Boring Week, Blog #2

It is the second blog and there really is not much to talk about. We pretty much have only had once class because Monday was honestly a waste of time and then we did not have class on Wednesday due to the snow. I would have rather attended class on Monday then do what we did. I know how to use the library and for those who do not, they could go on a little self-adventure for themselves and discover the library. I also enjoyed the story that we had to read for that day also and was pretty upset that we did not have the chance to discuss it. The Chrysanthemums was so much better than the other stories that we had to read this week. I actually understood it. The flower was a symbol of the main character because they are both strong and when you step back and look at them, they are both beautiful. She was sexually frustrated, obviously, because she was going after the tinker guy while her husband was off. But overall, the story was not that bad to read. The other two stories, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” and “Good Country People,” were awful, to say the least. They were extremely boring and I really do not know what even happened in the stories. The only thing I got from the “Converge” story was that a racist, white woman got punched in the face by a big, black woman and then keeled over. I really did not get anything from “Good Country People”. It was rather confusing. Hopefully the discussion today helps out with that. I really hope that next week’s stories do no suck like these did.

**this blog post is pretty irrelevant because I read two of the wrong stories...oops! At least I read! 

Blog Post #1: Week 2

Well, I suppose it is time to begin. Syllabus week is over and now the hard work is starting and the reality of spring semester is setting in. We have already read a few short stories in English and they all were rather unconventional to say the least. Being in a new class with almost all new faces does not really help the discussions of these short stories when they are already difficult to analyze in the beginning but that is expected in most situations like ours.

To begin, I guess I will discuss the first short story we had to read for class. This poor woman just wants to become a writer and tries to enlighten her readers on how to do the same. However, we learn nothing and she still has no sense of plot just as in all of the rest of her stories. The only thing that I really gathered from this story is that she is struggling to find herself and what she wants to do with the rest of her life. I guess most college students could relate to this because college is usually the time where you find out what you want in life and begin the process of striving to achieve it.

The second short story really made no sense to me because the time frames of the story were all over the place and it kind of confused me. The title just made the story all the more confusing. The class discussion made everything a little easier to understand though. After that I guess I can see how the story is a big allusion to race and them trying to work together as one but it is just not in my top favorite short stories.

The latest of the short stories was one that I had read last year in eleventh grade. The Yellow Wallpaper is full of confusion, if I do say so myself. I feel like I have the most to say about this short story because I have read it before and have analyzed it to death. I feel that the whole woman in the wallpaper thing is an allusion to her being trapped inside herself because she is being forced to do things she does not want to do and becomes trapped in her own imagination. The discussion could have been better but I feel like the activity we did helped us understand the story a little more.

Overall, it was a great first week. Hopefully, the stories become a little easier to understand but I guess that is just a part of the joyous ride of English 102.