No Class... It Was Circus Day!!!

On Friday, everyone went to a circus, so we didn't have class. It's ok though since everyone got to party!! For next week have two short stories which are not as long as the ones we have read in last couple weeks. We have Angels in Disguise by T.S. Arthur and A Worn Path by Eudora Alice Welty. See you Wednesday!

Another Two Short Stories

Yesterday we went over two short stories, Split Cherry Trees by Jesse Stuart and Man From South by Roald Dahal. Split Cheery Trees has two themes: one is the clash between generations, from Dave and his father Luster who is 65 sixty-five years old. The other is about the differences between old education and the benefits of new types of education. The story is about Dave, a 14 year old boy living in two world separated by old time and new time, his father Luster, and Dave's high school teacher, Professor Herbert and how Dave is growing academically but still living far from from school and in an old way of life. Luster says near the end of the story, "School has changed from my day and time. I'm a dead leaf, Dave. I'm behind."                                                                                                
Our second story, Man From South, is a 1st person story about a young man who is a U.S. naval cadet and in Jamaica and meets a short man, Carlos, who has "...pale, almost colorless eyes with tiny bright black pupils" and makes a bet with him. The story consists of Carlos betting the naval cadet if he can light his cigarette lighter ten times he wins Carlos' Cadillac, but if he losses, he gets a finger chopped off. Both of these stories were great, but the Split Cherry Trees was considered the best of these two. On Friday, we will read what is brought in by any of us, and receive next week's stories. 

Wedensday and Friday Update!

Two Readers and Excellent Writers, Cathy and Dorthy

On Wednesday, we went over two short stories that had opposite forms of structure. Kew Gardens by Virgina Woolf was a story written with no structure. Many short stories consist of a few characters with only one of them that makes a decision. A reader will learn about the reason he or she made the decision, and the consequences of it. Where as Kew Gardens was like a play in a theater where characters come and go and are never seen again. It has a setting of Kew Garden, a park, introduced in the first paragraph, and all the actions that took place in the story are not connected at all accept that they take place in the park. The last paragraph of the story sums up the story with, "Thus one couple after another with much the same irregular and aimless movement passed the flower-bed and were enveloped in a layer after layer of green blue vapor..." On the other side, Pigs Is Pigs by Ellis Parker Butler is a story that follow the outline with an exposition, climax, and resolution. This story consisted of a two guinea-pigs in the beginning, 4064 in climax, and the ends without guinea-pigs. Both of these short stories are absolutely wonderful. What benefited us the most is how we were able to compare and contrast the stories. We highly recommend these stories to everyone.

Dorthy's Poem, Journey

On Friday, we had three wonderful poems that told us about the writer and what she went through years ago, and two of them about what they are facing today. It was certainly a blessing to be with the writers and hear the backgrounds of their poems. The authors were Dorthy (with her fifth poem!), Cathy, and Fay. And I brought in Solo, a non-fiction short story about a surfing trip in Sumatra. There two short stories for next week which are Man From the South by Ronald Dahl and Split Cheery Trees by Jesse Stuart.

Fay's Poem, My Ride With The Angels

 

The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway

Yesterday we went over the The Snow of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway. This short story is about Henry, an angry writer who is full of regrets and keeps reaping over and over that he could have written through out the years about people he met and experiences he lived through, and his wife Helen, a rich woman who deeply loved him and admired him for his writing and freewill to live the way he wanted. Together they travel through Africa because Henry feels like it is time for him to start over again. Unfortunately, he ends up getting gangrene from a small scratch that he thought would heal on its own. However, it lead him to his death in the end. Ernest Hemingway was a well known writer with trouble within himself which lead him to be a heavy drinker and eventually commit suicide in July, 1961. We do not have class this Friday, so here are next week's short stories:  Pigs Is Pigs by Ellis Parker Butler and Kew Garden by Virgina Woolf. See you next Wednesday!
 

Day to Share

On Friday, we went over The Chrysanthemum one last time and then opened the class to share what we brought in. Dorthy and Shelia brought in poems, Faye brought in a personal narrative, Ellen wrote a short poem during our session, and I brought in a short story. Dorthy's poem, Grandma Message, tells the reader about how faith is gift for her and her grandmother Rachael. A beautiful quote at the end of her poem tells us "... faith is the ultimate gift I have for you, my precious Rachael." Shelia opens herself to her daughter Lisa Marie and her boyfriend Jordan in her poem, If I Had a Son. Shelia shares her love for him at the end of her poem with "Jordan, if I had a son, he would be just like you." Sheila also brought in a picture of her daughter and Jordan. Fae's short descriptive narrative is about her memory of her father who took care of fields of daffodils and tulips. Fae tells how daffodils today will always have her father in them. She wrote, "I will always have a yellow daffodils in my home in honor of my dear Father." Ellen wrote us a poem in class that tells us that "Those we love don't go away" and are "still loved, still missed, and very dear." Lastly, I brought in a short story The Land of the Waves. Next week's reading is The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway.  

Ellen's in class poem

Dorthy's poem, Grandmas Message

Fae's personal narrative, The Color Yellow

Shelia's poem, If I Had a Son

The Chyrsanthemums by John Steinbeck

Yesterday we went over the The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck, a wonderful short story that was first published in 1937 in Harper's Magazine. The story focuses on how Elias, Henry's wife, is learning about herself and her role in the male orientated society. As a reading group, we broke down the story and discussed the actions that took place by each character and talked about their personality traits, and the significance of a chrysanthemum and its role in the story. At the end of our session, we watch the video which was a great way to summarize the short story and all we had talked about in our session. On Friday, we will share poems and short stories we have written ourselves and get our next week's reading.