If you liked "Bad Neighbors"...
If you liked Edward P. Jones' "Bad Neighbors"....
then you might also enjoy ”The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara or ”Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. For Friday, read the first of those stories and post a 4-5 sentence reflection/reader response here as a comment to this blog post. You also need to REPLY DIRECTLY to 2-3 of your classmates comments (think: Instagram/Facebook feed, but slightly more detailed than a series of emojis or five word responses!) as part of this assignment. There's no need to include actual textual evidence in either your original response or when you comment on classmates' work, but you certainly can. If you're having a hard time generating ideas, feel free to look back to the short story questions we used last term. I just want to get a sense of what you thought about the story you've chosen; there's no pressure, so have some fun and be creative. I can't wait to have a virtual discussion with you all!
then you might also enjoy ”The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara or ”Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. For Friday, read the first of those stories and post a 4-5 sentence reflection/reader response here as a comment to this blog post. You also need to REPLY DIRECTLY to 2-3 of your classmates comments (think: Instagram/Facebook feed, but slightly more detailed than a series of emojis or five word responses!) as part of this assignment. There's no need to include actual textual evidence in either your original response or when you comment on classmates' work, but you certainly can. If you're having a hard time generating ideas, feel free to look back to the short story questions we used last term. I just want to get a sense of what you thought about the story you've chosen; there's no pressure, so have some fun and be creative. I can't wait to have a virtual discussion with you all!
The most important part of "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara is when the narrator feels "shame" about going into the very expensive toy store. The narrator realizes how ridiculous the prices are and how many other important things her friends and family could afford if they had that much money to spend on essentials. Additionally, this part of the story connects back to the title because the narrator learns the lesson from Miss Moore that although their lives may appear equal to the white people buying the toys, they haven't had an equal opportunity to make as much money as them. No matter how equal their lives may seem, the racism embedded in society makes all of the students feel off about going into the store and seeing the prices, which reveals the underlying issue that racism still exists in every aspect of their lives.
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation a lot, Lauren! I like how you were able to connect the story back to its title. It's always super cool to see the connection between the two :p -Trey
DeleteNice job with the idea of what's in the store teaching the lesson far more concretely than anything that Miss Moore could have said to them. What do you think that Sylvia will do with that lesson? Anything?
DeleteThe outside force that influences the narrator's development the most is the toy store because it shows the narrator the difference between her and the store's customers. When the narrator was looking at the clown in the store, she thought about all the things that $35 could do for her and her family and found it absurd that people would waste that much money just to buy a toy. This led to her having questions about the people who buy these toys, about their lives and jobs and why can't she get in on it. These questions expose the gaps between classes in society and the inequality between the two worlds. The trip to the toy store also influenced Sugar, the narrator's sister, as she realizes that it's not really a democracy and that they don't have an equal chance at happiness as others because of where they're from.
ReplyDelete-Jolie
DeleteGood focus on the toys, Jolie...do you see them as symbols or metaphors? Perhaps both? Miss Moore is very clever in her decision to use something that the kids can understand to teach them this lesson.
DeleteIn Flannery O'Connor's "Everything that Rises Must Converge," the title has a great significance to the story because all of the conflicts that appear in the story meet in a scary way at the end. Julian dislikes his mother because of her attitude towards African-Americans in a time where segregation has ended. Although his mother acts as if she is doing the right thing, she is very condescending and rude to all of the African-Americans she encounters. Julian tries to stop her from further embarrassing herself, but she ends up getting yelled at by a black woman for offering her son a penny and then scolded by her own son. All of this built up anger and conflict causes Julian's mom to collapse, leaving him regretful of the lesson he tried to push on her that could not mend their generational differences.
ReplyDeleteWow, it sounds like the conflicts do meet in a scary way!! Very interesting, Lauren!
DeleteTrey^
DeleteIs her collapse symbolic of the collapse of the previous generation? So often in O'Connor's stories there's a character who represents the Old South and who glorifies its existence without acknowledging the harsh realities of its history...the mother feels like that character here, so I wonder if the her ending signals a bigger ending? And what do you make of the fact that Julian seems to feel guilty in the end?
DeleteA symbol that was important throughout the story was the mansion that Julian's grandpa used to live in because it shows the difference between Julian and his mom. The mom sees the mansion as an example of when people don't forget who they are, which Julian thinks is an outdated perspective. Julian sees the mansion as a place that he could've had, and thinks that he would've been able to appreciate the mansion more than his mom, revealing his condescending attitude towards her. They were constantly in competition with one another, which ends in disastrous ways as the mom collapses in the end after she learned the lesson that Julian has been trying so hard to teach her. - Jolie
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Jolie...I love the mansion as a symbol of their different perspectives and the tension in their relationship. Can you connect what you've written here to my comment on Lauren's post above?
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