[Prof. Masiello]

Jakia,

You are right: when we are “pressured” to do something good, like go to college, we would be better to call it “motivation.”

[Prof. Masiello]

What I meant by “wife object” was the pink ribbons. I didn’t want to give away an answer!

What character names in Beloved did you mean? I think classmates might like to know.

[Prof. Masiello]

Brianna,

Please see what I previously wrote about the baker. I see it a little differently since he would not want a “slut” near his food, but a charming girl is a different matter.

[Prof. Masiello]

The use of “blue” for connotation and denotation is a good example.

[Prof. Masiello]

Jaida,

I maintain that he semicolons are the girl’s way of saying her mother never stops talking!

[Prof. Masiello]

Makai,

Please see what I said about the baker to others. Remember, a short story can have a bit of a twist.

Also, the author used italics when the girl spoke. She was very creative in her use of punctuation.

[Valentina]

“Girl” answers:

1) The characters in this short story are a young girl, and another person who I believe might be her mother, or mentor.
2) I believe the narrator in the story might be the girl’s mother.
3) The girl’s age is not specified in the story, but I think the girl might be in her young teenage years.
4) The mother is doing most of the talking in this story.
5) I knew when the other person was talking because the author wrote it in italic.
6) I think the reason why Kincaid uses semicolons to excess is to try and come across to how she felt when her mother was telling her all these things. I noticed throughout the story that there were no periods, and instead it’s either commas or semicolons. I think Kincaid does this to show that the mother just keeps going on when talking. Kind of like trying to show that even though that sentence was enough, her mother still chooses to go on and on. It does not end and it may feel overwhelming to hear all this.
7) The story is about a mother trying to teach her daughter how to do household things like cook, clean, iron, etc. The mother also goes on about some tips, and how to become a proper lady.
8) I identify with this girl in some ways. I used to be very tomboy-ish when I was younger, I was always running around and playing like crazy and I didn’t care about getting hurt at all. Because it was only the boys that liked playing non stop, I was always running around with them. I remember one time after school, my grandmother was waiting for us to go home (I was playing an intense match of tag) and me and a couple of friends stumbled into some bushes while running. It was really funny and we were both laughing but then my grandma came over and told me to stop acting like a boy, and that I should be more ladylike. Or there were other times where I wasn’t sitting “properly” so my mom would tell me to sit like a proper lady or something like that.
9) I believe the irony behind the last part is that the mom went non-stop telling her how to act like a proper woman, but then because the girl asks “what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread?” the mom is taken back and says something along the lines of “so you are really going to be the type of woman the baker won’t let near the bread after all I taught you?”

[Melina Tlatelpa]

Salvation

1.The author is this story is Langston Hughes.
2.The boy is 12 in his narrative.
3.No, I do not have any experiences.
4.On that particular day the children who are in church were brought up to the front rows of the church so they can be saved by Jesus and so they can be forgiven for their sins.
5.The boy says he sees Jesus because he is guilty that he waited so long to see Jesus. He was the last person left to see Jesus and he lied to prevent trouble.
6.I can’t really think of a time when I felt peer pressured
7.I would define peer pressure as being forced or influenced to do something that you don’t want to do. Peers can be your friends or people you know or people you see on a daily basis.
8.Peer pressure is not always bad it can be good.Someone could tell you to do something really good and you will end up doing it.
9.Connotation is a feeling or an idea that a word has. A denotation is the literal meaning of a word.
10. What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?
The boy’s actual mistake was that he believed that he was really going to see Jesus that day.
11.At his age I believe that one doesn’t understand religion and might not understand how it works or what to believe in. Anyone can have faith due to certain experiences as someone starts growing up.

[Valentina]

“Salvation” reading answers:

1) This story is from Langston Hughes.

2) He is 13 years old in this story.

3) Yes. I come from a very religious catholic family. Even though my mom is not very religious herself, my grandparents are, and I used to be very religious too. My grandmother would often volunteer at church, and she was also a teacher for the younger kids (teaching them prayers, etc). Anyway, there is this thing you have to do when you are from age 7 to 14, it’s kind of like a second baptism and you are accepting the body and blood of jesus. My grandmother started teaching me herself for the occasion since I was 13 and old enough to participate. But then the last couple of weeks before the ceremony I started really thinking about it, and debating if I should really go through with it since I am not really religious myself. I discussed it with them and how I felt, but in the end I decided to go through with it because my grandmother is a very big believer, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.

4) In this particular day at church, the young kids are being brought to Jesus to be saved.

5) Towards the end, the boy decided to say he saw Jesus because they had been waiting for a really long time now, and it was getting really late. He felt bad because he was the only boy left and his aunt was crying because he wouldn’t stand up to be saved.

6) Something I may have said or done due to peer pressure is skipped class. I was in spanish when suddenly they announced students in honors class to go to a room for a meeting, and when I went I saw one of my close friends and sat next to her. The meeting was only 10 mins long and then we were free to go back to class. But my friend persuaded me to stay with her instead since I had spanish class anyway and I’m fluent in spanish. I ended up staying.

7) I define peer pressure as having a friend or a group of friends persuade you to do something you didn’t really want to do in the first place. I consider my peers to be friends.

8) I don’t consider peer pressure to be bad all the time. There are times when a group of friends go to six flags or something similar together, and one friend could be scared of going on a ride. Then all of the other friends will start to pressure the friend that he has to get on, and they definitely can’t miss it.

9) Connotation is the feeling and mood associated with a word. Denotation is the primary meaning for a word.

10) The boy’s actual mistake regarding what he told him was that he thought he was literally going to see or hear Jesus. I think what the aunt meant is more of how strong your faith is, and you knowing that Jesus will be there to receive you? But the boy thought he had to actually see something in order to be accepted.

11) I believe that he is entitled to have an opinion regarding his young age. This may be what he believes now, but I know that as he grows to be older his opinion might change, and he will grow more as a person.

[Melina Tlatelpa]

1) I know that it is known for witches and witch trials.
2) They are more descriptive names and the name faith is not too common. It sounds very old fashioned.
3) Cinderella because she had to sweep up the cinders.
4.The object associated with the wife’s appearance is pink ribbons. It symbolizes her innocence.
5.I believe that they are around 18 or 19.
6) He left his wife so nervously because he had to go to the forest but I’m not sure why. It isn’t clear.
7) It was when the elderly man started laughing and saying he knew many people around here. Goodman was beginning to get a weird sense.Also when he saw Goody cloyse he greets her like the devil.
8) When the elder traveler picked a maple branch and as soon as he touched it it withered and dried up. He threw the stick at Goodman and then he vanished. Also the two riders on the horses and he could hear them but couldn’t see them or the horses.
9)He sees an altar with burning trees. There was a congregation. He saw people from his village and an altar with fire
10)When he saw the pink ribbons he was shocked and speechless. He was giving up.
11)The double meaning is that he doesn’t believe in god and his faith is gone.
12)The dialogue is moving the story along. I would say the narrator is the author.
13)I was kind of disappointed that it was a dream. I’ve watched movies where they end up being dreams but I don’t remember their titles.
14) I always have dreams and some can be scary and also leave me questioning things. At times I have dreams about relatives and it makes me want to contact them and check on how they are doing but also at times I forget what I dream about. At times I wake up and I stop dreaming and that is what I don’t like because I don’t know what happens after.
15) People are not as good as they seem but every person deserves a second chance but it depends on the situation because people change.

[Saba Chaudhry]

“Salvation” Questions

1 Whose story is this, i.e. who is the author?

This is Langston Hughes’s story, he is the author.

2 How old is he in his narrative?

He is a twelve year old boy, in his narrative.

3 Do you have any experience in a similar or different house of worship?

I don’t have this particular experience. But i feel everyone who is born into a religion always feels pressure in doing what’s right even if they don’t have that faith. I know for me i didn’t find faith or interest in my own religion up until a few years ago. I’ve felt the pressure to conform as Langston did, with my mother, she is spiritual but doesn’t realize people have different levels of faith.

4 What exactly is happening on this particular day in his church?

There was a “revival” taking place in his church. That is where all the “lambs of god” are guided towards Jesus, and they turn to him. This was particularly for children so their eyes are turned to god, and they can be saved from sin. They are taught if they come running to Jesus, he will accept them and be there for them.

5 Why does the boy say he sees Jesus?

The boy says he sees Jesus, because he was the only one left. It had been hours, it was hot and loud and everyone was counting on him to make the correct decision. The boy felt this pressure, and decided to lie, even though that clearly went against what he was comfortable with.

6 Explain something that you may have said or done because you felt pressured by someone else.

I decided to skip class one day because all my friends were doing it to go to the beach in my sophomore year of high school. I didn’t want to, I felt we would get into trouble; which we did. I did it because I felt if I didn’t everyone would look at me differently and I didn’t want that.

7 How would you define peer pressure? Who are your peers?

I would define peer pressure as someone or a group of people persuading you to do something even if you weren’t thinking of doing it or were on the fence about it. I would consider the people you surround yourself with to be your peers.

8 Is peer pressure wrong all the time or could you be pressured to do something very good?

I believe that any sort of pressure is wrong. People should respect other people’s opinions and their wants. Peer pressuring is a form of force, and it is unfair to the person being pressured.
“Peer pressure” is a phrase that has a negative connotation.

9 Please explain the difference between connotation and denotation.

The Difference between connotation and denotation is that, connotation is the broad and associative meaning of a word. For example, it’s the feelings that are tied to the word that define connotation. Denotation is the literal meaning of the word.

Our five senses are touch, smell, sight, hearing and taste. I feel taste would be the easiest to appeal to in words. Taste can be used in so many different ways. And the advertisement business is the most in food.

I know something is bad or good regarding smell, because of the description the characters use for it, or it is shown on their facial expressions, which in writing would be described.

There was a moment where Langston describes the prayers as wails and moans, and that made me picture the church and the amount of people in it. I also felt this way when he mention it was hot and crowded in the church.

10 What was the boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told him?

His mistake was believing that he would actually see Jesus. He took his aunt’s words literally, and created a false expectation. Because of that he felt even more loss, when Jesus didn’t come.

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?

I think people underestimate what a child can decide for themselves. in Langston’s case this was the very first thing that made him not believe in god. For him in the moment, he was hurt enough to make the decision he didn’t believe in God, because he felt betrayal from his religion.

[Saba Chaudhry]

1) What do you know about Salem, Massachusetts? (You may Google it.)

I know that Salem, is famous for its Salem Witch Trials, where they arrested and burned women at the stake for witchcraft. I believe this started with a girl named Abigail who was playing with a mirror, and other were were tried and executed for alleged witchcraft.

2) What did you find unusual about the characters’ names?

Young Goodman Brown seems as if it is out of a storybook, it does not sound practical as it does old fashioned. Faith is to have a positive connotation, but this story seems dreary. the rest of the names sound very imaginative.

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 super villains.)

Aurora from sleeping beauty always seemed to me to be beautiful. It is beautiful, and light just as a sleeping beauty would be. Usually it is the fairy tales where their names are symbolic; another example would be Snow White.

4) What object is associated with his wife’s appearance? We see it more than once. What does it symbolize about her?

A pink ribbon. It can portray her innocence and her youth.

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.)

I believe they are 17 or 18. I think the average age people got married back then was about 17 years old, and they are newly married.

6) Why does this newlywed young man leave his nervous wife on this particular night? Where was he going and why?

Goodman Brown leaves his wife to go into the Forrest. He is there to face the “devil” to stop the corruption people had been listening to his evil ways.

7) At what point did you begin to sense that something odd was happening where he was walking?

I sensed something was wrong when the minister said “there is a godly young woman….” it instantly made me think of Faith, because of she was portrayed by Goodman Brown. I

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.)

There was a woman standing there all alone, these people knew their way around the woods so easily. I also found it unusual that Goodman Brown had seen faith there even though Goodman Brown left after Faith did. It is also unusual that like Goodman Brown someone would walk into the Forrest looking for an Evil.

9) Eventually, he gets to his destination. What exactly is happening there?

He sees people he knows such as an old pious woman, faith , the minister of the church, and a bunch of other people at the Devil ceremony.

10) When he sees that “wife object” how does he react?

He cries out, thinking that his Faith is gone, and becomes hysterical by laughing.

11) At one point he cries out, “My Faith is gone!” What is the double meaning of this?

Faith is the one person he expected to stay true to god, She was an inspiration to him. he lost Faith in his religion as well as his wife, whose name is respectively , Faith.

12) Who has been narrating this ? (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 is a third person point of view, but we only know in detail about Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown himself questions if it was a dream.

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?

I think it doesn’t matter if it was a dream or not, because either way it has affected Goodman Brown’s life. He trusts no one or nothing, and that is his great demise. II think of Twilight the last movie, where the main character’s sister has the power of the future, and she showcases a final battle between her family and the villains, and it doesn’t turn out well for the Villains. There are some deaths on the good side, so when it was revealed that it was just a vision i was excited and amazed at the plot twist.

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?

I don’t pay too much attention to my dreams, they have never influenced my life in any way, except maybe if it was about a crush. I am able to differentiate my life, and don’t deep further into dreams if i don’t need to.

15) The author seems to pessimistic about people: they are essentially bad, even if they try to act good. How do you feel about that? Do you feel people are basically good or bad – and why?

I don’t think you can describe people as good or bad. Everyone has the potential to be good as well as they do bad. Life can’t be one way or the other, it holds many possibilities that can affect people and their lives.

[Nay]

“Salvation”

1.The story is Langston Hughes’s whom he is also the author of.
2. Langston is 12 years old in his narrative .
3. Yes I have a similar experience in a house of worship. On many different occasions people at my church were given the opportunity to get baptized and give their life to the lord. Getting baptized meant that you were giving your life to Jesus and be forgiven for sins that you have committed in the past. With this being a big deal, people were given powerful sermons, prayers, and gospel music.
4.On this particular day in Langston’s church there was a big sermon in which children were given the opportunity to meet Jesus and let him be apart of their life.
5.The boy says that he sees Jesus because he felt embarrassed for sitting at the bench for so long waiting to be saved especially since all the other kids were saved by Jesus and had gone to the altar .
6. Once in 7th grade I was pressured by my two classmates into skipping school to go to Atlantic Mall.
7. The way I would define peer pressure is being influenced by your friends or people around you into taking a specific action, engaging in a specific behavior or having a specific attitude.
8. No peer pressure is not always a bad thing. You can be pressured into doing positive things such as being more engaged in school, having a healthier lifestyle, and trying new things out of your comfort zone.
9. The difference between connotation and denotation is that denotation is the exact meaning of a word. For example, the word cold detonates a low temperature. While connotation is a feeling or an idea that is recommended by a word even though it may have no actual meaning to the word. Foe example the word cold can be used to describe being rude or mean. Someone may say to you “what you did was cold” this doesn’t mean that you did something that was actually low in temperature but instead was saying the action that you took was harsh.
Yes I remember seeing a particular visual of the minister asking Langston to come forward and the whole church cheering him on as he did.
10.The boy’s actual mistake regarding what his aunt told was him about lying about being saved by Jesus and seeing him especially since he didn’t know what the actual meaning of meeting Jesus meant.
11. I don’t think a person as young as him can actually make such a decision in having faith due to him not fully understanding or having full knowledge of what religion really is but rather having judgement based on what he has seen or taught by his relatives.

[Nay]

“Young Goodman Brown”

1. I know that Salem, Massachusetts is located in Essex County, Massachusetts and is mostly known for witch craft trails. In 1692 more than a dozen of people were accused and punished for practicing witchcraft.
2. What I found unusual about the character’s names is that they were named to be who they are portrayed in the story. For example the main character’s name is “Goodman” and in the story he is portrayed as a man who takes his reputation as a holy man very serious. Another example is the old woman Goody Cloyse was first portrayed as a religious lady who taught religion to young children.
3. No I cannot think of any stories that I have read or seen where the characters name were symbolic.
4. The pink ribbon is associated with Goodman’s Wife’s appearance. The pink ribbon symbolizes her innocence and youth.
5. I think Goodman and his wife are in their late teens between the ages of 16-19.
6. The newlywed young man left his nervous wife to go on a journey in the woods to meet up with an elderly traveler.
7. I began to sense that something odd was happening when the travelers staff was shaped like a black snake.
8.Other unusual things he saw that night was hearing unusual voices and mistaken one of the voices to be his wife’s.
9. Goodman sees that individuals his community are participating in devilish acts and going on to the evil side.
10. Goodman does not react well but in fact is very upset and began to question his wife’s innocence after he sees her pink ribbon.
11. The double meaning is that his wife is no longer the innocent pure woman that she originally was but now has transformed into a new evil person.
12. The characters were narrating throughout the story. But the author was both a character and omniscient in the story. The narrator ask if this story was a dream because of all the unrealistic things that occurred.
13. Yes it matters to me if a story was a dream or not based on the plot of the story or the lesson being taught . No I cannot think of any stories where a terrific plot turned out just to be a dream.
14. No I have not been influenced by a dream as a they are sometimes very unrealistic and are not likely to occur in real life which makes me relived when I wake up from a dream.
15. I disagree with the author’s impression about people as not everyone are bad but are sometimes pure based on who they are as an individual. I feel as if people’s character on whether they are good or bad are base on how they were raised and the values taught to them.

[Valentina]

“Young Goodman Brown”

1) I know that Salem, Massachusetts is the place where the Salem witch trials took place. A lot of people were accused of witchcraft, and some were hanged for it.

2) What I found unusual about the character’s names is that it’s Goodman, and his wife Faith. I guess you could say it’s about a “good man” and his “faith”

3) Sadly, I can not think of any stories where the character’s name was appropriate or symbolic. I know there is probably a couple I have read but nothing comes to mind at the moment.

4) What we see most about Goodman’s wife is the pink ribbons she’s always wearing. We see them when Goodman left, when he was walking in the forest towards the ceremony, and when he returned to Salem from his trip. I believe this may symbolize innocence.

5) I believe young Goodman and his wife might be around their mid or late teenage years. There is something about the way they interacted in the beginning that made me think that they are very young.

6) The reason this man leaves his nervous wife that night is to go run an errand. He does not specify to his wife where he is going, but he tells her he must make this journey tonight, and that he will be back the next day.

7) I began to sense something odd was happening as soon as he departed from Faith. He says, “Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight.” As soon as he said those words, I knew he was up to no good. When he was walking, I noticed something odd was happening when he described the serpent staff as if it was almost living, and then again when they bumped into the old woman, and she accused the man Goodman was with of being the devil.

8) Some other highly unusual things he saw were the Serpent staff that looked almost alive (which I mentioned earlier), when he took a wet branch as a walking stick, and when he removed the leaves he described them turning dried up and withered as if they had received a week’s sunshine. At one point after he believed to have heard faith’s voice, he also heard as if the forest was alive, hearing creaking, howling, and Indians yelling.

9) When Goodman arrives at his destination, he sees that there is a sort of satanic ritual going on that is being called “The communion of your race”. There were a lot of people he recognized from town, and even people from the church. He even saw that his wife Faith was part of the ritual. He tried to warn her to resist the wicked one, and look up to
Heaven.

10) When Goodman Brown cries out that his “Faith is gone”, he means that both his wife Faith AND his faith for God and his beliefs are gone too.

11) I don’t think anybody in the story is narrating it, it’s an omniscient 3rd point of view story. I think the reason why the narrator decides to ask if it was all a dream is to leave us in a sort of cliffhanger. We will never know what truly happened, so it’s up to us to make an assumption based on how the story went.

12) Honestly, I don’t mind whether the story was a dream or not. I like the way the author ended the story because it gives us a choice to decide what really happened. Although, it would have been really interesting if what happened in the woods was real. A story I can think of where the plot turned out to be just a dream is the last movie of the twilight series. The entire fighting scene turned out to be just a vision.

13) I always found my dreams to be very vivid, so I don’t forget about them easily. If I have a dream that is extremely vivid, crazy, or important, I write it down on my notes so I don’t forget about it. I’ve also had lucid dreams where I realize I am dreaming, and then I become the creator of my own dream. Even though it doesn’t happen very often, I think it’s one of the most exciting dreams I have because I’ve made myself fly or just make things appear out of nowhere. I’ve also had sleep paralysis only ONCE in my life. It’s really weird and hard to describe. But I wasn’t scared, I knew it was sleep paralysis so I found the experience really interesting.

14) I think people have the choice to be both good and bad, but they usually might incline towards being bad. I don’t think all of them do it on purpose though, some can have good intentions but they might do something that hurts others and they just don’t realize it so they keep doing it. It’s like they don’t know the real consequence behind their actions just because they are not the ones being hurt.