The Human Stain

I found the first reading assignment to be interesting. I enjoyed how the book included background history about what was going on at that time such as the part about Bill Clinton's presidency scandal and how everyone was focused on his sex life rather than his policies. I was confused at first at who was narrating the story but once Colman and Nathan started to talk together I realized that Nathan was the narrator. I am intrigued about where this story is going because Coleman mention the affair at the beginning and I wonder if the wife died from heartbreak because she knew about the affair.

Great Gatsby Chapter 2

I think it is sad how all of these characters are in affairs except for Nick. I used to tolerate Tom but after his actions in this chapter I dislike him. I first started not liking him when he and Nick were on the train and he made them get off so he could go meet with his mistress, Mrs. Willson. When they met up he began taunting Mr. Willson while having an affair with his wife, Myrtle. I feel bad for Mr. Willson because he is completely oblivious to the fact that Tom is having an affair with his wife and meanwhile everyone, even her sister is aware of the affair. I feel bad for Nick because he has to sit around and hear all about their affairs and their history. I also didn't like Tom during the end of the party scene when he told Myrtle that she cannot say his wives name and then proceeded to break her nose. 


I have also noticed that female characters have been portrayed in a negative way. One example is when Tom and Myrtle get into an argument about whether she can say Tom's wife's name "Daisy" and then Tom treats her like she is his property when he breaks her nose. Myrtle was especially described in a negative way by Nick right from the beginning when he is talking about her lack of physical beauty. Mrs. McKee is also described in a negative way when she is first introduced. 

Driving Home from Pomfret

Leaving school for summer last year was a great moment for me. It marked the end of exams and the end of another arduous school year. As I got into the drivers seat on this warm spring day, I pulled out of Pomfret's campus and was finally headed home for summer break after a long week of exams that seemed to drag on. When I got on the road, I rolled down the windows and put on some summer music while talking with my dad. I was so excited to be headed back home to Boston, my favorite city for the summer. I had my sunglasses on and shorts on ready for summer. I looked at the cars on rt 395 and saw I had time to merge in. My foot went to the accelerator and I was off headed back to my home. It was me and the other cars and I was on my own focusing on driving and maintaining my speed until my dad started chatting with me about my exams.

The Old Waiter's Philosophy of Life in A Clean Well Lighted Place

The older waiter does not have an epiphany at the end, he is just discussing his philosophy of life. He thinks that life is meaningless, and that the only thing that everyone needs is a pleasant well lit quiet place to sit and be happy. The man also believes that since life is meaningless we should all be patient because there is nothing in the world. There is no religion and there is no point to life so we shouldn't rush to do anything.

Alienation in the short stories we've recently read

Over the past week and a half we have read Paul's Case by Willa Cather, The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck and Barn Burning by William Faulkner. In all these short stories, the main characters feel alienated at one point during the story. They each feel isolated for different reasons.

In Paul's Case by Willa Cather, the main character, Paul, doesn't have friends at school. Everyone thinks he is weird and that he has a problem so nobody spends time with him at school or wants to sit with him at lunch. I picked a quote that is said by one of his teachers when they are all discussing his behavior towards friends and teachers. "I don't believe that smile of his comes altogether from insolence. I happen to know that he was born in Colorado, only a few months before his mom died there of a long illness. There is something wrong about the fellow." (P. 266) The teachers all know that there is something wrong with him and that would explain why he doesn't have friends.


For Paul he feels alienated from his classmates, for Sarty Snopes in Barn Burning by William Faulkner, he feels alienated by his father. His family is poor so they work for rich people. Sarty's dad burnt down one of the barns they were working at and he got caught so they held a trial in court to determine punishment. Sarty lied to the judge and the case was dismissed. The Snopes family leaves the state on their wagon. Later that night, his father wakes him up and tells him, "You were fixing to tell them. You would have told him. "He didn't answer. His father struck him with the flat of his hand on the side of the head, hard but without heat, exactly as he had struck the two mules at the store, exactly as he would strike either of them with any stick in order to kill a horse fly.." (P 330) Sarty's father just hit him in the face, this is not what a father should be doing. He should be the one caring and nurturing his own son instead of abusing him.


In The Chrysanthemums, Elisa and Henry are married. Henry does all the work outside the home and Elisa does all the women work at the home, such as gardening and cooking. Her role is shown at the beginning of the short story when the narrator says "Elisa Allen working in her flower garden looked 
down across the yard and saw Henry, her husband, talking to two men in business suits." (P. 351) Henry is the one who is dealing with all the matters outside the home and Elisa is visibly jealous that Henry can do whatever he wants to do instead of doing the same two things every day. Elisa feels alienated by her role because she is a women and at the time it wasn't common in society for women to work or have rights. All three characters in these short stories feel alienated but each for different reasons.

Attached is my Steller Story 

Multiple Escapes from Society

In both short stories,  Paul's Case by Cather and The Chrysanthemums by Steinbeck, the main characters are running away from society and their own life's. Paul is running away from society and his father for many reasons. First he is very different from everyone else so he doesn't have many friends. He also doesn't like being around his father because his father doesn't respect that Paul is different. In The Chrysanthemums, Elisa is bored of her house wife life and wants to do something other than planting every day. Both characters are fed up with doing the same thing every day and being told what to do by society so they try to escape. For Paul, he decides the only way to escape is to kill himself because then he won't be alive. For Elisa, she wants to escape societies expectations by doing what men do. When she meets the pots and pans repair man she tells him that she wants to live a life like him instead of doing the same thing every day. He tells her that is not how women are supposed to live and this makes her upset. Both authors show that there will always be people that are different from the group and that there are different ways for people to deal with these differences.

An Escape from Society

In Cather's short story Paul's Case Paul has problems with society so he decides to run away. He is different then his classmates and doesn't fit in. He feels depressed and wants to be away of his father's harsh judgement for his personality and differences. Paul plans to escape to New York City for his living spree before he commits suicide. He gets a job and steals the money he was supposed to deposit and uses it to fund his final expenses in the city. Paul later escapes everything by committing suicide, which is the only way to escape from society because his dad is after him. Cather is showing us that to escape from society means to not be alive because if one is still living then they are still in society.