Shiny Kid-ley Light

Just to say, I enjoyed the poem quite a bit. However, I cannot recall a situation where I have been too afraid to let my "childish light" shine through- Not that it hasn't happened, because of course everyone is self conscious about how they appear to others and I am no exception- just, I don't have any particularly exciting instance. However, I do have an inspiration- Several years ago I babysat for my friend's family. The friend, (my age) was at a lacrosse game (match? I have no idea what it's called in lacrosse) and her parents were out to eat, so I babysat the little sister (she couldn't have been older than 4 or 5). Because I am not in contact with little kids very much, and I had never babysat before, the imagination of this kid was astounding. she had a box of little toy cars (something I had when I was a kid... well I still have...... shh...) and we spent at least an hour naming them and making up a story- who goes where, what happens when the school bus crashes, getting swallowed up by water- all sorts of fun disasters. I could barely follow it, until I remembered that I was like this as a kid too. In fact, I had several specific scenarios that I would pretend to be in- one was that I was stranded on a desert island with a friend or my made up brother (it depended on the day which it was- I do have a real brother, but he's 10 years older than me and thus too old to be included in my story) which had me foraging around in the back yard pretending to be catching fish, in one I was one of 3 orphaned sisters who made money for food by selling bowls that they made out of clay (this one was inspired by the clay in my back yard) and the third one had to do with a talking dog sleuth named Super-Sniff who solved mysteries and fought crime. (not surprisingly, the lack of adults was a distinct trend in these scenarios).

Babysitting Jada, though it was a fairly low key and generally uninteresting task to most, opened a world of wonder to the out-of-touch-with-her-childhood-awkward-teenager that was myself. I frequently wish for the imagination I had when I was younger, wondering if I could figure out where it is buried so that I can dig it up whenever I have to write a short story. However, since then and other situations that had me remembering my own childhood, I have made a conscious effort to step back and remember that once someone loses touch with their wonder and amazement with the world around them, they lose touch with the vibrant array of possibilities that life brings them. I forget what it feels like to be bored, just as I did when I was younger. So although this post didn't really have anything to do with being too self conscious to be myself or to be in touch with the world around me, it does hopefully do all right to describe the thoughts it evokes from me.

Story of an Hour

I believe that "The Story of an Hour" is similar to "The Awakening" in a lot of ways. When Mr. Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard is extremely happy and rejoicing about how she is finally free. The parallel to the awakening is when Edna's husband leaves on a trip and Edna expresses her freedom. The difference is that Edna's awakening happens over the course of weeks while Mrs. Mallards happens over the course of minutes: the indication that she was not previously hoping for and anticipating the elation that she would feel when her husband finally died was the fact that "there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully" . She had never experienced this relief and freedom in the past- just as Edna in the Awakening had never realized her naïvety until meeting Robert. The final similarity is the death at the end. There are a few differences; Edna commits suicide while Mrs. Mallard dies of heart troubles, but they both die of the inability to live with the possibilities of their freedom. Edna cannot live with the conflicting interests of wanting Robert, freedom, and good standing, while Mrs. Mallard cannot live with the sudden realization that she is free from all she has been bound by. However, the two pieces of literature both correspond to the idea of freedom and liberation from oppression, but the unfeasibility of it.

Lady and the Tiger

I believe that in the end, the lady has gestured to the door with the tiger. The princess is untrustworthy because she hates the woman more than she hates the idea of him being killed- the story indicates this on the last page, when it talks about how much she abhors the idea of him being with the lady. However, he knows that she cant stand the idea of him being with someone else, but he is planning to divorce the lady. Thus, he doesn't follow her advice and opens the door with the lady. He ends up getting the lady, much to the princess's dismay. However, even though they are instantly married, he has still planned to run away from the lady and elope with the princess. The lady loses, and he and the princess win. Thus the ending is happy! The lady used poor judgement in directing him towards the tiger even though it is the one that would kill him, because she did not think that he would be able to run away from the lady. However, the couple is caught by the king for running away and the man is again put in front of the doors, where he proceeds to get eaten by the tiger.