Narration vs Observation

One big difference that I noticed between the dramatic version and the short story version of “Trifles”, indeed, between most prose and drama, is the immediacy of the story and dialogue. When drama is acted on stage the audience is exposed to the setting and much narration through the sense of sight. There are no long explanations of how a character is feeling or how a certain room looks. The latter is seen immediately, while the former needs to be deduced from the dialogue and the mannerisms that the actors have. When reading a written drama we lack the visual setting and characters, but we are still unencumbered by long bits of narration. It creates that sense of immediacy that we saw in “Popular Mechanics” where there was only action (except for the introduction), but in a more cohesive form. Of course, the lack of narration can be a disadvantage, especially when reading the drama on paper. It is much harder to develop a character without any insight into the character’s emotions and thoughts. A drama tends to limit the point-of-view to that of a first person observer without any attachment to a specific character.

Glaspell's Work

Everyone always says that the written book is better than the movie, whether it be Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. After reading these two versions of Glaspell's story, the play and short story form, I see why too. In a play, or a movie for that matter, you see what is given to you and you are lead to think a certain way, it's all out there on the table. However in the short story, although it is true we are given all the necessary ingredients for the story, we are privileged to bake the story in whichever way we deem fit. No two interpretations are the exactly the same. In the short story we are given more of a picture as to the dreariness of the day and the coldness of air, as well as an introduction as to why the women are so harried. The play just says the actors are bundled up apparently cold.
Another factoid I learned from the short story was who was Harry. In the play it just says the Mr. Hale was riding with him, but it is only in the short story do we find out that it was his son.

Plays Vs. Stories

I enjoyed the reading assignment. The way the book illustrated the story as a play at first. Then takes an excerpt from the short story version. Doing this helps the reader acknowledge which type of writing captures the readers attention.
I personally like the plays because you can feel how the characters are feeling. As your reading, you can put unique personalities into each of the characters. You can change the tone, the accents, or the pitch of the voice to make it what you want it to be. Don't get me wrong you can't make a character sound like a creepy, scary person if their in the middle of a happy conversation. Or can you?
As your reading plays you can do whatever may come to you. As long as it makes sense to you and how your interpreting the story.
Trifles left me in wonder. How come the men were oblivious to what the women were doing? What happened in the end? Do the men find out who really killed Mr. Wright? Is Mrs. Wright guilty for killing her husband just because her husband killed the canary?

Lust

I think that the narrator’s depiction of relationships, sex and responses to these for young adults is pretty much accurate. Relationships for teenagers are a blur. Everything is new; there is a lot of curiosity to be satisfied. They are at a very confusing stage of their lives and every week or everyday is a new crush for girls, the way that everything walking is an opportunity to get some for teenage boys.
One night stands are a very common thing for younger males, the way that the narrator depicts their strategies to achieve this is pretty accurate. If the males are having one night stands then there have to be females willing to participate. I believe that these girls have lost their souls.
“Teenage years. You know just what you’re doing and don’t see the things that start to get in the way.”
In this story the school gives out “the pill like aspirin”, not that here is anything wrong with knowledge about your options and precaution if you are going to be involved in such things. Then the headmaster reprimands her for the p.d.a. that he is worried will ruin the schools name, but since it is expected he guides her toward where she can do it without getting caught. Then there is also the pressure that is placed on her or other teenagers who just want to be accepted. If you’re not in some relationship, or you refuse sex it seems that there is something wrong with you. But in the same breath when you do participate you are called mean names and so forth and it seems like devalued in the eyes of other young adults who know what you are doing. But not boys; it’s like the narrator explains when she writes that “for a girl, with each boy it’s as though a petal gets plucked each time.”
As a female I think that the repercussions from one night stands are grave to the emotional and mental state of young women. The narrator explains it best in 79. I think females are more involved emotionally when it comes to sexual activity.
I believe God wants us to wait until marriage to participate in sexual activity to protect people. It is a very intimate thing to share yourself with someone else. It is probably very painful to not feel loved, appreciated and wanted after participating in such special act. I believe before you make Love you must know you Love the person and be involved in a healthy committed relationship with them. This ensures positive or healthier feelings about what you have done. I also don’t believe you should ever regret a thing you do that’s why you should think things through before you do them.
They say that it is one of the things that women should try to experience at least once in their lives (at least according to what I heard on a Z100 commentary). But for the most part, especially when girls start at a young age the feelings that the girl had throughout the story of feeling “diluted, like watered-down stew”, “like a bathroom window that only lets in the grey light, the kind you can’t see out of”, “I was ashamed and couldn’t look him in the eye”, are what results.
I don’t think that we are wired to do this, even males, I think we all want something more, at least deep down in our hearts.
This society is backwards sometimes; in the American culture it seems to me that it is not expected for younger people to become involved in meaningful relationships. It is not encouraged with things like you need to find what’s out there in order to find the right one, and the notion that you can’t find that person if you only date one person. Through this mentality young adults miss out on having much healthier emotional experiences. Relationships of all kinds are not easy, you have to work at them, and nothing worth having is easy.
I could write forever on this topic but I shall leave any further comments for class if the occasion arises that we analyze it.

Popular Mechanics

The story of "Popular Mechanics" was a very short story, but at the same time very powerful. The theme of the story is domestic fighting and the welfare of the small baby involved. In the beginning when the woman says "I'm glad you're leaving!" it sounds like an example of verbal irony. The way she repeats this and doesn't stop yelling shows that she doesn't really want him to leave. She even takes a picture of the baby so that he can't have it. Any person would know that something like that might set him off causing them to continue to fight instead of someone actually leaving. They then start to physically fight over the baby and the only one that is truly getting hurt is the infant. If they loved the child they would not let the child get between the two of them. At the ending the reader must draw a conclusion as to what is going to happen. The author leaves it open for the reader to decide which parent won the fight over the baby, if one parent gave up the baby or if they continued fighting and neither one of them left.

Love in L.A.

Jake is a musician who is very proud of what he does because he is not bound by the everyday work life. Jake has an accident with a beautiful woman. She seems nice and polite even though she has been in an accident. This story could have been a love story only if Jake took it the right direction because he had everything right there.He had the setting, situation and even Mariana who smiled at him and was polite even though he hit her car. Jake was so self centered and materialistic that he did not take the situation that way.

Love in L.A.

I find that "Love in L.A." is such a typical scene that you see so many times in either the movies or on a T.V. Show. Both characters playing very usual roles, nothing out of the ordinary. The girl, Mariana, is the responsible one who takes down his name , address, and license plate number (and has a job), where as he only cared for her phone number and I'm pretty sure his main concern is not fixing her car. Jake not having his drivers license and driving around with fake plates shows us that he is completely careless. This story doesn't really leave you with much thought. In fact the most entertaining thing out of this story were the lies that Jake made up and those again were typical lines from a typical character.

My thoughts

It's funny, actually. The instant I opened the book it landed on the Annotated Section of "Trifles." So I gave it that a read first. After finishing the complete play, I could not have asked for a better accident.

Everything the book the explains about "Trifles" makes me wonder how perceptive I am. Especially the covert symbolism in the smallest of objects. I'm talking about the frozen jar of jelly (or preserves). That jar denotes that Mrs. Wright was unable to bear fruit. But how? I guess I will save questions like these for class. Gender differences was the only theme I picked up after the first page. The sheriff pointing out in the kitchen that these small problems are merely just trifles, Mrs. Wright wearing an apron and knitting, and the women concealing the evidence. It's pretty clear-cut, as far as historical context goes that there is more meaning to this play.

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky

Go through the story of "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", it's theme is gradually floating up from beginning to end. In the part one of the story, a pullman from East of Texas San Antonio carried a pair of newlyweds to West of Texas Yellow Sky. Riding the train, the husband Jack Potter got anxious. He revealed his anxiety of how to present his wife to his friends. His worries certainly had his reasons. His old life in his town always with violent and fighting. He has enemies in town. But, he married and he shouldn't involve any violent that might harm his wife. His marriage has important funtions to story. First of all, he was married in east. It significantly pertaining some more civilized institution in east than west. Secondly, marriage is a settlement of future life. Lastly, he knew he has to shoulder the responsibility of his lover. On the contrary, in the story of second part, Jack's enemy Wilson appeared in a tavern. Wilson just the type of good old day guy that only know using violent to solve problems. Jack once had shot Wilson's leg that arised the conflict of Wilson's revenge in last part of story. However, Wilson was so confused and bewildered why Wilson didn't carry a gun with him. When he relized Wilson has been married, but he never could relized why Jack wouldn't carry a gun. Apparently, this ending is most important showing the theme that Jack's civilized mind from east contracted to Wilson never matured mind in west.

Carnal Knowledge

"Carnal Knowledge" by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a rather passionate story about Jim who completely falls for Alena, a woman who is completly obsessed with animal rights. I found many interesting points in this story, including a lot of irony. The most ironic part of the story is that in the end after freeing the turkeys and trying to save them from being slaughtered, a "storm" of them are left for roadkill crossing the highway...."there was flesh there too, slcik and greasy, a red pulp ground". Obviously, freeing the turkeys lead them to the same destination as being couped up in a barn....completely ironic...I also found it surprising and ironic how the two of the met!! i dont think that i would care to talk to someone whos dog just peed on me!! i think i might be more furious and angry. ironically after seeing her beauty, Jim brushes the incident off. I found the title of the story to be rather interesting as well. i wastn sure of what "carnal " meant until i looked it up. i found that carnal means "marked by the appetites and passions of the body, "animal instincts"" (wordnet). i felt like Alena was an animal herself and felt what the animals were feeling. She went ahead and fought for their freedom, like an animal might do if endangered. I found this to be very symbolic of the story. through reading the story, i also felt her passion for her love of animals and her passion in fighting for them. the author uses many words and descriptive sentences to express this... "bitter breath"...."real hate in her eyes"...
I was also very intrigued by the fact that Jim so quickly gave up everything he knew, his job, his family, his social life, and his meat eating, for a women who he harldy knew. When he was with her, he did as she did and ate what she did, but after the two of them seperate in the end, he started eating meat again. i felt like he was rebelling against her because she went away with Rolfe for a month.

It is interesting to examine the contrasts between Popular Mechanics, Summer and Love in L.A. Although “Summer” portrays a very innocent love between two teenagers, who barely display physical contact, the love seems far more genuine and mature than the distortion of love exhibited in the other two stories. While Summer’s Homer is not able to formulate the suave lines articulated by Love in L.A.’s Jake, clearly Homer’s attraction is sincere, as opposed to Jake’s selfish desire to avoid fiscal and legal troubles. Similarly, the parents in Popular Mechanics become so entangled in their anger towards one another, they seem to forget to care for their child.

Analysis of Miss Brill

Miss Brill explains her view of the world with vivid imagery. However we as the audience must endure her perception because we have no other narrator to rely on. This first gives the plot an "Unreliable Narrator" status, where we the readers have no idea if she is telling truths, lies or is distorting the reality of the story. To begin with the story fails to describe Miss Brill- even a little bit. She does not integrate herself in the environment; she sits down aside from the scenery and gazes upon the society around her. I believe she is a disillusioned individual because she does not seem to recognize her own age until she encounters the young couple at the end of the story. The young boy calls her "stupid old thing" and "silly old mug" and yet she hurries home and isolates herself from the rest of the world. Her latter action reminds the readers of an adolescent girl reacting to an embarassed moment. Her actions proves Miss Brill is senile, which is the reason for her seclusion to the world.

Miss Brills caught my attention because of the descriptive setting. When I was reading about the old people in the park it made me laugh because my grandfather does the same thing. He would take my little cousins to the park, sit on the benches near the flowers, and watch them run and play. In this story it contains a "play" who has a hero and heroine who were "beautifully dressed" and coming off a yacht which shows they must have money. This proves aspects of formula fiction very true.

The beginning of Love in L.A. sounds like a typical boy's life who is moving on up to becoming a man. This is starting to be a typical love struck story where the damsel in distress gets the guy's number. The only difference here is that her "hero" is the one who got into the accident with her? Surprised? Nope...the guy reacts as anyone would to a pretty girl. Also known as lying to seem like a better person. Jake was a well thought out person. He knew who he was and what he wanted to be. He was prepared for the unexpected. He had an answer for everything- even fake license plates!

Anything to do with love is complicated yet simple. Whether they are books, movies, or plays they are predictable- to a point. There are always going to be similar plots, or settings, or characteristics in the characters. But it is up to us to interpret in different ways. Whether you relate it to family members or friends. We can make it more personal and interesting if we apply it to out own life. I think this is what the authors wanted to do in these excerpts

Carnal Knowledge

I must say, that I enjoyed Carnal Knowledge the most out of all the stories the class has read thus far. I read this story over the Jewish holiday that just passed and having two large (and large is an understatement) meat meals a day for three days in a row, and a few more holidays coming up, this story had impeccable timing. The irony and the hilarity of the situation that Jim found himself in almost reminded me of any classic sitcom in where 'the guy' will do just about anything to get with 'the girl.' He'll bend over backwards to impress her and even lie and make up stories just to get with her. Jim lied to Alena when he was discussing his restaurant proposal and said that he doesn't eat meat, "or actually, not anymore." At the end of the episode the guy usually ends up caving into the objects of his desire that the girl wanted him to get rid of, or in the case wanted to save. As soon as Jim is rejected by Alena for her mission to Minnesota and she is out of the picture, he succumbed at the first rest stop.

Trifles

Trifles, by Susan Glaspell is a murder mystery that often leaves the reader guessing until the end. Given the time period the play was written, the female characters are depicted as less intelligent than the male characters. Throughout the play the male characters often make the female characters look as if they don't know what they are talking about. Glaspell sets up an interesting story line and makes the reader feel as if he or she is apart of the play.

Miss Brill

Reading "Miss Brill", I was struck by the vivid language and writing style employed by Mansfield in this story. In the narrative, Miss Brill begins to perceive life and the world around her, as if it is all part of a complex play. She herself, as well as all those around her, all unite to form the actors in the production of their own lives, and serve as audience members to each others'. (Reminiscent of Shakespeare's "All the World's a Stage...", anyone?) Perceiving the world this way, she manages to assuage some of her pervading loneliness, binding her own life to the lives of others, and feeling as thought she is part of some unified whole.
Mansfield's writing style, serves beautifully to draw the reader into Miss Brill's perception of the world. It is as if the reader himself, is an audience member- the story reads almost like a play.
Mansfield uses vivid imagery to describe the setting of the play:
"Two young girls in red came by and two young soldiers in blue met them... Two peasant women with funny straw hats passed, leading beautiful smoke colored donkeys..." Mansfield consistently uses color imagery to describe characters in the story. Additionally, she repeatedly describes the music that is playing in the background, and with each character that we meet, with each changing action, the music changes as well: When a passing woman is insulted, "even the band seemed to know what she was feeling, and played more softly, played tenderly..." As in a play, the music changes to reflect the chaning mood of the plot.
It is almost as though we are not reading the story then, but seeing a play, complete with costumes and musical accompaniment.
In this way, Mansfield allows the reader to identify with Miss Brill. We are witnesses to the very same scene that she is watching, and our experience with the scene, thanks to Mansfield's technique, is just as real and true as Miss Brill's herself. We are spared no detail, and see and feel everything just as Miss Brill does herself.
Thus, at the end of the story, we understand Miss Brill's pain, and feel it just as acutely, as if we had been insulted ourselves.

Love in L.A.

The short dramatically short story "Love in L.A." is written to display the stereotypical male swagger in Los Angelos, California. In my opinion the narrator is trying to display how love is expressed within the lights of L.A. Can you picture the whole scene scenario in your head. I visualize a guy with gelled-back hair, a leather jacket, boots and jeans approaching a girl with this rico-suave charisma about himself. "...you can give me your phone number now and I won't have to lay my regular b.s. on you to get it later." This guy wants this girls number (I'm hoping he wants to get to know her better) despise the fact that he hit her car. The theme/ main idea of the story is stated in the title. It wants to express how Love flows in L.A.

Theme is easily defined as the main idea of a story. The author had written a certain literary work for a purpose. However it is surprisingly amazing that each reader ends up with a theme that is slightly different from the author's intention. This, of course, is unavoiable because people aren't the same. Thus despite a group of people read an identical book, the main idea that they feel is the most important or the lesson the've learned is diferent from each other. Needless to say that the theme must be based on the given text. In other words, a reader can finish a book with a theme that is totally opposite to the writer's.

thoughts on Trifles

Trifles by Susan Glaspell is a wonderful murder mystery, which illustrates the gender inequalities of early 1900’s. In the play she effectively creates the dramatic tension marked by the gloomy setting and dialogue. The play depicts men’s unwillingness to understand the female condition, Glaspell shows how women are dismissed and displaced by men in the social order. The version of the short story does not generate the same effect. The lack of dramatic tension and suspense in the short story doesn’t portray the patriarchic control in the same way.

“Miss Brill” played a lot on the narrator’s mood to drive the story. There was almost no action in the story, but through the voice of Miss Brill the reader gets a very vivid idea of her character and her outlook on life, she is positive, happy, optimistic, but we also see, at the callous, inconsiderate comment of the young man, that she is also very sensitive, and it was these emotional shifts that drove this story.’

“Carnal Knowledge” made use of one sentence to set the tone of the story; “And then I met Alena Jorgensen.” This then sets apart his normal life from his short stint with Alena and animal rights activism. Because of the excluding then and his awakening from “a bad dream” at the end of the story makes the entire story feel like and out of body experience, something that happened to him that was almost surreal, yet also very real in the detail he gives us, not only about his experiences, but also his emotions towards Alena. Part of the irony here is that it seems he is caught up with this new cause that gives purpose to his life, but when Alena left, he went to his regular life as if nothing really happened.

“Summer” was a bit unique compared to our other stories in that it was nearly all narration, there were maybe two or three sentences of dialogue in the entire story, which kept the tone of this story as a nostalgic musing of a better time. It was nice though, and the voice here works very well; David Updike did not have to struggle with the difficulty of having a first-person child-narrator, but he still managed to evoke a sense of youthful naiveté in Homer.