Ace in the Hole

I found this story to be a charming testament to the everyday male that works a stressful job and then comes home to an even more stressful household. The story itself is quite short and very simple, as are almost all the short stories we read. But the message that the story brings is very relatable and touching.

Ace was just recently fired from his job for not being able to parallel park his boss’s car while as work. This resulted in Ace feeling down and quite tense. His reaction was to take out his aggression on another driver on his way back from work. His mother was comforting to his current circumstance and told Ace that he was working too hard anyway and that this was a good thing. This makes him feel better and he jogs back to his home with his daughter in his arms.

The following scene is where the real emotion begins to come alive. Ace begins to explore memories of his high school years and his performance in his basketball team. He thinks about the possibilities of becoming a professional and making some serious money. But when his wife arrives home and hears the news, her reaction shows Ace how he is simply being a little too optimistic. He continues to think positively and insists that his wife and him dance. He awkwardly gets her to her feet and they move around for a while.

The simple story talks about the cling that some people have to their past and the events that they were able to accomplish when they were younger. It distracts them from the current, sometimes unfortunate lives that they have now. In this story, Ace is able to think past his life at home and invasion his life again as a talented basketball player. However, his imagination will only get him so far.

Blackberry Winter

I enjoyed reading “Blackberry Winter” because there were some twists that I have not seen in any of these other short stories. The narrator is the main character, a nine year old boy, but as an adult, as seen in one of the previous short stories. This technique is called a frame narrative. The story has some foreshaddowing because the narrator has already experienced the story. I was imediately hooked to the story when the stranger approached the house and the boy was thinking through all the scenarios of why the man would be coming to their house from that direction and in such an assertive way. When he pulled the knife on the dogs, I was convinced that he was going to kill both the mother and the son, until I relized that the boy was now an adult telling the story, so I knew the boy could not have been killed. I thought it was ironic that the negro boy who is two years older than Seth, had grown up to be so mean. But I guess it makes sense because his mother abused him to the point where he was ill spirited. This is a good story to talk about in class because the plot twists and the foreshaddowing that takes place throughout the short story. I would like to know what the adult narrator meant, when he said that he had been keeping up, or following the man who helped on the farm for half a day. Did he know if he was still alive and why was he so significant?

Battle Royal-Ellison

This short story by Ellison was confusing to me. I did not understand why the main character, who was African American, was treated so well by the white peopl, but then mistreated, and then treated with respect again by getting a scholarship. I think that the blindfold is symbolic of his grandfather’s curse. He is constantly concerned with what his grandfather would think. During this time period there is still a lot of racial discrimination which could also be symbolized by the black blindfold. It keeps him from being able to see the problems associated with him being comfortable in the presence of white people. They show him respect and allow him to say a very intelligent speech, but they first make him take part in the battle they call the Battle Royal. During the battle all he can think about is giving his speech to the people at the fighting arena. He is more concerned with the speech than getting beat up by white men. This tells me that he takes more pride in his education that what it takes him to get to that point. He has to overcome many conflicts, both internal and external. The dream at the end of the story is very significant because it shows the audience his relationship with his grandfather. There seems to be some tension between them. His grandfather does not view the scholarship as something worth the excitment. He thinks it is more a slap in the face from the white men.

good country people

Initially, I read this story with no thought at all. It was a story I just read without really looking into the layers and the complexity in the work. When you look at the work through a more analytical lens, you begin to notice a lot of different things. Firt thing the struck me was a couple names. First was the fact that Joy changed her name to Hulga. Why would anyone change such a nice name into something so ugly with a negative connotation? Hulga said it in the story that she chose the name for its negative connotation and even the ugliness of the name. this brings up the fact why would she do that? I believe she did it to be different. To stand out and control what other people thought of her. The whole idea of the short story is to show how people control their lives. In Hulga’s way, she changed her name so she knows what people think of her and how they judge her. In general, I did like this short story but I felt like without looking at it deeper it could easily be forgotten. There wasn’t much suspense to keep the reader attached but when you really analyze the story It brings out some good ideas.

sonnys blues

Initially I didn’t like this short story too much. It just didn’t really click with me. However, looking back upon the story and analyzing it, I really get to see the themes and what the story was trying to say. Throughout the story there are conflicts presented like jail. When looking back at it, the conflicts were almost always treated with drugs or music. To help him get through the struggles he was in. In the end of the story, Sonny explained why he abused drugs. It was to get away from reality and live a more stress free life. When you think of it, this is the same cure that music gave him. He played his instrument with no worries or anything on his mind. When he was playing it was like he was disconnected from the world and lived in his own place. This emphasizes the theme in the story of the power of music and how it can help someone. Music has really helped me through college as it calms me down and gives me peace of mind.

Sonny’s Blues

Sonny’s blues is a story that really spoke to me on multiple levels. The most important one was the fact that he used music to cope with his stuggles. The melodic language that was sprawled out onto the page really allowed me to get a sense of the lyrical notion that this story was meant to have. The language that the author used made it seem not only that Sonny was very attached to music, but that Sonny’s life was and entirely was music. Music speaks to the soul in many way that words and actions cannot. It is not something that works for everyone, and it is not something that everyone feels on the same level. But when music does strike a chord with an individual, it really can make a huge impact. You can see that in the story it was Sonny’s life and motivation, without it there really wouldn’t be a Sonny. The struggle that he had with his life and with his music was sort of paralleled, which made him more of a sympathetic character since the reader was able to understand what he was going through just a little bit more. I think that without the author’s overwhelming use of music in description and lyrical language that the story would not have near as much of an impact as it does with it. The overwhelming sense of music really creates an atmosphere in which the reader is whisked away and lost in without much effort.

1 and 2

Samuel Beckett’s 1 and 2 was a very good read. It made me ponder whether or not the story was stream of consiousness though. I mean, at first it would seem that way due to the overwhelming amount of questions, phrases, contradictions, and overall syntax of the story. When I looked deeper into it however, it really seemed like it was trying to say something, but just could not seem to get the words out in an ordered manner. As I write this it reminds me of the quote from Finding Nemo, “Look, you’re really cute, but I can’t understand what you’re saying. Say the first thing again,” when Marlin is speaking to Dory the forgetful fish. It’s like the thoughts in these two short stories really wanted to uncover something, but in the process he said nothing, or at least nothing that made sense. This in turn leaves me questioning, because in saying nothing, he did say something to me. (I’m starting to sound like the narrator himself at this point.) But in all seriousness, the theme I got out of this story was the struggle for human communication and how in reading this struggle, you can start to understand that everyone struggles with communication and saying how they truly feel. You start to gain the understanding that you can receive from reading a story that presumably says nothing at all. I am not entirely sure I am making sense, or able to put into words what I mean. But in the end, I guess that’s what this story was really all about in the first place.

Good Country People

This short story was interesting, to say the least. I feel that it reveals a lot about human character. Each person in this story is completely different from one another. You have Mrs. Hopewell , who is just so nice and sweet. Then there is Mrs. Freeman who is rather nasty, and she doesn’t really seem to have any spoken thoughts of her own, other than those that are nasty toward Hulga; she just seems to repeat Mrs. Hopewell’s thoughts. Then Hulga, herself, who just seems to be very sad about the loss of her leg and her possible shortened life. It makes one wonder why  her mom would ever even tell her daughter that she would live such a short life. It seems to have profoundly affected her, and altogether soured her character. And then you have the only man who has any dialogue in this story, and his obnoxiously colored suit. He portrays himself as simple, but really he is very diabolical, and scheming. I feel really bad for Hulga because she really thought that she might have a chance to meet and like a boy who also liked her. But in the end, he was just a creep who wanted her leg. I feel that their names reveal their characters. Also I love the end of this story, it’s very comical that the women discuss his simpleness, when really they were all kind of played the fool by this grotesque man. Also why on earth does he collect people’s deformities?

1 and 2

Samuel Beckett’s “’1’ and ‘2’”, was nothing short of shocking really. This story took me by surprise because when you first look at it, it looks like a hyper child just babbling about nothing. Then as you read along and the story progresses you start to notice that in all the chaotic text, there is a coherent structure and story. It took me about ten minutes to get through the first few lines, as I had to sit there and re-read everything three times over and over. It is unique in the sense that he basically contradicts everything he says. Going back to the child who is like, “I like this toy” and then is bored in two minutes. This is what the story reminded me of the whole time. The person in the short story is in really deep thought I believe because he is thinking through every word that comes out of his mouth. It isn’t always and bad thing and then a good thing or vice versa. I feel like this story is most definitely a stream of thoughts just flowing through a person’s head but the person is far from dumb. Yes, the contradictions are there but they all make sense to the story in many ways. Overall the story was kind of tough to read and nothing really like anything I have come across before but still it was manageable.

– Vincent Ibarrola

Sonny’s Blues

I think when looking at this short story it is important to consider the fact that the protagonist and Sonny are brothers. This fact is a necessary component in this story as it shows a complete juxtaposition. Brothers are always compared and the ones in this story are no different. Sonny was the more free of the brothers. And the narrator is definitely more of a logical, sound mind. This is extremely apparent in the cab scene when both brothers are driving through the old neighborhood, and each is looking out of a different window, at a different path, and a  different future. One is a teacher,safe, no surprises, the other is a musician-not as steady with work. Though at certain places within this story we see that the teacher has also battled with temptation, but clearly by his occupation he has overcome that. Not to say that that temptation will not come again in his life, but he can definitely handle it better than his brother. This story makes a strong connection between the similarity of music and drugs. I have always thought that musicians are noted for doing drugs because this can combat the high of being on stage. But in this story the two are compared, for the feelings they give one and for the similar dips in high notes and low notes. All in all, I enjoyed this story as it was almost like reading a piece of music, with its choppy sentences, followed by its long, flowing sentences.