Story #8: "The Littlest Hitler" by Ryan Boudinot

I really liked this short story, even though some parts of it were "out there". The title is very fitting.

The story is narrated by Davy, a young boy who decides to dress up as Hitler for Halloween. Davy's dad, who doesn't set a lot of rules for him, helps make his costume, and he wears it to school. As soon as other kids see him, they start making inappropriate remarks, and he's unsure of how to react. One of his classmates, Lisette, dresses up as Anne Frank, which causes a lot of tension for everyone. Lisette is very articulate in describing Anne Frank, and she basically makes everyone hate Davy for dressing up as Hitler. This makes Davy very sad. For the school parade, he takes off his mustache and swastika in exchange for a gray wig a teacher gives him. When he tells his dad about his school day, he's "genuinely disappointed" with the kids' reactions. It's okay, though, because they go out and buy a crappy Frankenstein mask to replace the Hitler costume. Next, they go to the Harvest Carnival, and all the kids from school are there. Davy keeps noticing Cyndy Dartmouth, a seventh grade girl who dresses up as a hooker. In other words, he's very attracted to her. They go into this spooky tunnel together, and Davy starts crying because he's scared, and Cyndy starts comforting him. A high schooler opens the tunnel and makes fun of them because he thinks they're "doing it", or having sex. Cyndy gets frustrated, but Davy has mixed feelings because he likes the idea of doing something with her in the maze. He decides to leave, and he finally goes trick-or-treating with his dad. They stop at the Friedlanders' house, also the only Jewish family in the entire town. Davy feels bad for them, but he doesn't really do anything, so he takes his candy and they go home. After his dad falls asleep, Davy goes downstairs to all of these stoves (because his dad makes wood stoves) and he considers burning all of his candy, but he decides to eat it instead. Finally, Davy sticks his hand in the stove until it starts to hurt him.

The plot of this story is very conflicting. It was difficult for Davy because his costume choice was a bold one, but even though he did that, he was treated as if he was actually Hitler. He was just a curious kid that wanted to try out a lot of things, and I think every young child goes through a phase similar to the one in this story.

My favorite line from the story was, "I liked her because she stuck up for me on the bus and one time told me what a tampon was." This sums up perfectly what I wrote about in the previous paragraph- how kids just want to attain a lot of information, even if it doesn't benefit them at all. Davy wanted to know what a tampon was because he was curious. Overall, I liked this story and how it grapples with various types of conflict.

Story #7: "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates

This story was pretty terrifying for me.

I sort of knew what to expect because our class was informed about the topic beforehand, but I still had a strong reaction to it. The main character is Connie, who is 15. She feels all this pressure from her family (especially her mother) because she's not as "perfect" as her sister, June. There's a lot of comparison between the two of them, and this causes a lot of tension in the family. One day, Connie decides to go to the mall with some friends. Her mother allows her to go out because she likes when she's social. They arrive at the mall, only to escape to a nearby fast food place where "older kids" hang out. A random guy named Eddie comes in and asks Connie if she wants something to eat. She says yes, and on their way out she sees a creepy dude with shaggy hair staring at her in the parking lot. Fast forward a few days, and Connie's family is going to a barbecue. Connie decides to stay home, and soon after they leave, she hears a car coming down the driveway. It's the creepy dude from before, Arnold Friend, and his sidekick, Ellie. Arnold tries to persuade Connie to come with him, but she refuses. She starts to give in a few times, but she realizes that Arnold and Ellie are much, much older than her. She panics and tries to call the police, but Arnold says that if she picks up the phone, he's coming in the house. He also says (several times) that if her family comes back and she's still there, he's going to do something to them. This leaves Connie defeated. In the end, she walks out of the house and leaves with Arnold and Ellie in their gold-painted car.

This story was an interesting read. I was really engaged with it the entire time- even though it was longer than the other stories, it didn't necessarily feel that way. It almost felt like I was with Connie the entire time because I felt so strongly for her. I've never experienced anything like she did, but I could feel her emotions through the writing. The part that really hit me was the ending, when Connie finally gave in to Arnold. She was fighting so hard to get away, and he made her feel helpless.

It's not easy to think of a song that reminds me of this story. The first one that I think of is Gravity by Sara Bareilles. It's really emotionally powerful, and the lyrics kind of resemble the story, but not exactly. The tune itself is a lot like the story because I don't think it's action-packed, but more soft and deceiving.

Story #6: "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe

Honestly, this story was creepy. I really despise horror-related things, and I didn't like this story as much as the others partially because it was creepy. I thought it was interesting, and I like Poe's writing style, but overall, it didn't settle with me.

This story is about a person who has a burning desire to murder an old man because he has the "eye of a vulture". Apparently, this bothered him, and it bothered him so much that he thought it was necessary to kill him because of it. For a few nights, the person would peek into the man's bedroom and watch him sleep, only because he didn't have the courage to approach him- because his eye was always closed, it was impossible to do the work. On the eighth night, the person finally goes in, and the man starts to become suspicious that someone's in his house. He lies awake in his bed, and the person can see the man's vulture eye open- this frightens him, and the anticipation builds, the man's heart beat speeds up and the person quickly jumps next to the bed. This makes the man scream, but the person immediately dumps him on the floor and squishes him with the bed. The man dies, and the person is happy about this. He tears up some floorboards and hides the corpse underneath them so no one can find it. Soon after, three policemen come to investigate because a neighbor said they heard a scream. The person invites them in, not concerned about the murder at all. However, a certain sound catches the person's attention, and it gets louder and louder. It starts to drive him crazy, and when he can't take it anymore, he finally admits that he killed the man and hid his body.

I think that the mysterious sound at the end represents the guilt taking over the person. It starts out small, but it grows and grows until they can't lie anymore. This is a good representation of what guilt can feel like. The policemen didn't have to do anything for him to confess. Just the fact that he was aware that he was hiding something made him feel bad about himself. I think it's human instinct to tell the truth, and when people try to cover it up, it's very difficult.

This is a moment in my life where I have felt guilt:

I was on vacation in Mexico one summer with my parents, grandparents, and aunt a few years ago. We were staying in a pretty nice house, and one morning, we were having a normal breakfast. I can't recall why, but for some reason, I was pretty pissed at my aunt. She must've said or done something to make me feel this ultimate hatred for her. Anyways, we were eating, and I said that I had to go to the bathroom or something. Little did everyone know that I had a plan for revenge. I sneaked into my aunt's bedroom with an almost full water bottle. I opened the drawers with all her clothes in them, and very slowly, I poured the water all over her stuff. Once the job was done, I called everyone in, showing them what happened. I explained in a panicky voice how I came in and the water bottle tipped over and "accidentally" spilled water on everything. Seeing that it was an accident, my aunt said that it was okay and started to hang her clothes up in the bathroom. At this point, I felt absolutely awful. I had an urge to admit that I did it, but of course, I decided not to in fear that everyone would get mad at me. And punish me.

Story #5: "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel García Márquez

I genuinely liked this short story. It makes me think about a lot of things in general, even though there wasn't really a clear takeaway or lesson. The story revolves around a married couple, Pelayo and Elisenda, who live in a small house by the sea. One day, they see an unfamiliar body in their backyard, and it turns out to be a very old man with enormous wings (hence the title)- literally. When they ask their neighbor about the man, she says, "He's an angel." The news quickly spreads, and people from all over the world come to visit the angel in the couple's backyard. Since their home is now always crowded, they start charging people a certain fee who wish to see the angel. Not long after the angel's rise to popularity, things start to change: newer, more interesting "creatures" come into town from various circuses and shows. Their acts suddenly appeal to more people, and before they know it, Pelayo and Elisenda's home is as empty as before. In the end, the angel learns how to fly and travels away from the house.

I particularly enjoyed this story because of Márquez's writing style. The way he described each event was so realistic, and I really felt the emotions that the characters were feeling as well- for example, when people would bother the angel in different ways, or when the couple spent all the money they earned on materialistic things. It seems kind of contradictory because the story is about an angel, but even though angels aren't realistic creatures, the one in this story still portrayed feelings just like humans do. This was my favorite line from the entire piece: "He seemed to be in so many places at the same time that they grew to think that he'd been duplicated, that he was reproducing himself all through the house, and the exasperated and unhinged Elisenda shouted that it was awful living in that hell full of angels."

To conclude, here are three questions that I have about the story:

1. Does the angel represent anything?

2. Was Gabriel García Márquez religious? Did he have any beliefs about religion?

3. Where does the story take place?

Story #4: "Half A Day" by Naguib Mahfouz

I thought this story was short and sweet. Even though it wasn't as long as some of the other stories we've read, a point was still made by the end of it. In the story, a boy (who I assume is Mahfouz) is escorted to his first day of school by his father. When he arrives at school, he's a little hesitant, but then he eases up and starts to make friends. He does all sorts of activities, and he's having so much fun, but school time is finally over. When he walks outside, his father isn't there to pick him up- and he promised to be there, too. (Here's the freaky part.) Not only is his father absent, but the whole atmosphere around him has seemed to change- what used to be a beautiful road with gardens is now crowded with taxicabs and tall buildings. The boy decides to try and get home himself, but he can't even find his way because everything around him has drastically changed. The story ends with another boy coming up to him and saying, "Grandpa, let me take you across".

I think this story has a lot to do with time and growing up. The interaction that they (time & growing up) have is interesting because they seem to make sense at first- it takes a long time to grow up and become an adult. But no, it's exactly the opposite! Like our class has discussed in previous discussions, when you're growing up, the days feel long and the years feel short. It all goes by at an unbelievable pace. In the story, the boy was only at school for half a day, and at the end of it all, the country becomes a city and he turns into a grandpa. Just looking at that out of context, it shows that this story is pretty weird. Still, Mahfouz does a good job of conveying how time works and how it, too, is pretty weird.

This is a dream that I had pretty recently, sometime this year. So I'm running through a town that's not Chicago, but in the dream, I subconsciously know that I live there. As I'm running, and I'm running home, but to a home that I made up, I'm singing show tunes- not any particular ones, just the genre in general, I guess. I get home and I immediately run to the back door- it's a wooden door, then a screen door that leads to the back. In the back, there's this loooooong staircase that leads to this river (casually in the back of my house, I know). Anyways, I'm standing at the top of this staircase, and all of a sudden, an orangutan and a red fox are walking along the river together. I'm standing there in shock, and the me-that's-sleeping is also shocked because why did those specific animals pop into my head?! Back to the dream: a bigger red fox shows up and starts to fight the orangutan. I don't know what to do, and maybe I try to stop the fight, because the big fox sees me and immediately pounces. I run for my life, up the staircase, slamming the door. After a few minutes, I open the door again, and the animals are still there, except they look extremely sad. Meanwhile, it's pouring rain outside, and one of the foxes is howling at the sky.

The End.

Story #3: "Sunday in the Park" by Bel Kaufman

I liked this story. It poses an interesting question dealing with conflicts and proper resolutions. In the story, a mother and father are sitting in the park on a Sunday afternoon. Their son, Larry, is playing in a sandbox. Another boy in the sandbox starts to throw sand at him, and the mother demands him to stop, but he refuses to listen. This sparks an argument between Larry's father and the other boy's father, and in the end, the parents decide to drag Larry home (literally). As the parents are walking and discussing what just occurred, Larry continues to cry and drag his feet, which makes the father extremely angry. He starts to advance towards his son when the mother says the repeated line, "Indeed? You and who else?" (I still don't quite understand the meaning behind this.)

I think the parents made the right decision when they left the park- even though it still wasn't right for the boy to be throwing sand, it was only going to get worse if they had chosen to stay. It wasn't worth picking a fight with the other father because the argument would have (most likely) gotten much more serious than it had to be. On the other hand, it's interesting how the parents deal with disciplining their children/children in general. I liked how the mother handled the sand situation because she simply told the boy to stop throwing it- she didn't get any more involved with him because he wasn't her child. However, when they were taking Larry home, the father dared to do something to him, saying, "If you can't discipline this child, I will." I thought that move was very unnecessary, although it could've gotten worse if the mother hadn't stepped in.

If you decide to make a move or stand up for someone/something, I think you need to make sure it's for the right reason and to the right degree- that's from a quote we discussed in health class. It's really important to inspect the situation and react appropriately. Sunday in the Park reminded me that people tend to overreact because they don't think of the consequences that will come afterwards.

Story #2: "Happy Endings" by Margaret Atwood

Honestly, this story was pretty confusing. There were only two characters at the beginning, but then we kept meeting more and more people... the whole thing went by pretty quickly, and I think that's because of Atwood's choice of writing style. I liked the format of the story- it seems like they're alternate endings, but they're actually not because they all involve certain characters based on the previous ending. For example, you wouldn't know who Fred and Madge in Ending D were unless you read Ending C. Like I mentioned before, even though all of these major events fly by in a matter of minutes, I think it serves a purpose. Your spouse may die, or your house may be swept away by a tsunami, but in the end, that's just a part of life. I like how Atwood touches on an event that seems SO important, but then she just moves on. It really proves her point, how you can live your life however you want, but the ending will always be the same. The beginning and the middle are the fun parts. Here's my alternate ending:

G.

Again, John and Mary and Madge and Fred, after their long and busy lives, finally pass away. They're gone and it seems as if everything has ended, but let's not forget the children that they left behind when they left the earth. The five of them grieve and grieve for what seems like forever, looking back at the fond and not-so-fond memories. They laugh and cry and sometimes even smirk in confusion when certain secrets are revealed, but why do those matter? The past is the past. As time grows, the children grow, and the children's children reach all of their milestones in what seems like no time at all, and life goes on and on and on... but their endings are not like you would expect. There's no denying that their lives end eventually, but they simply reach another stage in their life and it doesn't all screech to a halt when the word "death" is approached. They live their lives and are not defined by their end, but by the parts that really show who they are. Because everybody has the exact same ending.

(restart at G, replacing the names if you choose)