"The Man in the Black Suit" by Stephen King

This story is a homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown". I enjoyed reading the story right after reading the other. They are both about battling "the devil" in the flesh. I enjoyed King's vivid imagination of a story a friend told him about him meeting the devil. I think King portrayed a young, smart boy extremely well. I think I'd act the same way as a child if I saw a man that ate fish raw and had red eyes. The boy was extremely scared but at the same time knew he had to play it smart to stay alive. When the devil told the boy his mother was dead everything changed. He could not believe it but at the same time thought it was true. He ran for all his might. I think the running from the devil is like going getting away from evil and doing good in his life. In young goodman brown it was his wife faith and in this story it was the young child's mother. Once the child actually gets away he runs to his father. I like that his father actually believed him and went back to the place where he met the devil and inspected it. He smelled burnt grass and saw that there was no fish that he caught. The dad actually believed his young son. In the end everything worked out perfectly and gave a little scare to the boy and father that there is evil out there and to have faith.

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

This entire story is about revenge from a man named Montresor to a man named Fortunato. This rivalry is very deep in the eyes of Montresor but Fortunato knows nothing of it. The spanish quote "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold" explains this story perfectly. The amontillado is a sweet type of wine that Montresor used to lure Fortunato in his vaults where he stores his wines. His intentions were to kill him for a deed that is unknown. I feel like the reason Poe doesn't tell us what Fortunato did to him is to keep some of the story mysterious. If the deed was very small we'll believe Fortunato is a crazy murderer but if the deed is extremely abominable we'll think he's a just, punisher of a man. I enjoyed the way Montresor used the man Luchesi as a way to get Fortunato jealous and completely trust him and follow him to the vaults. Montresor was sick in the end by laughing as he was going to bury him in his vaults. He even called his name as he was buried "Fortunato!?". This shows he is a demeted man that needs serious mental help. I enjoyed this story thoroughly.

"The Story Of An Hour" by Kate Chopin

This story was incredibly amusing. I enjoyed the story from the beginning to the end. The main character Mrs. Mallard never really loved her husband and dreaded living a long life with him. When the news broke that her husband was in a trajic train accident, she was exstatic. She exclaimed "Free! Body and soul free!". This was all away dfrom her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards. They were all worried about her health because she's had heart trouble throughout her life. They thought she was going to die of sadness, but how different it was. One of my favorite quotes of the story is "Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to posess her, and she was striving to be at it back with her will, as powerless as her two white slender hands wold have been". This is showing the power struggle of how she feels like she should be sad and depressed but her happiness will not stop from showing. She then whispers "FREE!". I think Mrs. Mallard must've married her husband at a young age and never really had a life of her own. We see this in many muslim countries and also the olden days in Europe. Can you imagine having to serve your parents for 16 years and listening to them strictly, then marrying a man that treats you the same and you don't love? The ending has such an irony when she sees her husband is not dead. She dies of a heart attack. Pretty ironic, but maybe she got what she wanted because after that day I don't think she could be the slightest bit happy.

"Araby" by James Joyce

I thought the language in this story was a little bit confusing. I'm looking forward to discussing it in class to maybe understand it better. I did see it's about a young teenager's obsession over a girl. He is willing to go to any lengths to make her happy and maybe gain her love. She wants to go the bazaar but can't because she has to go with her covenant somewhere. The boy tells the girl he will buy her something even though he is poor and doesn't have the means to by her something nice. He then decides to steal her something or steal money to buy her something nice. At the end of the story the electricity goes off and gives him the perfect chance to steal something from the store he entered previously. I can see this type of thing happening in modern days when a lot of people want to impress their girlfriends or loved ones with fancy things. It seems now a days it's all about giving expensive gifts and out-doing one another. The boy is willing to risk his freedom (jail) to gain a girl's attraction. I enjoyed the story even though the language was very difficult.

*EDIT - I realized that I totally misinterpreted this story. I understood after the class discussion that the kid was not trying to rob the store but instead could not afford anything nice for the young girl. The girl also was trying to get things out of the boy.

"The Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway

I was extremely confused when I first read "The Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway writes in a straight to the point style and it appeals to me. You can appreciate the story's purpose instead of it's intricate dialogue or metaphors that may confuse some people. This story was all about one woman's dreams of a family with her lover but the crushing truth that she's just another woman in her man's life. At first when I read the story, I thought the whole dialogue was about giving away something or trying something for the first time. I thought at the end of reading for the first time that they were going to donate or give away a large sum of money. I thought the money might have been "dirty money" and they just wanted to get rid of it so they can free themselves of this pressure and problem.
After talking to my friend after reading it the same night, he told me that it was about an abortion. It all made sense within a few seconds. I think the fact that they're drinking heavily totally took me away from thinking she could be pregnant. But
when the lady says "I don't care about me, And I'll do it and then everything will be fine" its even more obvious its about an abortion. Also makes sense that back then abortions were very dangerous procedures and women even died from it. It's a pity that the man only sees this woman as his lover and not a possible mother of his children. Even though this story is written a while back, I can see this type of conversation happening with people all the time, especially with young women. I think this story could be helpful to women that are in the same situation and that are deciding whether or whether not they want to get an abortion. It can show them how pressuring men can be from a 3rd person point of view instead of actually being on the receiving end. I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to people, and try to see if they can get what's happening on the first read.

"A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty

I'm not sure what "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty's purpose really is but what I did get out of it is a sense of how it was being an old African American woman in the 1900s. All the people she encountered seemed to treat her like a child that they could just be amused by. Also when she asked the lady in the street to help her tie her shoes, the lady seemed very rude and impatient. I enjoyed reading about a woman so determined to help her grandson get medicine. Phoenix was a good metaphor of how the woman prevailed every time she fell on her way through the forest. When Phoenix was speaking to the nurse, I got the sense that everyone knows her grandson is dead except Phoenix. When you told the class that some people think her grandson is already dead but the old lady can't realize it or come to grip with it, I was very amused because I thought the same when I read the ending.

"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I must say that I did not enjoy reading "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I do respect the story for what it's worth though. I enjoyed many of the metaphors the story created like naming his young wife "faith" and having the old man supposed to represent the devil having a cane that looks like a snake. As I am re-reading the story now to write this response I'm actually admiring the way Hawthore included foreshadowing and hints. Like before Goodman left on his journey he tells his wife "say thy prayers, dear faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee". He's almost showing there will be danger once he leaves. As Goodman was going further and further into the forest with the devil it got darker. This imagery makes it seem with every step he's getting closer to the evil side.
Also I did enjoy that in his "dream" Goodman saw how all of these religious and moral people were actually on the devilish side. These hypocrites kind've made Goodman lose his spirit and faith a little. I feel like this happens all the time in my life when someone can preach certain things to you and then you find out that they actually do the opposite in their own lives. I can understand where Goodman comes with losing faith because of temptation and seeing hypocrites. At the same time because of his encounter with the devil and the evil side Goodman lost hope in his life. The rest of his life was unhappy and gloomy because of his loss of hope. I guess I can see why this might happen when someone loses faith but at the same time I think you need to believe in yourself as well. Maybe if Goodman believed in himself more from the beginning he could've just ran away. I think that's what all my classmates are wondering also.

"The Necklace" by Guy De Maupassant

"The Necklace" by Guy De Maupassant is one of the best short stories I've ever read. The story teaches one main lesson that you should be happy with what you have because you can always have less. Mathilde, one of the main characters, always day dreamed of the finer things in life. She was not poor but more of a higher middle class and even had a maid. Once she has to pay back for her necklaces, she loses all of her own "riches" and has to work hard just like her maid. I thought this story was very amusing and can help people put their own lives into perspective.
A smaller lesson the story teaches it that sometimes something is not always what it seems. When Mathilde borrowed the "diamond" necklace from Mme. Forestier she assumed it was a very expensive diamond necklace. At the end after paying the debt for a replacement she found out that it was a fake. This was so ironic because it shows how even people that look rich have fake and cheap things. I enjoyed this story and refreshed my perspective on my own "riches".