The Lottery

1. I found this short story very intriguing however extremely messed up. I read it before in high school. In high school I found it extremely weird which obviously has not changed but I also was nervous reading it because I thought it would give people the curiosity to possibly perform somewhat of the same kind of thing today. I also found the title odd for this story, being that today we think of the lottery being something good where some individual will collect lots of money and the rest of us dream about someday achieving the same, in this case, its a matter of life or death. I literally got chills down my spin from reading this story, I find it absolutely disgusting.
2. While reading The Lottery, the author foreshadowed the ending through the constant reflection of the stones. For instance, a mother telling her son after he was called that he can now run to the stones. The reader visualized that something must be going on with the stones, however the reader is uncertain. Once Tessie begins stating that it was unfair that her husband was picked, the reader begins to correlate the two and begins assuming something bad is about to happen. While trying to figure out what the author is hoping the reader would gain from this story, is quite a difficult task. Individually, you have to look beyond the text to understand what lessons may be presented. Jackson may be trying to make the point that we as individuals may do these "rituals" because our religions tell them to do so, not in the point of human sacrifices but outdated traditions or rituals. This maybe the point in which she is trying to make, that we have to modernize our beliefs so that we blend more with one another. A hint that was made from this conclusion was found in the comparison of other towns around them in which the lotteries no longer exist. Again this was quite difficult to derive, but individually one feels that there is a religious connotation.

"Bernice Bobs Her Hair"

1. I really enjoyed reading this short story. It was interesting that we can change so drastically for the opposite sex just to gain appreciation from them, and then we question these changes because we have lost our individuality. I guess one important factor that I realized while reading this short story, was the realization that if we have to change so much for an individual we have to question if it is worth it, in the means of changing ourself for someone else to like us. I guess the point that I am trying to make is, what I have experienced, the times in which I am myself are the times that I am able to meet incredible individuals, whereas when I alter my individuality, I become trapped into horrible relationships with people whom I have become to despise.
2. Individually, Fitzgerald's representation of identity within "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," is rather interesting. This story was written in the 1920's and it is rather interesting that what was being told (although very different) are still issues today regarding peer pressure. His representation of identity is that it is influenced by those around us. With this said Fitzergerald believes it is not something static because if it were Bernice would have remained the same, as this "proper" individual, instead she is replaced with this "wild" character. Again this is proven at the end of the story as well, as Bernice cuts Marjorie's braids while she is asleep and tosses them at Warren's house. This illustrates the affects that people have on one another, and how for the sake of attracting individuals, especially boys, we as girls are so revengeful and cruel to one another, that we loose ourselves and our identities.

A & P by John Updike

1. As I began reading this short story I thought the guy was a total weirdo. It was almost as if he was spying on people for a living as appose to being a cashier. The imagery in which he created through his use of words when describing the girls was pretty vivid, but again really weird. Never in my life have I described the opposite sex using food, but then again I never worked in a supermarket. Like I said previously the guy seems like a complete weirdo who needs a life, and in a way thank goodness he quit because maybe then he will improve on his social skills which obviously are lacking at this point.

2. Within the short story A & P, the narrator reveals several things about himself. First, he is a nineteen year old cashier within a A & P during the summer. With this in mind the narrator maybe be earning money before leaving to college. Anyways, to bide time within his job which he finds rather boring he analyzes people's characteristics. When the girls walked into the store or supermarket he was immediately taken with their characteristics and watched their every move. These characteristics made him draw several conclusions that led him to his initial interaction which proved his developed characteristics about these girls wrong. Furthermore, by the end of the story the narrator begins to realize that maybe not everyone is how the seem to appear so he quits his job and is left in a parking lot without the desired girls that he was hoping to see. He goes back to his feeling that people are how they seem, superficial, and the world could possibly be out to get him. It is with these feelings in which he indirectly expresses that the reader feels the narrator is portraying life in general to that of a supermarket, where people seem superficial as we do not interact with them and then discover that again not everyone is how the appear and we should not judge others based on how we view them.