The Story of an Hour

In the beginning of The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin, refers to the main character as Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband Brently Mallard has been killed in a train accident, Chopin writes, "She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free!'". Her sister, Josephine then comes calling for her by her first name which is Louise. This shows that Louise Mallard is property of her husband, which is common for the times. She's elated to know that she's free of the duty of being a wife, as she says that "And yet she had loved him- sometimes". This makes me wonder if their marriage was possibly an arranged marriage, where they have grown to respect each other.
I found that the weather was ironic during the story. Louise says that, "she could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air...There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window". This weather parallels Louises' good mood. I found it ironic because usually when somebody dies, or something bad happens, the weather usually rainy, dark, gloomy, etc.

Paul's Case

Cather writes, "The carnations in his coat were drooping with cold, he noticed; their red glory over. It occured to him that all the flowers he had seen in the show windows that first night must have gone the same way, long before this. It was only one splendid breath they had, in spite of their brave mockery at the winter outside the glass. It was a losing game in the end, it seemed, this revolt against the homilies by which the world is run."
While reading this quote, I began to wonder if, at the end of this paragraph, Cather was still talking about the carnations or about Paul. Paul's life can be compared to the carnation. While in the theater-setting Paul was in his element. He was as alive as the carnation was when Paul first wore it.
Then, Paul runs away to NYC. There, Paul's life isn't so glorious as it was. Cather writes, "The grey monotony stretched before him in hopeless, unrelieved years - Sabbath School, Young People's Metting, the yellow-papered room, the damp dish-towels; it all rushed back upon him with sickening vividness. He had the old feeling that the orchestra had suddenly stopped, the sinking sensation that the play was over."
In the end Paul and the carnation are one and the same. They are both lifeless, and drooping.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

When I first read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" it didn't really grab my attention, and I found that 3/4s into the story I found that I wasn't paying attention to the story and I had no idea what I just read. So I left it for the night and I reread it the next day and I found that the story was better the second time around. When I read it one sentence jumped out at me on page 273. That sentence was, "Simon Wheeler...reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he turned his initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm...(Clemens 272). I found that sentence quite strange because the whole story seemed like there was a suspense building. When I read the story the second time (I read the dialog parts outloud) I was making different voices for the different characters and I found that I really got into the story. I found it strange that Simon wouldn't have done the same thing.

The Other Duel

"They fought shoulder to shoulder yet they never, so far as is known, exchanged a single word(Borges, The Other Duel, Bohner 141)." The narrator of "The Other Duel" tells the reader about a few reasons why the protaginists of the story cannot stand each other. The narrator talks about a dispute over an unmarked cattle, relationships with a girl, and a game of cards, just to name a few.
As a reader I was questioning why, if these men hated each other so much, did they choose to be on the same side in the war and fight the same battles. I find it hard to believe that they would want to be on the same "team" as each other.
Then I thought to myself, how could these men fight next to each other day in and day out and never yell or fight or even say something to each other. Today, you see it all the time - men punching each other out over a girl, or at the very least, exchanging words. Especially since the narrator says that after Silveira and Cardoso played the game of truco, "It was then, I think, that they almost came to blows (Borges, The Other Duel, Bohner 141)." But then, I started thinking about the circumstances over why these guys hate each other so much. Is it because of the unmarked animal, card game or a girl? Sure, these things are enough to make you dislike someone but to hate them is kind of extreme.
So after reading this story a couple times, I began to question the narrators credibility. I began thinking that he is just exagerating a lot of the events in the story to make his story more enjoyable, therefore he can "flaunt" that he knows all this information and people will listen. So because I don't really believe the narrator too much, it's hard for me to try and figure out whats true and what's not.

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

"As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon - then all is darkness and silence! Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timers of the Owl Creek Bridge (Short Fiction, Bierce, 139)."
I chose these last two sentences of the story to write about for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I found it ironic. While reading the story the reader is left to believe that Peyton had escaped and had this adventure-filled journey back to his home. The escape is detailed throughout all of Part 3. Finally at the end of Part 3, the reader is just left with two sentences saying, "You thought wrong - Peyton is dead. End of story." I don't like when stories do this because throughout the story, the climax keeps building and then when you least expect it, the entire mood changes and you're left going, "Wait - how did this happen?"
The second reason I chose to write about these sentences was because there is such a contrast in them. The first sentence uses such strong words such as, "stunning blow", "blinding", "blazes" and "shock of a cannon". These words are so descriptive and forcefull, it really shows the reader how Peyton is feeling. Then the next sentence uses peaceful words such as, "swung gently", and "beneath the timbers". I liked how Bierce changed the mood so quickly like that, it made the reader feel at peace that Peyton had to die like that.
I had read this story back in the 8th grade, and I liked it then but reading it again in college made me understand more of the "Fictional elements" in the story and I got a better understanding of what Bierce was writing about.