"Hunters in the Snow" Tobias Wolff

Tub may be considered a stock character on the surface: a cartoon-like obese man who is the butt of other people's jokes, but details throughout the story help make Tub into a fully realized individual. First of all, I think that we start to see part of Tub's character when he is upset by his friends' jokes about his weight. Usually the stock character just takes the insults, but Tub gets mad and tells them to stop. Then, I would have never guessed that Tub would shoot Kenny when he has the fear that Kenny was going to shoot him. I would think that he would be too afraid to actually shoot his friend. This shows that he is a round character with feelings and emotions, because I think that he only shot Kenny out of fear. Later, we see Tub having a moment with Frank and finally admitting that he doesn't have a gland problem, but just likes to eat. I saw this as a resolution to Tub's problems; he just needed to be honest and have someone to trust and talk to. We also see Tub's compassion when he accepts Frank's secret of being in love with the town babysitter. Tub is actually a complex, round character when we pay attention to the details of the story.

"Everyday Use" Alice Walker

I think that the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change in character. She had been dealing with Dee's difficulties since she was young, and finally she just exploded. Dee used to be embarrassed of her heritage and wanted nothing to do with it, but when she found this new man, Asalamalakim, she changed her mind, not only her mind, but her name as well: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. When Dee was younger she hated their old house, and I got the feeling that she caused the fire to burn it down when it says that she just stood by the tree and watched, while the mother thought she might as well dance around the ashes. Now she is taking pictures, making sure that the house is in every picture. I don't think that Dee has truly changed, but is putting on a show for Asamalakim so that he will like her. And I think that the mother knows this. When Dee rhetorically asks if she can have the churn top and the dasher, she is just trying to impress her man, and her mother doesn't appreciate it, but she lets her have it, because she really doesn't have a choice. Then "Wangero" asks if she can have the quilts, and her mother snatches them out of her hand and gives them to Maggie, her daughter that has always been down to earth and deserved the quilts in her opinion. I think that this was the break-through point for the mother. She was finally asserting her independence from her daughter's every want and desire.

"Bartleby the Scrivener" Herman Melville

At the beginning of the "short" story, the narrator is glad to have a new copyist, which he considers to be, in contrast to Turkey and Nippers, calm. He is stunned when he first asks Bartleby to help him and is replied to with the answer, "I would prefer not to." He doesn't know what to do, but decides that he must finish his work and think about it at another time. On multiple occasions, when the narrator asks Bartleby to help he gets the same response, "I would prefer not to." In a state of outrage and uncertainty, he asks his other employees what they think of that response, and, at different times, Turkey and Nippers both get angry and say that Bartleby needs to leave or offer to beat him up. The narrator is very confused and intrigued by Bartleby's behavior, but does nothing about it. He just allows him to constantly reject his requests and get away with it. Eventually, Bartleby refuses to even copy anymore and just occupies the building at all times. He makes it his home, the place where he sleeps. Even under these conditions, the only thing the narrator does is ask him to leave, and when he "prefer(s) not to" he just lets him live there. I think that for some reason the narrator feels some sort of loyalty and duty towards Bartleby. He feels bad for him, because he has no family or friends that he has ever mentioned and must be lonely. When Bartleby still doesn't leave after given his 6-day notice, the narrator's only reasonable solution is to move his business and leave Bartleby there. The narrator is curious about Bartleby's whereabouts after the move, until one day when the new occupant of the building comes to complain about how Bartleby still won't leave. Once again, the narrator takes it upon himself to try to convince him to leave, even offering him the opportunity to live with him until they find other means of living space. Bartleby refuses as before, and eventually, the new occupants call the police and have him removed. In this case, the narrator goes to the jail to see him where Bartleby accuses him of being the reason that he was taken there. Still, the narrator is not mad at Bartleby, but wants to help him. He goes back to the jail for the second time and finds him dead. I think that the narrator thought of Bartleby as a responsibility of his. He kept mentioning the bible and the commandments, which indicates that he is a religious man. He thought it was his duty to help Bartleby once he became involved in his live, because he had no one else.

"A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner 2

I think that using the first person plural narrator was effective, because it allowed us to get the collected thoughts of many townspeople. If it was just one person, we probably would not recieve as much detail. I feel like the narrator is the gossiping women of the town. It reminds me of the room mom's in grade school that knew everything about everyone else's lives. Another attribute we received from the first person plural narrative is suspense. If it was told in first person, we would know what she was thinking and exactly when she did the things she did. I actually think that would be an extremely interesting/creepy piece to read. Another interesting point of view to read this story from would be from the first person perspective of the "Negro." I am assuming that he knew what Emily did, but we never actually get knowledge of whether he did or not. It said that he never talked to anyone, so it would be intriguing to get to look inside of his mind, because there must be so many thoughts running through it.

"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.