One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich


I enjoyed this reading and the authors ability to paint an image of what our ancestors had to endure.  I found the reading to lack action.  The story told of small traumas and occurences but I felt it lacked progression.  I wonder if this was intended by Solzhenitsyn as he was trying to potray the life of a prisoner is boring.

I also found it interesting how the prisoners developed their own small society within the camp.  It contained rich and poor, leaders and followers, thieves and rule followers who were all striving for personal success and survival, similar to our own society.

I felt the title created a sense of expectation and then replaced it with a negative sense of Shukhov's difficulty living in the camp and the true meaning of captivity.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

As I began reading this short story I was expecting an romantic love story, that is not at all how it turned out.  During the first few pages of the story you meet a family consisting of a grandmother, three children, a mother and father.  The dynamics of the family interested me, the grandmother played a big role throughout the story, but the mother maybe said two words.  The father seemed to be a grumpy, impatient man.  The setting of the story is primarily in a car as the family is on vacation.  One piece of the story that foreshadowed what would happen is when the author explained in detail what the grandmother was wearing on page 354 and even states "anyone seeing her dead on a highway would know at once that she was a lady."

The author also used irony during the beginning of the story when the grandmother threatens the children with the Misfit, the criminal who had broken out of prison.  At the end of the story the family is in a car accident and the Misfit is the man who approaches them on the side of the road and eventually kills them.

Irony was also used with the cat the grandmother had secretly brought along caused the accident to happen while the family was driving down a back road trying to find the plantation the Grandmother had remembered was in a completely different state.

"A Gift for Magi"

What a great lesson of symbolism and irony this story provides.  This is one of the first readings I really enjoyed reading.  Magi, a distraught younger women, wants to buy her husband something great for Christmas.  The couple has been going through financial struggles and she only has $1.87  to buy a present for Jim.  There has always been two things Jim has been very proud of in life, his pocket watch and Magi's long flowing locks of hair.  In a state of panic Magi decides to cut her hair and sell it to use the money for a nice chain for Jim's pocket watch.  She finds the perfect chain.

When Jim arrives home he is shocked as he walks through the door and sees his bride, now with less hair.  Jim sits down as Magi pleads for him not to be upset with her.  Jim hands Magi her Christmas gift, a set of brushes she has been wanting for quite some time.  Jim had sold his watch to buy the brushes.

The symbolism of the unselfish love they have for each other also adds irony to the story, they each sold their prized possessions to provide the other with a material gift.

"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"  By Earnest Hemingway

First of all I was interested to learn a few facts about Hemingway.  He was a world traveler who did not attend college and was involved in both World Wars.  He married at least three different times and wrote many great pieces.

I think this story showed how we have become so wrapped up in ourselves we forget to care about others.  The younger waiter was in a hurry to get home and was frustrated with the deaf, older man who kept asking for more brandy.  The waiter even stated to the deaf man "You should have killed yourself last week."  Would anyone really do that in real life?  The scary thing is I think they would.  As a society, I believe, we have become so self absorbed, many times we only think of ourselves not the affect we have on others.

A & P

This is a story of a group of young girls out enjoying a summer day.  On there way home they stop into a story, still wearing their bathing suits, to get some herring for one of their mothers.    The story is told from the store clerks perspective.  As the girls are shopping the manager approaches them in a rude manner and tells them they can not wear such attire in his store, shirts and shoes required.  He embarrasses the young girls and makes a scene in front of the house slaves in the store.  Sammy, the young clerk, is disgusted by how his manager treats the girls and quits his job.

I think we have all at one time thought about walking out on a job, but would you ever have the nerve to do so?  For Sammy his values and personal beliefs were stronger than his job.

Hi everyone!  If you read my blog you will find it is a little out of order as I was posting the incorrect way.  Sorry for confusion, but I think I got it now!

Happy Day!

JaciJune 2, 2012 1:58 PM

OK.....so I finally figured out how to get back on my blog to post. This has been a little learning curve for me. After having read this I'm glad to know that I am already using one of the active reading steps, note taking. I started taking notes about 11 years ago when I was in college, for the first time :), and need help focusing on my reading assignments. It has always been very hard for me to stay on task while reading, I find my mind wondering about a million other things. Since I have learned to take notes as I read for leisure as it helps me remember what I have read and the big topics of the book. I would suggest this for anyone who has trouble remembering what you have read.

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JaciJune 3, 2012 9:52 AM

Alexander Solzhenitsyns Nobel Review

I think Alexander Solzhenitsyns main point was that was we say and write can change people and their personal opinions. He discussed how what we say and how we say it can change a persons opinion of that topic, what a powerful idea! As I sit here writing this I think to myself how many times have I changed my opinion based on what someone has said or written, think about it in your own life. I found it kinda scary how many times I could remember changing my view point on a topic from something I read or a discussion I heard.

Dr.Dyer is this the right way to post????