"The School" by Donald Barthelme and "The Perfect Gerbil" by George Saunders

     I must say this was one of the strangest yet one of the most interesting stories I have ever read. Once you think you have figured out what is going to happen next bang the next thing completely takes you by surprise.  The very beginning of the story seems to confuse me a little as Edgar the main character in the story seems to just ramble on and on about Donald Barthelme and works. He also talks about the beginning of his writing days and some of the techniques that Barthelme uses in his writing. I start to get confused a little towards the end of the first page as the author says "the technique here is of escalation-an evolutionary evolution progression from trees to snakes to fish to mammals". Here escalation means "the phenomenon of something getting more intense in a step by step process. However, after I read the whole story I went back and read the introduction again and it all made since to me.
     The story is about Edgar, the main character, who is an elementary school teacher. Edgar's class seems to be having a run of bad look during this particular time. Everything the children seem to get for their class seems to die. In the beginning the class is planting trees in order to learn about them however, the trees die shortly after. A couple weeks before that the class had snakes in order to study and shortly after that they all died. Next was the herb garden then the tropical fish then a puppy. The class then adopted a Korean kid who then shortly after also passed away. But, so far everything seem to have a reasonable answer for its passing away. Then the children's relatives started passing away then two of the children were killed in an accident not far from the school. It seemed that whatever the class came into contact with would end up dead. Once you think you have figured out the pattern of the story the next thing takes you completely by surprise.
     The children start to ask very deep and educated questions as to where everything goes when it passes away. The children ask "is death that which gives meaning to life"? And as always Edgar is able to escape the question very quickly with an answer. The end of the story is very surprising and unexpected as it introduces a new character who happened to be in the classroom the whole time. As they are having their conversation about the death the children suddenly say "will you make love now with Helen"? Helen is the teachers assistant who sits quietly looking out of the window. The children wish to see a demonstration of love making with he and Helen. And just as I thought that this may actually happen as did the children as it says they became excited and knock came to the door. It was a new gerbil for the class.
     So as you can see the ending to this story was very much unlike the rest. Once you think you had the patter of the story figured out boom next come something completely different which keeps the reader on his toes.
     The next story is called "The Perfect Gerbil" by George Saunders. In this the author pretty much breaks down the writing style of Barthelme in his story "the School". He says you start with the exposition next you introduce the conflict then you have rising action then the climax then falling action, and finally the resolution. The author says "this is the hardest thing in story telling-getting one's action to rise". The author says "if you wanted a perfect platonic example of action you'd be hard pressed to find anything better than "the school". In this case platonic means a strong type of non sexual love.
     The author then goes on to break down the rest of the story. He says that once you think you have to plot of the story figured out Barthelme will completely go to something else to keep the reader from getting bored. He also says that there are plenty of opportunities for the story to have a normal ending but then the situation changes. which is one the things he loves so much about Donald Barthelme. Overall i thought both of these stories were pretty good. I loved "The School" very much as it keep me wondering what would happen next. Also reading "The Perfect Gerbil" helped me to understand the writing style of Barthelme.

Delmore Schwartz "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"

     This story had me confused at so many different times but because of this it made it very hard for me to stop reading. In the beginning i thought the he was just telling us what was going on in a movie he was watching. Then as i read on further i thought it was maybe a home made movie from before he was born. It takes me until the very end of the story to actually figure out that he was dreaming the whole time.
     On page 474 the author says "my father thinks of my mother, of how lady like she is, and of the pride which will be his when he introduces her to his family". This is the point of the story were i kind of figure out that the author hasn't even been born yet. The rest of the story goes on to tell of a date that his mother and father went on, they took a t trip to coney island. He then describes the scenery of were they are and were they go, as well as keeps us up to date with what is happening between his mother and father. While watching he notices the similarities and differences that his mother a father have. Towards the end he says his father feels omnipotent, this means to feel like you have unlimited power. He says his mother has principles of economy and housewifelyness, these two characteristics seems to clash with each other a few time throughout the story.
     Later on in the story after his father has asked his mother to marry him the author finds himself standing up in the theater screaming "Don't do it! It's not to late to change your minds, both of you". This sort of makes me think that there family fell apart since the author is now 21 years old at this time, maybe the parents were divorced by this time. But, later on in the story when his mother and father have an argument the boy again gets up and shouts and the screen for them to be nice to each other. This makes me think that he really wants his parents to get together because his life would be so different or maybe even not exist at all.
     In the very end of the story when the boy is being taken out of the movie by the usher he is told that "everything you do matter to much", and at this point the boy wakes up. I think this kind of tells the boy that he can't make hasty decision to quickly before he gives them a chance to work. If he does then he might miss out on some of the best things in his life. Overall i think this was a very good story it keep me interested the whole time which made me read without stopping, which are the kind of stories i like.

Alice Walker "The Flowers"

     Even though this was a very short story i found that i like it very much. This story is about a ten year old girl who the author says " nothing existed for her but her song". This was a very happy little girl who didn't have a care in the world. The little girls name was Myop and she was from a sharecropper family who lived in a rundown cabin which seems to be close to nothing except for woods a fields. Myop liked to explore and roam around outdoors which i often found myself doing as a young child. There was no better feeling in the world than exploring around in the woods.
      Towards the end of the story the mood seems to change from happy care free to something a little different. As Myop wandered off a little further from the house than she usually does she find herself in an unfamiliar place which she doesn't find very pleasant. The author describes the scene as "it seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep". From this I could tell that the story was about to change and something bad was about to happen. It seems to me that Myop had stepped on the remains of a skeleton. To me the little girl seemed very brave as she only gave a little scream when she looked down for the first time and saw his face. Myop studied the remains very carefully and the author described the scene in great detail.
     In the end it said "Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over." To me it seems like Myop grew up a little at this time as it said she placed her flowers down beside the skeleton. I think she realized what was going on and out of respect laid her flowers down out of respect for the dead person. When it said the summer was over i believe this is saying since Myop came across this skeleton she can no longer wander around in the woods without a care. I think this discovery may have changed her life i believe she will now always be thinking about that day as she goes on with her life.

Birches by Robert Frost

     I really liked this poem and can relate to it in some ways. The author finds himself looking at some birch trees after an ice storm. He describes the scene by saying "loaded with ice on a sunny winter morning. After a rain, they click upon themselves". In these few lines he is describing what the trees look like after the ice storm. To me at this point it seems that the author is a little sad that the trees are damaged from the ice storm. In the middle of the poem he says "I prefer to have some boy bend them", meaning he would rather see the trees leaning over with limbs dragging the ground from children climbing on them instead of them being damaged from the ice storm.
     At this point i can see that by looking at the trees the author is taken back to his childhood. He seems to reminisce on the days of his boyhood when he used to climb trees for fun. I think he is saddened by the fact that kids are doing other things for fun since he has grown up instead of the things he used to do as a kid. I also think that he would like to take a timeout from his adult life and go back to his childhood days just so he can have no stress and worries for a while. Towards the end of the poem he says "I'd like to get away from earth for a while and then come back to it and begin over". To me these two line strongly suggest that he dearly misses his childhood days. 
     I often times find myself running across things I used to do as a child and wish i could go back to those days. After reading this poem i believe me and Robert Frost have at least one thing in common.

Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year by Raymond Carver

     Most of the time I find it very hard to reads poems and gain their full understanding. It's very difficult for me to pick up on the feelings of the author in most cases. However, after reading Raymond Carver's "Photograph of My Father in his Twenty-Second Year" I will give it a shot and tell you what the poem is saying in my train of thought.
     To me its seems that the author has found a picture of his father when he was twenty two years old.  As the author states "Here in this dank, unfamiliar kitchen", it sounds as though his father has passed away and he has gone to the place were his father lived to look around. From the overall tone of the poem and some of the things the author says I don't think the author and his father had a really healthy relationship at all. As the author studies the photograph of his father he says that "He would like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity". He also says that all of his life his father wanted to be bold, but his eyes along with his limp hands, and bottle of beer would always give him away. From reading this it seems that his father wanted to be known as a tough man as it said he like to pose bluff and hearty for his posterity (descendants of one person). I get the feeling that his father was often proved wrong of his toughness and that is why he was an alcoholic.
      The last three lines of the poem starting with "Father, I love you" tell me that the author loved his father but never got the chance to hell him or his father simply never showed any love toward him. When he says that he can't hold his liquor either or doesn't even know the right places to fish, it seems to me that he feels as though he has let his father down. Simply because he can not drink like his father could or knew how to fish like his father did.
       I think the author has lots of regrets about his father, and feels that he let him down in some ways. I don't think the two spent very much time together while he was growing up which is sad. So in summary to me this poem was about his father dying and the son going to the place were his father lived. Here he found a picture of his father which brought back memories. I think the author feels as though he has let his father down and in some ways wished he was more like his father. For most boys growing up all they pretty much want to do is make there father proud, and i believe the authors thinks he didn't do that.

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