Response To A Clean Well-Lighted Place

In the story there is two very different waiters and a old man.  One is a young, impatient, selfish, and rude waiter.  The other one is a old, patient, polite, and respectful waiter.  Then there is this old deaf man who is drinking at the cafe.  The young waiter just wants to leave the restaurant and close up.  He doesn't want the old man to keep drinking.  On the other hand, the older waiter can connect to the old deaf man because he is old himself too.  The old waiter connected to the old deaf man because he felt at a time that he couldn't sleep and was depressed as well.  The old waiters personality is sort of happy on the outside, but crush and alone on the inside.  The young waiter's personality is rude and selfish on the outside, but on the inside he is just really tired and wants to go home.  The cafe represents a safe and secure place for the old deaf man because that's where he feels he can be himself and doesn't feel alone there like he does at home.  

When I read the story A Clean Well-Lighted Place, I didn’t feel as sympathetic to the old man because there is no music in the background.  The music plays a big role in the videos because they set a sympathetic and sad tone towards the end.  In the beginning of the video the music sounds sort of scary and suspenseful.  The light in the café resembles comfort for the old man.  He knows he can take a bottle of brandy and go home, but that wouldn’t be the same as sitting in a well-lighted place with company of others.  Although he doesn’t really communicate with the waiters, he still likes their company. 

The bar that the waiter goes to is really loud and not very well light.  He didn’t seem to enjoy the company of other because there were too many people.  This bar sort of represents a dark place for the waiter because he did not like it there.  Personally, I didn’t mind the long screenshots because I could listen to the music in the background and focus on that.  If I were a person who was bothered by the screenshots, I probably wouldn’t of finished the videos in the first place.  The short story was obviously different because you couldn’t see anything, only read.  I liked the videos better because I am more of a visual learner so I like to see things.

Irony

Authors Note: This is a text analysis connection on two different stories.  I was trying to do A-B transitions again with this piece.

Irony is something that happens when an event is suppose to go one way, then it goes the complete opposite.  In The Possession, there's this really sweet, loving, brown nosing girl, that all of a sudden becomes possessed.  It was ironic because the teachers pet turned out to be possessed and scary in the end.  Also in The Ransom Of The Red Chief, by O.Henry, a 10 year old boy got kidnapped.  The irony was that he actually liked being away from home and he said he was having the time of his life.  In both stories there is an ironic plot twist in the end.

In The Ransom Of The Red Chief, there's an important quote that really shows irony in the story.The quote was, "When the kid found out we were going to leave him at home he started up a howl like a calliope and fastened himself as tight as a leech to Bill's leg."  I thought this was an irony because normally when a child is kidnapped they want to go home and be with their parents.  But in this case, he wanted to stay with the men that took him.  I was really confused when I read this part because I thought that the boy would want get the heck out of there.  Obviously  I was wrong.  The overall irony in the end was a great plot twist that I didn't see coming.

Although there is irony in The Ransom Of The Red Chief, there was a also a great ending to The Possession.  A girl teenager out of the blue becomes possessed.  No one expected it because she was always on task, quiet, and overall a teachers pet.  One day she started growling at people and snapping her fingers and twitching.  At the end she killed a classmate of hers.  It's very ironic that a teachers pet would become possessed because normally those type of students end up succeeding in life and not killing one another.  I did not expect this type of ending with someone dying because the story seemed to be having a kind of cheerful tone in the beginning.  I didn't really enjoy reading this piece because of the non solved ending.  There was no solution because the possessed girl just ended up dying and killing someone.  She didn't become her self again and she just went on a rampage of twirling around, hitting things, screaming, and then eventually killing another student.

Even though I read two different stories and one didn't have a resolved ending, they still connected.  The way they connected was because of the obvious irony.  In both stories you would've expected a complete opposite ending to happen.  I was really baffled by how in The Possession, there was such a bad ending.  I wanted there to be a surprise but not that would disappoint me in a way that I wanted to write a whole different ending.  Normally you can predict how a story is going to end, but then when it happens you're sitting in your seat with your mouth open because you could predict it from the beginning.  Another way they connected was because they both had crime in them.  One story a kid gets kidnapped.  In the other, a girl kills another girl.  Now in most movies someone usually dies, but not by a possessed person.  

With both stories having a plot twist ending, they both connected in a way.  I was more shocked by The Possession because there was no solution.  I was kind of upset when I finished it because the girl just died.  I thought she would've became un-possessed and not killed someone.  Overall, both stories had obvious irony in them.

My Bestfriend

Authors Note: This is a poem dedicated to my best friend Dr.  I was trying to create a poem including figurative language in it.

The day I met my best friend.

She was sitting in a beanbag drawing.

I asked to color with her.

We instantly became the best of friends.

She’s the peanut butter to my jelly.

I’m the slim to her shady.

We never get sick of each other,

We never are apart,

We never go a day without talking,

We love each other with all our heart.

When we fight, it’s only for a little while,

Because eventually we miss each other

And come crawling right back.

The way we are sarcastic with each other

Makes people question our friendship.

She’s always there for me,

I’m always there for her.

We have eachtohers back, no matter the situation.

We love to be around eachtoher

because the laughs never stop,

the food never stops being eaten,

the tears always get wipped away,

and the love is unstoppable.

The Ransom Of The Red Chief

In The Ransom Of The Red Chief, a 10 year old boy got kidnapped.  The irony was that he actually liked being away from home and he said he was having the time of his life.  The most important quote was, "When the kid found out we were going to leave him at home he started up a howl like a calliope and fastened himself as tight as a leech to Bill's leg."  I thought this was an important quote because normally when a child is kidnapped they want to go home and be with their parents.  But in this case, he wanted to stay with the men that took him.  It was also important because it's irony.  It's irony because the boy wanted to stay with the men and not to return to his home.  Also that when he got home, the kidnappers paid the Dad $250.  You would think that the Dad would pay any fee to have his child at home. 

Tasty

Authors Note: This is a parody of This is Just To Say.  It's about a pretzel being eaten.

Thank you for eating me

I enjoy your spit

all over my body

smooth and sticky

Your teeth feel like heaven

when you bite so hard

I thank you for the

mingy bite against my salt

Forgive me

for my salt covered body

I will try to work on that

I hope your mouth is happy

Turning Eleven

Authors note: This is a analysis on Sandra Cisnerros' Eleven.  Rachel just turned 11, but for her, that's not a big deal at all.

Eleven may seem like a big deal to most kids, but to Rachel it's just another birthday.  She doesn't think it's such a special day because she still feels like she's 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and 1.  The author makes you wan't to read this short story because of her figurative language, she uses a lot of similes throughout the piece.  This story would be very boring without her similes.  It would basically sound very monotone and a worthless story to write.  But with her figurative sentences, it adds spunk to the piece and spices it up.

The author includes multiple similes to engage you into the story.  She says, "like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk."  She is comparing growing older to an onion, or the rings inside a tree trunk because the rings inside a tree, you can see all the different ages.  Rachel doesn't feel like turning 11 is such a big deal because she still feels like all her younger ages.  The overall tone of the piece would have to be annoyed and frustrated.  It's annoyed because Rachel's teacher puts this sweater on her desk and Rachel knows it's not hers.  She tries to tell her teacher it's not hers, but her teacher just walks away.  The tone would also be frustrated because Rachel can't get rid of the awful sweater on her desk and she still doesn't feel any different age wise.  

While the author included a lot of similes, she also painted a great image in your head while you read her short story.  When she says "I pushed the ugly red sweater to the edge of my desk and it looks like a waterfall."  When I read that I thought of Niagara Falls and a girl sitting in a desk pushing away a really ugly red sweater.  I also thought of kids teasing the girl because she was just yelled at by the teacher and the fact that she owns a hideous sweater.  I would hate to be in her situation especially on my birthday because on your birthday you want to be happy and be around the people that love you, but in Rachel's position she was in a classroom filled  with kids that are annoying her and a teacher that refuses to take the sweater off of Rachel's desk.  The imagery throughout the piece was strong because of her figurative language.  Her similes help draw an image in your head of a sense of annoyance and frustration.

Even though the author creates great images throughout the story, the story also has a good meaning in the end to tie up the story.  With all the similes and the figurative language, the meaning is really shown at the end.  I think what the author was trying to say was that even if you have a terrible day and everything goes the wrong way, there's always something good in the end.  Rachel felt like she wanted to be 102 years old, anything but 11.  When her teacher put that sweater on her desk, it really made her upset and she just wanted to brake down like a 3 year old and cry, which she did do.  Even the littlest thing on your birthday can make you cry.  That's how I felt Rachel felt because I mean she started crying over having a sweater on her desk.  If it weren't her birthday, I don't think she would've cared as much.  In the end of the story, she went home to her mom's cake and her birthday song. 

The authors good meaning towards the end  really wraps up the story.  With Rachel turning 11 and everything that happened at school, she was happy to come home to cake and singing.  Even though she didn't have a good day at school and she wasn't happy about turning 11, she was excited at the end of the day.  Sandra Cisnerros'  figurative language added spice to the story as well as imagery.  It all helped create a scene in your head.  Lastly, the overall tone and figurative language portrayed a lot in this particular short story and helped readers get engaged.

Beatings After Beatings

Author's Note:  This is a short scene from the Mom's point of view from the book, "A Child Called it."  Besides the fact that she's a major alcoholic, she's also in a unhappy marriage.  Her husband is too weak to stand up for himself and his kid.  The mom believes in beatings, the father doesn't.

"David, get down here!  Time for your punishment!."  I scream.  David comes down the stairs and is forced to go into the bathroom to puke up his crackers that he stole from the grocery store. After he pukes it up, I make him eat it.  I got a phone call from the police saying that he stole crackers from the local grocery store.  I was so ticked off and I didn't know any other way to punish him.  The next day, I get a phone call from David's school.  The principal says that he stole some kids lunch.  I mean, REALLY?!  I know I don't feed him at home, but that does not give him the right to go and steal.   He has been so out of hand lately and all I want to do is beat him!  I know people may say that I act this way because I drink, but it's not my fault that this kid steals and chooses to do stupid things for food.  He also goes through our garbage can to find food.  He's almost in second grade, does he really need to eat every day?  

David is the reason that my husband and I are in a unhappy marriage.  He is always like, "I'm hungry," or "I don't want to eat his diaper."  This one time I was changing David's little brothers diaper, and I tried to make him eat it, but he refused.  Since he didn't do what I said, I beat him.  I don't when he's going to learn to respect me.  Maybe he'll learn to start doing what I say, then his beatings will stop.