This piece was my greatest challenge because it truly moved me. The story had to do with real life experiences that happens in today's society. Having to watch someone get rapped is horrible but the effects of knowing you could have done something to stop it is more agonizing beyond anything you could ever understand.
“The Curse”
Andre Dubus
English 102
Laura James
September 14, 2006 “The Curse” by Andre Dubus is about feelings of guilt. The story consist of a bartender in his late forties who is a witness of a horrible crime. It begins with the description of the night in question and ends with the bartender wanting to take the victims pain who he calls the curse. Mitchell Hays is the name of the main character in the story. He is a forty-nine year old bartender who married late in life and has two step children. Mitchell worked at a local bar where everybody knew everybody. On this dreadful night it was a slow because of the warm weather and most of the locals were at the beach.
It was a slow night so he decided to start closing up the bar when five guys on loud motorcycles came in. He noticed they were not bikers. He also noticed how strange they acted; like they were on drugs. He gave them what they ordered. Not to long after that a young lady came in to get change. Mitchell gave her the change but before she could get out of the bar the five guys started messing with her. Mitchell went to the phone to call the police but one of the guys pushed him away and blocked him from getting to the phone. Mitchell had to watch them rape her; one by one. After it was all over he called the police and handed the girl her clothes.
When the police finally got there they told him they caught the five guys who raped the girl. The ambulance took the girl to the hospital. All Mitchell could think about was the cheering, the crying, the groaning, the rape. He kept telling himself I could have stopped it. He closed up the bar and went home. When he came into the house it woke his wife up. She asked him if he was okay and he told her no. He told her nothing of that nights events. They both went to bed. Mitchell could not sleep The next morning he heard his wife and step kids in the kitchen. He got up and told them what happened. All he could think about was he should have stopped them. Later on he went to work. Everything went back to normal. The regulars were back. While serving drinks he kept looking at the area where it happened. All he could think about was he should have done something.
The theme of this story is about guilt. Mitchell wanted to help the girl but when he got ruffed up he didn’t try to do anything until it was over. At the end of the story he kept remembering what had happened. “From the floor behind him, far across the room, he felt her pain, and terror, and grief, then her curse upon him. The curse moved into his back and spread down and up his spine, into his stomach and legs and arms and shoulders until he quivered with it. He wished he were alone so he could kneel and receive it.” (Dubus 1)
It seems to me that the curse Mitchell describes is his way of dealing with the trauma of the crime and the guilt of not being able to help her the way he wanted to. I feel this is ironic because you are comparing what Mitchell calls a curse to something that some people feel as a normal part of healing. Everybody deals with traumatic events differently. All of his friends and family seemed really supportive. It really amazes me how people deal with trauma. Some people block it out, others get professional help, yet others just deal with it. Truth be known that rape happens a lot in today’s society. A lot of the time it not reported or there is no witness. Sometimes we need to realize bad things happen to good people and there is nothing you can do about it.
Mr. Dubus describes the characters in the story very well. Not one of them you questioned. He described everything just like if you were there. I thought this story was very creative and moving. The only thing I didn’t like about the story was it kept jumping from past to present. In the beginning I was a little confused because I thought the five guys were raping someone else.
If I could meet the author today I would like to know why he decided to write a story like this. Did something happen in his past or did he witness something? The main character Mitchell seemed like he was someone who was always looking after others( his customers, his family). Did Mr. Dubus know someone like this or did he take something from the headlines from 1988?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Essay 2
This peice will suprise people because it was based on a true story. Into thin Air was a great adventure book. The author of this book was actually there. He worked for a magazine who covered the climb. This story was very tragic because people died due to someone elses carelessness.
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer
English 102
Laura James
October 14, 2005
Into Thin Air has a lot of adventure in it. If you sit down and think about each character in the story as a hero, you can come up with some interesting points. Let’s take a look. We have Scott Fischer who was the leader of Mountain Madness Guided Expedition. I have mixed feelings about him. One of the reasons I feel like this is because he told his Sherpa Ngawang to descend to base camp because of symptoms of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema); the Sherpa did not. Scott Fischer knew the culture, he knew that Ngawang wouldn’t descend because in his culture any Sherpa who openly acknowledges the he has HAPE will be put on a black list and would not be able to work on expeditions. Unfortunately Ngawang died within a week from HAPE. But on the other hand Scott was a strong person who has been to the top of Everest before and has gotten people up there and some would say he was a hero for that, just not me. As far as the dreadful day when Scott lost his life he was not using good judgment that day because of the altitude in which he should have turned around. He was sick with a bug that lays dormant for days and sometimes months, but when he was stressed or tired it showed up. By the time hey got to summit ridge Scott was way behind and very “wasted” looking. To me that should have been a warning sign. Biedleman gathered all of Scott’s clientele and started them down. That was another mistake.
Now let us look at Rob Hall. He was a very successful climber and business man. He was the leader and head guide of Adventure Consultants Guided Expedition. Mr. Hall has climbed many mountains and Everest. It was hard to get sponsors when he was climbing so that is when he decided to start Adventure Consultants. Through out the book Rob seemed like he was looking out for everybody not just his group. He would even go help other climbers who are having trouble climbing between the different camps, even Sherpas. He had big dreams to help people get up and down Everest and other mountains which helps them accomplish there dreams. Rob tried to help people who got stuck on May 10. He too lost his life. Yes I would consider him a hero. He put other’s needs before his own. He enjoyed what he did for a living and tried to bring that joy to others. He was very considerate and knowledgeable; if it wasn’t for him many more people would have lost their lives during this expedition not just on May 10.
Jon Krakauer is a journalist from Outside magazine. He was to do an article on the expedition. Mr. Krakauer was very experienced in mountain climbing but has not done Everest. One thing that bothered me was that when other groups where climbing he noticed they were not very experienced or knew how to operated equipment. I think he should have said something or tried to teach them while they were going up and down the mountain between base camp and camp one. Not only is it high elevation and cold but you are climbing a mountain with ice. If the guides wasn’t around then they probably wasn’t going to be around when they get high up. But for the most part, I consider Mr. Krakauer a hero. He helped when he could especially people in his own team. He is very knowledgeable about climbing and he knew how to get the people he was with to open up. He tried to help on that dreadful day but he was too exhausted from climbing down in a freezing snow blizzard. I felt he was there to record what happened. Of course this is his book. I feel like Mr. Krakauer is a hero because he was able to let family members and friends along with the general public know what happened and why some of them did not come home. This was a very tragic story and he brought it to life. I can not say he lied or understand exactly why so many people were sour with him because I have not read any other pieces about this. To me he told what he saw and the events that happened. It takes someone very courages to do this. He had to face the deceased family, the press, critics, not to mention questioning
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer
English 102
Laura James
October 14, 2005
Into Thin Air has a lot of adventure in it. If you sit down and think about each character in the story as a hero, you can come up with some interesting points. Let’s take a look. We have Scott Fischer who was the leader of Mountain Madness Guided Expedition. I have mixed feelings about him. One of the reasons I feel like this is because he told his Sherpa Ngawang to descend to base camp because of symptoms of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema); the Sherpa did not. Scott Fischer knew the culture, he knew that Ngawang wouldn’t descend because in his culture any Sherpa who openly acknowledges the he has HAPE will be put on a black list and would not be able to work on expeditions. Unfortunately Ngawang died within a week from HAPE. But on the other hand Scott was a strong person who has been to the top of Everest before and has gotten people up there and some would say he was a hero for that, just not me. As far as the dreadful day when Scott lost his life he was not using good judgment that day because of the altitude in which he should have turned around. He was sick with a bug that lays dormant for days and sometimes months, but when he was stressed or tired it showed up. By the time hey got to summit ridge Scott was way behind and very “wasted” looking. To me that should have been a warning sign. Biedleman gathered all of Scott’s clientele and started them down. That was another mistake.
Now let us look at Rob Hall. He was a very successful climber and business man. He was the leader and head guide of Adventure Consultants Guided Expedition. Mr. Hall has climbed many mountains and Everest. It was hard to get sponsors when he was climbing so that is when he decided to start Adventure Consultants. Through out the book Rob seemed like he was looking out for everybody not just his group. He would even go help other climbers who are having trouble climbing between the different camps, even Sherpas. He had big dreams to help people get up and down Everest and other mountains which helps them accomplish there dreams. Rob tried to help people who got stuck on May 10. He too lost his life. Yes I would consider him a hero. He put other’s needs before his own. He enjoyed what he did for a living and tried to bring that joy to others. He was very considerate and knowledgeable; if it wasn’t for him many more people would have lost their lives during this expedition not just on May 10.
Jon Krakauer is a journalist from Outside magazine. He was to do an article on the expedition. Mr. Krakauer was very experienced in mountain climbing but has not done Everest. One thing that bothered me was that when other groups where climbing he noticed they were not very experienced or knew how to operated equipment. I think he should have said something or tried to teach them while they were going up and down the mountain between base camp and camp one. Not only is it high elevation and cold but you are climbing a mountain with ice. If the guides wasn’t around then they probably wasn’t going to be around when they get high up. But for the most part, I consider Mr. Krakauer a hero. He helped when he could especially people in his own team. He is very knowledgeable about climbing and he knew how to get the people he was with to open up. He tried to help on that dreadful day but he was too exhausted from climbing down in a freezing snow blizzard. I felt he was there to record what happened. Of course this is his book. I feel like Mr. Krakauer is a hero because he was able to let family members and friends along with the general public know what happened and why some of them did not come home. This was a very tragic story and he brought it to life. I can not say he lied or understand exactly why so many people were sour with him because I have not read any other pieces about this. To me he told what he saw and the events that happened. It takes someone very courages to do this. He had to face the deceased family, the press, critics, not to mention questioning
Essay 3
If I could do this piece over again I would defintely spend more time on getting help with the issues I was having with understanding Hamlet. My paper would have been better if I was able to grasp the concept of Hamlet. Unable to grasp the concept of this play my paper suffered greatly. Comprehension played a key role in writing this paper.
Laura James
[
Hamlet
November 11, 2006
Literary analysis 3
I am argueing that the ghost in Hamlet is really Hamlet’s father. The ghost appears in and out of the play. He comes at some of the most intense times. He comes just to let them know he is there; most of the time not saying a word. All that have seen him say he looks like the dead king. The first king was Hamlet ‘s father . He was married to Gertrude and they were the King and Queen of Denmark. The king’s brother was Claudius. He killed his brother to become king and marry Gertrude. Hamlet was very upset about the whole ordeal.
The ghost first appeared in Act 1 Scene 1 when Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio are talking about the king’s death. Horatio starts to talk to it but it will not respond and it goes on through out the play until scene 4 when Hamlet and the ghost actually start to talk. It actually states “I am thy Father’s spirit”. The ghost of the king gives Hamlet advise and tries to lead him and persuaded him to murder the new king but the new king gets suspicious and eventually has Hamlet murdered.
Hamlet and other members of the court do the play of Julius Ceaser. I thought that was really weird, but it makes sense because of the plot to kill Ceaser it was almost like real life concerning his father. From my understanding Hamlet conducted his own investigation about who killed his father. He had a burn to find out who killed his father. He turned his back on his friends, family, and love of his life because he could not trust anybody. He had many fights along the way and I feel like his father was trying to warn him. His uncle Claudius (who was now the king) was going to kill Hamlet in the end.
This is the general plot of the play. In the end Hamlet has a sword fight with Laer (who is Hamlet’s cousin). During the fight his mother drinks out of poisonous cup and dies. Right after that Laer gives the final blow and slays Hamlet. This play is very tragic. Not only did a country loose its royal family but a whole family is slain by other members of it’s family. This play had a lot of irony in it. The ghost of the old king as I said before comes in and out of the play trying to get Hamlet to kill Claudius and revenge his death. This whole ordeal I think played a big role in Hamlet’s sanity. Near the end I feel like he was on his way to being crazy but of course who wouldn’t. Hamlet has lost his whole family near the end of the end of the play maybe he let Laer kill him to put him out of his misery. As it turned out the ghost in the play is the old king who was slain which in deed was Hamlet’s father. As the old saying goes with friends (or family) like these who needs enemies. To the next dynasty.
Works citied
The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 1.
Laura James
[
Hamlet
November 11, 2006
Literary analysis 3
I am argueing that the ghost in Hamlet is really Hamlet’s father. The ghost appears in and out of the play. He comes at some of the most intense times. He comes just to let them know he is there; most of the time not saying a word. All that have seen him say he looks like the dead king. The first king was Hamlet ‘s father . He was married to Gertrude and they were the King and Queen of Denmark. The king’s brother was Claudius. He killed his brother to become king and marry Gertrude. Hamlet was very upset about the whole ordeal.
The ghost first appeared in Act 1 Scene 1 when Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio are talking about the king’s death. Horatio starts to talk to it but it will not respond and it goes on through out the play until scene 4 when Hamlet and the ghost actually start to talk. It actually states “I am thy Father’s spirit”. The ghost of the king gives Hamlet advise and tries to lead him and persuaded him to murder the new king but the new king gets suspicious and eventually has Hamlet murdered.
Hamlet and other members of the court do the play of Julius Ceaser. I thought that was really weird, but it makes sense because of the plot to kill Ceaser it was almost like real life concerning his father. From my understanding Hamlet conducted his own investigation about who killed his father. He had a burn to find out who killed his father. He turned his back on his friends, family, and love of his life because he could not trust anybody. He had many fights along the way and I feel like his father was trying to warn him. His uncle Claudius (who was now the king) was going to kill Hamlet in the end.
This is the general plot of the play. In the end Hamlet has a sword fight with Laer (who is Hamlet’s cousin). During the fight his mother drinks out of poisonous cup and dies. Right after that Laer gives the final blow and slays Hamlet. This play is very tragic. Not only did a country loose its royal family but a whole family is slain by other members of it’s family. This play had a lot of irony in it. The ghost of the old king as I said before comes in and out of the play trying to get Hamlet to kill Claudius and revenge his death. This whole ordeal I think played a big role in Hamlet’s sanity. Near the end I feel like he was on his way to being crazy but of course who wouldn’t. Hamlet has lost his whole family near the end of the end of the play maybe he let Laer kill him to put him out of his misery. As it turned out the ghost in the play is the old king who was slain which in deed was Hamlet’s father. As the old saying goes with friends (or family) like these who needs enemies. To the next dynasty.
Works citied
The play Hamlet by William Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 1.
Essay 4
This piece was my best work because I got a good grade on it. I thought I was going to do bad because I hade to evaluate each line of a poem. My comprehension skills are not the same as my teacher's. I felt really good about this assignment but I could not write a 700 word essay about a poem.
Laura James
Evelyn Beck
English 102
2 December 2006
Conjoined: An Unhappy Marriage
“Conjoined” by Judith Minty is a blank verse poem which uses a lot of metaphors that describe a broken relationship. It tells how the writer is unhappy and to leave would tear the other apart. The poem gives you a feeling of despair and general unhappiness.
The first few lines puts into play how the writer feels about the other. “The onion in my cupboard, a monster actually two joined under one transparent skin: each half-round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew against the other” (lines 1 thru 4). I see the onion as a personification of the couple and as their relationship is growing it becomes flat and deformed because she feels smothered. Because of this she is calling her relationship a monster. The skin on the onion is the marriage. At one time the two bodies were separate and when married they conjoined. As their relationship grew things started to go bad or she seemed that it has. I see the personalities of the two trying to come together but there is no resolution so it gets ugly like a monster.
The poem also uses the metaphor, “An accident like the two-headed calf rooted in one body; fighting to suck its mother’s teats;”(lines 5 thru 6). I see a lot of fighting or arguing. It states an accident like the relationship should have never happened. “Or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years”(lines 7 thru 9). The skin and muscle is to Chang and Eng like the onion skin is to the author’s relationship.
“Do you feel the skin that binds us together as we move, heavy in this house?”(lines 10 and 11). This tells of the mood of the environment. There is tension in the house which describes the skin in this case. It is stuffy and tight. No room for air. I feel she is trying to tell us she is smothered in the relationship. He gives her no room to be herself. Maybe he expects her to be a certain way and she can not be who she truly is and this is how she feels about it. She doesn’t come right out and tell her partner how she feels but shows signs.
“To sever the muscle could fee one, but might kill the other”(lines 12 and 13). This clearly states she wants out of the relationship, but it could deeply hurt the other. At first I thought they were both miserable but now it seems just one wants out but is scared about how it would affect the other. It might not kill the person literally but may kill their soul especially if they truly don’t know how the person who is distraught feels. They may think everything in the relationship is fine. A good reason why communication is very important in any kind of relationship.
In the last part of the poem it states, “Ah, but men don’t slice onions in the kitchen, seldom see what is invisible. We cannot escape each other.”(lines 13 thru 15). You can take that a lot of ways. One way is when you peel or slice onions you cry because of the order burns your eyes. He might take the crying as just the onions. But on the other hand I think that she uses the onions as a cover up to help release her frustrations of the relationship. The cannot leave one another by divorce, separation, or etc. Because of this she seems bound for life. One thing this poem points out in my opinion is how important communication is in any relationship as I stated before. Whether the information is good or bad the other needs to know even if it is just about feelings. Minty, Judith. “Conjoined.” pg 810 in “Literature and Introduction to Reading and Writing.” Eighth Edition. Roberts, Edgar V. and Jacobs, Henry E. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 2007-1986
Laura James
Evelyn Beck
English 102
2 December 2006
Conjoined: An Unhappy Marriage
“Conjoined” by Judith Minty is a blank verse poem which uses a lot of metaphors that describe a broken relationship. It tells how the writer is unhappy and to leave would tear the other apart. The poem gives you a feeling of despair and general unhappiness.
The first few lines puts into play how the writer feels about the other. “The onion in my cupboard, a monster actually two joined under one transparent skin: each half-round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew against the other” (lines 1 thru 4). I see the onion as a personification of the couple and as their relationship is growing it becomes flat and deformed because she feels smothered. Because of this she is calling her relationship a monster. The skin on the onion is the marriage. At one time the two bodies were separate and when married they conjoined. As their relationship grew things started to go bad or she seemed that it has. I see the personalities of the two trying to come together but there is no resolution so it gets ugly like a monster.
The poem also uses the metaphor, “An accident like the two-headed calf rooted in one body; fighting to suck its mother’s teats;”(lines 5 thru 6). I see a lot of fighting or arguing. It states an accident like the relationship should have never happened. “Or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years”(lines 7 thru 9). The skin and muscle is to Chang and Eng like the onion skin is to the author’s relationship.
“Do you feel the skin that binds us together as we move, heavy in this house?”(lines 10 and 11). This tells of the mood of the environment. There is tension in the house which describes the skin in this case. It is stuffy and tight. No room for air. I feel she is trying to tell us she is smothered in the relationship. He gives her no room to be herself. Maybe he expects her to be a certain way and she can not be who she truly is and this is how she feels about it. She doesn’t come right out and tell her partner how she feels but shows signs.
“To sever the muscle could fee one, but might kill the other”(lines 12 and 13). This clearly states she wants out of the relationship, but it could deeply hurt the other. At first I thought they were both miserable but now it seems just one wants out but is scared about how it would affect the other. It might not kill the person literally but may kill their soul especially if they truly don’t know how the person who is distraught feels. They may think everything in the relationship is fine. A good reason why communication is very important in any kind of relationship.
In the last part of the poem it states, “Ah, but men don’t slice onions in the kitchen, seldom see what is invisible. We cannot escape each other.”(lines 13 thru 15). You can take that a lot of ways. One way is when you peel or slice onions you cry because of the order burns your eyes. He might take the crying as just the onions. But on the other hand I think that she uses the onions as a cover up to help release her frustrations of the relationship. The cannot leave one another by divorce, separation, or etc. Because of this she seems bound for life. One thing this poem points out in my opinion is how important communication is in any relationship as I stated before. Whether the information is good or bad the other needs to know even if it is just about feelings. Minty, Judith. “Conjoined.” pg 810 in “Literature and Introduction to Reading and Writing.” Eighth Edition. Roberts, Edgar V. and Jacobs, Henry E. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 2007-1986
My strengths and weakness in writing
I have learned a lot about my strengths and weakness. At one time I considered myself an average writer. In English 101 I got good grades but English 102 is a different story. I think the one main thing is I have forgotten how to write. I am often questioning myself if I did something correctly. To be honest I have to ask my nieces who just graduated and one who is a senior about certain things. So I consider my biggest weakness is lack of use. It has been 11 years since I graduated high school. If you don't use it you loose it. My strengths. I have to say my strength is my ability to strive. If I do bad I try to better. I have every intention of getting through this class. If I carry anything away with me when I leave this class it is a better understanding of literature and enough knowledge to help my children when they reach these certain areas in school. Literary analysis can be very difficult to understand. Comprehension is very important in this area. There are still somethings that we have read that I still don't know where the teacher is coming from and I blame that on my hard-headedness. I have learned a lot this semester. To conclude I see my weakness on lack of usage and hard-headedness. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks sometimes or at least it takes time. My strengths is simply my eagerness to learn and not give up.
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