The Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking
Elaine Magarrell

Upon first reading this poem, I thought that the speaker was actually planning to cook her family's body parts. But then a thought occurred to me that the body parts could symbolize character traits of the speaker's siblings. The first stanza of the poem deals with cooking the sister's tongue. Because females are often accused of talking a lot and because the body part was a tongue, I would surmise that the speaker would like for his sister to stop talking as much as she does. "It(the tongue) probably will grow back"(Magarrell). In this quote, the speaker suggests that the sister talks a lot because her tongue would grow back out of necessity.
The second stanza talks about the brother's heart. Certain phrases suggest that the brother is unloving. The heart, symbolic of love, "is firm and rather dry" and it would "barely feed two" (Magarrell). This withered and small heart seems incapable of holding much love.
By picking specific body parts to cook from each sibling, the speaker suggests changes that she would like to see in their characters.

Edward

Edward
Anonymous

In this poem, structure plays a key role in building suspense towards the climax of the poem. In each stanza, the poet repeated the question (1st and 3rd lines) and also repeated the answer (5th and 7th lines).  Repeating the question built the anticipation for the answer to each question posed. By repeating the answer to each question, the poet reiterated the response to each question posed.  These repetitions made the poem longer, but they also emphasized important points in each stanza. By removing the repeated lines, the poem flows smoother but lacks emphasis previously placed on certain phrases. "The curse of hell from me shall ye bear, Mother, Mother, The curse of hell from me shall ye bear" (Anonymous). In this quote, the reader can comprehend that Edward is cursing his mother, but repeating the phrase adds emphasis to this bitter phrase. This repetition also provokes pathos from the reader for the mother. She lost her husband, her son is leaving, and her son cursed her. Pathos for each of these saddening events is doubled by repeating each phrase expressing the event.

The Drunkard

The Drunkard
Frank O'Connor

In this short story, the boy's drunkenness is seen from different points of view. The first point of view is the boy's. His innocent curiosity and thirst led him to drink his father's alcohol at the bar. The boy felt sick and eventually seemed confused and upset, all typical reactions to alcohol. Another point of view is that of the dad. He took the boy with him to the bar because he wanted a drink and had no where else to take the boy. Upon discovering the boy's actions, he felt embarrassed that the boy drank alcohol, frustrated that he now had nothing to drink, and worried about what the boy's mother would think. Another point of view is that of the mother. At first she seemed enraged. She yelled at her husband for going to the bar and giving the boy a drink. "The road knows the way you filled you unfortunate innocent child with drink to make sport for you and that other rotten, filthy brute"(O'Connor). After the mother was alone with her son, she thanked him from drinking the alcohol because it kept his father from his alcoholic tendencies.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time
Nadine Gordimer

Once Upon a Time is an example of a frame story. The speaker starts by telling of a creaking sound that she heard.She feared that it was either a robber or a collapse in an underground gold mine that would cause her house to fall. To calm herself down so that she could sleep, she decided to tell the weirdest children's story that I have ever read. This story reflected her fears. In the story, the family took extreme measures to ensure the security of their home. Just as the speaker feared a potential burglar, the family feared the riots and burglars. This contributed to why the people in the story have security systems. In addition, the speakers fears were not an actual immediate threat to her. In a sense, she overreacted to a small sound by creating elaborate suppositions of the cause of the sound. In her story, the people also overreacted to the threat of the robbers by turning their homes into fortresses. Just as the speaker's suppositions stole from her time to sleep, the family's fear of robbers stole from them their greatest possession: their son. "...while the bleeding mass of the little boy was hacked out of the security coil with saws, wire-cutters, choppers, and they carried it-the man, the wife, the hysterical trusted housemaid and the weeping gardener- into the house"(Gordimer).

A Worn Path

A Worn Path
Eudora Welty

In this short story, Welty used indirect characterization to describe Phoenix. Near the beginning of the story, Welty reveals part of Phoenix's character by describing her appearance."She was very old and small and she walked slowly in the dark pine shadows, moving a little from side to side in her steps with the balanced heaviness and lightness of a pendulum in a grandfather clock" (Welty). Welty further revealed Phoenix's character through her interaction with other minor characters. During the story, Phoenix meets a hunter. During their conversation, the hunter points his gun at Phoenix, but she did not move. She was unafraid which shows that she was a courageous woman. Another character who helped reveal Phoenix's character was the nurse. In their conversation, Phoenix momentarily forgot why she traveled to their office. She may be old and slightly senile, but this event revealed something deeper. This showed the care she took for her grandson. Whether or not the boy is alive, the fact that Phoenix traveled so far to get him help shows her unconditional love for him.