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draft, Project #2

Robbed (Project #2 Draft)-Part Dos

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Robbed

I am broken.

For the very thing that I had that was near to me, has been lost,

It was the very thing I gave birth to,

It was a source of nourishment,

A place for my youngin’ to satisfy her need,

It was my mine,

IT BELONGED TO ME!

 

But where has it gone?

To the mouths of the white girls,

To the mouths of the white boys,

What about my youngin’?

What will she have?

I kept it safe for her,

I made sure I took care of myself,

I did everything a mother was supposed to do.

 

Now, what can I give to you my child?

I have nothing to offer to you,

My bosom is empty and my heart is empty,

If I had, I would have given you the world,

But sadly I have nothing to give to you, my sweet child.

Forgive me, for one day I will repay you.

 

This poem is about Sethe getting her milk robbed from her while she was a slave at Sweet Home. In Beloved, “those boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] came in there and took her milk…they held her down and took it…Schoolteacher made one [of the boys] open up her back and when it closed it made a tree…they used cowhide on her and took her milk…they beat her while she was pregnant and they took her milk” (Morrison 19-20). As I wrote this poem, I wrote it as if Sethe was describing her anguish for her milk getting robbed and the remorse of not having it to give to Beloved. I also wrote it as if Sethe was going to restore the bonding between herself and Beloved, since Sethe did not have any milk to give to Beloved.

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draft, Project #2

Sethe’s Tormentor (Project #2 Draft)-Part Uno

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In Beloved, the main character, Sethe, is living in Ohio, a free state for blacks, with her daughter Denver. Sethe escaped the harsh brutalities as a slave, however, she continued to relive the bad memories she endured as a slave at Sweet Home. As Sethe lived her new life at 124, she tried not to mention the past to Denver, but it would always come up through the daily activities of her life or when Beloved, her deceased daughter, would ask her to retell stories of her life. As for Beloved, her ghost came back to ignite Sethe’s bad feelings of the past. Beloved caused Sethe to feel depressed for killing her and the attempted murder of her other children (Morrison 175-179). However, the memory that really haunted Sethe’s conscious was when “those boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] came in there and took her milk…they held her down and took it…Schoolteacher made one [of the boys] open up her back and when it closed it made a tree…they used cowhide on her and took her milk…they beat her while she was pregnant and they took her milk” (Morrison 19-20). Therefore, if Sethe’s milk was not stolen, her husband, Halle, would have escaped with Sethe and their children and help Sethe give birth to Denver while they were escaping to Ohio; she would not have gotten post-traumatic stress from that harsh ordeal, which would eventually cause her to kill Beloved for fear that the pain she endured would also happen to Beloved, and Beloved’s ghost would had never return to torment her for killing her.

When Sethe’s milk was stolen, it devastated her. The milk that she was going to use to nurse Denver after she left her womb was taken from her as if someone had rapped her (Morrison 19-20). The worse thing about that event was that her husband, Halle, “saw them boys [the nephews of the Schoolteacher] do that [steal Sethe’s milk] from her and let them keep on breathing air” (Morrison 81). Halle watched the whole ordeal but he could not do anything about it. “It broke him [Halle],” affected his psyche, and caused him to smear butter all over his face (Morrison 82-83). Sethe, Halle, and their children had planned to escape with Sixo and Paul D to Ohio but Halle was never seen after Sethe’s milk was stolen (Morrison 265). Since Sethe was pregnant, Halle was going to help Sethe and their children with their escape to Ohio but Sethe “did it. She got them [her children] out. Without Halle too. Up till then it was the only thing she ever did on her own…Each and every one of her babies,” including herself came to Ohio (Morrison 190). “She birthed them and got em [her children] out…she did that. She had help, of course, lots of that, but still it was her doing it” (Morrison 190). Furthermore, If Halle did not disappear, he would have helped Sethe to give birth to Denver and Amy Denver, the whitegirl, would not need to help Sethe during Denver’s delivery (Morrison 99-100).

Secondly, the pain that Sethe acquired from her milk getting stolen caused her to get posttraumatic stress disorder. “She’d gone wild, due to the mishandling of the nephew who’d overbeat her and made her cut and run” (Morrison 176). So, she swung her “baby [Beloved] toward the wall planks, missed and tried to connect a second time… while “the two [Howard and Buglar] lied open-eyed in the sawdust,” and the “third [Beloved] pumped blood down the dress of the main one [Sethe]” (Morrison 175-176). In this scene, Sethe could not deal with the violation of her milk being stolen, so, it gave her a reason to take the life of Beloved and attempt to kill her other children as a means of saving them from the harsh brutalities of slavery. However, Sethe’s actions caused her other children, Denver, Buglar, and Howard to be afraid of her (Morrison 216 & 242). During Beloved’s funeral “neither Howard nor Buglar would let her [Sethe] near them, not even to touch their hair” (Morrison 216). They were afraid that Sethe would do the same thing to do them as she did to Beloved, so they eventually ran away (Morrison 245). As for Denver, she continued to live with Sethe because “she loved her mother but she knew she [Sethe] killed one of her own daughters, and tender as she was with her,” Denver was always living in constant fear that “the thing that happened that made it all right for her mother to kill her sister could happen again,” so, she was always watching her mother’s every move, less she be killed as well (Morrison 242).

Thirdly, since Sethe’s milk was stolen and she killed Beloved as a means to save them from the harsh brutalities of slavery, Beloved’s ghost returned in Sethe’s life to torment her for causing her death. When Beloved first came to 124, she was “feverish” from the cholera she had and she was “poorly fed” (Morrison 62 & 64). At first, Sethe takes her in and helps her to get better without knowing that it was her daughter (Morrison 61-65). Sethe believed that Beloved was a harmless child and that she was a good friend to Denver. However, Denver began to realize that Beloved was her deceased sister that came back to take revenge on Sethe, especially after she saw Beloved choke Sethe’s neck (Morrison 119). As Beloved’s health began to improve, she began to become more “demanding” (Morrison 283). Although, Sethe was fond of her presence (Morrison 63) and her eagerness for Sethe to tell stories of her life (Morrison 69), Beloved began to suck the life out of Sethe by her constant need to get everything from Sethe (Morrison 283). Whether it was food, clothes, or attention, Beloved “got it, and when Sethe ran out of things to give her, Beloved invented desire” (Morrison 283).

“Then the mood changed and the arguments began… Beloved accused her [Sethe] of leaving her behind…And Sethe cried, saying she never did, or meant to—that she had to get them [her children] out, away, that she had the milk all the time and had the money too for the stone but not enough…Beloved was not interested. Sethe pleaded for forgiveness, counting, listing again and again her reasons: that Beloved was more important, meant more to her than her own life. That she would trade places any day. Give up her life, every minute and hour of it, to take back just one of Beloved’s tears” (Morrison 284).

However, Beloved did not accept Sethe’s forgiveness, instead she was being very disrespectful by slamming things around the house, wiping the table clean of plates [Beloved was eating a lot of food], throwing salt on the floor, and she broke a windowpane (Morrison 285). As Beloved gained more weight, Sethe lost weight and became neglectful in taking care of her own self. Instead of combing her hair or washing her face, Sethe “sat in a chair licking her lips like a chastised child while Beloved ate up her life, took it, swelled up with it, and grew taller on it” (Morrison 295). Finally, Beloved attempted to kill Sethe with an ice pick but failed at it and disappeared (Morrison 309).

In conclusion, Sethe’s milk getting stolen was the most pivotal scene in Beloved because it brought an aftermath of pain and grief that followed Sethe from Sweet Home to Ohio. First, Sethe’s milk getting stolen, made her husband, Halle, get depressed and disappear from Sethe when they were supposed to escape to Ohio together with their children. Second, Sethe was dealing with post-traumatic stress from her milk getting stolen, which caused her to kill Beloved and lastly, Beloved’s ghost returned from the dead to torment and take revenge on Sethe for killing her. All of these events could have been avoided and she could have had her whole family together at Ohio. Instead these events broke Sethe’s family apart and caused Sethe to live in constant remorse for the killing of her daughter, Beloved.

 

Works Cited

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1987. Print.

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draft, Project #2

Project 2 Draft

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In the novel “beloved” by Toni Morrison, the characters face many hardships and go through many tough times. There is one moment though, that I feel had a major impact on all the following events and without said scene, the story would be very different. The scene I’m  referring to is when Schoolteachers nephews take Sethe’s milk.

The scene is described near the beginning of the story. Sethe mentions the tree on her back, and when pressed to explain herself, the following conversation ensues.

“…The milk would be there and I would be there with it.” “Men don’t know nothing much,” said Paul D, tucking his pouch back into his vest pocket, “but they do know a suckling can’t be away from its mother for long.” “Then they know what it’s like to send your children off when your breasts are full.” “We was talking ’bout a tree, Sethe.” “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still.” “They used cowhide on you?”  “And they took my milk.” “They beat you and you was pregnant?” “And they took my milk!”

When asked about the tree she mentioned, Sethe starts talking about her milk and how important it was to get it to her daughter. Paul D seems confused at first about the change in topic, “We was talking ’bout a tree, Sethe.” She then explains how they held her and took her children’s milk, and when they found out she had told Mrs. Garner what happened, Schoolteacher had her whipped, even though she was very pregnant by then. Paul D is shocked to find out she was whipped while she was pregnant, but what bothered Sethe more was that her milk was taken. Her milk that she had for her little girl.

Soon afterwards she escapes, but without Halle. She has no idea why he hasn’t come as planned, until Paul D explains later in the story.

“He saw.” “He told you?” “You told me.” “What?” “The day I came in here. You said they stole your milk. I never knew what it was that messed him up. That was it, I guess. All I knew was that something broke him. Not a one of them years of Saturdays, Sundays and nighttime extra never touched him. But whatever he saw go on in that barn that day broke him like a twig.” “He saw?” Sethe was gripping her elbows as though to keep them from flying away. “He saw. Must have.” “He saw them boys do that to me and let them keep on breathing air? He saw? He saw? He saw?” … “It broke him, Sethe.” Paul D looked up at her and sighed. “You may as well know it all. Last time I saw him he was sitting by the chum. He had butter all over his face.”

Halle was in the rafters of the barn when the nephews came in and took Sethe’s milk. He was there witnessing the entire thing and was completely powerless to stop it. This drove him crazy, and kept him back when his wife escaped.

Sethe runs away tired, pregnant, barefoot, and alone. Without Halle to help her she nearly dies in the woods, luckily Amy Denver finds her, and nurses her back to health and helps deliver her baby. But the tree on her back, and her husband not being there, make the escape all the more traumatic.

She finally makes it to Baby Suggs, and starts getting better. She spends twenty-eight days with her family, new friends, and freedom. The rape of her milk, the beating, delivering in the forest, Halle still gone. These things don’t leave her mind, and when the Schoolteacher shows up at 124, she loses it. She knows what he is capable of, and she goes ahead and tries to “save” them from what she clearly believes is a fate worse than death.

If her milk hadn’t been taken, Halle would have been fine, and escaped with her. Delivering in the woods would still have been an ordeal, but with Halle there and no tree on her back, it wouldn’t have taken such a toll on her. Without that she would never have been able to kill her child.

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draft, Project #2

PROJECT #2 PART 1 (DRAFT)

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Beloved by Toni Morrison is a novel about Sethe’s life and how her past comes back to haunt her in many ways. Sethe as a person has endured many forms of suffering during her slave years. Throughout the story, we see many scenes that contribute highly to the storyline itself. These scenes may even bring up a symbol that will be brought up to the end of the story. Going back to Sethe’s suffering, we see one form of suffering that really carried on throughout the story. That suffering is the moment her milk was stolen from her. Milk played a huge symbol in this story and without the scenes that bring up this major symbol, this story would probably be completely different.

The scene I’d like to bring up is a scene that happened in the beginning of the book. On Chapter 1 Page 19 (Red Book), we see a scene that depicts Sethe’s suffering regarding her milk. In this scene, we hear what happened to Sethe after running away. “After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That’s what they came here for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn’t speak but her eyes rolled out tears.” To simplify this, Sethe was beaten down and her breast milk was forced from her. This quote is very important because it starts off the whole milk topic in the story. After reading this part, we also see that Sethe was treated poorly and inhumane. In other words, she was treated as a cow and not as a human being. This scene is important and without it, the story would be different. For starters, we wouldn’t take milk into account when reading this story. It would just be something that happened and not something major. This scene also brings up the topic of her suffering and how that suffering scarred her. Lastly, as I mentioned before, this scene was a starter that brought about a chain reaction throughout the rest of the story.

Moving on, we go further into the story. The time milk was taken from Sethe by the nephew of school teacher still lingered in the mind of Sethe. It was very traumatizing for her which now brings up a scene in Chapter 7 Page 83 (Red Book) of the story. “There is also my husband squatting by the chum smearing the butter as well as its clabber all over his face because the milk they took is on his mind. And as far as he is concerned, the world may as well know it. and if he was broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now.” In other words, the incident where milk was taken from Sethe was very traumatizing to not only her but to her husband Halle as well. It was something that both of them couldn’t even take off their minds. It wouldn’t be surprising if many people knew about this incident. This incident hit Halle really hard and he became a Halle we didn’t really know. The single thought of milk drove Halle insane. Unfortunately, Halle was never seen again after the butter incident which of course would hit Sethe, his wife at the time, pretty hard. After reading this, we can already assume that Halle is dead. The thought of being a widow is something that she couldn’t really take. This stuck to her even after leaving Sweet Home. This scene is one of those pivotal scenes because without Halle’s disappearance, Sethe wouldn’t have had a broken heart. She wouldn’t have also recalled this scene many times after thinking about Halle. This scene also enabled Sethe to grow in a way. If it wasn’t for Halle’s disappearance, Sethe wouldn’t have moved on to start rebuilding her family from scratch with Paul D. Going back to the original milk robbing scene, if that scene hadn’t happened, the scene discussed on this paragraph would have not happened which essentially is a novel changing scene.

Later on in the story, we see a Sethe that is more caring towards everyone especially Beloved and Denver. She loved her children which is her duty as a mother. She wanted to give whatever she had to her baby however, we saw earlier in the book that her milk was taken from her which scarred her. This however didn’t stop her from wanting to provide love for her loved ones. This brings up our next quote which can be found on Chapter 8 Page 118 (Red Book). “There was no question but that she could do it. Just like the day she arrived at 124-sure enough, she had milk enough for all.” To restate this, there was without a doubt that she could provide for her children especially due to the fact that she had enough milk for all her children. As I mentioned before, Sethe wanted to provide for her children. Regardless of what happened and what could happen, she wanted to give no matter what. Based on this, we can probably see a development in an obsession towards this one goal. Now what exactly does this have to do with the scene we read on Page 19 (Red Book)? The answer to that is we can see that she shows signs of growth and development since the day her milk was taken from her. She prepared herself to give up everything just to provide her children with her nutrients. In addition to that, Sethe was now able to do something she couldn’t do back then as a slave and that was to feed her children with her breast milk.

In conclusion, that one scene from Page 19 (Red Book) played a very important role in the story. It enabled Sethe character to grow as a woman and not as the cow she was depicted as during her years as a slave. This scene resulted in crucial events, the most important being the Halle incident because it resulted in the major move into 124 with Paul D to rebuild the family she lost as a slave.

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Homework, Project #2, Week 10

Beloved Quote Proj. 2

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Introduce:

In the story beloved  the Character Paul D seems like a nice guy; and very charismatic.

Quote:

“{Not even trying, he had become the kind of man who could walk into a house and make the women cry. Because with him, in his presence, they could. There was something blessed in his manner}. Women saw him and wanted to weep–to tell him that their chest hurt and their knees did too. Strong women and wise saw him and told him things they only told each other: that way past the Change of Life, desire in them had suddenly become enormous, greedy, more savage than when they were fifteen, and that it embarrassed them and made them sad; that secretly they longed to die–to be quit of it–that sleep was more precious to them than any waking day. Young girls sidled up to him to confess or describe how well-dressed the visitations were that had followed them straight from their dreams. Therefore, although he did not understand why this was so, he was not surprised when Denver dripped tears into the stovefire. Nor, fifteen minutes later, after telling him about her stolen milk, her mother wept as well. Behind her, bending down, his body an arc of kindness, he held her breasts in the palms of his hands. He rubbed his cheek on her back and learned that way her sorrow, the roots of it; its wide trunk and intricate branches. Raising his fingers to the hooks of her dress, he knew without seeing them or hearing any sigh that the tears were coming fast. And when the top of her dress was around her hips and he saw the sculpture her back had become, like the decorative work of an ironsmith too passionate for display, he could think but not say, “Aw, Lord, girl.” And he would tolerate no peace until he had touched every ridge and leaf of it with his mouth, none of which Sethe could feel because her back skin had been dead for years. What she knew was that the responsibility for her breasts, at last, was in somebody else’s hands”.

 

Interpret: Paul D from my understanding seems very courteous, patient, smart, humble or maybe just an handsome because he was really like by the female throughout his community.

Analyze: The author started of the paragraph with:

Not even trying, he had become the kind of man….

Paul D has change for better; at this point he understand his life have a value. He’s kind and sympathetic and for that Paul D is well liked.

Apply: In the Story  Beloved,  Paul D played an very important role for the woman of 124. After his freedom he was happy to find somewhere with someone that he knew; 124 was the place to be. Paul D has change for better; at this point he understand his life have a value. He’s kind and sympathetic and for that Paul D is well liked.

In the story beloved  the Character Paul D seems like a nice guy; and very charismatic.  After his freedom he was happy to find somewhere with someone that he knew; 124 was the place to be. Paul D has change for better; at this point he understand his life have a value. He’s kind and sympathetic and for that Paul D is well liked.

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draft, Homework, Week 6

The Day Gregor Samsa Revealed to his Parents that he was a Bug

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Once Gregor decided to leave his room, he went through his double doors to hear the chief clerk exclaim a resounding “Oh” that could be heard throughout the entire house. The chief clerk had never seen anything so unusual in his life, especially a talking enormous pest. He thought, “this must be a dream, this cannot be Gregor Samsa,” while he pressed his hands against his open mouth, he slowly retreated as if driven by an invisible force. The chief clerk thought back on his youth and how he detested insects for their dreadful appearance, especially for their numerous, undulate, hairy legs. Gregor’s mother was sitting on the couch when she saw the reaction of the chief clerk, so she unfolded her arms, rose from her seat, took two steps forward where Gregor was standing, and she immediately fell unconscious on the floor. There were no words to describe her anguish for her son turning into a household pest, all she could do was lay on the floor in utter astonishment and gloom. Gregor’s father looked hostile and clenched his fists as if wanted to knock Gregor back into his room. He could not believe that his precious, hardworking son would turn into an insect. The once strong willed lieutenant in the army was now a repulsive insect that needed to be extinguished.

“Was this the secret Gregor was hiding from us when he refuse to open his door?” thought Gregor’s father. Then, he looked uncertainly around the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook. The father was depending on Gregor to take care of the family. Not only did Gregor financially support the family but he also took care of the father and mother as they were getting older. However, these responsibilities were not of Gregor’s duties anymore because the father saw that he no longer existed anymore. “Now how is the family going to be taken cared of?” “What am I going to?” “How is this vermin going to take care of me?” “He cannot possibly be my son,” thought the father as he continue to weep all the more louder.

Gregor tried to explain to the chief clerk about his excusable tardiness for not coming to work on time but the chief clerk had turned away as soon as Gregor started to speak. He could only see Gregor’s big stature, numerous, hairy legs, moving in all directions, and his antenna moving back and forth like a pendulum of a clock. These actions made the clerk very frightened and since he could not understand most of Gregor’s speech, he thought that Gregor wanted to eat him. So, the chief clerk moved gradually to the entrance hall where he rushed forward in a panic and stretched his hands out towards the staircase in order to escape from this nightmare. “I better get out of here before he consumes every part of my flesh,” thought the chief clerk.

However, while the chief clerk made all effort to escape, Gregor realized that is was out of the question to let the chief clerk go away in this mood, especially if his position at the firm was in extreme danger of being expunged. So, without considering that he was still not familiar with how well he could move about in his present state, or that his speech might not still be understood, he let go of the door; pushed himself through the opening; tried to reach the chief clerk on the landing but immediately fell over and, with a little scream as he sought something to hold onto, landed on his numerous little legs.

As the mother witness all this, she thought of Gregor’s face as a young boy, then as a mature man. She could not believe that this vermin was her son. She closed and opened her eyes, so that Gregor’s normal body would magically reappear but it did not work. All she could see was an enormous bug. Then, in her hysteria, Gregor’s mother suddenly jumped up with her arms outstretched and her fingers spread shouting, “Help, for pity’s sake, Help.” She hurriedly moved backwards until she reached the kitchen table and quickly sat on it without realizing that all the breakfast things were on it. She did not even seem to notice that the coffee pot on the table had been knocked over and a gush of coffee was pouring down onto the carpet.

“Mother, mother,” said Gregor gently, looking up at her but he could not help himself from snapping in the air with his jaws at the sight of the flow of coffee. Mrs. Samsa saw Gregor’s movements but she could not make sense of it, so it caused her to scream anew. “Oh, my God, what is he doing?” “Oh, my God, I think he is going to kill me!” thought the mother as she fled from the table, and fell into the arms of Gregor’s father. The chief clerk had already reached the stairs of the entrance hall and Gregor did not want him to leave if he knew that he would be left without a job for this dreary situation, so he made a run for him. While the chief clerk tried to quickly leave he noticed that Gregor’s dome like body was shifting and his antenna was moving to his direction. He did not want to be touched by this hideous creature, so, he leapt down several steps at once and disappeared, while his shouts resounded all around the staircase.  Gregor’s father realized that immediate action was going to have be taken to extinguish this situation. “I don’t want this thing running around my house, it needs to get out,” thought the father. So, he seized the chief clerk’s stick in his right hand, picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went.

Although Gregor tried to reason with his father, his father could not understand him and wanted him to leave. He no longer considered Gregor as a son but as a repulsive pest that needed to die. Across the room, Gregor’s mother could not deal with the present ordeal and felt she was going in a state of unconsciousness, so she pulled open a window, leant far out of it, and pressed her hands to her face breathing in and out.

“Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out you filthy pest,” thought Gregor’s father as he hissed and stamped his feet to drive Gregor back to his room. Gregor had never had any practice in moving backwards and was only able to go very slowly. He did not want to get a fatal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father’s hand, so he quickly and anxiously tried to turn himself around. As this process went very slowly, Gregor’s father was becoming impatient. “I don’t want this vermin in my sight anymore,” thought the father. So, he used the tip of his stick to give directions from a distance on which way to turn as he kept hissing at Gregor to get back in his room. When Gregor had finally turned around, he was pleased that his head was in front of the doorway, but then he saw that it was too narrow, and his body was too broad to get through it without difficulty. “Finally, he is almost out of my sight, he needs to hurry up,” thought the father. In the father’s present mood, he did not have the idea that Gregor was unable to open the double doors. He was merely fixed on the idea that Gregor should get back into his room as quickly as possible.

As the father watched Gregor desperately trying to push himself back into his room, he became more impatient and the hissing became louder and louder in an attempt to drive Gregor all the more harder back into his room despite his current paralysis. With the little strength that Gregor had, he pushed harder into his room but then one side of his body lifted itself making him lay at an angle in the doorway. One flank of Gregor’s body was scrapped on the white door causing him to get painfully injured. His scrap left vile brown flecks on the door and soon he was stuck fast and was not able to move at all by himself; his little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. The father could not accept Gregor’s off putting nature of being an insect and the flecks on the door made him more appalled of the situation. “This is so horrendous, I can’t take this anymore,” thought the father, so he gave a hefty shove behind Gregor and released him from where he was held. This sent Gregor flying, while heavily bleeding, deep into his room. “And good riddance to you,” thought the father as he slammed shut the door with his stick, and finally, all was quiet.

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draft, Week 6

The Story of An Hour – Josephine view

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It was a nice beautiful afternoon, when my sister’s friend Richard came over to my house and told me about the news of my sister’s husband Brently had died in a railroad accident. “How could this have happen,” I said with a sadden voice. “Have you told Louise about this yet?” Richard just stood there and finally said “How could I break this news to her without breaking her heart.” “I was hoping you can tell your sister about her husband,” Richard had said with a troubled face.

We went to Louise’s house to tell her about the tragic news about her husband. On the way to her house we had discussed about how we should break the news about her husband and that we had to take caution on the effect that this will have on Louise. As we approached Louise’s house tears started to come down from my eyes, as I was afraid that this would be too much of a burden that Louise can handle. After calming down and the tears have stopped, we rang the bell on Louise’s house.

The door opens and Louise greets us with a smile, “Hello there Josephine and Richard.” When we go inside we went into the living room and Louise brings us a cup of tea. As I was sitting there with Louise, I started to feel tears coming down again when I think about breaking this news to Louise. I resolved myself to tell Louise the news as I was drinking the tea. When I finished the cup of tea Louise brought, she asked if I wanted more tea. “Louise, you have to listen to me carefully now,” as Louise listens with a calm face “ Your……Husband……..Brently………he was in a railroad accident today.” “Richard found out the news today when he was at the newspaper office and Brently’s name was on the list of those that have been killed.”

Louise calm face suddenly turned pale and she was just sitting in the chair with no expression. Then she started crying like she was a newborn baby and I held her in my arms. Louise cried in my arms for a while and when she stopped crying she slowly went upstairs to her room. As I was following her up to the room, she closed the door and locked it before I can go inside of it.

I waited outside of Louise room, but I did not hear any noise from inside the room and I started to worry about Louise’s health. I started to bang on the door and yell “Louise, are you ok?” “Please open the door.” There was no response from Louise so I looked through the keyhole of the door and I can briefly see Louise sitting on a chair near the window. Louise seemed to be lifeless as she did not move at all. My worry started to increase, as I called for Richard.

“Richard……Richard,” as I yelled the loudest I could. Richard came running up the stairs wondering what was going on. “Louise is just sitting on the chair near the window, I’m worried that her heart is giving her troubles.” As I told this to Richard I asked if he can call the doctor over and find a way to open the door. When Richard went downstairs to call the doctor, I suddenly hear a faint noise from the room and I put my ear closer to the door. “Free! Body and soul free!” I can faintly hear Louise saying this.

I started to panic and wondering what this message can mean so I kneed down and put my mouth by the key hole and started to beg Louise to open the door. “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.” Louise yells back answering my cry for her to open the door “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” I started to worry more and kept wondering what she was doing inside that room. I yell for Richard “Richard have you found a way to open the door yet?” Suddenly the door opens and Louise comes out of the room. “Louise,” I yelled with a worried face but she seem to not notice my cry for her.

As Louise came out of the room, she did not have a face of one that just lost her husband. Louise looked like she came out of a fight with the devil himself and had the face of a goddess that won the battle with the devil. Louise helped me off my knees and held me by the waist.
“Let’s go downstairs,” she said to me with happy face. As we went down the stairs, Richard was waiting for us and said “Louise, are you ok?”

As we walked down the stairs the door suddenly opened and a familiar body figure was at the door.

“Brently!” I yelled as loud as I could. I turned around to look at Louise, but her face turned pale as seen a ghost. Richard tried to block Brently from Louise’s view, but it was too late. Brently stood there with a confused look on his face, as he had no clue on what was
happening.

Then a thud sound could be heard and Louise had fallen to the floor. “Louise!” I cried. Louise showed no sign of breathing. “Richard where is the doctor?” I asked while panicking. A few minutes later the doctor shows up and claimed that Louise had died of a heart disease.

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