Poetry Assignment 2

OVERWHELMED

This feeling of suffocation
Presses down on me.
I stuff it in,
Making room for more.
How can I contain it?
What happens when I can no longer breathe?

So...............................

I close my eyes and dream
That I am a red balloon,
Taking in air until I burst,
And the feeling of suffocation
Begins once more.

by Maureen Jackson

Poetry Assisgnment

A Community I Knew Well

Walking everywhere we went,
School and church around the corner,
The beach nearby.
Playing on the street 'til dark,
Running errands for your mother.

The streets become empty at dusk.
Children play,
Supervised in their yards.
Safety in numbers.
Trips to the beach in cars.
Gone are the carefree days,
Innocence replaced with fear.

by Maureen Jackson

Kate Chopin's Views on Marraige

Kate Chopin is brilliant in her writing. Her views are like a single thread woven into a large tapestry. The message is there, but you need to look deeper into the story to find it.

In her story The Storm, and The Story of an Hour, there are implied attitudes on her views towards marriage.

In her story The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard finds joy in freedom in the news of her husband's death. When she realizes he is alive she dies a sudden death. The publisher probably saw the story as a lesson to be learned for Mrs. Mallard's selfish attitude. When we look deeper into the story, we see that Mrs. Mallard's death was a freedom. She felt that marriage was a crime, whether it be a kind or cruel intention, of one human being imposing their will upon another. She already felt dead. The day before she learns of her husband's supposed death she had shuddered to think that her life may be long. Kate Chopin states that Mrs. Mallard loved her husband: sometimes.

In Kate Chopin's story The Storm, Calixta cheats on her husband while he and their son wait out a storm in town. The man she cheats with was a boyfriend she had before her marriage to Bobinot. When her husband and son return from town Calixta greets them with good humor and acts as if nothing out of the ordinary happened while they were gone.

Calixta's lover writes to his wife who is away visiting friends that she need not hurry back, that he was fine, and could bear the separation a while longer. He solitiously tells her that the health of Clarisse and the babies comes first. Clarisse is charmed by his letter; however, she relishes her "first free breath" since marriage. Kate Chopin states that although Clarisse was devoted to her husband, she was more than willing to forego their intimacy for a while.

The implied attitudes towards marriage are similar in both stories. The word free is used by Mrs. Mallard. She says, "free, free, free, body and soul free", when she finds out her husband dies. Clarisse uses the word free referring to a break from her marriage. Calixta's hour of infidelity gives her a sense of freedom from the confinement of her marriage which is implied in her attitude upon her husband's return.

Kate's views on marriage are implied in her stories because her her views were not widely accepted in the 1890's. If she had verbalized her views outright, none of her stories would have been published in her time.

Armand's Secret

In the final paragraph of Kate Chopin's story Desiree's Baby, Armand finds part of a letter from his mother that was written to his father. In the letter Armand's mother states that she is grateful to God that her son will never know that the mother who loves him was branded by the curse of slavery.

At the age of eight, Armand and his father return to Louisianna from Paris after his mother's death. His father owns a plantation with slaves. In the story Kate Chopin makes reference to the fact that Armand's father was easy going and indulgent with the slaves; but that after his father's death Armand's rule was strict and the Negroes forgot how to be gay.

When Armand marries Desiree -a woman with no name - they have a baby boy. At first Armand is happy, always with a smile on his handsome face, and he is kinder to his slaves. When their child is three months old, Armand realizes that his son is not white. "The very spirit of Satan seemed to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves." Armand banishes Desiree from their home, blaming her for being "not white." After Desiree takes the baby and vanishes into the bayou, never to be seen again, Armand makes the slaves burn all of Desiree's and the baby's things in front of him. It is then that he finds his mother's letter.

I believe that Armand sensed that it is he who was not white. At the age of eight he would have had some memories of his mother. His cruelty towards the slaves may have been sparked by his anger at having the blood "of a race cursed by the brand of slavery." He gives the slaves a reprieve from his anger when his son is first born; but when he discovers that his son is not white, his fears are realized, and he takes his anger out on the slaves. To save face he blames Desiree -a woman with no name, no known heritage- by telling her it is she who is not white. Perhaps the fact that she has no past is why he chooses her in the first place.

A Writer's Comments on "Desiree's Baby"

In Kate Chopin's story Desiree's Baby, Desiree is a girl without a name. When she is toddler age, she is found by a couple who takes her in and loves her as though she is their own child. Eighteen years later, Armand Aubigny falls in love with her. Desiree loves him desperately, as if he were a god.
One senses from reading the story that Desiree's love stems from the fact that he loves her. She is a woman without a name - and while she loves the people who have raised her - Armand can give her what she longs for. He gives her a name, a family of her own, and a home. She may see Armand as her rescuer.
Even when Armand's temper flairs, and he beats his slaves, Desiree trembles, but still loves him. When Armand smiles, she "asked no greater blessing of God." Perhaps she fears invoking Armand's wrath, sensing that he could just as easily hate her as love her. Desiree is dependent on Armand's love for security and in order to feel complete. She has already been rejected or abandoned once; would her heart survive another rejection?
Ironically, Armand does cease to love her when he discovers that their child is not white. He hates Desiree for "the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name."
Armand tell her to leave and she takes the baby and disappears into the bayou, never to return.
By putting all of her hopes, her trust, and her love into Armand, she made him into a god. A god who had the power to give when pleased, and the power to take away when the one who worshipped him displeased.

Sequel to "Ripe Figs"

Summer was at an end and Babette was longing for some company. She remembered that Maman-Nainaine has promised her a trip to the Toussaint to see Tante Frosine when the chrysanthemums were in bloom.

Daily she strolled in the garden, tending to the dark green plants and looking for signs of bloom. Sighing, she came away disappointed. She felt the restlessness come upon her and she pondered Maman-Nainaine's patience. Perhaps, she thought, patience was learned over time, like the changing of the season's took time.

Time seemed to pass slowly, but one morning -much to her surprise and delight - orange blooms covered the garden. Babette thought that the beauty of the flowers was well worth waiting for.

The next morning -when Maman-Nainaine came down to breakfast in her usual stately way- Babette presented her with a porcelin vase full of chrysanthemum blooms. "Ah," said Maman, " "I see that the chrysanthemums have bloomed early this year." "Oh," said Babette, "I think so too."

"Babette,"said Maman, "we shall leave for Toussaint within the week." 'But the next visit shall be from your cousins and Tante Frosine when the holly is in bloom."

Wandering

When I first read Dominique Browning's editorial Wandering, my first reaction was to ask myself why anyone would choose to be homeless.
As I read the editorial a second time, I realized that home can be a state of mind. We are at home in what we are doing, or where we are at the present time.
According to Webster's Dictionary the words "at home" means, "relaxed and comfortable", "at ease","in harmony with the surroundings", "on familiar ground", and "knowledgeable".
The dove mentioned in the first paragraph of the editorial made her home in the trellis on his balcony. This is probably where the dove felt safe and secure at the time. Next nesting season she may choose a new location that makes her feel the same way.
The wanderer in the story was at home in his wandering, doing good deeds for others in every place he went. He was at home in his wandering. But in the end the wanderer confesses to having a warehouse full of things he collected from every place he was. Even he had thoughts of putting down roots someday.
In conclusion, my thought is, that even though home may be where the heart is, we all dream of making a permanent home.

What's In A Name?

Have you ever wondered what your name means, or the origin? I recently looked up the meaning of my name and discovered that it is actually French in origin, not Irish like I was told. My name does, however, appear under Gaelic and Hebrew.
My name is Maureen and it means "dark" in both French and Gaelic. It means "uncertain, bitter" in Hebrew. This meaning could apply to anyone. We all have dark moods, or feel uncertain or bitter at times.
I decided to look up the meanings of my children's names to see if the meanings of their names suited them. It was interesting to note that their names are also Gaelic or Hebrew in origin. Sharon is Hebrew for "The Plains." In the bible it is referred to as "The rose of Sharon." Sharon must have been a place and the rose was possibly the one thing of beauty among the plains. Doesn't every parent feel that their daughter is a rose?
The name Bryan is Gaelic in origin and means "noble, strong." This meaning also could apply to many people. I do, however, feel that my son is noble in character. He has also had to be strong in times of trouble.
The name Evan is originally Hebrew in origin and there is a Gaelic meaning listed also. The Hebrew meaning is "God is gracious," and "fair." The Gaelic meaning is "swift." God was gracious to give me a son that I did not plan on. He is also fair complected. But again, this could apply to many people.
It was interesting to learn the origins and meanings of my family's names, but I don't believe that one name or another is particularly suited to a person. I feel that no matter what name I had given my children, the meaning would have applied.

Our Fine Feathered Friends

I have always admired birds. Even as a child I was envious of the way birds could soar, and wondered what it would be like to have that kind of freedom. I used to swing as high as I could on the swingset and feel a sense of joy and freedom. I liked to think that I was experiencing what a bird feels in flight.
Every morning I like to sit outside on my deck and watch the birds. I put several bird feeders in my yard as well as four birdhouses. Pretty soon I noticed a variety of birds in my yard. In my observations I have noticed that the majority of species get along well with each other. They share the food, and more than one species will sit on a birdfeeder together.
I have watched the comings and goings of male and female partners building their nest together, taking turns sitting on the eggs, or the male bird feeding the female bird while she is sitting on the nest. I have witnessed the male and female raising their young together. They even encourage their little ones to take flight when it is time to leave the nest. Then they teach their offspring how to hunt for food and other survival skills. birds.
We could all take a lesson from birds. Male and female stay together, raise their childern together, and are kind to each other. If we all behaved this way our world would be a nicer place to live in.

Spring Garden

Every Spring I daydream about planting a vegetable garden. I think about all of the things that could go wrong. The hungry squirrels, rabbits, and birds in my yard might eat the plants and produce. I may be too busy-with work and household chores-to tend to the garden. I decided that this year, I would start a miniature garden on my deck.
I purchased a cherry tomato plant, two pepper plants, and a bag of potting soil. My deck gets an equal amount of sun and shade throughout the day; so I placed the potted plants where they would benefit from this. On the days that it didn't rain, I watered the plants.
The pepper plants died, but the tomato plant is thriving. Everyday it seems to have grown an inch or two. This could be due to the recent week of rain.
Yesterday I noticed that the tomato plant was covered in yellow blossoms. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong, and I will have plenty of cherry tomatoes to eat and share with my family.
I have decided to plant a miniature garden on my deck every spring. There is less work and worry involved this way.