends on how you view them and how they are towards you.

[Asif Khan]

Girl:

1.) The characters are a girl and her mother.
2.) The narrator seems to be the mother, and at times the daughter.
3.) The girl seems to be fairly young, maybe from the ages 11-17.
4.) The mother is doing a majority of the talking.
5.) The daughter’s lines are italicized.
6.) This is a clever use of the semicolon because it emphasizes the mother’s trust in her daughter.
7.) A mother unreasonably teaching her daughter how to live in a type of mocking tone, acting like the daughter is extremely oblivious to the world.
8.) No, I was much more independent and my parents trusted me to know to do the right thing, so I don’t have much to relate to this story.
9.) Yes, there is a surprise. The girl listened to the mother speak a lot, yet she only addressed the least offensive thing she stated.

[Asif Khan]

Salvation:

1.) Langston Hughes.
2.) The narrator/character in the story is 13 years old.
3.) No, I never had any experience close to this.
4.) A boy’s aunt brings him to a revival where he loses his faith in Jesus.
5.) He thought he disappointed everybody by not saying whatever they wanted him to say, so he gave in.
6.) When I was younger, I would pull pranks and bother people under peer pressure.
7.) Peer pressure is when you fall into the influence of people you know, your peers, and you usually do something to negatively impact yourself or somebody else.
8.) In most cases I have seen or been involved in, somebody was negatively influenced. However, there are certainly moments when you can peer pressure somebody to take a risk that will ultimately help them.
9.) Denotation is much more specific than connotation. Denotation is used to describe something literally, while connotation can have many different meanings.
Our five senses are sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touching. If you see something smells bad in a book/text, we’d have a sense of what the person smells, relating to anything we have smelled.
When we see a show or movie, we can tell by facial expression how something smells. If something smells bad, the character will use their nose to smell the air and make a disgusted face, whereas a good smell will create a pleasant face or attitude.
Yes, I remember Langston describing the scene of the church and who was on the bench and the light shining on him and his surroundings.
10.) The boy took what his aunt told him literally. He thought Jesus would literally come down and he would see him.
11.) No, he misinterpreted the entire situation. He misinterpreted what his aunt told him, so his decision is premature.

[Asif Khan]

Young Goodman Brown:

1.) Salem was very famous for its which trials, they are considered a big part of history.
2.) Each character was name after a character trait, at least the main characters, Young and Faith.
3.) No, I can’t think of any stories with symbolic or appropriate names, not that I can remember.
4.) The pink ribbon symbolizes that she is young and accessorizes.
5.) I would guess they are both anywhere from 17-19 years old.
6.) Langston was going to hunt the devil because it was halloween and in Salem that is considered a day the devil comes out.
7.) He thought he started seeing things, which made him extra cautious.
8.) He sees a man who almost knew he would be there, the man says he knew Young’s father and grandfather, who Young says never went hunting for the devil.
9.) He hears Faith’s voice, and he sees her pink ribbon fly away.
10.) He was just as surprised as anyone would be, he rushed to see what was happening.
11.) His wife, Faith, and his faith in general are both gone.
12.) The narrator is Young, it can also be another narrator speaking on Young’s dream.
13.) Yes, it matters if it is a dream or not. Sometimes horrible things happen and end up being a dream, which causes relief. This often happens in horror movies, where a characters nightmare is displayed and foreshadows their future.
14.) Yes, some dreams I have are me giving forgiveness or asking for it to people who I have distanced myself from, and some dreams are of the future, living lavish and being happy, those I love waking up from because it motivates me tremendously.
15.) In my opinion, people are raised a certain way to be good or bad. It depends on your parents, your neighborhood, and your mindset. If you see how others live everyday, you can become better and thankful for what we have, which is a lot compared to others around the world.

[Eduard Khanukayev]

Girl:

1. The characters in this story consist of an unnamed girl, and who I believe is her mother.
2. The narrator in this story is the person talking to the girl, and how I know this is because the narrator says words like “you” and “your” insinuating that she is directly talking to the girl.
3. The girl in the story I think is roughly 16-18. In the story, the narrator mentions the word “slut”, that would mean that the girl is a mid to late teen because that is not a word that you would use in front of a young child. However, in this story, the girl is being told what to do and how simplistically. This would be how a parent would talk to a teen, giving simple instructions that a teen would understand.
4. In this story, most of the talking is almost always being done by the narrator, and very rarely, if ever, the girl is speaking in the story.
5. The way the other character, most likely the girl, speaks is in italicized text. This, however, is only seen twice throughout this story.
6. I think that semicolons are used as a tool to make a deviation from one point to another. In this story the girl, what I think, is being told basic instructions by a parent or parental figure, to help function properly in life. This is stuff like, when to wash clothes, catch fish, and other important and unimportant tasks. However, the way that the speaker is talking to the girl, makes it sound like the girl doesn’t know simple basic things like where to put clothes after they are done washing or to not squat down because the character is not a boy.
7. This story is about a mother, instructing a girl, her daughter, on how to perform daily life tasks, but more so to be a proper person. This is seen when the narrator instructs the girl on how to have proper etiquette at a table, and also when the narrator tells this girl to eat properly and not eat while walking. However, in this story, the girl is drifting away from her parents by becoming or trying to become a slut. Her mother tries to help by advising her against it, and even trying to dress her properly. In the end, however, it doesn’t work.
8. I can identify with this girl because as a child, I was also given basic teaching on how to do things by my mother. In a similar style to the girl, learning table etiquette, proper ways to dress, and how to cook certain types of food. However, unlike this girl, I was never on the level where I needed to be taught basic things like polite eating ways and to not throw rocks at birds.
9. There is a piece of irony, more specifically dramatic irony. The term dramatic irony refers to when the audience knows something before the character does. Throughout the whole story, the narrator slowly addresses how, she does not advise, and has warned against the girl becoming a slut. However, she mentions it so many times, that as a reader, I already see that the girl would become a slut and this is solidified at the end. When the girl asks what if she is not allowed to touch the bread, in a questionable tone. The narrator replies, in what I assume is a disappointed tone, with you mean no matter what she is going to be a person the baker wouldn’t let touch the bread. This insinuates that the girl is hellbent on becoming a slut, that not even a baker would trust with bread.

[Eduard Khanukayev]

Salvation:

1. This story is written, and told by, Langston Hughes
2. In this story Langston H. is twelve years old.
3. I have had experience within a house of worship since the age of 6. I have attended a synagogue for most of my life and regularly participate in religious activity, whether it be prayers or volunteering. I do have experience within a house of worship.
4. On this day, in the church his aunt was a part of, children were brought to the front of the church to be cleansed of their sins. The adults, including his aunt, wanted the kids to meet Jesus and G-d, in hopes of cleansing their sins.
5. The boy, Langston, says that he sees Jesus because he was, to a degree, peer pressured into it. While he is the only child left waiting to be saved, his aunt is sobbing his name, and the pastor is calling him over to just be saved. With all of this occurring Langston said to himself that he was starting to feel ashamed, and seeing how Westly, who lied about being saved, was fine. He ultimately decided to take it upon himself, and lie to everyone.
6. In my childhood, I had a very good friend, but one day that friendship turned sour. I was a very impressionable kid and didn’t know certain things not to say. One day his grandmother passed and I felt really bad for him, however, I was constantly told by three bullies in our school to mock him about it, and I was scared of these three guys. Not wanting to make them mad I came up to my former friend and said “congratulation Ryan, your grandma just died”. He ran out of class crying and I tried never again to be pressured into saying something.
7. How I would define peer pressure is, when a peer, or peers, is pressuring you to do something you don’t want to, by instituting you, and making you feel weak for not doing the thing that a peer, or peers, wanted you to do. A peer is someone who you would associate as being on the same level as you whether it be age or status, or even pay grade.
8. While peer pressure has always had a negative sound to it, there can be many ways that people could be peer pressured into doing good things. The only thing is that someone would have to pressure you into doing that thing, and this can be done by mentioning hypothetical situations, and positive outcomes. Ultimately people like helping others so with some good peer pressure people can do a lot of good.
9. The difference between connotation and denotation is quite simple. The connotation is the emotional meaning for a word, while the denotation is quite literally just the definition.
10. The boy’s actual mistake was misunderstanding what his aunt said, and taking the statement very literally. She told him that Jesus would come to him and save him from his sins, and Langston thought that Jesus would actually come to him.
11. At the age of 12, most children are still very impressionable and a child that doesn’t see something would not assume it’s real, or one who was not taught this, and disregard it as non-existent.

[Eduard Khanukayev]

Young Goodman Brown:

1. Salem, which is a city in Massachusetts. It is very well known for the witch trials that occurred there in 1692.
2. I found it unusual that the author named the main character Goodman Brown, and his wife Faith. Both names sound very symbolic.
3. I can’t off the top of my head think of any stories that I read, where the characters’ names are very appropriate or symbolic.
4. The object that is associated with his wife’s appearance is the pink ribbons that she wears, and this symbolizes her love, her youth, and very much so her innocence.
5. If one considers the time of the events, occurring within this story, then they would approximately be around the age of 17. Along with them being newlywed meaning, they are both in their younger years.
6. Goodman Brown, the newlywed man, left his nervous wife, Faith, to go into the forest. There he would meet up with an elderly traveler.
7. When he mentioned how he was the only one throughout his family history to do something like this made it sound very odd. Why would he go there when no one else in his family history would.
8. The fact that he sees, and meets, a random woman in the forest on the journey, that he and the elderly man were on.
9. When he got to his destination there was a gathering of people where the chorus was singing, and it ended up with his wife Faith dying.
10. When he saw his wife’s pink ribbon, the object, he cried out my faith is gone.
11. The double meaning to my faith is gone, could literally be saying that his wife, Faith, is gone because she is dead. Also, it could be saying that his faith, what he believes in, is gone. The reason for this was that he was against the devil, but it was the devil that killed his wife.
12. Throughout this story, the narrators consisted of the characters within the story, and the author. The reason that the narrator would ask if this was all a dream was due to the unrealistic and fictional situations that occurred. For instance with the branch of maple, and how his fingers strangely withered.
13. It does matter that the events in this story were all a dream, and that’s partially due to the fact that I liked the characters’ connection, and love for each other. For the wife to die, especially so young, it hurts a person, to say the least.
14. I have personally never taken any action based on my dreams, for the reason that they are dreams, and I forget them relatively quickly after waking up. However, the nightmares are things that I can never forget, the fear still resides within me. Every Night as I lie down for bed, I pray that I don’t have a nightmare because those, I never forget.
15. I feel that all people are born good, however throughout their life is when they can become bad. This can be achieved in many ways, bad influence, drug activity, and all-around breaking the law. However, this isn’t it. If the kids in the future get introduced to these things and partake in them, then they would inevitably become bad people.

[Wei N]

“Girl” questions:

1 Who are the characters?
A mother and her young daughter.

2 Who is the narrator?
There is no true narrator.

3 How old is the girl?
The girl is a teen, maybe around 18.

4 Who is doing most of the talking?
Not really sure, It seems like most of it is coming from the mother.

5 How do you know when the other person is talking?
For me, when the little girl starts talking, the text puts her dialogue in italics.

6 Why do you think Kincaid, the writer, uses semicolons to excess?
The writer, Kincaid uses semicolons to express the teens thought process on her mothers speaking, It proves to us readers that all the words the mother is saying to the child is just hitting her so rapidly she doesn’t even have a chance to sit down and think.

7 What exactly is the story about?
The story is about a mother and daughter relation with each other, it portrays the mother telling her daughter what a appropriate female would do.

8 Do you identify with the girl in any way due to things you were taught to do as a youngster?
Yes, Not necessarily exactly what the mother says, but I do relate to the way the behaviors are listed. Different mother, different set of rules.

9 Is there any surprise or irony in the last part about the baker?
I’m not too sure, but I assume that the last part is the mother trying to tell her child that she will lose value if she becomes a sl*t, just as bread loses its value when it is not fresh.

[Wei N]

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?
This is the 13 year old kid’s story. Langston’s story.

2 How old is he in his narrative?
He is 13 years old as shown in the text.

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?
No, I’m not religious so I have never experienced any similar house of worship. My family is though, but I rarely see any part of their worship.

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?
On this particular day of the church, Many ‘young sinners’ were being brought into the church by adults to allow them to see and hear and feel Jesus in their soul. Langston, the narrator of the story, took his aunties words too literally and thought that he would be able to physically see Jesus.

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?
The boy says he sees Jesus to only so the event could end faster. He decided that to save trouble, So he better lie too, and say that Jesus had come.

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.
Something that I feel constant pressure on is on a basketball court, When I want to shoot the ball and everyone else says pass, I’ll pass it because many people are shouting at you and the pressure is all on you.

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?
Peer pressure is when a bunch of your peers are trying to change your stance at something by overwhelming you with reasons or just being big in number could change a stance of someone being singled out.

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?
Peer pressure is wrong and good depending on the issue at hand, If you could pressure a smoker to quit smoking with peer pressure. That in my perspective would be a great thing.

“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.
Connotation represents the various meanings associated with something (For example what would people think of Jesus). While denotation refers to the literal meaning of something. (Langston as shown in the text).

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy’s actual mistake was thinking that he would literally see Jesus right in front of him, which he didn’t and eventually had to lie to save trouble from all the other church attendees.

11 In the end, he implies that he does not believe in God. Do you think a person as young as he is can actually make such a decision in having faith?
Well, In my opinion faith is all about if the person believes in what he believes in, Age doesn’t apply here. If Langston says he doesn’t believe in his faith, then that’s his choice. You don’t have to stay an atheist your entire life either, you can change your decision later on as you learn more about it or your perception on it changes.