"Yellow Women"

Silko changes the life of a married women just in one journey. The women in this sample reading finally got a chance to act out her childhood fantasy and dream. She had heard her grandfather tell the story of the "Yellow women being taken by the Indian spirit so many times that it was real to her, and bound to happen. It is safe to assume from the text, that this journey meant so much to her, she was not willing to go back to her past, dull life, and it was evident she didn't mind leaving her husband. Silko quotes her as saying, " Al will find someone else, and they will go on like before, except that there will be a story about the day I disappeared while walking along the river." I have to ask myself why she was so determined to take on the role of the "Yellow Women? What made her leave her home and wonder off with a total stranger, and be confident she would return? Could it be because she believed in the Ka'tsina, the spirit that would protect her? She trusted that the spirit brought her to Silva and that he would not harm her. Each time he beckoned for her, she would act as though she wanted to resist, but always ending up following his lead. I do feel as though the tone changed in the story when they were approached by the rancher,who Silva shot. This was the turning point in the story because, had this not happened, the women may have stayed later. She knew her grandmother would help take care of child, so maybe she really did feel as though she had nothing to loose.

"To Build a Fire"

Jack London presents his character as arrogant and stubborn. He was knew in this particular town and he had never experienced a winter like that. When I first read the title of the story, I definitely expected read about campers in the wilderness learning to build a fire or maybe even a story about a boy and his father teaching him to build a fire. Yet through out the story, London requires you to pull more from the title and actually ask yourself what does it really take to build a fire. Think intangible, instead of tangible. Not just figs and bark, but patience, skill, know how, and knowledge. London describes in the passage how and "old timer" told the man not to travel in the winter alone, it was too dangerous. It seems as though the man didn't even take this into consideration and the fact he was unfamiliar with this land. In many of the passages, London quotes the man as saying "But the temperature did not matter." He was determined to get to Henderson Creek. I have to ask myself, did he really think he could make it? Was he that determined, not to fail? Over and over again he kept telling himself not to make mistakes and "this time it has to be right." A safe assumption could also be that he felt death could not come to him, if he survived. In the passage, when the fire went out the second time, he felt his hands and feet numbing, yet he would not be discouraged and let himself stop. He even thought of sacrificing the dog in order to stay warm. But London caused the dog to come alive through his thoughts and actions when he stated, "It flattened its ears down at the sound of the man's voice, and it's restless." He too knew the weather was terrible and sensed danger.

"Story of an Hour"

Lucille Mallard had a troubled life and marriage, which ultimately led to her death. The author Kate Chopin, gives very little detail to the families every day life, and what the exact problems were in the marriage. Chopin uses phrases like "And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not." This led me to believe there were differences between the the couple, which made Lucille very unhappy.
During the time period of the late 1800's to the early 1900's, women were often stereo-typed and were thought to always act a certain way. I would say, it is safe to assume that given the society she lived in where most women were housewives and divorces rarely happened, Lucille felt like she had no other way out. She could go to her family, she might have been frightened to go to anyone outside the public for of fear she may cause and ultimately she felt trapped. Chopin elaborates on this when she states, "Free! Body and soul free! I also questioned the idea of who actually was Lucille Mallard. It is terrible to think a person could feel so trapped that they think death is escaping. Maybe Ms. Mallard was not a typical strong minded person. Maybe she lacked the will to try and fight all the despair that was going on in her life. Maybe she was tired. Chopin states, "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. Lucille was waiting for her misery to end. Is is then fair to assume, she was predicting her own death? Or did she know that death was this powerful thing? Whatever is was, she was ready to embrace it and be free, as Chopin notes, "And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. "
This entire text, leads the audience to believe there was something Lucille Mallard felt, that was holding her from life and from being happy. Before she died she could only whisper that she now knew she would be free from all things.