"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.