"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".