Friday, October 21st
For today's reading, I took a look at a few short stories including "20/20," "A&P," "Araby," and "Cathedral". I read a couple of these in previous classes, but the short stories were just as great as the first time I read them. The two new ones I read exceeded my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all four selections.
Brewer's "20/20" was short, sweet, and probably my favorite one. Because my mind always goes to the worst, I initially thought that Bill wanted to kill Ruthie at the end. After further analyzation, I was far from correct. I liked this short because once I realized what it was about and all of the subtle details that tied into the story. The line that mentioned going "halves on gas" tied into the "20/20" title. The half, or 50/50, is what people should do in a relationship. Because of that, Bill sees 20/20 vision on her and what a relationship should be. I also thought the decision to set the story in boring, unromantic Indiana was clever. Since the story is about love, it would be expected to be in a romantic place like Paris. Instead, we are reading about Indiana. My teammate and roommate is from Indiana and I know for a fact that it is very boring based on what she has said about it. My dad also used to live in Indiana and he said all there is in Indiana is flat cornfields.
I had previously read Updike's "A&P" in my Creative Writing : Fiction course so this read wasn't about analyzing, but rather picking up on things I didn't pick up in the first read. Sammy was an annoying character who only sought out attention. At the beginning, he is fully sexualizing the girls along with his creepy, older co-workers and then at the end, at an attempt to be a hero to the girls, quits his job for their attention. His character really bothered me because he expected a reward for doing the right thing. While I was annoyed throughout this story, I do enjoy the ending where Sammy is left to contemplate where to go from there since he quit his job for girls he will never see again. It shows hasty actions have consequences and decisions like that should be long, and thought out.
Joyce's "Araby" was probably my least favorite in this section because I had a tough time understanding what was going on. I read it a couple times and then resorted to Sparknotes to help me understand what went on. Yes, I know Sparknotes isn't the best, but I needed it because this story genuinely confused me. On Sparknotes, it mentioned that there are two other stories similar to this one. I think if I would have read all three I would have understood it better. I don't really want to comment on this story's theme and such since I had to look it up, but I can say that the internet cleared up my confusion a lot. I am going to reread the story and see if I could pick up on what they discussed.
Like "A&P", I had previously read "Cathedral" in the same course as well. While it is long and I hate reading long sections, I still enjoyed this story. Also like "A&P", I hate the narrator in this story. He is so insecure in himself with this blind man that he is almost "blinded" to what the man has to offer. He is selfish in worrying about his wife talking to the blind man when that man had just lost his wife. His prejudices are also shown when he asks if the blind man's wife was "Negro". While I was annoyed with the narrator all throughout, I liked the ending scene of the narrator and blind man drawing the Cathedral.
While I enjoy analyzing poetry more because it is typically shorter, I love writing short stories more than poetry. A big theme in English courses for me is writing over reading because reading is not really my cup of tea.
I toured the catacombs of the original St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City so "Cathedral" reminded me of my experience!