Category Archives: Week 1

Homework, Week 1

“A Story Of An Hour” & “A Jury Of Her Peers”

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In “A Story Of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and “A Jury Of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell both protagonist have different actions taken towards the death of their husbands.

In “A Story Of An Hour”. Mrs. Mallard, who was afflicted with heart trouble found out that her husband died from a railroad disaster. Immediately she started to weep in sorrow because she lost the person she loved the most. She would confine herself in a room feeling depressed that shes going to be all alone from now on. She then burst out saying that she was finally free over and over again “Free! Body and soul free!” (p2). I felt like she was repeating it over and over again because she can’t face the fact that she’s going to start a new life by herself now that she didn’t know what to do because she usually does it with her husband. Her emotions are building up at this point and then she sees her husband walk through the door unharmed, it was too much for her to take in due to the fact that she has heart troubles, she dies.

In “A Jury Of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Wright was taken into custody because Mr. Hale found her husband dead in bed with a rope around his neck. When Mr. Hale confronted her and asked her what had happen and who did it, she simply just laughed (p261). She showed no emotion due to the fact that her husband died, implying that it was her who killed him. Throughout the story it showed the events that led her to killing her own husband. For example when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter found the quilt they noticed that one of the stitching was poorly done saying that when she was doing it she was nervous. Shows that she was thinking about killing her husband if she should do it or not. Another example would be when they found the dead bird in the box. Shows that she had enough of how her husband didn’t like her to sing so she had to do something.

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Discussion, Homework, Week 1
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‘   The  Story  of an  Hour’, who is the protagonist, which is Ms Mallard, who I think is dealing with her husband death is taking it hard like anyone else would feel if they lost their love which will happen in life. But on the other hand people, some  people can change their ways of thinking bad things about people. for example, the wife was kind of giving us an impression that she was relieved of his death.in reading the story of the hour it seems like the two couples in the story was both having problems with their relationships. One couple wanted to escape there relationship and not deal with the problems it was having and the other relationship they were having problems as well. In reading the conclusion of the story, it was told in a third person telling the story.

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Homework, Week 1

HomeWork #1

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In “The Story of An Hour,” the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is informed about the railroad disaster where her husband was killed. She is immediately devastated. “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone.” After Mrs. Mallard enters her room, she sat into the arm chair facing the open window. As she observes the landscape, she felt something possessing her. She began to whisper, “free, free,  free!” She came into realization that she was free, free from her husband, who probably prevented her from living her life the way she pleased. In the end, Mr. Mallard walks through the door. At the sight of her husband, Mrs. Mallard dies.

In “A Jury of Her Peers,” the protagonist Mrs. Wright, or Minnie Foster before her marriage, has murdered her husband. The cause of this I assume was because just as Mr. Mallard, Mr. Wright prevented his wife from living how she wanted to. Mrs. Hale finds Mrs. Wright’s bird with a broken neck, wrapped in silk. The bird used to sing along with Mrs. Wright, which was something she loved to do as Minnie Foster. As her husband probably despised this, he wrung the neck of the bird to prevent it from ever singing again. This was the same exact way Mr. Wright died, from his neck. Mrs. Wright probably wanted her husband to feel the pain of that what her bird felt.

I judge the two protagonists differently. Mrs. Mallard’s husband was killed in an accident, while Mrs. Wright’s husband was murdered. The settings of both stories seem to be around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today women have more rights than they did at the time of these stories. Reading them today gives a clearer understanding of why they reacted the way they did towards their husbands.

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Glossary, Week 1

Genial

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Genial adj –
1. of or relating to marriage
2. inborn, native
3.  favorable to growth

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genial
Paragraph 5 in A Jury of Her Peers.
“He was to a dot the kind of man who could get himself elected sheriff – a heavy man with a big voice, who was particularly genial with the law-abiding, as if to make it plain that he knew the difference between criminals and non-criminals.”

The law was sort of native to the sheriff. It can emphasized on hos he was a heavy man with a big voice and that he could get himself elected sheriff. It also says that he makes up for Mrs. Peter lack of resemblance as the sheriff’s wife by being extremely like a sheriff himself.

 

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Homework, Week 1

THE STORY OF AN HOUR & A JURY OF HER PEERS

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The Story of an Hour & A Jury of Her Peers are two stories that are different in many ways but have similarities as well.

In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard goes into shock and many stages of emotions after hearing the news of her husband’s death. She, I would say is “”relieved” and feels free after hearing the news. She later on, dies of a heart attack.

A Jury of her Peers is also about a husband’s death. It was a sudden death of Mr. Wright, finding out that he was murdered by Mrs. Wright at the end of the story.  From reading the story, I believe some abuse and damage was done in closed doors, that had ended the way it did.

I understand how the character acted the way the did even if I do not agree with the outcomes. I do not judge them differently. Everyone has their own reactions to different situations.

The other characters and the narrators influence our understanding of the protagonists by  using many details and context clues in the story. The setting also plays a big role in both the stories. The time the story was told 1800s, I would say men were way more dominant and has more control of their spouses.  It would be different if the stories settings is changed today. In conclusion, the setting played a big role in how the both stories played out.

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Homework, Introductions, Week 1

Intro of Myself

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My name is Shanice, I was born in Jamaica, Queens in New York. I grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn New York. I’m currently in my third year at City Tech and I am majoring in Computer Systems Technology CST. I picked this major because I would stay on the computer for hours, then wonder, “where did the time go?” Then I came to the conclusion that computers may be an area of interest and what  I would want to do in life.Throughout my interaction with the computer and its various programs, I was inspired to research career opportunities in the field of computer technology. Initially, I thought business would be my major and I researched various high schools that offered business courses, but when I started to take those courses, my priorities changed, computer technology captivated me. Hopefully, in my last few semesters at this school, I can grasp enough information to be confident to go out into the workplace and find my dream job.

As of now, I work at Macy’s and at a Catering center. When I first starting working at Macy’s, I was excited and nervous at the same time. I thought I would actually like this job, and it would be a great experience to have. But boy was I wrong, I used to say I would never work at a retail job, that was a huge lie. Every time I know I have to work, I start to become annoyed. Some of you might say why am I still there, but don’t worry I’m not planning on staying there for too long. Catering is not too bad, I also prefer that job over Macy’s. I’ve been working at the Catering center for about 6 years. Although you might deal with some rude customers, I look forward to going to that job. I guess its because that job is on-call. One definite thing I like about this job is my managers and coworkers, I get along well with them and we like each other. Besides that boring part of my life, there are some more other boring activities I can add to it. I love to sleep, listen to music and killing my brain cells by watching T.V.

In addition, I look forward to enjoying this class because the class is a hybrid class making it partially online. It gives me another excuse to stay on the computer. Not only that, but I noticed I learned and retain information better when I take an online classes, the work is hands on. Hopefully with this class the outcome can be the same, because I can take advantage of my love of computers and learn simultaneously.

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Glossary, Week 1

Eaves

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Eaves –  the lower border of a roof that overhangs the wall —usually used in plural.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eave

Used in “The Story of An Hour” fifth paragraph; last line. The  word was used as a noun in the sentence to describe the thing on which the birds were twittering.

The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

She was describing the scene before her, and could hear the chirping of sparrows on the roofs around her. At first, I thought eaves may have meant trees, and was surprised to find that it meant the underneath a roof. Its almost like a little alcove.

 

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Homework, Week 1

A Jury of her Peers/The Story of An Hour

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I enjoyed ‘A Story of An Hour’ by Kate Chopin more than I did “Jury of Her Peers’ and the length was not the reason. Although shorter, A Story of An Hour gave more insight on Louise’s feelings better enabling the reader to connect to her. ‘Jury of Her Peers’ on the other hand gave us diverse characters letting us be the judge of them through their actions rather than internal feelings.

The two stories albeit being different were very similar.  A key theme in the two stories would be the rebellion of women [against men]. From the clues given in the stories you can assume both Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Wright were dominated by their husbands.

Mrs. Mallard in ‘The Story of An Hour’ hears the news of her husbands death but unlike other women doesn’t go into shock instead grieves. She goes through the stages of grief and comes into terms with the death. Realizing her new found freedom she has an epiphany and dreams of living her life for herself on her own accord rather than for her husband. The first thing mentioned in this story is her heart problems so it’s safe to assume this statement foreshadows her death. The news of her husbands death had no effect on her heart condition, so you can bet a bigger news would soon arrive. The ‘big news’ so to speak was the sudden arrival of Mr. Mallard, her husband, who turns out wasn’t dead after all. Mrs. Mallard, who at this point was elated and full of joy, gets shocked at seeing her husband alive gives out a cry and dies of a heart attack. “The joy that kills’

Mrs. Wright on the other hand is under question for the death of her husband. The story starts of with Mrs. Hale, Mr. Hale, The Sheriff and his wife [Mrs. Peters]  going to Mrs. Wrights house. Mr. Hale tells the story of how he went the night before to ask Mr. Wright something in front of his wife, after knocking on the door a few times someone [Mrs. Wright] tells him to enter. He sees her sitting on the chair and asks her to call John, to which she laughs, and says she can’t. She then tells Mr. Hale John[Mr. Wright] is dead, a rope round his neck had killed him. They find clues in the house that indicated at the harsh demeanor of Mr. Wright towards Mrs. Wright. -he killed her pet bird-  A key point in the story would be when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter were alone and had the conversation about John, the bird and Minnie Foster [Mrs. Wright] They spoke about John described him as ‘a harsh man… like raw wind that gets to the bone.’ They find the bird cage and then the bird itself, in a box with it’s neck wrung, in Minnie’s basket. They hid the box when the sheriff came back in the kitchen, Mrs. Hale knew Minnie Foster and said she liked the bird and wanted to bury it (justifying why the bird was in the box). Mrs. Peters claimed they didn’t know who killed the bird to which Mrs. Hale said she knew John. She convinced Mrs. Peters (who thought people should pay for their crimes) and they hid the evidence and gave Minnie a not guilty verdict.

In both stories the women rebelled against conformity [by going against their husbands]. Louise Mallard’s way was much more subtle than that of the ladies from ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ she internally rebelled by not going into shock over her husbands death but rather by overcoming it and finding her freedom. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters rebelled by hiding evidence and calling Mrs. Wright not guilty.

Just goes to show how two completely different stories can connect through similar aspects; husbands death and the sense freedom that came along with it as well as breaking the norm.

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Glossary, Week 1

Acquiescene

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Acquiescene (noun)

“A Jury of Her Peers” by: Susan Glaspell

“in her manner of timid acquiescene” P 267 line 14

“in her manner of timid accepting the demand”

definition (from Merriam-Website) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquiescence

accepting demands in a polite manner

generates from acquiescent to accept or allow demands from others

 

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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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