Enskar smásögur handa 6. bekk

Analysis

=> , the American man will say almost anything to convince his girlfriend to have the abortion => He tells her he loves her, for example, and that everything between them will go back to the way it used to be => The girl, meanwhile, waffles indecisively, at one point conceding that she'll have the abortion just to shut him up => The girl's inability to speak Spanish with the bartender, moreover, not only illustrates her dependence on the American but also the difficulty she has expressing herself to others.

Nancy

=> 13 year old => Always drinking Pepsi-Cola => Likes to watch the man open up the soda machine => Longing to be an adult => Is followed by a man the age of her father

The man from the gas station

=> Aggressively pursues Nancy on her way home, offers her a ride => Predator => Gets out of his car and follows Nancy => Gets very aggressive when she starts to run and tease him by making him fall => Gets very sick and starts to beg Nancy to stay with him (maybe heart attack?) => Nancy leaves him, he is left behind

Bruns

=> Bruns is a volunteer from a Netherlands religious outfit & a conscientious objector. => He is an Aryan, with pale blue eyes and a perfect physique => Bruns is a vegetarian who often fasts. Boers do not like him => He's assigned to be the fleet mechanic at the hospital. He's a demon mechanic, which makes him a threat to the local garage. => Bruns's tools start disappearing. He's naive & unaccustomed to living in a "shame culture" where everyone gets beaten in public, including children, wives, animals, and people who break the law. => Bruns goes to see Deon Du Toit, the man at the center of power, to try to create better conditions

Plot continued

=> Dee asks her mother for the quilts and other items => Mama hears Maggie drop something in the kitchen and then slam the door => Mama reveals that she had promised Maggie the quilts => Dee gasps, arguing that Maggie won't appreciate the quilts and isn't smart enough to preserve them, Dee says that the priceless quilts will be destroyed => Mama says that Maggie knows how to quilt and can make more => Maggie shuffles in and, trying to make peace, offers Dee the quilts => When Mama looks at Maggie, she is struck by a strange feeling, similar to the spirit she feels sometimes in church. => Impulsively, she hugs Maggie, pulls her into the room, snatches the quilts out of Dee's hands, and places them in Maggie's lap. => She tells Dee to take one or two of the other quilts' => As Dee and Hakim-a-barber leave, Dee informs Mama that Mama does not understand her own heritage => Kissing Maggie, Dee tells her to try and improve herself and that it's a new day for black Americans => Mama and Maggie watch the car drive off, then sit in the quiet of the yard until bedtime

Nancy's uncle

=> Doesn't really listen to his niece => Is stingy and very greedy, doesn't want to give Nancy his change => Is a mechanic

Deon Du Troit

=> Du Toit is gone, but his wife talks to Bruns. When Du Toit finds out that Bruns has been there, he beats his housemaid & his wife. => Then he summons Bruns, who doesn't come. => When they finally meet, Du Toit is humiliated when a fly enters his nose. => After that, Bruns is found dead.

Emily's life

=> Emily was raised by a controlling father who drove away all of her suitors, believing that none of them were good enough for his daughter => As a show of respect for her aristocratic status, Colonel Sartoris, the mayor of Jefferson at the time, remitted Emily's taxes => He did so by fabricating a story about Emily's father having given a large amount of money to the town => Years later, when the younger generation of politicians began attempting to get Emily to pay her taxes, she refused, telling them to "see Colonel Sartoris." However, Colonel Sartoris had been dead for ten years by that point.

Homer Barron

=> Homer was "big" and "loud," and he was well below Emily's social status. => He also claimed to be disinterested in marriage => Despite the pitying whispers from the townsfolk, Emily remained aloof and proud => Emily went to the druggist, bought *rat poison*, and refused to specify what it was for. Most of the town assumed that she was going to take her own life, but she did not => Townsfolk were not happy, tried to make the minister talk to her => Word soon spread that Emily had bought a man's toilet seat and a set of men's clothing. People assumed that the she and Homer were married. => Homer then left town, and the townspeople assumed he was waiting for the cousins to leave => Once the cousins departed, Homer returned. However, after being admitted to Emily's house late one night, he was never seen in Jefferson again. => Emily herself was not seen again for six months. When she emerged, she had put on weight and her hair had turned iron-gray.

Parvez

=> Is a Pakistani immigrant living in England => He works as a taxi driver and has assimilated to Western ways of life =>His son, Ali, seems to have embraced the lifestyle of his British peers => Parvez, however, is growing more and more suspicious of his son as he notices apparent changes in Ali's behavior => The taxi driver talks about his worries to his colleagues and to Bettina, a prostitute who has become Parvez's friend => All his "dreams of doing well in England" crumble when his son confesses that he is disgusted by his father's neglect for Muslim precepts about prayers and his father's disregard of the ban on alcohol and pork meat.

The patient

=> It seems that the patient is already significantly alone and isolated and taking away the small and minute pleasures that give him even an ounce of joy is more than he can stand => Interesting part is the patient didn't have a huge family or a ton of social connections from which he would be taken away.

Farrington

=> Lazy => Ss frustrated by his demeaning, monotonous job of copying legal documents => Mr. Alleyne, his boss, chastises him for taking an extended lunch hour, and rather than complete the work in hand, Farrington slips away from his desk to a nearby pub for a quick mid-afternoon drink. => Unable to finish the task before closing time, he turns it in two documents short while attempting to conceal his negligence. => This time he is reprimanded by Mr. Alleyne for the compounded dereliction before his fellow clerks and an attractive, wealthy client. => Faced with this public humiliation and affected by the combination of alcohol and suppressed rage, he blunders into an impertinent and accidentally witty answer, which sinks him in deeper trouble: He may now lose his job.

Magda

=> Magda has already abandoned sucking Rosa's teats as there was no milk, but she was sucking her shawl instead and made no noise. => It becomes clear that Magda's father must have been some Nazi soldier, and Stella calls her one "Aryan", and it gives Rosa an impression that Stella would gladly eat Magda => Rosa always kept Magda wrapped in the shawl so no one could find her. Magda in her turn always was mute, so no one knew of her. => Rosa understood that Magda would die anyway, she thought her daughter must have been dead already, but magical shawl kept her alive => Every day Magda was concealed under the shawl against a wall when everybody else was put into the line => But one day Stella took Magda's shawl and she began to cry => When Magda saw light coming from the gate she moved there => Th girl was howling for her shawl. Rosa understood that and hurried to the barracks to find the shawl => But Rosa was late, Magda was already near the electrified fence. Rosa understood that if she ran they would shoot, so she just got the shawl into her mouth to *muffle her screams*.

Maggie

=> Maggie can read only in a limited capacity => Mama looks forward to Maggie's marriage to John Thomas, after which Mama can peacefully relax and sing hymns at home.

Mama

=> Mama fantasizes about reunion scenes on television programs in which a successful daughter embraces the parents who have made her success possible => Sometimes Mama imagines reuniting with Dee in a similar scenario, in a television studio where an amiable host brings out a tearful Dee, who pins orchids on Mama's dress. => Whereas Mama is sheepish about the thought of looking a white man in the eye, Dee is more assertive => Mama's musing is interrupted by Maggie's shuffling arrival in the yard => Mama remembers the house fire that happened more than a decade ago, when she carried Maggie, badly burned, out of the house. Dee watched the flames engulf the house she despise => Back then, Mama believed that Dee hated Maggie, until Mama and the community raised enough money to send Dee to school in Augusta

Dee

=> Mama resented the intimidating world of ideas and education that Dee forced on her family on her trips home => Mama never went to school beyond second grade => When Dee arrives, Mama grips Maggie to prevent her from running back into the house. => Dee emerges from the car with her boyfriend, Hakim-a-barber. => Mama disapproves of the strange man's presence and is equally disapproving of Dee's dress and appearance. Hakim-a-barber greets and tries to hug Maggie, who recoils. => Dee gets a camera from the car and takes a few pictures of Mama and Maggie in front of their house. She then puts the camera on the backseat and kisses Mama on the forehead, as Hakim-a-barber awkwardly tries to shake Maggie's hand. => Dee tells her mother that she has *changed her name* to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo to protest being named after the people who have oppressed her. => Mama tells Dee that she was in fact named after her Aunt Dicie, who was named after Grandma Dee, who bore the name of her mother as well => Dee says she doesn't have to use the new name, but Mama learns to say it, although she is unable to master Hakim's name

Plot

=> Man orders two beers, weather is hot. => They order more drinks and begin to bicker about the taste of the alcohol. => The man said they should just enjoy themselves => The girl replies that she's merely having fun and then retracts her earlier comment by saying the hills don't actually look like white elephants to her anymore => The man mentions that he wants the girl, whom he calls "Jig," to have an operation (abortion) => He seems agitated and tries to downplay the operation's seriousness. (Signs of manipulation) => Says the procedure really isn't even an operation at all. => The girl says nothing for a while, but then she asks what will happen after she's had the operation. The man answers that things will be fine afterward, just like they were before, and that it will fix their problems. => He says he has known a lot of people who have had the operation and found happiness afterward => The girl dispassionately agrees with him. The man then claims that he won't force her to have the operation but thinks it's the best course of action to take. => She tells him that she will have the operation as long as he'll still love her and they'll be able to live happily together afterward.

Georgia

=> Nancy's cousin => Not really present in the story but Nancy talks about her => Gets to babysit a girl for 2 dollars an hour (or day) and Nancy is jealous of her for earning money

Herr Professor

=> Receives a patient in his large home. => The patient makes a plea for the doctor to continue treating him as he has Hansen's disease, better known as leprosy, and anything less than putting the patient under quarantine would be against the law => Fear grips the patient at the thought of isolation

Rosa

=> Rosa is carrying her daughter Magda, a babygirl of 15 months wrapped in the shawl. => They all are very hungry. => Yellow star sewn on Rosa's coat, it becomes clear that she is *Jewish*, and they all must have been in some Holocaust camp, or walking to one, because while walking Rosa is dreaming of giving up her daughter to any woman she might meet in villages they pass by. => But she was afraid that if she moved out of the line they would shoot. So, they must be referred to Nazis =>

After Homer's disappearance

=> She hosted china-painting classes in her home for a while, people grew disinterested => The only time the townspeople saw her was when she would sit by the window in her house => Her servant, Tobe, did all of her cooking, shopping, and housekeeping => Clear that they were not talking as his voice was rusty from not using his voice

Emily Grierson's funeral

=> She led an isolated life => Now that she has passed away, people are curious to see the inside of her house, which has been sealed for ten years.

Two years after Emily's father's death, smelly house

=> Shortly after Emily's sweetheart abandoned her, a smell began emanating from her house => The neighbors asked old Judge Stevens to talk to her about it. However, Judge Stevens scolded them for even considering confronting a woman of Emily's status about smelling bad => a group of men snuck onto Emily's estate and sprinkled lime around the house to combat the smell. => The townspeople began to speculate that Emily was "crazy," citing her reaction to her father's death as additional evidence => After he died, Emily refused to acknowledge his death for *three days*, preventing the townspeople from removing the body from the house.

Stella

=> Stella - is also walking with them. She is 14 years old, and sometimes she is carrying Magda too, but she is very jealous of her shawl that keeps her warm

The boers

=> The Boers run & own everything in Keteng, including the chief. => They run the Bakorwa, the most violent tribe in the country. => The Boer men eat meat like animals.

The relationship between them & the end

=> The man then emphasizes how much he cares for the girl, but she claims not to care about what happens to herself => The man says she shouldn't have the operation if that's really the way she feels => They argue for a while until the girl gets tired and makes the man promise to stop talking => After finishing their drinks, the American carries their bags to the platform and then walks back to the bar, noticing all the other people who are also waiting for the train => He asks the girl whether she feels better. She says she feels fine and that there is nothing wrong with her.

The narrator

=> The narrator in this story is a woman and an anthropologist. So she is a trained observer of the South African scene. => It is very much the old South Africa where Boer farmers treat their black workers almost as slaves. => Bruns is not a Boer, though; he is a Dutchman with religion => The narrator, a female anthropologist from Stanford, tells how "baroque the Boers are

The death of Bruns

=> The narrator thinks Du Toit had someone beat him & then Bruns drowned himself to convict Du Toit Ofor a thousand unrecorded crimes => Deon says he's innocent, but in a panic, lies. => Deon is jailed & charged. All the volunteer agencies are upset. There's more police around & they're posting a magistrate. => "There is ruin. It's perfect."

The patient during the party

=> The patient makes his way back through snow and pine trees to the doctor's house during the party (of which he is unaware) to make one final plea => Not expecting to hear and see the party through the window, the patient almost feels he is dreaming in a strange land. => Through the window, the doctor and patient exchange a final glance in which the patient realizes it's not a dream => The difference between the extravaganza in the house and the quiet snowy evening outside gives the reader a contrast that works amazingly well

A party

=> Then we cut to a different scene where Herr Professor receives a military acquaintance who has decided that a party for his General will be moved to the doctor's house including a large orchestra and gambling casino => In a matter of hours, the doctor's house is turned into a hustling and bustling "to do" with many guests, lots of drinking and gambling, and lively music. The reasons behind this change of plans for the party is never really explained

Plot

=> There is obviously a conflict and the husband is leaving. The reader becomes aware of the baby when the wife takes the photograph from the bed => They are fighting over the child, pulling on the baby => Though it is not expressly said by the narrator and it is open to interpretation, it may be a case that as both parents are pulling on the baby, they break the baby's arm

The pub

=> To drown these accumulated anxieties, when his workday is over he pawns his watch and spends the proceeds boozing with his pals => His embellished retelling of the confrontation with Mr. Alleyne earns for him their temporary admiration => As the evening progresses, however, and as they move from bar to bar, he pays for almost all the alcohol consumed in his honor, feels snubbed by a passing actress, and is defeated in Indian wrestling by an English vaudeville acrobat => He feels abused, cheated, and betrayed. When he finally arrives late that night at his cold, dark home to find his wife away at church, he turns in *violent exasperation on his own son* as the most convenient victim of his accumulated anger.

The present of Emily's death

=> Tobe leaves Jefferson and never returns => After Emily is "decently in the ground," the townspeople explore her house, which none of them had seen in decades => In an upstairs room, they find the remains of Homer Barron in a bridal suite => The room is covered in dust and appears to have remained untouched for decades => On the pillow beside Homer's corpse, they find a strand of Emily's iron-gray hair In conclusion: SHE CRAZY

Plot

=> Woman notices a mark on the wall, but the story is not really 'about' the mark on the wall, but rather what it prompts the narrator to think about => As well as speculating on what the mark on the wall might be - a small hole, or perhaps a leftover rose leaf - the narrator's mind wanders to much bigger questions and meditations, such as the nature of life, where Shakespeare found his inspiration, and even what the afterlife might be like => She goes on to question the very nature of reality as it is presented to us, especially (it is implied) by writers of conventional 'realist' fiction: => ends with the narrator realising that the titular mark on the wall was nothing more exciting, after close analysis and inspection, than a *snail*.

The snail

=> its very ordinariness, its unremarkable nature, the fact that it is something so everyday and unattractive is a reminder that external details do not give our lives the meaning they have => Instead, that meaning is found in the musings and daydreams, the thoughts and meditations, that arise from everyday contemplations of such things - even something as small and insignificant as a mark on the wall.

Setting

A man known simply as the American and his girlfriend sit at a table outside the station, waiting for a train to Madrid.

Bettina

A prostitute that has become a friend of Parvez

Hakim-a-barber

Dee's boyfriend or, possibly, husband. Hakim-a-barber is a Black Muslim whom Mama humorously refers to as Asalamalakim, the Arab greeting he offers them, meaning "peace be with you." An innocuous presence, he is a short and stocky, with waist-length hair and a long, bushy beard. His desire to make a good first impression makes him seem awkward. He makes Maggie uncomfortable by forcing his attention and greetings on her. does not eat collard greens or pork

Ali

Increasingly disturbed by his son's religious fundamentalism and contempt for assimilation, Parvez one night repeatedly hits Ali. The son reacts with only a question: "So who's the fanatic now?"

Plot

Mama decides that she will wait in the yard for her daughter Dee's arrival. Mama knows that her other daughter, Maggie, will be nervous throughout Dee's stay, self-conscious of her scars and burn marks and jealous of Dee's much easier life

Readers expectations

Readers would normally expect to see the old generation tied to ethnic and religious traditions; second-generation immigrants would be more keen to assimilate. Short story ends with no immediate closure and no reassurance of any possible resolution in the future.

Setting

The story starts on describing cold weather and that some women are walking somewhere

Solomon's Wisdom

There were 2 women, each had a baby, during the night the one woman's baby died, so she grabbed the other woman's baby and said it was hers, she gave her dead baby to the other woman, the lady woke up and found her baby dead, she noticed it wasn't her son, they talked it over with King Solomon, he said grab a sword and cut the living child in two so you both will have a child, the true mother said don't kill him just give him to the other woman, the other woman said cut it in two. This showed Solomon who the real mother was.

Setting

This story is set in Keteng, a country near South Africa. There are many Boers living there. Boers are South Africans of Dutch descent, though they are a humiliation to the Dutch because they are like "ids set free in the world."