Stephen Crane & Edith Wharton

Stephen Crane Poetry

As I read Stephen Crane’s biography, I found that he was an undecided person. He never really knew what he wanted to do in college so he just dropped out. I think this decision did him some good. After he had spent some time away from school and settled down to write, he became a very famous author. Over the course of four years, he had three books and well known short story published. He was very busy while he was alive but he did not get to live a full life of fame and fortune. He died in 1900 at the young age of 28. I find Stephen Crane’s poetry to be almost as hard to understand as Emily Dickinson’s. All of his poetry is talking about the human in some way. “In the Desert” is talking about a man who is literally eating his heart. I am pretty sure this can never be done in real life, but I guess in poetry it can. He is asked if the heart is good and the man replies that it is bitter. If he is eating his own heart and says it tastes bitter, then I am guessing he is saying that he himself is bitter. This does not bother the man because he goes on to say that he likes it because it is his heart. I guess, even though the heart is bitter, the man likes it because it is a part of who he is. One of the few poems I actually, halfway, understood was “A Man Feared That He Might Find an Assassin.” In this poem I am guessing there are two different men. One says he is afraid he will meet an assassin and the other says that he will meet a victim. I am also guessing that the man who is afraid of the assassin was the victim and the man who met the victim was the assassin. The only part I did not fully understand was the last line. This could possibly mean one of two things. The assassin was smarter and killed the victim, or the victim was smarter and ran away. Another poem that I halfway understood was “Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind.” In this poem the narrator is trying to tell all of that they should not be sad because they had lost someone in war. The narrator then goes on to try and explain their point, but, in my opinion, they just made things worse. They talked about all of the gloom things that happen in wars and there is no way that those images could cheer a person up.

“The Open Boat”

I enjoyed reading this story. It was filled with great details and I could actually imagine what was happening to these people. I think that this story is a great example of how you should never give up no matter how trying something can be. These four men had a chance to completely give up and just drown in the ocean and possibly get eaten by a shark. They did not want their lives to end that way so they each fought and worked in any way they could to keep themselves alive. The two men rowing did their part by, well, rowing. They kept the little dinghy going in the direction they felt it needed to go. They did not let it get too close to the shore and turn over and they tried their hardest to keep it from getting pounded by the strong waves. The captain did his part by telling the rowers which way they should be going. He got them close enough to a shore that they could actually see it. He also helped them get to the shore when they all fell out of the boat and he did this while he was injured. The cook did not do very much. However, he did help keep a lookout and near the end of their voyage, he actually took over the rowing so the rowers could sleep. I thought it was funny that the men kept repeating themselves when nobody came from the life-saving station. I also thought it was funny that they got so worked up about nobody coming to save them. I know they did not know that there was nobody around to help them, but they should have figured it out when no one came. I was happy that most of the men had survived when they had to flee the little boat and swim ashore. However, I was a little disappointed that the oiler did not make it alive. He had worked so hard rowing the boat and he had actually gotten the men to the point they were when they had to make it ashore on their own. I did not think it was fair that he had to work so hard and then he ends up dying. Other than the end, I enjoyed this story and would definitely read it again!

“The Other Two”

This story depicts a great representation of many families in American society today. There are so many families falling to divorce nowadays and there is no way that any person can truly get away from their ex-partner, especially if there are children involved. It has to be awkward when the ex and the new partners meet. There is no way of knowing when it will happen but it is bound to happen, even more so if they all live in the same city. It had to be hard enough for Waythorn when he heard that his wife’s ex-husband was going to be coming to their home. The two were newlyweds and he adored her and her daughter. I do not think he ever contemplated the fact that Haskett, the girls’ father, would ever be visiting her at his home. Since he had so much love for his new family, I do not think it ever bothered him too much. If it was not bad enough that Waythorn had to deal with Haskett, he also had to deal with yet another ex-husband of his wife. Mr. Varick was Mrs. Waythorn’s second husband. Waythorn had to know that he would eventually run into Varick because they lived in the same place. To make things more awkward, Waythorn and Varick had to work together while Waythorn’s partner was sick. I am pretty sure Waythorn never saw this happening. By the end of the story, it seemed like the three gentlemen were getting along just fine. Mrs. Waythorn, however, acted awkward around her two ex-husbands, which is understandable. I am guessing she had to get over her awkwardness though because Haskett was going to continue visiting their daughter at the Waythorn residence and Varick and Waythorn were still working together so he would definitely be around. I liked how at the end of the story she invited all of the men to join her for tea. This showed that she could cope with being around all of the men at the same time. It also showed that she was ready to get over the awkwardness she experienced around them. The final gesture made by Waythorn showed that he was okay with all of them being together.

Howells, Harte, Bierce, and Harris

William Dean Howells

I found the story “Editha” to be quite sad. Editha knew exactly what she wanted from her man and she went out of her way to get it. She knew how much he despised the war but she guilted him into joining the military anyways. She thought that it would be very romantic of him to be her hero after she had already given herself to him. Maybe in the back of his mind, George had a feeling he would end up dying if he went to war. I guess the fact that he joined anyways and risked his life showed how much he loved Editha. The fact that he was named Captain showed that he was a respected man in the community. I found it to be very rude of Editha to write the letter to George about them not being together anymore just because he would not do what she wanted. If Editha truly loved George, I do not think she would have cared if he joined the military or not. She would have wanted him to stay with her and not risk his life. I also found it rude of George’s mother to make Editha feel even worse than she already did. She probably knew had she not talked so much about him going to war that he would have still been with her. She already had to deal with that and she was kind enough to go visit George’s mother. I understand that his mother was not fond of wars, but she did not have to make Editha regret feeling the way she did about people being heroes if they went to war. I thought it was good that Editha began to feel better by the end of the story. She realized that George’s mother was probably not all there in the head and just saying the first thing that popped into her head at the time.

Bret Harte

I was a little confused by “Tennessee’s Partner” at first. I could not figure out if the narrator was talking about Tennessee or another person. I soon realized that the story was talking about Tennessee’s life and all of the things he did. I thought it was weird that he made his partner’s wife leave town. It said in the story that he was a gambling man. His gambling is what eventually got him into trouble. He messed with the wrong person and was arrested and ordered to be hanged.. I thought it was very noble of his partner to try to save Tennessee. He offered all of the money he had and that showed just how much Tennessee’s friendship meant to him. His offering did not help though. When Tennessee was hanged, there were a lot of people present and a lot of them followed his partner to the site of the funeral. I thought it was sad that his partner did not want any help at the funeral. I guess he was used to doing everything by himself all along because Tennessee would always go out and get drunk leaving his partner to pick up all the pieces. In the end I think Tennessee’s partner was so depressed that he became a little crazy. He imagined seeing Tennessee and getting ready to go pick him up after a night of overindulgence. The way I took it the partner died in the end because he met Tennessee again.

Ambrose Bierce

As I read “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” I thought the man was actually getting away and I was happy for him. Boy was I wrong. I did not really understand why the young man was being hanged. I guess it was because he had decided to mess around at the bridge after he had been told not to. All this man could think of while he was waiting was his family. I felt so bad for him, but I guess I should not have. He had been told the consequences of his actions long before he did them. I found it odd that they were hanging him they way they did. It sounded confusing. One of the guards had to move at the same time as another or something like that. I would have hated to have that job. I would have gotten confused and moved at the wrong time or something! The third part of this story is when I had hope for the man. He had been dropped but the rope had broken. He had freed himself of all of the ropes and was getting away. I guess this was all just a dream though because all of a sudden he just died. The story said that his neck had broken and he was just hanging there. I think if I ever had to witness a hanging, I would freak out. I guess this story just goes to show you that there are consequences for every action you make. Had the man just stayed at home that night and never messed with the bridge, or even just around it, he would have never been hanged.

Joel Chandler Harris

I thought the story “How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox” was amusing. Mr. Fox caught Mr. Rabbit doing something that he knew very well he should not have been doing. He tried to find the best way to punish him. Mr. Rabbit did not care what was done to him as long as he was not thrown in the briar patch. Mr. Fox thought that the only punishment that was suitable was to throw him in the briars. Mr. Rabbit had been raised in the briars so they did not bother him at all and he hopped off just fine. Mr. Fox had to be embarrassed that he was tricked by a rabbit. He just assumed that since the rabbit kept saying not the briars that would be the best punishment. In the end Mr. Fox should have done everything he named off instead of the briars. I thought that “Free Joe and the Rest of the World” was an extremely sad story. Joe got what pretty much every slave wanted at the time when his master set him free. He could do almost anything he wanted to do and not get harshly punished for doing it. The only bad thing about Joe being free is that he had to eventually be separated from his wife. Her new master did not allow them to see each other but they did it anyways. Once it was uncovered that they secretly met, Lucinda’s master took her far away so she could never see Joe again. He went from having a pretty happy life with his wife to having nothing but a dog. His dog ended up being killed and then he was left with nothing. I felt so bad for Joe because he had to die under a tree, in ragged clothing, with nothing. He had lost all of his friends and family. At least when Joe died, he was smiling. Maybe he knew that he would be able to finally see his wife again because she had more than likely died at her new master’s place. She could have also been killed by her previous master for not following his orders.

Dickinson, Freeman, and Jewett

Dickinson

I am not really a huge fan of poetry. I find it hard to read sometimes and even harder to decipher. I found most of Emily Dickinson’s poetry very hard to understand. I read in her biography that she spent most of the final years of her life in seclusion. I think it is sad that she was all alone at the end of her life. It seems like the central theme in most of her poems we had to read was death and Heaven. She also liked to mention nature a lot in her poetry. The poem that is labeled 280 speaks about a funeral. Dickinson talks about how the people come to view the body and then there is a service. Then she talks about how the body is buried. The way she narrated this poem, it seems like she is speaking from the point of view of the spirit of the body. Like the spirit does not move on until the body is buried, then it goes to it’s final destination. The poem labeled 465 talks about the central theme of death that I found in most of Dickinson’s poetry. She talks about hearing a fly buzz just as she is taking her final breaths. She speaks of peace and sadness and seeing the “King”. She talks about the will that a person must sign to tell where all of their belongings will go once they are gone. She associated the buzz of the fly with the final moments a person spends on Earth. The final thing she says in the poem is that she could no longer see meaning that ultimately she had died. Another poem that I thought was talking about death was the one labeled 764. In this poem, Dickinson is talking about the sun setting which could be taken to mean a life is ending. She talks about the shock that comes with the news of death as well.

Freeman

The story “A New England Nun” was probably my favorite story we had to read this week.. I felt horrible for Louisa because she had waited so long for the man she was supposed to marry to return. It seemed to me that she was shy and afraid to speak when Joe Dagget came to her house. They had never really met before and they were supposed to be getting married soon. They had to get to know each other and I am guessing that was what the visits were for. Louisa tried very hard to keep her house neat and clean so it would be presentable when Mr. Dagget got there. When the two first met in the story, I just thought they were friends or neighbors but I was not shocked when it was revealed that they were to get married. I felt bad for Louisa again when Mr. Dagget made a mess as he was leaving Louisa’s house. Louisa had a dog that kept her company while she was waiting for Joe to return. The dog showed some violence toward a neighbor of Louisa and now nobody would come near it. Louisa knew it was a gentle dog and when Joe returned, he saw the same thing in the dog that Louisa had seen. The worst part of this story had to be when Louisa heard Joe talking to Lily outside her house. She heard Lily trying to get Joe to marry her instead of Louisa and he said he could not do it because he had already made a commitment to Louisa. Everyday up to the night of that conversation Louisa had been sewing her wedding dress and I thought it was so sad that, even after she heard Joe say he would still marry her, she did not find it necessary to sew the dress. It was also sad that the story ended the way it did with the two of them calling off their marriage. I guess this story shows that if you do not love a person before you are engaged, the love will probably never come. I honestly think that neither Louisa nor Joe truly loved the other and it was better that they called off the marriage and did not have to live their lives in a loveless relationship.

Jewett

I enjoyed reading “A White Heron” just about as much as “The New England Nun”. It was kind of sad that she had no real human friends, only friends that were animals. I took it that the girl was very shy and afraid when she met the stranger as she was walking through the woods. Of course I think if I had met a strange person while I was walking through the woods in the dark I would be afraid too. It was very kind of the grandmother to allow this strange man to stay at her house although she had never met him before and knew nothing about him. This showed the kind of hospitality that offered to people back in the days when things were not so violent and people could actually be trusted. I myself am not a hunter and I do not see the benefit of killing animals just so they can be stuffed. I understand completely why Sylvia decided not to tell the stranger where he could find the white heron. Sylvia was very attentive and realized the perfect way to find the nest of the heron. I was shocked that she actually took the initiative to climb the tree and wait for the bird to leave it’s nest so she could see where it was. I did not understand why she did not try to find the nest after the stranger had left. After she went to all that trouble getting up early and climbing up and down the tree to locate the nest, I figured she would end up going to find it. I think the way this story ends is great. Sylvia proved to be trustworthy and a good secret keeper, even if all of her secrets came from animals.