An Order From Verbina

I really liked this reading. I think things like this still happen. There is a big conflict in this story. A young boy by the name of Bayard is face with this bif conflict. He is faced with the fact that his father is shot and everyone expects him to get revenge. The Young boy is forced to grow up. In a way Bayard feels guilty for his fathers death. In the story a positive character is Ringo. Ringo is a former slave. He shows that he is loyal to the family by crying over the death of Bayards father. This story is different because Ringo is actaully a positive character. Ringo grew up with Bayard. He is considered more like a friend then a slave. Ringo and Bayard have this history to gether , of killing Ramby a man that killed there grandmother.

As the story goes on Bayard has to figure out what to do. He fights with what society wants him to do. Bayard is supposed to get revenf for his fathers death. he is supposed to get revenge because that is what a southern man should do. Deep down inside Bayard doesnt want to do anything but he is faced with " social Pressure". He has been raise around family violence and there for doesnt believe in violence anymore. He gives people the idea that he is going to seek revenge, but deep down iside he doest want to.

Ok your probably wondering where the word Verbina comes into place. Well, Verbina is a lemony smell. Bayard compares it t the smell of the garden. He relates it to his childhood memories, it is sort of like he is leaving it all behind. Finally when Bayard goes to the office to "kill" Redmond he goes unarmed. I think he goes unarmed because he wants to make it clear that he doesnt want to kill him. But its funny how redmond shoots at him and misses each time. Its like he n=knew he was unarmed and didnt want to kill him.

I think things like this still happen. People are faced with moral issues that are influenced by society. Society and social status forces us to do things that we dont want to do. Sometimes people do things because they are scared of what people mite think and deep down inside we already made up our minds. Everyone expected Bayard to get revenge but all along he was through with violence and didnt want to repeat his fathers history.

Dry September

I never read anything on William Faulkner, but I must say, I really enjoyed this piece. I Liked the fact that he didnt sugar coat anything. He wrote the story from a realistic point of view, for example, in the reading the white men use the word "nigger" alot. Im not saying that I like this awfull word. Im saying that its realistic, this is how the "white man" spoke about black people in the south and I believe still happens.

In the reading there is this black man by th name of Will Mayes. He is accused of hurting a white women. He is accused of either assulting her or raping her. The scene takes place in a barber shop. There are men debating whether the man is innocent or not. One of the mans name is Hawk he believes that Will Mayes is innocent. He doesnt think that the man is capable of doing such a thing. He believes that the white women is lying. Then there is another character by the name of Butch he doesnt agree with what Hawk thinks.

In my opinion he doesnt care if the man is innocent he just cares that the man is black so, right off the bat the man is guilty. Hawk continues to stick up for Will Mayes. He gets called a "nigger lover" and they compare him to the men in the north, sort off like calling him a "yankee". But Hawk has some interesting opinions as to why the women could be lying. He mentions the fact that the women is middle aged and has never had a serious relationship. I think he is pointing at the fact that the women could be lying and doing this for some attention.

This story was interesting to read because you finally got an understanding of what different white people thought about black people, and that not all white people are not races like Hawk who thought Will was innocent the whole time. Then you have people like Butch who make all whie men look bad. Its interesting to read southern lit and how it was in the past because some of these things are still happening now in day.

Kate Chopin

I never read any work of Kate Chopin before I got to this class, but I must say that I love her work. I was very conserned at the begining of the school year, because I was scared I wasnt going to enjoy any reading. But her work made me want to read on. One of my favorites is "The Storm". I enjoyed this story very much. I read At the Cadian Ball and I was so intrigued that I wanted a sequel, and there it was The Storm. The Storm was unpredictable, you thought you knew what was going to happen, but it was the total opposite. In the begining, Calixtas husband Babinot was at a store with BIBi. They had to stay there untill the storm passed. Calixta was at the house getting all the clothes she had put out that day to dry and then it all started. Alcee came along and asked to stay with her while the storm passed. What I found real funny is that he happen to just be riding by and needed shelter and out of all the places it had to be Calixtas house.

See Calixta and Alsee have this passion for eachother, but they are both married so anything they had or have as far as passiom shoulod be forbidden. You thimk them being married would stop them but it doesnt. To my knowledge they have sex which is bad because they are married,but i dont blame them, they have the HOTS for one another. And as for there other spouses they settled for them. Calixta settled for Babinot because he was a good husband. Alsee settled for his wife because of social cercumstances, which was typicle back in the day and to me still happens.

At the end when the storm passes Alsee leaves and Babinot and Bibi come back. This is what blew my mind. Calixta was so happy to see her husband and son and she cooked them dinner like nothing ever happened. Alsee goes back home and writes his wife a love letter. I think they both acted this way out of guilt. Too me, I think Alsee thinks he could keep going to see Calixta or at least wants something to do with her because he tells his wife not to hurry back. In my opinion I think that Alsee and Calixta are perfect for eachother. I dont think you should marry people because of there social class. I think you should be in love with them that way affairs dont happen.

Frederick Douglass and My Views

When I found out that we were reading about Frederick Douglass I was very excited. The funny part is that it is Black history month so what better way than to start off early and read about Frederick Douglass an African American slave. I was very shocked at this narrative because it was the most descriptive peace about slavery that I have ever read. It was interesting from point A to point Z. It made me want to keep reading. This was the first time where i just wanted to keep reading because i was so interested.

The thing that made me sad about the life of Frederick is that he didn’t know his age. He said that most of the slaves didn’t know there age. To me this was very disturbing because this means that they weren’t treated like humans. They were born into slavery. The "white man" wasn’t courteous enough to give them a birth certificate. But then as the story went on, it got worst. Most of the slave’s didn’t know who there mothers were or siblings. I rather know my mother than not know my age. He describes his relationship with his mother as being very brief. He says that when his mother died when he was seven he " received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions he should have probably felt at the death of a stranger" that means that it didn’t hurt him, since he didn’t get to grow a bond with his mother her death wasn’t hard for him.

One thing that shocked me was the fact that the slave owners slept with the women slaves. The catch was that even though the child could have been of a master like Frederic he still was treated like a slave. As a future mother and teacher I didn’t like some of the things that Frederick experienced in his life it was very depressing. He was just a young boy and he experienced his aunt get whipped and others as well. That must have really messed him up emotionally and mentally. Now in day we can block certain things that children see on TV but Slaves like Frederick saw and experienced horrible beating.