Week 4 - " The Sock"

This story was filled with regret and past memories, the women narrating spoke in a tone that made her almost understanding about the situation. It seemed she sounded as if she had come to terms with her separation with her husband. But I couldn't help but notices he refers to her ex husband as, " My husband.". Now as far as I'm aware, you don't refer to an ex or divorced significant other as if they are currently in a relationship with you. This really stood out within the reading because it shows that even though on the outside she shows she has come to terms and is comfortable with the fact she no longer with her husband. But on the other hand deep inside she is hurting, wishing things had worked out a bit differently. She even mentions she plays nice with " her husbands" wife for the sake of her child. In other words if she could fight off his wife to have him back she would in a heartbeat. The sock seems to trigger flashback memories of this woman and her husband when they were together. She describes her memories in such detail, " How he would lie reading on his back on the bed with his feet crossed at the ankles so that his feet would be pointed toward different corners of the room.". I just don't understand the end though, she keeps his wives belongings such as a, " Red comb, red lip-stick and a bottle of pills." and sticks them in a draw until the next time she sees her husband and his wife. Why can't she simply send them back? The only thing that can come from holding on to these belongings is more regret and a build up of hatred. But hey, thats just my opinion!

Yours Response

Underneath a very plain and subtle text is a feeling of unsettling resentment. I found the dialogue very passive aggressive. It seemed that both the characters had so much to say but they can't bring themselves to just come out with so they sort of go back and forth with these little irritable comments that mask there great feelings of resentment towards each other. The off-putting way both characters interact with each other reveal a certain coldness that inflicts those who are dealing with their mortality and haven't quite learned how to accept the unfortunate inevitable. Just through a simple activity like carving a pumpkin you can pick up on so much.

week 4- Some of Us Had been Threatening Our Friend Colby

I loved this short story. The fact that the main topic of the story was being discussed in such a nonchalant manner, despite its morbidity, aggressively grabs the reader’s attention and refuses to let go. The characters show genuine concern for Colby when they describe him as being their “dear friend” and immediately juxtapose that concept by going over the minute details regarding the event of his hanging. I think what made the story so incredibly pervasive was its ability to display the characters genuine concern for the tastefulness of the grotesque event that they were organizing as if it were a gala assembled for the social elite. The undeniable irony of the situation is evidently clear as the group of friends comb over the tact and practicality of such details as: music, physical imagery, gibbet vs. tree, wording of invitations, legitimacy of a hangman, and the idea of a wire vs. a rope. Their attention to detail is clearly ironic in the gravity of their actions. However, perhaps the most brilliantly crafted move of the story is what the author leaves to the unknown. The reader is left to question first “what did Colby do” and second “if they are his friends why are they hanging him?” The level of comfort that the characters display when faced with their friend having “gone too far” and their seemingly inevitable decision to hang him, suggests that this situation is not uncommon. But even this idea is contrasted at the close of the story when the narrator informs that no one ever went “too far” again. The mystery of the story leaves the reader with a sort of unsolvable riddle.

Week Four- "Yours"

In my film class, we recently discussed the idea of challenging preconceived notions of plot lines. The viewer expects one thing to happen, and then something else does. Similarly, I think the piece "Yours" does the same thing. We, as readers, looked at the two characters Allison and Clark. We expect Clark, since he's the older of the two, to die sooner than Allison. Then Robison turns it around and makes Allison die before him.

I recently read a piece where a similar thing happened. The author spends the first section of the piece describing and focusing on a dying dog, and then something completely unexpected happens that has nothing to do with the dog. (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/06/24/the-fourth-state-of-matter).

I think it's really interesting how an author can change a piece to make it completely different than the reader first thought. That command over craft in these two pieces completely blows me away, and I really want to imitate them.

week 4

Well this is weird. In a nonchalant tone, some "friends" of a character Colby plan and carry through his execution for having, "gone too far". This piece finds us in a place in which capitol punishment is out of the question, thus leading Colby's friends to carefully plan and execute (pun kind of intended) his hanging in a way that wouldn't tip off the authorities, yet still gather a crowd. In what seems like a satirical piece mocking the modern wedding industry, Barthelme seems to keep character descriptions to a minimum thus allowing for the reader to make assumptions and quickly learn some essential characteristics of these people throughout this short piece.

Colby's action of "going too far" is also left vague. It seems almost irrelevant though; it doesn't matter what Colby had done in this piece, the only thing that really seems to matter is careful planning of a rather barbarous act.

TLDR: Weird story and it doesn't matter what Colby actually did.

Week 4 - "Yours"

I really liked this story because the ending surprised me and it was written very beautifully. The imagery of fall and carving pumpkins brought me back to my childhood. It is such a relatable thing to be sitting in your home with your loved ones carving pumpkins and making fun of your own, because it is a difficult task. The specificity in which everything is described such as: "...Allison and Clark gutted and carved the pumpkins together, at an old table set on the back porch, over newspaper after soggy newspaper..." makes me see the image so clearly and feel like I am there. I can recognize these images as they've been well-known in my life.

The way it ended really shocked me because it was such a pleasant piece but then it suddenly took a dark turn. I hadn't paid much attention to the fact that Allison "wore a natural-hair wig", but one can assume that she had a form of cancer. Her age was of significant because the author brought it up twice, and even mentioned her husband's age in its contrast and I never expected her to die.

week 5: Enoch and the Gorilla

This piece out of all the others confused me the most. through most of the story we see Enoch establish himself as kind of an awkward character; the scene with the waitress expresses others view of him the most and the fact that "although the waitress had met him many times, she had not yet begun to like him". I expected him; when he put on that gorilla suit, to revert back; and become less awkward through the beastly acquisition of his "new skin". Instead, the reader is treated with a very childish rendition of him scaring the young couple. Which in no way matches up to the beastly awe the children showed the previous gorilla; or the friendly handshake Enoch expects to receive from the young couple.

I think the piece challenges the readers expectations of what is to happen (as readers; I think everyone loves to make predictions); in the beginning we expect him to throw away the crappy umbrella; but he doesn't. We do not expect him to wait in line with the children, but he does; we do not expect the gorilla to be a man in the suit, we do not expect the waitress to treat Enoch; who seems admittedly a little emotionally disturbed but mostly harmless, so harshly. And in the end, I expected Enoch to go crazy on some wild killing spree in the gorilla costume (given that he had already either killed or beaten the suits previous inhabitant unconscious); but instead he had been after what he wanted all along; a simple handshake.