Category: Virtual Coffeehouse (Page 2 of 6)

A story that I really liked was “the veld” because it is a story that shows us what could happen if technology continues to advance. Another thing that I liked was the end of the story, it left me with a lot of intrigue about what happened to the parents and the children, did the parents die? disappeared? What happened in itself with everything, it left me with many doubts. This story shows me the consequences of wanting to have an easy life in which everything is done by someone else or, as in the story, the house. the house brushed teeth, dressed and made food for everyone. people practically didn’t have to do anything. The children did not do anything for themselves and for me that is very bad, and an example is when the parents decide to turn off the nursery, the children became hysterical, they shouted not to turn it off and worse they got when the parents said they had to leave on vacation to a place where they themselves will have to do everything. 

I think that the main characters in the story are basically the parents, since most of the story is the parents talking about the nursery. Two important scenes for me are when the father decides to turn off the nursery forever and when they decide that it is better that they go on vacation to get away from so much technology. I think these scenes are important because the problem at the end of the story originates from these decisions. The ethics that the parent follow I think is Utilitarian ethics because they look like people that got that house for they self-interest since the house do everything, the mother don’t have to clean or cook, the father don’t have to play with the kids or get dressed. And I think they created that nursery just to avoid having to be with the children without think in the future consequences.

My favorite story out of the seven read is “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri. In this story my favorite character would have to be the cab driver/tour guide, Mr. Kapasi. I think he became the most interesting because we were able to see a what he was thinking and the thought process behind his crazy imagination. He appeared to have been fascinated with having an almost romantic attraction to a tourist wife, Mrs.Das. The  story allowed us to read his sometimes explicit thoughts towards her throughout his tour. His feelings toward her changed in the end of the story which made it slightly comical to me. He seemed to have so quickly lost the once so intense attraction in the blink of an eye. 

 The characters of Mr.Kapasi and Mrs.Das would be the main characters because of how much backstory is provided about both of their lives. It made them the center of most every scene.  Out of all the interactions in the story,  the two most impactful were that of Mr.Kapasi’s initial fantasy of exchanging letters with Mrs. Das and the other would be when Mrs.Das confided in him to as a counselor by revealing the real father of her son Bobby. This changed the way Mr. Das thought of her and he knew she didn’t feel the same towards him. This brought his mind back to “reality”. 

The main character, Mr. Kapasi follows two types of ethics: Utilitarian and Virtue. Utilitarian because he knew both him and Mrs.Das appeared to have failing marriages and he sought out to fix it in the begging. He also follows virtue because of his side job. His initial passion was not to be a tour guide but as an interpreter. He falls under the category of human flourishing or performing one’s functions well. 

My favorite story hands down would have to be “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Now the reason that this story was my favorite was because of a few things. One being certain parts just entertained me, like I saw some comedy in this story. Although everyone might not see the comedy, through my eyes there were funny moments. Like the way Mr.Kapasi’s feelings changed so quickly from being attracted to Mrs.Das to no longer being attracted to her. This moment made me laugh and enjoy the story more. Another reason this story is my favorite is because the point of view the story is being given to us. We know what everyone’s life is, what’s happening, how certain characters are feeling, we know a lot that wouldn’t be shown if given in another point of view. I enjoyed knowing Mr.Kapasi’s views and feelings on the das family and knowing his feelings towards Mrs.Das. 

In this story specifically the main character is Mr.Kapasi but close second would have to be of course Mrs.Dash These are the two most known characters in this story. Every other character gets a short bio while these two you learn more about . 2 scenes that I would say are important are the scene where Mr.Kapasi day dreams of a secret life with Mrs.Das, being pen pals and her talking about her horrible marriage. The other scene is the iconic talk between Mrs.Das and Mr.Kapasi. This is the most impactful scene in the whole story because you hear the truth about the Das family and how Mrs.Das feels and then you get the change of emotions that Mr.Kapasi now feels towards Mrs.Das.

The type of ethics I believe Mr.Kapasi to follow is Utilitarian ethics. I believe this because he has his own self motive but wants to do good. Meaning he sees that the das marriage isn’t going well so he wants to help, but he believes that him talking to Mrs.Das would help. Thus lowering the amount of pain and raising happiness but only with the addition of his self intention. 

My favorite story is “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. Not only was this my favorite story but it was a story that held my attention and it was something that I can relate to. The main characters in this story are Sonny, the younger brother who has just been released from prison, and Sonny’s older brother, who is nameless and just wants the best for Sonny but in some way, he just wants Sonny to pick an occupation that makes sense and that can set him up for life. When Sonny is released from prison due to drug addiction, he tells his brother that he wants to pursue a career in music, preferably jazz. His brother isn’t so thrilled because he doesn’t see how that can help him, in the long run. He thinks of it as a hobby rather than a career. Sonny’s brother had a decision to make, support his brother while he pursues a music career or regret not supporting his brother for the rest of his life. He chose correctly. He went with Sonny to a jazz club in Harlem, and Sonny’s brother found out for himself how good of a musician Sonny is and will be. “Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song. Then he began to make it his. It was very beautiful because it wasn’t hurried and it was no longer a lament”. This quote is Sonny’s brother realizing how good of a musician Sonny is and he also realized at that moment, in the jazz club, that Sonny knows what he wants to do and he’ll be right there watching him being so proud. The kind of ethics that Sonny seems to follow in this story is the ethics of virtue. Sonny knows the kind of person he wants to be, he knows what he wants to do. He wants to turn his life around from negative to positive and music does that for him. Sonny’s brother, on the other hand, I’m not really sure what kind of ethics he follows. I think he follows the ethics of deontology. He does, in fact, care about his brother, but he thinks Sonny should follow in his footsteps, he went into the army, he finished school and became an algebra teacher. He was brought up to follow rules while Sonny was bought up to follow his own rules. I relate to this story because I have a younger sister and I want the best for her nonetheless, unlike Sonny’s brother, at the beginning of the story, I’m very supportive and I’ll be supportive from the beginning till the end. I’ll ask her questions, of course. But I won’t shut down what she wants to do with her life or not take her seriously, because it is, in fact, her life. All I can do to help her achieve whatever dreams she chooses to make come true is love, support, and protect her through it all.

The story, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Parsons is one of my two favorite stories/ because of Jasmine Winsder, her attitude fits her role in the story well. She is also known as Jazz an immigration officer who works for the UK border agency. The way she handles situations expressed normalcy, something that occurs in our everyday world. She is the reason to why people either gets their entry to the UK denied or not. Throughout the story one of the events that supports this is when she met this one lady called Megan. She thought she would not be a problem, but Megan just kept on going on with information about what she wants to do in the UK. This led to Jazz just wanting to deny her entry into the UK. She found Megan to be aggravating. Megan did not have a return ticket and her password was fake. One personal trait Jazz has is being strict, Jazz does not tolerate lies. She takes her job extremely serious and is heavily aware of what people are capable of doing just to foolishly try to get by her.

Another one of my favorite stories would be “The Veldt” by Bradbury because of the horror portrayed within the story. The main characters are George Hadley and Lydia Hadley which are the parents of Peter and Wendy Hadley. Wendy and Peter both depend on the Nursery more than their parents. It is a room made for them allowing them to imagine themselves in any place. When George and Lydia decided to take that away due to going on a vacation and wanting to spend time together, it was already too late. They were upset the nursery was taken away. The children’s obsession with the nursery led them to lock their parents out from the outside when they were allowed in the nursery room one last time, after begging them. This led to the death of George and Lydia in which Lions fed off them. The parents do not spend enough time with their own children which made the children to adapt to the material goods. Peter and Wendy felt accomplished, they were smiling towards the end of the story, getting rid of their parents. How evil would it be for a child to get revenge for something their parent would not want them to do.

My favorite story is “A Good Fall” by Ha Jin because I was able to understand the story easily and clearly. The main characters in the story are Ganchin, Master Zong, and Cindy. Ganchin is the main character which story revolves around him. Ganchin is a monk who works in the temple under Master Zong who fires him one day because Ganchin was asking for his salary money. Master Zong is a monk himself who owns a luxury car and lives a luxury life even though the monk cannot do that. Cindy is a flight attendant who is a friend of Ganchin and wants to help Ganchin when he was struggling, but Ganchin did not want her help. The first important scene in the story is when Master Zong decides to fire Ganchin because he was asking for his salary. This scene is important because this is the main turning point of the story, if Ganchin was not fired in the first place then this story would have never happened. The second important scene in the story is when Ganchin decides to commit suicide and jumped from the top of the building. But nothing serious happened to him and he was admitted to the hospital. After that everyone talked about him and a lot of people came to help him because of that. Ganchin strictly follows deontology ethics because he follows monk rules seriously. He did not like Cindy at the beginning of the story because he is not supposed to get married. Even though Cindy liked Ganchin, Ganchin could not do anything. But in the end, Ganchin forgets about being a monk and decides to love Cindy. Master Zong, on the other hand, follows Utilitarian ethics, since he cares only about maximum good for himself. Cindy follows feminist ethics since she wants everyone to listen to her perspective. Also, she is living a life however she wants.

One of my favorite stories that I’ve read this semester has to be “The Veldt” by Bradbury. The story is strange and dark and foreshadows such a sinister ending that I myself did not see coming. The idea of giving your children everything that they want just to please them seems a lot scarier now after reading because there are some real-life situations much like the one told in “The Veldt”. Parents, George and Lydia live in a house that is powered to do everything for them. Their children, Wendy and Peter specifically love the nursery of the house because they can turn the room into whatever they imagine. Both George and Lydia have had enough of feeling useless and want the whole family to go on a little vacation, so they make the decision to turn the power to the house and nursery off. The children become furious because of this and demand that the power be turned back on. George and Lydia give in to their children and restore the power to the nursery. The children lure their parents into the nursery where they are then eaten alive by lions and killed. The decision of the children is extreme by all means but there some people out there that really do become so upset at someone else’s decision that they hurt or even kill them.  

Another one of my favorite stories would have to be “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Parsons. The story follows a young female immigration officer working for the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) by the name of Jaswinder Smith (Jazz). She takes her job of determining who has the right reasons to be in the UK, very seriously. She seems to have a lot of experience because she handles each passenger with a no-nonsense attitude and can tell if they are being honest or not by the tone of their voice and answers they give to her questions. She decides who has the right reasons to be in the UK by examining each passenger’s passport and asking them why they have come to the UK. If you look at the passenger’s decisions, you can see that they weren’t as thought out as all of Jazz’s decisions. For example, Megan said that she came to the UK to visit Madame Tussauds to look at candles when it’s a famous wax museum filled with wax-figures of famous people. Another passenger that Jazz was familiar with decided to eat his passport but later came to find that the airport had an X-ray machine to look inside of him. Even though the passengers didn’t help themselves with the decisions they made, it helped Jazz make her ultimate decision of who was there for the wrong reasons or not.    

Isiah Ellison

Coffeehouse 5

            “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” by Parsons is my favorite story of any story I’ve read this semester. Ms. Jazz, an immigration officer played the role of the main character. I like how she is self-righteous and acts with a superiority complex. Ms. Jazz made major decisions regarding characters that she believed were visiting the UK for the wrong reasons, to which each were guilty in their own right, however, I could not help but to feel sorry for them. Ms. Jazz not only denied them access to the UK, which was warranted, but she also spoke to them in an almost villainous way, as if they were no better than the dirt beneath her feet. Ms. Jazz’s decisions as to if someone was visiting for the wrong reasons were predicated on speech; what words were said and the way in which they were said. One of my favorite parts of the story is when Ms. Jazz said “I don’t care if someone lies to themselves, but I don’t like it much when they lie to me.”

            “Interpreter of Maladies” by Lahiri is a story that caught my attention simply because it reminded me of several people that I know. Mrs. Das Staying in a relationship for which she is unhappy. Mr. Kapasi taking Mrs. Das’s words out of context for his own desires. The major decision, as well as turning point in the story, was when Mrs. Das revealed to Mr. Kapasi that her son Bobby did not belong to Mr. Das, he was instead the child of Mr. Das’s friend. Mrs. Das looked at Mr. Kapasi more as a counselor, or experienced elder, and not as a love interest. “I was hoping you could help me feel better, say the right thing. Suggest some kind of remedy.” Mr. Kapasi was disappointed that his fantasies of eloping with Mrs. Das would not come to fruition. 

Coffeehouse #5–Due Wednesday, December 2

1–Reread the handout on Five Types of Ethics.

2–Write a 300-word Coffeehouse post for Wednesday that asks you to revise/expand this morning’s freewrite. The questions to address are:

• What is your favorite story and why?

• Who are the main characters in this story and what major decisions do they make? • What are two important scenes in which characters act or speak?

• Although we did not address this question this morning specifically, write down the types of ethics that the main characters seem to follow–this can be more than one type.

Select your your favorite story out of this list:

“The Enormous Radio” Cheever

“The Veldt” Bradbury

“Sonny’s Blues” Baldwin

“A Good Fall” Jin

“Assimilation” Doctorow

“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” Parsons

“Interpreter of Maladies” Lahiri

This Coffeehouse is directly connected to the Final Essay, so the more time you can spend on this informal assignment, the more it will serve as a springboard for drafting the essay.

Midterm Essay, English 2001 

Oct 20, 2020

The spirit of perverseness  is described as a driving force that allows characters in a story to do things that they knew would be bad for themselves and others around them. I believe this theme is prevalent in  both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman  and the “The Black Cat” By Edgar  Allen Poe. Both gives first hand narration about characters  who seem to have a mental slip induced by things that happen in their lives or things they brought upon themselves. However, the stories are not the same by means of content or conflict and by the end of each the reader is faced with  the fact that, one narrator knew his actions were wrong by law and the other was so wrapped up in her own mind/depression that she almost couldn’t help herself.   

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte P Gillman is a sad story told from the point of view of a wife. She lets us know that both her and her husband a doctor names John believed she had a form of depression. Which he viewed as no big deal.  As the plot unfolded the narrator who is the main character becomes so fixated on the wallpaper in her bedroom, that she wanted it removed. She brought these concerns to her husband who stayed in his resolve. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate, and provoke study, and when you follow the lame, uncertain curves for a little distance they  suddenly commit suicide…”.  She became obsessed with the wall paper so much so that it seemed to invade all her daily spaces, and thought. In my opinion the spirit of perverseness  rare its head when the narrator had finally had enough. When she could no longer contain her hate for the wallpaper and maintain the illusion of getting better for her husband. Her hysteria came to ahead when she gave life to the wallpaper as she pulled and tugged in a fit of desperation and until every peace was down. To her husbands dismay.