One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

I am not a big reader, especially a book such as this. It took me many attempts to get past the first few pages. This reading to me was too dry for my taste, but on my night shift I began to make my way through the book. As I read it, i was shocked at the way these prisions had to live. They were forced to strip and be searced for the most miniscule objects. If they were found to have bread, they were punshed. I could not believe this was a way of life back then. As I continued reading, I began to realize that Shukhuv was a very intelligant man. He had ways around things at camp and was willing to help out others. We also learned of some religious belief in this book. Overall, this was a dry book to read, but, I learned a lot.

Where are you going?

This week I read a short story called "Where are you going, where have you been?" I chose this one because it had a sense of suspense. I don't enjoy reading all to much, but when I do read, I like suspense because it pushes me to keep going. This story was about a young girl who wants to be more grown up. When she is out, she dresses more grown up, drawing attention from older men.
As we continue this story, a man pops into play at the restaurant. He is older, just as she wanted to draw in. She acts casual and goes with him for a short time. The story begins from this. Connie stays home alone one Sunday to find a car pulling into her driveway. She goes to the door and a man tries to lure her out with him and his friend. Although she enjoys the attention, she soon understands that something is wrong. This man had seen her and wanted her. She becomes aware of his true meaning of being there are tries to fight back, but can't and she has to surrender to this dark, ominous man who had seen her acting in a mature way.
I enjoyed this book because of the meaning behind the text. We are seeing messages of sexuality, curiosity and trickery. Connie is acting too grown up for her age, which is drawing the wrong attention. Many teen girls to act this way. They want to break free from their childhood so early that is can cause men to get the wrong Idea.  I also enjoyed reading how Arnold tried to lure Connie in. He was a smooth talker, which most men like this would portray. The feelings that I was able to feel from this selection were amazing. I almost felt as though I was there with Connie, felling my heart beating and the feelings of being unsure. Often times, living in rural Minnesota on a farm, we have people stop in the yard. Although this is an older story, I feel as though I need to be more careful as to whom I open  my house doors to. In our society, you never know what types of people could be knocking on your door.

A Dead Mans Path

This story opens the doors for many themes. We see themes such as ignorance, cultural conflict, tradition and the minds of the African American culture. This story is about the use of a path to a burial ground that also is used for the school. The tribal culture's animistic beliefs come into conflict with the modern ideology as personified by Headmaster Michael Obi.  The ignorance comes into play when the local do not respect the school property and the school does not respect the fact that this has been the way of passage for many years. This story shines light on cultures and their beliefs as well. We can see the conflicts of cultures and their rights.

The Gift of the Magi

This story had a meaning behind the plot. This was about a young married couple whom wanted to share some christmas cheer with each other, but had little monies to spare. The wife cut her long, lushes hair and her husband sold his gold watch. This teaches us the moral lesson of love and caring for those you do love. We see how much each were willing to spare in order to show them their love on christmas.

The Cathedral

I found the Cathedral reading to be interesting. The wife had made friends with a blind man years previous and they had kept in touch. The point in time came when they wanted to meet again. This husband was skeptical about having this blind man friend of his wife come into the house. He was able to eventually open up and allow this man to teach him something. He was able to open his horizions and be trusting in someone else to show him a new trait. I think that we all can learn from this to not judge people who are less fortunate, but learn from them. They have to live life a little harder and different. If we can look at them as a way to learn, we too could see life in a different way.

A Rose for Miss Emily

This was an interesting story about a black women who had recently died. They go on to talk about her life and the events that had happened. It was intersting because theyspoke about a man who had come into her life. The town had been talking about her and him, and suddendly he had went back to his home. As the story goes on, and they get back to her death, they go into the house and break into this room that had been closed for 40 years. They found all of the gifts she had bought this man and his body. Next to it a long gray hair, from her head.

A&P

This was an interesting story which told us the view of a cashier of a grocery store. He sees these girls walk in and is amused with them. He describes them each individually and tells us what they are wearing. He is intrigued by these girls and decides to watch them as they shop. Eventually they come up to check out, and his manager comes over and tells them they have to wear more than just their swim suits. He then decides to quit his job. He was able to change is life at that moment from only watching these girls in the store.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Lecture

This reading was far more interesting to me than reading in backpack literature. I felt in this piece that he was trying to educate us on how to better ours lives in general by exploring more into what we read, do, say and watch each day. It was a very inspiration piece that taught me many good skills that will help me to continue to grow.

Chapter 29 Backpack literature

This chapter was about tips on reading and writing. I learned many new ideas from this chapter. He told us to really try to understand and breakdown what you are reading. Try to understand the conflicts and main points of view. When it came to writing, I found many tips that I should be utilizing more. He says to make a list of the main points you want to convey. I think this would be beneficial because then I won't be stuck for ideas as I get into my paper.