Boudinot's The Littlest Hitler

The Littlest Hitler packed a lot of punch in such a short story! I thought the innocence of the main character, Davy, paired really nicely with the overarching horror of the holocaust. Davy comes into school on Halloween dressed as Hitler and from that point on, his day is hell. The first misfortune that occurs is that the most popular girl in the class comes dressed at Anne Frank, who many people look up to as a heroic symbol of the Holocaust. Immediately, Davy is ridiculed for killing Anne (and all the Jews) and is forced to take off his costume. To make matters worse for the nine-year-old, he had the worst costume in the parade! Boudinot's does a very good job of switching off from the very seriousness of the Holocaust, to the thoughts in the brain of an innocent fourth grader. At the beginning of the story, it also mentions how it was sort-of-okay or him for him to dress as Hitler because there were no Jewish kids in his whole school, and only one Jewish family in his whole town. What's interesting, though, is that he makes a point of describing these kids at "home schooled freaks." This is implying that the town he lives in doesn't view Jews in a positive light.

Davy's growth in the story has to do with his empathy towards Jews. When trick-or-treating, he comes across the home of the Friedlanders. When they open the door and he sees the kids who are forbidden from going trick-or-treating, he immediately feels this strong sense of pity and that he has to do something for this oppressed family. I think it was really well thought out of Boudinot to put the child's Hitler experience, where he learns about the "mean" things that Hitler did, next to the scene where he interacts with Jews. Davy feels so much pity and sympathy towards that family but he doesn't know what to do to express that  emotion. If he hands them his whole bag of candy or makes a scene, people (including his father) would look down on him. He decides to just act normally and accept her swiss chocolate balls. When he drives arrives at his house later that night, there is a shift from him feeling sympathetic, to him feeling empathy towards that family--and in a broader sense, the Jews. After learning that day that Jews were burned in ovens during WWII, what better way to end the story, then by having Davy experience that pain himself.

On a totally different note, when I was in third grade, everyone in my class had to make a poster board about a certain planet. I was assigned Neptune. I had spent hours putting together a gorgeous display (that was also the first time I ate glue) and citing my sources on the information I used. After completing the board, I left it directly in the middle of my dining room table and went to school the next day--because the board wasn't due till the day after. In the middle of work, my mom gets a call that the floor under the upstairs toilet flooded, and then water was coming down from the ceiling above my dining room table. This, of course, meant that my project was ruined. While I was still at school, not knowing that this occurred, my mom came home, bought new supplies, reprinted all the text and pasted it on the brand new board. When I came home, she told me what had happened and that she fixed the problem by recreating the whole thing!! I was crestfallen and furious that it wasn't my work and I ignored the fact that she left work and spent her whole day recreating it.

Another quick one: When I was around eight years old, I liked to do mischievous acts that were sort of unnoticeable. I liked to draw on the walls of my house with Sharpies, but the same color Sharpie as the wall. Unfortunately, the Sharpie colors don't match perfectly to my wall shade, so there are clearly identifiable hearts and starts on the walls of almost every room in my house.

-s.sacks

O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find

I didn't find this story particularly relatable. While the beginning was a little confusing, with its mentioning of five or six different character names at once, the end kept me at my toes wanting to know what happens next. I thought this piece was fundamentally about what it means to be good and if there is good left in out world. According to Red Sam,  there aren't any people in this world that you can trust. She agrees upon this idea, but I think she still believes that you can find a good man. When the grandmother is talking with the Misfit, she says that there must be some good inside of him, regardless of what he has done. Because she still has faith in such an absurd man, this raises the question of whether being good is a matter of having a good upbringing, or good blood, which he could have had, or whether being good has to do with ones current actions. The grandmother, in an attempt to save her own life, brings up praying to Jesus in the hope that she can appeal to the Misfit's religious sense. By using religion to bring out the good in people, Flannery is saying that being religious may determine if a person is good or not. To address the title of this piece, I think its message is literal. As I mentioned earlier, people are increasingly beginning to believe that good people are hard to find and that you can't trust anyone. I looked up the expression  A good man is hard to find  and its part of a song which is followed by the lyric You always get the other kind. This song came out before this story was written and I think its proceeding lyric strands true with the message of the story. 

-s.sacks

Oates' Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

This story made me cringe inside. From the creepy-old-man nature of Arnold Friend, to her poor decision in the end, I felt uncomfortable reading the whole piece. However, I do have to give Oates some credit for being able to show this bizarre scene in such a vivid way. This story, like the previous story blogged about, revealed a lot about the mind of certain types of girls. Oates says that Connie dressed differently in and out of the house and her personality shifted as well. Connie created an adult alter-ego, if you will, to go to parties and grab attention from boys. As pathetic as this sounds, Connie needed to be told she was beautiful for her self esteem and this gave her that outlet. At home, she wasn't the favorite child. But out of the house, she was desired by everyone. 

I also want to take time analyzing the title and its significance in the story.  The question where are you going, where have you been sounds like the kind of question Connie might have gotten from her parents when coming home from her mysterious parties late at night. It also sounds like Connie's dilemma with Arnold, when he asks her to drive off with him and forget about his family. He says to her "The place where you came from ain't there anymore, and where you had in mind to go is cancelled out." I interpreted this line as both a threat and a reason for her to come with him. 

The last concept I want to briefly touch on is the blurred differentiation in the story between fantasy and reality. Oates keeps switching from a calm and collected description of Arnold, to a frantic and fake one. Connie has trouble telling these two versions apart. In addition, when Connie tries to call the police, she feels as though she is being stabbed when really she just gets flustered and afraid. Meanwhile, she's been in the sun all day and the heat could be blurring her vision and her perception of reality. 

The song Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap sort of reminded me of the story. I happen to love this song and its melody is beautiful, but the lyrics (my interpretation of them) sort of mimic the plot line. This is a link to the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk. I couldn't really think of anything eerily similar to the mood but this will have to do. 

-s.sacks

Updike's A&P

I really enjoyed this short story because it nailed the nature of women and the kind of power they have over men (in only some cases). When these girls walk into the A&P every man in the store looks at them. They act as if they don't even know they are being watched and walk calmly around the store. Updike even describes the queen of the girls as "god-made." I also thought this story shed light on the mind of a female, and what made it particularly interesting to read was that it's a male author writing. He so accurately describes that "kind of girl other girls think is very striking and attractive but never quite makes it, as they very well know." This an many other passages reflect exactly what I am thinking sometimes. Lastly, I want to address his thoughts on how people--the public--act. He describes the grocery-goers  as sheep many times. He is implying that we are dumb and mill around like sheep, not really caring or knowing whats going on around us, that is until we see a spectacle. He sets himself apart from the herd by taking action and quitting his job just to prove a point.

In the last section of the story, when the manager is kicking the swim-suit-girls out, he says, "It was they who were embarrassing us." I think the meaning of this line has to do with people's own self images. As a manager of a store, he would want nothing more than to get great business and to be successful. When these girls ruin that for him, he becomes defensive and embarrasses them. His reactions to the situation reflect what most managers would do as well.

And my favorite passage was "and they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-ri ce-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks- rackers-and- cookies aisle." This is exactly how I feel in a grocery store. 

-s.sacks

Márquez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

This short story was an interesting mix of fantasy and religion, while also addressing ideas about what constitutes a person as an "other" and and outcast. I thought that the author made is clear that religious people rejected this angel and that normal people, with normal issues found hope in the pitiful man. I think the implication is that when people have hardships in their lives, they turn to whatever crazy things come their way, because they are so desperate.  On a completely different note, the sad angel/man is seen as an outcast by society. The attributes that set him apart and make him an "other", are his physical appearance and the fact that he cannot communicate with people. The language barrier between himself and the people puts him at a huge disadvantage. WIthout communication, he cannot speak his truths and people cannot speak to him. Márquez really emphasizes this idea when the spider lady is brought into the story. Because she can share her riveting tale with lessons and morals, she is viewed as more interesting and therefore the attention is brought away from the sad angel man. The one time, however, that we see people understanding the angel, is when they pour hot iron on him and he cries.

Questions I have about this story:

(a). Why would religious people reject an angel, a messenger of God?

(b). In this society, what makes someone an outcast or an "other"? How does that change/shift by the end of the story?

(c). What good came from keeping him even after he was no longer an attraction? Why didn't they let him be free?

-s.sacks

Mahfouz's Half a Day

I very much enjoyed this piece because it shed light on many ideas, two of which were education and time lapse. Mahfouz speaks of all the things he learns at school and of the windows that it opens for him. He at first believes that he shouldn't be torn apart from the nurturing intimacy of his home, but when he gets to school, he realizes that the goal is to create the same sort of environment. Mahfouz even says that "there was no question of ever returning to the paradise of home." I think his experience at school relates to most peoples first impressions. Another thing I found relatable was that after leaving school, his eyes widened and he became aware of so many things. I too have experienced this when, for example, I learned how to read and suddenly I became aware of street signs around me and anything with words on it began to make sense.  To address the idea of time lapse in the story, I think the implication is that a child's life goes by so quickly and they don't even realize the changes they're going through until they are done changing. We see this in the story when he ends it by saying he is an old man now and everything in his past moved so quickly.

-s.sacks

Diaz's How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)

I enjoyed the style in which this story was written. It was cleaver of Diaz to write down his personal experiences with girls in the form of dating advice. He wrote as if he was a third party, not the person who the story is happening to. I also caught the very direct theme of stereotyping. The author talks of treating women differently based on their race. The story, therefore, shows that his behavior almost mimics the behavior of society as a whole towards different types of women. Another underlying idea in the story was the role that his own race (dominican) plays in relationships. He talked about how different girls react to his neighborhood, culture and family. These reactions from females are again applicable to most relationships. In summary, I enjoyed the piece but not fully, as I couldn't really see eye to eye with the main character

MY OWN DATING ADVICE
a. Start off slow
b. If they say no, keep persisting
c. If the person gets annoyed, stop persisting
d. In the next year, try to rekindle what ever failed
e. Don't cheat on them, if you do, you deserve to be broken up with
f. Unless its under a weird circumstance, don't fall for the first person you see, wait until you find the right person

-s.sacks