"A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner

I actually did anticipate the end of story, because there were clues throughout the story that helped me foreshadow this event. When Emily's father died, she denied his death, and only broke down and let people from town take his body when they were about to resort to law. This gives us the idea that she is not accepting of death, or maybe she just doesn't care if someone dies; she just thinks that everything should continue as normal. Then one day, Homer Barron just leaves without a word to anyone. This caused me to suspect that he really didn't leave, and then when she goes and buys arsenic, it led me to believe that she killed him. Another thing that led me to this conclusion is when on page 287, it says "...Homer himself had remarked -- he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club -- that he was not a marrying man." Even with this obvious knowledge, she bought "a man's toilet in silver, with the letters H. B. on the piece... [and] a complete outfit of men's clothing." This meant that she was not going to let his homosexuality stop her from marrying him. Taking all of this into account, I was not surprised when I read the ending of the story, still creeped out, but not surprised.

"Interpreter of Maladies" Jhumpa Lahiri

I believe there is great significance in Mrs. Das asking for Mr. Kapasi's address, then later losing it. It represents the relationship between the two characters. At the beginning of the story Mrs. Das shows interest in Mr. Kapasi's job as an interpreter for a doctor in his town, which causes Mr. Kapasi to feel important. This feeling of importance made him feel appreciated, and he never felt appreciated by his wife. Later that day, Mrs. Das asked him for his address, and he was worried that he had written it down wrong and he would never recieve the picture she had promised him. He began imagining them as sort of pen pals that would discuss their lives through letters. This idea pleased him, until later that evening when she told him her secret of one of her children not being her husband's. I feel that this idea sickened him, because, earlier that day, he was loving the attention that she had been giving him. It made him feel that his infatuation was a sin, and he could have been the father of another child that Mr. Das thought was his own. So when the address flew out of her purse that night, he was not upset by it at all. In a way, I think he was relieved, which suggests the resolution that one should not covet the lives of others, but accept their own.

"How I Met My Husband" Alice Munro

When looking at Chris Watters as a potential husband for Edie, I feel that he would never satisfy her needs. He's not ready to settle down; he's always on the move. I got the sense that there were many more Alice Kelling's around the world that thought they were one day going to marry Chris. He seems like the "player" type that makes empty promises that he knows he'll never keep, but the girls always believe him. Edie and Chris had only met on two separate occasions and had one "intimate" night (in her mind). There is no way that she could have real feelings of love for him; it had to be infatuation if anything. Even though it seemed to me that she was settling with the mailman, he was a much better candidate for a husband than Chris would ever be. From the very little information we got about him, I got the feeling that he really cared about her and thought that she was amazing, which is how all men should feel about their women.

"Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead" Andrew Hudgins

First of all, I looked up elegy to see if it meant the same thing as eulogy; it doesn't. According to dictionary.com, the definition of elegy is a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or lament for the dead. So really the speaker is following the definition of a melancholy poem, even though his father is not dead. This poem is about a man who cannot handle the fact that his father is about to die and is accepting of that fact. He says that he thinks his father "wants to go,/ a little bit - a new desire/ to travel." I thought that was an interesting way for his father to think about it, "embarking on a trip." He says that he cannot look at it that way. Obviously he has talked to his father about this, because in lines 10-12, he says "He thinks he'll wrap me in his arms and laugh,/ the way he did when I arrived/ on earth." I think that is a neat way to think about that as well. Heaven is where one is created and where one ends up after he/she dies. The speaker does not feel the same; he follows that statement by simply saying "I do not." I think that the speaker is just afraid to face life without his father on earth.

"Delight in Disorder" Robert Herrick

This poem is about a man who likes for his woman to be disorganized. I think it is attractive, and, for lack of better words, he gets turned on when a girl looks messy. Throughout the poem, the speaker says things like "a lawn about the shoulders thrown," "an erring lace,"a neglected cuff," "ribbons... flow[ing] confusedly," "tempestuous petticoat," and "a careless shoestring." These words give the image of a disheveled woman. In the 12th line, he uses the oxymoron of a "wild civilty," which I took as an elegant woman with a wild side. He follows this line saying "Do more bewich me than when art is too precise in every part. When I think of art that is not precise, I think of Van Gogh and his somewhat swirly paintings. He is saying that he would rather have an unorganized girl with a great personality, than a proper stickler. The varying sentence structure of long and short sentences may be representing the disorganization of the woman.

"Edward" Anonymous

I believe this poem is about a man who killed his father, because his mother wanted him to. In the first stanza his mother asks him why his sword is bloody, and he says it is because he killed his hawk "so good,/ and I had no more but he." This may be referring to how he killed his only father. Then his mother says that his hawk's blood isn't that red, so he tells her that he killed his red-roan steer "that was once so fair and free." This may be referring to the way he felt about his father, that he was fair and free. She responds by saying that the steer was old and he has more, then asks what is his "other grief." He finally says that he killed his father. She acts surprisingly calm and asks him questions, such as what penance he will do, what will he do with his towers and hall, and what he will leave his children and wife. Edward answers these questions saying that he is going to leave on a boat, let them stand until they fall, and let his family beg through life. Finally, she asks what he will leave for she, his mother, and he says "the curse from hell," because of the counsels she gave him. That last stanza is what brought me to truly believe that she was the one who told him to kill her father, because he is saying that she will be the one that pays for it. Her nonchalant attitude after he told he also backs up my theory.

"Lonely Hearts" Wendy Cope

"Lonely Hearts" is a variety of different newspaper singles advertisements. I found it interesting that in the second stanza it is advertising a gay person, the third stanza is about a bisexual person, and the fourth is about a straight stanza. One is a gay vegetarian who is into music and Shakespeare, another is looking for a bisexual woman who is young and arty, and then there is a straight, successful solvent looking for an attractive Jewish woman with a son. I guess she was just trying to cover all sexualities. This poem is in the form of a villanelle, because it is an easy way to display the separate ads. Every different person has the same desire to "make my simple wish come true." The simple wish is to find companionship that meets their different interests. I wondered why she used North London for the place that every person lives, so I looked her up on wikipedia, and it said that she is from Kent, a county in England.