And The Winner is,........

The only reason (besides the fact that it was assigned) why I continued to read this story until the end was to find out who "won" the lottery. I didn't really like it, nor did I enjoy the "climactic ending." The entire poem I thought " Hey! Someone is going to win the lottery! This is going to be good." I was unaware that the "winner" did not win anything but to get stoned. This story did not resonate anything in my personal life. I tried to think of any way that I could relate, but the only thing I could think of was the pink elephant gift exchange at Christmas time. Where everyone fights over the "mystery box", and when it finally gets open, the person who opened it is dissapointed to find out that the "mystery" was in fact a rubber chicken. These twisted endings get me every time.

There were many things within this story that foreshadowed the ending of the reading. On thing in particular was right in the beginning ot the story where the boys were picking out the smoothest and roundest stones and were placing them in the corner of the square. The reader may wonder, "Why did they do this", or maybe not even catch on to the importance of these rocks that were pilled up. Another foreshadow within the text was when the black box was placed right in the center of the square, as was Tessie Hutchinson was standing in the center of a cleared space. There was some sense of hesitation when people were going up to the tattered black box, but the reader may not assume that that meant the outcome of "winning" the lottery was a bad thing. The lesson that the author is hoping for the reader to gain is not to assume what the ending of the story is. The author obviously wanted to shock the reader, and wait until the very end to do so. The author also wanted the reader to feel the build up to that climax.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

I kind of enjoyed this reading. I do feel like I can actually relate to Bernice, and the pressures that she felt to be "popular". Although she was pretty, and sweet, her dullness took over all the positives and made people not want to be around her. I think everyone has felt these pressures at one time or another. That pressure that makes you think that you need to change for people to like you. All through high school I feel like 90% of things that I did, and that I was involved in was only to make people like me, and to make myself more popular, and to make more friends. But I've come to a point where I am content with who I am and I pretty much just do what I want, and thankfully, I still have friends. (hah) It was a pretty easy read.

This nature of identity that Fitzgerald represents in "Bernice Bob's Her Hair" is the nature that your identity cannot change. There is always some room for improvement with anyone, and who they really want to be. That improvement can change people's view of you, but that identity is still the same. When Bernice was oblivious to the fact that boys didn't want to "cut in" and dance with her at the dance, or that she really wasn't that popular, she was more content with who she was and her identity. But when she overheard her cousin talking to her aunt about how "hopeless she is", she realized that she wasn't, and she needed to change her identity to become just like everyone else, she felt like she needed to do something drastic. This whole "bobbing of the hair" must have been a pretty bold move back then, otherwise people wouldn't have made such a fuss about it. Maybe Bernice felt like she accomplished something by "not bluffing", and really getting her hair bobbed. But she should feel almost like she surrendered to these people's opinions of her. She should feel defeated. By the end of the story though, there is this sense of calmness, and a feeling of Bernice moving on from this defeat, and her coming to the realization that she doesn't need to conform to other peoples ways, and what everyone wants her to be.

The Yellow Wallpaper,.......

1.) I got sucked in from the first page of this reading, although I was confused through the entire story. I felt extremely sorry for the woman in the story as she had this sickness, and was told to sit there and do nothing all day by her husband . I didn't really relate to the reading, but I'm kind of thankful that i didn't. This story was easy for me to read because I didn't get bored with it, and I found myself just waiting to get to the end of the reading to see how this yellow wallpaper related to this woman. I still don't get the ending and why John fainted.(???)

2.) The narrator in this reading was very suppressed by her husband I think. He made her remain in this room, and kept her from doing things that she wanted to do. She couldn't even write. (Or maybe she was just schizophrenic and thought she couldn't do anything).The woman in the story must have spent an extremely long time in this room to give such detail about the room and the wallpaper, and she also takes much delight in looking out the window(in hopes of being outside I'm sure). She realizes that she is sick, but I don't think that she has come to the reality of the insanity that is settling within herself.Her husband keeps her in this room and says that her imagination is leading to bigger problems. The narrotor gets progressively worse psychologically, even though as the story pans out she continues to say that she is getting better. On page 119 she says "there is recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down," I knew that she's going crazy. For some reason she is OK with the splintered floor and the room that seems to have been through a war, but she just cannot get over this wallpaper. Paranoia also sets in on page 124 when she begins to catch her husband "looking at the wallpaper!" I could not figure out the significance of this yellow wall paper that reminded her of old foul bad yellow things and that had a peculiar odor. Also in the beginning and middle of the story the narrator says that she shouldn't say something but says it anyway, but then closer to the end she becomes less trusting and says that she "shan't be telling it this time." What was so important about this wall paper that she be the only person to touch it? I am guessing that the woman that she imagines within the wallpaper is a representation of herself, which is why in the end she talks about, "getting out" and not being put back. This constant sitting and starring and picking the pattern of this yellow wallpaper about eventually led to the complete insanity of this woman.