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
Saturday, June 6, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, June 1, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)