“On The Road” by Langston Hughes

In the novel “On The Road” by Langston Hughes he seems to use nature to represent the relationship between blacks and whites. He uses snow to symbolize the whites and night to symbolize the blacks. This makes the book less invasive and the people that read it will not look so much into that part as to what the book is really leaning towards. He uses the example, Sargeant didn’t see the snow, not even under the bright lights of the main streets. He is tired of the snow and or the white people that have made his life so difficult his whole life. The best part of the whole readings is how he reminds is that if you mix snow and dark it makes perfection. In other words they go perfect together, harmony. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing falling snow flakes in the night.

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner is kind of a sad novel. I could never imagine my parents putting me in a situation where I would have to keep a deep dark secret that my parents had that they were committing a crime. And to beat it all that they would say that If I didn’t keep the secret and told it that I would be betraying blood and I would ultimately not have them as a family and would have nobody to turn to if I ever needed help. That is a terrible thing to put your child through I think. It is also terrible that Sarty feels that he has to defend his father when all of the people are calling his father terrible names and yelling at him when he is going to court for burning Mr. Harris’ barn. Sarty is really fighting his fathers battle. I was happy to read that since he felt that he needed to do the right thing that right when he was about to confess his fathers guilt to the court that the court dismissed him and he was free to go and still had his fathers respect and loyalty.

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemmingway

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemmingway was a little crazy. Short life is definitely right. I could not believe that his wife shot him in the head because she was afraid that he was going to leave her once he gained his courage. She should have been a good wife and stood by him no matter what. Instead she was embarrassed and acting like a tramp to sneak off with the tour guide. Anyhow, I do not understand how him not wanting to fight a lion shows that he is a coward? I would be running too. Anyone these days would definitely run, man or woman. It does not prove that you are a manly man even if you did stand up to the lion. A lion and a robber are two different things. You are not prepared for a robber where as you can see and hear the lion coming. The lion only has its body to fight you with where a robber would have a gun or something that could kill you before you knew that they were there. So what if a man stood up to a lion but was not manly enough to protect his family. Wonder what they would say to that? The only one in this book that should be embarrassed is the wife but not from her husbands actions, but only from her own. She has shamed her husband, her self, and the vows that she took before God.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston

The Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston was a little hard for me to understand exactly the placement of the story and how it started out, but after I kept reading I understood it a little better. Janie Crawford left her home searching for love. After a forty year span and four different men all of different backgrounds it seems that she found true love with the poorest man. This goes to show that money is not everything. Money does not solve every problem and make someone happy. True happiness comes from within. Janie comes back to her hometown dirty and in overalls and her neighbors wonder what happened to Janie. Janie tells her story to her friend Pheoby Watson. Her first look for love was from her grandmother, then from her first husband Logan, who was an old potato farmer. Although as her grandma thought, he offered security he did not give her the love that she so desired. Next was a marriage to Joe Starks, a mayor that gave her everything. It was like he could give her everything but love. He could handle all the problems with the city and money and power and business, but the love and respect she simply asked for he could not provide. She was married to him for 20 years. Janie’s last and final marriage was to a bean picker named Tea Cup. Janie gave up everything that she had to go to the Everglades and live with him. She finally found happiness until a hurricane took over the land and Tea Cup was one of the unfortunate ones that did not survive. Janie was devastated. She could not stay in the Everglades because of all of the memories that she had. That is why she went back to her home town with nothing. Or did she have something after all? I think so. She had the memories that could never be taken from her that she was once very happy and loved.

Susan Glaspell's Readings

Susan Glaspell defined a strong woman. Coming up as a writer in what seemed to be a man era, she had to fight that much harder to make it. The story Trifles is kind of crazy to me. The fact that they portray that the ultimate reason that Mrs. Wright killed her husband because he killed her bird is very surprising to me. They mentioned that her husband Mr. Wright was a very hard man. He was abusive and killed her youth. That alone could definitely push a woman over the edge though, I will agree. I am not sure if leaving was an option as the story did not mention whether or not Mrs. Wright had any family that should could have gone to or not to get away from abusive husband. It is sad that things turned out this way. That the fact that the only thing the woman felt that she could do to escape her husband’s abuse was to kill him. You still hear about things like this happening even today. It was ironic that the two women that found the bird’s dead body was actually women and not the men that were upstairs and came past and laughed at their conversation. The women looked out for their fellow woman. Which is actually what the author stood for.

Willa Cather Readings

In the story A Wagner Matinee  It is very sad how Clark describes his aunt Georgiana and how her life ended up. She was first a music teacher and then married into a bad marriage and it completely changed her life for the worse. Life is unfortunately not much different than the way that they portray things in this story. I felt really bad for her when Clark described the way that she looked when she got off the train. I can only imagine how shabby she looked if he went as far as to say that he was almost embarrassed for the way that she looked. I was glad to hear that she got to go to a musical, especially one that she was slightly familiar with. It is sad that she could not afford to dress like the other women there. I can imagine that they stared at her and made her feel uncomfortable, like she hadn’t experienced that enough already. It was touching that she cried during the performance and the fact that she did not move after it was over. I too have felt that way before. Not wanting to let go of something or wanting to stay in that exact moment forever. In the story Pauls Case it is especially sad that he felt the only way to correct the mistake that he had made was to kill himself. I am sure that his father would have found it in his heart to forgive him, I mean he did pay the money that he stole back. Sometimes tragedies like this happen where a simple conversation could have cleared up much needed miscommunication.

Zora Hurston Readings

It is very interesting to me to read things that someone who lived so long ago wrote. I know how different times were back then. In the story John Redding Goes To Sea, John Redding is a very anxious boy who is curious of the things beyond what he has experienced. He leaves his home to go explore those things. Not everyone is supportive on John decisions. His mother, Matty Redding tries her best to stop him from leaving. As a mother I feel that she should not be so possessive and she definitely should not have used illness and saying that she would disown him if he chose to follow his dreams. That is a little crazy to me. I mean as parents we are here to teach and guide our children so that they can venture out into the world and make it as an adult. Prepare them and hope that they succeed. I feel that John should have went ahead and joined the Navy when he was given the opportunity no matter what his mother said or screamed or wanted. She would have seen how good it would have been for John to teach him loyalty and how to become a better man. It was a very good ending when after he died his father forbid his body to be removed from the water. He finally got to travel the world like he so much longed for when he was living.