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Stephen Crane- The Open Boat

1) Sum up the personalities of each of the four men in the boat : captain ,cook , oilier , and correspondent.

The Captain

The captain is the consummate leader, a man who never shirks from the responsibility he takes for those who have entrusted their safety to him. When he loses his ship to the sea at the beginning of the story, the captain suffers infinitely more than the other survivors. Deprived of his ship, he becomes a broken man who has lost the very thing that grants him his authority. Yet the captain, through his dedication to guiding the men to safety, retains a degree of dignity to go with the ineffable sense of loss he feels at having failed in his charge. In this sense, the captain is at once a majestic and tragic figure, one who has not measured up to the standards he has set for himself but continues to fight for his fellow men. His quiet, steady efforts in the boat are not self-motivated and afford him no personal redemption. Instead, his actions are directed toward the others.

The Oiler (Billie)

Of the four characters in the boat, the oiler represents the everyman, the one whom Crane intends to resemble the average person most closely. The oiler functions as the lynchpin of the crew, holding everyone together through his staunch heroism. He has the fewest delusions about the men’s physical plight, but he never gives in to the hopelessness that the others mask with idle talk about nonexistent opportunities for rescue or meditations about the cruelty of nature. Instead, the oiler maintains an image of strength, warmth, and integrity. He echoes the captain’s orders, reinforcing the social structure of the crew and instilling confidence in the others, whose outlook rises and falls with the waves.

The Correspondent

For Crane, each crew member is an archetype that, when joined with his fellow castaways, constitutes part of a microcosm of society. The captain represents the leaders; the cook the followers; the oiler the good, working men; and the correspondent the observers and thinkers. As his profession as a reporter suggests, the correspondent functions as the eyes and voice of the story. Crane underlines this point in his introduction of the characters in the first section. While the cook is cowering on the boat’s floor and the oiler is silently working at his oar, the correspondent watches the waves and wonders why he is caught on the ocean, a question that reveals the correspondent’s search for purpose in life. With this question alone, the correspondent begins to shape our perceptions of the ordeal the men are undergoing. In the first five sections of “The Open Boat,” the correspondent’s challenges to the sea, which he associates with nature and fate, reveal his desire to make sense of surviving the ship only to drown in the dinghy. Although he understands that nature and fate do not act and think as men do, the correspondent nevertheless goads them because he believes that there is a purpose to nature, that it in some way validates his struggle for survival. The correspondent initially thinks he finds the answer when he considers the “subtle brotherhood of men” that develops among the crew in response to the overwhelming cruelty of nature. At this point, he takes pleasure in the pain caused by rowing in the rough sea because he believes that this pain is the healthy byproduct of his effort at community, which nature has forced them to create and is the only thing that really matters. As the men realize that no one is coming to save them, however, the correspondent comes to lose hope in the “subtle brotherhood” that had seemed to be the noble purpose of submitting to nature’s punishment.

2)  What theme in " The Open Boat " seems most important to you? Where is it stated?

Man’s Insignificance in the Universe

“The Open Boat” conveys a feeling of loneliness that comes from man’s understanding that he is alone in the universe and insignificant in its workings. Underneath the men’s and narrator’s collective rants at fate and the universe is the fear of nothingness. They have an egotistical belief that they should have a role in the universe, that their existence should mean something. When the correspondent realizes by section VI that fate will not answer his pleas, he settles into despair. His subsequent recollection of the poem about the soldier who lies dying in Algiers reflects his feelings of alienation at being displaced from his position in the universe. Like the soldier who dies in alien territory, the correspondent fears that he too will perish without a connection to whatever gives him his sense of self.

Throughout “The Open Boat,” the correspondent understands pain to be the necessary byproduct of his efforts to overcome nature, the willful enemy. He comes to value his suffering because it is nobly derived; in the earlier sections, the correspondent, whom the narrator says is cynical, is often cheerful and talkative in his descriptions of the physical pain he experiences. By the end of the story, however, the correspondent’s new awareness that the universe is unconcerned with the situation’s outcome makes him physically and spiritually weary. He decides that there is no higher purpose to surviving other than prolonging a life that is meaningless. His comment in section VII that the coldness of the water is simply “sad” underscores this despair. At this point, all sensations of pain and pleasure are merely physical and have no spiritual meaning.

3) How do you define heroism? Who is a hero in "The Open Boat"?

I feel that you can argue for three of the four characters being heroes in this story, namely the Captain, the Oiler and The Correspondent. The Captain can be considered a hero because he leads the men through the adverse conditions. He has been injured and has suffered the significant trauma of losing his ship, but continues to remain authoritative and competent throughout. We can consider the Captain as the hero of 'The Open Boat' for these reasons. 

John Steinbeck- The Chrysanthemums

1) How do you interpret Elisa's asking for wine with dinner? How do you account for her new interest in prize fights?

a) In this short story , wine is a very important symbol . in my opinion wine symbolizes the rebirth of the dead passion . She wants to experience new things she hadn't done before or maybe to redo them after a long time . This is also seen as a restart in her marriage . She wants to be loved and to have a passionate marriage , and as i noticed through the reading , it hasn't been that way . They have a lack of passion , which has contributed in the fact that they do not have children.

b) Elisa , being a little bit confident in her self , asks her husband if any woman could go in a prize fights. She wants to be involved totally in the man's world. Her husband supports her in a kind of way , but is Elisa who doesn't want to go anymore . This way she represses her feelings once again .

2) In a sentence , try to state this short story's theme.

"The Chrysanthemums " is an understated but pointed critique of a society who has no place for intelligent woman. Elisa is smart , energetic , attractive and ambitious , but all these attributes go to waste . Although the two key men in the story are less interesting then Elisa , their lives are far more fulfilling and busy . Henry is not as intelligent as Elisa , but it is he who runs the ranch ,  makes business and deals. All Elisa can do is  watch him from afar  as he performs his job. The tinker seems cleverer than Henry , but he doesn't have Elisa's spirit , passion or thirst for adventure .  Elisa and Henry have  a functional but a passionless marriage and seems to treat each other as siblings than spouses .  Despite the fact that her marriage doesn't meet her needs , Elisa remains a sexual person . As a result of frustrated desires , Elisa's attraction to the tinker is frighteningly powerful and uncontrollable . Her sexuality , forced to lie dormant for so long , overwhelms her and crushes her spirit after springing ti life so suddenly .

9) Why are Elisa's Allen's chrysanthemums so important to this story? Sum up what you understand them to mean?

The Chrysanthemums symbolize both Elisa and her limited scope of her life .Like Elisa they are lovely, strong and thriving. Their flowerbed , like Elisa's house is tidy and ordered .Elisa explicitly identifies her self with the flowers , even when saying she becomes one with the plants when she tends to them. When the tinker notices the chrysanthemums , Elisa visibly brightens , just as if he had noticed her instead. She offers the chrysanthemums to him at the same time she offers her self , both of which he ignores. His rejection of the flowers also mimics the way society  has rejected women  as nothing more then mothers and housekeepers. Just like her , the flowers are unobjectionable and also unimportant : both are merely decorative and add little value to the world.

Flannery O' Connor - Revelation

1. Sketch the plot of the story. what moment or event do you take to be the crisis , or turning point? What is climax ? What is the conclusion?

A) “Revelation” opens in a doctor's waiting room where Ruby Turpin is waiting with her husband, Claud. As she often does, Mrs. Turpin passes the time by categorizing the other waiting-room inhabitants by class—“white trash,” middle class (like her), and so forth. This is the  segregated

 South, so there are no black people here, but Mrs. Turpin is happy to judge them, too.

She identifies a pleasant-looking woman as one of her own class, and they begin an idle conversation that centers first on their possessions and eventually on their disapproval of civil rights demonstrators. They conclude that it would be a good idea to send all black people back to Africa. During this conversation, the other woman's daughter, Mary Grace, an obese college student with severe acne, has been making faces directly at Mrs. Turpin. At last Mary Grace cracks entirely, throws her book (Human Development) at Mrs. Turpin, and then physically attacks her. When Mary Grace has been subdued, Mrs. Turpin begins to think that the girl has a message for her, and when she moves closer, Mary Grace calls her a warthog and tells her to go back to hell where she came from.

Later, at home, Mrs. Turpin is deeply shaken by the message. At last, while hosing down the hogs, she questions God about why he sent her such a message when there was plenty of “trash” in the room to receive it. His answer comes in the form of a vision of people marching to Heaven, a procession led by all the people she has most held in contempt. The vision fades, and Mrs. Turpin returns to the house in the midst of a cricket chorus of hallelujahs. Critics have disagreed about the meaning of the end of this story, but Mrs. Turpin's serious acceptance of the violent message of grace and the imagery of the ending seem to suggest that her vision was a gift of mercy that has clarified her vision of the world, its people, and her possessions.

B) The crisis or the turning point of this short story is at the moment when Mary Grace throws the book at Mrs Turpin and says to her : " Go back to hell where you came from , you old ward hog ". Is at this moment when Mrs Turpin begins to have doubts about herself . This is the turning point that leads Mrs Turpin  to the revelation in the end of the story.

C) The climax is the moment with the highest tension where we know what is going to happen in the end of the story. In" Revelation " the climax is noticed when Mrs Turpin is at the pig parlor and she has a vision of paradise. At this point we know how the story is going to end.

D) The conclusion in " Revelation " is that  Mrs Turpin understand all the bad things she has done. She sees this in the confrontation with God , where she realizes that everybody black or white , well dressed or badly dressed , poor or rich , are the same in front of God. One of the main ideas of this short story is that it is never too late to change our attitude toward other people.

2) What do you infer from Mrs Turpin 's conversation with the black farm workers? Is she their friend? Why does she now find their flattery unacceptable ( "Jesus satisfied with her " ) ?

A) During the conversation with the black farm workers i understand that she talks to them only because she sees it only as a duty and nothing more. She thinks that talking to the black farm workers she will be saved from hell , in this way she would be perfect even in paradise. 

B) in think Mrs Turpin is not friend with the black farm workers. She talks to them only to fulfill her duties of being a perfect woman. 

C) She finds their flatteries unacceptable because she doubts at her self . She reminds the words of Mary Grace but she cannot understand them.  She understands that Jesus is not satisfied with her and though is ashamed of their flatteries because she knows that they are not sincere.

3) When near of the end of the story , Mrs Turpin roars, " Who do you think you are ?" an echo " returned to her clearly like an answer from beyond the wood ". Explain.

The passage when Mrs Turpin roars " Who do you think you are " and the echo turns back might be maybe God or even a part of herself. Maybe deeper , unconsciously , she knows who she really is ,  the person who judges people for their skin color , the way they are dressed up , their incomes etc , and not that perfect woman who she claims to be.

4) What is the final revelation given to Mrs Turpin? ( To state it is to state the theme of the story .) What new attitude does the revelation impart? ( How is  Mrs Turpin left with a new version of humanity? )

A) Mrs Turpin understands by the vision that she has been a person who prejudiced others only by ht physical features. This vision reveals to her that she is not the perfect woman and that God has another vision of people and humanity , and not what she had.

B) Mrs Turpin changes her attitude because she finally realized that she cannot judge people only for their skin color , the way they are dressed , because she is nobody to do that , and because she is not perfect herself to do that. The only one who can judge us is God . She perceives the message that we are all the same in front of God's eyes .