Ethan's lesson

Ethan’s poems were definitely hard-hitting. I felt a connection to both poems, but the second one spoke to me more. As far as a time when I have felt fear or different when in a group was when I came to University freshmen year. Coming from a small, farm community I had not been introduced to so many different types of people. Its not that I had never traveled outside of Boone county, but I never was placed in an environment so different where I had to interact. At first I thought that I would need to change my appearance or self to fit in, but I learned quickly that being myself was best. I am still different from most of my class, but I have gained many friends over the years. As I head to college I am glad to have came here and know that it will be easy to interact and make friends there. These two poems want you to be great and proud of who you are. You must excel at what you know best and stay true to your origin. There is a plan for all of us, and I can’t wait to start the next chapter in my life.

The Story of An Hour

Of course we knew that Kate Chopin would never fail us in any story. Feminism and hate for the husband is always her “cup of tea”. Looking at the similarities in “The Story of An Hour” and The Awakening is very simple to see. Mrs. Mallard and Edna have not so similar qualities, but have traits that can be connected. Both are young women who resent the power of their husbands. They aim to “escape” and become “free” from the shackles that their husbands have grasped them. In the short story, Mrs. Mallard is delighted while sorrowful of the supposed death of her husband. She becomes giddy and feels that freedom has finally come to her. Edna and her only sometimes loved their husbands and the short story highlights this in Mrs. Mallard. More interesting is that both women die at the end. They both exemplify breaking points in their life where too much freedom actually takes over their bodies, and when control is reintroduced they can not handle it. The very sight of Mr. Mallard kills Mrs. Mallard. It really makes you wonder why Kate Chopin even has marriages in her stories. In the end they always end up in disaster and actually never were true marriages to begin. I have never seen such situations in my life where love never really was a part of a marriage, but yet Chopin seemed to think that’s the way it was.

Tiger or Lady

Interesting is what this short story is. There really is no way to decide how the story will end. The princess is making the decision for him and one can not predict how she will choose. I would predict that the lady would be behind the door chosen for him. As the story states, the human heart leads us to make our decision. Passion would keep the princess from killing her lover out of the fact she couldn’t bare to see him viciously eaten by the tiger. Many people during class actually discussed the idea that maybe the man would kill the woman that came out of the door and the princess and man would run away together. To me, this would seem very illogical, but could happen. Love makes people do crazy things. On a side note I didn’t really care for this story. It seemed that it went on in extreme detail that was not needed. Also, the ending explanation in the story of the human heart and how it describes how she might make her decision could be taken out. It doesn’t due the reader any good, because it basically states how she will make her decision. No imagination is left to the mind.