Eudora Welty "A Worn Path"

A Worn Path, is a story about an old women that goes on a journey by feet to the hospital where she can get medicine for her sick grandson. She is described as worn through life, with her deep wrinkles, and ragged clothes, it is as if her entire life she has had hardships such as these. In the woods she goes through various obstacles, and even falls on her back. A man helps her up, and against her own judgement she steals a dime that falls out of his pocked and comments "god watching me the whole time". She knows what she did was wrong, but her poverty, the gap between her means and her goals drives her to it. She finally makes it to the place where she can get the medicine, and exhausted, and worn she forgets the reason for her trip all together for a second. She snaps back to reality and is given the medicine as "charity", and also a present of a nickle which she wants to use to buy her grandson a toy. Is is obvious that is it only the two of them in her family, and that she is the sole provider for this child. This woman despite her age will go through any hurdle to help the one she loves. This story is a true expression of family, and the will, and power that love gives you to accomplish anything.

Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"

This story is a tale about a family that is embarking on a vacation. The Grandmother, the central character of the story, from the beginning tries to covers things into going her way by antagonizing over "good". She wants to go to Tennessee not Florida, the vacation destination, so she tells the family that "The Misfit" an escaped criminal is herd to be around that way. The family doesn't budge and so they continue on their Journey. The mother who seems complacent, and indifferent is accompanied by two rowdy, rude, selfish kids, and an almost silent husband. The grandmother is depicted as trying to exude an image of good lady-like behavior by her wardrobe, and other exterior choices, when her behavior is ironically self involved. They stop to eat and return to their journey. The grandmother tells a tale of a plantation she once visited, and decides she must see it again so she makes up a story to appeal to the kids and they make a fuss until the father agrees to stop. On the way to the house, the cat that the grandmother secretly brought gets out and in turn causes the father to crash the car. A car stops and 3 men come to their rescue, but after the grandmother recognizes and calls out one of the men who is actually the misfit it leads to their demise.

Franz Kafka "A Hunger Artist"

In this short story, Franz Kafka tells the tale of an artist who finds that his art is fasting. I have read other Kafka's works before, and find that they are all rooted in depicting an emptiness in the story that he can never fill. For example in this story it was his stomach. This artist is actually a part of a circus, and his public who cheers him on is also his main source of confliction, for he thinks that they are the ones holding him back from achieving his greatness. He claims that fasting for 40 days is no feat at all, and that people are foolish for praising him for it. As time goes on and his popularity dies, he is left in his cage not as the main attraction but the opening to the animals in their cages. He is left unnoticed, and without the crowds attention fasts for many many days past his previous success's. He strave's himself to death, and claims it was because he never found it hard not to eat because he did not favor any taste of any food. I think that Kafka was a very lost soul.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"

This story is about a man's journey, Goodman Brown. His name to begin with, is so symbolic, considering it literally says he is a good man, and this story is about the conflict of good and evil. He leaves his newlywed wife to go into the woods to meet with a man of darkness. This is also set in Salem, which is ironic that we read this story a day before Halloween. In the woods he encounters many of his towns people who are seen to be perfect examples of outstanding citizens, Bishops, and pure holy people, all in the woods summoning this man of darkness in some ceremonial inauguration of sin. He realizes that it is a dream, but leaves the woods forever changed. He didn't even have the capacity before to imagine that people who were good could possibly have hidden evil in them. It then depicts his life of weariness and negativity toward everyone. 

Edgar Allan Poe "The Purloined Letter"

Although Poe is mostly a horror writer this story was a detective one. It was narrated by a nameless character, and depicted a story about a letter that was stolen out of a woman’s room that was of extremely high importance, and could possibly service as political blackmail. This matter is to be kept discreet, and to be handled as quickly as possible as the contents of the letter are of such importance. Poe referred to this story as “tale of ratiocination” which employed reason, not horror. This was not a detective story where the reader was given clues to solve the mystery; rather it took you along for the search of the letter. It showed the various investigative tools that they used to attempt to find it, through science and investigation. As the story goes on, and they are unsuccessful at recovering the letter, they look at different ways to try to outsmart the thief. At the end Dupin finds the letter, and replaces the original with a note that says “Nothing is more hateful to wisdom than excessive cleverness.”

William Carlos Williams "The Use of Force"

The use of force is about a little girls defeat, and doctors contradicting feelings about the child. The little girl, who is ill with an unknown condition, has a fever and no resolve. Her parent’s who are desperate for a diagnosis call in a doctor. The doctor who immediately fell in love with the child, depicting her as one of those children you see in the Sunday paper, was very gentle at first when trying to examine her. She denied having a sore throat which had been a major sign of diphtheria, a condition going around school. The girl refused to open her mouth to be examined, and launched at the doctor in his attempt to do so. The doctor who was growing more agitated himself was not only annoyed by the child but also the parents that were in his eyes behaving wrong. The little girl was struggling to keep her secret of the reason of her illness; she did not want to be looked at by the doctor. The girl hurt herself trying to avoid the throat culture, and the doctor even though he knew he could have been gentler or perhaps waited was set on diagnosing her. The doctor himself was beyond reason and was at the point of enjoying the discomfort he was causing her. He finally overpowered her and at the same time it was a release for him. After he found out her secret she attacked the man that had forced himself into her throat. The story in my point of view has many sexual underlying in it. The interaction between the doctor and the little girl, and the struggle for him to get inside her mouth are reminiscent of molestation. The doctors feelings of guilt about his pleasure in causing her pain, and her attack of him afterward all resonate that.

Ernest Hemingway "Hills Like White Elephants"

In the “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway describes a story about a couple that is waiting at a train station for their train to arrive. The entire story is about a conversation between the man and women. They discuss what to drink, and most importantly they discuss the abortion, which is actually never mentioned in the story. The entire time it is only in subtext using the iceberg theory. I believe the train station symbolizes the change in coming and going. The landscape that she describes white, and pure makes me think of a newborn. The man is however very set on keeping things the way they are. He doesn’t want to complicate things with the addiction of a baby, and basically forces the women to agree. The name of the story even sounds like something you might read to a child. It sounds like it could be the name of a fairy tale. The women seems to have no major input on the situation, and seems like is trying to be agreeable. 

Charlotte Perkings Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper"

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” the protagonist of the story, a female that remains nameless is dealing with “temporary nervous depression”. In order to make her feel better, her husband John acquires a 3 month lease to colonial mansion for the summer. John, who is also a physician, is also treating her condition even though he believes she is not truly sick. She is absolutely forbiddien form her work which is writing, and is in great disagreement of that but does not say so. In the beginning of the story, although a little strange most of her thoughts are sane. She even diagnosis that “society and stimulus instead of opposition” would help her. Her mental condition severely deteriorates as the story develops. Her husband seems to pacify her and almost disregard her requests of where they stay in the house, and ultimately everything else she says to him. She ends up staying in a room with yellow wallpaper that she beings to write about in great detail. As more time goes on and she is left with her delusion, she begins to closely analyze the wallpaper. She comes to a conclusion that the pattern on it is of jail bars, and there is a woman being it that is crawling trying to get out. I believe that is herself that she sees behind those bars. On the last day of the house, the furthest point of her “fancies”, she tears down the wallpaper letting free the women behind it.

Kate Chopin: The Story of an Hour

In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", a whirlwind of events occur in minor amount of time. The story begins with mention that Mrs.Mallard is already dealing with relationship issues as it says "was afflicted with heart trouble". When she first hears of her husbands death is has the normal reaction one would have to hearing the loss of a loved one. However, when she isolates herself and her husbands departure from earth sinks in she has a change of emotion. She even shocks herself when she is uttering "free, free, free!". It is obvious that she feels as though she has escaped from a marriage she was dying to get out of, one where she didn't even feel the love of her husband. She was now free at will to live without his bearing over her. If people are stuck in a tedious commitment, then life altogether can seem torturous as she thought it would be when she shuddered at the thought of a long one. Now that she was no longer a part of a miserable union she was contrarily praying for a long one. Her freedom was short lived, as she soon discovered that her husband was not dead after all. As he walked in, she died of the shock. The doctor declared it "of joys that kill", but the truth was she died of heart break that she was infinity chained to her unhappiness. I belive that Mrs. Mallards overall reactions were not so far fetched from real life. Her human instinct was not evil, and at the first news of her husbands death she was not overcome with joy, but with shock and sadness. It was only after her initial reaction that she realized that she was out of marriage she did not want to be in. Vowing to be united with another human being for the rest of your life is one of the hardest things in life to make a success, and I can't help but think that if I was in an unhappy marriage, that in Mrs.Mallards situation it would have been an escape.