You're Ugly Too

You're Ugly Too, a short story by Lorrie Moore, initially was one where I tried to understand the motives and background experiences of Zooey to understand her cynicism for denying the enjoyment of love or partnership. Once learning of her sister who constantly talks of her new fiance' and her spoiled new life with husband-to-be, I understood more why Zooey might be fed up with hearing of love, especially since her sister forces upon her meeting new guys and possible future suitors. However, I believe surprisingly her sister does her a favor because the relationship between Zooey and Earl starts to get somewhere after they really get talking, but as I should have guessed, even when things go smoothly, Zooey denies herself the opportunity to love and ends it with Ear; immediately. However, this is not in the least bit surprising considering underlying text which somewhat foreshadowed this would be the case. When Evan first brought up Earl on the phone while talking to Zooey, Zooey's response to the two of them meeting was: "I just want to come, wear my bonehead, visit with Charlie's tropical fish, ask you about your food shoots,"(Moore,358). This shows Zooey being completely disinterested in the idea of meeting a man, and more interesting in being uninteresting and staring at fish though a glass tank. Once getting to the party, Zooey groans when her sister urges her yet again to meet Earl. Zooey's stubbornness suggests she probably won't get much into the relationship with Earl, considering it is all forced, and she cares nothing for introducing herself to him. Aggravating that Zooey cannot let herself be proved wrong that love may actually work out for her someday if she let it.

Getting Out

Cleopatra Mathis' poem titled: Getting Out explores the toll divorce can have on a couple, in this case, who find it hard to truly leave one another and still have underlying love always for the other. The author embeds similes into the text to describe the nature of the couple while still undergoing the divorce process. "Walking like inmates,"(Mathis,896) suggests the speaker feels confined and imprisoned. Also, this suggests that the speaker may perhaps feel lost and troubled, dealing for the first time experience of each of them leaving the other they love. The bittersweet nature of the poem and word choice give the idea and set the tone of the speaker as being slightly regretful or melancholy over the divorce, which is strange considering most divorces are an intentional act to get away and end things with the spouse. The word usage like: "We held on tight,"(Mathis,896) show the author's hesitance to let go of the one they still love. Also, when the speaker mentions still seeing her spouse among the faces of other men, reveal he is still on her mind and that she still thinks of him often, even though it has been established that they reside on different ends of the map. Overall, as a reader, I sympathised with the couple's situation, wanting them to stay together instead of having to face the pains of being apart.

Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver is a short story which tone is established upon the small description of setting at the beginning of the work. The description of the dreadfulness of winter mixed with the word choice: "Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too,"(Carver,354) suggests that the "darkness" being expressed inside the house is referring to some difficult or terrible event. Turns out, the dispute between a leaving husband and his wife over the custody of the small child escalates into a huge fight and establishes the tense tone of the work. The continual snatching, pulling, and rough tugging of the child make me wonder how fit these people are as parents at all, either one of them. Their harsh and immature handling of the situation by pulling on the child come across as inhumane treatment, as well as their foul language: "Son of a bitch! I'm so glad you're leaving,"(Carver,354)! The home sounds like a stressful and terrible environment to raise a child, and the eventual fate of the baby, brought on by the parents' poor handling of the situation is quite depressing. The entire conflict which leads up to it is irritating, seeing that the couple each acts as if they love the child for wanting it, but show no real love in the way they treat the baby. Overall, this story was alarming and disturbing to see such a torn apart family.

The Story Of An Hour

The Story Of An Hour by Kate Chopin was both heartless and surprising following main charcter Mrs. Mallard's feelings for her supposedly dead husband. Initially, rhetorical devices that the author used within the text, most notably similes, at first signified to me a false belief that Mrs. Mallard was in fact troubled and deeply grieved by her husband's death. "..A sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in it's dreams,"(Chopin,326). This led me to think that upon hearing the awful news of Brently's death, Mrs. Mallard did feel compelled to sob and distress, throwing herself on the chair. How quick a change in mood before she is struck with the thought of actually being free from her husband, and to live selfishly without his control. "..She would live for herself..'Free! Body and soul free,'"(Chopin,326). More similes are used, this time to express her happiness and relief for being without her husband's restraint. Mrs. Mallard is described as, "..carrying herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory,"(Chopin,327). This furthers the idea that Mrs. Mallard sees victory in her husband's death and complete freedom in being widowed and alone. She is almost floating with the thought of being free from his control, as if she has just conquered something magnificent. Turns out, she spoke to soon and got her hopes up because shockingly, there Brently Mallard stands in the doorway, appearing to her as if he just arose from the dead. I believe truly the shock of the whole incidence and Mrs. Mallard's heartless killed her.

Eveline

Eveline by James Joyce, a short story which inflicted sympathy upon me as a reader, first for Eveline's sad situation with her upsetting father, the death of her mother and brother, and the urge to leave her longtime home, but the near impossibility of doing so. So, when she has an opportunity to sneak away and live happily with a man who appreciates her, I found myself happy for her sudden fortune and willed she would take it. Eveline could start a new life for herself, and even though her mother's wish was that she watch over the house, I don't believe her mother would blame Evvy for wanting to get out. The author uses situational irony to set up the story as if Evvy will escape to happiness considering her current depressed state, and then at the near close of the story, shocks readers by instilling in Evvy the sudden fear of abandoning a life she feels tied to. For this reason and for her hesitance,  I also felt disappointed for both Evvy and the man Frank who just wanted to save her from it all. I feel as though her obligations to her home, placed on her by her mother and family, has gotten to her head to where she feels she must always stay faithful to her longtime duties. "..To remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could,"(Joyce,221). This burdening bindment and promise keep her from living for herself and living happily. I believe all in all Evvy is a victim of a longtime fate which she cannot control, or at least she doesn't know that she can deny her duties because she has been long used to them.

Lonely Hearts

The poem Lonely Hearts by Wendy Cope is structured in a way that uses alternating repetition every other line, and asks questions, imploring for a lover to fill each person's desires and expectations. "Do you live in North London...Is it You,"(Cope,973)? "Can someone make my simple wish come true,"(Cope,973)? Each stanza reveals the pleading, anxious, and begging tone of each person in their pursuit of love. All of the people writing each advertisement all have the commonality that they are impatient when it comes to love, find their wish plain and simple, and wonder if someone is out there to fulfill what they seek. The structure shows the similarities between each, and the day dreaming nature. The title of the poem describes each person as lonely which is proved in each's desperate attempt for searching for companionship. In one stanza in particular, the person acknowledges and admits their lack of companions: "..whose friends are few,"(Cope,973)." Overall, the entire poem made me feel sympathetic for all of the hopeful people who can't find who they are looking for.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

I interpreted the poem A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne as being about those who give up on life when love leaves them, and those who breathe still in assurance that love will find them again. For example, "While some of their sad friends do say, the breath goes now, and some say, no,"(Donne,801). The speaker bids those to not despair, bad things do fall upon us in our lives', but love is far more outlasting than pain. "No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move...moving of the earth brings harms and fears,"(Donne,802). The speaker then goes on to address the hardships or road blocks of love, like distance or absence, though it may take away what excites and fascinates love, love can withstand if desired. Two people can be unified under one love, which I believe is the meaning conveyed especially through the use of similes. "If they be two, they are two so as stiff twin compasses are two,"(Donne,802). The poem starts out showing hesitance to love, reasons for denying it, and then explores the beauty of love's unification and both lovers following each other wherever the other may go.

How I Met My Husband

Upon reading the short story How I Met My Husband  by Alice Munro, I took notice of the importance of minor characters in the story and their role in driving plot, suggesting what is to come, and their furthering of the meaning of the work as a whole. Characters such as Loretta Bird who first comment on Chris Watter's arrival, disapproving of him a stranger, leads Edie to fear Mrs. Bird's disapproval if she ever found out of Edie's relationship with Chris. Edie, having never before lead any curiosity or secretiveness from the Peebles', keeps everything on the down low which ends up making matters worse when she is found out. Also, Mrs. Peebles, a foil character to Edie, is revealed as such in their differing views on farm life, way of living, luxury, and their capabilities. Alice Kelling also plays a prime role in the plot, because had she not stayed with the Peebles', Chris maybe wouldn't have up and left so fast, which could have in turned allowed for some possibility of the continuance and growing of Edie and Chris' relationship. Additionally, Alice's argument with Edie resulted in Mrs. Peeble's sudden distrust in Edie. "Mrs. Peebles was not very friendly to me afterward..it was just that now she had to see me all the time and it got on her nerves,"(Munro,145). Overall, some characters, though not prominent, help the story progress and affect some of the story's eventual outcomes.