William Carlos Williams-The Use of Force

William Carlos Williams
The Use of Force

" The child's mouth was already bleeding. Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks. Perhaps I should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would have been better. But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases, and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. But the worse of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it."(p.1171)


I believe that this quote was important to the short story because it points out the emotion that the doctor was feeling during his visit to the this particular house. His confrontation that he had with this girl can be seen in this one paragraph. The doctor overwhelmed with anger let his emotion and feeling over power his mind. He had become exhausted but at the same time determined to get a diagnosis.

In the beginning of the story believe the doctor was a “normal” doctor who just became so stressed out over the little girl who had became enraged. It was shocking to me how the doctor losses control and have thoughts of killing the father, or hurting the girl. I think that was a little strange. He seems to have some concern for the girl’s health and it shows in how much effort he put into trying to get her to open her mouth.

He had become so irritated with her that he started to use force. The force that he used resulted in him enjoying and taking pleasure in the way he acted toward the girl. I believe that in some way the doctor represented just a doctor who was just too controlling. His use of force on the little girl was not necessary, he disregarded he bleeding mouth and though he was trying to help the little girl he could have used another method to helping her. His stupidity, and anger got the job accomplished but what would have happen if he would have harmed the little girl.

Edgar Allan Poe-The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe
The Cask of Amontillado

"Come", I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missede. For me its no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible.

When reading the short story I found that this quote was most important to me. It showed the irony that existed throughout the story. The protagonist in the story gave us his story and why he wanted to kill Fortunato. He had wit, and he was deceiving. Throughout the story he made Fortunato feel as though he was interested in him being sick, he wanted Fortunato to think that he cared about him, and respected him. He hid his true feeling and never showed Fortunato his "true color" untill the end of the story. He even called Fortunato his friend at one point. In all actually, this quote represents the cruelness, and the heartless nature of the protagonist.

D.H. Lawrence-The Rocking-Horse Winner

D.H. Lawrence
The Rocking-Horse Winner

And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! These must be more money!

The story is about a family who "had no luck". The family is haunted by a sense of failure; the way the family lived exceeded their income, and the unspoken anxiety to get money was widespread through the household. This refrain there must be more money, it’s sort of like there conscious talking to them, they had a desire to become rich and it was shown throughout the story. Basically they would get rich or die trying. The rocking horse gives Paul advance knowledge of the winners of the races, and the family become wealthy from exploiting Paul.
Paul is the scapegoat and though he dies he saves the family from their misfortune and bad luck. This phrase is important because without this constant reminder that they are not living the good life and they are poor they probably would have had the desire and will power to do something about their misfortune. I believe that though the constant reminder of being poor haunted them, it also gave them strength.

Flannery O'Connor- A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Flannery O’Connor
A Good Man Is Hard To Find

“Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her.” (p.913)

I believe that this sentence is important in this short story because basically the old lady was watching her family being killed, and she was trying to save her own life not caring about no one else and she tried so hard that she denied the very man that she believed in. The Misfit had made a statement about Jesus raising the dead and too get on his “good side” she made this statement. She put herself in this position and she dragged her family along with her. If not for her they would be alive and she would be alive as well. Instead of praying to God, and honoring the man who saved mankind, she denied his power; the power to raise the dead. I think this represented her insensitivity, her desire to stay alive by any means necessary, and her false holiness.

Shirley Jackson-The Lottery

Shirley Jackson
The Lottery

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” (p.567)


This sentence may not be the most important sentence in the short story but I think it represents the insaneness that existed throughout this community. These people held lotteries and the winner of the lottery was ultimately stoned, I think this ritual in some way is a nihilistic way of life. The friendliness throughout the story even leading up to the stoning of Mrs.Hitchinson shows that the everyone accepted the lottery and it was practiced throughout the town by every member, and no one complained. That’s astonishing to me, because it has been going on for over 70 years, and no one complained. If everyone practiced this ritual it must mean that their community existed just for the lottery, the absence of god and religion must have been prevalent throughout the town.

Ernest Hemingway-Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway
Hills like White Elephants

The women brought two glasses of beer and two felt pads. She put felt pads and the beer glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at the line of hills. They were white in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
“They look like white elephants,” she said.
“I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his beer.

While reading this story, I found it very hard to link the importance of white elephants to the hills. I know that white elephants are unique and rare. The nature of having a baby could be compared to white elephants. The whole short story is basically a dialogue between a man and a girl who’s at a train station talking about whether or not they should keep the baby. In some way the train station represents the path there are going to take. But where do the hills and white elephants play a part? White elephants is a symbolism is the rareness of having a baby, and the nature of the baby maybe being in her womb, or maybe just everything surrounding the pregnancy. It’s unclear to me what decision they made of whether having the abortion or keeping the baby.

Nathaniel Hawthorne- Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Young Goodman Brown

“My Faith is gone!” cried he, after one stupefied moment. “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”

During Brown’s journey in the woods, he discovers that many people in his community are participating in this ceremony. These people are Christian that range from his minister and deacon. He than noticed that his wife was there and that’s when he said I lost my Faith, in both senses because he now has followed the “devil” and their rituals and his wife did as well.

I think this passage is most important to me, because in a sense the devil is within the world. There are many people that claim to be Christians, or Muslims or any religion and claim that they live holy, but they are easily susceptible to the cruelness of the devil and they commit sins and add to the destruction of the universe. Kanye West once said “I told God I be back in a second, man it’s so hard not to act reckless”. I think that phrase can be compared to the characters of this story because people try to live right but there are certain force in the world such as the devil and his will that keep you from completing your goals and keeps you from living holy, if you don’t have the will power and strength to proceed and live the “right” way based on your religion than you will fail

Charlotte Perkins Gilman-The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow wallpaper


“What is the matter? He cried.”For God’s sake, what are you doing!”
I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.
“I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”
Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time! (Gilman, 497)

I chose this quote to represent Jane’s freedom against her husband and society. First I will explain the oppressive life style she lived through. John secluded her in a room away from the world, with no way to communicate with anyone other than the people who are assisting her. She couldn’t read or write, she couldn’t cook or clean or do anything she loved to do. He locked her up against her will, and controlled her every move. You tell me, that wouldn’t make you angry? She was imprisoned in her own home, forced to abide by the rules of a man who knew nothing of her, forced to do whatever he said, forced to look at yellow wallpaper for weeks, forced away from the rest of society. You tell me if that’s not oppression?

“I believe there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those doing the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. “(Malcolm X). I believe that the oppression that existed in the Yellow Wallpaper between Jane and her husband John eventually led to her maturation, freedom, and emancipation. The conditions that she lived through led not to her insanity, but to her liberation. We know that through painful experiences that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Jane eventually wanted her freedom, and she took it.

William Faulkner-A Rose for Emily

William Faulkner
A Rose for Emily

That night the Board of Aldermen met-three graybeards and one younger man, a member of the rising generation.
“It’s simple enough, “he said. Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don’t…”
“Dammit, sir, ‘Judge Stevens said, “will you accuse a lady to her face of something bad?” (Faulkner, 406)

Throughout the short story, I noticed that there was a struggle between two generations. The struggle was clear throughout the book starting from when they claimed she owed taxes. She was not paying based on past agreements her father had with past men that were in power. She held on to things, while others wanted her to let go and move on. In a way it is good to hold on tradition without it we would not be where we are today. There was numerous amounts of time where I believe her beliefs clashed with the newer generation, from the time when the men wanted to go into her house and let her know about the smell in her house but they wanted to do it I a not so respectful way but Judge Stevens wouldn’t let them, he wanted them to show some respect to the lady. Another time is the fact that she when to the druggist and bought rat poison. I believe that this in fact is one clear fact of how she held on to tradition, or let just say “old times”. I have come to believe that she used this rat poison to kill Homer, but my argument is the fact that now a day you wanted see too many killings do to somebody poisoning you. In this generation you would probably see somebody shooting you, or stabbing you, or anything put poison. She lived an odd lifestyle different from the generation that ruled over the town, I was similar to the conservative versus the liberal, who comes out the winner.

Philip K. Dick-We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

Philip K. Dick
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale

“The trip is very vivid in his mind—at least under sedation. But apparently he doesn’t recall it otherwise. Someone, probably at a government military science lab, erased his conscious memories; all he knew was that going to Mars meant something special to him, and so did being a being secret agent. They couldn’t erase that; it’s not a memory but a desire, undoubtedly the same one that motivated him to volunteer for the assignment in the first place.”(Dick, p359)

I believe that this quote is important because during the process of them placing false memory in to his head the workers at the Rekal incorporations found out that Mr. Quail really did take a trip to Mars but at this point wasn’t sure about why, and who sent him there. I believe that the story became interesting to me at this point because I was unsure about where it was leading. At this point we learn that he actually wasn’t trying to take a trip to Mars but that his memories wasn’t completely erased that sort of placed images in his head, to make him have a desire to go to Mars. But during this process he knew so much in so little time that he had to have been there before. I just thought the author brought this short story to life by putting in so much information; it kept me thinking and wondering about what’s going to happen next.

The Open Boat-Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane
The Open Boat

“Look! There’s a man on the shore!”
“Where?”
“There! See ‘im? See ‘im!”
“Yes, sure! He’s walking along.”
“Now he’s stopped. Look! He’s facing us!”
“He’s waving at us!”
“So he is! By thunder!” (Crane, 346)

When reading this dialogue in the story, I found it very interesting to me; one reason being is because I didn’t understand it at first. I didn’t understand why the men didn’t help them and why they were waving instead of trying to help them. They didn’t just see one person they see many people, and they also seen a life boat but no one helped them. They were stuck at sea and no one bothered to see if they were alright, the light house, and house of refuge was useless to them. It was insane how no one actually noticed their situation. I also found it kind of strange how the light house stayed lit and there wasnt anyone in there. I really dont understand the significance of that part of the story. For instance why the author chose to use the light house, and why these people seen them but didnt bother to help them. Other than this dialogue, I wasn’t too fond with the story. It really didn’t grab my attention.

Kate Chopin-The Story of an Hour

Shawn Bartee


Kate Chopin
The Story of an Hour



“And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! “Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering.” (Chopin 268)



When reading this passage the first words that came to my head were freedom, liberty, and oppression. I really felt that something was driving these women to feel so passionate about being free. Someone in her life, someone who she cared for and loved at times, and that person was her husband. I noticed from the passage she said she loved her husband sometimes, and more often that usual. I understand that when you’re in a marriage you go through things that will have you arguing and fighting with your partner. To say that you often had not loved him to me is very interesting, especially the word choice and the order in which she had said it. Than she goes on and say what does it mattered, really it didn’t matter because he was perceived to be dead now. All her fears, her hurt, her pain, her oppressed life style, even her pride to stay with a man who treated her in such away, was all now over. He was gone and wasn’t coming back. This story reminded me very much of the yellow wallpaper and both stories were excellently written. The fact that both women lived with men who controlled their lives was astonishing to me, because these men were the ultimate power and force in the lives of these women. When I read this, I believed that her freedom from the oppressive society is the hour that she is talking about. The hour that she so desperately needed and in that hour she conquered all, she was now free in mind, body, and spirit. The freedom that the woman from the yellow wallpaper was seeking is the same freedom that Louise was long in search for. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that freedom in never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Louise didn’t actually demand it, she just wanted it so bad, and some supernatural force gave her that freedom, before her death. It is remarkable, the hour of freedom.

Willa Cather- Paul's Case

Shawn Bartee


Will Cather
Paul’s Case

“When the sympathy began, Paul sank into one of the rare seats with a long sigh of relief, and lost himself as he had done a Rico. It was not that symphonies, as such, meant anything in particular to Paul, but the first sight of the instruments seemed to free some hilarious spirit within him; something that struggled there like the Genius in the bottle found by the Arab fisherman. He felt a sudden zest of life; the lights danced before his eyes and the concert hall blazed into unimaginable splendor. When the soprano soloist came on, Paul forgot even the nastiness of his teacher’s being there, and gave himself up to the peculiar intoxication such personages always had to him.” (Cather, 204)



When I read this passage, I felt connected to this boy Paul. At times there are so many things going on in my life that I just want to get away maybe to another world, or to a second life. Sometimes I just listen to music and zone out, or play basketball, or even daydream. There are times in your life when you just feel like you need freedom, like you want to just fly away, and for some people music is there way of satisfaction, for others its reading or writing, or poetry, maybe even a sport. While reading the passage, I felt like I was one with Paul. The description the author used really captured how he was feeling at that time. I really like that passage just because of the way the authored had drawn me into it, how I connected to how, and because I can relate to it. I Paul was passionate about his music and I loved that about this passage. In order to love something, you have to feel some passion about it. I make you feel like nothing else can, you are relaxed and poised, free from all evil, and it just fills you heart with joy. That is how I feel when I play basketball, or write, and that’s what Paul exemplifies in this passage.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)-The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Shawn Bartee

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County


“He was a the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t he’d change sides. Any way that suited that suited the other man would suit him—any way just so’s he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out the winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn’t be no solit’ry thing mentioned but that feller’d to bet on it, and take ary side please, as I was telling you. If there was a horse-race, he’d bet on it; you’d find him flush or you’d find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he’d bet on it;, if there was a cat-fight, he’d bet on it, if there was a chicken fight, he’d bet on it” (Clemens, 273)


This passage was probably one of the most important passages of the short story. It gave us an insight about the character, Jim Smiley. He was a person who loved to bet, he would bet his life away if he wanted. I believe that his betting gave him a sense of freedom, satisfaction, a rush and independence. He would bet whether he would win or lose, he was obsessed. In my eyes, I think betting would eventually cause his demise. His betting is similar to the way we as Americans bet, with the casinos in Las Vegas, and Atlantic City, and now on ESPN they have poker on television. We all have a drive, and determination to win. If we don’t we will just keep trying, never to give up, maybe one day we will get rich, it’s the American dream. “Get rich or die trying”. I also think that the character Jim Smiley can be compared to the characters in “The Other Duel”. They all lived for action, that rush, and free will, whether it is death, or betting, whether it is Nihilistic, or just a search for satisfaction. All the characters would risk all they had for glory. In essence, glory is what they all longed for.

Jorge Luis Borges- The Other Duel

Shawn Bartee

The Other Duel
Jorge Luis Borges


Their lack of imagination freed them from fear and pity alike, though fear did touch them sometimes, just as the cavalry charged them. (Borges 141)

After reading The Other Duel, I found that this phrase most interesting to me. As we know the two characters in the story lived without fear, without concern of dying, and without concern of other people. When reading the story I noticed that the two, Silveira and Cardosa lived like warriors. They weren’t afraid of anyone or anything. Just thinking about how they treated the female in the story, they had no imagination no love, no imagination to dream, or feel for someone else. They knew of nothing else but battle, they fought to the death. In other words they lived to die. The characters didn’t fear dying, they just wanted to win the battle, they didn’t have any imagination to feel and understand pain, they couldn’t hurt or pity, or even cry. I believe that this phrase was just so powerful, the lack of fear is the reason why they live the way they did, the lack of certainty, lack of fear and panic. The use of this phrase in the story is brilliant. As we discussed in class, the characters lived in a Nihilistic world, and everything meant nothing to them, the only thing that they were certain of is death, so why would they have to fear anything.

Ambrose Bierce- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce



He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift—all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore or understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith’s hammer upon an anvil; it had the same ringing quality. (Bierce 134)

After reading the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the one passage from the reading that I felt and understood was the passage on page 134. I loved the use of imagery; the way the author described the scenery. The author wanted us to not only see but also feel and understand what Peyton was going through, the fact that he knew he was about to die was simple scary and unreal. I thought the passage was thoughtful and perfectly written. His use of simile when describing the sound that he was hearing, his description of the water, it was as if everything troubled him. He was about to die, and he noticed everything, it was as if time had stopped and he could see and hear all things. In some kind of weird way he had God like powers, he could see and hear all things. While reading the passage I thought about me being at my deathbed, and what will run through my head, what I will feel, what emotions would I have? Peyton Farquhar was being controlled by his thoughts, he had all powers and his mind just wondered freely, free of all things. I found that this passage was most important because it was brilliantly written, from the beginning to the end, it was intense, I could picture everything, and I loved how the author wrote it with so much imagination. Peyton could described and heard sounds that he wouldn’t have normally heard, his senses were working faster and stronger than ever before; it was astonishing to me because it made me wonder about death. The essence of death and the way I would die, what powers would I have, and how will I die.