A woman expresses the Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking
Elaine Magarrell

It's not a sexist title, I swear. The author uses diction to artfully describes why each of her siblings has qualities that annoy her. She says that she wants to cook her sister's tongue, because she presumably lies, is annoying, or is always wrong whenever she talks. No matter what, the poem depicts how her sister's tongue would be better as a dish rather than still in her sister's mouth. She really grills (OH MY GOSH ITS A FOOD PUN!!) her brother and his tiny heart.
the baby thinks I'm funny.
She calls him an unloving man, but by using cooking terms by calling it dry, and saying a sour sauce would have been a good addition. She also says that it "needs an apple-onion stuffing to make it interesting at all" (Magarrell). An apple and onion combination could never taste good, but the contrasting flavors are needed to wash away the horrible taste of her brother's heart. Though the author writes this sinister poem, it's probably used as as a ruse so that she could just express her anger with them. Brothers and sisters always fight, but they rarely want to eat each other. The poem secretly reveals the bond that all siblings tend to share, giving the poem a slightly happier under tone.

Those winter sundays

Those Winter Sundays
Robert Hayden

That kid is a little brat (the narrator). The father of the narrator is a hard-working provider for the father. He woke up early to brave the winter in order to make his house warm and safe for everyone else. The child, however, does not seem to care that his house is comfortable and refuses to acknowledge the kindness of the father. This would be common behavior for any child, but the poem made it seem as though he was totally uncaring for his father. It was almost as if the father had to fight for the affection of his children, even if it meant putting himself through the bitter weather to make his children happy. The imagery contributes to this by stating that one could "hear the cold splintering, breaking" (Hayden 781) as the house would warm because of the father. The house that the child was used to was comfortable and cheery, yet no cheer was shared between father and son. The father simply could not catch a break, yet the son's regret had filled him later in his life, prompting the writing of this poem.

The Drunkard

The Dunkard
Frank O'Connor

The Father in this story truly got the short end of the stick. The author cleverly used pathos by explaining the plight of Father throughout the story. He initially had a successful life; he worked hard, saved wisely, and studied as much as he could so he could engage in intellectual debates. When his friend Mr Dooley would talk to him, he felt accomplished, for Dooley was a man of great accomplishment himself and he had a high social status. When he died, Father wasn't so much upset as he was astounded by the impact Dooley left. The awe that struck Father throughout the time near Dooley's death made Father feel satisfied, not only with Dooley but with how he himself had lived his life. The satisfaction "grew till it called for some celebration. Then he took a drink..." (O'Connor 344). The drinking began to tear the family apart, and the son had to be by his father side while his life was wasted away. While in the bar after the funeral, the son became so thirsty that he forced down his father's alcohol and quickly became intoxicated. He didn't necessarily want to do it, but he wasn't too mad that it had happened. Father, however, has both worried and furious that he had accidentally gotten his son drunk. Not only that, but the boy fell and cut his head wide opened, which was on display for the whole street as his father carried him home. The sneers of the women loitering the streets were targeted at Father, but the son assumed they were at him causing him to get a little testy. Nevertheless, the father got him home alright and, for the most part, safe, but the mother was furious at the father, or so I thought. After a heated argument, the mother came in and kissed the son on the forehead, revealing that the incidents will lead his father away from drinking once again. Having his son drunk must have completely embarrassed the father, so he would have to put off drinking if he ever wanted to have a respectable reputation again!

A Worn Path

A Worn Path
Eudora Welty

Phoenix Jackson is a grandmother battered by old age and a loopy mind, but she is the most determined person I have ever read about. She makes a trek through fields and forests in order to get to the city so she can buy medicine for her grandson. The reader learns that Phoenix doesn't have all her marbles when she has multiple visions/delusions during her journey. Not only that, but when she finally arrives at the hospital Phoenix forgot why she was even there, later realizing that it was "My grandson. It was my memory that had left me" (Welty 229). If Phoenix could forget her grandson, the reason she trekked such a treacherous journey, then she must be suppressing the thought of him in some way. The grandson is dead, but Phoenix loves him so much that she still tries to save the memory of him by walking the worn path to get the medicine. It is her determination and her love that drives her to help her grandson, even though she can't physically save him. However, she still has the ability to nurture the memory of him, which has already began to slip from her mind. As long as Phoenix continues her routine of travelling to the hospital, her grandson shall live forever within her.

Once Upon a Nightmarish Time

Once Upon a Time
Nadine Gordimer

The short story was seemingly conjured up by Gordimer purely out of spite all because someone suggested she should write a children's story. The story begins much like a fairy tale with a happy family in a happy neighborhood. The problem lies within the sense of wanting to stay happy. Burglaries have happened in the neighborhood  so residents progressively take more sever precautions to maintain a sense of safety. The high fences, electronic locks, and alarm systems both polluted the neighborhood and became a part of it. When one alarm system would go off, it usually set off the entire block's alarm systems "so that the din roused the inhabitants of the suburb no more than the croak of frogs..." (Gordimder 234, 235). The plaques that were mounted on every fence stated  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, which seemed to foreshadow how those who put up the security systems were truly the ones being warned. As they put up more defense against criminals, they caged themselves into a dangerous castle. The cage that the family had built ended up only harming the son of the family, nearly mutilating him as he struggled to get out. The story ends referring back to the initial concept of happily ever after, except the family is joined together in mourning within a chaotic lifestyle.

The beginning and the end

A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry

The play has two symbols (that I noticed) in the beginning and in the end of the play. The first was the family's bickering. The whole first scene of the play made me feel like I was listening to a family on the verge of destruction. The parents fought, still lived with extended family, and had another child coming on the way. By the end of the play, the happy family was still arguing even as they were setting off onto their new life. the arguments make me think that they symbolize unity. Though thick and thin, they were a family and they were going to fight with each other in one way or another. The more symbolic symbol (I swear it makes sense) is the plant that Mama cares for. Mama mentions, almost as a side thought, that "if this little old plant don't get more sun than it's been getting it ain't never going to see spring again" (Hansberry 448). The plant is near death, and the family seems the same way. As the family is packing at the end of the play, Mama is making everyone aware that she has carefully packaged the plant for when they move. This act symbolizes how Mama has "packaged" all of her family for the journey ahead, and how their family will survive the new start. The play finally concludes with Mama grabbing the plant and closing the apartment door. Mama has guided her family, taken care of it with love and attention, and carried them with her to a new life.

The wise sage, Asagai

A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry


Asagai comes to visit Beneatha occasionally at the house because he likes her attitude about life. I'm sure he is physically attracted to her too, but he particularly likes how she wants to rise above all the stereotypes and prejudices she faces in order to help the common good. Asagai sees this in her, and treats her with respect when he talks with her. After Walter loses the money, Benetha practically gives up her dreams because she feels the evil can never be cured in this world, let alone by her. When Asagai stops by, his reasoning is that "I had some free time. I thought I might help with the packing" (Hansberry 519). He literally stops by out of the goodness of his heart, making one think that his presence will have little effect on the situation. However, Asagai recognizes how Bennie has changed her views on the world, and he is compelled to explain to her how she must revert back to her old way of thinking. Asagai single-handedly shows Bennie how, though the bad in the world will always look for a way to get worse, Bennie has a chance to go out and fight that bad. Bennie has the ability and the mind to face her opposition and transform the evil into a new sense of goodness. Asagai was close to getting Bennie to marry him and move back to Africa to overthrow the British and French colonial empires. Asagai's kind heart of wanting to help a girl pack turned into him re-exciting that girl's most important aspirations. The play ends before Bennie decided what to do with the rest of her life, but whatever she chooses, she will probably be with Asagai.

ooooooh ghoooooosts!

A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry

Act I of the play is centered around this insurance money and what to do with it. The Youngers received the 10,000 dollars because the father and grandfather, Mr. Big Walter Younger, had passed away and his life insurance was paid off. The family is constantly reminded of how Big Walter practically worked his life away in order to get that money to the family, and the insurance money is his lasting legacy. Not only are the Youngers reminded of him through the money, but also in the house. Mama and Big Walter bought the house together and lived there all of their lives, so the presence of Big Walter never really left the apartment. The sense of his being is most evident in arguments between Walter and Mama. Mama wants Walter to act like the proud, good man Big Walter was, but Walter is too timid to truly live up to his name. He falls to follow in his father's footsteps multiple times throughout the play, and Mama routinely shows her disappointment in him. Walter finally stands up for the family when they refuse to concede to Mr Lindner's proposal of moving to a new home. When Lindner goes to ask Mama if she has a different answer, she says "My son said we was going to move and there ain't nothing left for me to say" (Hansberry 533). This is the only time Mama is proud of her son taking up responsibility to protect the hopes and dreams of the family. Mama inadvertently proclaims her son as the ultimate decider and the new man of the house.

I want to fly like an eagle

A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry

The setting plays a key role throughout the play, it mainly serves as a reason to leave. The southside of Chicago seemed to only hold back Walter and Beneatha, and they desperately wanted things to change. Walter saw his home as society's way of holding him back because he was a black man. He lived in a poor area with a poor house surrounded by poor people, and he wanted to be wealthy and to be equal to those who felt so inferior to. Bennie wanted to leave in order to make a name for herself. She wanted to be a doctor so that she could try to cure the world of the sickness that infected, but she knew she could never make any progress being shackled down in Chicago. She had dreams of going to Africa in order to strengthen the people so that they could be strong enough to take down their oppressive colonizers. Bennie couldn't take down her own oppessors (the white people), so she thought she may be able to make a difference in a new land. Asagai taught Bennie that he could "teach and work and things will happen, slowly and swiftly" (Hansberry 522). Bennie took up this outlook when her brother Walter could never do. Walter was all about changing his ways as soon as possible. Walter's plan may work, but Bennie's plan will pay off greater in the end.

Meet the Youngers!

A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry

The Youngers are an African-American value built on simple values and hard work living in the Southside of Chicago. The mother of the Family, Mama, would be considered someone who wondered what happened. She raised a family in a dinky apartment that she expected to move out of within a year. Time went by, and soon enough she became a grandmother in that very same home. Her son, Walter, was a man who was tired of his way a life, and wanted to be a man who would make things happen. Walter went about "making things happen" in all the wrong ways. Instead of aiming at getting a better job and/or working harder, he planned to get rich quick by buying a selling a liquor store. He had the mindset to turn his life around, but his execution was poor. His wife, Ruth, knew this and was against it, but faithfully watched him and their family go through life in their apartment. Through indirect characterization, the author reveals that Ruth has resentment towards her own home, but is willing to deal with her emotions in order to at least have a secure home to live in. She even concedes that the house has greater value by stating “Lord knows, we’ve put enough rent into this here rat trap to pay for four houses by now…” (Hansberry 452). The quote shows the effort put into the home, but how it still is a worthless shack of a home in Ruth's watchful eyes.