Ernest Hemingway
I enjoyed reading “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway but I was confused. The story began in the middle of an event and I had no clue what the characters were talking about. When they all started talking about the lion, I was lost. As I read on, I gathered that Macomber had been hunting lions, he found one, and he ran from it. I also gathered that Macomber and his wife were on a safari with a man who loved to hunt animals. Macomber seemed excited to get to go hunt for a different animal the next day. He just wanted his wife to know that he could kill an animal. I guess he wanted to seem strong and not like a coward. He had another chance to kill a lion the next day. He blew that. He shot at it and got it down, but when he had to get close and shoot it to make sure it was dead, he panicked and ran. His wife showed him on the way back to camp that she wanted a brave man who would stand in the face of terror and not run away with his tail between his legs. She showed him even more so that night that the hunter was the type of guy she wanted. The next day Macomber was so upset and I think this had something to do with him doing so well hunting that day. He killed two of the three buffalo and was on his way to kill the last one when his wife shot him. The way I took the end of the story, Macomber’s wife and Mr. Wilson had planned to kill Macomber the night before. I think she saw this as her only way to get away from him with his money. I kind of felt bad for Macomber because he was shot from behind. He had no way of knowing what was coming and he could not protect himself from the deadly shot.
William Faulkner
I found “That Evening Sun” to be a very confusing and quite frightening story. I was confused because I did not understand why Nancy though Jesus was going to kill her. I know she had slept with some other man while I am guessing she was with Jesus, but he left which shows me that he tried to move on. I will have to admit that while I was reading this story I was a little scared. The narrator was talking about Nancy making weird noises and they seemed to do everything in the dark. I thought it was a little weird when Nancy wanted the children to go back to her house with her. I know she was scared, but she had other people who offered to let her stay with them and she refused. I found the ditch to be a little sketchy. I know I would have hated to have had to cross through a ditch in the dark. I kind of feel a little bad for Nancy though. She had let the thought of Jesus being so mad at her take over her whole life. All she could think about day and night was him coming back to kill her. I think she was losing her mind. I was confused by how the story ended. One minute they were talking about Nancy and the next minute the two youngest children were fighting with each other. They seemed to fight a lot throughout the story now that I think about it. Caddy seemed a little nosey to me. She always asked questions. I think the mom was a little jealous that the father was walking Nancy to her house at night. He just wanted to make sure she was alright because she was one of their workers. If they lost her they would have to find someone else to do the work that she did. I think the mom took into consideration what all Nancy had done in her life, and she really did not want her close to her family.
Langston Hughes
I enjoyed reading Langston Hughes’ poetry. He found a way to make his poetry not only personal to him, but also to whomever may read it. I think my favorite out of all of these poems would have to be “Young Gal’s Blues”. I think he is talking about how some people see getting old as worse than dying. There are some people who cannot stand the fact that they will someday grow old and gray. This poem is also talking about love which is something a person wants all throughout their life. Even when there is no more love to be given, everyone wants more. I also liked “Theme For English B”. I felt that Hughes had made this poem into something more personal for himself. He talked about his life in a way that it related to the professor. I liked how he said that he may be learning from the professor, but the professor is also learning for him and they are a part of each other. As much as people do not want to admit it, everyone leaves a lasting impression on the people they meet. Everyone also learns new things from different people as they teach new things to those people. I enjoyed reading “On the Road” as well. This story is very good. I felt bad for Sargeant because all he wanted was a place to sleep. I am pretty sure a jail cell was not what he had in mind though. I thought that everything he was thinking had actually happened. That he was actually strong enough to bring down the church and then have Christ walking with him. I thought he was just imagining the last part. I thought it was sad that he thought he was stronger than he actually was. I am pretty sure he did not like the cops beating him not once but twice. That had to be just a little embarrassing to him. Another thing that shocked me was the fact that the Reverend just blatantly said NO!
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