Monthly Archives: February 2015

Homework, Week 1

A Jury of Her Peers

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I really enjoyed the story A Jury of Her Peers. Even the title gives a big clue as to what the story is about. It suggested to me that it will be about a woman because of the word ‘her’. It may also be about a crime that involves one of her peers or friends. It feels to me as if the entire story has clues and foreshadows everywhere. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters judged their husbands as being unreasonable and belittling. I feel the same way because of how the county attorney kept laughing at the things the ladies were saying. Even though the county attorney was obviously insulting the women, the husbands did not do anything. In fact, they seemed to enjoy his ‘sense of humor’. Another clue comes from the way they tried to look for evidence and continuously left the women in the kitchen because “women are used to worrying over trifles”, and “would a women know a clue if they come upon it?”
The characters of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale influence our understand of how women of that period thought and how they understood the loneliness that Mrs. Wright must’ve experienced. The narrator’s tone also gives a clue as to how the narrator must’ve felt about the situation. The narrator gave more insights of the women’s points of view than the men’s. This makes me feel that the narrator is siding with the protagonist in this story. The narrator emphasized on his/her understanding of the women in the story and the unreasonable behavior of the men.
Setting plays a huge role in this story because it was repeatedly mentioned that the place was not cheerful at all. Mrs. Hale repeatedly tells Mrs. Peters that she never came to the house because of how depressing it was and how lonely it seemed. This setting is important because it can be the main cause of the crime in the story as Mrs. Hales believe. It could also be an outcome of what has happened in the house. Either way, the setting of the story gives us an idea of how the story will progress.
The stories are probably dated back in the 1800’s. This may have been a time when women still had no rights, or is beginning to have some rights. We can see that women are belittled throughout the story, and they can’t say anything about it. Once her husband asks her to leave with him, she has to leave everything half finished and leave immediately with him. Although I think situations are a lot better now for women, there are still stories about women who are mistreated. Women still do not have as much rights as men.
Over all, great read!
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Glossary

Coquettish

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Coquette (noun): a woman who likes to win the attention or admiration of men but does not have serious feelings for them (Merriam-Webster)

Found on Page I, paragraph 2 of “A Rose for Emily”–>“But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores.”

I believe the word in this quote means that although Miss Emily’s home was old and worn out, it still caught the attention of the onlookers that passed by her home because of its depleting appearance.

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Homework, Introductions, Week 1

Hello, my name is Rena

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My name is Rena and I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at City College of New York Fall 2014. I finally graduated but want to work in the medical field. With a psychology background I believed that I would have a foundation for any type of career. I have decided to come back to school to take pre-requisites and apply to the nursing program at SUNY Downstate.

In my free time, I volunteer at New York Methodist Hospital as a navigator for Asian patients. In this position, I help bridge the gap of communication between Asian patients and medical staffs in the hospital. As a certified translator, I help to translate various procedures in several departments. This position has allowed me to come in close contact with patients, to talk to them and to assist them with their needs. It has been an amazing experience that has only increased my desire to work in the medical field and to help patients in need. This experience has truly opened up my eyes to the daily functions of the hospital. This can range from the annoyed nurses that hates their jobs to those who take their time out to visit patients even on their off days.

I am also working as a Saturday school math teacher. This allows me to practice patience and attentiveness towards my students of ages 5-7. I have worked with kids for more than five years now. It can get frustrating at times but it is extremely rewarding when you see a child striving and doing well in exams after struggle so hard all semester.

I am ALSO a customer representative at Kiehl’s, a skincare company.

Juggling school, two jobs, and volunteer work has been a lot of fun but time consuming. I like to keep myself super busy but I do have some downtime once in awhile.

In my free time I enjoy sitting at home, eat, and watch Friends, the TV show. I was very young when it first aired but when I came of age and re-watched all the episodes I have been obsessed. I must’ve re-watched it a million times. That’s why thumbs up for Darth Vader!! 😀

 

 

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Glossary

Encroached

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  • Encroached verb -to gradually move or go into an area that is beyond the usual or desired limits. via Merriam-Webster.com

 

  • Encountered in the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Section I,  paragraph two, sentence two.

 

  • “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores. ” – Narrator

 

  • Now knowing what this term means, I could now visualize what Emily’s surroundings look like. What once was a well-kept and beautiful home is now littered with cotton gins,that seems to invade or intrude the neighborhood.

                                              Visual Aid

  • trash28k-2-web
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Discussion

Discussion: “A Rose for Emily”

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In addition to reading William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” this week, please also read David Streitfeld’s New York Times blog post, “As I Lay Dying: The Web Fixes Faulkner” and think about the life of the text after the author writes it. In Streitfeld’s discussion of Faulkner’s story, he notices how the Genius.com incarnation of “A Rose for Emily” mistakenly switched a controversial word for a similar-looking word with an entirely different meaning. Commenters on that blog post engaged with what they thought should have been done differently, or critiqued Streitfeld’s argument.

One way to engage in our discussion this week would be to add an annotation about “A Rose for Emily”–some detail that you think elucidates readers’ understanding of the story–on Genius.com, and then link us there in your discussion comment and explain why you think this is important to add to the understanding of the short story.

Another way might be to write a comment on Streitfeld’s blog post in response to his argument.

Those are both very high-stakes! Lower-stakes versions could be to draft those comments on our site in this discussion and get feedback from your classmates before (or instead of?) posting them in those higher-stakes places. Or to react via a comment in our discussion to someone else’s comment on Streitfeld’s post, or to someone’s annotation on Genius.com.

But what does discussing the substitution of an r for an n in that word do to help us engage with the story? It shows that it’s relevant–Streitfeld’s  blog post was recent, from last month–and introduces us to the world of online annotations, in the form of Genius.com. To move our discussion deeper into the story, I ask you to engage in a discussion here with a second comment, about some other aspect of the story. Maybe you want to think about the effect of this different style of narration,  how it’s told, or who the characters are, or what genre you think it belongs to (if “The Story of an Hour” had certain leanings into horror, would you say “A Rose for Emily does, too?), or again, thinking of the significance of a detail in our understanding of a story.

Feel free to respond directly to any of these questions by writing in the reply box below, or reply directly to a classmate by clicking Reply below their comment.

And as always, feel free to also ask questions below.

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Homework, Week 1

The story of An hour/ A Jury Of her peers

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The story Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspel depict a very sad storyline of crime; a dead husband widow to Mrs. Wright.  Overall the jury was a brunch of local influencial residents (in relation to the community) to evaluate a crime scene. Mrs. Wright left a path of confusion;  for example a dead bird in a box ready to be buried with a broken neck. It seems as if the couple was having a very hard time. But she was guilty alright.

The story Of An Hour by Kate Chopin was a great case of belief.  You must have faith in order to survive in this dreadful world. In brief a man was pronounce dead (Mr. Mallard). Mrs. Mallard was to be informed but she have bad heart issues. So she was told in prices between her sister Josephine and her husband best friend Richard. Mrs. Mallard grew stress and withdrawn her self. However Mr. Mallard was not dead instead she died from a bad heart disease.

Both stories show great deal of morals. It is essential to cherish what you have. But importantly the story leave evidence of love betrayal by both spouse due to there reaction for example how was Mr Wright strangled, or better yet did Mrs. Mallard wanted Mr. Mallard home again.

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Homework, Uncategorized

Discussing “A Jury of Her Peers” and “The Story of An Hour”

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In life the most stress is felt when you are faced with sudden experiences that shape the world around you in one instant. In the story The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin, Mrs Mallard was faced with this same experience. The story starts with the “death” of Mr. Mallard and proceeded with the heart breaking news being told to his sick wife. Through many troubling thoughts Mrs. Mallard came to the acceptance that life was a free flowing stream and the only way to avoid drowning is to simply flow along with it. As a new way of life presented it self Mrs. Mallard realized that as a life ended a new one starts. This thought then became her drive for the years to come. Suddenly, just as fast as her new foundation was build, it was shattered by the sight of the “beloved” husband. Not only was she speechless but also breathless. Mrs. Mallard was not the only one, the story A Jury Of Her Peers By Susan Glaspell  shows how sudden experiences could have extreme rippling affects. This story revolves around the case of an unknown murder where a wife is left in the hot seat. As the story starts, a sheriff by the name of Mr. Peters has the opportunity to work on the case of the murder of a man by the name of Mr. Wright. As the tedious task of clue hunting went on through out the story, the wives that were brought to the seen played the most crucial role. As the story draws to its end, Mrs. Hale, a close friend of Mrs. Wright brought the twisted truth to light which stemmed from a “twisted” altercation between Mr. And Mrs. Wright which may leave her incarcerated.

 

In both cases, it can be said that both women over reacted but was their actions morally justified? Mrs. Mallard reaction to her husbands death may have seems unusual but in her perspective, she was trapped. Once her husband died she was now able to see the steal cage that has been surrounding her life and finally made the attempt to flee when the doors suddenly closed. When it comes to the case of Mrs. Wright, it seemed as if she was not only trapped by an controlling man but forced into a cage that she was simply too large to fit in. After years of mental torture she finally broke free by ending her husbands life. Both women faced struggles in two unique forms but to judge them in a negative fashion does not seem fitting. Instead in my view, they were pushed to take justice in their own hands and should be seen as individuals that finally got to their breaking points.

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Glossary

Peddler

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Peddler noun \ˈped-lər\

a : one who offers merchandise (as fresh produce) for sale along the street or from door to door

In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.

The Story of An Hour paragraph 5

I thought a peddler had something to do with a boat. I realized it meant a merchant which helped me understand the setting better. She [Louise] wasn’t overlooking a canal (like in Venice, Italy) and there wasn’t a man on a gondola peddling.

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