Excerpts from response writing #1: short stories

In "Strawberry Spring" the setting becomes the central element of the story.  The setting, in this case, is almost like a character itself. ... We fail to notice, until the very end of the story, how the narrator or main character, becomes so entrapped by the fog that it actually controls him and his actions.  The densely foggy nights, known as strawberry spring, actually become the main character, who we find out to be "Springheel Jack," the murderer in the story.  The narrator, however, doesn't know that he is the murderer.  The "mystical nights during the strawberry spring transform him into another person, a very sneaky person, to accompany the dark spooky nights; and when the strawberry spring disappears, so does the character of Springheel Jack.
---Kimberlee Lach
 

The fog in "Strawberry Spring" is what creates a scary feeling.  ... Every time a fog forms in the night, an ordinary college student transforms into a murdered.  The fog makes him into the killer.  This gives the reader the idea that when a fog is formed, something bad will happen, thus creating a sense of fear.   ... Setting is the life giver of almost every story.  ... the setting is the guide for the reader of the story.
---Henry Placencia
 

...The grandmother's strong southern heritage and beliefs are evident in the way she dresses.  The grandmother dresses with the intention that anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was a lady. ...  At the end of the story she forgives the Misfit and accepts him as a child of God.
--Amy Estro
 

In "Strawberry Spring" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," the settings help the stories come to life.  The authors use the settings to give the reader mood and a clear picture in his/her mind, guiding the stories. ... "Strawberry Spring" is spooky; the story occurs at night and in a thick fog.  The fog comes every eight to ten years, after a very cold winter.  Using thick fog and having it occur at night adds to the suspense of th estory.  The unstable atmosphere plays a big role in this sotry because you never know what will happen next.
--Kevin Redmond
 

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," the setting creates a world in which the environment parallels the moods of the main characters.  Before the reader is introduced to the Usher House, its landscape is described.  The clouds "hang oppressively low in the heavens," adn the day is "dull, dark, and soundless."  The physical condition of the house reflects the mood of its surroundings.  The once great Usher mansion now stands in a place of gloom, its woodwork rotten and a crack running down the middle of the building.  The house and its surroundings set a melancholy mood for the reader.  Death and decay seem to be in the air. The exterior of hte house only reflects the state of its occupants, Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline.  Just like he once great mansion in which they both live, the lone surviving Ushers are also dying.  Both Madeline and Roderick are taken with disease, Madeline's of the body and Roderick's of the mind. ... Soon after Roderick entombs his sister, the setting surrounding the Usher house changes from dark and gloomy to dark and stormy, as does the mood inside the house.   ... It is the reflecting of setting and story line that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is built upon.
---Ben Spooner

"Sweat," written by Zora Neale Hurston, is  a short story in which the characters do and do not have the power to control their own lives.  ...  Delia had the power to control only certain parts of her life.  She finally gained the confidence to stick up for herself when her husband would badmouth her.  The power that she had to finally speak her mind controlled her husband to a certain extent.  He was so shocked by her words that he would just leave her alone. Delia's husband had relationships with other women and she knew it, too.  He would flaunt his girlfriends around town; he didn't care who saw.  Any woman in her right mind would say, "Why is she still with this man?"  Well, the answer is that she had no power to control this aspect of her life.  Delia was a very religous woman.  Under her religious beliefs, divorce was not accepted.  Not only that but it was an almost impossible thing to accomplish.
---Lesley Spinelli

...The death of Bailey sends fear into the grandmother, which is why she tries to plead with the Misfit, saying that he is a good man and that he wouldn't shoot a lady.  The grandmother also uses Jesus as a possible savior in this situatino, asking the Misfit why he doesn't pray and why he doesn't like Jesus.  The mention of all this infuriates the Misfit. ... But the Misfit is not at all fazed by her preachings and shoots her three times in the chest.
---Dave Paganetti

...These deviant psychopathic narrators bring forth and heighten the terror of King's "Strawberry Spring" and Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart."  Without closing their eyes, if readers simply allow their defenses to drop, they can feel the prickly things on their neck and hear the eerie music sounded throughout every horror movie that has ever existed.  Horror of both tales is found in comparison of the narrators.
Both narrators directly address their audience.  The narrator of "Strawberry Spring" (Springheel Jack) does an excellent job of deceiving his audience about the fact that he was the killer of those college kids until the very last line.  In "The Tell-tale Heart," however, the reader gets a good sense that the narrator is on the verge of a 'dismembering act' within the first line, when he says "True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am! but why will you say that I am mad?"  Springheel Jack seems to lack hatred and/or a motive for slaughtering his victims.  His character appears as a typical college student attending a small, quiet campus that just happens to be in a mysterious crisis.  Even though Poe's narrator has but little reason to kill the old man for his "eye of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it," it still serves as some form of desire to seek bloodshed.
---Frank Greco
 
 

Response Writing #2, Tracks

Narrative Structure:

Tracks is told in the counterpointing voices of Nanapush, a traditional tribal elder who is very respectful, spiritual, and vivid in his narratiion; and Pauline Puyat, a mixed-blood member of the community who rejects the Indian part of herself.  This novel describes teh intertwining lives of these two narrators and presents us with both sides of the story.  By reading this novel from these two perspectives, we are able to get two completely different perspectives, which roots back to one of the book's central themes of diversity within a community.  Amy Estro
 

...Through the structure of the novel we can see how two people of different genders and ages thought about life and the things that happened in it.  The narrative structure signifies the collision of old ways and new ways, different genders, and the difference between the older generation and the younger generation.  ... Nanapush's love, loyalty, and respect showed the most when he had to get Lulu back.  Although he was against bureaucrats, he became one just so that he could get Lulu back. ... It's ironic that he had to become the thing he disliked but he did it because he was a man of values and morals.  Lesley Spinelli

Assimiliation:

...Fleur is the most intriguing character in the story.  ... Fleur's ways are mysterious and "witch-like."  No matter what, she keeps to her traditions and will not be ashamed of anything.  She is a proud woman, strong and willful.  She is somewhat spiteful, especially to the white men, and she will do everything to keep her land.  We see her strength throughout the novel, but I think the most powerful scene in the book is toward the end.  At the end of the novel, Fleur is going to be forced to move from her home and assimilate.  She does something intriguing instead.  Some say that it was giving in, but I think that it was more like she was showing who was boss in this situation and that she will never give up.  The white men were coming to tear down the forest surrounding her cabin.  They tried to get her to leave but she wouldn't.  She came outside with a smile on her face, and you knew she had done something.  The question is, what?  [see page 223] Some say that by clearing the forest for the white men Fleur was giving in.  But the way that she did it was so careful and clever, so spiritual and unafraid, I don't think she gave in at all.  That's the last we see of Fleur.  We know she is still laive at the novel's end and we know that she did not assimilate.  She did not let the white men get the best of her.  Fleur has a wild spirit in her and that is what she will always be, wild and free. Kimberly Lach
 

...Pauline portrays the negative aspects of assimilation.  Pauline's way of thinking eventually leads her to become insane, a sort of racist who only wants to bring about what the government wants.  She becomes a religious Catholic but she doesn't think like the idea Christian.  Pauline's journey to assimilate leads her to lose her mind; thus she hallucinates about God and believes that he is with the Anglos and the devil is with the Native Americans: "Our lord, who had obviously made the whites more shrewd, as they grew in number, all around, some even owning automobiles, while the Indians receded and coughed to death and drank"  Pauline even believed that God is white: "He Himself had dark hair although his eyes were as blue as bottleglass, so I believed."   Pauline's belief that God is only with the Anglos gives her more support to stay away from the Indians.  Her way of thinking is very racist and proves that she doesn't think like the ideal Christian.  Henry Placencia
 

In this novel, assimilation seems to be a bad thing.  The tribe is breaking apart.  Pauline, the younger Indian narrator, finds religion and becomes a Catholic.  She leaves the reservation and disassociates herself from teh tribe.  This is a major example of assimilation's negativity.  Another negative example of assimilation is money... Nanapush thinks that money is one of hte causes of the tribe's breaking up.  Kevin Redmond
 

...Eli had given away to white rules.  He even works for them now.  He had come to take Fleur out of her house because it was about to be overrun.  I believe that Fleur even realized that she ahd to give in to white rules and leave her house to the lumbermen.  She did, however, make her opinion known.  Knocking down all the trees around her house was a sign of being beaten by the whites but it was also the last thing she could do in that situation.  She had no choice in the matter.  ... Nanapush even had to adapt to the white ways.  After Eli began to dress like the white man, work for the white man, and after Fleur left, Nanapush was the only one left.  Margaret even adapted to the white man's law to keep her land and betrays Nanapush as a result.  ... Because of the pressure placed on him, he becomes involved in white governmental ways.  At least Nanapush uses that power to get Lulu back to him, which shows that Nanapush wasn't competely overtaken by the whites.  He used their ways to get "his daughter" back into his life and bring him some comfort.  Dave Paganetti

Symbolism:

Perhaps the most obvious example of symbolism in Tracks comes when Nanapush addresses his granddaughter about her footwear [see page 66] .  Nanapush is reminding his granddaughter about her roots by using her shoes as a sign of assimilation.  Spending time in Catholic schools with white people have caused Lulu t o forget where she came from .  She now leaves the tracks of high-heeled shoes instead of those left by moccasins, like those of her parents and grandparents.  Symbolism is often used as a tool by the author of a literary work to offer the reader some insight into comprehending the complex nature of a character, relationships between characters, or even conflicts between characters.  Louise Erdrich's Tracks is laden with this type of symbolism.  Ben Spooner

Three very significant symbols of Tracks are drums, imprints, and the lake known to the Indians as Misshepeshu.  These inanimate emblems help to establish the atmosphere, fearr, strength, hope and sadness of a forgotten people.  ... A powerful sound that lifts spirits of opposing teams at a college football game, boosts morale of a marching army, and pumps adrenaline of fans at a U2 concert comes from the beat of a drum.  "I took the drum from beneath my bed and beat out footsteps for Eli to hear and follow...."  It was this drum that aided Nanapush to guide a tired, moose-covered ELi the rest of the way home from his moose hunt.  ...Another drum belongs to Moses.  Drums were considered sacred, which is why one of Moses's drums "was never allowed to touch the ground" (188).  Drums are not only meaningful tools but numinous symbols. Frank Greco
 
 
 
 
 

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