Multi-Genre Proposal

For my project I want to do something on deception and the ways its shown in different genres. I was planning on using A Rose For Emily to show how it was used in short stories. Then using the poem about the plum to show that you can talk about something in a different way. And then also use some of Jodi Poucotti books which all share a common theme of deception. Also maybe some movies that display it too. I was planning on using the wiki space to do this project.

The Word Plum By Helen Chasin

When I think of plums, I think of a juicy fruit thats usually enjoyed in the summer. I can remember biting into a plum in the summer and the juice getting all over my hands and arms. Dripping all over my pants and just creatig a complete mess. Unlike Helen Chasin's memory of a plum, my is innocent, a small childhood memory.

Helen Chasin's memory of a plus is sexual and full of passion. It's as if the plum stands for something eles. Like a forbidden lover. This would make sense because this poem was written in the 60's. I wonder if this poem had been written in the 20's or even the 1800's, if I wouldn't think it was so sexually charged. But then again, if it was written during those time periods, people would most likely not write so sexually about things.

More Poems I Like

I've decided to write my paper on some type of love. Either the different feelings you go through during love (being overly lovey "the honeymoon phase", the comfortable feeling, and maybe the eventual falling out of love stage). My other thought is to write on the different types of love. Controlling love, jelous love, the love a parent has for a child, the love you have for you significant other, the love you share with your close friends.

Since I'm focusing on love, all of my poems are love poems. I feel like once you've read a love poem you basically get the idea. Plus so times it gets old reading how other people feel when they are in love. It's like listening to you boy crazy 14 year old sister who just got her first boyfriend.

Three of the poems that I found that I feel are good are :
Untitled by Courtney Kuchta
What I Love About You by Crystal Jansen
And
Love is ... By Meghan (last name not inculded)

I know that this poems are not written by famous writters and great historical figures and thats part of the reason why I like them. They are just every day normal people expressing there feelings. Please they are easier to understand because that don't hold all that deep hidden meanings and metaphors.

In class haiku

topic - mom

Comfty orange sweater
Smells of Chanel perfume
Always there to comfort

Warm and inviting like fresh baked cookies
Scents of home and happiness
Ready with a hug when you need it

My Poems

I'm not really a big fan of poems so it was slightly hard for me to find some I like, just because I really can't relate to the way these writers seem to put there feelings on paper. Two poems that I did like are When a Woman Loves a Man and Couple Sharing a Peach. When a Woman Loves a Man by: David Lehman is a little longer than I would have liked and some parts seemed kinda random and pointless but I liked all the cutesy things in this poem like:

"And when she says, “I’ll never speak to you again,”
she means, “Put your arms around me from behind
as I stand disconsolate at the window.”

To me, it seems like the author wrote this poem late one night while watching his lover sleep or while missing her. It shows some of the rough times when they have fought and broken up but that doesn't even seem to be that big major of a thing. It's more about the little things.

The second poem Couple Sharing a Peach by Molly Peacock was also about relationships although you might not really know that unless you found it under the relationship section like I did. I do like the part:

Two happinesses unfold
from one joy

In the end when the author writes:

In a hotel room
Our moment lies
With it’s ode inside,
a red tinge,
with a hinge.

This makes me think that the love they have just experiences is forbidden in one way or another. Either they are young and shouldn't be doing the things they are doing or they both are with other people.

Linda Pastan- Marks

This poem is really interesting to me. It seems like alot of the poems we have been reading have to do with parents. This one is intersting to me because it made me think that our moms are people too. They have feelings and lives of there own. Although they do like to spend there time making sure there kids are safe and happy, they are not always perfect and can't do everything at all times. Like this poem hints at, they are not here to grade or fail, they do there best and thats great. Because someone people have mothers who aren't alive or don't care about putting food on the table or how great there ironing is. So just having a mother around who loves you and cares should be all they need for a passing grade.

Marge Piercy- Barbie Doll

Struck with confusion,
Confused why a child would.
Yet understanding,
Understanding why,
Why a child would feel this way.
The way the pressures pile up,
Pile up until it crushes you,
Crushing you believe your nothing,
Nothing if your not perfect.

I've never really tried to write a poem before because I'm really not that creative but here was my attempt. I guess it's a little easier to do it if you have something to kinda look at for inspiration.

Aphra Behn- On Her Loving Two Equally

This poem kinda seemed like a mother talking about her two children. In the part when she says "When my Alexis present is, Then I for Damon sigh and mourn" I feel like she's saying that when just one of her children is around she just things about the other. Maybe thats not how all parents are but thats how it seems with my mom. When ever I'm home she seems to talk about my brother all the time and always be thinking of him. I've come to the conclusion that it's not because she loves him better but because when I'm with her she knows I'm safe and happy and he's not around so she wonders. I believe that this lady feels the same way because in the end she says "But which, O Cupid, wilt thou take? If Damon's, all my hopes are crossed; Or that of my Alexis, I am lost."

The Glass Castle

I'm reading the book The Glass Castle. This is probably one of the first books I've had to read in a class that I actually like and it's not like pulling teeth to get through it.

That makes me question what qualities need to be there to make a story or a book enjoyable? I used to think that it was being able to relate to the story but clearly thats not true with this story. I have never been in any situation even relatively close to the things that this women has gone through and I'm pretty sure that no one I know has gone through things like this.

So maybe what makes a story likeable is when it shows you something that you've never seen before. But thats can't be the case because every story we have read from the Norton has been slighty boring and hard to get through at times and they all presented things I've never dealt with.

This leaves me to believe that maybe it has nothing to do with what the bookis about and really about how the author writes the story. So then, is there ever really a good story, or just good authors?

Wikipedia defines non-fiction as "an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition."

This defination goes a little more in dept of what I thought non-fiction really was. I always just thought it was true. Like fiction is a made believe story, I thought that non-fiction was a re-telling of something that really had happened. Almost like a newspaper article or a biography only about an event instead of about a person.

Flannery O'Connor

In "A Good Man is Hard to Find" one literary device O'Connor uses is irony. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find" the grandmother talks to everyone about "The Misfit" who is killing people. It's ironic that she just happened to think of this house and make her family search for it, only to get frightened that she had remembered the wrong state, kick open the basket that the cat was in, the cat would attack her son, he would freak out, the car would roll, and then "The Misfit" would be the first person to come upon them.

In "The Lame Shall Enter First", O'Connor always employs irony. In this story, Sheppard wants to take Johnson under his wing because he feels that no one recognizes his potential or treats him well. The irony is that Sheppard is often quoted as making rude remarks about his son being "not bright enough to be damaged much" (pg. 387 between 195 and 200) and that he is lazy and ungrateful. Obviously the son is not lazy, stupid or ungrateful because he spends his free time trying to make money by selling seeds. Also, Johnson is more of the rude one who purposely says and does things to upset Sheppard and Johnson. Another example of irony, or at least something to notice is that Sheppard lectures Norton on not being nice to other people and although Sheppard is willing to help all other needy people, he can't even be nice to his own son, be ignores him on night after the picture show because he doesn't want to lose Johnson's trust, instead he settles for crushing his son.

After reading both of these stories, my personal opinion is that they are semi interesting with all the twists and turns but there are too many pointless details you have to weed through to actually get to the interesting parts. If it were a T.V. show ... I would have changed to something else by the first or second commercial break.

William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily

The people of this town describe Emily as some what of a hermit. It is said that before her father died he turned away a lot of the men that came to marry her and after her father died she didn't seem to want to leave the house.

A question that came to my mind after reading what the towns people have to say about Emily is, Does she avoid leaving her house because she's upset or because she is just sick and tired of having people whisper and stare at her when ever she's in public?

Does the people in this town mean well when they sneak onto her property and sprinkle lime so whatever stinks will stop stinking or are they just thinking of themselves and there wants?

That brings up a bigger question. When Emily died, did the people come to her home out of respect or simply because they were curious and wanted to see whats hardly any have seen before?

I guess you could ask that about all people. Does anyone does anythings solely out of good nature? Or is there always an ulterior motive? Even the nicest people who would do just about anything for people have an ulterior motive. It may be to create good karma or to look good in the eyes of God. Regardless if the motive is good or bad, most people do things because it will some how work out to benefit them in the end.

Angela Carter's A Souvenir of Japan

The beginning of this story made me think about how many memories I have in my past that relate to fireworks. For some reason fireworks have always been magical to me, even at this age. As a child my family used to spend the 4th of July up in Alpena and I remember sitting in some random parking lot watching the fireworks, going through all of the oohhs and ahhhs. At that age I'm not sure what was more fun for me, watching the sky light up or just being out in the late summer night. In this sense I can some what relate to the wife in this story when her husband gets bored and wants to go back to the city instead of watch the rest of the fireworks. My parents always wanted to pack up during the big grand final, they said it was so we could beat the traffic, but I can imagine that they were some what bored. I always wanted to stay until every last spark had died and the smoke was drifting away.

The summer before I started middle school we went down to Cincinnati for the 4th of July to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. The fireworks off the barges compared to the fireworks in Jackson is like comparing a candle to a forest fire. It was simply amazing. That whole night doesn't come to my mind very often but when it does, I remember it as the last time all 8 of us were together, happy and healthy. No girlfriends or boyfriends. No worries about ACT scores or that paper we should be writing.

In middle school and the early years of high school, the fireworks always meant doing down the the park and meeting up with all the other kids from the other schools. There were always fights and people drinking and tons of drama. Although my parents hated it when I went down there for the fireworks, I went every year, every time there were fireworks. Even then it seemed like there was some mysterious magic in the air and if you caught it just at the right time or place, all your dreams could come true. During those years, the thing I wanted the most was to have some special boy watch the fireworks with me like you see in romantic movies. Things never seemed to work out just right for me.

I can still remember the last time all of my high school friends were together in the same place, just us, no college friends, no awkward moments like we seem to run into some times now when we get back together. We were all sitting on the curb, just looking up at the sky, almost like we did when we were younger. No one said anything during the whole show. I think deep down we all knew this was our last great moment together.

Although I know that this story isn't about the fireworks, the beginning of this story struck a cord with me and it was nice to take a trip down memory lane. Who doesn't like to take that stroll every once in a while.

How To Pick The Wrong Guys

Find a guy with that mysterious charm. He may be interested but distant. Assume that's just because he doesn't want to get to serious to fast. Find that cute because you think he feels that way because he might have been hurt before and wouldn't want to hurt someone back

Giggle and find it charming when he calls us cute names like "Baby" or "Pumpkin". Don't listen to the little voice in the back of your head that says he might call you these things because he has so many girls in his life that he doesn't want to call you by the wrong name.

When he doesn't answer your calls for a week-end straight or doesn't come around for a while, just assume that it's because he's really busy in his life or work, not that he's cheating on you or with another girl.

When your friends say that they don't like him because he seems sneaky and like a liar, know that they are just jealous not that they really can see what you don't.

Finally, if you've been dating him for 5 months and you still haven't met his family or friends, believe him when he says that it's because he doesn't want to share you with other people. It couldn't be that he's just using you.

Lorrie Moore's "How" - Opinion

Clearly this story was very odd. The point of view is what made it odd. If the narrator had told the story in a different way, like someone looking in on the couple, it might have seemed a little more normal. It kind of reads like a how to book, "How to meet the man of your dreams and then mess it all up".

This story frustrated me a little but at some times I could relate to it. It seems like this lady really should go on the Dr. Phil show because she seemed to push away a perfectly good guy. He took interest in the thing she said she was interested in and even towards the end when he basically knew she was cheating on him, he still cleaned up after her and did her laundry. The part that I could relate to was when she said that eventually you just because bored. I definitely agree with that. I have been with my boyfriend for 5 months and although I love him dearly, there are times where it feels like were just stuck in a rut. I think everyone goes through that but the narrator went a little extreme by cheating on her boyfriend.

Lorrie Moore's "How"

The story "How" explores the narrators relationship. In the beginning it is discussed how the narrator will meet her love interest. At the start of the new relationship the narrator is describing how her new guy will be.

"He will have perfectly cut hair. He will laugh at your jokes."

The next paragraph discusses how the narrator would feel at the beginning of the relationship. The "honeymoon" phase. She says "Feel discovered, comforted, needed, loved, and start sometimes, somehow, to feel bored."

The last part of that quote "... and start sometimes, some how, to feel bored." Now leads the reader to believe that the narrator is falling out of love with the man and next will come a break up or at least a fight. But instead the next few paragraphs are about the narrator and he boyfriend moving in together. The narrator makes the excuse that they are moving in together because "rents are high". But then she also admits that is is because this man has become her family and in some way she really is in love with him.

It seems through this part of the story that the narrator is just going through the normal motions of being with someone. At first they are your perfect mate and then eventually you do get bored and frustrated. You also make more commitments to each other, like moving in together, and meeting each others families. The next part that is a little out of the ordinary is when the narrator meets an actor and talks about having an affair and also her mate contracts a kidney problem and she is forced to deal with that problem as well.

While the "medical unpleasantries" are being taken care of, the narrator says "Once a week you will feel in love with him again." This shows that although the narrator has thought (or actually) cheated on him, she still does care about his well being and even talks about rubbing his back when it hurts and listening to his kidneys at night wondering if he might die.

At this point she knows she can't leave him because he is having health problems so she goes out and has another affair. After a night out with her fling, she comes home and makes love to her boyfriend and seems to be disgusted in herself. At this part she seems to start treating him bad again, trying to push him away. She says she leaves the house with a sink full of dirty dishes, knowing he will be the one to wash all of them. But clearly she knows what she is doing is wrong because she says that while she is at work she is very distracted, so distracted that her co-workers seem to notice.

In the end, the narrator comes to the conclusion that she must leave him. She says to "take him out to dinner." After wards she says that while lying in be together she tells him she is going to leave. He make look upset but he is not surprised. When he asks why you are leaving, make sure you tell him it is that you don't love him. To wrap the story up, the narrator leaves the man.

Sonny's Blues

When I first started reading this, I was reminded of my own high school. Although the town I grew up in was nothing like Harlem, there was a lot of drug use and abuse in my high school. In the beginning when he says that he can't really remember what his brother looks like now reminds me of many classmates I had in high school. In particular it reminded me of two guys I used to date who have since gotten arrested for using drugs and have gone through the whole boot camp and prison time experience. This summer I saw one of them in the mall and he didn't even look like the same person I had once know. It makes me question, do the drugs change the way a person looks or does the things they go through to stay out of trouble and get drugs change the way they look?
After reading the letter Sonny wrote back, I wanted to know more about there childhood. Like if there parents were never around and just let them do whatever or if they had really good parents and some how Sonny just got caught up in drugs while the other brother stayed straight. Also, I wonder how his daughter died.
I'm sure everyone has some story about drugs, either they are or have been a user or know someone who is or has been a user, that's why I'm sure this story is easy for everyone to relate to in one way or another.

About Me

Name: Courtney
Age: 19
Hometown: Jackson, MI
School Status: Sophomore majoring in psychology and minoring in womens studies