God Sees the Truth, But Waits

Ivan Demtrievich Aksenov was a merchant living in a town in Russia, Vladimir. Although he was prone to drinking, he was not violent He was responsible and well liked by people that knew him. Even if a person is prone to something wrong, it does not mean that you will be always wrong. A merchant was just murdered. Aksenov was sentenced even if he did not really do it. There are some point in our life that we are accused of doing something and sometimes we get angry because of this. He spent many years in the prison and he was respected there. Aksenov is convinced that Makar Semonovich is the man who committed the murder for which Aksenov was blamed. Eventually Aksenov confronts Makar Semonovich, but he denies committing the murder. The guard found out something. Makar Semonovich approaches Aksenov later that day in a terrible state, and he eventually admits to Aksenov that it was he who killed the merchant. Aksenov forgives Semonovich, and he feels as if a terrible weight had been lifted. Makar Semonovich confesses to the authorities, and the process for Aksenov to be cleared is begun. Unfortunately, Aksenov dies before he can reach home, but he dies in peace. I believe that Aknesov is a great man. He shows that if someone did something wrong to you, you must forgive them. The title of the short story fits its main idea. It is when Aknesov was blamed for murdering; he spent many years in the prison. It takes a long time before the truth be heard, just wait because God sees the truth.

Morgan Strongosky

An Unexpected Revenge

In the short story, God Sees the Truth, But Waits, Tolstoy writes a compelling narrative about the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the false conviction of a man named Aksionov. Later, in old age, Aksionov met the man who set him up in prison. Despite the fact that his life was ruined because of him, Aksionov spares his life and leaves him to God. The man approaches Aksionov and apologizes for the way he wronged Aksionov and offers to confess to set Aksionov free. In reply Aksionov says, “Maybe I am a hundred times worse than you.” Then Aksionov dies. The idea that Aksionov is 100 times worse than the man who actually committed the crime he was convicted of is peculiar. However, this can be interpreted as Aksionov actually deserves his time in prison. This can be supported by the idea that God knew he was innocent, yet decided to have him remain in prison. Only after he had served his time, the truth was delivered and he was able to escape the conviction. However, he dies because he has nothing left outside prison. This could be tied to how he did not fully appreciate his wife. He was warned of the danger behind leaving by his wife. But he refused to listen and in the end paid for his actions in prison.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” -Ashley Heyser

In reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman, I felt on-edge the whole time. I absolutely loved Gilman’s use of symbolism to show how the woman was “trapped” in her room, just as the woman was “trapped” in the wallpaper. One of the symbols that stuck out to me was how the woman’s room was set up very much like a mental institution. The fact that the bed and everything was bolted to the ground and there were bars on the windows was very eerie and unsettling to me because it didn’t come off as a comfortable place to be. Another symbol that made this story even more strange was that on one side of the room there was beautiful scenery and it was pleasant  but on the other was a spooky garden, which is not the way gardens are usually spoken about. Rather then the garden representing all things fresh, new, young and beautiful, the garden seemed old, twisted and dying.

I also found this story unusually  haunting because it was from the first person, unlimited point of view and everything that the woman saw, I was able to picture. This point of view made the story exceptionally scary because if it were from the husbands point of view or third person limited, it wouldn’t have as much of a description because the woman is the only one seeing it, so it is like you are seeing the woman behind the yellow wallpaper through the woman’s eyes.