Broken Dreams

“Eye for An Eye”

Killings
Andre Dubus’ “Killings” is a fictional story exploring the morals and motives of two killers. It is clear that both murders are fueled by revenge and loss; however, it seems that Dubus’ claim states that murder has no justification, it is always considered unjust. The theme of the story seems to focus on the Bible quote “an eye for an eye”.
The story begins at Frank Fowler’s funeral, victim of Richard Strout. Richard Strout is described to be a person with loose morals. While Richard and his wife, Mary Ann, were in the process of a divorce, Mary Ann was in a relationship with Frank. Richard became aware of the situation and was enraged. He specifically stated, “ He was making with my wife” (Paragraph 90). Richard’s plan to seek revenge consisted him killing Frank. He did so, by shooting him in the presence of Mary Ann and their two children.
Matt Fowler had been a very protective father of all his children. He had always feared the worst for them all. So when his son Frank was shot and killed, he was forced to cope with the heavy grief. Matt felt he was responsible for making sure there was retaliation on Richard (Paragraph 155). He and his friend, Willis, waited in a local parking lot, anticipating the arrival of Richard from a local bar. Matt forced Richard to drive to his home and then to a wooded area. In the wooded area, Richard tried to escape on foot and Matt shot him dead.
There is another murder mentioned in the story. Where a woman “shot her husband and dropped him off the bridge in the Merrimack with a hundred-pound sack of cement and said all the way through it that nobody helped her.” (Paragraph 15). She appears to get away with the murder now that she lives in Lawrence and is working as a secretary. This gives Matt the feeling that Richard is not punished for the of killing his son and he has done the same. This seems to give him even more drive to kill Richard..
In Matthew 5:38, it states: “You have heard it was said, ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” This means that a notion for every wrong done there should be a compensating measure of “justice”. Richard committed a wrong doing, which was killing Frank. Therefore, the “justice” would have be Matt killing Richard; Richard would then suffer the same as his victim, Frank.
In conclusion, “an eye for an eye” describes the plot of the story. Both murders were committed because of revenge. Mahatma Ghandi’s quote, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” explains the wrong of both murders and how there is no progress. The circumstances of the murders are irrelevant in the court of law.

Works Cited
Dubus, Andre. “Killings”. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer.
Ninth Ed. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 103-15.

By: Mallory G.

Character Analysis on “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Character Analysis on “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” gives an in-depth look at a woman who is suffering from neurosis after the birth of her baby. She thinks she is sick but others say she has a “slight hysterical tendency.” Many critics claim that the story might drive someone mad by simply reading it. Her inferiority to her husband, obsession with the wallpaper, and her ambiguous condition might be caused by her “mental problem.”

The crazy woman, who is modeled after the narrator, shows inferiority throughout most of the story. “Her husband, John, antagonizes her creative imagination because he has anxiety of creativity,” one critic (grade savers) replied. Going through the story, you can sense that she is somewhat terrified of her husband, enough so that she shows passiveness because of it. In their continuous reciprocities, he scoffs at her fancies and she sits there and does nothing. The statement “what is one to do” shows the woman’s lack of self-confidence and feeling of inferiority and that she speaks as if her opinions don’t matter,” wrote a critic (www.voicesyahoo.com). She keeps saying, “he said” as if it doesn’t matter what she says or thinks. That is just another example of her inferiority towards her husband. It is pretty obvious that she chooses to be inferior to her husband because she doesn’t try to fight for herself. The time period (1887-1891) was a time when women wanted equal rights. So she is supposedly forced to be inferior.

In addition to her inferiority, she has this great, continuous obsession with the yellow wallpaper. Her husband brought her to a mansion and put her in a multi-purpose room. This was the way of handling a mental condition at the time. She describes the pattern as “one of those sprawling, flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin (par. 32).” But what about the paper is actually driving her insane? Is it the pattern (par. 32), the color (par. 34), or the “women in the wallpaper (par. 186)? Everything about the wallpaper makes her go crazy. She cannot stand the wallpaper. Everything about it is wrong, as so she thinks. She sees illusions of a woman in the wallpaper with many heads, eyes all over the walls, and a pattern moving under the moonlight. One critic (grade savers) says, “She sees many women, but centers one in particular. The woman appears to be trapped within the bar-like pattern of the wallpaper, and she shakes the pattern as she tries to break out. That eventually causes her to think that she is trapped in the wallpaper as well.” She also says the wallpaper has a smell. To her that’s just another reason for her sickness.

Beside all of that, the condition itself is also having an affect on her mental state of mind. As mentioned in the story (par. 114), she had a baby before she started to lose her mind. She maybe had trouble having the baby, as if it was a hard time for her to push the baby out or if it was a terrible sight to her. Obviously, being alone in a big room with “horrid” wallpaper is driving her crazy, but why is she seeing things that others cannot, such as the women moving around in the wallpaper (par. 186)? Her condition is causing her to hallucinate and have illusions of people moving around on a paper when really it is probably just a painting of many women covered by a stripy pattern.

So a woman, who is suffering from a mental condition, being inferior to her husband, and obsessing over wallpaper, has completely went insane in a big room. Its main purpose is to tell what the narrator’s experience was be locked in a big room. We can only see the story from the narrator’s point of view to understand her insane mentality.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 5th Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2007. 290-301.

“The Wallpaper Characters.” 05 Dec 12.

by: Jeremiah G.

Analysis on Dubus’ “Killings”

“Killings” by Andre Dubus

Andre Dubus wrote his short story “Killings” in 3rd person omniscient point of view. Frank Fowler’s story is being told in “Killings” of how his life was taken out of jealousy and spite. “Killings” leaves you open to the fact that there is more than one person murdered. Dubus engages between Matt Fowler, Frank’s father, and Richard Strout, Frank’s murderer.

Matt Fowler was forced to bury his 21 year old son, Frank. Matt killed Richard out of the love for Frank. Matt’s biggest longing was to get revenge on Richard. Not only was Matt upset with the murder of his son, but he was also upset with the fact that Richard was granted a bail. His presence made coping tougher for both Matt and Ruth. Seeing Strout free not only sharpened the pains of losing their son, but it also strengthened the eagerness of revenge. Matt and his best friend Willis Trottier made a plan to kill Richard by discussing the consequences. They felt due to the lack of trust in the justice system, they could get away with the crime, but that backfired on them.

Richard Strout shot Frank in front of his two boys. Richard’s wife, Mary Ann was Frank’s girlfriend. Mary Ann had filed a divorce on Richard, but Richard didn’t approve of it. Richard had a very quick temper and wasn’t too happy to find out Mary Ann had moved on without making the divorce official.

Even though Matt killed out of love and the revenge for his son, his crime was still wrong, Richard’s crime was wrong too of course, but like Frank, Richard was somebody’s son, brother, or a friend. Yes, Matt knew better, but he decided to follow his heart and not his head. Richard was just as ordinary as Matt except he had power over Matt because Richard first screwed up Matt’s life. Richard affected many lives, Matt, Ruth, Mary Ann, and Frank’s two boys. He wasn’t thinking, he was just consumed with helplessness and depression over the loss of Mary Ann. Matt’s reason for murder is understandable, I don’t agree with his choice, but I understand why he made it. Murder is murder no matter if he gained the strength to do it with his heart or his mind. (Stevens).

No matter what reason a person may have, when a person kills another in cold blood a crime of murder is committed. Murderers should be punished. The law does not inquire the reasons for committing the crime. The law is not concerned to find out the reason that could have driven a person to commit the crime of murder. The crime Matt committed against Richard is essentially the same as the crime Richard committed against Frank. Both of them should be punished, and there is no justification for that. (Stevens).

bY: KAMIKO F.

Character Analysis in “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

Characterization Analysis in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

Flannary O’Connor’s use of characterization in her short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” requires her audience to ponder if the characters in the story were good or bad. As readers, we do not know what was actually going through the grandmother or the Misfit’s minds. We do know the grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida; she wanted to visit Tennessee, a safe environment, as far as we know.

Throughout the story, the grandmother is portrayed as a selfish character that puts her status and pleasure before others. Her insisting on visiting this insignificant house was the actual cause that got her entire family killed. When the criminals murder her grandchildren, her son and his wife, she seems to be focused on begging for her life, rather than trying to protect her loved ones. The grandmother’s religious belief is greatly prejudiced, lacking the true meaning of life. She saw herself greater than anyone else, putting others down.

O’Connor’s use of foreshadowing throughout the story depicting the grandmother’s attitude portrays good vs. evil. The audience gets a chance to peek into the mind of a selfish, trifling old women. When the grandmother was face to face with the “evil” Misfit, we see that there is no “true” good in the world. The Misfit murders the entire family, yet we still see goodness in him. In the moment, the grandmother was about to die she represents “good,” yet we saw her true color throughout the story up until she was murdered, following her grandchildren, her son and his wife. Not a single person in the world is all good, there is really no true good in the world everyone has a bad side. There is no such thing as a “good person”. And vice versa.

Some readers may say “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” is, one suggested by Mary Steele, “A drastic change for the worst.” I agree with her because throughout the story the grandmother lied, insulted, complained, and made offensive remarks up until she was murdered. Another possible meaning, suggested by Ravi B. Lucas, “The Misfit has a strange twist to his style of being a villain.” The Misfit seemed to have a soft side when he was talking to the grandmother, yet he goes off and kills her. People are not as they appear.

Good or bad the grandmother has many qualities. These qualities as well as her interesting connection with the Misfit make her a very interesting character. O’Connor use of foreshadowing and characterization shows the reader the meaning of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

by: Shundrika J.

Analysis Essay on “A Sorrowful Woman”

Analysis Essay on “A Sorrowful Woman”
Gail Godwin signifies that not all women want to be a full time wife and mother in her short story, “A Sorrowful Woman.” This idea of feminism helps the audience understand the poignant character and her actions.
Gail Godwin incorporates this epigraph, “There once was a wife and mother one too many times.”(1st Sent.) This quote at the beginning of her short story implies that the woman should not have been a wife or mother. Her unhappiness in (Para. 1) is based on how she was so sad and it made her sick to see her husband and son. She did not want to be a wife or mother so she tried new things. “She tried these personalities on like costumes, then discarded them.”(Para. 20) This shows how she could not pin-point her true identity; therefore, she tried new personalities, but none of them worked. (Critical Analysis of “A Sorrowful Woman”) When she picked up the pen and pad and attempted to write a poem (Para. 20). She failed to succeed. Because she wanted to be free, all the freedom she did have seemed overwhelming. The sorrowful woman sought to be independent. She moved into her little room and slowly but surely disconnects from her son and husband by not seeing them anymore. (“Critical Analysis of “A Sorrowful Woman”)
Because the sorrowful woman could not identify herself, her husband had to fulfill her roles. “I don’t know what to do, it’s all my fault, I’m such a burden.” (Para. 15) The husband, always understanding her feelings, hires a girl to manage the woman’s roles. The sorrowful woman felt inferior towards the help of the girl. The girl did all the roles the woman wished to achieve herself. On page 41 evidence shows in the passage that the girl painted her own room, raced the boy to the mailbox, made them all laugh, and many other things. This made the sorrowful woman upset, cited in paragraph 10. The woman could not ever achieve anything herself as the help did. Godwin displays in her story how the woman moved into the girl’s white bedroom (Para. 18). This shows how the woman thrived to do things her way. She was selfish in letting the husband execute everything for her and the son.
Godwin incorporates a great deal of symbolism in her short story. “The draught was a nightly thing,” (Page 40). This small piece of information cited in many places in the story, signifies that the sorrowful woman seems to be addicted to the draught. “She was a queen, a virgin in a tower,” (Page 42). The sorrowful woman was tired of being a mother and wife so she dreams of being free, locked up in a tower free of destruction and accountability. “Now the days were short. She was always busy. She worked till the sunset. No time for hair brushing. Her fingers raced the hours,” (Para. 34). This entire paragraph shows how the woman wanted to accomplish more than just brushing her hair. She wanted to be free from everything, but not without a farewell. So, she made an entire meal that could last the son and husband several days. Then she committed suicide.
Godwin’s short story implies that not all women want to be a wife and mother. Some want to be independent. They want to be free of sorrow.

By: Carley C.

Analysis on “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Analysis on “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” shows how women were once treated during the 1880’s. The narrator suffers from postpartum depression and soon goes insane.
Gilman wrote this story during 1887-1891. This time period was when women wanted their own rights and when men told them what to do. The husband in this story was arrogant and did not believe that his wife was really sick. He only thought that she needed a “rest cure”, which was what women were given when ill during that era. She was sent to live in a lonely mansion with her husband to recover. In the mansion, the room that they stay in has a horrid pattern for the wallpaper. She sees disgusting faces in the wallpaper that disturb her very much. She says “I’ve never seen a worse paper in my life.”(482). Her illness gets so extreme to her isolation that it seems that maybe if she had not have had to stay there she might not have gone insane. The wallpaper disturbs her very much in this story.
The narrator in this story goes entirely mad. She is telling the story so we can actually see how she deals with her illness. The wife says in the story that “Mary is so good with the baby” (94) and “the baby is well and happy” (230). This must mean that she has had a child, but she is suffering from her postpartum depression so she cannot take care of it. Her illness also makes her believe that there is a women trapped in the wallpaper. She mentions the women in the story where she says “It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman…” (233-234). She is trying to be the perfect wife, but becomes so distracted with getting the women out, that she forgets trying to be perfect for her husband. She says in the story “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane!” Some scholars say that this was a typo in the writing, but if the wife is Jane was she trying to escape from the pressures of being the perfect wife that she has put upon herself? She has probably wanted to escape but has not had the chance yet, so she takes advantage of the fact that she is finally alone. She has forced to be in isolation for a long time and is finally free from her imprisonment.
Gilman displays feminism and how women were treated in her short-story. Gilman portrays a husband and wife who adore each other, but the wife is overruled in almost everything. She wants to leave the mansion but her husband refuses. She does not like the wallpaper and asks if he will remove it and he declines. Her husband also has mental and physical control of his wife. He does not like her writing so she has to hide it whenever she does. In the story she says “he hates to have me write a word” (482). The husband also only believes that she needs a “rest cure”, which was very popular during this time period. By adding this source of treatment we can easily identify the time period.
Gilman’s short story reveals feminism in the late 1800’s through a woman who is overruled by her husband and how women who suffered for mental illness were treated.

by: Kameron E.

“Hymn To Football”

Glory to the football field,
the plain of grass
the bold white numbers
matching the field
Glory to the goal post,
to the goal line,
to the big Panther head
in the center field.

Glory to the eleven navy blue jerseys
warned by eleven,
to the football players
to the uniforms,
their helmets,
their gloves and cleats
their lips puffed out from mouth gaurds
Glory to the football team.

Glory to the victories,
the proud moments,
the cheerfulness of our souls
Glory to the losses
they bring eleven brothers together.
to the strong bond of a growing family.

Glory to the heat,
to the sweat and pain,
to the cool breezes,
to the exhausting day that leave you dog-tired.
Glory to the waterboys,
to the bottles they fill and serve,
to the towels they bring to wipe away the pain.

Glory to the trees and animals,
to the homes the animals had to leave,
to the leaves and branches nevermore
to the loss of oxygen from the trees
the animals that they protected
to the sacrifices made for the football field.

By: Montero B.

“Glory to the Magical Places”

Glory to magical places of unbelievable places
the freedom that takes you away when feeling troubled
amazed with amusement and excitement
Glory to the beautiful smiles that awaken upon many
broad faces.

Glory to many imaginary beliefs
by young, curious spirits looking for mind-blowing thrills
Looking for different way to discover their
wonderful skills
Glory to young children everyday.

Glory to the invisible tastes from famous cooks
sweet pies, crunchy feel of the well-marinated
chicken moving through my mouth like track stars.

Amusement parks filled
with enjoyment of carousels,
farriswheels, laughter, excitement
sounds of hearts beating through loved ones
chest expressing their love no other

Give Glory to everyone
that waits everyday
at this special time
to get through all
their troubles
stress,
worries,
unhappiness
There is no other place
in particular like….
—-Dreams– a magical, exciting world

By: Kalliah R.

“Glory to the Shopping Universe”

Glory to the shopping universe
Where all people come to fight
Like Black Friday sales
and sometimes even at night.

Glory to the racks and hangers
to clothes
to shoes,
and make-up too,
Two paire just might not do.

Glory to the candy stores
where children scream, fuss, fight, and kick
Just to get some mouth watering
stawberry licorice.

Glory to the laughter
that grows so loud
it fills the aire
like busy bees in spring time.

Give all the glory to the employees
who work so hard
to satify everyone around them
before themselves.

by: Kanesha M.