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The Lottery Ticket

In The Lottery Ticket, the protagonist and antagonist are very clear. Ivan is the clear protagonist, the story is also told from his point of view. The antagonist is Ivan's wife. In actuality, the both want the same thing, they just want them both for themselves. This will cause much conflict between the two. Ivan doesn't seem too happy with his current life. He is just satisfied, as if he is willing to live there, but craves something bigger and better. I think that towards the end of the story, when both he and his wife really started to not want to give it up, he wanted to kill her just so he could keep it all himself. She is probably thinking and planning the same thing. When it introduces the children into the story, it adds another dimension. It does this because they now have to think not just about themselves. If they spend all the money, their children will not have a happy life because they would not have work hard, and that would prevent them from getting a decent education to help them on later in life. Ivan is being a very selfish man. He decides at the end, that his life is not worth living and tells his wife that he is going to o hang himself on the first tree he finds. This is an act of extreme selfishness.

Sorry these all took so long.

The Leap

The mother in The Leap, is a very careful, precise woman even in her old age. From the story, she seems to be trying to forget her past. I think she is trying to forget her past because of the danger it posed to herself and her family. She lost her first husband because of their job as trapeze artists, while she was pregnant with her first child. If she is in pain she doesn't show it. I think she is a pretty stereotypical elderly woman, caring for her child and any grandchildren. The way the writer wrote this, it doesn't delve too deeply into the mother's thoughts and feelings which makes me believe that she keeps her own counsel. After reading this story, I think that the mother slightly blames herself for the death of her first husband and child. Although she went through much of her life illiterate, she fell in love with reading and writing when her second husband taught her in the hospital. She was never without a book after that, so she must have been very smart. Altogether, I think the mother will likely be her happiest after she has died.

Wing's Chips

There's not too much to say about the setting. At least I couldn't find much other than what I'm about to say.

The setting of this story is a major contributor to it. It is described as a small French-Canadian town. It also states that there is an English settlement near by. From the way this story is written, I can tell that it is not exactly modern, I would guess around pre-WW1 Quebec.  

Twins Questions

I wasn't sure if you wanted the questions or the plot analysis so I did both.

 Much like some actors want to experience the real pain of their characters to get into their role, the protagonist author sets up a scenario similar to that of the one in his newest murder mystery. The man asks his wife about how the perpetrator in his book would go about the perfect murder. Together they brainstorm how the murderer would entice the victim to the location, kill the victim, and how he could get off “scot-free.” They figure out the perfect crime. However, this was not just for inspiration; he actually wants to commit the crime that they have been discussing.

His wife; however, knew about his intents all along, and outmanoeuvred, outsmarted, and outgunned her husband. She used his story against him to get away with the murder that he had planned. In the end, his wife retaliated and followed his steps to a perfect crime to escape her marriage and change her life.

Questions:

1.

From the beginning, there were several key allusions to the conclusion. In the third paragraph, the word choice suggested a visceral, bloody image, simply from the use of the word claw. The remote, isolated mine is reminiscent of “The Blair Witch Project” and other such horror films, where something always goes wrong.

When she is questioning him on the method in which the villain would lure his victim out there, and the career path of the villain, his nonchalant responses set an alarm in my mind. Alarm bells rang because it was a little sketchy. It seems as if he is saying “I want to make sure I can kill you before I try to write about it.” when he says ““I want to make sure this works, then I can flesh it out.”” (Wright, 213).

There was one part I remember vividly; it said that they usually went to nice places, Palm Springs is something that I pictured as an example, as a base for the story he was writing at the time. The husband likes to “walk the plot” to ensure that it is believable and realistic, and she usually accompanies her to these nice places to offer advice. But when he suggests an out-of-place, unexpected trip to Sudbury, she was willing to travel there. She agreed to go up to cold, damp, dreary, Sudbury in the middle of October to offer a few pieces of advice on the story, which suggested she either really loved him, or more likely, made it seem like a few gears were turning. By this I mean, she was trying to get into his head and figure out why he was “off.”

3.

“In medias res” applies to the start of this story because the story starts in the middle. It does not start with “boy-meets-girl, they fall in love, they get married, he gets a mistress, he wants to kill his wife.” It just starts with the killing part. It starts right near the conflict. This is effective because it engages the reader much faster, placing them right in the situation and during the drama. The adrenaline of the situation seems to course through the story into the reader to entice me to read more, want more. The intrigue right off the bat caught my attention and captivated me. Starting in the middle, as Wright did, engaged me in a way that made me question the history of this couple and try to get more involved and invested in this story.

4

The story seems to change over on page 216, right after the husband pulls the trigger and shoots his wife. Until that point, the narrative style is specifically omnipotent in the way that the narrative is from a third person perspective that knows all, regarding this specific couple. After the gunshots, it switches to a more impartial view concerned strictly with the cold hard facts of what is happening. It doesn't go into as much detail and it doesn't elaborate on any of the ideas, the way the first half did. The first half felt more personal, revealing some thoughts of the characters while the second half was more detached and distant. The second half almost seems like a court transcription, or an excerpt from a detective's file on the case while the first half could be the actual account of what happened, from an omnipotent perspective.

I believe the author chose the contrasting styles to reinforce the law theme and to compare the before and after. The second half was all facts with little opinion and filler while the first half was more personal. These two separate parts really emphasized the death and crime that was committed to a very high degree of effectiveness.

Poet Analysis and Biography

Our poet was Ai. She describes herself as Japanese, Choctaw-Chickasaw, Black, Irish, Southern Cheyenne, and Comanche. She was born in Albany, Texas in 1947. She grew up in Tuscon, Arizona. She was raised in Las Vegas and San Francisco. She majored in Japanese at the University of Arizona. She immersed herself in Buddhism. Her name means “Love” in Japanese. She has won several awards including National Book Award for Poetry, for her book, Vice. Another award that she has won is the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her book, Sin. Her book, Killing Floor, won the award Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets.

Our Poem:

Killing Floor

BY AI

RUSSIA, 1927

On the day the sienna-skinned man

held my shoulders between his spade-shaped hands,

easing me down into the azure water of Jordan,

I woke ninety-three million miles from myself,

Lev Davidovich Bronstein,

shoulder-deep in the Volga,

while the cheap dye of my black silk shirt darkened the water.

My head wet, water caught in my lashes.

Am I blind?

I rub my eyes, then wade back to shore,

undress and lie down,

until Stalin comes from his place beneath the birch tree.

He folds my clothes

and I button myself in my marmot coat,

and together we start the long walk back to Moscow.

He doesn’t ask, what did you see in the river?,

but I hear the hosts of a man drowning in water and holiness,

the castrati voices I can’t recognize,

skating on knives, from trees, from air

on the thin ice of my last night in Russia.

Leon Trotsky. Bread.

I want to scream, but silence holds my tongue

with small spade-shaped hands

and only this comes, so quietly

Stalin has to press his ear to my mouth:

I have only myself. Put me on the train.

I won’t look back.

Lev Davidovich Bronstein is mentioned in this poem and another in this collection of her poems. Lev Davidovich Bronstein is the birth name for Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was the founder and Commander of the Red Army. Clearly this is a man of great importance in Russian history. This poem is based on Russian history.

“Shoulder deep in the Volga” The Volga is a river that goes through Russia, with Moscow in its drainage basin. It is the largest river in Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. This is a very important river in Russian culture. Both Trotsky and The Volga are very important to Russia and Russian history.

In the last line of the first stanza, “while the cheap dye of my black silk shirt darkened the water”, she could be saying that since she is part black, growing up in a time where blacks are discriminated against, she is trying to was away the “black in her” and the memories of being mistreated by her oppressors.

To start off the second stanza, the subject is clearly still in the water. With the water running down and covering her face. Her indicating blindness could mean she doesn't want to see Stalin's oppression or possibly her or the world being blind to what was happening in Russia at the time. The birch tree has meaning in two of the ethnicities that make up her background; Native American and Irish. It is significant to the Native part of her, because the Natives used the birch trees to make canoes and other boats, that has a tie to the fact that she was in a river. The Irish in her believes that the birch represents everything that the new Russia needed and Stalin wanted to obtain; growth, renewal, stability,

initiation, and adaptability.

When it states that Stalin folds her clothes, this could be viewed as a sign that he respects her.

She has a marmot coat, meaning she has a fair amount of money, as making a full coat out of such a s all animal, and either importing it from Russia, or being able to buy it from somewhere else and travel to Russia, indicates wealth. Rivers are seen as a very pure, and even holy symbol, and when she states she hears a man drowning in water and holiness, this could be a reference that, not only was Trotsky killed by an NKVD agent. NKVD was a secret police organization that executed rule of power during the time of Stalin and Trotsky, meaning Stalin either had a hand in killing Trotsky, or knew of his death, just as he knows what Ai would see in the river in the poem, and does not need to ask. The second meaning (in holiness), may be a reference to Trotsky's atheism, indicating that his anti-religious standpoint had a direct correlation with his downfall. This may be the “heaviest” line in the poem for symbols and revelations.

When Ai references the castrati voices, she could be comparing them to the throes of the dying. When somebody is screaming, especially when in extreme pain or in the process of being killed. Ai could be alluding to the assassination of Trotsky, because he was the man in the river. She can't recognize the voice, because she never actually heard Trotsky speak in person.

“Leon Trotsky. Bread.” Eucharist. In times of strong Christianity (1500's, etc) priests, cardinals, and other high-ranking religious figures believed they could turn wine and bread into the blood and flesh of Christ. This is known as The Eucharist. This could be seen as a strong and largely ironic allusion to the Christian religion, due to the fact that it is placed in the same line as Trotsky's name, and therefore associated with him, even though he is Atheist.

“The Spade-Shaped Hand is the fourth type and is characterized by a square base which is narrower than the top of the palm.  The fingers are relatively broad and square and may appear knotty.  A person with this type of hands usually has good manual dexterity and can do a lot of hand work all by himself.  Occupations such as mechanic and engineers are suitable for individuals with Spade-Shaped Hand because of their ability to do manual jobs effectively.”

This is a quote directly from http://readingpalm.org/type-of-hands.html. This indicates that the hands that hold her shoulders in the beginning of the poem, and her tongue at the end, belong to a person with manual dexterity and works hard with their hands.

Her stating in the end of the poem “I have only myself. Put me on the train. I won't look back”, indicates that she is leaving Russia and its struggles behind, and has no intention of returning, and that she will overlook Stalin “defeating” Trotsky and causing his death, because even the darker things he did were for the the greater good. As Machiavelli once said, “the end justifies the means.”, ironic, as Leon Trotsky himself once stated “The end may justify the means as long as something justifies the end.”

Drew's Poems

I Am Righteousness

I am Righteousness

I am the shining quality

The Maker and the Breaker

I once gaveth to the good men

And tooketh from the bad

The Pure, the Clean, are the ones that I rewarded

Gave them power in order for them to cleanse all evil

I am Righteousness

And I am lost

I am Righteousness

I am Power

The Holy, the Pure,

The Kings, the Queens

Princes and Lords

Thanes and Dukes

If they did not exercise goodness

If they did not practice honour

Then I broke them, of their will and sanity

And took all they had

I am Righteousness

And I am forgotten

Forgotten, by the men I once upheld

Became desecrated, disgraced, and dashed aside

Until only in the shadows I lived

Barely seen, barely heard, barely able to speak

Where once I held the power of God

Against all evil deeds,

Now they have grown, and I have weakened

And am but a grasshopper amongst giants

I am Righteousness

And I am buried

Buried, beneath the cruelty of men

Buried beneath the sins of the world

Beneath the criminals

These serpents, slithering through,

The skyscrapers of cities, and the backstreets of towns

The kidnappers, the rapists, and the thieves

The silver-tongues of the murderers

Their lies have brought me to an end

Bent others against my will

I am Righteousness

And I am broken

I am Righteousness

And I am broken

By the common man

I have become neglected

Forgotten, abused

I am but a body, dashed upon the rocks

By the relentless waves of greed and spite

Their evil faces mocking me

To join Hope I shall go,

Back to the Box of Pandora herself

There I will wait, for ages and ages

While the sands of time float through the days

Until one day, a child, so innocent

Within a world of flames and unspeakable horrors

Discovers me, amongst the butterflies

Of the last peaceful meadow

And it will begin anew

With the Tree and the Apple

But until that day comes

I am Righteousness

And I am lost.

The Rise and Fall of Pride

Its such a quiet thing to fall

But far more terrible is to admit it

Pride resides within us all

And for some it’s an addiction they cannot quit

Infecting the rich

Oppressing the poor

Lighting a fire like pitch

Worse off than before

Many men have the disease

Many women as well

So forget not I beg you please

That Pride created those who fell

Is pride yet not a sin?

A piece of the deadly seven?

So why is it that the holy ones

Are the only ones in heaven?

Don’t we all deserve a chance?

An opportunity to redeem?

These men who preach against the pride

Are the most proud of us it seems

Yet without pride, where are we today?

Would nations be so strong?

Wars are built upon our pride,

Yet so are the countries in which we belong

So how can we scorn it so?

Scorch its name with all our hate

When pride is the foundation

For that which we create

Without it there is no courage

To stand up to those against us

But if they were without such pride

Would they have first oppressed us?

So make your choice!

And Make haste with it as well

This “demon” pride within your chest

With good or evil does it swell?

Sorry

I repent

I Apologize

I remorse

I reproach

I

Am sorry

They say a picture is worth a thousand words

But is a word worth a thousand emotions?

Is it worth the pain?

Worth the anger?

Is it worth hearing the sacred word,

Even if it requires sorrow first,

To get the feeling deep down

Of being cared for and loved

That so many yearn for?

Worth the tears? Some may not know.

Some may not have tears

But does it still have meaning?

Is it still worth a thousand emotions?

Many people say it shows weakness

But does it?

Maybe when used in the wrong context

But at the right time, it shows intelligence

And courage, and purity

To be remorseful and accepting of your wrongdoing

But what does it really mean?

Many people misinterpret

Much like the word love

It carries much less weight

Then it did once

In the time of our parents

Grandparents

Ancestors

And so forth.

Do people really mean the words “I’m sorry”?

Too many use it to appease others

But do they really take it to the full meaning,

Of acceptance and remorse

For the catalyst of their problems?

Next time you use those words

I repent

I apologize

I remorse

I’m sorry

Think first

Are you really?

Or are you just saying that?

I repent, I remorse

Me?

I’m sorry.