The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D.H. Lawrence

Question: 

Reread the first few pages of "The Horse Dealer's Daughter." What symbolic possibilities do you find for the characters? The setting? Select one of your ideas and write a 150-200 word response explaining the symbolism you find, relating it to the overall theme of the story.

Response:

In “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” the father’s occupation of a horse dealer symbolically grows animal characteristics within his children, Mabel, Joe, Fred Henry, and Malcolm. The oldest sibling, Joe, is described with “massive, slumbrous strength, and a stupidity” like the horse outside in the pin. “The horses were almost like his own body to him.” The middle sibling, Fred Henry, has a bit more composure, being compared as “an [animal] which controls” rather than being controlled. The next boy, Malcolm, is the youngest and has a “fresh, jaunty museau” or snout. And lastly, the female sibling, Mabel, is poked fun at by her brothers being commonly known as a “bull-dog.” In the first few pages, all the siblings have animalistic tendencies. To compare with the structure of the theme, animals have a inner nature of innocence. In the illicit love story between the homely, poor social outcast and well liked doctor, their love goes beyond materialistic roles in the time period, and adopts the theme of an innocent love that overcomes society’s expectations. Thus, between the animal-like symbolic behavior and the relationship there is a shared interest. Innocence doesn’t have materialistic duties to fulfill, rather it follows its intuition as shown throughout the story. So like the animal’s ignorance of rights and wrongs defined by society, their love was innocent in motives.

Soldier's Home by Ernest Hemingway

Question:

Think about the character of Krebs in "Soldier's Home." What kind of person was he before the war? After? What do you know about him that can explain his wanting "to live without consequences"? Put what you know about him together with the characteristics you can identify in Hemingway's style, and write a paragraph that shows how style and tone fit the character.

Response:

In Hemingway's story, “Soldier's Home,” the protagonist Krebs, has a dramatic transformation from frat boy to war veteran. The author uses a dull and isolated attitude to show Krebs’ emotional state. What really defines Krebs and also justifies the author’s use of a negative tone is the title of the story. Where really is the soldier’s, Krebs, home? Before the war, his house, family, college friends, and society’s way of life defined home from him. However, when he returns, although everything physically is the same and he is literally home, the feeling of it isn’t present. This is one of the main causes from Krebs’ frustration, lying, and disconnection. Home is where the heart lies, it is an intimate symbol of being comfortable, and a universal concept all readers can relate to. The lack of home produces the dull, isolated tone the reader feels.

Krebs’ internal transformation that causes this disconnection of home is from an emotional drainage resulted in the war. This also produces Krebs’ desire to “live without consequences.” In other words, he can’t handle anymore emotional consequences. Any little stress or emotional involvement scares him because he knows he can’t deal with it. He is even resistant to return home because of his lack of wanting to feel again, especially in rekindling old relationships. It is hard for him to re-love his mom, dad and even God. The author subtly exposes the ignorance in the government’s obligation of young boy’s enlistment to war in that time period. War is a forced transition from boy to man, and could of been the cause of Krebs’ emotional exhaustion and drastic social disconnection.

The author’s tone of disconnection is exposed through many details. First off, the narrator uses his last name “Krebs” rather than first name to show a lack of intimacy and emotional connection, parallel with the character, his relationships and his transformed point of view. Also there is short sentence structure to correlate with Krebs’ thought processes. He doesn’t spend much time in each thought because there is no emotional connection. Although Krebs does frequently bring up the same topics, such as finding a girl for him, this is only a reflection of how society reminds him of what his priorities should be, and it is another comparison of how Krebs is isolated from everybody. He is still in the process of “figuring out” what is happening. Is he home? Does he want to listen to society? It is clear towards the end of the story that he finally finds out what is his present. After a fight with his mom, he leaves home and doesn’t see himself coming back. He wants to escape a world of emotions, and be his new self.

A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Gaspell

Question:

Mary Helen Washington (from the video) points out that the effect of the setting in "A Jury of Her Peers" is "a tremendous sense of . . . isolation." Write a 150-200 word essay exploring the various kinds of isolation the story’s setting suggests. Be sure to use examples from the text. 

Response: 

Throughout A Jury of Her Peers, Glaspell throws a heavy atmosphere of isolation over the character’s heads. The setting is based off Mrs. Wright and her surroundings, so the character’s can grasp a better perspective on where her motives rooted from. Glaspell slowly unpieces Mrs. Wright’s environment, so with each sentence we are deeper in the feeling of isolation, and getting a better understanding of Mrs. Wright and her intentions. Mrs. Wright is the main symbol of isolation in the story-- everything associated with her has roots of solitude. Starting off, her house is “lonesome-looking”, and far apart from the rest of the world. She is also very emotionally isolated, her husband only hinders her, such as Mrs. Hale states, “I don't think a place would be any the cheerfuller for John Wright's,” adding to Mrs. Wright’s emotional separation from lack of husband support. Also, there is an uninviting connotation associated with her, preventing others like Mrs. Hale from befriending the lonely lady. Moreover, we can say, parallel to her caged bird, Mrs. Wright was caged in isolation, her character is drenched in loneliness. Glaspell also includes isolation in gender. Women are left out because their opinion is not valued. For example, Mr Hale states, “women are used to worrying over trifles.” There is a variation of different types of solitude presented in the story, but I believe Glaspell’s focal point was Mrs. Wright’s physical and emotional distance which promoted the plot of John Wright’s murder.

I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen

Question:

Sometimes if the reader only knows about a character through the eyes of another, the portrait that emerges is flat. Explain how you would evaluate Emily's character in "I Stand Here Ironing." In what ways is it rounded or flat? 

Response:

Emily's character throughout, "I Stand Here Ironing" by Olsen, is told throughout the eyes of her mother. Emily's character gets layers of persona gets peeled off as the mother grows deeper in her reflection. In the beginning, their is an introduction of Emily as a "beautiful baby," but very soon after the mother describes her with "all the baby loveliness gone." This is a first evident clue to the reader that Emily is rounded with growth and change in perspective. Yet, this is all relativity. This is all said from the mother, which cannot fully express Emily and her actual growth. We simply see growth from the mother's look, but this cannot be full-heartedly reliable. Emily could of been the same from a baby to age two, the mother could of had an internal shift within herself to change the way she see's her daughter. Thus making Emily flat in reality, with no actual growth. Moving past this unavoidable conflict with the verisimilitude offered to the reader on the truth behind Emily, the mother does continue to name countless aspects introduced into Emily's teenage years which would result in some addition of dimension. For example, such as when the mother "[sent] her away to a convalescent home in the country" and "it took... eight months to get her released home." This motherly absence for any child would put some physiological hindrance on the child. She is later described as insecure "about her appearance, thin and dark and foreign," yet their is an inverse personality when she is on stage. "Her rare gift for comedy on the stage that rouses laughter out of the audience so dearly they applaud and applaud and do not want to let her go." This is heavily dimensional, on her attitude from home to out in front of stage, and should less likely be doubtful from the reader on Emily's roundness.

Regarding her past conflicts, Emily is rounded as she grows from her past. Her past shapes her point of view and action as implied by her mother, however the reader's reluctance to accept the narrators take on the story would determine if Emily is indeed flat or round. However, moving past the the question to what degree is Emily's character developed, what about the narrator? I feel the actual concept of Emily is but a detail; the reflections put on Emily is simply an implied development in the mother's thoughts and perspective. Although the story is of Emily, the story revolves around the mother's development which cannot be denied with verisimilitude.