Those Winter Sundays

Robert Hayden's Those Winter Sundays depicts a scene of a hardworking, unappreciated father. This is made clear to the reader through the use of imagery. The imagery the author chooses describes the father's busy and misrable mornings. The father seems hardworking, shown by the use of phrases such as, "cracked hands that ached from labor" (Hayden, 781). He devotes himself to his family, getting up early in the "blueback cold", which describes to the reader the utter misery that is those cold mornings. The speaker wakes and says the cold spliters and breaks, implying he was able to wait for warmth to arrive, unlike his father.

The imagery elicits many emotions from the reader. Firstly, the reader feels pity for the father. He spends his mornings working in the cold for his family. Also the reader feels anger on the father's behalf. He is obviously unappreciated, recieving no thanks for his sacrifice. All these emotions are felt by the reader due to the author's use of imagery.

Once Upon a Time II

In Nadine Gordimer's Once Upon a Time, the young boy faces a serious calamity. He enters the fence and "with the first fixing of its razorteeth in his knees and hands and head he screamed... (Gordimer, 236).  Although his state of health is unclear, it is apparent he was at the very least severly wounded. Despite being an accident, some blame for his condition rests soley with his parents. In their obsession with keeping unwanted visitors out, the parents overlooked what should have benn their number one priority, their son. Most parents would reject security measures, such as guns, wire, or even mouse traps, that, while capable of defending aganist intruders, poses a risk to their children. Their niavity also shows when they allow their small child to play around the hazard with zero supervision. Good parents would al least warn him, drilling into his head to stay away from the fence like a pool or a busy street. Unfortunately for the son, his parents neglected to mention the dangers posed to him in his own backyard. They were too busy guarding him from unforseen hazards outside the home.

Once Upon A Time

Nadine Gordimer's Once Upon A Time, despite being two stories in one, has one major theme, the dangers of being overly cautious. The frame story works perfectly in this context, each story contributing the tell the over-arching theme. The first tale is of an author, who is awakened by a noise and remains paralyzed by fear. Paranoid of every little sound, she is unable to sleep. She admits she "was reading every faintest sound, identifying and classifying its possible threat. To calm herself, she begins to tell herself a children's story. In the tale, a family becomes so overly worried of potiential crime that they take extreme security measures, even a spiked fence. However, the gate that was bought for their protection turned dangerous when the son attempted to crawl through it, and was severly injuried.

I think the theme sent a very powerful message. In today's world, many people are obsessed with their own security. While it is important to keep safe, overprotection or paranoia can have dangerous consequences.

The use of a frame story also had a powerful affect on the tale. In the first, the writer feels her fears are unwonted, that she is merely being paranoid. The story she tells then, is about the dangers of paranoia, restoring equilibrium in her mind.

The Drunkard

Frank O'Connor's The Drunkard is full of both humor and irony. Larry's perspective of adult life is honest and unbiased, leading to completely unique,true, and hilarious statements. For example, after tasting some of his father's beer, the boy stated "It looked like he had never tried lemonade" (O'Connor, 347). Later, the boy's drunkand antics, like cursing and yelling at his neighbors, give the reader much to laugh about. Despite the abundance of humor, the story also offers great irony. Mother assigned Larry the task of Guarding his pratically-alcoholic father. The reader assumes she wishes Larry to distract his father or annoy him Into not drinking. When these approaches failed, Larry invented his own approach, downing a beer first. By the reactions of neighbors and his father, Mother was not going to be happy her son was drunk. However, Mother was delighted her son sacraficed to keep his family from suffering through his dad's binge. This questionable sorting of motherly priorities is the story's greatest source of irony.                                                                                                                                              

A Worn Path

Eudora Welty's A Worn Path is a story with a heart-warming theme, a grandmother's love. In order to soothe her ailing grandson, Phoenix makes a treacherous journey to town. She overcomes many obstacles, each more daunting then the last. Thorms ensare her, dogs growl at her, and gunshots frighten her, yet she continues on, all for her grandson. However, these are not Phoenix's only challenges on her quest. She appears to be battling not only the phyiscal conditions, but her own failing mentality. This is apparent when she finally reaches her destination, and forgets why she was there. She admits to the nurse, "It ws my memory that left me. There I sat and forgot why I made my long trip" (Welty, 229). However, these mental problems only cement the theme of a grandmother's love to the reader. Phoenix clearly loved her grandson so much that the physical risks the journey posed were of little consequence. She also loved him enough that, even when she forgot about him, she complete her journey and made it to the medicane. She no doubt felt in her heart she had an important job to do, even if her mind could not remember it.

A Raisin in the Sun

The character's in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin the Sun all feel trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and unfulfilled dreams. However, no character feels as trapped in life as Ruth. Ruth is stifled by her environment, living in a tiny apartment with the entire family. Her husband too feels trapped and unhappy, leading to a marriage filled with strife. She cannot escape him, for she has no where else to go. She remains in the family, poor and unhappy.

The climax of her misery comes in the form of an unwanted pregnancy. A event that should be expressed with celebration is instead met with horror and resignation. Obviously, Ruth and Walter can barely afford the family they currently have. Ruth's contemplation of terminating the pregnancy shows just how trapped in her life she feels. Mama tells Walter "I think Ruth is thinking 'bout getting rid of that child" (Hansberry, 476).To Ruth, the only options are to condemn the family she currently has to a life of severe poverty, or not allow a new unit of the family to exist.

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun contains many contrasting characters. Most the characters deal with the poverty in their lives differently and have different suggestions for a solution. However, the most contrasting relationship exists between Walter and Beneatha. Both Walter and Beneatha dream of bettering their lives by getting out of poverty. However, their views on how to do this wildly differ. Beneatha takes the route of education, believing that being a doctor not only makes her successful, but a better person. She admits she thought healing people was "the most marvelous thing in the world... I wanted to do that. I always thought it was the one concrete thing in the world that a human being could do. Fix up the sick..." (Hansberry, 520). Beneatha's goals are respectable, and with her education has a great chance of better her life. In contrast, Walter believes money is the only fix for his miserable life. He's obsessed with get-rich-quick solutions. His liquor store business is neither respectable nor a true solution for his place in life.

Ultimately, Walter and Beneatha bring different values to the family dynamic.

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is full of allusions. The one that struck me the most was "Thirty pieces and not a coin less!" (Hansberry, 509). This was stated by Beneatha when Mr. Lindner offers the family money to not move into their new home. Beneatha's allusion is biblical, stemming from Judas betrayal of Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. This line tells the reader Beneatha's opinion on accepting money to essentially allow themselves to be opressed. Lindner was offering the family money to deny themselves the opperutnities of a nice house in a nice neighborhood, all because the white neighbors did not want African Americans in their community. Beneatha's allusion shows she views it as a betrayal, not only to the family that worked so hard to make it happen, but also to their race. Mama's family suffered greatly from their environment, and not taking a chance to improve their surroundings would be a great injustice. However, accepting the offer would be akin to admitting defeat, allowing segregation, and therefore betraying their race as a whole.

I love this allusion purely because of how harsh it is. She compares the act to Judas's betrayal, the ultimate betrayal. This shows how proud and dignified Beneatha is of her family and her heritage.

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun overflows with conflicts, both internal and external. A major conflict within the family is the generation gap between Mama and her children. In Mama's day, the people were fighting for freedom. Because of this, she cannot grasp her son's desire to fight for money, and by extension a better life. Mama admits her children are "talking 'bout things we ain't never even thought about hardly, me and your daddy. You ain't satisfied or proud of nothing we done" (Hansberry, 475). Mama felt her family had a nice life, because they had oppertunities her generation had to fight for.

This generation gap shows the extent of progress. Walter and his generation are fight a battle that decades before would never have been dreamed. When Mama was young, they could not imagine fighting for civil rights, because they lacked even basic freedom. Progress is a vicious cycle, but no generation can fully appreciate the progress made before them, because they never lived through it.Therefore, Mama's frustration stems from Walter's inability to be grateful for the progress made, so he could live the life he leads.

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun expresses amazing characterization. Her characters are vivid and flawed, allowing the reader to form a true connection with the piece. One of my favorite characters was Walter. Walter perfectly represents a dynamic character, in that the plot of the piece changed him in a major way. When the story begins, he portrays a weary, desperate man, itching to fight the injustices bestowed upon him and his family. He convinces himself the only way to help his family is to invest in a liquor store. What Walter does not see is that his anger and frustration affect his family more than their impoverished state. When Walter discovers he was scammed by his "business partner", he is distraught and appears to have lost the fire within. No longer does he wish to fight the seemingly impossible battle and he gives up, as shown by his willingness to accept the offer of the white neighbors who want to prevent his family from moving in.

However, in the end, Walter cannot accept the offer. He state "....what I mean is that we come from people who had a lot of pride. I mean-we are very proud people" (Hansberry, 532). He remembers his heritage and that pride prevents him from accepting the money. This dignified decision restores Walter's respect in the eyes of his family.