A Student
ESL 098
10/10/08
Reaction Sample #1
I love that short story about Bernice who bobs her hair. I have never read a short story that is so interesting like that one. I wish the author would make it into a novel instead. I wonder if Bernice will get in trouble for what she did at the end. I know my mother would yell at me for hours. She thinks that other mothers would say that she doesn’t know how to discipline her children. I have always wanted to do something similar to my older sister, but I don’t have the guts to do so.
I hate Marjorie because she doesn’t know what she got until she is about to lose it. For example, at first Warren was in love with Marjorie, but she thinks that she is too good for him. Then, when Warren pays more attention to Bernice, she envies Bernice, and talks Bernice into cutting her hair. I think Marjorie did all of this because she wanted Warren to pay attention to her instead of Bernice,. I think all of Marjorie’s friends are somewhat like Marjorie. No one even stops Bernice, instead they talk her into it. I think where Marjorie lived is for all cruel people. I admire Bernice for staying at Marjorie’s house that long. If I were her, I would be long gone. I love the ending more than anything.
In some ways, I think Marjorie is somewhat a lot like Tom. At the end, Tom has realized that what he got was good. Maybe Marjorie is not exactly like that, but she wanted Warren to pay attention to her like he used to. Bernice is like Gatsby because they are being fooled by the people around them. At home, people like Bernice, and they never say anything bad about her. Gatsby, when he was alive, people attended his parties, at the same time they say bad stuff behind Gatsby’s back. At his funeral, no one attended, but when he was alive, everyone attended his parties without being invited. Bernice, maybe people do say bad stuff about her, but she just doesn’t know.
I find that all of Fitzgerald’s stories are all similar in one way or another. His stories always introduce, or the narrator always starts the whole story. He describes a lot of things in such meaningful words. Whenever I read his stiff, I always reread everything because his writing make you think a lot. He is not like other authors that just explain everything to you. He always leaves you to think of the conclusion or anywhere in the story. It seems like Fitzgerald understands a lot about life, and that is why he writes mostly about something that happens in someone’s life. His writing is fiction, but things that he writes about could be someone in real life. Definitely the story of “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” really can relate to a lot of real life stuff. Some of his points in the story really made me admire him. I think that there could also be a lesson to learn in each story that he wrote.
A Student
ESL 098
10/10/08
Reaction Sample #2
When I went back to read the first part, I really understand why Nick mentions, “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” I think that Nick is referring to Jay Gatsby. Back then Daisy’s family was criticizing Gatsby because he was poor. I think Nick was trying to say that you should not criticize someone because you will never know what would happen in the future. For an example, Daisy’s family didn’t want Daisy to marry Gatsby because he was poor, but look at Gatsby five years later. He is just as rich as Daisy and Tom, maybe he is a lot richer than Tom.. Even though he got rich illegally, the point is that now he is rich. He is well known, and have everything that he wanted. I guess the whole point is that no matter what you make of yourself, you will always be that person who you used to be . For instance, Gatsby may be rich, but he was not born rich. Rich people who were born rich have different attitudes, and they’ll be known to be rich no matter what happens to them. They will always have people respect them. Unlike Gatsby, he made himself rich, but he’ll always be known to be poor. When he died, no one went to his funeral to any respects. I bet if Tom died, and even though people know that he always cheated on his wife, they would still go to his funeral. This thing about class is kind of sad. I don’t understand why people act they way they do.
A Student
ESL 098
10/10/08
Reaction Sample #3
I have read “The Abortion” about five times. I still don’t know what they story exactly wants me to learn. Beside the discussion in class about the meaning of abortion, I only understand the story superficially, how it tells me their relationship and ending up separated. In my opinion, Imani has to take some responsibility for this separation because she was dishonest at the beginning of their marriage. According to what the story said, “She was a fraud.” The husband could not blame anyone except himself because he had not paid attention to Imani, but instead focussed on Mayor Carswell. That is why Imani thought if she had more children, it would cause Clarence to care about her more than other things. She needed his care. Unfortunately, it never came true as she wanted. It ended up she had to abort her pregnancy. Because she had suffered by the abortion procedure, it forced her to decide not to carry any burden of having a child. The reaction of her husband and the mayor at the church also caused her to abort the relationship with her husband.
The thing which I learned from the story is that things are not as simple as we think.