After You My Dear Alphonse Reading Response

In the story "After You My Dear Alphonse"   Mrs. Wilson made many assumptions about Boyd and his family. even though I didn't think she really meant to she was trying to be to nice to avoid saying something hurtful but in reality she was being pretty racist by the things she was asking him and saying about him. I think it compares to our society because you will still get judged and people will assume things about you just because of where you live or how you dress but people don't really say it like that anymore there are still people that do but people wont really say things about you to you everybody does it behind your back I think Shirley Jackson taught us not to judge a book by its cover and to actually get to know a person before you make assumptions about them because there probably different than you think they are

When Mrs Wilson says "You shouldn't let Johnny make you carry all that wood" she assumes Johnny was making Boyd carry it in.
When Mrs. Wilson says "Boyd will eat anything" she assumes that Boyd is starving because he is poor
When Mrs. Wilson says "Boyd wants to grow up and become a big strong man so he can work" she assumes that Boyd will have to work when he is older she uses    

A Clean Well Lighted Place Reading Response

 Write a brief analysis of the two waiters.  What do they represent about life? What does the café symbolize?

The older waiter kind of seems like he likes to go late and stay at cafes and is reluctant to go home at night so he understands. He tries to explain to the young waiter that he stays up because he likes it but the younger waiter doesn’t listen and just says that he is lonely. I think the old man and the old waiter are lonely

The younger waiter is mean and insensitive and is very self-centered he states that he is not lonely and has a wife waiting for him. He doesn’t care that other people don’t have what he has and doesn’t recognize that the café is a refuge for people that are lonely

The café represents the opposite of nothingness the cleanliness and good lighting make me think of order and clarity nothingness is chaotic confusing and dark the café is so different fro nothing the older waiter kind of describes it as a natural refuge for people in despair   

How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?

Well the darkness and shadows kind of symbolize fear and the light is kind of a distraction from the dark

I think that they did a pretty good job making the short film like the story but I think one thing they didn't mention that he was deaf.and that he wasnt outsided like he was in the story. I thought those were kind of important parts that they didn't put in the movie that they should have put in. I thought the actors the director chose were perfect because that's really what you picture in the story obviously because the young, middle age, and old I maybe expected the middle age guy to be a little older but I think after watching it I thought that they did a really good job. The setting I thought was different from the story because like I said the Old guy was outside in the story and he was inside in the  film which kind of confused me. I thought the lighting was perfect for the story because it was well-lighted in the cafe in the bar so it showed that they were both good places to go. I thought the music was really good to because it was sort of eerie and created mystery which was a good choice for the film.

Hilly's Point Of View

In the book The Help it is told from the perspective of Abilene, Minny and Skeeter. But no one ever listened to Hilly Holbrook maybe that would explain why she is so mean. There might be something everyone else reading the book does not understand. I mean imagine living in a world where your queen bee can you really speak your mind. There could be a better explanation to why she needs a different bathroom from her maid. I think we should get to know Hilly.

Hilly wants every white home to have a separate bathroom for the help and she notified the surgeon general to endorse the idea. Some people thought it was a good idea and some thought it was bad, for example Lie Elizabeth said "You will get disease from those toilets"  but did we ever really hear why Hilly wanted it. Facts could have told her that there help could spread disease and she was looking out for her children. Hilly maybe did not even notice that she was legalizing discriminatory practices and reinforcing racist opinions. Hilly raises her voice 3 octaves higher when she is talking to her maids or someone else’s why is that? Well she probably thinks that they have less intelligence and that is apparent in there speaking manner.

Hilly thinks that she should not give her maid money because she thinks instead of feeding their kids they will go to a voodoo tent and get a tattoo. Obviously Hilly has many misconceptions about African life and tradition.

From seeing the story from Hillys point of view I think she does not understand a lot of things. For example like the African life and tradition. As well as being racist and discriminating. Although I still don’t understand Hilly and why she has to be so mean, I at least understand her a little 

Irony Ransom of Red Chief

The story The Ransom of  Red Chief  two guys kidnap a boy to get a ransom from his father but in the end have to pay the father to give the boy back because nobody wanted him. I think that the most important quote is He's all right now," says Bill, rolling up his trousers and examining some bruises on his shins. "We're playing Indian. because it showed how the boy is strong and doesn’t think being kidnapped is a bad thing. It also was one of the first signs that they didn’t want the boy anymore because he was to much for them to handle.