Category: Coffeehouse #2 (Page 2 of 2)

Coffeehouse #2

The story that I liked the best thus far in this course is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper is a story of a woman going through a mental health crisis who is subjected to a room in isolation by her husband. Although it is asserted that the placement in the nursery room by herself for an extended period of time is for her own good by her physician husband, it is obvious that being isolated and facing a yellow walled room only makes the woman more unstable. This story resonates with me because during the Covid pandemic, I got to experience what the woman in the story experienced. The description of the room, the items in the room and the things going on in the woman’s head as she wrote on her journal were reminiscent of my days in quarantine in the early days of the pandemic.

The story has hallmark elements of gothic style writing. It focuses on atmosphere of madness and the woman definitely has excessive emotions which she expresses in her journal. The actions of the woman further illustrate more gothic tones in her irrational and chaotic behavior such as tearing off the wallpaper in the room. Her obsession with the paper is a sign of her madness but what is interesting about the story is that she’s not mad by nature, she is mad by nurture. It’s evident in the story that her condition worsens while being trapped in that room. Her lack of voice, and power over her situation makes her more erratic and unstable. While she may be a normal woman going through post-partum depression or other condition, the way she is treated is actually what drives her over the edge. She essentially begins to act her diagnosis, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This story carries a lot of frustration for not just the writer or narrator but also all women who read the story and feel empathy for the position of many women in that time period. This story not only reflects the story of one woman, but it serves as an extended metaphor for many.

Danielle Thompson

Out of the six stories listed, the one story that catches my fascination is “The Captive”, by Jose Luis Borges. This is a short story that has its framework established with a beginning and some sort of conclusion to its tale. Part of my fascination for this story stems from my interest in its historical roots, in that it is set sometime during the colonization periods between the 1500s and 1800s in the time of the Age of Exploration. However, what really intrigued me the most is the mysterious circumstances that ‘the boy’ has experienced between the point of his kidnap to his fateful reunion with his parents. It forces us, the reader, to question or maybe even attempt to brainstorm what transpire such a change, which resulted in him losing his native tongue and having a toughened body. One possible idea may be that the boy managed to escape from his captors but could not return to his village because he was not familiar with his current surroundings. Perhaps, the boy may even have traveled to the ‘old world’ without the readers ever knowing since the story never stated time frames before and after the time lapse. Maybe, in order to survive, he had to adapt and learn the European language, which is why we witness his confusion towards the end of the short story. It is these uncertainties that piques my interest into this short story that, if I were ever given the chance to, would greatly expand upon Mr. Borge’s story. And despite giving us a minuscule amount of information regarding the boy’s transformation, “The Captive” reminds me of a story that goes by the name of “The Hatchet”, by Gary Paulsen. Admittedly, I have not read “The Hatchet” in a long time, but it somehow gives off the same vibes as “The Captive”, in that if the short story is lengthened, it can be about the boy’s initial struggles, survival and his eventual change.

For reference, “The Hatchet” is also about a young boy who was forced to learn how to survive in the modern Canadian forest by himself after his pilot suffers a heart attack en route to the young boy’s destination on a small plane. Brian, the story’s protagonist, improvises his forest home, adapts to his situation, and overcomes hardships with the use of his trusty hatchet. At the end of “The Hatchet”, Brian gets rescued and returns to society as a changed man that had survived in the forest for fifty-two days. Unlike “The Captive”, the reader knows the exact details of Brian’s hardships and struggles that he was forced to endure as soon as his plane had crash landed. Be that as it may, “The Captive” carries unlimited potential of storytelling that the reader can conjure up in order to fill the missing gap that Mr. Borge has left us between the boy’s abduction and his homecoming.

I love reading and I haven’t read any good short stories or books in a while but the gothic fiction short story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson was one that I really enjoyed.

There are so many reasons why I liked this short story. In the beginning of the story, it was going to be a wonderful day. Everyone was chatting and the children were playing and waiting to draw their ticket from the black box like the prize was something great. I did not think the end would’ve been horrifying.

After I read the story, I was a little upset the way it ended. Like was I tricked? Her own children and friends were about to stone her to death. The actual lottery prize was, being killed by your community. However, I started to process the plot, I realized I enjoyed reading the short story and suspense it came with. There were clues from the beginning about the “stones”, but I didn’t think it was a symbol.

Compared to the other fives stories “The Lottery” didn’t make me loose interest even at the end. After reading I was thinking about the characters and what happens to the Hutchinson family after they helped stone her to death? Do you get a good night rest after the narrator kills his wife like in “The Black Cat” By Edger Allen Poe?

This story really made me think about people that may be in your life. Some may not like you and you won’t know until your time is ending like Mrs. Dunbar carrying the heaviest rock to throw at Mrs. Hutchinson. Also, how could a person’s husband be so happy that you die instead of him. I have never read a story with an ending that made me think about the clues and what I could’ve missed even after reading the story twice.

My favorite story so far has been “A Story Told to Me by a Friend,” by Lydia Davis. My favorite aspect of this story is the fact that it is very short, yet conveys so much emotion. At the beginning, the men were simply strangers, and by the end of the first paragraph, they had come to realize their love. It was interesting to see two strangers fall in love over their interests. By this point I was excited to see if they would ever meet face-to-face and so when the friend made plans to fly out, I was excited to see the rest. Reading the phrase where there was no answer, I felt sad. Years of romance books and movies, it was the typical clue that something was wrong. Getting to the last paragraph and seeing that the friend had died, I actually gasped really loud. At the end, he realized that this would have been his life companion. Another thing I liked was that through it all, they were still referred to each other as “friends,” and that was nice to see because I think that when you love someone, then first and foremost you should be friends.

Hi Students,

Some notes about the Coffeehouse.

1–This is a communal space to share and experiment. But I want to ask you to write at your highest level. While I do not ask for formal writing, I do ask for editing and proofreading. I will not accept or award points for posts that do not include capitalization, punctuation, and basic sentence structures. For example, if a student posts using the lower case I, to refer to herself or himself [i], no points will be awarded until it’s corrected. Experiment with new sentence types and new vocabulary.  Experiment with a new voice, with complex ideas and perhaps even some humor. Go for it. But also, remember, the entire class will read and respond to your posts, so consider your audience. Keep it real and relatable, but please do not over-share and over-vent. Some venting is, in this age of pandemic and injustice, completely acceptable.

2–Make sure to include your name in the subject box.

3–Make sure to use a signature line.

4–Make sure to check the correct “Category” number on the right sidebar before publishing.

5–Make sure to read over your writing before hitting the “Publish” button.

6–For reference, this post is 200 words.

Best wishes,

Prof. Scanlan