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Raymond Carver: "Are These Actual Miles?" (4/28/17)

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Raymond Carver: "Are These Actual Miles?" (4/28/17)

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Raymond Carver depicts a struggling family who lives too far unrealistic of a lifestyle for their budget.  The structure of the story has the reader questioning just how desperate this couple is.  The entire narrative takes place in just one night. The beauty of desire is what diminishes this family. Everything from cheating, spending money, and alcohol slowly cave in on the couple. Both the wife and husband do things behind one another's back. They are desperate to sell their fire red car just to get some cash. The narrative shows the utter sadness in how low this couple is willing to go to live a lavish lifestyle. The wife, Toni, cheats on her husband dropping so low just to try to sell this car for money. The short piece gives the reader plenty of room for self reflection and curiosity.  How far would you be willing to go to "help" your family?  What type of image would you want for yourself and what would you do to protect that?  The title of the short story is meant to have the couple reflect on their past and what lead them to where they are now.

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Mohammed Mrabet: "The Canebrake" (4/20/17)

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Mohammed Mrabet: "The Canebrake" (4/20/17)

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Mohammed Mrabet, "The Canebrake" breaks down gender roles and gender inequality with the two main characters.  A controlling husband, Kacem, dominates all parts of his wife's life. The bold moves Kacem's wife presents is the twist of the story. This woman refuses to be walked on any longer and takes things into her own hands, quite literally. This narrative piece is a good representation of feminism. Kacem's wife refuses to not live her life under her husband any long. All she wants is to be respected and possess freedom. Though some may critique the plot twist as morally wrong, it adds humor to the story. Kacem's wife performs sexual interactions with his best friend...what happens next? Does this teach Kacem a lesson or does this make her life more of a living hell? Mrabet's theme of woman empowerment unfolds throughout the characters interactions with one another and an outside force. Taking place in Morocco, this gives insight into typical gender roles for the country and the injustices. The ending of the short story might surprise some readers. This narrative adds a shock factor in retaliation against stereotypes.

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Can Xue: "The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes" (5/3/17)

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Can Xue: "The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes" (5/3/17)

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Point of view in Can Xue's, "The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes" plays an important role to the plot. The narrator is never named and the reader is not quite sure the relation to the story. The narrator carries the short story along, delivering the plot in chronological order. With the first-person narration, the reader is left to wonder what exactly is happening. An outside narration would be all knowing, contradicting the room for curiosity of the ending. The narrative is very short but not short of a plot. The story's plot contains a plethora of repetition. The idea of travel is stressed and the mother is constantly beheading the snakes, over and over again. The disappearance of the son, Sha-Yuan is not as discussed as much as the reader would expect. Other concepts are stressed much more and when he disappears, it is like he next even existed.  The repetition used by the narrator puts an emphasis on the important contributing factors. Did the parents not care about their son or was their

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Viet Thanh Nguyen: "The Sympathizer"(5/1/17)

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Viet Thanh Nguyen: "The Sympathizer"(5/1/17)

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Viet Thanh Nguyen's novel, " The Sympathizer" focuses on narration to tell the two-sided story. The narrator is a double agent working for both Vietnam and The United States. His "bastard" lifestyle haunts him all throughout the novel. He contemplates if being a sympathizer is a gift or a curse.  The structure of the novel unveils his strength. Whenever the reader might think this could be the end and he is caught, he rises to the occasion. The narrator is asked to carry out orders that he does not agree with, but he complies to save face. He faces characters that are allies and enemies at the same time. The Auteur truly gives the narrator a run for his money. He nearly kills the narrator, yet this does not left him defeated. The persistence that appears in this novel is admirable. Readers can learn valuable lessons from those chapters alone. This narrative criticizes previous historical literature by some means. Nguyen stresses that the narrator can understand both sides, making bias much less prevalent. The characters involved in the novel all play out in the structure of the plot. Just when you think you know someone, you're wrong.

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Jane Smiley's Novella: "Good Will" (4/29/17)

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Jane Smiley's Novella: "Good Will" (4/29/17)

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Jane Smiley's "Good Will" captures the flaws that are associated with complete individualism. This novella dives into a Pennsylvanian family who is almost fully self reliant. Robert, the husband of Liz and father of Tommy, controls the majority of their lives.  The entire structure of the novella is what reveals the retaliation in Tommy's life against his rustic lifestyle.  Robert tries to influence Tommy to become like him and engage in this individualist life.  While Tommy caves into his fathers demands, he is acting out in school. The more Tommy is pushed by Robert, the worse things he does. When looking at the plot unfold, every time Tommy acts out, it escalates from the incident before hand. Liz is submissive to Robert as well and even gives away her weekly church outing to please her husband. She lives a very old fashioned lifestyle. Her confession to why she does not go to church anymore is because she does not have enough room in her life for her husband and God. Smiley's way of depicting an abnormal lifestyle is admirable.  The use of structure and characters play a critical role in the narrative.  This novella is structured to show the repercussions of extreme individualism.