Snapshot of “The Bride comes to Yellow Sky”

In the Bride comes to yellow sky by Stephan Crane the protagonist Jack Potter symbolizes fear. Jack Potter got married and brought his wife back to his home town which is called Yellow Sky.He symbolizes fear because he was afraid to tell the people of his town that he was going to get married. Jack Potter is the town marshall which is a high position for a person in such a small town. On page 29 it states,”He knew full well that this marriage was an important thing to his town. It could only be exceeded by the burning of the new hotel. His friends could not forgive him. Frequently he had reflected on the advisability of telling then by telegraph, but a new cowardice had been upon him. he feared to do it. And now the train was hurrying toward a scene of amazement, glee, and reproach”. This snapshot demonstrates his fear of getting rejected by his community. He feels guilty that he did not tell anyone about his wedding so they would throw him a big celebration as it is a tradition. Jack Potter is a very considerate man him being that was is the main reason he believes his town will hate him and give him the cold shoulder when they discover what he has done behind they’re back.

HW for 12/19

We’re so close!

Thank you to everyone for your hard work this semester.  As I look back on the past 3 months, I feel tremendous respect for those of you who have pushed the boundaries of thought and practiced the art of interpretation.  You have challenged me to think of these texts in ways I had not previously considered.

For Monday’s class, as mentioned on Wednesday, please bring copies of all the short stories we have read so far in class.  We’ll continue our final review with these texts.  Your classmates in Blog Groups 5 + 6 have done an excellent job beginning the review of these stories.

Under Handouts, you should be able to access sample exam instructions.  Please alert me if you have issues accessing that document.   And best wishes as you finish Paper 3.

Sincerely,

Professor Kwong

Snapshot from The Management of Grief

In the ” The Management Of Grief, ” by Mukherjee, the author does not give us insight before hand about what is happening throughout the story. At first she leaves the reader with a mood of everyday activity however, when you countinue reading, you get more information about what is happening. For example, on the beginning of page 975, at the start of the story, the author starts of with a family just waking up in the morning describing everyday issues, trying to make the reader think that nothing else is going on. At the beggining of the story, second paragraph it say’s, “Dr. Sharma, the treasurer of the Indo-Canada Society, pulls me into the hallway. He wants to know if I am worried about money.” This proves that the story starts of with everyday issues. As you read further you find out that something happened to a plane, that it dissapeared from the radar, which gives the reader a sense of the fantastic. You also find out that the main character thinks its a hijacking. For example, on the first paragraph on page 976 it say’s, “His father called me, so I said to him, what do you mean, ‘something bad’? You mean a hijacking? This proves that the author is using plot to build tension throughout the story, by making the reader have a reality check, that there are serious things going on other than our everyday lives. The author is also using point of view to make sense of what happened to the plane because a plane disappearing from a radar is almost impossible. I can say that the author is using interplay of elements to bring forth the idea that the world does not revole around one single person. The author is also using the interplay of elements to make sense of the fantastic.

Young Goodman Browns Familiar Beginning (connect)

 

Analyzing the longer works we’ve read and Young Goodman Brown I have picked up on a similarity between moments that each main character shares. Pickman, Prendick and Brown has had a moment before their descent into the darkly lit ruin, or when they are grimly received onto an island of horrors. Brown has a similar moment analyzing his guild through the forest “But the only thing about him, that could be fixed upon as remarkable, was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light. ‘Come, Goodman Brown!’ cried his fellow-traveler, ‘this is a dull pace for the beginning of a journey
’ (P.g.19)” Here, we as the reader can get a glimpse of Brown’s fate at the end of his journey even if the main character cannot. We get a hint of the mystery that awaits him, and the sinister nature of his guild at the least, clearly articulated by the staff he carried which resembled a snake. I think that this passage is worth going back to and reviewing as it holds much symbolic value for each character as well as stylistic value to interpret for each author. If we take time to interpret these segments of common beginnings, we can also get our first look into the minds of our main characters. These moments are also important turns in the story so they may serve as a subject for analyzing plot as well.

HW for 12/14

Dear class,

Hope our exercise today was useful as you write your final papers this weekend.

Groups 5 + 6 are up to post by 5 pm on Tuesday.  Your task is special: pick a “snapshot” from our short stories that you think is worth reviewing/revisiting in preparation for the final.

Group 5, please choose from Walker, Irving, Hawthorne, Chopin, Crane. Group 6, please choose from Hemingway, O’Connor, Mukherjee, Joyce.  Ideally, we’ll get a good spread amongst our various authors.

Everyone else, your task is to continue writing Essay 3, using the notes from today’s class, and to begin preparing for the final.  As mentioned in class, Part 1 (20-30 mins) will involve ID’sing and commenting on 3 out of 10 short passages.  Part 2 (45 mins) will involve writing an essay that compares/contrasts 2 out of the 3 novels we’ve studied this semester, based on a prompt (you’ll have 2 options).  You can’t write about the novel that you’re analyzing for Essay 3!  Please take note.

Look forward to wrapping up the semester with you all.

Professor Kwong