LUPITA’s Comments (group member since Oct 01, 2015)

LUPITA’s comments from the Forms of Literature (Keating's Goodreads Discussion forum) group.

Andres wrote: "In the stories "Everyday use" and "I Stand Here Ironing" it talks about family but in two different views. In "I Stand Here Ironing" family values are important every single family member depends o..."

Yes, both stories speak about family but both of those families are very different. One family has a good bond while the other doesn't, but regard of that families still go through rough patches and the mom takes an important role when it comes to that.

Israel wrote: "The two stories have a purpose of family experiences and values from a mother to her children. The two stories also talk about some of the events in the children's lives that made an impact to the ..."

I agree, there's no such thing as a perfect mom and trying to be the best mom you can be can be difficult and this story expresses that very well.

Both stories "Everyday Use" and "I Stand Here Ironing" both talk about families and how they're not perfect. Even though they don't stress that that's what they're talking about, that's what I understood. Both stories talk about how the choices of the children effected the mother but also how the mothers have different reactions. In the story "I Stand Here Ironing" we can see how the mother never feels good enough for her daughter. The daughter, Emily, growing up was sad, quiet and different from her sisters. As she grows up she finds that doing comedy really helps her feel alive and her attitude changes completely. In the story "Everyday Use" the Mom doesn't feel bad for her daughter, contrary she doesn't understand why her older daughter has to be so mean and different especially towards the younger troubled child Maggie. Towards the end of the story when the mother prefers to give the sentimental valued quilts to the younger daughter Maggie, this shows that the mother realized that Maggie deserved them more than the older daughter. The moral of these stories are is that at the end there is no such thing as a perfect Mom and how hard it is to try and be.

Marco wrote: "In "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," Lawrence uses symbolism to express his theme. The theme in the story is that death brings about a new understanding, and hence rebirth. Lawrence emphasizes this th..."

The author does use a lot of symbolism throughout the text, with that symbolism one can quickly learn that the theme of the story is death. Especially between Mabel and her mother.

Julia wrote: "In the story ¨the horse dealer's daughter¨ has several different symbolisms within the characters Mable,Joe, Fred Henry and Malcolm. Starting in the story they state that ¨the three brothers and th..."

I agree with you that the author described the characters right after mentioning them and I found myself memorizing the names of the characters with a lot more understanding and quicker than usual.

The story "The Horse Dealer's Daughter" uses a lot of symbolism to try and get important details across to the reader. At the beginning of the story it says, " The three brothers and the sister sat rounds the desolate breakfast table, attempting some sort of desultory consultation." With this sentence alone, the reader can already begin to create a setting where there's something missing in the story, emotionally. Later, Joe is described as "a man of thirty-three, broad and handsome in a hot, flushed way...Joe watched with glazed hopeless eyes. the horses were almost like his own body to him." Fred Henry was then described as, "the second brother...he watched the passing of the horses with more sand-froid. If he was an animal, he was an animal which controls, not one which is controlled." The youngest of the brother, Malcolm was also mentioned in the story as, "He was the baby of the family, a young man of twenty-two, with a fresh, jaunty museau." The three brothers had always in a sense ignore Mabel all their lives that when they were actually trying to engage in a conversation with her, she was blank about it and had nothing to say back to them. The brothers would call Mabel a, "bull-dog". Throughout the story, the author used a lot of symbolism in order to push the idea of the story out to the reader easier and by putting the names of the brothers and using these terms to describe them, I found myself remembering the names of the characters a lot faster than usual.

Jesus wrote: "In the story, "Soldier's Home", Krebs was a frat boy before he went to war and one may assume he was the usual college kid going to parties and stuff. Once Krebs goes to war and comes back, one can..."

After experiencing war, Krebs doesn't want to have to deal with the consequences of his actions. He became a cold individual with little emotions to show. What Krebs wants now is to live a life with no worries almost like the life he lived back when he was a frat boy.

Traci wrote: "Before the war, Krebs was a frat boy who appears to of been a church goer. War can change a person. The things you witness, hear, or even are forced to do can gave a toll on you. I think by saying ..."

After the war Krebs came back a different person especially emotionally. He did not really know how to communicate properly with people. He was a quiet person that kept to himself mostly when before the war he was a frat boy. I do agree that the reason he wanted to live a life without consequences was because he had already gone through a lot while at war.

Before Krebs left to war, he was a frat boy. Attending college, frat boys are usually loud, energetic, and cheerful. But when Krebs left for war and came back, he was a completely different person. As most of us know, war takes a toll on people in different ways. The things a person experiences while at war aren't so usual and can change a person. Unfortunately, this is what happened to Krebs. Before war he was a happy college frat boy but afterwards he became a quiet, serious, and angry boy. There were different parts of the story where one can gain the idea that Krebs character had change from before and after the war but one scene in particular was when Krebs mom asked him if he loved her and he said no, then automatically after that started asking the mom to forget about what he had said and for her to believe that he did love her. Emotionally distressed is what the war had made Krebs. Since he had already lived a complicated life by leaving to war, Krebs said he wanted "to live without consequences". What I believe Krebs meant when he said this was that he no longer wanted to live a life where the decisions he made would have bad consequences almost like the life he had when he was a frat boy.

Miguel wrote: "The story sounded really isolated since the beginning. Just the fact that in order to reach the place they had to cross a hill. Mrs. Wrights did not have any children to lighten up the house, makin..."

Isolation does make a person change. Minnie Foster is a good example for that. Once in the story Minnie Foster was described as a happy person full of life but after she got married with Mr. Wright, he moved her in with him far away from any kind of civilization, so much to the point where he didn't want a phone line at their house, and this affected her so much and made her a sad and lonely person.

Eliana wrote: "In this week's video, Mary Helen Washington described the sense of isolation in "A jury of her peers"by Susan Keating Glaspell. Such story gives multiple hints about the isolated place and the back..."

I agree, at the beginning of the story, Minnie Foster was described as a happy person with a lot of life. Later into the story, after Minnie had married Mr. Wright, he isolated her and moved out far from civilization and that drastic change affected her life and turned her into a sad lonely person.

In this weeks video, Mary Helen Washington spoke about isolation in the story "A Jury of Her Peers" written by Susan Keating Glaspell. Throughout this story, Glaspell describes Minnie Foster's house as isolated. Glaspell gives this impression to the reader through the setting and the details of Minnie's house in the story. For example while Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters and their husbands were on their way to Minnie's house it said, "It looked very lonesome this cold March morning. It had always been a lonesome-looking place. It was down in a hollow, and the poplar trees around it were lonesome-looking trees." This sentence lets the reader know that the house in which Minnie and her husband lived in was isolated and always looked lonely. While Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters were at the Wrights residence, Mrs. Hale says, "I've never liked this place. Maybe because it's down in a hollow and you don't see the road. I don't know what it is, but it's a lonesome place, and always has." Further into the story, Mr. Wright was not fond of the idea that Minnie wanted to get a house phone, he said,"folks talked too much." This sentence shows that Mr. Wright did not like to be around other people which gives us the idea that he liked to live away from civilization.

Leslie wrote: "In the story, "I Stand Here Ironing", Emily is portrayed in her mother's point of view as a flat character. For instance, her mother describes her as "a child seldom smiled at", characterizing her ..."

I agree with you Leslie, Emily's character is portrayed by her mother and the reader only gets to learn that side of the characters personality. As the mother describes her, Emily is seen as a sad troubled child but as she grows older we learn that Emily was not such a flat character but was a rounded one as well.

Traci wrote: "When Emily's mother is describing her, it is pretty one-dimensional. It does not show Emily in the kind of good light that you would think most parents would look at their children. When you get de..."

I agree with you Traci, since the story was told by Emily's mother, we get a certain understanding of Emily's character but this is because her character is being described by the mothers point of view. As Emily stars growing older, we see that her character is not so flat and actually has some round to it.

In the story "I Stand Here Ironing" the way Emily is described by her mother makes Emily seem as a sad isolated child who had a rough child hood growing up and experienced some bumps while maturing. Although as the story progresses, Emily's mom does mention good characteristics that Emily has for example, Emily likes to tell jokes and do stand-up comedy in her older years, and this is where Emily started to open up a little bit and grow into a different person. The story both shows that Emily is both a rounded and a flat character but since most of the story talks about her childhood years more than her older years, that's why the reader gets the idea that Emily is more of a one-dimensional flat character.