Alex Lemme - "Men Under Water"

Ralph Lombreglia incorporates elements such as the connection between characters and compelling visual descriptions in his story "Men Under Water".
The connection between the two main characters Gunther and Reggie, the narrator is outlined as a sort of necessary symbiosis as well as a budding friendship. Gunther often refers to Reggie and lauds him for his creativity in sentences such as "Sensitive and Gifted" and " You're turning your back on a brilliant future". On the other hand, Reggie seems to be initially taken aback by Gunther's heinous actions towards his Pakistani tenants but seems to settle and accept his previous mistake in the quotes "Nothing, Gunther, I always say, not a thing, you're a prince" that is still on the sarcastic side, very Holden Caulfield. Throughout the narration, however, both these characters seem to grow closer to each other and in the end Reggie states "I know I did, you huge oaf" affectionately when Gunther thanks his input in obtaining funding for their movie. The reader is brought through the slow acceptance of both characters in each other's minds.
Visual descriptions such as "The smooth expanse of his completely bald head" and "He held the catsup bottle in one fist like a chisel or a caulking gun" involve the reader directly with the scenes in the narration. Especially toward the end of the story, this imagery is important in sections such as "Then I make out Gunther, his legs and arms wafting gently like seaweed fronds" help indicate the newfound respect the narrator has in his work partner. He sees him as a creature of grace, no longer the man "the shrimplike color of new Play-Doh" he described at the beginning of the story.

Josephine Surer
Rules of the Game, is a story seen through the eyes of a young Chinese chess prodigy. The overall tone is very general since it is seen through a child's view, and therefore the description a more limited in terms of detail. The view is first person, causing the reader to relate more and empathize with Meimei. The story is written in past tense, therefore suggesting that it is a recall of a childhood memory. Plus, the story starts with "I was six when..."(497). Furthermore, the language in is very straightforward and obvious, suggesting the young age, but also the type of leading relationship she has with her family and culture. The different events described are very quick and therefore add to the subjectivity of the language.

Nina Godridge's Review Oct.30

Hello it's Nina Godridge with another review of this week's readings. Each story has a common theme to which the narrator realizes what choice they should make to live their life. A lot of what I noticed between the two is the use of descriptions and very vivid imagery. This plays as a key figure to reading each stories as it composes a lot of what the stories convey.
In Ralph Lombreglia's Men Under Water, it opens up with the scene of the two men eating and discussing their movie. The movie they have been trying to make has been going through a lot of trial and error as the narrator, Ricardo, is the sidekick (practically) to Gunther. Gunther knows what he wants to do, he wants to make a movie, but he needs Ricardo to create the vision he has. Ricardo is the writer. The setting is in Cleveland, where that world does influence the movie they end up creating. What I liked about the dynamic of characters is that Ricardo is clearly the lost-boy trying to find his trade, even though he has found it, and Gunther is the mature man who knows what to do to get what he wants. The two compliment each other in the end when Ricardo is describing his swim in the water, picturing the American Rock-n-Roll before him on the glittering water surface. On aspect of the story I liked is how Gunther has affected Ricardo's marriage. They would have to go to couples counseling if he works on the movie, like that's how much his marriage is on the line but then at the end Ricardo says, " Why shouldn't it be me?" Ricardo has found something he wants to do with his life and he's ready to start that new chapter, even if it means ending his own marriage for the sake of making it "big" in Hollywood.
Then in Amy Tan's Rules of the Game we see how a girl named Waverly Place Jong, or Meimei, becomes a national champion of chess. I loved reading the process of what brought her to be the chess player she is at the end of the story. The successful girl, who at the same time is going through some drama of her own. It all started when her brother Vincent got a chess set at Christmas from their local church. From there she learns how to play from him, and a man by the name of Lau Po in an alley. She learns so much for Po and uses what she learned to win her first chess tournament. Watching her excel and succeed in chess reminded me when I was in middle school trying to learn as much as a could. I wish I had gotten to learn chess the way she did. Anyway, the most powerful scene about the narrator is at the end when she runs away from her mother and the people around her once she feels embarrassed. Meimei notices how her mother is using her and she doesn't like it. One thing you do notice while reading it is her mother's broken English. I really got a sense of the narrator's lifestyle from her mother's language and how she was raised with her brothers once she became noticed for her chess playing. In the end it was a great story to read, especially at the end when she's playing against the player in her mind - pondering what her next move is.

"Rules of the Game" - Shannon Walsh (Week 7)

         The author embeds Chinese cultural ideals in the details of the writing, through action and descriptions. The narrator refers to her mother’s traditional Chinese cooking: “Our mother sprinkled flour and rolled out small doughy circles for the steamed dumplings that would be our dinner” (501). She also refers to her heritage when asked how old she is: “I thought it was a trick question. I was seven according to the American formula and eight by the Chinese calendar” (500). These glimpses of culture allow the reader a better understanding of the characters and the narrator’s Chinese-American experiences. 
        Many traditional Chinese tendencies and values are also brought to the story through the characterization of the mother. The mother speaks in broken English as her second language, saying fragmented statements like, “Who say this word?” (499), “Too good. Cost too much” (501), and “In Chinese we say, Come from South, blow with wind” (497). The mother also embodies the traditional ideal of Chinese humility, when she watches her daughter win at chess and responds, “Is luck” (504), as well as the ideal of strict discipline as shown when she scolds the narrator, “We not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us” (508). This characterization of the traditional Chinese mother allows the author to incorporate a very specific culture and set of ideals into the story. 

“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Hi, this is Lucy Liang.

The story begins with a scene where many people are gathered at the narrator’s house, and “ There are a lot of women I don’t know”, stated by the narrator. This made me wonder what is going on in this house, what is happening, who those people are, and why are they all at the narrator’s house? The narrator of the story, Shaila, does not seem at all eager to explain to the reader of the answers to these questions. Instead, very calmly, the reader is brought to experience the scene as the narrator experiences it, while being introduced to thoughts of the narrator, like the narrator is constantly reminded of her husband and boys (417) that raised more questions as to where the narrator’s family is. These hinted at something big, and perhaps tragic, had happened to this community. A background of the story was not forced into the reader, but the readers were allowed to find out for themselves from in between the lines of the story. This keeps the reader engaged, and feels more real to the reader since we usually find out about most situations through such a way instead of being told directly.

Week 6: Alejandra Garcia 

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an interesting look into the lives of soldiers during the Vietnamese War. There is initially a focus on First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his infatuation with a young woman back home, but then the short story transitions between his internal conflicts and the larger group of soldiers. Lists of supplies and a focus on their weight characterize the group of soldiers. As the story progresses there is a repetition in the structure of these list paragraphs, however the items become more personal to the soldiers. Additionally, more of Ted Lavender’s death is revealed. The story is retelling scenes in greater detail, and slowly building up. The weight of the struggles and emotions of the soldier becomes a greater weight for the reader to carry. 

Krista Smathers on "The Management of Grief"

Even though "The Management of Grief" is narrated by and revolves around one woman and her interpretations, Mukherjee’s indirect characterization of Mrs. Bhave’s friends, family, and neighbors aid the believability of the ending and encourage the reader to sympathize most with the narrator.  The different ways in which the characters finally console themselves varies greatly, and these side-plots keep with the title and urge readers to consider the different possible ways of coping.  Kusum becomes estranged from her daughter whereas Dr. Rangalathan moves back to where his entire family once shared a life.  The unique spirituality of the narrator’s path to resolution includes more emotional language—because of the first person narration—and in the end, somewhat forces the reader to identify with her choice despite it’s rashness.  Her decision to simply go and be is prompted by her husband’s mystical directions and it is justified it in her eyes and appeals to the irrational, but condoned, emotions of the reader.

Heather Chau on "The Things They Carried"

I really enjoyed the way Tim O'Brien sets the story up. Throughout the entire story, he illustrates how, essentially, obsessed he Jimmy is with Martha. He obsesses over her virginity and even puts a rock in his mouth to pretend he's kissing her. Then, at the end, when Ted Lavender dies, Jimmy suddenly changes his mindset and vows to dedicate himself to his men, and to not think about Martha at all. Yet, I wonder if he will really be able to do so? A lot of the time, people are adamant that they will stop doing something or another, and in the end they usually don't. As a counter point, he did just see someone get his cheek blown off and die.
I also wonder what will drive him to keep living, if not Martha. Maybe it'll be just living. Maybe it'll be just staying alive as a leader for his men. Perhaps from watching too many movies, I have the conception that men in war need something at home to think about and come home to, otherwise they lose their determination to live. I could be wrong, of course. Movies usually aren't that factual.
I appreciate how the author sets the story up too. It doesn't really feel like a story. The beginning really only explains Jimmy's circumstances in the army and his obsessive relationship with Martha. The "story" is really only about one moment in which Jimmy changes his mindset, to the extent that the reader can see. All the moments beforehand seemed more like explanations, as if they were setting the stage and backstory so we could understand what this one moment meant in this one man's life. There is no real progression of events. I just found that interesting. Would this count as a story?

Week #6 Blog Post

Hi, Karen Chau here.

In "The Management of Grief," Mukherjee structures the story as snapshots of events happening. The paragraph breaks are chosen based on when a scene ends and another one begins. A vivid example of this is when the narrator expresses her recollection of the effects of pills and how she feels. She says, "Not peace, just a deadening quiet. I was always controlled, but never repressed. Sound can reach me, but my body is tensed, ready to scream. I hear their voices all around me. I hear my boys and Vikram cry, 'Mommy, Shaila!' and their screams insulate me, like headphones" (418). These sentences build up the tension that is within the narrator through getting more and more specific about what the narrator's exact feelings are. After this crescendo of tension, the paragraph ended there, and the next paragraph began with "The woman boiling water tells her story..." (418). These shifts in scenes, especially after emotional ones, give the reader a chance to "breathe" and reflect on what was previously stated. The abrupt shifts also keeps the story moving at a good pace.

Alex Lemme - "The Things They Carried"

"The things they carried" by Tim O'Brien is characterised by a contrast between the consistency of the lists within the narration and the differences in the details between each of the characters. This interesting use of contrast and similarity permeates the entire text and evokes a sense that all the soldiers in the story are "uniform" due to their position in the army but are also individuals with different priorities and fears.
At the beginning of the story the reader is introduced to lists of equipment such as "Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent". This equipment is the constant in the narration and not only does it convey powerful imagery to the reader, but it also creates a uniform pattern in the way the list is read. The list is very dry and doesn't have much personality to it, much like the items in the list that are standard for every soldier.
On the other hand, later on in the story there are descriptions such as "Mitchell Sanders, the RTO, carried condoms" and "Ted Lavender carried 6 or 7 ounces of premium dope". These short mentions of specific soldiers and their personal necessities and therefore priorities makes the group of soldiers into a group of individuals with different views on what is considered a necessity.
These two contrasting aspects of the story create a lovely relationship between what someone belongs to and who someone is.

"The Management of Grief"

      This is Lena Gruber.

      Language and voice are what construct the short story as a whole. As the voice changes and morphs so does the main character Shalia. She struggles between behaving the way she's supposed to behave and feeling the way she truly feels. It's her "duty" to hope. She must be a voice for those who do not share how she really feels about when her husband and children died in the plane crash. As she recounts she is aware that her feelings don't match the way she was taught to think, yet she continues to feel obliged, and does, defend the way she must feel. She at first thinks it's wrong to feel the way she feels. Her voice is more factual and "here's what happened." The reader is able to detect when the author's opinion changes by the fact that in the beginning of short story the main character uses almost no embellishing in the description of her reaction to the death of her family. Even though she must think that her children are not dead because she's supposed to, she still feels the symptoms of grief. At first she stops herself from expressing herself and talks about how she wishes she could scream. Those feelings are repressed until later when she begins to open up and talk about her true feelings. The reader can see this transition due to the first person narrative with "I." She expresses herself and the reader sees the dilema. Shaila is taught that grief is a selfish act. But she doesn't care if she's selfish if it means she can grieve. From the realization she allows the reader into the thoughts she was retaining. She opens up about how she misses her family deeply and she thinks about them constantly. She follows the "normal" stages of grieving, regardless of what her parents may think. By the end she finally stops thinking about everything and decides on her own that it's time to try and move forward. All her thoughts and focuses go away and she goes into detailed description about her surroundings and present state of being. She proves though voice and language that she is set free from her duties and obligations from her customs and can just be who she wants to be. The character development was based off of language and voice which guided this short story. 

"The Management of Grief" - Bharati Mukherjee

This is Cathy Lee.

In the course of this story, the protagonist struggles to come to terms with the loss of her sons and her husband. Her transition from grief to acceptance to eventual tentative optimism is clearly portrayed. When she thinks of dropping her sons’ prized belongings into the ocean, she thinks that “they’d want them on their island” (p. 422), referring to Dr. Ranganathan’s earlier words indicating the possibility of her sons’ survival. Her words imply pessimism about their survival, as putting material possessions in the ocean would most likely mean losing them; she is outwardly acknowledging Dr. Ranganathan’s façade of optimism, but not actually believing him. However, she still harbours some form of hope for their continued survival, as exemplified in the fact that she packed “dry clothes for [her] boys” in her suitcase (p. 424). When she converses with the Sikh couple in Agincourt, however, she understands that her dead family members “are not coming back” (p. 427), showing that she has accepted her loss. She also later engages in support of a charity (p. 429), as though the nurturing or support of something will mitigate the loss and grief she is dealing with.

Towards the end of the story, she “[waits]”, “[listens]”, and “[prays]” (p. 430) for her family, but is no longer preoccupied with their deaths, as implied by her realisation that they are absent in her dreams; her praying at this point seems like an action that she simply performs as part of her duty as a wife and mother. She then hears “the voices of [her] family one last time”, urging her to take her life into her own hands. While this might show that her actions are still tied to her dead family, as what she does hinges on whether she has accepted her loss (even her epiphany comes in the form of words from her family), the fact that she hears their voices in her head “one last time” indicates that the story is ending on an optimistic note, signalling the independence and self-exploration in her future. This is further underscored by the physical distance from the rest of her family, the fact that she severed ties with ignorant Judith Templeton, and that she sold any physical assets related to her family (such as “the pink house” (p. 429) ).

Josephine Surer. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, is a story that emphasizes just how young and unexperienced the soldiers were for the war. The point of view shifts between a third person view of Jimmy Cross's personal view and the troupe's view as a whole. Jimmy Cross' love for a girl comes off as sweet and romantic for the reader, but when Rat Kiley dies because of Cross' inadvertence, the tone shifts to a more dry and serious one. The reader then realizes, just like the lieutenant, the cost of a life and how easily it can be lost. There, The Things They Carried underlines the value of life and the constant fear of death soldiers felt during the war. "They had no sense of strategy or mission.[...] They carried their own lives. The pressures were enormous." (376-377)

"The Things They Carried" - Wu

Hi, Allison Wu here. “The Things They Carried” emphasizes both how fighting in war is completely not about the human body and how much the human body means everything in war. Some of the most intimate and greatly illustrated moments of physicality throughout the piece are through First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ thoughts about Martha. These moments provide the mental longing for human touch and contact while simultaneously contrasting how these physical movements are stuck within the mind, instead of released through the body. Cross’ longing for this type of fleeting yet intimate and physical togetherness with Martha is contrasted by the regular and monotonous motion of the soldiers marching toward what seems like the endless miles of war. It is only with Cross’ interjections of thoughts about embracing physical moments with Marta which provide the most physicality in this story of mental brutality and endurance. The high intensity of the “Martha thoughts” illustrate not only the physical weariness of these soldiers in war but also their undying sense of still wanting physical closeness and ease. As Cross and his men march through war, the things they carry matter so much because of the bodies which are burdened with them. 

Nina Godridge's Review (Oct 24)

Hello everyone, Nina Godridge. I got my review for this weekend's readings which I felt were both very enchanting. This was the first time I read Bharati Mukherjee's " The Management of Grief." What really captured me was the first person narration by Shalia, who had lost her husband and children to a devastating crash, that also affected others. What we are reading is the aftermath and her form of grief from it all. As many characters come and go like Judith Templeton and Dr. Ranganthan, and members of her family; each has an influence to her grieving process. A moment that stood out, was when Shalia is home in India. Entering into a temple, she sees a vision of her husband next to her. I really enjoyed reading about the spiritual aspect of the culture and how his words to her speak more deeply into the story. " You must finish alone what we started together?" What does that mean? I asked myself. After this I felt a spiritual aspect covered the rest of the pages. Through the ups and downs of trying to move on. Then at the end, when she's walking back to her apartment, she notices something in the trees, across from the University of Toronto and hears " Your time as come. Go, be brave." The story ends with a beginning, Shalia will start attending college, to start another chapter of her life, as throughout the story that was the main question asked to her, what are you going to do now? Now Shalia knows, and she won't be grieving no more.
" The Things I Carried" by Tim O'Brien was a huge throwback for me to when I was in high school, reading and analyzing just how much Jimmy Cross and his fellow soldiers literally, metaphorically, spiritually, emotionally and physically carried on their backs as they fought through the Vietman War. You are really transported there through the imagery of the soldiers as they travel the hills and vast lands. The narrator, Jimmy, does form this aspect to the war as he links it to the daydreams of his "one love" Martha back home in New Jersey, studying to be a poet and sends him letters. The imagery and the interpretations of the objects and/or figures to the short story play as a whole to what it means during this time in a man's life. Even though at times the thought of death terrifies him, it doesn't define him. Jimmy is defined by what he carries, what he sees, and how he processes the world around him. Before we know it, Jimmy is a man. He's accepted that Martha isn't waiting for him and he has to move forward, don't look back - carry on.
These two short stories were an excellent read after the week I had, it reminded me that I have to look forward and see that life isn't defined by one event, or one person. Life is a journey, which is perfectly crafted in these two short stories.

"The Things They Carried" - Shannon Walsh (Week 6)

The narrator habitually uses lists throughout the story. “Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes…” (367).  This repetitive nature of the author works to stress to the reader just how much the characters are actually carrying. Rather than simply stating that they are carrying a lot of things, the author specifically names each item in extended lists, so as to emphasize the great bulk and actual weight of things that they bear in their bags.  

Within the lists, the author often names a long list of many tangible objects followed by an intangible idea. After extensively listing the many types of weapons the characters carried, he ends with, “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried” (371). After naming the personal items each character carries such as photos of loved ones, he ends this list with, “They all carried ghosts” (372). This technique works not only to show the actual things that they carry, but the psychology and emotion that the characters feel associated with these objects. As they carried weapons, they feel a powerful yet scared. As they carried their personal things, they feel homesick and haunted by the thought of perhaps never returning home.

Heather Chau on "Aurora"

From what the author reveals, it's very easy to picture the background of the characters depicted within this story. While it's never directly stated, we can gather that the characters come from a rather poor background or are without parents, since there is no mention of family worrying despite their young ages. With Aurora, it is safe to assume that she's not very well off since she also doesn't seem to have a home, unlike the main character who seems to have a place with Curt. This is shown from his memories with her living carelessly in abandoned apartments, and when she first visits him in the story with her hair wet, he says she must have went to a friends or to an empty apartment.
The author is great at letting the reader see how strange the background and life of these characters are. She juxtaposes their mature experiences with innocent thoughts, especially when she begins the story. It goes from talking about weed to mentioning sweet cookies, which hearken back to times of childhood and warm innocence. There is also the mention that Aurora is barely seventeen.

Week #5 Blog Post

Hi, Karen Chau here.

"Harrison Bergeron" creates a fictional world that is different from the reader's world by explicitly stating the setting and rules of the fictional world. The year that the story takes place is 2081, and true equality was the rule of the land. Once Vonnegut sets the scene, he elaborates on the previous inequalities and describes how that inequality was made fair in 2081. He achieves this through character development. His descriptions include the use of simile, metaphors, and other visual aids that illustrate how the characters look physically and what they are like mentally (i.e. intelligence). Examples of this are "bandits from a burglar alarm," (763) and "bar snapped like celery," (767). The plot of the story is advanced by a conflict that builds up with the existence of Harrison Bergeron. As the protagonist of the story, Harrison challenges the rule of the world (equality), and this gives the story its climax. As he marches into the studio, there is suspense about his success/failure which leads the reader to read on. Finally, telling the story through third person creates an objective tone. There are descriptions of the plot and characters while the emotions of the characters are minimized. Even when the characters express sadness or anger, the reader is less attached to those emotions because the emotions are being presented with a neutral tone.