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.
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