The Miserable Lover

Knowing that Dr. Urbino poses as an obstacle for Fermina and him, Florentino diverts his attention to seducing other female characters in hopes of finding a temporary relief from his “lover’s disease.” Judging from his relationships with women during their separation, I believe that some of the women act as a palliative treatment for his disease, while others represent a poison for him because their character aspects and influences further torments and deeply affects him about his philosophy of love. However, each relationship teaches Florentino essential aspects of love and fidelity to prepare the once hesitant Florentino into a mature man to impress his true love, Fermina.

The early relationships serve as a diversion for the distraught and dejected Florentino to build up his momentum and ego. These relationships provide Florentino temporary satisfaction for his incessant desire for love. For example, Florentino’s interactions between Rosalba and Widow Nazarat rejuvenate and assure him that he is still able to seduce women. Once Florentino realizes that he has regained his strength in seducing women, I believe that he uses these opportunities to take advantage of the vulnerability of the women he seduced. Although Florentino seems like the victim of the early relationships because he was raped and was looked upon as paramour for widows, he creates a loving relationship that he thinks would resemble his relationship with Fermina. From these relationships with Rosalba, Widow Nazarat, and Ausencia, he learns what true love is and how to properly court women. By mastering the essential secrets of love, he feels more confident and capable of winning Fermina’s love once again. His recovery to love is depicted in his relationships with Sara, Olympia, Leona, and America. From how he seduces and treats these women, we see a more smooth, mature, and gentleman-like character. In his path to recovery, Leona alleviated his pains of Fermina’s absence and taught him the most among the other women. She taught him that true love requires the mutuality of care and understanding. By describing their love as a mother-son relationship, Leona influenced him by casting a mature perspective of love. Florentino’s acceptance a nonsexual relationship with Leona–a woman whom he has grown to trust, love, and seek comfort without feeling dejected–confirms the coming of his maturity from unrestrained and irrational desire for women.

Florentino understands that he can live and love another person, but is still mortified that he will be “Miserable at Best.”** While these women provide a temporary relief to his lost of that loving feeling, their influences are detrimental to him. Realizing that his ability to seduce and love women give him temporary satisfaction, he gratuitously implants himself into numerous love affairs, which later results in heartaches because he understands that he is not truly in love with these women. Because he grows affectionate for women such as Ausencia, the mental patient, Olympia, and America, they become vulnerable and allow him to love them. Because of his desperation for temporary satisfaction, Florentino casts the wrong impressions. As a consequence for his irresponsibility and incessant love, their relationships end in tragedies, which further saddens him. From these mistakes, I believe Florentino recognizes the responsibility and effect that love possesses as he tries to make amends with Fermina.

Each woman Florentino has affected has taught him something useful in helping him create a fairy-tale love relationship with Fermina. From these women, Florentino learns about the true love that he owes to Fermina. In the end, I believe that these women were effective means of reinvigorating him to love again, but ineffective because he was still desperate for Fermina.

** The lyrics of this song by Mayday Parade remind me of Florentino’s hardships of accepting love. http://www.lyrics007.com/Mayday%20Parade%20Lyrics/Miserable%20At%20Best%20Lyrics.html

A Tragedy in Love

The situations in Love in the Time of Cholera are presented in an overly dramatized fashion, which makes the readers feel that this novel has transcended everyday realism. Though these situations may have been written to express the loving relationships of one another, they also seem too far-fetched. It is unrealistic and almost disturbing that Florentino would stalk and spy her early morning routines to compose and memorize pages of flattering commentary. As the novel progresses, we are saddened that these characters accept age and are nostalgic for the past–when they loved each other more than ever as compared to the future when their love gradually subsides. For example, Florentino views Urbino’s death as an opportunity to expect Fermina to love him as they did fifty years ago. Realistically, it would not be appropriate to try rekindling a past relationship after a loved one has died. In the early aspects of the novel, Florentino’s attempts to adulate Fermina seem as if it alluded to a fairy-tale love story. Though it seems romantic, their courtship shares a resemblance with Shakespeare’s plot in Romeo and Juliet, in that the two characters fear a publicly loving relationship. As Fermina is leaving for an expedition in Lorenzo’s attempts to erase her memory of him, the dramatized scene in which she cuts off her braid to give to him reminds me of “Repunzel.” Instead of depicting that his chance of uniting is possible, this scene symbolizes the end their opportunity of coming together.


Behind Urbino and Fermina’s conflicts are motives to digress in time when their relationship was in harmony. It is ironic to note that Dr. Urbino and Fermina have been married for so long, yet a trivial argument possibly could have broken their marriage. Their unwillingness to reconcile and to accept responsibility is completely contradictory to how much they love each other. As a result of their unwillingness to agree with each other, she threatens to return to her father’s house, hoping to relive the nostalgic time when Urbino treated her with tremendous amounts of care and kindness in his attempt to court her. However, Urbino’s childish antics only enraged Fermina more, which also subtly displays their desire to relive a time of the past when nothing disturbed their unconditional love. On the other hand, his deliberate vexing and annoyances of dressing and awaking Fermina suggest their disturbances within the marriage.

Throughout many of these situations, Marquez incorporates gratuitous descriptions that not only emphasize key elements of the novel, but also provide comical relief to a depressing plot of aging and rejection. This commentary enhances our understandings of what the characters are thinking. For example, the anecdote of young Urbino participating and winning urinating contests alleviates our depressing moods of his acceptance of progressing time and death. The comment in which Fermina accepts (agreeing to marry on the condition that he does not force her to eat eggplant) Florentino’s engagement proposal was odd, random, and unexpected. Exemplifying her slow changing disinterest early in the novel, this comment creates an effect that the love was progressing and gradually becoming mutual. At first she was indifferent to his love and ignored his letters, but once she realized Florentino’s devotion, she began to admire and adore him as she incessantly sent him letters. Marquez incorporated numerous subtle descriptions, which, with close scrutiny, allows us to receive an insight of the novel. (566)

The Compson Family Curse

The insidious curse cast upon the Compson family slowly tears its members apart and destroys their relationship. The curse lasts as long as the Compson family has suffered, because its members continue to reminisce about their life’s tragedies and chaos that haunted them. Being completely absorbed by their sense of narcissism, the Compson members become very self-conscious. As they feel obligated to the mandate of the strict Southern standards, the Compsons behave in a respectful manner and reject those who attempt to denigrate their nobly reputation within the community. However, instead of moving on with their lives, the family members appear to have been trapped in a time-warp. The family’s casting aspersions exacerbate hatred among each other, which results in their relationships to become irreconcilable and eventually ruined.


The absence of authoritative, caring, and insightful parents gives rise to the disruptions of harmonious relationships in the family. The parents’ dependence on Caddy and household servants to care for Bengy is an abdication of their parental responsibility. Without giving Caddy the proper guidance during her formative years, she begins to venture into sexual activity with different men at an early age. Her promiscuity is the beginning of the curse, which inevitably leads to the family’s separation. Because of her irresponsibility, individual family members are punished and greatly affected by her indiscretions.


Quentin, her brother, felt that he was obligated to protect his sister. His regret for failing to protect her from harms is accepted by Quentin as a personal disgrace to his reputation that eventually drove him insane. Instead of dealing with the problem, he wishes that they could escape the reality of the curse by fleeing together or ending it in a suicide. The curse manifested by his dysfunctional family and the ostracism of his sister continually taunts him; and therefore, he decided to escape it by drowning himself. Burdened with the guilt from the tragic death of his son, Quentin’s father lapses into of depression. Indirectly affected by the curse, Quentin’s father’s heavy drinking leads to his early demise within two years of his son’s death.


The hostile relationship among Jason, Miss Quentin, and mother Compson reveals the bitterness shown by the family to Caddy. We discussed this observation in class, in that Jason’s extreme animosity towards Miss Quentin stems from Caddy, who caused Jason to lose his opportunity to work in Herbert’s bank. Because of Caddy’s absence, he expresses his bitterness and hatred on Miss Quentin. Although mother agreed to accept Miss Quentin and nurture her, Miss Quentin too does not grow up with parental guidance. Because Miss Quentin is ostracized and ignored by her family, her character is a product of the family’s hatred of her mother Caddy. Without the guidance needed to distinguish right from wrong, Miss Quentin merely follows the influence of her mother’s iniquitous life-style. Deprived of mother-daughter contact, it further contributes to Miss Quentin’s noxious behavior demonstrated by her snobbish, rebellious, and irresponsible characters. I believe Miss Quentin would not become promiscuous like her mother had Caddy been allowed to visit and teach her regularly as a mother should. As exemplified in her caring for Bengy, Caddy is depicted as a parental figure. Thus, I would think that had she been allowed to take care of her daughter, Miss Quentin would not become a hussy. The family curse creates the tumultuous relationship in the Compson family, which leads to their tragic collapse of familial unity. (573)

My First Thoughts on The Sound and the Fury

I enjoy reading The Sound and the Fury because it captivates my curiosity to solve mysteries. Though I did not explain it in my first blog entry, books that require their readers to delve into the details of the text in order to understand the mindset of their authors are most entertaining to me. The Sound and the Fury is one of these books. The way William Faulkner compiled and organized The Sound and the Fury, though puzzling, presents his readers with a different perspective. This is evident from his intention to leave out punctuations and details in key scenes, which force readers to focus and scrutinize the anomalous text for a better understanding of the plot. This writing style deviates from the traditional prose, thus giving its readers a unique sense of literary appreciation. I believe his intention to write in an ambiguous manner results in a series of provocative questions. As the readers progress through the novel, the ambiguity will serve to capture the their attention, which helps to weave each incident together for a better understanding of the story. Because of the numerous puzzling aspects, I believe everyone’s interpretation and understanding of the story and purpose of each character would be different from the other.

By interpreting and analyzing William Faulkner’s indirect statements in describing each character, readers have a better understanding of the Compson’s family members. For example, readers can deduce the fact that Bengy was castrated. However, the euphemism and purpose associated with this incident are to emphasize Bengy’s strong connection and concern for his sister Caddy. The shifts of time in the novel create an impression in which reader must pay attention to each specific incident to fully understand the background and behavior of the characters.

Empathically speaking, I believe that we readers are like Bengy, who struggle to understand what exactly is occurring, but can feel vicariously that there is tension or problems involved with each character. For example, in the scene where Mr. Patterson intercepts Uncle Maury’s letters, Bengy is naïve about what is occurring, yet he senses discomfort with the Pattersons’ expressions. Though burdened with a mental handicap, Bengy is an expert in analyzing and distinguishing emotional overture and body language in recognizing the underlying problems of the others. Moreover, Bengy is aware of his sister being different as she is experimenting with the emerging of her sexuality, but he does not know that it is a result of her physical and mental maturity. I believe that the text is so intricately written with missing aspects, in that it also mimics Bengy’s ability to discern dilemmas, while having difficulty in conveying the actual problems. At the first glance of the novel, readers learn that there are obvious, but undefined problems, but only through closely studying of the materials that the readers can understand the meaning of plot.

Based on the first two sections, I believe Bengy’s purpose is used to relate the scenes in connecting the present and past about Caddy. Though Bengy is presented as the protagonist of the story, I believe his role in the novel is more of a supporting character, as it is demonstrated by flashbacks to describe Caddy’s vivid background and to understand her situations in the present. Though the incidents focus on Bengy, we see more emphasis in Caddy’s character, who is described as a caring, comforting, and responsible, yet promiscuous teenager. (567)

Only What They Carry: Soldiers' Pride

“The Things They Carried” evokes the Spartan images of soldiers’ life in fighting a hellish war. Since they are denied of the amenities of civil society, soldiers depend on the necessities in their rucksacks for comfort and survival. As discussed in class, soldiers face the constant threat from being killed, yet the few possessions that accompany them can improve the odds of surviving in combat.

The few personal belongings of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam sometimes offer a moment of escape from the reality of the ravaging war. These items are invaluable to their survival and more importantly, offer them a sense of sanity. As I read through this story, I believe O’Brien incorporates the weight of these items to emphasize its importance. Though these burdensome items slow the soldiers’ combat movements, they are indispensable to those fighting in trenches. Soldiers in this story carry personal possessions to alleviate their loneliness and to soothe the hurtful feelings from missing their family. The reality of feeling disconnected torments soldiers like Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who must “hump,” wander, and serve for an unknown period of time. His only reach to the world outside the war zone is his collection of letters from Martha. By reading and pondering about her, the letters allow him to escape the horrors and deaths of war. Similarly, Ted Lavendar finds that using mind-altering drugs allows him to escape from the brutality of butchery to a more peaceful place, even though the transcendental sensation is ephemeral. I also believe O’Brien includes and vividly details their personal belongings to further emphasize the soldiers’ desire to return to their normal lives. The items the soldiers carry to war are meaningful to them, though they seem insignificant and readily available in our daily lives.

By using a third person narrator, the text reveals more about the soldiers’ minds. In describing the behavior of each character, their demeanor and conversations are unusually lax and casual. This is ironic because their game is in a place where death is often instantaneous. Nevertheless, the soldiers appear to be completely oblivious of the ubiquitous dangers that threaten their lives. Instead of being vigilant and quiet as they wait for Lee Strunk to clear a tunnel, the soldiers draw attentions by drinking Kool-Aid, smoking, and joking about their sympathy for their comrade. The squad is punished with Ted Lavender’s death, yet they remain callously indifferent by smoking his drugs. To avenge Lavender’s death, the soldiers savagely demolished the village of Than Ke. Moreover, the soldiers’ disrespectful jokes reflect their lack of military discipline. Mitchell Sanders–ironically the one who occasionally reminds the troops of moral values–is contemptuous in every aspect of human decency. In describing their encounter of the dead VC soldier, O’Brien emphasizes the chaos that the war has twisted Sanders’ mind. As he desecrates the corpse for luck, he justifies his barbaric act as a moral deed. This is disgraceful to military professionalism because soldiers have sacrificed their lives for a cause and deserve to rest in peace. Trying to appear as a professional soldier with a fearless appearance, nevertheless they fail to demonstrate their professionalism as they try to hide their fear from death. It is evident in Sanders’ callousness as he cracks debasing jokes such as to stay away from drugs and about Ted Lavender’s painless death in order to, “… destroy the reality of death itself” (¶68).

The items the soldiers carried do not change; however, the men who carry them are burdened from their experiences. Though they provide the soldiers with a momentary relief from the brutality of war, the idea of killing or be killed can only be realized by those under fire. At the end of the war, the soldiers will leave everything they had behind, but carry away the pride and pain that only they can understand. (642)

Battle Royal: The Truth About Human Wickedness

“Battle Royal” conveys the dynamic of the social tension between blacks and whites through the narrator’s eyes. The narrator’s recitation of his experiences leads us to feel sympathetic for him because of his naiveté and misperception of his self-worth in the white community. In finding his identity, the narrator’s dignity suffers humiliation and degradation from activities, which he initially believed to be a rite of social acceptance. His subservient attitude changes after surviving the night in the battle royal. He came to realize the value of self-esteem. While Ralph Ellison incorporates numerous ironies in this short story to personify the true identity of people, they also help the readers to recognize his emphasis on the wickedness that some characters possess. As the readers begin to understand each incident in the short story, they can relate to the feeling of the narrator for the personal tragedies he endured in the search for his identity.

I believe Ellison uses irony as a tool in his attempt to create an effect of a mirage, by alternating truths and fictions to lead his readers into believing something harmless is occurring to the life of the narrator. Throughout the narrator’s childhood, Ellison shows the narrator’s naiveté from his complete capitulation to the commands of the white people. However, during the battle royal scenes, his subservient behavior caused him great humiliation, which enraged him. As he struggled to stay conscious throughout the contest, we still see the subliminal display of his loyal compliance and obedience to his elders as his mind is only occupied on delivering his speech. As if he were blindfolded before a firing squad, he still thinks about his speech by explaining, “The blindfolds were put on. Yet even then I had been going over my speech.” (¶ 10) The hazy smoked-filled ballroom symbolizes the hypocrisy of the white characters as their taunts and ridicules exemplify the racist opinions that they have masked in their daily lives. Though they are high-powered town officials, the white spectators act irresponsibly, threatening barbarously to kill or denigrate their black guests. For example, it was the upstanding white spectators, who ironically embarrassed themselves, when they chased the naked white woman around the room as she was paraded before the black guests. The narrator’s translucent image of the white people begins to come into focus, revealing their wickedness, which disproves his earlier perceptions of the white spectators. The readers can see the white spectators’ cruelty in their amusement from enticing the black participants to fall and electrocute themselves as they pick up coins and money from the rug. Their malicious overture is further underscored when the narrator discloses that the gold coins are actually brass tokens. The reader feels empathetic for the narrator because he was almost neglected to give his speech–ironically, the very reason why he was invited to attend the reception. When the crowd ignores his speech, but obnoxiously and disrespectfully ask him to speak up and correct himself, we experience even more sympathy for the orator. It is ironic how the spectators make the narrator utter, “Social Responsibility,” yet they are exhibiting no social responsibility of their own that night. As a reader, I feel abhorrence from the indignity suffered by the narrator, yet am proud for the narrator because he was tricked into assuming that it was a ceremony for his commendations, yet he later realized that he had been cheated. From this experience, he learns not to succumb to such temptations.

This short story warns the pitfalls of temptations. It is ironic to see temptation cloud the rational judgment of one of his classmates, Tatlock. By rejecting the narrator’s plea to stop fellow blacks from fighting each other, Tatlock is focused on becoming a champion of entertaining cruel drunk white townspeople. Through spectators’ ruses, I believe Ellison is alluding to the early African enslavements. At that time, some Africans were tricked into believing that the New World offered abundant opportunities, but it actually led them lead into a life of degradation and exploitation. This ironic historical perspective finds a parallel expression in the narrator’s purpose to give a speech. Instead of being rewarded and commended by important figures of the white community, the narrator is tricked and exploited as he humiliates himself for their entertainment. The blindfold that obscures his visions represents his naiveté and obliviousness to temptations. Neither the slaves, nor the black students did know what to expect, as they were both about to fight in their struggle to survive. After the last boxing match, the readers are assured that he has “opened his eyes to reality” as his perception of the white spectators’ true characters has changed. He finally realizes their cruel exploitations and learns to be cognizant of his selfness. Although he is rewarded with a scholarship to an all black university, he realizes that this contest has marred his self-pride as he mutters under his breath, “I had no dignity.” (¶ 23)

The process for the narrator to find his identity is very painful, but it provides him with a better understanding of the nefarious side of humanity. As the narrator struggled to find his true self, his naiveté is replaced by reality from having been a victim of the spectators’ inhumanities. He now becomes aware of the human wickedness, which will protect him from exploitations in the future. (911)

The Wickedness in Humanity

I enjoyed reading this week’s stories because their simplicity made it easy for us to relate our lives to the characters within them. These characters face situations similar to ours, which represent tolerance, appearance, judgment, jealousy, and rebellion. The authors all emphasize the theme concerning a character trying to impress others with his appearance.

Sammy, the narrator in “A&P,” finally realizes his inferior social position and wants to improve his status. From the beginning, Sammy understands that his menial job will not impress the ladies, a common problem in today’s labor world. After gawking and admiring the three beautiful girls, Sammy is only concerned with presenting himself in a way to appeal to these girls’ interests. During his characterization of the girls, Sammy learns that they belong to a higher social class. This short story cogently describes Sammy’s rise to maturity. As discussed in class, Sammy’s early remarks were very juvenile as he bitterly criticized and presented to us his secret affections for the “queen.” At the end, his maturity serves to explain the reason for his quitting because he views Lengal’s demeaning punishments as inappropriate, unscrupulous, and gratuitous. Yet in his final remarks, his maturity seems to dissipate as he relapses into the juvenile world in his attempt to catch the girls’ attentions following his argument with Lengal. While Sammy criticizes Stokesie’s character, he has a premonition that Stokesie’s lifestyle might become his. Stokesie’s future does not appeal to Sammy because he believes that it is not a job he will enjoy and provide him with impressive success. Although Lengel warned Sammy that his quitting might upset his parents, Sammy disagrees with Lengal in his desire and motivation to improve his life when he decides to quit his job. His rebellion may seem immature, but it is important to his personality. Seeing that his life will not improve from his current occupation by subordinating to orders like mindless sheep, he finds that the only way to rid of this sheepish lifestyle is to rebel and make decisions for himself.

Flannery O’ Connor’s “Revelations” is a tragedy involving the downfall of its protagonist Mrs. Turpin from her self-conceitedness and self-centeredness. It is important to note that Mrs. Turpin’s hubris and vanity do not make her a good person. She continually boasts of her high position within society and unremittingly rants against blacks and “white-trash” people in order to elevate her status and ego. Although claiming that she is a strong devotee of the Christian religion, it is very ironic how she strongly scrutinizes, belittles, and characterizes people. As discussed in class, I agree that she assumes a position that does not belong to her. It is not her job to take God’s role to judge others. Throughout this religiously novel, she claims to represent the ideal southern Christian woman; however, I believe her racism and intolerance for others cause her to remain on Earth while the people she deems “evil” ascend to Heaven. The Biblical allusions and parallels in this short story emphasize the sense of certainty that God will reward those who behave nicely and respectfully. Though the attack on her resulted from her trivial, yet vexing comments, she deserved it. I think that the attack was intended as God’s warning to tell her to stop judging others. From this, she begins to realize that if her actions persist, she will become the devilish warthog in Hell. If she were not attacked and described as a warthog from Hell, I believe she would continue to disparage people because her ego would mislead her to believe that she is a good Southern woman.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” follows a grandmother who’s actions, beliefs, and motives are very similar to Mrs. Turpin. As discussed in class, her selfishness leads to her family’s murder. I agree that her decision using a back road to avoid the Misfit, choosing to bring the cat, and lying to visit a house all gradually cause her demise. She claims that her grandchildren are undisciplined, yet it is her self-conceitedness that characterizes her actions as a very juvenile person and not a lady. Throughout her conversation with the Misfit, she, the oldest in the group, does not take responsibility in accepting death, but rather begs and bribes the Misfit with material wealth. I agree with the class’ discussion that, when faced with the choice of life or death, the grandma no longer cares about being a lady and impressing others. Instead of continuing to impress people, she finally accepts her fate–symbolizing a cleansing of her soul before she enters into Heaven. I find this story particularly interesting because I believe the Misfit is actually a good person. If the grandmother had not exposed the Misfit, I think he would have helped them. When Bobby Lee jokes with the Misfit, I cannot picture the Misfit as a killer because he is not callous, but rather sensitive about death. Although he murdered the family, he is described as surprisingly polite. For example, he apologizes to the women for talking to them without a shirt on. It is interesting to note that the villain in this novel is more respectful and sophisticated than the protagonist in this story.

“Cathedral[’s]” main theme involves acceptance and tolerance. We learn that the husband’s view towards Robert is distorted from his wife’s early relations with Robert. Although it may be because he was jealous, the husband is very prejudiced against the blind man. It may seem humorous, but his obnoxious verbal expressions are very undignified. I think he resorts to belittling comments because he feels as if he were an outsider from his wife and Robert’s close friendship. Despite his display of earlier remarks, I believe the husband begins to feel sympathetic. As they watch television, he willingly describes to a blind person what something looks like even though Robert may have been blind his entire life. I believe the symbolism about the Cathedral’s building height represents the husband’s growing respect for Robert. “Cathedral” is a good example of overcoming one’s tolerances and prejudices. In its simplistic text and plot, it reminds people to remain open-minded of other’s misfortunes. (1,030)

The Paradox of Trust and Fidelity

Although the subtle symbols can be easily overlooked, they serve to embellish the exposition of Jhumpa Lahiri’s ideas, themes, and plot within her short story. With the abundance of symbols, I feel as if I am a psychoanalyst examining the clues that underline the relationships of Mr. Kapashi and Mrs. Das. “The Interpreter of Maladies” evolves around trust, curse of temptation, and fidelity between married couples that are not directly stated, but implied. Through analysis of each character and subtle symbols, we can discern the purpose and meaning of this short story.


I find it is fun to study the theme of this novel like a reader response critic because I enjoy discovering the meaning behind the numerous subtle symbols. Something appearing very obvious such as the dried rice snacks makes me wonder what the other meaning Lahiri implied as she incorporated it in the novel. It is apparent that Mrs. Das does not share it with her family; but further reading suggests that it also represents her seclusion and disconnection with her husband and children. As she begins applying nail polish, we again notice that she is in her own world and does not want to take care of her own children. We can see her incoherence with her family as she argues with her husband if she would take her daughter to the bathroom, her refusal to take a family picture, and bitter attitude towards her husband. Throughout the novel, we see Mrs. Das’ dissatisfaction of her husband. Although they seemed to have a happy childhood, their adult lives appear to have been destroyed by their arranged marriage because they are not compatible mates. As they grow older, their parents expect their happy childhood lives continue; however, as Mr. Kapashi points out that Mr. and Mrs. Das remain immature, behaving much like their children.


Although the monkeys are used to fill the plot at the end of the story, they serve to convey to readers a meaningful theme about the dynamic of Das’ family. As I mentioned in class, it is very important to note that Lahiri intended to use the monkeys to represent Mrs. Das’ naiveté and immaturity, but also to give a sense of parallelism in Mr. Kapashi’s relations with her. The children constantly want to look at the monkeys like Mr. Kapashi discreetly admiring Mrs. Das’ beauty in the car and throughout the tour. When the monkeys follow the trails of Mrs. Das’ rice cracker crumbs, it seems to resemble Mr. Kapashi who finds an interest and desire to pursue a temptation in Mrs. Das. At the Udayagirian hills, the monkeys form a ring around Mr. Das and the kids to symbolize the family’s cohesiveness and separation from their mother as well as Mrs. Das’ trust in Mr. Kapashi. Before Bobby is attacked, he exchanges a broken branch with a monkey, representing Mrs. Das’ revealing and sharing the secret of Bobby’s illegitimate father. Since the monkey attack is unexpected, Mr. Kapashi explains, “They are more hungry than dangerous.” Such an episode represents the shell-shocked feeling that Mr. Kapashi experiences as Mrs. Das unveils for the first time the story about Bobby. I also like how Lahiri slyly hints that Mrs. Das is not a responsible mother when she does not fend off the monkeys. As she urges Mr. Kapashi to intervene and help, it is indirectly stated that Mrs. Das lacks the instincts of a mother to defend her children from danger.


By examining the Temple of the Sun, the readers experience the Das family’s anguish that such a structure resembling a circle of trust and marital vows are deteriorating. We experience the same shock when we learn about Mrs. Das’ infidelity, which insidiously erodes her happiness. We perceive when love is absent, it is almost like the inscrutable woman figures that have withstood years of weathering. In our class discussion, I enjoyed learning about the representation of the dried up river along with the rubble that suggest a failed and incompatible marriage that contains lives destined for further emotional deterioration. Mr. Kapashi’s favorite figure, the Astachala-Surya contains a tired figure surrounded by women. As all things must come to an end, I believe that this setting-sun figure foreshadows his final positive opinion of Mrs. Das as the day transitions into night. This is the last time he admires her beauty because their next conversation reveals her tarnished history--he later does not feel their previous emotional affinity.

Though this is a short story, it contains all the necessary points and clues to invigorate the readers’ minds. The length of the story allows us to focus on the smaller portions of the novel and serves to expand the themes into a broader perspective. Implied within different parts of the story are symbols that present it in a different manner. After re-reading and analyzing the points such as those above, I am convinced to have accomplished in grasping the meanings of Lahiri’s intentions. (827)

Mark Haddon's Picture of Us

Mark Haddon is masterful in replicating a ubiquitous lifestyle that a person can relate to in his novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by incorporating characters with colorful descriptions. While the characters are not idiosyncrasies of the sublime model regarded by romantics, they resemble the attributes of a normal person. The descriptions of the plot and characters seem as if Haddon is rehashing many of his personal stories into the novel.

By delving into the autistic mind of Christopher Boone’s isolated world, Haddon empathizes with the characteristics of a mentally challenged person’s behavior to create an imperfect, yet human protagonist. Since Christopher is characterized as a victim suffering from autism, the “Herculean” hero stereotype diminishes and the normal human behavior character appears to be obvious. However, Haddon balances Christopher’s picky superstitions with his extraordinary ability to have a photographic memory, clever puzzle solving quirks, and a superior mathematical intellect. Throughout the novel, Christopher provides the readers with his mathematical skills that calm his anxiety attacks. He would count to the highest prime number or think of intricate math problems such as Conway’s Soldiers at the rail station. His ability to create an overhead map of unfamiliar areas based on his extraordinary memory skills just like a lost tourist may try to regain his sense of direction. By using his logical, yet resourceful problem solving methods to find a nearby place, Christopher explains, “ . . . if something is nearby you can find it by moving in a spiral, walking clockwise and taking every right turn until you come back to a road you’ve already walked on, then taking the next left, then taking every right turn and so on…”(139). Although Christopher suffers from autism, he effectively uses his mathematical skills and problem solving ingenuity to cope with his problems that allow him to behave more like a normal child.

Haddon further stresses the human characteristics by focusing on Christopher’s fears, problems, and interests to exemplify a typical teenager who suffers from normal problems. Haddon accentuates Christopher’s fear of strangers to further demonstrate natural childlike fears. To strangers, Christopher becomes very anxious when he does not recognize a person. He does not know Mrs. Alexander, his neighbor; and therefore, he hesitates to have tea with her. Christopher has a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder-like superstition that is very juvenile similar to those of spoiled children. For example, he does not like the colors yellow and brown. Based on colors, he believes if he sees four yellow cars in a row, he would expect a bad day ensuing. He adds red food coloring to foods that are yellow and brown, because red colored food is considered good. Moreover, Christopher will not eat foods where they touch. However, his autism can justify his focus on trivial and picky superstitions that separate him from the romantic hero.

Although Christopher characterizes human emotions as either happy or sad, he, like most humans, is compassionate for the well being of animals. Upon the discovery of the grotesque murder of Mrs. Shears’ poodle, Wellington, Christopher embraces it and mourns its death. His natural curiosity is representative of human behavior because it soon becomes an incessant obsession to find its killer. Although his father forbids him to continue the investigation of the death of Wellington by hiding his detective journal, Christopher rebels against his father’s wish and secretly searches for more evidence. Like most pet owners, Christopher is closely attached to his pet, Toby. During a typical weekday, Christopher would spend twenty-three minutes feeding and playing with his rat. (156) At the railway station, Christopher risks his life to rescue Toby from the tracks as an oncoming train approaches him. Passionate pet owners are very close to their animals and would never like to see their pets in danger.

Mark Haddon’s epitome of humans in his novel is parallel to today’s natural human behavior and descriptions. His vicarious description of Christopher Boone’s eccentric behavior and mind is considered naturally human behavior because of his thorough understanding of the nuances in autism, affecting the mind of teenagers. (682)

A Look into My Literary History

The first thing I ever remember reading that was insightful was an article in Time magazine. Kneeling near the foot of my bed, my father and mother encouraged me as I slowly uttered each syllable clearly and understood the meaning of each word. At that age, I frequently interrupted to ask questions to reflect upon the meaning of the preceding paragraph. However, as the years have passed, the time that was spent to ponder was replaced by a period of reviewing the materials for familiarity in an expedient manner.

Ever since I could fully understand the themes and messages the author tried to express in the novel, I began to read more. When I was young, reading contests at public libraries motivated me to read often–every book I read brought me closer to the final prize, which was a coveted autographed poster of the Phoenix Suns Gorilla. This approach of motivation has not changed much. Instead of pursuing an autographed poster, it is my future goals that urge and inspire me to read more to gain success in my career.

My selection of books has not strayed far from that which occurred in my juvenile reading contests. At that time, I enjoyed reading adventure novels similar to Gary Paulsen’s The Hatchet. His mastery of detailed imagery stimulated my instincts of self-preservation, putting me in the shoes of the protagonist who struggles to survive in the wilderness. I am always attracted to books that inspire their readers to live the experiences of their protagonists. Often, first person narratives of the bildungsroman genre continue to captivate my consciousness. I enjoy reading comedic bildungsroman books like The Catcher in the Rye, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I believe writing characterizes its writer. Writers like John Steinbeck create novels that represent their opinions and insights regarding human nature in dealing with the wickedness of morality in The Pearl. These writings personify the emotions, personalities, and dedications of their authors. Writing is a process that requires numerous refinements because there is always something that can be improved. Although they are strenuous and sometimes may seem burdensome, research papers are manageable because they take on challenges like a jigsaw puzzle that once pieced together, create a sensible picture of clarity. In particular, I have enjoyed writing a research paper on the subject of the internment of Japanese during World War II in a first person perspective from an internee through a letter format based on Fort Minor’s song “Kenji.” (426)