Bernice Bobs Her Hair

Bernice Bobs Her Hair http://jerz.setonhill.edu/resources/texts/fitzgerald_fs_bbhh/full/index.html

The first short story that I read and enjoyed is titled Bernice Bobs Her Hair. It was written by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald who is one of my favorite American writers. Bernice Bobs Her Hair is about a young woman named Bernice who isn't as popular with the men as her cousin Marjorie is. Bernice is having an awful time with her cousin and wants to go home early, but she can't because she is supposed to be there for a couple more weeks. Bernice agrees to do exactly as Marjorie says when it comes to social etiquette so she doesn't have to go home early. Bernice drastically improves her social skills because of Marjorie's training and Marjorie becomes jealous. I won’t ruin the ending of this story.

Bernice Bobs Her Hair is entertaining, which is why I like it. The story starts with, “After dark on Saturday night one could stand on the first tee of the golf-course and see the country-club windows as a yellow expanse over a very black and wavy ocean...” I love how Fitzgerald describes the setting and atmosphere of the party. I love his use of imagery. I can almost see the ocean myself. It really draws the reader in and makes me want to keep reading.

Another thing I love about Fitzgerald's writing is his character descriptions like,  “Warren, who had grown up across the street from Marjorie, had long been ‘crazy about her.’ Sometimes she seemed to reciprocate his feeling with a faint gratitude, but she had tried him by her infallible test and informed him gravely that she did not love him...” This quote makes me wonder why Warren loves Marjorie even though she doesn't love him back. Fitzgerald does an amazing job with character descriptions, which is one reason why I recommend this story.

I like this story much more than most of the stories I had to blog about. I feel resolved by the ending because Bernice finally stands up for herself. Also I find the ending very funny and satisfying, which is why I chose to recommend this story. I think readers will enjoy this story because it was written well and the ending is a big surprise. 
The two stories I chose to recommend were both by Scott Fitzgerald because I love his writing. He does a fantastic job with describing characters and the setting. He also has a way of drawing the reader into the story. The main reason I love his writing is because the endings really surprise me, which is why I think you should read this story.

The Offshore Pirate

The Offshore Pirate http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/pirate/pirate.html

The other short story I chose to read on my own is called The Offshore Pirate. It was also written by Scott Fitzgerald, who is one of my favorite writers. Ardita is the name of the main character and she is an intriguing person. She gives sass to her uncle, which was a rare trait in a female living in the early 1900-1920. The boat is seized by pirates and Ardita happens to be the only passenger on it. Instead of being afraid, she is intrigued by them. Ardita learns about Curtis(the leader of the pirates) childhood and how he became a singer, how he met his crew, and learns all about him. Soon they reach an island where they go swimming and realize they have feelings for eachother. After they profess their love for eachother, they see a ship approaching. I won’t say what happens next, because it is my favorite part of the story and I don’t want to ruin it for you.

The first sentence really drew me ino the story, “This unlikely story begins on a sea that was a blue dream, as colorful as blue-silk stockings, and beneath a sky as blue as the irises of children's eyes. From the western half of the sky the sun was shying little golden disks at the sea--if you gazed intently enough you could see them skip from wave tip to wave tip until they joined a broad collar of golden coin that was collecting half a mile out and would eventually be a dazzling sunset….” I love the detailed setting description and think its a great way to hook the reader. I love the way Fitzgerald describes the setting because I feel as if I were there right now.  

Another reason why I recommend this story is because the two main characters are fascinating. Curtis, "He was a young man with a scornful mouth and the bright blue eyes of a healthy baby set in a dark sensitive face. His hair was pitch black, damp and curly--the hair of a Grecian statue gone brunette. He was trimly built, trimly dressed, and graceful as an agile quarter-back." Immediately, the reader can tell that Ardita finds him attractive even though he is a fugitive of justice. Fitzgerald has a way of writing that makes the characters seem so real. It’s like Ardita is a close friend of mine and I know all about her. “She was about nineteen, slender and supple, with a spoiled alluring mouth and quick gray eyes full of a radiant curiosity…”  Ardita is such a fascinating character because she is bold with her words and she says what is on her mind all the time.

I stopped describing the story at the most exciting part because I didn’t want to spoil it. I really like this story because it has a happy yet surprising ending. I was shocked when I finished the story, but that is part of the reason why I like it so much. I strongly recommend you read this story so you can discover the surprising ending for yourself.

Boudinot's Littlest Hitler

I did not like this story! Why would a fourth grader think its okay to dress like Adolf Hitler for Halloween????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Davy/mini Hitler thought that because there were no Jews in his town, no one would take offense. What made that even worse, if that's possible, is that a girl in his class went as Anne Frank! The teacher made them present who they were and everyone sided with Anne Frank, which made Davy cry. Davy switched his costume for the parade because he was so upset and became Frankenstein. He went into a haunted house with a girl dressed as a hooker named Cyndy.  Davy became scared and started crying so Cyndy pulls him to her chest to comfort him. A highschool boy saw this and was extremely immature about it, saying they were doing it. That is definitely what a highschool boy would think was happening. What made me mad was that Cyndy was trying to help Davy and he doesn't deny what people thought happened in the haunted house. Davy goes trick or treating and gets a lot of candy. After his father goes to sleep, Davy goes downstairs and eats candy and then puts his hand in the fireplace until he can no longer feel the pain. I didn't understand what caused Davy to do something so drastic. He is only in fourth grade! When I was in fourth grade, I got in trouble for talking while this annoying and obnoxious boy in my grade was talking. His name was Tommy and he always talked while others were talking. My teacher got really mad at me, I think she was having a really bad day, and sent me to the Vice Principal's office. The Vice Principal congratulated me on interrupting Tommy because he does that all the time. She wasn't being sarcastic, yet I was still extremely sad. I cried for an hour and it was humiliating because I had to sit at a table in the back of class and cry. I really hope no one remembers that! Still, that wasn't enough to make me go put my hand in a fire like Davy did. However, interrupting an annoying boy and dressing up as Hitler for Halloween are on completely different levels.

O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

As I read more stories in the packet, I feel as if each is creepier than the last. A grandmother, her son, her daughter in law, her granddaughter, and grandson hear about an escaped murderer called the Misfit, who is on his way to Florida where they live. They decide to leave town to escape the Misfit and stop at a restaurant run by Red Sam. At first I thought he was the Misfit because he seemed sensitive about the topic. After the family leaves the restaurant, the grandmother mentions a house that grabs the children's attention. The kids throw a fit so they have to go to the house. On a dirt path to the house, the grandmother realizes she meant it was somewhere else. They get in a car accident and everyone is fine. Almost immediately a car pulls up and three men get out of it. The grandmother recognizes the man as being the Misfit and makes the mistake of saying so. The two men take her son and grandson off to the woods where they shoot them. Next they take her daughter in law and granddaughter and shoot them too. While that is happening, the grandmother is having a conversation with the Misfit and doesn't realize what happened to her family until it is too late. The grandmother and the Misfit talk about his depressing childhood.  He killed his father and was locked up, but the grandmother keeps saying that he is a good man. If a murderer is a good man, then a good man really is not hard to find and the title of this story is ironic. I think the murderer is mentally ill and I feel bad for him because he can't help it, however that is no justification because killing people is wrong.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates

This story really creeped me out. It was about a girl named Connie who liked to go looking for boys with her friend. Connie meets a boy named Eddie, but this other guy says "Gonna get you baby". The next day when Connie refuses to go to a barbecue with her parents and older sister June, the guy who said he was going to get her shows up at her house. Its extremely creepy because he knows her name and knows where her family is without Connie having told him anything. The man is revealed to be Arnold Friend and he claims to be eighteen, though he is much much older.  Arnold keeps trying to convince Connie to leave her house and go for a ride with him in his car where his friend Ellie is sitting in the back seat. Ellie also looks very old, yet Connie is still clueless as to who these guys are. I feel bad for Connie because she gets trapped and kidnapped. She doesn't even realize the danger she is in until it is too late. Arnold keeps telling Connie things like he's going to be her lover and if she doesn't come with him then he'll hurt her family. He makes crude sex comments that go over Connie's head. She just calls him crazy and doesn't even think about running for help. Connie threatens to call the police, but she is too terrified to dial the numbers. She ends up going with Arnold and Ellie and knows she'll never get to see her family again. This story reminds me of the song titled Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke. The VMA performance by Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus reminds me of this story because Robin Thicke is a lot older than Miley Cyrus, yet she twerked on him. Connie is similar to Miley Cyrus because she doen't always make the best decisions. Also she is young and naive to what older men may have in mind. The picture I chose for this story is of a white van with the words "Free Candy" written on it. Only a naive young fool would believe that the people in the van had good intentions. Yet, Connie fell for the fake appearance Arnold put on. Some people might say that Connie deserved what happened to her, but I would disagree. Connie may have been a little loose, but she was naive and now one bad decision will change her life forever.

Here is a link to the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/robinthicke/blurredlines.html
Here is a link to the picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdLZ1THH6blk&h=0&w=0&tbnid=8nvSk1g_oxPaxM&zoom=1&q=pedophile%20van&tbnh=194&tbnw=259&docid=LxDHxVWiy753yM&tbm=isch&client=safari&ei=npdQU5W0Csan8gHn0YDwDA&ved=0CAIQsCUoAA

A & P by John Updike

I did not particularly like this story because I found it creepy and odd. It's about a nineteen year old boy named Sammy working in a grocery store. This story takes place around the 1950s and three girls walk into the store wearing bikinis. Back then that was unheard of and completely immodest. All the customers and employees in the store stare at the girls. When the manager, Lengel, who is a Sunday school teacher sees the girls he is baffled. He doesn't want to let them shop there because of the way they are dressed. Sammy refers to them as his girls and he quits because Lengel embarrassed them. Lengel replies that it is the other way around and they embarrassed him by dressing immodestly. Sammy refers to the three girls as "my girls" and believed they would view him as their hero. I found that very odd because they may not have even been aware that he quit his job for them. Another thing I found odd was that Sammy constantly referred to people as sheep. My favorite passage in the whole story is, "But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it. I fold the apron, 'Sammy' stitched in red on the pocket, and put it on the counter, and drop the bow tie on top of it. The bow tie is theirs, if you've ever wondered. 'You'll feel this for the rest of your life,' Lengel says, and I know that's true,too, but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punch the No Sale tab and the machine whirs 'pee-pul' and the drawer splats out. " I like this passage because it is the truth about why Sammy quit his job. Its purpose is as an explanation as to why Sammy didn't take his job back when Lengel offered it. He felt he owed that to the pretty girls he just met. Yet, when he steps outside the girls do not run up to him and hug him for being their hero. They are gone and he'll never see them again.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I did not like this story as much as I have liked others because I found this story slightly boring. It was about an old Norwegian man with enormous wings that was held captive by a couple who believed him to be an angel. A priest became obsessed with the angel and thought him an imposter. The angel was harshly treated and the couple made money off of him by locking him in a chicken coop and charging admission to see him. That is no way to treat a human being and that is especially no way to treat an angel. The couple had a baby that was ill and was not very important to the story at all, yet he was mentioned at the beginning and end of the story. Throughout the story, the angel became very ill, but he would not die.  After several months, people grew tired of him and took an interest in spider-woman instead. The author gave so much background on the woman who turned into a spider and I found the information pointless. Even the priest grew tired of the angel. Eventually one day, the angel's wings became darker and he ditched the chicken coop and flew into the sky. The couple was relived that the annoying angel was out of their lives and padded their windows so no more angels could get in.  The couple ironically thought they were living "in a hell of angels" because the angel had invaded their house and seemed to duplicate. The ending left me unsatisfied because I want to know what happens to the angel? Another question I have is how long was the angel with the couple? Was he acually an angel or an old Norwegian man with wings?

Half A Day by Naguib Mahfouz

I liked this story, even though it was confusing. In the beginning, a little boy was taken to his first day of school by his father. He talks about what happened while he was there and comes out of school as an old man. His father wasn't there like he promised to be in the beginning of the story, because he passed away. At first, I was confused. The title is half a day, but the story really takes place over several years. The narrator passes by his school and reminsices about when he went there and the differences in the scenery that changed over the years.

Junior Daz's How To Date A Brown Girl(Black girl, White girl, or Halfie)

The main character is a teenage boy living on the poor side of town who is interested in dating girls. This story makes girls sound like ice cream flavors. Dating a local girl is different than dating a girl from out of town like chocolate ice cream tastes different from strawberry. Dating a local girl is different than dating a girl from out of town because you have to take her to a different restuarant to impress her. Also dating a white girl is different from dating a black girl because the white girl will let you go farther with her. A good piece of advice from the main character is, "Never lose a fight on a first date or that will be the end of it." Even if you win the fight, you still won't get anywhere with the girl because she is complicated. "Be prepared. She will not want to kiss you. Just cool it, she'll say. The halfie might lean back, breaking away from you." This story claims that girls of different races are different, but all girls are confusing. I found the main character really annoying because he just wanted to screw the girl and move on to the next. It's like finishing a pint of vanilla ice cream and then buying Rocky Mountain. And when you finish that pint, you'll want strawberry and then mint and then pistachio. It's a never ending cycle until you find the one ice cream flavor that will satisfy you for the rest of your life.

My Dating Advice: Be honest to your significant other. It's disappointing when you find out you've been lied to and you no longer trust the other person because they lied to you. Trust is easy to lose and difficult to earn.

Margaret Atwood's Happy Endings

This short story consisted of a bunch of scenarios revolving around love and suicide. I was shocked at most of the stories because many of the characters killed themself and others over jealousy. My favorite story was the first one, A,  because it ended happily for all the characters in it. Unfortunately that isn't how it would end in real life and the author even says so herself, "You'll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don't be deluded by any other endings, they're all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality." I guess the moral of this story is don't fall in love because love will be the death of you.

My Alternate Ending
John and Mary meet in college and begin dating. Everything is great. They have a blast in college and decide to get married because they love each other. They both think that they found their soulmate, but of course they were wrong. Mary and John have a daughter named Julie and everything is perfect. They go on many vacations and have a carefree lifestyle. Julie eventually grows up and gets married. John really did love Mary when they first got married. She was young and beautiful. Years passed and she lost her youth and beauty so John no longer wanted her. He didn't want a divorce because it would hurt both Mary and Julie. Instead he has an affair with a woman named Rose who is, of course,  young and beautiful. When Rose grows old, John finds a new love and this keeps repeating until he dies. Mary never finds out.  Mary becomes disappointed in John.  She thought her soulmate could never lose his job. She thought he'd come home on time for dinner. She thought he would remember her birthday, anniversary, and remember to put the toilet seat down. She thought he was perfect, but how could he be? She had this ideal man in mind when she married him but that man doesn't exist. She realizes she no longer loves him and doesn't know what to do. So she decides to do nothing and say nothing and has an unhappy marriage to John until she dies. Being unhappily married is perhaps a worse fate than death.

Allende's And of Clay Are We Created

This story was very sad and sweet. It was sad for many reasons like when the reporter, Rolf Carle, was so optimistic that Azucena would survive. It was kind of sad that he loved Azucena more than he loved his wife and lifelong companion. It was sad no one seemed to care about the girl except for Rolf and his wife. The soldiers and government wouldn't get her a pump in time because she wasn't important enough. There were a thousand other people who needed help too.  It was so sweet when Rolf told her stories he never told anyone before, not even his wife. In a way, Azucena helped Rolf more than he helped her because she helped him let his emotions flow.   Rolf was a Russian soldier and had to witness terrible things that he never accepted until meeting Azucena. His father abused him and his retarded sister, Katherina. Rolf's father fled to safety and his mother became a prostitute. This information added background to Rolf, but the story would have been the same without it. This story was similar to a news report, except there was a lot more emotion in this story than any reporter ever shows on TV. That made it somewhat unrealistic.  It would be wonderful for someone to stay with a dying child for three days and constantly try to save them, but very few people would actually do that and that is sad.
Here is a current news article that would be interesting to write a short story about. It talks about the crisis in Ukraine and the people who are affected. If I wrote a story about this, I would base it off a family and how their life changed when the Russian Army invaded.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/31/ukraine-descending-into-gestapo-times-russian-politician-says

The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour was written by Kate Chopin. I found this story very ironic because Mrs.Mallard found out her husband died from a train wreck when he actually didn't and then dies herself after seeing him alive. She was so joyful to find out of her husband's death because she could finally be free. When she sees her husband alive, she dies from disappointment. I understand why she was happy her husband died. She wanted freedom and independence. Even though her husband loved her, she felt trapped. The story takes place in the 1900s and women didn't have many rights back then. I find it hard to belive that this whole story took place within an hour because so much happened.