"Verona: A Young Woman Speaks" Harold Broclkey

In "Verona: A Young Woman Speaks" Harold Broclkey writes of a Christmas time train ride across Europe shared with a little girl and her parents.  They were not a rich family but had saved money and were spoiling themselves during the trip.  The mother a strong woman with potential she may never reach finds herself jealous of the love that her husband has for their daughter, I would define it as unconditional love, the love between a man and his wife however, has many conditions.  The father was a people pleaser as if he was an actor in a play.  The trip was full of shopping and art and meaningful situations so full of love that the girl almost bursts at the seams.  Broclkey sadly did not have this love in his childhood, having his mother die and his dad giving him up for adoption.  I feel Broclkey's message is when you experience true love, recognize it and take it for all it is worth.  People in this life feel love for other's but each case of love is unique.  There is a difference in the love the little girl felt for her mother compared to the love for her father.  Broclkey in his life experienced a passionate love for men as well as women, but I assume love was still present.  I also find it impressive that Broclkey writes in the point-of-view as a little girl, and does a totally convincing job at it.

"Roses, Rhodendron," By Alice Adams

In Alice Adam's "Roses, Rhododendrons" her habit of great detail and the plight of independent women in her writings are on display.  Her main character is Jane, a teenage girl who recently moved with her mother Margot.  Margot is recently separated from her husband and is trying to make it as an antiques dealer.  Her husband's actions make Margot question a Ouija board, trying to see the future of their marriage.  He has taken on another lover, but her hope is that they will reconcile.  Margot lives in the past and this broken home leads her daughter into befriending a young girl Harriet and her seemingly normal parents Lawrence and Emily Farr.  Jane holds the Farrs in great esteem, even after witnessing a nasty fight that occurs one night while she is visiting.  Margot is jealous of Jane's new friends and she displays this by spreading rumors to her daughter.  One of the rumors is about Mr. Farr having a relationship outside of his marriage, the effect this had on his wife may be shown by the way she cares about her personal appearance, she cuts her own hair, doesn't dye it, and wears unflattering clothes.  Mrs. Farr years later does leave her husband, perhaps she just stayed for the benefit of Harriet.  Jane and her mother move away from the Farr's, Jane subconsciously copies some of Harriet's personality traits, which I find interesting because I found myself doing that as an adolescent, when I saw a trait I admired from someone, a trait that I did not possess, I would try to mimic it until it came naturally to me and was my own.  Alice Adams herself was divorced and she did not become published until in her fifties so I can see a lot of similarities with her characters, especially Mrs. Farr.

"How To Win" Rosellen Brown

The 1970's were a barbaric time if you suffered from a mental disability, shock treatment, lobotomy, Thorazine, and lifetime lockups in underfunded, understaffed mental wards were common.  In "How To Win" Rosellen Brown writes about a family with a deeply troubled six year old boy named Christopher.  Christophers's mother Margaret is at her wits end, she simply cannot control her son's violent outbursts and his overall lack of reasoning.  In 2010 this boy would probably be labeled autistic, in the 1970's, in Magaret's world there is no definition.  Christopher's father deals with his family's circumstance by down-playing the boy's troubles and dismissing them as acts performed by a normal rambunctious little boy.  Margaret feels guilty about her children, which I believe is shared by every good mother who has ever lived, she fantasizes about life without Chris about a different loving normal six year old.  The 1970's saw the design of Individualized Education Programs (IEP's) which are designed to give kids like Chris the support they need to one day succeed in their lives.  Christopher is hand-cuffed by a now outdated drug Thorazine which slows people to a snail's pace and gives Chris the appearance of moving "underwater."  There are two points in Rosellen Brown's biography that lends clues to her writing this piece, the first is the story revolves around a disaster that could have been found in any American family, the second is the way Brown investigates these "ordinary" parents reactions to circumstances of fate.

Philip Roth "Defender of the Faith"

If one were trying to explore the difficulties a Jew might face trying not to lose their religion or identity the United State' s military, boot camp, and especially war-time boot camp is a great place for that exploration.  In the military all races, religions, and beliefs are all forced to co-exist in extremely difficult situations.  In Philip Roth's "Defender of the Faith" three "green" Jewish privates are forced to undergo the pressure of boot camp and forced to break rules of their religion (eating non-kosher foods).  I served five years in the military, meeting thousands of soldiers but only one time did I meet a practicing Jewish soldier.  I will not explore why but it is hard to explain.  Philip Roth liked to write about American culture and the problem of Jews losing their "Jewishness."  From my own experience the Army is a great place to find God, but it is also a great place to lose Him.  In the military you are nothing more than an instrument to be shot at and an instrument to return fire, that is it, there is nothing more.  Sheldon Grossbart was a lousy rat of a soldier, looking out for himself while disregarding his fellow soldiers.  But at least Grossbart was trying to keep himself intact.  Sargeant Marx, a non-practising Jew, and a war hardened infantryman lost himself, but managed to get a little back by helping Grossbart and his fellow Jews experience a little piece of Judiasm before war.  Grossbart also took away Marx's faith by being a rat.  I feel that Jews belief they hold no home on this planet so why should they die for a piece of land whose inhabitants don't respect them.   

"The German Refugee" Bernard Malamud

Bernard Malamud found Jewish characters to be "the ideal metaphor for the struggling human being.  acceptance of the Jewish identity becomes, for his characters, acceptance of the human condition."  The main character in "The German Refugee" is Oskar Gassner a misplaced Jew trying to find a place for himself in America.  Germany turned on him, Nazis wanted to kill him.  In Germany Oskar was educated and articulate, but he lost the only language he knew so he in many ways was as helpless as a baby in America.  Oskar's life was made more bearable by a young English teacher.  Oskar was a lonely man who has lost his faith in humanity.  His people where being exterminated from this Earth and through a letter Oskar, which finds no comfort in being able to read, discovers his wife has been murdered by Nazis.  Her story being only one of millions.  Oskar upon hearing this news takes his own life.  Through Malamud's creation Oskar learns too much about sadness and the bleak state of the world and human conditions, the 40's were a suffering time. 

Lawrence Sargent Hall "The Ledge" 1960

In Lawrence Sargent Hall's "The Ledge," the story centers around a gruff fisherman.  Hall's biography connects to this story at every angle.  Hall lived on the ocean.  Hall's writings are concerned with people acting under pressure.  The fisherman in "The Ledge" is very skilled at pressure situations, he relies on his planning and his ownership of lifelong knowledge and the best fishing/hunting equipment money can buy.  The fisherman's planning is so flawless that when he discovers he has left his tobacco at home he is floored, this man is not used to making mistakes.  The main character even though designed by Hall to have very limited interpersonal relationship skills shows a sign of warmth by taking his son and his nephew duck hunting on Christmas with new shotguns he had bought for them.  The day implodes on the three when while docked on a ledge, which is submerged when the tide is high, and their skiff floats away.  Leaving the three surrounded by freezing water and the thought of rapidly rising water levels.  The fisherman keeps his composure and tries without success to get rescued but slowly the three all lose their lives.  This fisherman I consider a "John Wayne" type was a man that was tough, ornery, and loyal.  This story written in 1960 shows the newer more dark realism that happened after America had time to process atrocities that had happened in the war and a sense of fear that is brought forward by artists.

Paul Horgan "The Peach Stone"

 It is easy to recognize the fact that Paul Horgan took great care in richly developing his characters, "The Peach Stone" centers around a mournful car ride to a family's burial plot to bury a two year old little girl.  The driver of the car is a guilt ridden father who blames himself for not clearing the tumbleweeds that caught fire and burned the girl to death.  This father was quiet but had much emotion that was boiling inside.  The dead girl's mother was trapped in a robotic like gaze, unable to respond to the needs of her other two children both confused and lost in the days following their sisters demise.  A fifth figure Miss Latcher, a teacher, may be the roundest character in the story.  She has religious based daydreams about martyred Christians, and she imagines herself filling the Christians destinies, she is overly concerned with herself.  I found this reading difficult.  If I had to analyse the message from Horgan I would say that the travellers in this car find themselves surrounded by three things, first they are surrounded by loved ones, second, sadly a dead girl, and also the lonely feeling that their family and friends can only accompany them to a certain point in this life, after that point, on the day of their demise, they will travel that great distance alone.

"Miami-New York," by Martha Gellhorn

In Martha Gellhorn's "Miami-New York" piece I feel that Gellhorn's habit of taking new, often famous lovers may have led to her story about a 35 year old wife who has a momentary fling with a man she is sitting next to on a long flight.  This wife had just good-bye to her husband for an extended period of time.  Sadly, these good-byes were common in the 1940's.  These departing men were not simply going on business trips they were headed to war.  A terrible war that saw some men come home, saw many die tragically and left all with crippling memories.  Gellhorn spent plenty of time with these young, war hardened men during the second world war where she wrote about her experiences as a war correspondant.  Being a veteran myself I am sure Gellhorn saw many man recieve the dreaded "Dear John" letter written by lonely wives that could not take the separation any longer and had moved on to new lovers.  These wives aren't terrible people they are just lonely and depressed.  This story of two misplaced travellers was no long-winded, eighty year relationship with a picket fence and grandchildren, this was a lustful, sexual, momentary burst of sudden gradification that made these lover's hearts race just a little faster for a short time.  Gellhorn loved adrenaline, she placed herself in war which produces a rush, she needed multiple lovers, which also produces a similar high.  She was a wildfire seeking fuel, she would not allow herself to suffer from boredom, the fact that she killed herslf at such and old age tells me she wasn't going to let physical pain dictate her life either.  I think I would have liked her.

"The Hitchikers" Eudora Welty

In 1940 door to door sales was a booming industry, cars were commonly owned which allowed men like Tom Harris, a travelling salesman and the main character in "The Hitchhikers," to travel to places where his merchandise was affordable and wanted.  In the early 40's, because of the war, unemployment was almost unheard of.  Even children like my grandfather were making money by collecting rubber, metal, and paper to sell to companies in support of the war.  America had a safer reputation in those days, and hitchhiking to destinations was common.  This false sense of security coupled by boredom and the fear of falling asleep leads Tom into picking up two drifters.  One of the drifters was talkative and carrying a guitar, the other quiet and stoic.  To try and explain this safer reputation that was in the U.S. at the time I am led to believe that since televisions were still a luxury and media didn't cover national stories with as much frequency people never heard of the murders, rapes, and other horrific crimes that were occurring in other areas.  Fear in strangers that were Americans was nowhere near the fear level that has been instilled in my generation.  My mother and father told me fear strangers and never ever pick up hitchhikers because they may just murder you.  Tom could have used this little piece of advice.  According to Eudora Welty's biography this story seems a little outside of her normal works.  Welty was known to write about childhood and love.  "The Hitchhikers" centers around a murder, a murder committed for no good reason.  Harris's reputation was also addressed, people that knew him seemed to love him.  I feel this love for Harris may be contributed to his constant travels, he blows into town, has some fun than fades away as quickly as he appeared.  .

"Here We Are" Dorothy Parker" 1931

"Here We Are" by Dorothy Parker is written about a newly married couple hours after their wedding.  It was an entertaining story written for Cosmopolitan.  These characters seem doomed in their marriage before they get to their honeymoon.  The wife is insecure and nervous, and the husband is nervous and constantly says things that the wife considers rude.  In the 1930's it was much more difficult to learn things about your mate before you got married.  This young couple as well as everyone else were held to a set of morales that we often ignore today.  Today it is common to live together and have sex before marriages are planned. In the thirties this would not be allowed.  This couple is thrown into sudden "togetherness."  The young couple are drowning in uncertainty and self-doubt.  I feel marriages in the 30's were often based on lust and they were often bad-decisions that led to much hardship because once you were in it was hard to get out.  This couple was naive and I feel that the 1930's was a naive era.  Today we are surrounded by too much reality, back then people were surrounded by too little.

"That Evening Sun Goes Down" William Faulkner 1931

In William Faulkner's "That Evening Sun Goes Down"  the story centers around a black woman Nancy who in is fear of her life by her ex.  She has many emotional problems, she is scared of the dark, had done cocaine, tried to commit suicide, and had gotten pregnant while prostituting herself to a white man.  Her ex Jubah carried  a razor with him and Nancy fears that this razor will end her life.  Faulkner wrote much about the decay of the "Old South" while examining the complicated relationships between blacks and whites.  The main feeling towards Nancy is that sometimes she is cared for by whites and other times reduced to nothing more than an animal, the first example is when she tried to hang herself in jail by hanging herself from the bars.  The jailer caught her doing this cut her down revived her then he beat her.  She was worth reviving but not worth a thing in the very next moment.  The man she worked for walked her home in the dark for protection but then had to stop because his wife felt like she was being neglected so he could be nice to a "nigger" who was worthless.  The children whom Nancy works for also enjoy and sometimes even show love for Nancy and then later would say "I ain't a nigger" showing their growing racism, the rasicm that surrounds them.  This story shows the process of change from old thinking to new thinking and taking two steps towards humanity then immediately taking one step back.

"The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway

I view the short story "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway as a division between older simpler times, before cars, and the new faster paced lives that people could live after they were able to travel long distances quickly.  Three men working in a restaurant were suddenly in the midst of hit men looking for a man to murder, an ex-boxer who often frequented the restaurant.  These hit men were what I would call "wiseguys" the were working for a mobster.  The hit men were totally confident that they could commit this murder and never get caught.  They would jump in their car and disapear  They let the men in the restaurant see their faces and had conversations.  Once it was determined that the boxer was not showing for supper the hit men left.  One of the restaurant owners went to warn the boxer and he seemed like he had given up running and he accepted his fate.  Hemingway liked to write about life and death.  During the prohibition era new violence from mobsters was something normal people had to worry about.  Also it can be noted that the one black man who cooked for the restaurant wanted nothing to do with white men problems, he was concerned for his own welfare, which was a smart decision based on the time period.  I doubt any white man would stick out his neck to protect a black man so whites should have expected the same.

Blood Burning Moon by Jean Toomer

The short story "Blood Burning Moon" by Jean Toomer in 1923 tells the story of two men, one black, one white, lusting for the same black woman named Louisa.  The story defines racial tensions between white Americans and every other non-white citizen.  The white man Bob Stone feels that he "owns" Louisa since she works for his father.  Bob does not respect her because "she is just a nigger."  Tom Burwell, the black man is bitter at the relationship between whites and blacks saying that a white man can come in his house whenever they want and blacks can't do the same.  Bob, lusting for Louisa one night decides to sneak down to the negro camps to make love to her.  He is arguing within himself debating why he shouldn't walk right to her instead of hiding.  Bob and Tom end up in a confrontation and Tom kills Bob.  As soon as the white men find this out a mob forms and burns Tom at the stake.  This story, no matter how insane it sounds is a true depiction of the racial wars that went on long after slavery was abolished.   Blacks were still consider things to be owned and lynch mobs were the tool that kept those unwritten laws in effect.

Susan Glaspell "A Jury of Her Peers" 1917

Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" is a story written in 1917 about a once lively and beautiful young woman turned killer.  In 1917 the ratio of lifelong marriages to marriages ending in divorce was 1 out of 1000.  I believe this figure in no way shows the ratio of happy marriages to miserable ones.  The social stigma of divorce and the legal consequenses of sex outside marriage (which was a jailable offense) was terrifying to young naive women of the time.  This brings us to Minnie Wright  a young wife married to a cold man named John.  John and Minnie lived in a isolated area, in a sad home, with little to no visitors and no telephone.  Telephones were beginning to become common to own at the time of Glaspell's story, but her character John saw no need to get one because as he claimed "people talk to much anyway."  Minnie was lucky enough to buy a canarie with a nice black cage.  This bird was more than a pet it was a source of happiness in her cold bleak exsistance.  In a fit of rage directed at Minnie her husband John broke the bird's cage and grabbed the bird and wrung it's neck.  His exact motives to kill the bird are not directly spelled out but through the reading it was shown that Minnie was possibly not living up to the standards of a wife in her day.  Susan Glaspell goes to great length in this piece to display the common and devastating life a woman was forced to endure under a dominating male figure.  Women were to be seen and not heard, expected to cook and clean.  One cold morning a knock came on Minnie's door it was her neighbor Mr. Hale and his son Harry.  Through questioning Minnie revealed her husband was dead upstairs in their bedroom.  He was strangled to death by a "piece of rope."  A fitting revenge for a beloved canarie's neck being wrung.  The next day as Minnie sat in a jail cell Mr. Hale accompanied by his wife the sheriff, the town prosecuter and the prosecuters wife converged on Minnie's house to collect evidence.  A gun was found but was not used in the murder, an interesting note about how personal this killing really was.  Minnie's mental state was brought forth through the two women's discovery of faulty wifely duties of homemaking and sewing.  The women also discovered the dead bird tucked secrectly into a sewing box.  The two women formed a bond against the men and did not reveal to them any of their findings.  The men constantly joked about the worth of women.  Susan Glaspell developed an interesting sisterhood between Mrs. Hale and the Sheriff's wife.  A secret bond also grew that included the two and Minnie.  Susan wanted readers to value the intelligence and the bond, and the growing sense of wanted freedom of women in the early 1900's.  Susan Glaspell, a self-made women of uncommon education, stuck to writing pieces of literature focused around a woman's desire to find well-to-do husbands in the early days of her career.  Later on Susan made a bold move of the time and had an affair with a married man, whom she later married.  After the affair her writings took on a much different tone.  She flirted with darker stories like "A Jury of Her Peers." She was a trend setter and a figure in a growing women's rights movement that was sweeping the nation at the time, designed upon equality with male counterparts.  This story even though dark symbolized the internal struggle of defeated women of her day.  Glaspell struck back with this piece and laid a threat to the accepted roles of women.  Give us our equality and right to chose a life of our own or we will bring hell.

Mary Lerner "Little Selves" 1916

The main character of Mary Lerner's "Little Selves" is 75 year old Margaret O'Brien, an Irish-American immigrant, who is on her deathbed.  One of the first historically significant aspects of Margaret's life is the fact that she was never married and never had any children, both rarities in her time.  Margaret received many visitors (neighbors and friends) as her last day approached.  Most of her visitors kept conversation to a superficial level and many visitors like Mrs. Hanley reduced O'Brien's mind as "going back on her already."  Margaret's internal struggle, which is discovered by her thoughtful niece Anna Lennon, who enjoyed meaningful conversation with her aunt was the fear that Margaret's life and memories would disappear as she took her last breath.  Speaking with her niece she recalls Irish folklore that includes childhood belief in leprechauns and fairies.  She also describes her belief in the ivy test, which was a superstitious child's game she and friends played, the test consisted of writing a person's name on a leaf then soaking it overnight and reading the future by looking at the condition of the leaf.  This gives insight into children's games in the 1800's before the onslaught of media and technology that children face today.  Many of the immigrants of her time as well in this day in age are faced with the problem of losing their past because of coming to the new world.  At the time of Lerner's writing, during WWI, Irish-American were not wanted here, they were only tolerated because of their ability to fill an over-abundance of jobs.  Mary Lerner herself was a virtually unknown figure.  Lerner probably recognized parts of her own life in Margaret's struggle.  Perhaps it was Lerner's desire to use her writings as a way to not be forgotten, such as Margaret's conversations with her niece.