To Build A Fire: An Evening on the Frozen Yukon Trail

The man and his dog are walking through the bitter cold. The man says it must be fifty below zero, but the dog knows that the stakes are much higher than that. It is seventy-five degrees below, cold enough to freeze a man to death, to make fire necessary at all times, and to make the danger of their journey almost impossible.

 Snow falls continuously in this environment, hiding the trail between the trees so the man must look carefully to remain constant in the right direction. “A foot of snow had fallen since the last sled had passed over,” and so we know they are alone in this treacherous environment (107). There are trees everywhere as they walk through woods which seem to go on forever on their way to Henderson Creek, where the man says that “the boys” will be waiting for him. They’re hoping to get there by six o’clock, late in the freezing cold, but they hope for fire.

Meanwhile, the man and dog continue to walk through the powdery snow, and after a while they come upon a snow covered creek, more dangerous than their previous setting, because now only a thin layer of snow and ice separate the man from the freezing water. If the man were to get wet in weather that cold he would certainly have to stop and build a fire to dry off or freeze to death in the snow.

   

    It is so cold that the man is unable to even pull his hands out of his mittens for a moment to eat without them going numb in the cold. He builds a fire to stay warm and even the dog, a husky, native to that land and equipped with a natural coat to stay warm in the hazardous cold, curls up beside it, restoring the warmth to his skin.

Wind has not blown through this area for some time, just the cold snow, and so the tops of the trees are powdered with it, heavy heaps of frozen ice pulls the branches down low to the ground where they threaten to fall with the slightest breath of air. The man doesn’t seem to realize this, and like an avalanche the snow comes falling down over his fire, shattering his only chance of survival.

     

The surroundings are insistent in their danger. Miles of snow separate the man from his home, where warmth and family await his arrival. Even the dog, bred for the temperature, is whimpering for fire. There is no chance in that weather to dry off, to undo the freezing of his limbs and blood. It is too cold to even heat the body by running, and all hope is gone. The setting is an unyielding, desolate, desperate, and dangerous frozen tundra; the kind in which a man could freeze himself to drowsing death.

Cathedral

1.       Who is the main character or protagonist of the story?

n  The narrator, who is unnamed throughout the story, is the protagonist, or the main character.

2.       Make a quick list of the character’s physical, mental, moral, or behavioral traits. Which seem especially significant to the action of the story?

n  Prejudiced, a smoker and a drinker, seems insecure. Most important to the story seems to the prejudice, which is present in both his actions and thoughts toward the blind man and his wife’s name. He judges before he even meets the man, and he judges the wife although he never has the change to meet her.

3.       Does the main character have an antagonist in the story? How do they differ?

n  The main character’s antagonist is his own prejudice against the blind man and his inability to connect with him, and through extension, his wife, all because of that initial prejudice.

4.       Does the way the protagonist speaks reveal anything about his or her personality?

n  You can tell he is slightly pessimistic. He looks at what can go wrong as opposed to opening his mind to new things. He likes things he can see. Blindness makes him uncomfortable, religion makes him uncomfortable. You can tell by many of his thoughts that he is the kind of person who needs physical proof.

5.       If the story is told in the first person, what is revealed about how the protagonist views his or her surroundings?

n  (see the above)

6.       What is the character’s primary motivation? Does this motivation seem reasonable to you?

n  It seems as though the narrator is motivated mostly by his wife and wanting to please her by being kind to the blind man. However, as the story progresses, his motivation changes and by the end it seems as though he actually wants to understand this man and what life is like for him. This curiosity is present in his question, “Something has just occurred to me. Do you have any idea what a cathedral is?” (90). At first the motivation seems halfhearted, like he doesn’t really care to make a true attempt to connect to the blind man, but by the end the motivation becomes more reasonable.

7.       Does the protagonist fully understand his or her motivations?

n  It doesn’t seem as though he understands them at the end of the story since it just happens almost automatically, yet in the beginning it is quite clear that he is only doing this for the woman and is aware of that fact.

8.       In what ways is the protagonist changed or tested by the events of the story?

n  By the end of the story he has become more accepting and open to other ideas, and other types of people. He realizes that his prejudices may be incorrect, and he realizes that he doesn’t understand the world as well as he previously thought. By the end, he has changed.

A Rose For Emily Responce

In his short story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner employs the rare point of view of first person plural, using the word “we” in replacement of the normal first person narrator “I”. This allows the point of view to come from the community from which the stories main character Miss Emily Grierson lived in, and though this particular point of view is unusual, it aided in the ability of the author to tell the story.
This first person plural point of view may have been chosen because unlike the ordinary first person using the pronoun “I” it allows a broader spectrum of knowledge. This helps tell the story because of the amount of time it spans over and the many events that are necessary in the telling of the story, such as the scene with the pharmacist and the rat poison. In that scene there is no evidence of other characters standing around to witness the scene for retelling, thus the reader can assume that everything told is gossip throughout a town, or “we”.

This point of view goes well the amount of gossip present in the story. In fact, the piece seems to thrive on gossip and without it this particular point of view would not be effective in the same way that it is. With little statements like “So the next day we all said, “She will kill herself’; and we said it would be the best thing.” (33). Statements like this and many following moments like it are proof of the gossip around town and the amount of time people spent talking about Miss Emily, and this is what made the point of view effective.

In addition to that, the use of the word ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ further increases the distance between Miss Emily and the rest of society by inferring that she is not a part of them in any way. She becomes seperated from the “we” and her character stands out even futher. Faulkner’s use of perspective through this strange point of view strengthened his story in many ways which allowed the reader to get a better grasp on not just the character of Emily, but of the world she lived in as well.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find Response




On the surface, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor seems like a simple southern story about a family taking a road trip. What can go wrong? And then there’s the ending, a dramatic change from the setting and what the original plot seems to be. However, since this was my second time reading through the story, it was easier to see all the hints that O’Connor left throughout the course of the piece letting the reader know that this was no pleasant drive through the country.

From the very beginning the reader is set up with the introduction of “The Misfit,” a man who escaped from federal prison, and is heading toward Florida, the same direction that the family will be going. After introducing this character, the hints became more and more obvious, such as when the grandmother asks the little boy, “What would you do if this fellow, The Misfit, caught you?” (357).

Because this was my second time reading the story, I was able to look more closely at what O’Connor was implying, or hinting at with many of the word choices and descriptions. One of the more obvious hints that O’Conner leaves for the reader is relatively close to the beginning, in the description of the grandmother’s outfit. The paragraph on page 357 with the description ends with what is, in my opinion, the strongest clue throughout. It says, “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.” In this case it is almost if O’Connor is handing the ending to the readers in the beginning.

Other descriptions which hint toward the end and take away the surprise are scattered through the story at random, almost unnoticeable through the first reading, but they do leave a dark mood over the entire story. For example, there’s the moment after the accident happens, and the daughter, June get out of the car and says, “But nobody’s killed.” O’Connor describes her as saying it ‘with disappointment’. There’s also the part where, after the accident when the family is trying to recover, a ‘”hearse-like automobile” drives up to them, offering help. Here the description of the car acts as the final hint before The Misfit walks out, and the family is murdered.

The story was surprising because of the contrast between the darkness of murder and the killing of the family, and the lightness and ease of the rest. However, the author does leave many hints and clues, leaving a shadow of the ending weaving through the descriptions and in the interactions between characters.

Introduction

My name is Beckie. I'm a photographer, musician, and writer. I'm at PCC as an English major and am hoping to pursue a career as a writer and literary agent/editor. I'll be happy doing anything having to do with fictional prose, basically. However, I'm terrible at spelling. Isn't that odd?

So that's about it then.