You're Ugly, Too

     In Lorrie Moore's short story You're Ugly, Too, we follow the life of the central character, Zoe Hendricks. Her life involves sarcasm, loneliness, and many relationships to people in many different walks of life. Her character is easy to relate to because of her use of sarcasm to hide her true problems.
     I, personally, am extremely interested in the reasoning of why people behave the way they do. I love the subject of Psychology and I often find myself analyzing why people are just the way they are. This story was easy to analyze because of Zoe's distinct personality. We see her fail at relationships, teaching, and lack in confidence. We also see her try to cover up this sadness and alienation through humor. The only thing that leaves me wondering is what brought her to this point in her life.
     Throughout the story, we read often poor student reviews of Zoe's teaching abilities. Students say all sorts of things, even meaningless comments such as she "is often late for class and usually arrives with a cup of hot chocolate" (Moore). This random review stood out to me because I absolutely adore hot chocolate, but also because while it is seemingly meaningless, it does add to the reader's knowledge of Zoe's character.
     Moore successfully allowed the reader to dive into Zoe's life and see her true personality.

The Story of an Hour

     The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin turned out to be a confusing short story. The story details the hour a woman things she finds out her husband is dead. The hour involved many emotions, ranging from sad to confused to depressed.
     The woman "loved him- sometimes" (Chopin, handout). This part really confused me. Had she cheated, or did she simply not love him? I'm probably reading into this little line way too much, but it caught my attention. I did not understand how her actions related to her emotions.
     The end of the story is very ironic. "Heart disease- joy that kills" (Chopin, handout) is what killed Louise. This is ironic because her eternal love for another person actually killed her.

Popular Mechanics

      The short story Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver leaves the reader with a quite annoying cliff hanger. After the majority of the story being about who will keep the baby, the story simply ends, "In this manner, the issue was decided" (Carver, handout). What?! They do not even tell us who gets the baby. To me, it seems the husband gets it but Carver does not bother to tell us.
    One question following the story asks how we can infer the setting. Carver's use of imagery makes it obvious that the story begins in a bedroom and ends in the kitchen. The fact that the husband is shoving clothes in a suitcase tells the reader that they are in a bedroom. Later, they talk about being by a stove, which makes it obvious that they are in a kitchen. Even though Carver does not tell us the setting specifically, it is easy to infer. His use of imagery and details makes the reader really envision the setting.

February

      Margaret Atwood's poem February conveys a great message while being somewhat comical at the same time. she uses quite a bit of imagery. Instead of simply letting the reader vision any common cat, she describes her furry friend as being "a black fur sausage with yellow Houdini eyes" (Atwood, handout).
    Throughout the poem, Atwood conveys a message of creation. However, she does this through discussing cats. It is clear to the reader, though, that she is discussing much more than just cats.
She is applying her message to the whole human race.
    Atwood ends the poem by saying "Get rid of death. Celebrate Increase. Make it be Spring" (Atwood, handout). This finished the poem by attaching the message to all people, not just cats. It also ties in the setting of winter, since winter is usually associated with death.

Lonely Hearts

     Lonely Hearts by Wendy Cope implores many different literary techniques. The most noticeable is her use of rhetorical questions. "Can someone make my simple wish come true? Do you live in North London? Is it You? (Cope, 973). These questions are repeated to show the reader that these are people yearning for companionship. This poem is very clever in the fact that it combines many personal ads to create one poem with a central theme. While seemingly sad and lonely, this poem offers a glimmer of hope. The fact that the address is included shows that these people truly crave a response- and the possibility of them actually finding love. I also found it very interesting that Cope offered such a wide array of personalities- a biker, a gay vegetarian, a librarian. The fact that all of these diverse characters can somehow be put into one poem shows how creative Cope is with her writing and how she speaks to many different audiences. It also adds to the theme of the poem by showing how even though these people are so different- they have one thing in common: a want for love.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

     A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne speaks of two lovers, which are identifies as the laity and the priesthood. Throughout the poem, Donne uses an ample amount of similes. He begins the poem with a simile showing the idea of death, reading, "As virtuous men pass mildly away..." (Donne, 801). This simile is important when analyzing the poem. One question following the poem asks the reader to decipher whether the speaker is about to die or simply leave for a journey (question three). By taking the first simile into account, one can carefully read the rest of the poem to tell which option it is. After reading the poem a few times, I found that the reader is simply leaving for a journey. I found this because the first line says "As virtuous men pass mildly away..." This shows that people aren't actually dying, but it is similar to that. Also, near the end of the poem, it says, "Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home (Donne, 802). This shows that one lover is simply departing far away, but will return. This poem clearly fits into to this theme of love.

Eveline

     James Joyce's Eveline details, in just a few short pages, much of a woman named Eveline's life. One literary technique I noticed immediately was Joyce's use of imagery. "And yet during all those years she had never found out the name of the priest whose yellowing photograph hung on the wall above the broken harmonium beside the colored print of the promises made to Blessed Margaret Mary Alocoque" (Joyce, 218). This amazing use of imagery and detail allows the reader to envision exactly what the author is talking about. The way Joyce weaves in these detailed events captivates the reader and makes them feel as if they are watching the story unfold before their own eyes.
     Eveline's life, as detailed in this short story, seems extremely depressing and empty. She seems to never really have anyone to love or protect her. And as soon as she does, she abandons it. Because of her moms death and her fathers hate, she seems to have psychological problems with others becoming too close to her. She always wants to run away, even if that means running away from who she was running to.

How I Met My Husband

     How I Met My Husband by Alice Munro details the somewhat sad love story of a fifteen-year-old hired girl. The story finishes with a surprise, somewhat sad, ending.

"He always tells the children of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day, and naturally I laugh and let him, because I like for people to think what pleases them and makes them happy" (Munro, 146). 

     This ending is sad because it shows how Edie did not marry a man she wanted to, she simply settled for someone else. She spends her whole life in disappointment. However, one question following the story asks how Edie has matured later in life. It seems as though she has grown up and moved on. She has realized she was just a little girl who fell got a man too quickly. Edie, in her older life, seems disappointed yet at peace with her current life. There is still the little girl inside her that yearns for that first love. However, she has loved and lost and realizes it is all for the best.