Cait's Blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogArchive for October, 2009
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
I felt “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” was a very interesting read. I enjoyed the stream of conscious method author Katherine Anne Porter used to detail the last thoughts of Granny Weatherall. The story begins with Doctor Harry examining our very sick main character. Immediately readers get an idea of the personality Granny has. She is very sarcastic, speaks her mind quite often, and at eighty years old does not take crap from anyone. She feels this day will not be her last day. Doctor Harry and her daughter Cornelia seem to think otherwise. After Doctor Harry leaves Granny’s home, she begins to analyze her life and think of many significant moments that have happened to her in the past eighty years.
We learn that Granny was engaged to be married to a man named George. George left her standing at the alter, resulting in one of the most heartbreaking moments of Granny’s life. Porter added a good amount of dialogue in the story, but none that made much sense. Granny thought she would be having a conversation with someone that really wasn’t there. She also had ridiculous conversations with her daughter Cornelia. On Granny’s end she thought what she was saying was perfectly legitimate however, readers know that her thoughts just aren’t making sense.
We also learn that Granny did have a very happy life with her husband John. She had had several kids whom she loved unconditionally. We also learn Granny was a hard worker in her lifetime. Her husband John passed away at a young age and Granny is concerned that when she passes he won’t recognize her. The narrator states, “She had fenced in a hundred acres once, digging the post holes herself and clamping the wires with just a negro boy to help. That changed a woman. John would be looking for a young woman…”
Readers know her time is quickly approaching but she doesn’t. Her children begin to arrive to see their mother before her passing, as does Father Connolly, to pray with her family. Granny begins to see changes in light and voices start to fade in and out. She is still mentally aware of what is going on but cannot communicate with anyone else. In her last moments she even states, “I’m not going, Cornelia. I’m taken by surprise. I can’t go.” Years ago, before her final day, Granny was very sick. She prepared herself for death ages before and now is ready to pass but still doesn’t think her time is up.
My favorite part of the story is the final paragraph. I like how Katherine Anne Porter describes Granny being about to see only a point of light that is herself. The final sentence of the story states, “She stretched herself with a deep breath and blew out the light.” Granny ended her own life when she blew out her “light.” I think it is a common misconception that death takes people away, but when the time is right, I believe it is up to that individual to pass when they are ready. I wonder what I will think about on my final day or if I will even realize when that day is. Hopefully, I will think of memories, both good and bad, that will bring closure to my existence on Earth.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
I really enjoyed reading “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” I found the story to be very interesting and exciting due to the style of writing. Author Ambrose Bierce alternated the story between the present action and segments of narration. The story begins with a narration of our main character, Peyton Farquhar, on the Owl Creek Bridge with several soldiers in the Union army. The Union soldiers are preparing Farquhar to be hanged due to his involvement with the Confederates. At first readers are not told why or how Farquhar has come across his fate however, Bierce does a great job of building anticipation from beginning to end.
The setting is described in vivid detail making readers feel they are standing on the planks with Farquhar. With only seconds before death, Farquhar closes his eyes, hoping to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. He begins to hear a disturbance that he is unable to ignore. When I was reading the story, I thought there was going to be an incredible, action-packed rescue. Sadly, that was not the case however, after reading further the sound Farquhar heard was the sound of his own watch. With one last minute moment of desperation, Farquhar develops an escape plan that will be a sure success. As his thoughts continue the sergeant lets go of the plank.
Now, I am on the edge of my seat and our author gives us a few pages of background information. We now have a glimpse idea of why Farquhar ended up in his current predicament. One day a passing soldier stopped at his home for water and made small talk while his wife got the man a drink. Farquhar really has no involvement in the war however, carried on the conversation nevertheless. What Farquhar didn’t know was this soldier was actually a Federal scout.
Just as quickly as Bierce gives us a bit of narrative, we are sent back again to the present action. With excellent detail, the author describes the hanging. Just when we think Farquhar is doomed the noose breaks sending him into the water below. He manages to get free, dodge several canon and gun shots, while eventually making his way to shore. Farquhar then spends hours running home. When he finally arrives, he looks at his wife, sprints towards her only to feel an incredible blow to the back of his neck. Shockingly, Farquhar never had an unbelievable escape, but rather dreamed everything up in the minutes before his execution. He died, just as scheduled, by hanging on the Owl Creek Bridge. I was totally unsuspecting of the ending to the story. The description was so realistic and vivid I really thought Farquhar escaped. The entire time I wish he had; it seems like he did nothing wrong to get in his unfortunate situation. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed the story and was on the edge of my seat. Author, Ambrose Bierce did a great job of building suspense and leaving readers rather dumbfounded at the stories close.
The Cask of Amontillado
Even though I hadn’t read Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” before today, I felt like I knew exactly what was coming because we watched the film in class last week. I believe the film portrayed the actual short story quite well. Unfortunately, watching the movie before reading the story left me without any feeling of surprise at the end of Poe’s tale. Regardless, I still found the story to be interesting due in part to our narrator’s lack of reasoning behind killing Fortunato. The first line of the story reads, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” What was this terrible insult that would possess our narrator to seek revenge?
The story takes place one night during the carnival season. Fortunato is highly intoxicated at this point and is approached by our narrator, Montresor, with an inquisition about Amontillado (a type of wine). Since Fortunato is considered a proficient in tasting wines he follows Montresor to his inevitable doom. Montresor takes Fortunato into the vaults below his house, coaxing him to his fate. Throughout the entire story Poe had our narrator address Fortunato in a rather unique way. He referred to him as his friend, and was overly concerned about Fortunato’s health and wellbeing. He even offered several times to turn around and forget the Amontillado. I understand Montresor had to trick Fortunato into believing he truly cared about him. However, there are several occasions when I thought Montresor really hoped Fortunato would ask to leave.
Poe uses several examples of foreshadowing during the short story. One instance is when Montresor is inquiring about Fortunato’s cough. Fortunato states, “the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough.” That is absolutely correct, Fortunato will die when our narrator buries him alive. There is also an example when the men say a toast. Fortunato toasts to, “the buried that repose around us,” while Montresor in response states, “And I to your long life.” At this point readers are aware something unusual is going on. The text suggests Fortunato will not make it out of this excursion alive. Sure enough, when the opportunity arises, Montresor does chain Fortunato to a wall. He then proceeds to construct another wall, essentially burying him alive. The question that still remains in my mind is why? What did he do that brought about this horrendous act?
The Black Cat
“The Black Cat” is thought by many to be one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works of literature. I had not previously read “The Black Cat,” but had an idea of what the story was about. When we read “The Purloined Letter” a few days ago in class, I was waiting for something gruesome to happen having the preconceived notion that Poe is famous for dark and twisted stories. “The Purloined Letter” however, is a rather normal detective story, unlike “The Black Cat” which does prove to be strange and unnerving.
I like how Poe began his story with our narrator “unburdening his soul” for he is scheduled to die tomorrow. Right away I was hooked to the story; wanting to know what actions led to this man’s fate. The narrator also states, “Yet, mad I am not – and very surely do not dream” at the beginning of the story. This statement is extremely ironic since he then proceeds to describe his horrific and insane acts which lead to his current situation.
The story is about a man, our narrator, who remains nameless throughout the entire piece. This particular man leads a rather normal, happy life with his wife and several pets that they both adore. As time goes on, the man starts to develop an intimate connection with the couple’s black cat, named Pluto. Eventually, the connection starts to become an annoyance to the man just as he is taking a turn for the worst himself. He begins drinking quite often turning his easy going personality into that of a crazy person. He abuses his animals, his wife, and ultimately makes several attempts at killing his cat. Eventually he does succeed thinking he has gotten rid of the monster forever.
The same night that he killed his cat, the man and his wife were woken up to their house in flames. After moving to an apartment, coincidently another cat stumbles upon the family; or is it the same one? Trying to make up for his horrible act with his previous pet, the man takes the cat in and eventually becomes just as loathsome towards the feline as before. Our narrator, in a final act of desperation for his sanity attempts to kill this second cat but is stopped by his wife. Because of his sheer anger at the entire situation he kills her instead and proceeds to bury her in the wall of their cellar (Poe had a secret fear of being buried alive).
I feel one of the main messages in “The Black Cat” is karma. Our main character did nothing but sin terribly throughout the entire story and thought he was going to get away with killing his wife. He even made light of the situation when police arrived to search for her. In the end the man buried the cat in the wall with the man’s dead wife! The black cat, his arch enemy during the entire story, was the reason for his downfall. In my opinion our narrator brought everything on himself. Our narrator was an obvious alcoholic (like Poe in real life) and took his anger out on the cat that just seemed to never die. Black cats are often compared with hell or the devil. I think the notion began to eat at our narrator until he snapped, resulting in the death of his wife, and the terrible bad luck of the cat “outing” him in front of authorities.
Delmonico
“Delmonico” by Daniel Handler was my favorite story read in class so far this semester. Once I started reading I couldn’t put the story down because detective and “murder mystery” tales intrigue me. I thought Handler used excellent description throughout the entire story. The narrator of “Delmonico,” Mr. Jones was a character not directly involved in the action. Jones is a quiet man that is a regular at the bar, Slow Night, where the story takes place. Even though Jones has nothing to do with the plot of the story he still drives a bit of the action with his opinions and secret love for Davis, the female bartender.
Mr. Jones gives readers a bit of back ground information on the bar, Davis, and why most people chose to spend their night with her. Apparently Davis is a lovely woman who gives incredible advice, and is able to solve just about any problem a customer will bring into her bar. This particular story deals with two men, Callahan Jeffers and his friend Bruno, who seek Davis out for a solution to a very grave problem. Callahan Jeffers has been accused of murdering his wife due in part her strange and sudden disappearance and his violent back ground. The two men are skeptical but hope Davis can tell them where Jeffers wife has gone because he claims he has not killed her. Jeffers is convinced his wife has set him up.
The entire story is based around this mystery of where Jeffers wife has gone and whether or not Jeffers is really guilty. Similar to “The Purloined Letter” the evidence is right in front of Jeffers and his friend Bruno. Both Davis and Mr. Jones figure out what most likely happened to Jeffers wife. Mr. Jones states, “Nobody ever remember to look up. The drink broke the window and made them look the wrong way. Just the time she needed. They took a trip to the basement, they took a trip to the room, and by the time they got back from the roof she was out the front door like a person.”
The difference between “Delmonico” and “The Purloined Letter” is author Daniel Handler actually let readers actively participate in the story. The dialogue between Callahan Jeffers, Bruno, and Davis allowed readers to develop their own assumptions and come up with a potential ending to the mystery. Unfortunately, we never do figure out exactly what happens to any of the characters in the story including the narrator, poor Mr. Jones. Jones begins the story in love with Davis and ends the story as in love with her but is no further along with telling his true feelings. All in all I thought “Delmonico” was a very interesting read, I enjoyed it immensely.
The Purloined Letter
I enjoyed reading “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe. I thought the story was very interesting and captured my attention from beginning to end. I appreciated the story because it was not the gory, graphic tale I am used to reading by Poe. “The Purloined Letter” was a detective story, which I believe was a new genre for the time it was written. I find mysteries and detective pieces to be very interesting because there is always an element of surprise.
“The Purloined Letter” is based around a robbery that is being investigated by Monsieur G, the Prefect of Police in Paris. Monsieur G regales the tale of the theft and the attempts at retrieving the stolen property to the unnamed narrator of the story and Dupin (both acquaintances of Monsieur G). Monsieur G states that a letter of significant importance was stolen by Minister D in the open. The police consequently had spent the next week searching every square inch of the Minister’s hotel room without his knowledge. Despite the ridiculously thorough search, the letter was still not recovered.
At this point in the story several weeks have passed. The three men gather under similar circumstances that brought about their first meeting. Monsieur G has no new information about the purloined letter but Dupin does. In fact, Dupin reveals he has somehow retrieved the letter from Minister D. The latter half of the story consists of Dupin explaining to our narrator how through logic he was able to analyze the Minister which led to his possession of the letter. Dupin puts himself in the place of the Minister and rationally discovers where the letter is being kept. Towards the end of the story readers learn that even though a problem seems impossible and complicated, often times the solution is right in front of you like the purloined letter.
Once again I thought the story was very interesting. Poe purposely did not give readers a chance to decipher the mystery on their own. Readers were still given enough information to make assumptions and analyze Dupin’s ideas behind using logical reasoning to solve problems. Common sense ultimately led to the rather easy retrieval of the purloined letter.
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