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.