connor’s blogs

This story reminded me of the movie “Baby Geniuses.” Both are about kids kept in a institution and made really smart. The difference between the movie and the story is that in the movie the kids were babies not teenagers like in the story. The kids in the story are encouraged to “touch themselves in the beginning of the story and leads to pregnancy . Then a baby dies and the other pregnant girl starts realizing that she wants out of this super smart society. Her boyfriend wants to be with her but doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t realize that he only truly want to be with her until she leaves. When he is about to leave he discovers this true past and that he was born in poverty. He is reunited with his wife and he know that they will make it as long as they are together.

This story was very short and to the point. It explained the handicaps, and then Harrison broke out of jail, and gets shot by the handicapper general and the story ends. I do not like the idea of of everyone being equal. Everyone is different and our differences make us unique. The world would be boring and uneventful if everyone was the same.

David Sedaris lives next door to a prostitute who has a daughter that reaches out to him. He tries to help the daughter letting her in his home, showing her his procession, and looking after her. The troubled mother of this girl does not have a care in the world about her daughter. She leaves her alone for long periods of the day and kicks out of the house at night when she brings home company. Sedaris is just trying to help set a good example for the child. After Sedaris finds out that the little girl is stealing and destroying his stuff he confronts her mother. She does not want to hear it and slams the door is his face. Later we find out that the daughter tells Sedaris to leave or her mother is going to blackmail him. Sedaris then calls his loving mother to help him move, and she would do anything for him. Sometimes this drives Sedaris mad, telling him he asked for it when he moved in.

1. Brandi is the blond nine year old “girl next door.” She acts all sweet and innocent looks for someone who she can learn from. She is abandoned by her mother emotionally and most of the time physically as well. The neighbor, Sedaris tries to be friendly to her and how does she repay him, by showing her true colors, lies and deceit. She steals his stuff and destroys his things. When Sedaris tries to confront Brandi’s mother about what she is doing her mother blows him off and says its not her problem. Brandi then confronts Sedaris and says she will blackmail him if he does not leave. So Brandi is a evil, conniving, little brat who does not want to be close to anyone and wants to be alone.

2. The theme in this story is most people have a hidden side in them. Brandi comes off as a sweet, innocent child looking for kindness. Then we find out that she is a evil, rotten, kleptomaniac. We also find out that Sedaris’ mother once lived in the bad part of town and was in poverty. Also find find out that Sedaris is gay.

I found the title for this story very appropriate. This guy has lived on three different continents and overcomes the struggles of doing this. The author came to America to work in a college library with basically no money and makes a living for himself and his wife when she comes to America. I can not believe that he rented a room for eight dollars a week. I found it interesting that he felt a stronger connection to the old women than his wife, and that the old women brought them together. The narrator and his wife were still strangers until the old women said Mala was a perfect woman and they both smiled at each other. Mala and the narrator have decided that they want to grow old together in America, and America is the third and final continent that the narrator has lived on.

I liked this story. It was a easy story to follow in that the family was going of a trip and had a accident and where then killed by a “Misfit” who escaped from jail. The grandma was a big talker, saying she wanted to run into the “Misfit” on there trip. She got her wish. Grandma talked throughout the story and had to say something about everything that came up. In the restaurant the own and her start a conversion about the “good old days” and how you can not trust anyone anymore. The title “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is left up to reader to figure out. Is it Bailey or is it the “good man” inside the “Misfit” that grandma is looking for? Bailey does not complain about all the stress he has to put up with and thinks of other people before himself. Near the end of the story the grandma and the “Misfit” are talking and the grandma is trying to help the “Misfit” find the good inside himself. In the end the “Misfit” does not want to find and kills the grandma.

This story was predictable. I could tell right away that the woman was going to go insane being trapped in the house. The women started seeing a person trapped behind the yellow wallpaper near the end of the story. I think that the the person trapped behind the wallpaper is the women being trapped in the house.  She tries and tries to free herself and can not do it. The major problem in the story is the communication between the husband and the wife. The husband being a physician tells his wife that she just needs some rest and she be alright. The husband got the house cheap and does not want to leave and pay more for a different house. He is blinded by this and does not see that his wife is suffering and going insane.

I found this reading confusing and hard to follow. Emily lives alone in her huge house and never ventures out. I do not understand why she does not want to pay her taxes and how that ties into the story. It says that the previous sheriff didn’t make pay taxes and she still things he is alive, so maybe that why? Homer then comes to town to build sidewalks and it sounds like Emily and him are enjoying each others’ company and will get married. Once Homer moves in with Emily, Emily and Homer never leave the house again. Emily then dies and a funeral is held in her house for her. Then after awhile the towns people force open a door upstairs and find Homer’s body in a bed. They don’t know how he died or when he died. The towns people then discover that Emily had been sleeping next to him, but it’s unknown if she was sleeping with him before or after he died. If she was sleeping with him after he died I find that very disturbing.

This story is about the struggles of a family with drugs and how they solve thosestruggles. The narrator of the story and his brother, Sonny, have conflict with each other, (over drugs) and the story is mainly how they rebuilt their relationship with each other. Sonny wants to join the navy and become a jazz pianist and drop out of school. The narrator thinks that Sonny wants to become a jazz pianist and use drugs. He tells his brother to stay in school and practice piano. Sonny does for awhile and then join the navy and let that carry his as far away as possible. Later in the story Sonny returns to the narrator’s home and they brothers work out their differences. Sonny invites the narrator to a concert of his, where the narrator finally understands what Sonny is doing with his life and sees that Sonny has overcome his addiction to drugs.

I found it sad that the father in the story pretty much disowns his daughter once he finds out that she is lesbian. I was always told that my parents would support me in my choice, but I can see the father’s disappointment. Every parent has an image of what they want their children to become. The dad in this story is disappointed and doesn’t support his daughter’s choices. The dad then hears that his daughter wrote a story about their relationship, through a friend. The dad then reads the story and starts think about his relationship with his dad. He never really had a good relationship with his father and never got the chance to make amens. He is afraid that the same thing is happening with his daughter.

1. We only get Sammy’s point of view on the story. We only see responses to what is happening through Sammy’s eyes. The story would be different it was told through another character or an omniscient narrator. If another character would have told the story we only see that character’s outlook on the events occurring. An omniscient narrator’s view on the story would included every one’s view on what is going on. We could see multiple vantage points and get a unbiased view of the events unraveling.