Interpreter of Maladies

This short story incorporates an important theme of settling for less. At the beginning, both Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi show signs such as boredem that may cause the readers to make inferences about their lives. It can be infered that these two characters might be annoyed or bothered by the way things are progressing for them..maybe a lack of adventdure, fun, or even love and lust. Later, Mrs. Das directly states (pg 162) the things in her life that have gone wrong. She claims she is extremely unhappy with her situation. Both of these characters act this way, but nothing is really done by either of them to escape their troubled lifestyle. If it were me, I would go off and find something better to do with my life than wallow in self-pity. Maybe they feel that they have certain obligations to uphold where they are now.

A Rose for Emily

This short story equals creepy. Webster's definition of creepy: "having or causing a sensation of the skin, caused by fear or horror; obnoxious, weird." My definition of creepy: "A Rose for Emily." Not only is the plot weird, the structure of the short story is also erratic. Narration skips around from past to present, event to event, and it is very hard to keep up. Although description is given of Emily's background, its not organzied well enough to easily interpret a motive for the events in the story. All that is really said about her family is that they are also weird, creepy, and possibly crazy. Obviously we get that. I do not know if the broken and unorganized structure has a purpose or not. To me, it gives the story more of an edge and adds to the unknowing and CREEPY tone of the story.

How I Met My Husband

The structure of this short story by Alice Munro is not what one would think of as typical. It begins by giving background of Edie, the main character. It also characterizes the other people who play a role in the story such as: Mr. and Mrs. Peebles, Loretta Bird, and Chris Watters. Next, Munro shows the progression of the plot by describing the events that took place between the characters, especially Edie and Chris Watters. I looked at the title and at their relationship to make my inference that Chris was the future "husband" mentioned. (I'm sure I wasn't the only reader to make this prediction either.) The story takes a huge turn on page 145 (the second to last page) when the mailman is introduced. After fifteen previous pages of description, the unrelated resolution is revealed. In my opinion, Munro does this structure for the sole reason to keep the reader on his/her feet and to receive the unexpected. It makes the story much more interesting.

That time of Year

William Shakespeare was completely correct in his poem about the changing seasons, of fall to winter. The yuckiness of winter has a universal and timeless affect on people throughout the world. The speaker compares the season of winter to death. This common pairing of the two completely defines winter for me..DEATH! Three separate images are used to convey the tone. The color of the changing leaves, the fading sunset, and the glowing of fire are all imagery used to describe the undesired things that winter brings. Also, diction such as bare, ruined, lie, ashes, black, night, shake, and cold all help to show the speaker's attitude towards the dreadful season. The negative word choice proves a dark and sad tone of the poem. This is easy to understand and relate to because most everyone I know of hates the winter time where everything dies and everyone turns bitter.

Edward

This poem is veeeery strange to me. It is basically a conversation between a mother and her son in poetic form. The son kills a hawk, a steed, and his father. It can be interpreted that the mother had some incentive for her son to do this. The last line of the poem is a quote from the son. "The curse of hell from me shall ye bear, such counsels you gave to me, O." This proves that the mother talked the son into the murder of her husband, the only question is why? Also throughout the conversation, the son seems to be ashamed and remorseful of his crime...that would be why he is planning to run away from it. The whole tone of this poem is creepy and dark. Everything that is unknown adds to the suspenseful attitude conveyed. Also, the author is anonymous...

Lonely Hearts

I absolutely love this poem, it is by far my favorite in this chapter. The language is common and easy to understand. It also relates to many modern and universal experiences. The poem discusess people who are lonely and looking for someone like themselves. These personal newspaper ads all describe specific personality traitx that each person desires.

"Male biker seeks female for touring fun."
"..into music, Shakespeare, and the sun.."
"Successful, straight and solvent?"

In the end, though, all of these "lonely hearts" really desire the same thing. They all want/need someone to love. The structure of this poem also reflects this theme. Each stanza of the villanelle consists of two lines at the beginning in which describe the specific characteristics. The third and final line of each stanza are alternated between the two similar questions.
1. "Do you live in North London too? Is it you?"
2. "Can someone make my simple wish come true?"

Delight in Disorder

There are a few things that really stick out to me within this poem. The varied length of the lines reflect the title - almost illustrating something disorderly. The speaker also incorporates many oxymorons in the poem. One main oxymoron is found in the title, "Delight in Disorder." Many might find it odd to find delight in something disorderly. A few other oxymorons are: "wild civility", "fine distraction", and "sweet disorder." These oxymorons reflect the main theme being conveyed. The speaker is talking to his significant other and gives examples of how she looks with everything out of place. The speaker then states that he enjoys the disorderly and messy way she is.