"Barn Burning"

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner was difficult to understand the first time I read it. I thought I understood, then all of a sudden it would take a turn and I would be lost again.
I think the question is, should Sarty be loyal to his family and tell them the truth about his father burning down the barn or should he not say anything and keep it to himself. I think he wants to tell his family that his father did burn down the barn, and be loyal to his family, but he is afraid of the consequences that might occur if he does tell he knows about the barn.
I think the father burns down barns becuase he wants to be independent and support his family on his own. Right now, he is sharecropping, so he has to rely on wealthy families, to support his family and himself. He is basically a slave because he is sharecropping. He does not like to be treated in this manor, so i think he burns down the barns to get "even".
Faulkner describes Sarty in an interesting way. In one way he is loyal and respectful but in another way hes ignorant and disrespectful. He is described as hungry, poor and non educated. On page 161 Faulkner states "...Whose labels his stomach read, not from the lettering which meant nothing to his mind...", which means Sarty can not read the labels because he does not know how to read but he can determine the food by the specific smell and the design on the can. It also shows us he is poor and very hungry. He is respectful because he wants be to loyal to his family and friends and he wants peace and to forget the old events, like his father burning down the barn and killing people. His father on the other hand, does not think about peace and loyalty. He has been killing and burning barns for so long, i think its his nature, so it would be hard for him to stop this immature act. Sarty is disrespectful because when he stepped in the manure he deliberately dragged his feet across he floor and he knew he was getting the manure all over the floors and he did not care. So you can see what kind of character Sarty is.
Race plays a major role in this Faulkner story, just like in all other Faulkner stories we read so far. It's ironic because its not the typical race issue we are normal to, its not about an African American family but a low class white family. I think Faulkner is trying to show not just African Americans are depicted but white people are as well. He gives the audience a different perspective on race.
The father was shot at the end, which was not given to us, we as readers have to figure that out, just like the last Faulkner story, "An Odor of Verbena". I dont like how Faulkner makes us figure out what happens at the end, instead of just coming out and telling us, he was shot.

"Dry September" Faulkner

"Dry September" by William Faulkner takes place in the early twentieth century.(1920-1930) This story portrays violence , which after the civil war lynching was huge, like we discussed in class on Friday. Lynching was a way for the whites to have "control" over the blacks.
"Dry September" takes place in a small southern town with a very low population. For example it states on page 439, "Through the bloody September twilight, aftermath of sixty-two rainless days, it had gone like a fire in dry grass-the rumor, the story, whatever it was", which means anything said in the town spread very fast to everyone. Which indicates it was a small town with very few people and they had a lot of extra time.
I think it's significant that they dont know what happened with the white female and the black man, they just assume the black man raped a white female. To me it shows the reader that they dont care what happened, they just want to punish the blacks due to hatred. It's an opportunity to get rid of a black man. I thought it was ironic that one of the Barbers were called "niggerlover" just because he did not believe Mayes was guilty and he was sticking up for a black man. This shows you how much peer pressure you have as a white man to hate and mistreat the blacks. Hawkshaw portrays how much pressure he had to mistreat and hate blacks. He was against the lynching and tried to stop it, but ironically he jumped into the car. He was dragged into the whole event due to peer pressure and being socially exepted. On page 444 it states" Whats the matter, Hawk"? the soldier asked "Nothing, the Barber said", so it shows you that he was not happy being involved with a lynching of a black man. He wanted to stop the event but he was powerless with out looking bad and being rejected from his peers.
The black man being accused of raping a white female was not very likely to be believed. First, the whites did not like the blacks so they were looking for anything to accuse a black man of and I think thats why it did not matter what he did. Second, white females were described as pure, innocent and repsected. People would believe a white female over a black male. So gender played a role in the story.
Minnie's girlfriends, I thought, were friends that felt obligated to hang out with her once in a while. They were not best friends, but they were distant friends. In class on Friday, we were dicussing how her friends wanted to know all about the situation so they could go back and gossip to other people. I really did not get that from the reading, i thought they wanted to know all the details and the"juicy" facts just for interest. But the more i read the store and the more i anaylze it, i kind of see where they would be asking all the questions, so they have them to go back to the town and gossip to the other people.

"Desirees Baby" by Kate Chopin

I really enjoyed reading "Desirees Baby" by Kate Chopin. Chopin really described everything in great detail. While I was reading I could imagine and visualize what Chopin was describing and talking about.
Race plays a major part in Chopin's stories. Throughout the reading there was the question about mix race. (Miscegenation) Mix race in this story caused a huge debate. For Example, Nobody excepted Desiree and her baby due to her mix race. It's heartbreaking that they're not excepted and appreciated due to their race. Also Desiree was adopted which is significant because her race is unknown. Race is important to people because it is part of your identity, it tells you who you are as a person.
I thought it was interesting how Armand desribed and talked about Desiree's and his relationship. He described his love for her on page 302, " The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles", and he also described it "as if struck by a pistol shot" on page 301. It's interesting becuase you dont hear individuals talking about their relationships in this way if it's strong and healthy. You think avalanche, prairie fire and a pistol shot as negative and harmful, so its ironic Armond used these words to describe his and her relationships together. The last part of the qupte on plage 302 in kind of ironic "anything that drives headlong over all obstacles" becuase when i hear that i think he wants to over come all the hard times in their relationship. On the other hand, the way he describes the relationship throughout the rest of the quotes portrays to me that he does not want to. So i think the quote is contradicting.
There was a correlation between Desiree's character being weak and unhappy and her killing herself at the end of the story. Throughout the entire story everyone was picking her part for everything and she really did not have anyone to give her support. It kind of portrays that she was weak when she killed herself at the end of the story.

Swallow Barn

I liked how the house description was in great detail. You could actually visualize the image in your mind while you were reading. I was confused in the beginning if the house was beautiful and unique or if it was very unattractive and just old. I would not have pictured the plantation farm being the way it was described in the story. This plantation had only one floor and usually plantations have several floors and fairly large. The barn was not in good condition and was ugly but it was beautiful becuase of it's history behind it. It's not just an ordinally barn, it has many memories, it's old and it's traditional, which we discussed in class.
Throughout the story, Kennedy used a couple of sterotypes about the south. He made these remarks to make a point to the people. One was about Frank. He went to Washington and started making his own opinions about things and became very independent. He was not afraid to tell people how he felt. Then all of a sudden, Frank switched back to his old self. He once again went back in being dependent on other people, and listening to other people's opinion to determine his own. I think Kennedy wanted everyone to see and believe that this is a typical southern. He wanted people to see that they are not reliable and they are unpridictable.
I liked this reading, more than the other ones we read so far this semester.