Foreshadowing in "Hunters in the Snow"

p. 188 "I won't say at word. Like I won't say anything about a certain babysitter."

Throughout the short story, Kenny develops as an antagonist. He almost kills Tub in the opening . He mocks Tub and Frank throughout the story. In this quote, he crosses the line again. So, this quote not only foreshadows Frank revealing his mistress, but also of Kenny crossing the line one too many times. The quote hints at Frank having a problem, like everyone else in the story. Frank and Tub's problems are more personal problems with Frank and his marriage and Tub and his weight. These two draw closer again because their problems can be related to each other. Kenny's problem is a very big one, but not one met with the urgency of Frank and Tub's problem.

Simile in "Everyday Use"

p. 179 "Maggie's brain is like an elephant's."

This comment from Wangero was an anomaly in her character as a whole. Once Dee leaves and comes back, her character is truly brought out. In the beginning of the story, her and Mama aren't very close and Dee doesn't quite fit in with Mama and Maggie. Once she returns as Wangero, she drops her family past and heritage. She comes back to pick old family artifacts off her family to make great display pieces. She quickly forgets the sentimental value it has to Maggie and Mama and what it should mean to her. I'm not sure where Wangero developed the condescending tone and sense of entitlement, but it's rude and annoying. Once she leaves, she tells them to live in the present and exercise newly found freedoms, but she doesn't realize they are perfectly content living in the past.

I see Consuela in "Bartleby the Scrivener"

That was Consuela a Spanish house maid hired by the Griffin family in Family Guy. The problem is she doesn't do a great a job and gets fired, but she refuses to leave. In this way, my first connection to the strange Bartelby was to her. On page 662, a similar scene to the end of this video occurs: the narrator says, "The time has come; you must quit this place; I am sorry for you ; here is money; but you must go," to which Bartelby responds "I would prefer not." This is an odd response to a firing and it seems a rather effective one. In both cases, the people keep their jobs for an extended period of time. But, I feel sympathy for both these people. They are outcasts of society that are all there mentally and are forced out of their homes. Bartelby's story ends more tragically with his life and eventual death in prison.

Confronting the obvious in "Interpreter for Maladies"

"Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt." p. 164

There are sometimes when we search and seek for answers to a deep problem. We ask our closest friends and family for advice and help. But, Mrs. Das doesn't have any friends and definitely can't confide in her husband with her problem, so she resorts to a stranger. In her defense, she feels this stranger is qualified for her problem. Although Mr. Kapasi normally interprets medical ailments, he points Mina's problem quickly. Mr. Kapasi is upfront with her and points out that she isn't in pain, she just feels guilty and probably always will. Mrs. Das probably already knew she felt guilty and was hoping for a magical solution to her problem and fix her life. Mr. Kapasi doesn't give her a secret potion but gives her the bitter taste of having to live with her reality.

Legends of the crazy cat ladies

The story "A Rose for Emily" is one of the strangest and most disturbing stories I've read. But, I feel like there are legends like this that have floated around countless small towns and cities throughout American history. Although there is nothing to dispute the investigations done in the story and their findings, I feel like some of this sources of the story are questionable. Mystery and unknowing leads people to fill in parts. No one a clue what happened: "We did not even know she was sick; we had long since given up trying to get any information from the Negro." Stories like these are sometimes added to or made up completely in towns today.  For example, my dad was told as a child, and believes to this day, that a woman that lived down the street from him who had 10+ cats forgot to get cat food and was eaten by her cats. Whether or not it's true or not, I don't know. But legends like this don't die off easily.

Simile in "Interpreter of Maladies"

Within this story, there is very little in the way of figurative language and rhetorical devices, as far as I saw. But, one simile I saw really contributed to the tone and set the scene of the story. On page 153 the narrator tells of Mrs. Das: "She lifted her pinkish brown sunglasses and arranged them on top of her head like a tiara." To me, this revealed some characterization of Mrs. Das. Obviously a tiara is a princess' crown. In this context, Lahiri casts the tiara and a princess in a negative light. This seems to depict a princess who is distant from her people and far too concerned about herself and only herself. This comparison comes to fruition later in the story when Mrs. Das reveals what Mr. Kapasi suspected all along. Mrs. Das was distant because her love between her husband has died and she is a worn down mother. Her reasoning for her lost love and so forth is revealed later.

Irony in How I Met my Husband

Throughout this short story, there are some points of suspense and uncertainty as to where the story will head. First, there is wondering where the relationship between Edie and Chris will head. Once it seems that there is some type of connection, Edie becomes a bit obsessed. After their kiss and his departure, she waits for his letter daily with a smiling face of anticipation before and after she receives the daily mail. The irony comes in that her husband, the mailman, thought Edie was trying to woo him by meeting him everyday at the mailbox. Edie narrates, "He always tells the children the story of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day." In reality, she was waiting on a letter of a man she had become infatuated with. It's ironic that she meets her husband while waiting on a letter for another man.