Unready to Wear

I found this story really interesting. The story is about a man and his wife who started a business where you could trade in your body and receive a new one. It is stated in the story that the mind is the only important thing of the body.

I think this story is about the conflict from within someone. You are never satified with the way you are, so you pretend to change things, or you get surgery to correct it. I actually found the story a little confusing and messed up. It sort of reminded me of the movie Jeepers Creepers. This story could also be a story about a man with split personality disorder. And this is the inside of his mind figuring out every personality.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

This story is about a teenage girl, who loves attention from boys. She lives with her parents, and makes fun of her sister. She goes out with friends and one time happens to meet a rough boy named Arnold. She decides to stay home when her parents and sister go to a barbque. She washes her hair and is sitting outside wondering about Arnold. Then he shows up at the house, she at first flirts, but then realizes that he might hurt her. She says she will call the cops, but he says that if she does her family will be hurt. She decides to give into him after a struggle, and goes with him. She did not know where she was going.

I think that this story is about immaturity, yet transitioning into adulthood. She is very immature in her ways, but when it came down to making choices, she chose her family over herself. She got herself into this situation, and now she is going to have to figure it out.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

This story is about a town called Omelas. It is painted to be the perfect town, an utopia. The time of the story is when a summer festival is occurring. We find out litttle by little about the people. They are normal people and have nothing too extraordinary with them. However, in a basement room under a building is a boy kept in with no windows and in a locked door. The town brings people by to see him. They do not talk to him, but show him to the younger kids. They do this so that they know they should be good and be good to their children. The boy is fed very little and has sores all over him, because he lives in his own excrements. In the end, the children either go live a good life, or they leave Omelas.

This story is about finding the truth and making choices. Sometimes when you are little you think your parents have no faults. When you find out that they have faults, you have to decide what to do. This story shows the children the truth and they must "live good lives." However, some make a "choice" and leave this horrible place. Another relation to the story is that looks are deceiving.

Good Country People

This story is about a mother who divorced her husband and is living with her three daughters. The youngest is pregnant and sick. The middle is beautiful and adored by men. And the oldest is not as beautiful and she is missing a leg. She changes her name from Joy to Hulga and she also has a PhD. A Bible salesman comes to the house and the mother wants to send him away, but he says he has the same disease as the youngest sister so he comes in for supper. He likes Hulga so he asks her to meet him. They meet and kiss. He tells her that he loves her and asks her to remove her leg. She does and he leaves her legless in the barn.

This story deals with being careful who you trust. I think that Hulga wanted that attention so bad she would do anything. The name contains the word hope, which may signify how they are trying to find something that will help them, but they looked in the wrong spot.

Barn Burning

This story is about a family who moves a lot, because the father and older brother burn the barns of the farms they are working at. There is a Justice of the Peace in every town who bans them from the town. One day they go work at a rich man's house, the father upsets the family by walking on the runner with dirty boots. When the father and older brother go to burn the barn, the little brother runs and tells the farmer. The farmer kills the father and older brother. The little brother runs away.

This story is about disloyalty, distrust, and lying in relationships. The father and older brother do not establish a firm relationship with their employers or within the family itself. It is sad to say that the little brother knew more of that.

Sweat

This story is about a lady named Delia. She is married to Sykes, who obviously abuses her in the story. She is hard working and any money she earns Sykes uses it to spend on the woman he is having an affair with. He gets a snake and uses it against Delia, because she is afraid of it. He thinks it will get her to leave the house. So one day she went running out of the house when he saw it. He went in and was bit by the snake. She sat under the window and listened to him die.

I think this story is definitely about spousal abuse or abuse to woman in general. The amount of male dominance that one can have on a female. Sykes is a representation with the devil, because the snake closely resembles the snake from the Bible in the Garden of Eden.

Paul's Case

The story is about a boy who is stuck in a fantasy land. He is not pleased with the life he is living and wants more out of it. He works at Carnegie Hall and enjoys doing that because the music soothes him and helps him escape reality. He lives at home with his father and siblings, because his mother has passed away. He starts stealing money from his work and then decides to go to New York. After all the money is gone he realizes that the only place to go is home, but instead he kills himself by jumping in from of a train.

I think that depression is a very important theme. The death of his mother seems to be a big factor. Also the monotonous life that he lives. This story also deals with the issue of class. Paul seems to know that he does not want to live the life of a poor man. He wants to have luxury and an easy lifestyle, but the problem is that he cannot grasp the concept that you have to work for that sort of life. He wants it now and nothing will stop him.