Given Her History and The Virgin of Small Plains

I read the short story, Given Her History by Melissa Vanbeck. Unlike the other short stories I read, this one was more unsettling to myself. The story is about a small little girl named April-May and her family dog Jake. Jake was actually the pet dog to her older brother Billy. Billy, who appears to be disturbed and have a high degree of emotional and psychological issues, burnt his mother, father and brother in a home fire. April-May and Jake are found physically safe, but emotionally scared. After the fire, April-May goes to live with her teacher, Mr. Clark and his wife. It is quite apparent that she and her dog are not wanted by Mrs. Clark. She will leave the room once April-May enters it. She seldom speaks to her. Mr. Clark passes away, so April-May is forced to find yet another place to call home. An older woman, Vivian takes her in. At the end of the story, April-Mays brother, Billy comes back for her. I could not tell if he came back to kill her too, or if he came back to see how she was doing. Vivian is extremely upset for what he did to the family and her rabbits. She asks Billy to leave, but he refuses. Due to his violent and deadly past, Vivian shoots Billy and kills him.
It is amazing to me that a town would turn their backs on a child during a time of disaster and tragedy. April-May loses her family and has to move in with people knowing that they do not want her. She is experiencing enough emotional and psychological challenges, the towns reaction is completely unnecessary. It is understandable, but sad about April-Mays reaction to the death of her brother Billy at the end of the story. Her tears are not for the loss of her brother, but due to the suffering of the rabbits during the fire. It is sad that such a young child would have witnessed the emotional and physical abuse within her own family, endure the family fire, and then witness the death of her older brother Billy. I do not feel any child should have to endure such tragedy in their life, let alone at such a young age.

Of all the short stories, I found t his one to have the worst character development. I found myself with more questions about the characters in the story. For example, it is apparent that there was some physical and emotional abuse in April-Mays family, but why did the mom stay? I have no idea why Billy came to the decision to kill his family. Anyone must be struggling a great deal to make such a horrific decision to kill their own family, but what happened for him to do this. And why did he save his sister from the fire when he had much enjoyment from torturing her? And another question I have is the towns’ response to the fire. I do not know what this family did to have such a lack of support for the daughter April-May. I live in a town that would never turn their back on a family during such a difficult and tragic time.

I enjoyed this short story, despite some of the troubling issues I found in it. I will say that there was less character development than the other ones. I tend to gravitate toward stories that I feel more connected with the characters. I like to know more about them and why they do the things they do or say the things they say. I will say there was more mystery, but this could also be thought of as lack of answered questions. I do not think there was so-called “mystery” in it, but more unanswered questions than the other ones.

I do have to say I was surprised that this short story was written by a woman. This may sound stereotypical, but I feel that more gruesome, violent stories are written by men than woman. I would not have been able to tell the author by character development. I tend to believe that men are more emotionless, which I feel fits this story. Most characters did not express emotions. Mrs. Clark did cry when she found her deceased husband. And April-May did have tears at the end of the story. There was no positive, happy emotion at all in the story. On the contrary, the emotions were sad, subdued and negative.

I am glad the short story ended with the sudden death of Billy. I am a firm believer that people must pay the price for their crime. I do not think it was appropriate for Vivian to do it in front of April-May and to leave her with the scare of this on top of the house fire. I did not like that I was left with so many unanswered questions. The ending was much different from the other stories I have read such as The Hour When the Ship Comes in and A Different Road. Based on these feelings, I do not think I would recommend this short story to anyone. It would be a good story for a class discussion, based on the lack of answers.

A Different Road & Mystic River

I read the short story, A Different Road this week. It told the story of a couple in their sixties who had experienced much sadness and disappointment in their lives. Following a fun evening out with another couple, Henry took Olive to the local hospital to use the restroom. While waiting for the Emergency Room Physician to examine her, the hospital is held hostage by two men. During the short hold up, both Olive and Henry exchange some words that are hurtful and unforgiveable. Most of the words place blame on each other for the reason their son moved to California. Ever since the horrific experience by the Kittredge’s, the couple has not been as friendly and out-going within the small, retirement community and themselves. The couple’s marriage has not been the same since the hold-up. This short story was a definite easy reader. At the end of the story, I was left with few unanswered questions. I would have loved to know the real reason their son left them for California. This story involved few characters as did the novel Mystic River. Unlike Mystic River, I did not find that social class was any part of the short story. Instead, both stories dealt with relationships with those you love. During a difficult situation or crisis, it becomes apparent how scary it is to lose a loved one. And during this time, it is easy to say or do damaging things to a relationship. The aftermath is extremely difficult to either overcome or let go. I could not find any other similarities in Mystic River and A Different Road other than relationships. As mentioned in other weeks, I feel the character development in the novel is better in a short story. I feel this is based on the length of a story. A novel is much longer and the author is able to more accurately describe a character. For example, I had many questions as to what Henry and Olive were like. What happened with their son? Why did Olive seem so surprised when Henry said she had never apologized in all of their marriage?

The short story, A Different Road was written by a female, same as most of the novels and short stories read for this class. As with other novels, I feel that the woman author did an excellent job of portraying the characteristics and personalities of the characters. This story was not as vivid and descriptive as Mystic River. Due to different stories and lack of mystery involvement, there was not a need for A Different Road to be as gruesome as Mystic River. Had I not know ahead of time the gender of each story, I would not have been able to tell based on the writing or story content.

After reading A Different Road, I did not find any mystery in it. Rather, I felt that I had more questions that actual mystery. I did not get enough information about Pig Mask and Blue Mask. What made them hold up the hospital? Was it strictly for the drugs or was there another alternative. And what happened to them following the hold up? As mentioned above, I did not like that I had more questions about Olive and Henrys relationship? Were they having more problems that what was led on? At the end of the story, Henry makes reference that Olive has never apologized. This makes me want to believe they were having relationship problems prior to the incident at the hospital. I was happy to see every made it safely from the hold up, but the ending was sad. It left me with an assumption; they will live the rest of their lives in sadness, regret and silence. Contrary to the other short stories, I felt that A Different Road ended with more unanswered questions. On the other hand, I felt it was an easy reader such as the other short stories.

After another week in this course, I do not find myself enjoying mysteries any more. I do like that I have been exposed to a different group of reading than I typically read. I think it is interesting to be exposed to reading that involves different races, classes, social variants. Some of the story lines can be related to my current live and that of the future. A Different Road made me think about my wife and myself. Had we been put in a similar life or death situation, what would we discuss? Would we express our love for each other? Or would we put blame on unanswered differences? I would hope that it would be the first and we would express our love and gratitude for what we had experiences thus far. I would hate for us to express and exchange words that would be hurtful and leave irreversible scars. Unlike A Different Road, I have not been able to find myself in any of the short stories or novels. I may be able to find characteristics that are similar, but not actually think about myself in characters shoes. Unlike Jimmy and David, I think that I have tried to better myself and prove to be more successful. I hope that my girls will prove themselves to be even better than my wife and myself. I want nothing but the best for my family.

Hothouse

For this week, I read “Hothouse” by S. J. Rozan. This story is about a man named Kelly, who is an escaped con from a prison. He had been serving for the past 4 years for the horrible murder of his friend. He was very upset with this woman for making him move from the south to the north. It appears he never forgave her for making him so unhappy. I felt that he had a grudge against her for bringing him into an environment that was out of the norm for him. It appears he is not one to adapt to change to well. Once escaping from the prison, Kelly takes refuge in a Botanical Garden. Most nights he slept on the ground under some leaves with an old sleeping bag and tarp. One cold, snowy night made the sleeping conditions too unbearable for Kelly to stand. He took off on foot in search of a warm, dry place to reside. After much difficulty making it through the snow, he finds a building and meets a horticulturalist named Jan Morse. He introduces himself as a volunteer to help her save the garden. The glass top had caved in due to the heavy weight of the snow. Once completing the make-shift roof together, Jan Morse’s security guard comes to help her. She introduces Kelly to the security guard. The guard, Wilson recognizes the escaped convict from pictures sent to him from the prison and shoots him.
This story, “Hothouse” was a very short story. It was an extremely easy reader. The word choices were simple and concise. The story involved 3 people- Kelly, Jan Morse and Wilson the security guard. Contrary to Guardian Angle, this story was much shorter in length and had much fewer characters. Guardian Angel used words that I did not know, thus forcing me to use a dictionary quite frequently. I would also have to make reference on a regular basis and review past reading to clarify the role and importance of the vast number of characters and story lines. The only character of Hothouse that I was able to remotely get to know and understand was Kelly. As with Guardian Angel, the length of this novel allowed for much greater character development.
Although both stories, Hothouse and Guardian Angel claim to be a mystery, I only found Guardian Angel to fit in this category. I think part of my reasoning for this is that Hothouse was only 11 pages long, whereas, Guardian Angel was 417 pages. I did not feel that Hothouse was in anyway a mystery. To me it was just a short, fiction story. There was not enough time to develop a thick, juicy, mystery plot as in Guardian Angle. I feel that Guardian Angel had much more depth to it. There was a much larger number of relationships, secret meanings, and hidden agendas. The suspense in Guardian Angel was much more than that in Hothouse. Unlike Guardian Angel, Hothouse was straight and to the point. I did not feel there were any loose ends at the conclusion of the story.
Another comparison to be made was that both authors of Hothouse and Guardian Angel were women. I feel that this role made a much larger impact in Guardian Angel. This story focused on a female main character that was destined and determined to make it in a male dominated field. On the contrary, Hothouse focused on a male character that escaped from prison and tried to temporarily befriend a woman named Jan. Gender was much more a focus in Guardian Angel. There was no emphasis on a woman trying to function or maintain prestige in a male dominated field in the short story Hothouse.
After reading both stories, I have found likes and dislikes about each. I prefer to read the short stories. I find that these keep my attention much easier than the long, drawn out novels. On the other hand, I do not feel the connection nor that I get to know the characters in the short stories like I do in the longer novels. I am a people-oriented person, so I like to have the personable relationships. I liked the easier reading in Hothouse compared to the difficulty I found in Guardian Angle. And since I am not a big mystery fan, I did enjoy the quick, to the point short fiction story in Hothouse.

The Hour When the Ship Comes in

I read The Hour When the Ship Comes in this week. This story revolved around Yancy, a man who committed a crime. The story portrayed his life from the time the crime was committed onward. The story moved very quickly and focused on one main character. By only having one character, it is easier to get involved with the character. One can grow to become more engaged in the character. Guardian Angel was a long, drawn out story. Rather than one main character, the novel incorporated a vast number of different characters, all with varying degrees of importance. I found this reading to be much more cumbersome than the short story. The Hour When the Ship Comes In had one main plot; whereas, the Guardian Angel had a multitude of different plots. I tended to have some difficulty keeping up with all the different plots, especially at the end when I had to figure out how they all were connected in some strange way. On the other hand, I found myself to be bored with a single plot such as Yancy. The length of each story accurately goes with the depth and multitude of characters and plots.

I felt that Guardian Angel challenged me much more than The Hour When the Ship Comes In. The short story was much more predictable and easier reading than the novel. I tend to gravitate towards the shorter stories, but can be disappointed by the abrupt end when I am enjoying the story. I did not enjoy reading the Guardian Angel. Contrary to the ending in The Hour When the Ship Comes In, I ended the story with several unanswered questions.

Black Betty

I enjoyed reading Black Betty this week by Walter Mosley. It made me realize the tough times that different races and ethnic backgrounds had to go through to survive in our world. The one story that I also read that caught my eye was The Blind Man's Sighted Daughters by Joyce Oates. The reason why this story title caught my eye was because I have two daughters of my own and it made me curious what this was about. There wasn't too many simliar ideas or topics about these stories. The Blind Man's Sighted Daughters wasn't really a mystery, I reallly didnt have any questions during the story. One of the daughters was the care taker of thier dad, took control and was there for him. As the other daughter was trying to find different arrangements like assisted living places for him to live. Hopefully my daughters take care of me and just dont give up on me so easy. Having said that Black Betty was a mystery and had race and ethnic issues in thier story in which thier backgrounds and setttings of the story where very important. Overall I actually enjoyed both of these stories, even though Joyce Oates story really wasnt similar to The Maltease Falcon or Black Betty it was a good story and would reconmend it to someone that has a family or interested in what thier daughters are thinking when your getting down to the end of the line.

At the Top of His Game

I read "At the Top of His Game" by Stephan Rhodes because that caught my eye and made me wonder what his game actually was. Mark Barston was a 36 year old man that worked on Wall Street and did some trades. He was in a rough time in his life by living up to high society expectations, battling through work and trying to manage his marriage. Mark had hard time with office politics but he seamed to use his tactics to overcome situations just in the nick of time. Because his work was so demanding and he had a passion for what he did his marriage was falling every minute. Work was getting in the way, and trying to live and act like someone he is not is very difficult. Th one this I kind of liked about the story was the author left things unresolved and it makes me want to read more. He leaves ideas and situations out there for wondering and me being curious to take over.After reading "The Maltease Falcon", I think that Mark and Sam had same ideas and thoughts about thier work. They wanted to do the best thing for thier work and give it thier best, which makes them both strong with thier jobs. MArk and Sam both liked to take control of situations. In both stories thier co workers played a part, Mark had searches done about his rival and Sams partner was murdered. Having these two stories and comparing them, to me they were pretty similar to one another

Little about me

My name is Dustin Harmon and I am 31 years old. I am certified to teach physical education K-12 and that is what I would love to do. I currently do not teach, I am not about to find a job. I currently work for engineering firm traveling around country inspecting Wal-Marts. An interesting fact about me is I have 2 wonderful girls and wouldn't trade them for 2 boys. Thats interesting because most guys say they want boys. I am taking this class because this is my final class to recieve my degree and I am so excited for that.