For this week’s blog assignment Print out, read, and annotate Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway) This story is about a man and women sitting in a train station having drinks, which seem to be the norm. while waiting for a train to arrive, they are having a conversation about the status of their relationship. They don’t agree on a lot of things but one of them feels like staying together and boarding that train would make all well. Does she stay in her relationship with the man? I believe that the woman does not remain in the relationship with the man. During their conversation he would often get upset with the things that she said. This action from him upset her, making her questioned if he would always get upset with things that she said. The man believes that if they go away together everything will be okay and that their problems will disappear. He says “We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like we were before.” However, I think she does not believe this because as they sit there they continue to argue and she continues to be defensive to everything he says. She gets upset with how much he’s talking and asks him to stop. The relationship is already dead because all that this couple does is “look at things and try new drinks”. When they began to try to have a decent conversation it turns bad and the man starts to plead with her. This couple has problems that the woman does not want to fix. When have you made a important choice to stay in a relationship or leave a relationship -- OR -- stay or leave a difficult situation? I encourage you to write a scene that shows the moment. Consider using dialogue. It was Saturday afternoon in King of Prussia Pennsylvania. The mall had been crowded as expected for it being 14 days before Christmas. I had been doing some shopping with my two youngest children, Tiara, had become rather fussy after walking around for hours so we decided to stop at the food court for dinner. After receiving our food and settling at the table to eat my phone rang and my face lit up with excitement, it was my husband. He said, “This is not working, I want to get a divorce” As I realized what this conversation was about I got up from the table and hurried to a corner so no one could see the tears that started fall from my eyes, especially the children. “why are you saying that?” , “you just want to give up like that after 18 years” “Yes you need to continue on with your life, I have to be in jail for 9 and a half to 19 years” “what do you expect me to do? “I know you have a friend now who can actually be there for you and the children. I will be okay. I’ll always love you but I need to do this on my own and this is not fair to you”
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This week’s blog is based on a podcast called What You Don't Know (Lulu Wang). It’s about a young lady whose family persuaded her to lie to her grandmother about a terminal illness. They thought by not telling her it could possible lengthen her life span.
Did you agree with the family's choice to deceive Wang's grandmother? I do not agree with the family’s choice to deceive Wang’s grandmother. I believe a person should be given a choice to receive treatment or not. True, it is up to that person if they will take the news and just give up on life or keep positive about it and it is the family’s duty to uplift that person whenever needed. However, culture also comes into play, and some beliefs around the world are far different. And then that lie just led to another lie that many uncomfortable about the whole things but it did give everyone to see her if it was going to be the last time. When have you made an important choice to tell someone a difficult truth or you made an important choice to tell a lie that had a major impact on you and/or someone else? For this week’s blog assignment read, and annotate My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou).
In this reading Maya Angelou speaks about herself as a child named Margaret learning her way around the kitchen working as an understudy of a household servant by the name of Ms. Glory, who has worked in this house for twenty years. They worked for a woman named Mrs. Cullinan a wealthy woman from Virginia who was unable to bear children and her husband had lead a double life which produced two children. Margaret secretly felt sorry for her. When Mrs. Sullivan choose to listen to her other women friends and shorten Margaret’s name for her own convenience. Margaret decided to find a way to quit her job and in a way her mother wouldn’t be oppose to since it was something that you would not quit a job for back in that time. Margaret decided to break a glass casserole dish and two green glass coffee cups that she knew that Mrs. Cullinan adored, that had been passed down by her mother. : Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups? I can’t say whether I agree or disagree with her decision to break the dishes. Back in those times I’m sure it was hard to get a job and like Ms. Glory tried to tell her in the story she had kept this job for twenty years and her name was changed also, but some things are not worth giving attention to. Also in another sense, Ms. Glory got hit with the piece of dish by and accident and that could have been a wakeup call for her to start standing up for herself as well. You have to pick and choose your battles. : When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? I would have to say the time I refuse to obey is when I was about thirteen years old and my parents had always been Jehovah witnesses. Every week on Sunday we would go to the kingdom hall (place of worship for Jehovah witnesses} and me being the child I had to follow suit. Until one day I told my parents that I wanted to explore other religions. |
Janelle HUGGINSI will use this blog to post my informal writing assignments for my English Composition I class. Archives
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