EH 202 Exam 3

Raymond Carver

"Cathedral"

Alice Walker

"Everyday Use"

BILLY COLLINS

"I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of 'Three Blind Mice'"

Theodore Roethke

"My Papa's Waltz"

SHERMAN ALEXIE

"Pawn Shop" "Survivorman"

Randall Jarrell

"The Death of the Ball turret Gunner"

LI-YOUNG LEE

"The Gift" "Eating Alone" "Eating Together"

Flannery O'Connon

"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and "Good Country People"

Robert Hayden

"Those Winter Sundays"

Gwendolyn Brooks

"We Real Cool" and "To the Diaspora"

27. What was the reason behind Carver's choice for drawing a Cathedral as opposed to any other lan

A Cathedral is a massive fancy building that while for many area a place of worship, for some are just fancy looking buildings. Many Cathedrals are now more of tourist attractions and are empty shells of their past lives. They also redirect the church and the faith behind it. In a way the blind man had to have a little faith in the officer to show him what one looked like. It's also an interesting thing to draw because despite the narrator know what one looks like and being able to see it , he can not put into words what one is in order to explain it to Robert.

Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire (Movie option)

6. How does Hayden convey the idea of children being blind to their parents' life experiences?

As a child in the poem he didn't realize how much he dad worked for the family. His father had worked hard to not only keep the home warm and also help his son with getting him ready and clean. His father's hands are rough and the child doesn't seem to understand and appreciate the reason why.

2. Why does Blanche avoid bright light? What implications are there in Mitch's act of forcing Blanche under the naked light bulb?

Blanche avoids bright light because she is denying that she is aging and no longer a young teenager. By pulling her into the bight light Mitch finally sees that she is more faded and aged than she appears in low lighting. Because her fear of dying is showed as her fear of aging and losing her beauty forcing her into the light he also forces her to recognize that she can not alive dead. She also has to face who she really is which is an aging woman who likes to assert her sexuality on men younger than her.

23. Explore the conflicting motives of Mrs. Crater and Mr. Shiftlet. What does each person value? What does each person consider unnecessary? What provides each person with a sense of well-being and security?

Both of the main characters want something from the other in this story. Mrs. Crater wanters her daughter married and someone around to keep the place together. I think that she values hard honest work. Mr. Shiftlet wants the car she has as well as any money he can get from her. He values his own needs and comfort above anything else. The old woman marries her daughter off to him so that she has less of burden on herself as well as so that the farm does not far into disrepair. The man wants the car so that he can be free from his past and not have to worry about traveling.

19. How does education separate Dee not only from her family but also from her sense of self?

Dee acts like she is far superior to the rest of her family because of her education and believes she knows about her family heritage . However because she acts so elevated above the rest of her family she has cut herself off from them and herself as well. She is no longer true to who she was and has forgen how to be humble and kind. She tried to intimidate her family with her education and is quite rude in her actions. She has changed herself so much to become someone she isn't that she no longer knows who she was. Because she can't respect any ideas other than her own that she has learned from school, she has cut off her heritage and her family.

29. How could this poem be considered a commentary on life?

He decided that the mice must have chased the farmer's wife so that they could lose their tails. He finds this very sad. Life is sad when you try to over analyze things and make them into big things.

36. How does "Eating Together" compare/contrast to "Eating Alone"?

He is eating similar foods in both and he is still grieving the death of his father.

35. What is happening in this poem?

He is eating with his family a few weeks after his father died. He is with his family and he does love them but eh still feels very asd that his father has died.

40. What does he mean by "Do you think you could be that good and strong?/Yes, yes, you think, but you're probably wrong. Do you agree or disagree with this?

He is questioning the reader's ability to possess that strength that some people have. He seems to doubt that the reader wants to live more and would be able to make it in harsh conditions. As for agreeing or disagreeing, I think that faced with choices of life and dead he would be amazed what human can do. However if not facing death , most are not going to seek experiences like this just for fun and wanting to live more.

28. What does Collins' responds to "Three Blind Mice" tell you about him?

He seems like he overthinks things marjory and his mind wanders far too much . But he also has a sense of humor , be it a bit darker than normal. He questions how they become blind and how that affected them and their mother. He just blows these thoughts out of proposition.

12. To what extent is the reading of the poem influenced by stereotypes? Does Brooks acknowledge or undermine these stereotypes in any way?

I don't think Brooks based her characters off stereotypes but off real people she had seen. These were possibly even people that she knew and wanted to reach out to. In the poem it feels more like she is acknowledging the stereotypes but also undermining as their is more to these people that it seems because they know they are on the wrong path but don't seem to care or know what to do about it.

11. What is the significance of Brooks' use of the traditionally Jewish word "Diaspora" in her poem "To the Diaspora"?

I think that by using "Diaspora" to describe black people in America at that time she was drawing significant to how they knew nothing of their origin but she wanted to them. She likened to the Jews who had to leave their homeland and become slaves much like the black in America. They have been taken away from their home and cut off from their couture. Because this term is also used for any group cut off from their home , many readers would be able to relate to their struggle underlined in this poem.

26. What are the differences between Looking and Seeing in "Cathedral"?

I think that in the short story looking is more of a process and a there is nothing special about it. Looking at something doesn't seem to mean that you see it but you are just looking at it passively. Seeing on the other hand can be done by the blind. Its deeper than just looking because one actually has to see more than what's presented to them.

14. Does the poem "We Real Cool" romanticize "sin" or criticize it? Is the tone more of a "boys will be boys" or more sinister? Explain

I think that it definitely is criticizing them and even borderline is showing how their actions can be more sinister. In the poem it starts off with the speaker talking about how cool they are and how they do all these cool things. However in the very last line they admit they will die soon. I think that she is criticizing them because she know that many kids want to look cool and do what the cool kids are doing instead on focusing on their education and working hard. She wants them to know that the "cool" path is far more sinister than it looks on the surface.

15. Explain the symbolism of the naked woman with the American Flag tattoo as it relates to the story's theme.

I think that the naked woman with the american flag tattoo represented how the ideals of that America was founded on had became twisted and corrupted by the white men. They refused to give both women and black equality and fair treatment as human beings. They belittle both the woman and the boys because they considered them less than themselves. The white men held all the power at this time and enjoyed crudely wielding in over others. This is directly opposite of what the american flag stands for and the men are horrible twisted in what they do to her and the black boys.

5. Where do you consider Williams' final view toward illusion and reality to lie? Does he align himself with Stanley's reality and brutal honesty, or with Blanche's illusion and pretense?

In the end I feel he has sided with reality. Williams shows that illusion is more dangerous than reality but also that reality is a cold harsh place for the most part. In the end Stella is broken by reality and she has lost herself to her own illusion. In reality she is taken away to a mental institution and has become wrapped up in her own self-created illusions. This is hard because both are portrayed very strongly in the play. Both harsh but real reality and sweet but deceptive illusion are showed with great detail. Williams often showed illusions being destroyed by reality. He even showed more realistic reactions in characters such and marital abuse and alcoholism. In the end I think Williams was more with the Stanley's reality and brutal honesty. I say this because at the very end of it all Blanche's reality is shattered and she is taken away as she has became trapped in her own illusions.

24. Identify and analyze the dramatic irony that closes the story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own."

In the end of the story after Mr. Shiftlet has left his new wife at a diner and take the car off to drive where he pleases he picks up a young boy hitchhiker. He began to lecture the boy about mothers and how great his was. The boy can tell he is a hypocrite and after telling him off by insulting all mother, he jumps from the car. Mr. Shiftlet just kinda slows down , closes the door, and then keeps driving. He seems oblivious to his own hypocrisy and doesn't know realize that he's doesn't some pretty bad things. He's just like "oh well".

38. What does the author find in the pawn shop? How does it represent what he has lost?

In the pawn shop he finds a single beating heart under the glass. I think that he lost not just his family but his people. He does not know where they all he states which could mean they are dead or that they have all simply moved away and he does not see them anymore. I think he must have found something that he or someone related to him pawned off and that

Ralph Ellison

Invisible Man, Chapter One [Battle Royal]

30. What is happening in this poem?

Lee is remaining a time when his father removed a splinter in his finger. He remembers the kindness and lose that his father gave to him. Lee felt safe and cared for when he was with his father and he shows that same love to his wife.

18. Explain the differing views of heritage held by both Mama and Dee.

Mama sees heritage as alive and she wants to do more than honor her heritage by own up to it in ways that would make her family proud. She sees it as her own experiences, the way she was raised and how her family really was. Dee sees it as something dead and that belongs in a book or on a shelf. Dee just see heritage as the past and as if it has no place in the present because she acts like it no longer has a role in her life. She has a more surface understanding of it all and doesn't really understand it all. She only sees what she wants to see and ignores the rest of it.

22. What kind of person does Mr. Shiftlet make himself out to be, with his non-answers and silences? How is O'Connor's choice for his name ironic?

Mr. Shiftlet acts like he is a good person who shows kindness and is thoughtful. He's a smooth talker who's patient enough to wait to get what he wants as well as convince people to give it to him. His non-answers and silences are ways for him to dodge the questions or conversation as well as ways for him to change the topic back to things that can benefit himself. O'Connor clearly gave him his name to show how shifty he could be when he wants something from other people.

Gwendolyn Brooks "We Real Cool" and "To the Diaspora"

The Black Pride movement is shown in these poems with how the characters . In "We Real Cool" the characters are shown to be well aware of their action and how they affect themselves. It shows how they want to be rubellus and do what they want even if it gets them killed they want to have fun and live. But inTo The Diaspora" they are shown to be like the displaced Jews from the Bible. Taken as slaves from Africa and now fighting for equality they are already fighting for their culture and their own values.

16. What is significant about the narrator's grandfather's refusal to laugh at the clowns?

The Grandfather's refusal to laugh at the clowns is because he saw himself as a clown and the people who laughed where the white people. He saw himself and other blacks in the clowns as whites saw their purposes to be laughed at as their only use was that of entertainment. The grandfather was tired of being entertainment for white men and wanted more and to rise above the stereotypes. He could of also seen the clown as representing his ancestors and how whites laughed at them. If he laughed at the clowns , he would be laughing at his ancestors.

8. How does Jerrell successfully capture the experiences of the horrors of war in such a brief poem?

The fact that the voice of the speaker is a dead soldiers is a major way of showing the horrors of war. It starts off showing the soldiers in a womb like manner and then it ends with the speaker being washed out of the same womb. The speaker goes directly from one to another without much in between.Even the title shows how this is about the brutality war .

1. What evidence in the poem suggests an abusive relationship?

The father strongly smells of alcohol and his belt buckles scrapes the child. The father also seems to keep time on the head of the child which would not feel very nice and hurt the child. Their dance knocks over pans and angers the mother who does not step in which could be a sign that she , like the child, fears the drunken man.

25. For Flannery O'Connor, a devout Catholic, evidence of divine grade was everywhere, and her stories are full of religious imagery. Trace the religious imagery in ("The Life You Save May Be Your Own". How does religious imagery contribute to each story's theme?

The main religious symbols are the different colors that surround that character. Shiftlet arrives with the setting sun which is often a symbol of God when he really a false good guy. He is also wearing black which is definitely seen as evil in Catholic stories. He is also described as a crooked cross which is heavy foreshadowing that he is not as good a person as he acts like he is. Lucynell seems to represent salvation for Mr. Shiftlet as she is very innocent and dressed in the Virgin Mary colors, blue. She is described as angle like and very beautiful. Shiftlet could have be on the path to being a better person if he had followed through on his word and vows of marriage to her but he was selfish and choice to be a not so great guy.

17. How does the message engraved on his "diploma" advance the theme of the running man found in black folklore and literature?

The narrator is kept running by those who have very little affect on his life. He doesn't feel he earned the scholarship the way he wanted to and he feels they payed him with it for what they took from him that night. The engraving is hash and crude. It's an allusion to idea that society keeps blacks always running for their lives. By lives I mean livelihood, they have to run and work hard for their entire lives. By being black they have keep running or society might run them over. In black folklore and literature there is sometimes a black man seen running away from things often representing society or opposition.

21. Examine the characterization of the old woman and her daughter in the opening lines of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." What does the old woman's body language suggest about her character? What does the girl's behavior indicate?

The old woman, Mrs. Crater, seems very cold and distant when we first see her. She does go get all existed when she sees a stranger or go to greet him. She stays where she is because she wants to make him come to her. She doesn't seem surprised by the one armed man showing up or even indicate that she pities him . She is a hard old woman who refused to let herself be taken advantage of. Her daughter , Lucynell, on the other hand is quite the opposite. She gets all excited and plays with her fingers like a child would. This is to show how child like she is , even if she is really quite older. Because of her child like mannerisms she is oberly going to be dependent on her mother and others. She is quite nive and innocent to the ways of strangers and does not think to fear the man.

7. Contrast the imagery of cold and warmth throughout the poem. How does it advance the poem's theme?

The poem takes places during the winter when it's cold and the speaker of the poem also seems to have a cold heart towards his own father. His father gets up in the cold winters and lights the fires. He heats the home for the family and brings light into the speaker's world. The father has to get up and work in the cold and darkness while the speaker wakes up in the warmth provided by his father. All these constant show how different the two are and how the child does not understand what his father has done for him which is the overall theme of the poem.

13. How does Brooks create a persona for the pool players in "We Real Cool" that both sounds like them and sounds like someone criticizing them?

The pool player characters in the poem skip school and go around having fun. The wording of the poem feels like a real person who does all this would really talk. However in the poem after talking about how they are so cool and all that they also admit that they will die soon. They are criticizing their own behavior in that same tone and style that they are talking in. Whether or not the speaker is mocking their tone and style of talking or it's themselves doing the criticizing , their is understanding that despite their actions, they know how it is going to end.

20. What is the symbolic significance of the quilts?

The quilts symbolise the heritage of the family. Dee wanting to display them and distancing herself from her true heritage shows she has lost her heritage. She views african culture as a statement rather than a identity. Mama and Maggie embrace their heritage want want to use their quilts as they are supposed to the be used. It shows their difference in understanding of heritage. Maggie understands their use and history and wants to honor that. Dee is trying to take their heritage because she wants to show them off as display. Maggie helped make them and loves the past behind them. The quilts also show the generations and how things have changed. The sister don't talk to each other and view their heritage very differently. The quilts are a visual representation of the past as they have been though much with Mama, she values the quilts because they serve as a testament to their heritage as a family.

37. What is happening in this story?

The speaker is going back into a town after a being gone for a long time.

39. What is happening in this poem?

The speaker is talking about the strength in some people. He talks about how many people give up because they do not have strength. He also questions whether or not the reader could have that strength, he does not believe that they do.

4. Describe how Stella's child offers the only hope of a reconciliation between the two opposing worlds of Kowalski and DuBois.

With the birth of Stella's child there is now the chance of changing their ways. In the two different world of Kowalski and DuBois there is lies, mental instability, violence and more. However with this child there is the chance that will challenge Stella to change her ways because she sees how horrible things have been going. Stanley might see that he has been a horrible person now that he has became a father.

9. Why does Jerrell include the element of innocence in the poem? How does it make the poem more effective?

With the juxtaposition of the womb of a mother and the turrent that the shooter rest in their is clear symbolism of life and death. A child in a womb is innocent, the soldier in the turret is shown to be like a child. He is shown to be dreaming far above the earth when the war wakes him up and his innocence is lost to war.