“The Lesson” Review

White folks crazy. Indeed, someone who would pay $1,195 for a little toy sailboat must be nuts, especially in 1972 money. But there is a reason why that sailboat is for sale. It is there because somebody will probably buy it. And this was Miss Moore’s lesson to the kids from a poor neighborhood. She was convinced that income was distributed improperly and that it should be probably redistributed properly, which is to say, more equally. The kids don’t really get her point, except for Sugar, who seems the only who gets what “equal piece of the pie” means. FAO Schwartz is a real store that was established in 1862 that specializes in exclusive toys. It still exists. However, today its most expensive toy is $299 for a large teddy bear. It looks like things have changed, after all. 

A&P: Review

John Updike’s A&P reminds of a very modern-day story of one hero refusing to be a corporate slave. Sammy, the main character and the narrator, is working the cash register, seemingly minding his own business. So does the 22-year-old Stokesie, a married guy with two kids. When four beauties shuffle into the store in bathing suits, the young salespeople’s lives brighten up. They both realize that they live lives of quiet desperation in that store, following orders from dull and boorish people, serving crowds of “sheep,” and getting an occasional “witch” who watches the cash register’s every ring. So, when Lengel scolds the young ladies for coming in in their bathing suits, that is about enough for Sammy. He seems like he had been contemplating quitting anyway, and this incident was just the last straw, because the decision comes very easy and quickly to him. When he goes out into the parking lot, he can see no girls, because they are gone. Of course, he hopes they would be there. But there is only a married couple with noisy kids. However, Sammy does not regret his decision. He simply feels that he has gone against the whole world, because he says, “and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” This is a story of a kid who has the guts to go against corporate slavery but does not know yet that it is perfectly all right to do so, even in 1961, when the story was written.

"A Worn Path": Review

​Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path” is a heartwarming but dramatic story of a rather old African-American lady named Phoenix Jackson who is on a journey from her hometown to Natchez, where she receives a medicine for her grandson twice every year. Welty masterfully dramatizes the journey, the description of which takes up about ninety percent of the narrative. Phoenix encounters many obstacles on the way, such as a ravine, a corn field that seems to her like a maze because of her failing eyesight, wild animals, and even a young white hunter who points his gun at her. But she is unafraid, truly an example of a human being triumphant over her circumstances. She talks to all the inanimate obstacles as if they were alive, befriending them yet warning them that she is unafraid. All throughout the journey the reader is kept in suspense about the outcome and fears the worst, especially when the young hunter essentially threatens her life. The story might be set in the time of Lynchings, and it is unclear if that danger hangs over Phoenix. Therefore, the reader is greatly relieved to find that Phoenix not only succeeds in reaching the destination but manages to earn a whole dime in the process to buy her grandson a pinwheel. This is a story of a great will of an incredible human being on a quest.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find: Review

​“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor is a chilling tale of a cold-blooded murder of a family. A good, old-fashioned, traditional American family sets out on a trip to Florida when it comes across the Misfit - an escaped convict. He appears with two younger men, all of them carrying guns. After exchanging some dialogue, the younger men take the family members into the woods to shoot them, and the Misfit shoots the grandmother three times in the chest. This all reads like a completely senseless event with cruelty and coldness of blood that seems to have no purpose. And it is true - sometimes no purpose exists for the evil that people commit. This makes up the main theme of the story: “Evil does not have to have a reason. It just happens.” It is possible to argue that the Misfit might not have killed the family if the grandmother had not recognized him. However, it sure looks like he would have done it anyway. The three men came out with guns, approached the family, and began ordering them around - all before the grandmother recognized the Misfit and gave away the recognition. Misfit’s last words about the old lady show that he hated her from the first moment. Her good nature angered him. So he shot her three times in the chest. No need for a motive. Senseless evil simply exists, roams about, and will kill without pleasure or guilt.

A Hungry Artist

​Franz Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist” is a very strange story about a man whose profession it was (or seemed to be) to simply starve. He was a sort of a freak in a freak show. He had an impresario, traveled all over Europe, and seemed to have a stable career. However, with time the attraction of starving faded away, and the man died in obscurity. Since the whole thriller value of the story hinges on the fact that the hunger artist really did not want to eat because he simply could not find a food he liked, it is very strange that he suffered because of the lack of recognition and appreciation. In reality, if not for his impresario, who forced food on the artist when 40 days were out, he would probably have died a long time ago. And yet, the artist craved recognition for being a professional starver. Perhaps Kafka’s point was that even the most pitiful man has vanity and will be miserable if he is not recognized for something. But there really was no accomplishment in the artist’s starvation. It was his normal way of life. In which case, the only explanation is that the hunger artist was proud of his natural aversion to food just like a beautiful woman would be proud of her natural beauty.

“Young Goodman Brown” Review

​Nathaniel Hawthorne dreamed up quite a story in Young Goodman Brown. The story, it seems, is written in dated language even for the author’s time. The aim was probably to evoke religious feeling by using very biblical language, that of King James. The story begins as if it would contain no elements of the supernatural. But it is an allegory. The main hero is a “good man,” and his wife - his “faith.” Can a good man lose his faith? He sure can, as all those saints-turned-devil-worshippers can attest. Can a man lose the dearest that he has - his love and his trust in God? Well, the moral of the story seems to be that if a man consciously considers signing a pact with a devil and goes past half-way to accomplish the deal, he is lost. Goodman Brown only sees his wife Faith in the forest after encountering numerous signs that he should turn back before it is too late. But about half-way through it becomes too late. Even though he never signs the deal or bows to the devil, he has gone too far, and there is no salvation for him, at least in his own conscience. He must perish spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

The Purloined Letter: Review

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” offers a glimpse into the mind of a brilliant

man. Or does it? It can be a tedious read at times while the narrator, the narcissistic private

detective, ventures to explain every single bit of thinking that went on in his head as he was

figuring out the mystery of the letter’s location. It seems like he must use every bit of

information that he has ever learned from kindergarten to the higher education to not only solve

the mystery and procure the letter but also to tell the story in detail. Yes, the story is interesting.

But its quality lies not so much in the substance of the intellectual discourse (which, most likely,

belongs in a scientific report), but in the solving of the mystery itself. In other words, if not for

human curiosity, this short story might have had difficult time finding readership.

The Use of Force: Reviews

​The story “The Use of Force” by Williams is a bit strange. After all, it is about a doctor, and what doctors do is they help people, they cure them. And this doctor is no different in that respect. In fact, he has enough knowledge and experience to know what the danger is and how to get a child to cooperate, which he does. If the child does not open her mouth and let the doctor examine her throat, she could die from diphtheria. The doctor knows what to do and does it to his best ability. However, when the little girl resists, the doctor’s primal side overpowers him. When the girl refuses to open her mouth under any circumstances, it comes time for a more involved solution. However, the doctor mentions that he did not have to resort to violence: “Perhaps I should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would have been better.” And then he adds, “But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it.” Now, first, he compares himself to the child by using the phrase “I too had got beyond reason.” The key word here is “too.” This grown man is no longer acting like an adult. Could it be that the child in the doctor sprang to life and engaged in a sort of a game children play when they can be quite violent, senseless, and cruel? Second, he enjoys it. How very human and primal at the same time. The doctor confesses further: “And all these things are true. But a blind fury, a feeling of adult shame, bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to the end.” What is “longing for muscular release” here? The fight-or-flight reaction is probably described. This is an example of primal behavior in the highly evolved species. In the end, the girl’s true condition is discovered, but only at the price of reducing a grown adult male to a little aggressive boy.

“Hills Like White Elephants”: Review

Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is a story about a dying love. Or, possibly about a love that has died. What makes this story great is the realization it gives the reader upon close reading (if done multiple times). This realization is that communication between men and women (and probably between all humans regardless of sex) happens on more than one level. Words only exist on the surface. The deeper, real meaning is hidden beneath the simple words. That’s why it is possible to claim that one character does not necessarily love another even when he says he does. Take, for example, the following exchange:

"It tastes like licorice," the girl said and put the glass down.

     "That's the way with everything."

     "Yes," said the girl. "Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe."

     "Oh, cut it out."

These people are discussing drinks, seemingly. But they are really discussing life, especially their lives. So much is said here without resorting to real accusations. In fact, the accusation put in the metaphorical form, they way the main heroine does here, hurts the man even more. Why? Precisely because of its ambiguity, but also because a complaint expressed this way sounds much more global, more sinister, more hurtful. The man says that “everything” tastes like licorice. This is a very global statement. It sounds not only like a disappointment in some specific event, but disappointment with life itself. And, in addition, the woman is to blame because, otherwise, why say something like that in such a tone? The woman answers the attack by putting the blame on the man, the blame for unfulfilled expectations. Thus, we see two people speaking not in riddles, but in metaphorical language in order to hurt each other without direct confrontation. Probably without realizing the seriousness of what they are doing, they are actually engaging in rather aggressive behavior. This love story is over.

The Yellow Wallpaper: Review

Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is a story of the main heroine’s gradual descent into insanity. However, this story is not simply a psychological commentary or an attempt to figure out or describe the anatomy of going mad. This is rather a study of human relationships, especially the spousal, during the times when women depended on their husbands for their livelihood. In fact, the main theme of the story is probably entrapment. Jane is stuck in her husband’s reality the way that imaginary woman is stuck in between layers of pattern within the wallpaper. Jane tries to break out, but she does not have the physical or emotional power to do so. Her entrapment is not obvious at the first glance, because she and her husband seem to have a loving relationship. He is always trying to prevent her from succumbing to her unhealthy urges. And she is always agreeable in order not to upset him or feel guilty about being a nagging wife of a sort. In reality, he is quite obstinate and blind to the deterioration of his wife’s mental and emotional states. And she simply does not have enough mental or emotional stamina to stand up for herself. Besides, she must always fight the guilt of being an ingrate. And it looks like she has postpartum depression. It would be helpful to look deeper into the relationship and pretty much all of the dialogue between the spouses to see that the wallpaper really is not the culprit. The husband’s lack of understanding and the unwillingness to hear out and take her seriously finally take Jane’s sanity. She is another victim of marriage, much like the main heroine in “The Story of an Hour.”

Response to Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour"

Mrs. Mallard, the main heroine of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is an example of why the feminists’ movement was necessary and eventually took off. The obvious point - the fact that Mrs. Mallard is miserable in her marriage - becomes painfully clear when she whispers the words “free, free, free.” An intense feeling of relief comes over her and she begins to muse about the future, picturing herself enjoying life for herself. One subtle aspect of the story is the way Mrs. Mallard must fight shame and guilt in order to enjoy this feeling of relief. When Chopin writes that “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully,” she wants to convey how hard it is for this woman to be honest with herself about her feelings. True, her husband was not an evil man - there is no evidence of that in the story. But it is a huge burden to live with a person you don’t love. The heroine must fight her guilt and shame to finally arrive at the exalting “free, free, free!”

Another subtle aspect of this event is the way Mrs. Mallard is treated by the others in the house. Everyone seems totally clueless as to her possible true feelings. People seem to be completely oblivious to the emotional realities of marriage without love. Otherwise why would they fear for her health: “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.” This frantic behavior points to an obvious fact that these people are so clueless as to Louise’s daily reality that they fear she might kill herself. Such were the times, and such was the position of woman in society - she cannot possibly not love her husband or be sick when he is gone. The story is sad because Mrs. Mallard dies. But it seems it would have been sadder if she had survived.