A Joke or Something More?

When first reading “A Report to the Academy,”  I thought it was another funny story making fun of some of history’s funny thoughts, like us evolving from monkey’s.  But as I read on, I realized a true meaning that is more skin deep.  I don’t think the man who was formerly an ape, is not talking about evolution, but how he changed from being a like a trained monkey to understanding what life is all about.  He realized to break out of that “cage” he had to copy what the “humans” were doing and then he could be free from his own personal “cage.”  In the end, everyone is asking him questions to find out about his old life, and he is trying to explain to them how he likes the differences that he experiences now.  I’m not saying this may have been the actual correct interpretation of the story, but it’s food for thought.

Brianna McLean

 

Snows of Kilimanjaro

Throughout my reading of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” I kept finding my mind wandering back to two specific things that happen in the story. Firstly is the instance with the thorn. We talked about this a little bit in class but it really does strike me as hilarious that Harry is off on this safari in a dangerous part of the world. You really do expect that if something is going to happen to him it’s going to be something bad. Really anything from mauled by a tiger to simply being lost in the African wilderness. But what happens instead is he gets a cut from a thorn. A cut he could have just as easily have gotten anywhere else in the world, not on this dangerous safari. Then the cut gets infected and that is what slowly kills him. It’s just crazy that it’s something so small that does it. I’m not really sure if this is a symbol for something I should be picking up on, but it just struck me as funny. Then also later on in the story something that struck me was when Harry begins to talk about his regrets through his writing. He doesn’t talk about wishing he had written more exquisite writings, but rather the direct opposite. He talks about how he wishes he had spent more time writing about his own life. About the lower classes and people other than the boringly predictable upper class.  It just strikes me as a lesson to not take what you have for granted, because when it comes right down to it, that’s what you’re going to miss most in the world.

Bernice bob’s her hair

There were a few things I found to be interesting about “Bernice Bobs her Hair,” first and foremost, the title. Obviously the title isn’t anything crazy or off-putting, but rather explains exactly what is going to happen throughout the story. What I did find interesting about it however is that it tells you from just a glance at the story that at some point Bernice is actually going to go through with the ‘bobbing’ of her hair she jokes about throughout. As she was joking about doing this I kept wondering what was going to happen to make her actually bob her hair. Instead of leaving this as a surprise to the reader Fitzgerald puts it right in front of you. If the story didn’t have this title her going through with this dramatic hair transformation would have been a surprise. It seems that by pointing that surprise out though, it makes the ending that much more surprising. Bernice’s retaliation of cutting off Marjorie’s braids was that much more unexpected because Fitzgerald takes away the earlier surprise of Bernice bobbing her hair. This story gives you a funny sense of pride for Bernice for being able to stand up for herself at the end of the tale. Yes she sneaks out and it isn’t the most noble of moves, but the retaliation really does make you feel good for her in the end.

Bobs are so 1920

Throughout “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” hair is undoubtedly is an often-visited subject. While Bernice’s cousin, Marjorie, has everything of which to be envied, Bernice is simply boring. Every single facet of Bernice is uninteresting until Marjorie takes her on as an apprentice, a project in which she fashions Bernice to have all of the qualities that make Marjorie such a hit in the social world – all of them except, of course, Marjorie’s perfect, golden hair. While Bernice is gaining more and more popularity and becoming more in line with Marjorie, Bernice declares that she will bob her hair. This statement was almost unheard of, and an extremely strong declaration. A woman’s hair, ever since the Victorian times, has been an object of obsession. For Bernice to part with her hair, to cut it so short when traditionally, women’s hair has been long and flowing, was to some, almost offensive in how radical a change that would be. Hair has been for many centuries a possession for women to show off and something in which to take pride and of which to be envied. Feminism was certainly growing and expanding during the 1920s, and when Bernice announces her intention to bob her hair, she gains more popularity rather than persecution for her then almost outlandish plan. Marjorie calls Bernice out for being all talk and no walk, pressuring Bernice to go through with the bob. As expected, the hair cut is awful, and Bernice loses all of her gained popularity, but before she leaves town, she takes something of her cousin’s to exact revenge – Bernice cuts off Marjorie’s braids while she sleeps. In this tale, F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the role of women’s hair and how, even though seemingly trivial, can define how people perceive others.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

Fitzgerald’s Bernice Bobs Her Hair seemed like the novels we read nowadays and even TV shows. It was a good story, but it seemed a little more simple and easy to follow than the other stories we have read.  The story was well written which is expected from Fitzgerald, but the plot, not so much. It just seemed too much of an expected  story for me.  It seems too much like something what would be written today.  Writers of today were most likely inspired by Fitzgerald  because I really have read a novel just like this and I know of couple TV shows that have this in a couple episodes. Overall it was a really good story since it was written years ago and was original rather than the ones written nowadays.

Snows of Kilimanjaro

How can thematic concepts such as the inevitability of death become embodied? Using different symbols, primarily the hyena, Hemingway manifests the theme of a looming death for Henry. Symbolically, death can be seen in many forms. Another question to be posed; how does the thorn symbolize death? It can be argued that the thorn is just used as the smallest way possible to kill a man in such dangerous territory in Hemingway’s mind. However, it can also be seen that the thorn simply represents the chance of death at any moment. Hemingway often flirts with the possibilities or impossibilities of death for his characters in his work. The combination of the thematic concepts and symbols of death lead to one question overall; does Hemingway want the reader to believe that Henry caused his own death?

“Hello, Shell Shock!”

In “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” we learn about Bernice, who in the eyes of her catty cousin, Marjorie, is “dull” and “boring.”  Marjorie tortures poor Bernice and eventually tricks her into bobbing her hair.  However, this comes back to bite her because Bernice cuts off Marjorie’s beautiful long braids in the end.  I found it to be quite funny what happened at the end to Marjorie, she asked for it.  There are so many people that try to get others to fit in a perfect box and they can be quite cruel in their ways of doing it.  Most of those stories end in a very pretty and innocent way, where the person eventually finds their new-found beauty as a way to see a side of themselves they never found and they wrongly thank the horrible person who got them that far.  Sure Bernice may have found a new side of herself, but she definitely got there on her own.  She wanted to know how to be “popular” but in the end she found the courage to accept her new exciting hair-do and show Marjorie she wasn’t going to be made fun of or taken advantage of anymore.

Throughout the story, Bernice is begging and pleading for attention and to understand why no one likes her.  She is nervous and trip over her words and over her feet.  She is a typical shy girl that really is a intellectual beauty underneath.  Once she actually went and bobbed her hair, she found herself.  Though she may have been a little bit nervous, she did it and embraced it, and herself.  She found that everyone who had made a spectacle out of her, stopped liking her the minute she did bob her hair, even Warren, who clearly was only getting into her because she was acting more and more like Marjorie; even Warren turns away from her once he sees that she actually bobbed her hair.  Though it may have been cruel for Bernice to go and cut off Marjorie’s hair, I think she was finally getting what she deserved.  Bernice had accepted herself with the bobbed hair and found new courage.  Joke’s on you, Marjorie.

Brianna McLean

Talking Gorillas

Kafka Franz provides a short story very similar in nature to The Grand Inquisitor, by this I mean that the story has little plot. Whatever plot is present in the story is used as a medium to present a philosophical idea.  The idea Franz presents is based on the animistic nature of man, and how it impact our freedom. Also, how does the animistic side of mankind respond to limitations to our concept of freedom. With no definite answers posed, Franz simply explores the idea that our freedom is simply an illusion. We have what seem like choices in life, however these choices can only be accessed if one is educated. This almost presents a social justice issue.  The plight of the ape is similar to the plight of any slave or culture looked upon as “primitave”. The only means of freedom from oppression is adaptation and education. This does not make the ape necessarily happy, yet he understands it is the only method of having choice. Not freedom but to not have the feeling of being caged in. Franz makes this distinction clear, the feeling of being closed in is what we resist. We want to have a choice, even if there is only one choice.  Franz does a great job capturing these complex themes in such a short story.

Fall of the House of Usher

The story of the Fall of the House of Usher is one that is filled with conflicts. Not only is there the conflict between the narrator and his ideas of what the house is and the secrets that lie within the doors, but the story also has many different themes that seem to challenge each other throughout the narration of the story.

In the story, the idea of madness stains the thoughts of the

simple but effective

Ernest Hemingway “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

I really like Hemingway’s way of writing. He started off with an epigraph. Harry and his wife were stranded on mountains and Harry was dying. He pretty much had given up on life and didn’t think he would live through it even though, ironically, his leg was infected by something very simple as a gangrene scratch and he could have easily treated that earlier. As he was dying, he just spent his time drinking and being rude and mean to his wife. He realized his life has been wasted by his wife’s richness and his own wasting of talent. He seems to have realized that he could’ve done some other, better things with his life but since he had a comfortable luxurious life, he just went on by with his life rather than doing something useful with it. He realizes life passed him by and thinks that he is dying with unfinished business, such as his writing and possibly other things he could have done in life. Harry has accepted death but has many regrets with what he has done with his life. He believes he took things for granted and haven’t really earned much in life. The hyena is representing death and fear and the way that the wife heard it making this screaming noise right before Harry died.  Hemingway writes in a straightforward way with flashbacks to show us how Harry has lived (Harry’s writings, his youth, in the war, and etc) and how he is thinking and has given up in the present. Hemingway has really used the symbols effectively and even though his writing is simple, he makes you think. Probably  because it is simple, we think about his work more than just seeing the story as it is, which is how it actually is told.