SSRJ #4 - Carver

I could not help but feel sorry for the baby as I read this story.  I felt anger and disgust for the couple.  Neither one of them had enough common sense or self control to recognize that they were both hurting the baby.  Carver uses symbolism with the couple's struggle over the baby.  This was a physical struggle over a baby and the baby was physically suffering.  This is representative of relationships overall where there are children involved and the couple decides to part ways.  The children are the ones who suffer the most.  I also see symbolism when Carver uses the line “But it was getting dark on the inside too”.  By “dark” I believe he was talking not just about the level of brightness but also referring to the brewing conflict. 

Although we don’t get many details of the setting, we can tell by Carver’s style that this was a small house.  He uses the word “little” in two different sentences when describing aspects of the house.  In the second sentence of the first paragraph he says, “Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard”.  A few paragraphs from there we see “She stood in the doorway of the “little” kitchen, holding the baby".  The fact that there is a backyard tells us it’s a house and by utilizing the word "little" multiple times we can tell that it was small.  Also, when he describes the scene in the kitchen by the stove we get a sense of a small cramped space.  The stove must have been pretty small because the man was able to reach across the stove into the corner where the woman was and grab the baby.

The irony of the story is revealed at the end.  When Carver writes, “She would have it, this baby”, we get a sense that the woman will win the struggle.  However, the man makes the final pull and then Carver writes “In this manner, the issue was decided”.  I wonder if this final statement has a double meaning.  I kind of think it means the “issue” is more than just who gets the baby but I dare not read more into the story than is actually there.

SSRJ#3 - D. Walker

Initially, I felt disgust as I read the first paragraph of the story.  It was quite shocking to read about the Vietnam vet committing those terrible crimes.  Raping a young girl, shoving injured soldiers out of a helicopter, cutting off a man’s head and posting up on a pole as if it’s some kind of medal.  These things really made me feel like this Vietnam vet should be in prison.  However, as I read through the story my feelings began to turn into a kind of understanding for him.  I understood that he was trapped in a war zone, afraid, and trying to survive while carrying out orders and doing what he had been trained to do.

This story is about a war veteran who spends his life suffering from the damage imposed on him by the war.  Walker uses symbolism by not revealing his name.  By not knowing his name the theme becomes centralized on the effects the Vietnam war had on those who fought in the battle.  I believe if we had known his name it would have made the story more personalized and more about an individual’s struggle.

SSRJ #2: Oates

As I read this story for the second time it immediately became obvious to me that this was a story of a hidden romance between two females who loved poetry.  On the contrary, the first time I read this story I found myself questioning whether or not this was about a gay relationship.  I actually kept thinking a man would enter the story at some point.  The emotions I felt changed between the first reading and the second.  I felt confused and uncertain during the first reading.  During the second reading the emotion that was most prominent for me was a bit of nervousness for the two “girl-poets” as they followed Marilyn Monroe through the bookstore trying to remain un-noticed by her.  I connected with the romance part of the story as well.  I could feel the romantic tension that the protagonist was feeling toward her “girl-poet” friend.

The setting described in this work serves to intensify the plot and support the theme.  The author uses words and detailed descriptions of the atmosphere to give a setting that is conducive to romance and a peculiar evening of occurrences.  From the opening sentences she uses phrases that give both a romantic and a peculiar feel.  For example, “streetlights on Broadway glimmered with a strange sepia glow” and “we were two girl-poets drifting through the warehouse of treasures as through an enchanted forest”.  She goes on to mention the girls being “enchanted by books” and “enchanted by the Strand”.  The books themselves became part of a romantic scene by phrases like “Brooding above a tumble of books that quickened the pulse”.  All of this surely supports the entire theme of the story, romance. 

I read the story at least twice in it’s entirety and additional readings focusing on specific paragraphs and/or sentences.  I am still wondering what the significance of Marilyn Monroe as opposed to Lucille Ball is exactly.  I am guessing that it has to do with the fact that Marilyn Monroe was famous for her sex appeal and now she is in a used bookstore dressed like a man and barely recognizable.  Maybe this makes a stronger representation of the two girl-poets also dressed like men but being just regular people.  Maybe it serves to add hope for the girl-poets to someday become famous with their poetry.