Prompt #3

Like all high school heroes, their time as super stars inevitably will come to an end. Being a basketball “hero” on the reservation is a way of escaping from the actual reality of poverty and alcoholism that is rampant on the reservation.  “But what happens when your heroes don’t even know how to pay their bills?” (pg. 49) and “’Not even two in the afternoon and he [Julius Windmaker: Basketball Hero] and he is drunk as a skunk.”’ (pg.50) Characters who are good at basketball are almost seen as Christ-like because everyone sees them as someone who might “go all the way.” But, like I said at the beginning their fame will run its course, they will start drinking and lose all their acclaim when the next non-drunk superstar comes along. In this story the exact thing happens to Julius. This story fits perfectly intone of the overall themes of the book, imagination crushed by reality. Everyone imagines these “heroes” being the first person to leave the drab, sad life of living on the reservation.

                  I’m not sure about everyone else but when I played sports in high school I would fantasize during class about getting a super awesome college scholarship, going professional, getting super fat endorsement deals, and having the whole wide world fall madly in love with me. Obviously, that sadly did not happen but luckily I didn’t fall into alcoholism and self-loathing like most of the characters in the book.

A favorite quote of mine is from a bat that’s a man that we all know and love, Batman. He says “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” which most basketball heroes do in this book. “’I thought Julius would be the one to make it all the way.”’ (pg. 52) Imagine what stories people would tell if Julius Windmaker would have been killed when he was at best and no one on the reservation would have seen their hero fall to alcoholism as so many did before him.  People would never forget him and what he could’ve been; he would have been made immortal.

By the end of  “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation” Julius has succumbed to alcoholism and the people on the reservation have moved on to their next hero with potential, Lucy. Who knows if she ever makes it “all the way” but it doesn’t really matter because one can assume she falls to the same kryptonite as everyone before her. This story gives me a sense of hopelessness. Do y’all feel Julius would have been made an all-time hero if he would have dies when he was in his awesome stage of life?

(I hope y'all enjoy my superhero references!)

Phase 3

Basketball is seen as a central part of Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven because it is a sport played by one of the main characters, Victor, as a source of belonging and healing and makes new living legends on the reservation.

                In “Indian Education” we first learn that Victor started playing basketball when he was in the fifth grade and it is something he followed all the way up throughout high school. While he was the only Indian on an all white basketball team in high school he still played for the love of the sport not because of anything it had to do with his race (even though his race had  always seemed to be on display playing for a team with the mascot of “The Indians”).  Victor continues to play basketball until he messes up his knees while getting hit during a game. While in the story “Jesus Christ’s Half-Brother is Alive and Well on the Spokane Indian Reservation” in never says directly that the person caring for James is Victor, Alexie makes subtle hints with the references to having difficulty with drinking and sobriety and basketball feeling almost second nature to the character. This is seen when the character starts trying to sober up and starts playing basketball again and says “the old feelings and old moves are still there in my heart and in my fingers” (127).  Basketball has played a very important part in Victor’s life and it seems the only time when he’s not playing is in a time where drinking was his life.

                In the story “The Only Traffic Light on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” Alexie really shows how important basketball is on the reservation because it makes living legends that everybody in town knows about. Even though Victor and Adrian seem to be at a much later stage in their lives they still know about all the up and coming basketball stars on the reservation like Julius Windmaker who is only 15 years old. Even in his young age Victor refers to him as “the latest in a long line of reservation basketball heroes” but Julius deserves the recognition with all the work he has already put in (45). They make mention of some of these basketball heroes like Silas Sirius who only scored on basket in his entire career but is still seen as a legend with Victor and Adrian still retelling the story of his single basket. This illustrates the point that Victor makes on the next page with saying “A reservation hero is remembered forever. In fact, their status grows over the years as their story is told and retold” (48). While the hero status never goes away on the reservation and they make walking legends, they are always looking for a new basketball star to look for. After Julius has a bad game where he wasn’t as good as expected there is already a shift in every bodies focus to new stars, even with Victor and Adrian talking about the 3^rd grader Lucy. While Victor talks about the hurt that comes with losing a basketball player that they saw could make it all the way they also move onto looking at the new person to take their place already elevating kids to a living legend status. 

Phase 2

Sarah Orne Jewett’s short story titled, “A White Heron” was written in 1886. This more ‘modern’ fairy tale, as some have called it, focuses on the story of a little girl and her fascination with finding the white heron. In the process of looking for this incredible, rare bird, the girl’s eyes are opened bigger than they have ever been before. 

            Jewett’s fictional story, begins by showing the audience the daily ritual of its main character, Sylvia. Everyday, Sylvia goes out into the fields, by herself, to collect her grandmother’s old ‘moo-cow’, their milking cow. At this point, the author chooses to show the character Sylvia, to the audience, rather than having someone talk about her. The audience sees that Sylvia does not have any friends or any entertainment in her day, other than this errand of bringing the cow back to their farm (Jewett 67). The audience sees how Sylvia turns this simple chore into a fascinating game, enjoying every bit of it. It is almost mythical how she gets so much enjoyment out of this activity.

            The story seems to be going along quite pleasantly on this one afternoon. Jewett uses very descriptive words to make the story appear clean and crisp, nothing bad has happened or even thought to happen, yet. Suddenly, the tone of the story changes and the words “horror-stricken” are used (68). At this point, a man hunting in the woods unpleasantly greets Sylvia. To the audience, Sylvia has just run into ‘an enemy’.  This part of the story is written very differently than the rest.  Clearly, this event was quite upsetting to Sylvia. In the fairy tale sense, this seems like it is the highpoint or climax of the story, however it is not. Compared to Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood”, this appears to have a strong correlation to Red’s run-in with the wolf in the woods, heading to her grandmother’s house.  The feeling the audience gets at this point, in both stories, is the same. Of course, it is a fictional feeling, backed with little worry, but it is a feeling of wondering what huge event is about to happen. For Red, she was about to meet her fate, after the wolf raced her back to her grandmother’s house to eat them both. However, for Sylvia, this moment is a bit different. The strange man briefly questions Sylvia and asks her for a place to stay, moments later the two are walking up her grandmother’s driveway, completely safe and sound (68).

            Upon arriving at the house, the man in instantly greeted, on the porch, by the grandmother, Mrs. Tilley. Unlike with Red, where the wolf tricked the grandmother into letting him in before eating her, the stranger showed himself in true form and asked the grandmother if he could stay.  The grandmother spent a while talking to the stranger about Sylvia, her connection with animals, and her love for living there. The stranger was very thankful for his accommodations and immediately questioned the pair on his reason for being there. The stranger spoke quite eloquently of this white heron bird that had been spotted in this area, that he wanted to find, shoot, and mount. The author immediately declares him an ornithologist, and nothing more about his job or hobby is discussed other than finding this bird. Again, the way he talks about finding the bird, and Sylvia’s ability to completely ignore his conversation brings about quite a mythical and fairytale- like feeling.

            At this point, the story seems to dwindle down, as if the climax has already occurred and there is nothing else left to happen. The next day Sylvia goes with the man to look for the bird. At the end of the day, she comes across the tree, which she could see for miles from, if she could only climb to the top of it (72). The following day, Sylvia decides she will wake up early and run off alone to this tree, climb it, and find this white heron. Sylvia spends quite a while climbing the tree and scaling across its great limbs, high into the sky. When she reaches the top she describes, beautifully, all that she can see, including the mysterious bird (73). Hurrying down and back to the house, the story is ending. All of a sudden, this event is the new climax and the story is again in its downfall. Jewett uses many literary ‘grabbers’ to keep the attention of the audience while still continuing with the story. All of this continues to add mystery to the story; there is a constant sense of wonder felt throughout the characters and audience. Sylvia is determined to tell her worried grandmother and the man all about where the heron lives and how to catch it, up until she gets home. When they ask her where she has been, the sense of mystery comes in again, and she cannot speak. Suddenly, Sylvia realizes that this secret she has found is worth all its wonder, to herself, not them. All the man wants to do is kill the bird, which fascinates her (75).

            Jewett clearly thought using the skewed fairy-tale route would be an effective way to get her story across. And it seems to be a successful method, the mythical points in the story pop out and create an allusion of wonder and beauty, just like a fairytale story. This theme of wonder and secrecy is quite clearly illuminated through this type of story, and Jewett shows this throughout, “A White Heron”.

Ambivalence

                Circumstances can quickly change causing human beings who are friends turn into enemies.  The dictionary defines ambivalence as “the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions.” Guy De Maupassant’s “Mother Savage” shows a perfect example of ambivalence between a French mother and four Prussian soldiers who are billeted in her cottage.

                 The story was set during the Franco-Prussian War in the 1800’s and this would fit as the author himself was a Frenchmen who lived during these times.  The mother whose name is given as “Mother Savage” has a son who volunteers to go to war leaving her alone.  During these times, Mother Savage is forced to quarter four soldiers from the same country her son is fighting against.  At first, the mother treats the soldiers with respect and takes care of them as “she liked them well enough… those four enemies of hers; for country people don’t as a rule feel patriotic hatred-those feelings are reserved for the upper class” (Maupassant 78). Although they are supposed to be her enemies because of the war, Mother Savage does not treat them this way because she feels these men have done nothing wrong to her.  The soldiers were also considerate to her as they took care of the chores around the cottage. 

                Feelings direly changed as one day the mother received a letter that stated her son had been killed during the war. This event totally changed the way the mother felt about the Prussian soldiers. She wanted revenge for what had happened to her son and she wanted the mothers of these soldiers to feel the same way she did. Maupassant uses the literary device of foreshadowing to show a terrible event is about to happen as Mother Savage “watched the [soldiers] from the corners of her eyes, not speaking turning an idea over and over in her head” (Maupassant 80).  The Mother ends up locking the four soldiers in the house and setting it on fire.  With no regret to what she did, she calmly told everybody why she killed the men and was later executed. 

One event can certainly change the way we feel about other people in a good or bad way.  Did Mother Savage have the right to kill these soldiers who had nothing to do with the death of her son?  One will never know what they did would do unless it happened to them, but I feel she had no right to kill the soldiers.  These men were considerate and treated her with the utmost respect as “they took pains to show her all possible consideration and did everything they could to save her trouble or expense” (Maupassant 78).  Also, should one pay one bad deed with another bad deed? If this was so, then this would be a never-ending cycle of murdering.  The author as well showed the terrible effects war can have on people who before the war were best friends, but because of nationality, could turn into hated enemies.

Works Cited

De Maupassant, Guy. "Mother Savage." Fiction: A Pocket Anthology. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2012.

               76-83. Print.

Mother Savage phase 2

Mother Savage is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant it takes place during the Franco-Prussian war of the 1870s. Mother Savage’s Son volunteered for the war leaving her all alone. Since she was well off and had money when the Prussians came they were billeted with family’s in the village and since Mother Savage had money she was given four Prussians to care for. Guy de Maupassant's "Mother Savage" illustrates the seemingly ambivalent way that people can go from "enemy" to "neutral" to "friend." Ambivalence is a state of having simultaneous, conflicting feelings toward a person or thing. When the four young Prussians arrived they were in conquered territory so naturally they were enemies of the peasants. But the Prussians started helping around the house, cleaning windows, bringing food home they realized she was old and frail and tried to make the situation as best as she could for them. “In short, doing all the chores like four good boys working for their own mother”(78).  She took a bonding to them, and became their “friends” so its surprising the way the story ends “She liked them well enough, too, those four enemies of hers”(78). When the letter arrived informing Mother Savage of her sons death, something inside of her snapped, she realized that the Prussians are not her friends, they killed her son so she sat I thought of revenge. She was taking a liking to the four boys but what do you do when your son was killed by the fellow countrymen of the people you called “friends”. I’m sure she had conflicting feelings about her plan to murder the soldiers but that didn’t stop her, she wanted revenge. She wanted their mothers know how it felt to lose a son. The ambivalence between friend and enemy is a central theme to the story. The Prussian soldiers did everything to make her comfortable and they thought of her as a friend since she was so kind to them and gave no hints of stabbing them in the back. But its nothing they did, when Mother Savage decided they were enemies and slaughtered them.    

The title is foreshadowing in itself “was this their name or nickname”(77) that phrase right there gets you thinking that maybe its not their surname like you would think. How can this sweet old woman be a savage? As the story comes to the end, you understand that Mother Savage is her nickname for what she did for the soldiers. “You can write them how this all happened, and you can tell their parents that I was the one who did it- I, Victoire Simon, The Savage! Never forget it”(82) she made the soldiers think they were safe and even convinced them that putting straw up in the loft with them would make them warmer and they even helped! They helped her in her plan to kill them.

The story also uses the literally device of a flashback to tell the story. When discussing the family that used to live there, “I also recalled that the good woman who lived there had asked me in, one day when I was bone-tired….” (77). It shows that people in the area thought fondly of her and she was a nice old woman that would help a fellow person in need. But everyone has a dark side and all it took for Mother Savage’s to come out was the death of her son. 

Women

The short stories "Girl"by Jamaica Kincaid and "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker are both written from a mother's point of view and define the role of the woman by focusing on the mother-daughter relationship.

Both short stories show a negative depiction of the mother-daughter relationship. Even though both are written with the mother as the narrator, "Girl" is a mother's critical view of her daughter while "Everyday Use" is a daughter's critical view of her mother. The narrator in "Girl" looks down on her daughter by making remarks like, "to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming" (350). The word slut obviously has a negative connotation and is never a good thing. The narrator is unsatisfied with her daughter and makes what seems to be an assumption since it is not objected by the daughter herself. It is apparent in this story that the way everyone views a woman is important. The narrator covers everything from how to dress to how to smile to each person. In "Everyday Use", the narrator begins by describing her daughter Dee. She gives us an image of Dee succeeding and starring on television. She starts off by saying, "In real life, I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (327). To describe how Dee looks down on her mother, the narrator gives us a contrasting image of what Dee would want it to be like if her and her mother were to be on television. She says, "But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley" (327). This shows that Dee's mother is not up to her standards. For the narrator of "Everyday Use", appearance means little to nothing. Her daughter feels differently since she looks down on her mother's appearance and where she comes from.

"Girl" and "Everyday Use" also focus on a woman's work to run a household. The narrator of "Everyday Use" works in a different way than what is usually thought of when running a household. Some of the chores the narrator in "Everyday Use" performs are depicted by saying, "I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man" (327). Or, "I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing" (327). The narrator of "Girl" speaks of work in a much different way, "Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; was the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothes-line to dry" (350). From what I could tell, the narrator in "Everyday Use" behaves in a way that tells me there is  not a man in the household because of this, the narrator's role is to be both the man and the woman of the household. "Girl" does mention a father being present so this may explain the absence of dirty work that was present in "Everyday Use". Both stories only talk of the woman's role and never compare or contrast it with that of a man's. However we know that killing and cleaning hogs is a man's job by the way the narrator of "Everyday Use" words the sentence.

"Girl" and "Everyday Use"show the roles of the women. Both narrators have the responsibility of running a household and raising daughters. These ladies have a lot on their plate and even though the mother-daughter relationship is strained, they make it work.

Phase 1: The Mother-Daughter Relationship

The short stories “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaid and “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker are two very different stories, but share many similar themes. One such theme is the complex relationship between mother and daughter. The way the mother in “Girl” speaks to her daughter comes across as borderline demeaning, and the way in which Dee (Wangero) speaks and acts towards her mother in “Everyday Use” is also some what negative, but both stories still show traditional relationships between mother and daughter. The narrators’ voices and the interaction between the characters of each story provide a detailed look into the complex relationship between mother and daughter.

                The narrator in Kincaid’s “Girl” is providing her daughter with advice on being domestic and being a lady. One of the major roles in the relationship between mother and daughter is that of a teacher. The mother in Kincaid’s story is teaching her daughter the things that she will need to know as she grows into a woman, however, the ways in which the mother presents the lessons to her daughter are accusatory and show a general distrust. The mother asks her daughter if she sings benna in Sunday school, and one of the pieces of advice offered on being a lady is “don’t sing benna in Sunday school”, to which the daughter replies, “I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school”(350). The mother asks the question and corrects her daughter before her daughter answers, implying that the question was accusatory. Throughout the story the mother also accuses her daughter of becoming a slut later in life. She tells her daughter to “walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming,” “prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming,” and “behave yourself in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming” (350). The mother’s role as a teacher becomes a critique of the daughter because of the distrust between the mother and daughter.

                It is every parent’s hope that her child will be better off than she was, and most parents would unselfishly offer anything they had to their children. In Walker’s “Everyday Use”, Dee is more intelligent and more attractive than her mother, giving her an attitude of superiority, and she tries to exploit her mother’s generosity. The best example of Dee’s sense of superiority comes from the narrator’s perception of Dee’s ideal mother; “I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Jonny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue (328).” Dee’s dissatisfaction with her mother’s appearance is evident even to the mother, who is narrating the story. Not only does Dee feel superior to her mother in physical appearance, but in intelligence as well. Before she moved away, Dee often read to her uneducated mother and undereducated sister, only to “push [them] away at just the moment, like dimwits, [they] seemed about to understand” (328). Throughout the story Dee helps herself to her mother’s belongings, such as the churn top made by Uncle Buddy and the dasher made by Uncle Henry (332). Because of her mother’s generosity, Dee felt entitled to her things, as though “they already belonged to her” (333). It is not until Dee’s sense of entitlement encroaches on her sister’s inheritance that the mother draws the line. In “Everyday Use”, Dee negatively affects the traditional mother daughter relationship by acting superior and taking advantage of her mother’s generosity.

                In both Kincaid’s and Walker’s stories, the relationships between mother and daughter, such as teacher and care giver, are affected negatively by one involved party, the mother in “Girl” and the daughter in “Everyday Use”. Though these stories have negative aspects, they both show tradition roles played by mothers and daughters. The fact that they are negatively affected by actions of either mother or daughter show how fragile even the most intimate relationships can be.