Rogerio’s Comments (group member since Jan 21, 2015)

Rogerio’s comments from the Morales 2341 Spring 2015 Class MW group.

Yvonne wrote: "Although it is extremely important to be educated, there’s nothing worse than smart people who rub it in the faces of others who are less intelligent. Not even the highest IQ score can make you hap..."

I agree with you that people with high IQ's can be arrogant and unpleasant, there is common sense on how we should treat each other.I don't believe Dee meant to offend her mother or her sister, she was just trying to impress her boyfriend/husband. If it was me acting this way and realized what I did my world would probably crumble and I would feel ashamed.

Nancy wrote: "In the story "Every Day Use" by Alice Walker, me as a reader don't sympathize with Dee because of the kind of person she is. At the beginning all she could think of was leaving her house. Then she ..."

You made some good points on Dee's attitude, but I try to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was trying to impress the boyfriend/husband or maybe she did feel ashamed where she came from but that does not mean she heated her mother or sister I felt her frustration seeing their family living the way they did. Taking pictures of what made her happy in her childhood. Okay I'll get down my soapbox.

The story by Alice Walker Everyday Use. From all the odds Dee raised up when she needed to have courage. I sympathize with Dee, she had the opportunity to get an education and she had enough courage to attend college. Dee probably faced a lot of discrimination during her school years and found comfort in Hakim-a-barber. Dee was fearless and willing to learn and progress as her own person without her mother’s “quilt” and lack of education. We all need drive to succeed and we all find our own drive in different ways; Dee’s drive was one of the most common, she was poor and had uneducated single mother. Mama and Maggie definitely hard workers and content with their lives, but I don’t think they reached their potential. Is Maggie attending college as well? Mama and Maggie are willing to change? I think they are afraid of change and afraid of Dee.

Yvonne wrote: "In both “A Good Man is Hard To Find” and “Revelation” by Flannery O’Connor, we see two haughty women that have many things in common. Both of these women have “know it all” attitudes. Both the gran..."

I like the way you compared both stories very subtle, they are in fact very stubborn and conceded. The attitude on both stories are the same they both learned an important lesson. The Grandmother definitely had the case of the mouth diarrhea. (Is there any medication for that?)

In both stories the main character is a woman who is arrogant in her convictions of superiority. O'Connor's translates the swollen self-estimates of such people. The irony between what a person is and what the woman assumes herself to be is emphasized by such techniques as unflattering names or appearances. The grandmother insists on dressing carefully so that "in case of an accident anyone seeing her dead on the highway" would know she was a lady. Both stories contain violence, another motif often used by O'Connor to shock her characters and the reader into an epiphany. Mrs. Turpin is physically assaulted by Mary Grace, first by the book thrown at her and then by the girl's attempt to strangle her. The grandmother hears the gunshots that kill her family one by one prior to her brief epiphany before she is murdered too.

Yvonne wrote: "The sad reality is that this world we live in is very superficial. People are quick to judge you and make assumptions by your appearance. In fact, first impressions are based on appearances. Like t..."

It is a sad reality, we judge people everything. Wouldn't you agree that sometimes judgement is owed? I think dressing nicely should be common knowledge, and by this I don't mean the fanciest clothing. I think it is our social responsibility to dress half way decent, people now days dress in pajamas everywhere even to school. My family always told me "It is your responsibility to dress appropriately you will find that how you look is the way they are going to treat you".

Nancy wrote: "In the short story "The Overcoat" the author Gogol is describing a man named Akaky Adadievich. He was a regular man that was dressed with an old coat. When he changes his appearance and wears a new..."

To me appearance should be everything, there is a saying in Mexico “How you look is the way they are going to treat you”. I firmly believe in the saying but it does not mean you have to buy the fanciest clothing out there or the most expensive. IN Akaky’s situation is more about his attitude than his overcoat, after Akaky bought his new coat and his perspective in live change and with that the people around him.

Nikolai Gogol’s short story The Overcoat. Gogol takes a man without a friend in the world and gives him a new overcoat. The new overcoat represents a new life and a new identity for the man and instantaneously he is much happier. The man, Akaky Akakievich, basis his “new life” upon the love that he gives to his overcoat, and what he feels it gives him in return. Often material things gives you a different social standing, people look at you different and could make a great impact to you social life. People find material things to be more important in our lives than people, resulting in the emptiness of one’s heart and soul. One cannot be truly happy with any possessions alone. He needs more than that. He needs people his life, whom he can call friends. Akaky Akakievich is a low class man and he works hard for his money, yet his materialistic co-workers torment him because of his shabby, worn-out overcoat. Consequently he goes out and purchases a new overcoat. Quickly people begin to respect him more as he wears the new coat, and it creates for him a new identity. Akaky no longer is the blunt of office jokes, for he is now dressed more fashionably in the eyes of his colleagues. As Akaky walks down the street, he begins to see things in a new light. From the women that pass him by, to what he sees inside the store windows. Things seem to have a new meaning in his world, all because of his new overcoat. Akaky cares so much about his coat because it cost him quite a lot of money, but more importantly it made him feel more confident, more accepted by those around him. The overcoat gave Akaky a sense of security and it protected him in the frigid Petersburg climate. The new overcoat, the symbol for Akaky Akakievich’s new life, was but a few pieces of fabric sewn together. Nevertheless, to Akaky it was much more. It did more for him than anyone in his life ever had and for that reason, he cared for it more than anything else in his life. His dependency on it had no boundaries and he cherished what it gave to him. A friendship, a world, a life.

“Death of a Salesman”
Willy Loman was a tragic hero according in the Death of a Salesman because his flaws as a person drives him to believe that he emotionally, and physically stable when really Willy is a threat to his self-definition, and the people around him. Willy Loman’s self-definition is the failure of his son Biff Loman in life in general. Willy has always felt that life only has good things in store for Biff. Biff has even gotten to the point where the hot air that Willy is blowing in his head is making Biff feel really good and confident in himself. That is soon changed though when Biff decides to visit Willy on one of his business trips. Upon arriving Biff was going to tell Willy that he was failing math and that Willy needed to talk to his math teacher to pass the class. Instead Biff finds Willy and another woman having an affair, which makes the story unfold and made me wonder what would have been if Biff didn't find Willy with another women. A tragic hero according to Arthur Miller is someone whose is not perfect, yet is willing to take his or her life to secure his or her personal dignity.

Yvonne wrote: "In the play “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman was after the American Dream. He believed the way to move yourself up in society was by being well liked. Being well liked was extrem..."

I agree with everything you just wrote. Willy was obsessed about living the American Dream. That he forgot the most essential part of life and that is life it self. He was so worried about what people thought of him and his family that he neglected the small details in his sons life's. All he wanted for his sons was for them to be liked and thats all they needed to succeed.

“Death of a Salesman”
It is the tragic drama play that occurred in the early 1949. The setting of the play is mainly based on the house of the Loman residence. My initial thought about the play is how the characters are set in the play. In my opinion, the play is written in the parallel storyline. Even though the play is mostly about Willy’s reactions and the conversation that Willy has with others, I think Biff is the passive protagonist since the play is mainly about his life, and the perspective of Biff can be felt by the audiences. Both protagonists are dynamic characters in the play. The first protagonist is Willy, unsuccessful salesman, who has mental instability and confuses the past with the present situations. I think Miller used the name “Loman” to reflect the characteristic of the low man who has a poor social life, one of the main reasons why he is unsuccessful. The parallel protagonist of the play is Biff, son of Willy, who used to be a star football player, lost in his life after failing the mathematics in high school. Later we found out that he gave up all his life goals after witnessing his beloved father cheated on Linda with another woman.
Willy was obsessed about how the American dream was really about, throughout act one he rambles about how if you were liked in society that you will succeed no matter what. I would say that the play it is definitely trying to explain how America really works and that no matter how much you are liked you need to work hard to succeed.

Yvonne wrote: "Of course this affair was completely immoral. There is nothing morally right about an affair. No matter what time you live in or when this story was written adultery is always morally wrong. Chopin..."

I agree with you when you say that no matter when the story took place or if it was today, being unfaithful is completely immoral and should not be taken lightly. To me there is no greater sin. Losing someones trust and fidelity can be a great burden to the person who has been cheated on.

Of course there is controversy on the lack of moral closure. I believe that the worst kind of betrayal is the unfaithful kind, it breaks the connection that bond that you create with your partner. If one cannot be keep that very sacred part of marriage why marry? If you can’t be loyal to your partner, how can you be loyal to anyone? The lack of moral character for just a few moments of pleasure should not be forgiven or forgotten. The controversial issues with the end come from people that felt betrayed and hurt by the story. How the husband who is obviously in love with his wife can does not know what happened, everyone happy? He will be lied to until the end of days. I feel that if the story were to continue the end of the story would be that Calixta’s confesses to the infidelity before she dies and the husband now would be losing his wife and his peace of mind knowing he lived with a woman that lied to him and to their children. I think that in her time of in our present time faithfulness should not change ever since loyalty and honesty should prevail in our pursuit of happiness.

Yvonne wrote: "I believe that Ezperanza was greatly influenced by her family’s socioeconomic status. Like the majority of Latin children in the United Sates, Ezperanza, comes from a family of lower socioeconomic ..."
I agree with you about the socioeconomic status we all try to live in. But I would never imagine my self raising my daughters to be something they don't want to be or even worse telling them that all the have to worry about is to find themselves a man and that only then their lives would have meaning.

Nancy wrote: "Esperanza from "The House On Mango Street" is a little Latina girl who dreams of having the house that her mom and dad talked about as she narrated in the short story, "And our house would have ru..."
Since I can remember my parents never told my sisters that the only thing that they had to worry about is getting married and that their only goal should be to find a man to take care of them. My parents were completely the opposite. I can relate on the immigrant part of the story since it is very difficult to blend in with a different culture is like mixing water with oil it will never blend. If we go deeper into the culture I could never imagine how difficult it would have been to be a Latina back in the day.

The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros tells of the problems that Latino women face in a world that treats them like second class citizens. This is a world where men rule in the culture. This society values women only by how they look. They don’t care about their character. She intends for us to see these issues of the suppression of Latino woman in their culture. The women are seen just as objects by the men, all men regardless of their relation to the women. The girls grow up thinking that looks and appearance should be the most important things to women as well as men. Latino women are to be loyal to their husbands, and husbands deserve complete rule in the relationship. Esperanza is beginning to think differently than the other girls of the neighborhood, even though she was born and raised in the same way as all the women around her. She is not content with this expected role of women. She believes that someday she will escape the burdens of her culture placed on women. She knows she has a good mind, strong will and a talent for telling stories. She returns to her old neighborhood later as an adult through her stories, showing them they can live their own lives and be independent women. The women and girls in this story really care about their appearance and whether or not men are attracted to them. They are raised with one simple refrain, be attractive, get a man, let him be the boss, get married or have no income.

A&P
In John Updike's short story A&P we meet a young man named Sammy who works at the A&P grocery store. He takes notice of a group of girls who, wearing only bathing suits, browse throughout the aisles of the store looking for herring snacks. Throughout the story he appraises the girls sexually and judges them harshly, based on their looks. Towards the end of the story, the girls have a confrontation with the store manager because of their attire. This leads to Sammy defending the girls, and ultimately quitting his job, only to have his chivalric deed go unnoticed. Most critics of the story make Sammy out to be a hero, and he certainly seems like one in the situation, but was he really? Was Sammy a hero, or an opportunist?
Throughout the story, Sammy hints at a dislike for his job and generally shows no respect for the customers. He refers to one customer as “a witch about fifty with rose on her cheekbones”. Sammy also refers to the average customers as “Sheep”, because they act like livestock and continue shopping, oblivious to events happening around them. He also gives a detailed description of the supermarket's floor and knows of every event that occurs outside the store's front window. So we get an idea that Sammy has worked there for quite some time. His lack of respect for the people in the store, as well as his description of his surroundings, leads us to believe that he does not enjoy working there.

Nancy wrote: "The short story "The Flea" talks about how the author describes a flea sucking up blood from a man and a woman and comparing it to having sex. It describes how this little flea is sucking up the bl..."

When I first read the poem I did not understand it. After we discussed the poem in class now it makes sense and I have to say that I agree with your personal response. The man definitely trying to convince the young lady that if she can kill the flea and felt no regret that she might as-well have sex with him since it was the same kind of sin.

“Wild Nights-Wild Nights!”
Is a poem about women’s desire to reunite with an old lover? The first couple of lines introduces the speaker, remembering her lover. She does not need any instrument of direction to seek her lover, because her love is enough. “Wild Nights-Wild Nights!” the author’s had a rebellious attitude and form. Illustrates the sexual engagement between two lovers. Dickinson’s rebellious attitude is displayed throughout the poem, signifying that she lived through her poems. The form of the poem is chaotic and messy. Dickinson’s religious views and life-style choices were extremely different from those of her family and her friends. She lived in a very conservative time period. Most girls followed directly into their mother’s footsteps, following mainly one religious faith, marrying a man and having kids, and living as a housewife.

I have to agree with Cynthia Ozick, throughout the novella the things that Ivan Lynch was regretting was the way lived his life. Society dictated his life in every single aspect. Society told him where to work, who to marry and especially what was the most important thing in life which was money the evil of all times. Money is not everything in life, it does make your life a little easier but no one should be more focus on money instead of family. To me there is no greater failure than neglecting your family for greed. The rupture of the lie came when he finally opened his eyes and realized that all he has done in his life was based on a lie. It is somewhat sad that human kind only truly regrets their actions and asks for forgiveness when they know death is knocking on the door. I’m sure we all have regrets, but do we really mean it?