We Can Remember it for You Wholesale - Phillip K. Dick

Phillip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” reminds me of the world we are currently living in. Dick uses strange vocabulary such as “conapt” (357) and “vidphone” (356) which is reminiscent of our new technical language such as “Ipod” and “PDA”. These kinds of words have become part of our everyday existence, which is why “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” is a story that is not so far removed from the tech-savvy, virtual type world we live in today. The world in Dick’s story has “robot drivers” (360) which mirrors the fact that machines and computers are now running many jobs that were previously run by a human being. While the technology we have today is amazing, it is also kind of scary. In the end of “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale”, technology proves to fail the protagonist. Dick was not far off in imagining the reliability of technology, as presently we find ourselves completely inconvenienced if our internet connection does not work or we have a massive power outage. If the reader can take away one very important message from Dick’s story, I believe that it should be not to depend on technology all the time as it can be both remarkable and terrifying. Our virtual society must remember that human beings created computers, cell phones and every other piece of technological equipment and sometimes we should just put away the machines that make life easier and use our good, old fashioned brains.

The Open Boat - Stephen Crane

What I found to be so intriguing about Stephan Crane’s ‘The Open Boat”, was how Crane portrayed the different ways the men dealt with the crisis at hand. Each of the men knew that they would most likely not survive, yet each of them handles this reality differently. The character of the correspondent chooses to spend his final moments smoking a cigar as he observes the state of the other men onboard. By doing so, the correspondent is almost pulling himself out of the horror around him and instead of participating in his demise he becomes an aloof observer. The cook chooses to talk about pie as a coping mechanism for his impending death. Perhaps the cook focuses on pie because cooking had been his life and is something that is familiar and comforting to him, unlike the scenario he faces aboard the boat. “I am going to be drowned – If am going to be drowned – If I am going to be drowned, why, in the same of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?” (Crane 349). This phrase is repeated several times throughout the story, perhaps as a way to rationalize their death through the belief of a higher being. If the mean can somehow believe that it is the will of nature or of God that they must die aboard the ship than perhaps they are comforted. Believing in a higher power is a coping mechanism that an extraordinarily large number of people use; if life and death are out of the men’s hands and into the hands of something more powerful. They men may feel more at peace with their death because it was meant to be. Either way, Crane has explored the vastly different ways people react to death in a story that encompasses humanity’s greatest fear.

The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin

The character of Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” finds freedom in a moment and loses it just as quickly. Chopin is truly a master of the short story, as she has managed to pack an ironic story full of symbolism in a mere page and a half. Upon hearing the news of her husbands death, Mrs. Mallard felt “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (Chopin 267). The fear that Mrs. Mallard felt is her realization that she was not upset about her husbands death because it brought her freedom; for the first time in her life, she would be allowed to live and do what she pleased, without having to answer to her husband. Many people may find Mrs. Mallard’s behavior strange and question why she is not more upset over the death of her husband. However, we are not completely certain of the circumstances of Mrs. Mallard’s relationship with her husband. We are told that her face “bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 267). Also, the story was written in 1894, a time when most women were not allowed to break out of the wife and mother mold. Through this, we can infer that perhaps Mrs. Mallard was abused by her husband or completely controlled by him. One cannot say that Mrs. Mallard was wrong in feeling what she felt when she thought that her husband had died for she was finally free from the marriage and the man that ruled her life for so long; it is only human to want to yearn for freedom and independence in our lifetime.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard would never get to feel that sense of freedom as Chopin utilizes the power of irony when Mr. Mallard walks through the door and his wife dies “of joy that kills” (Chopin 268). Here, we can liken the character of Mrs. Mallard to Peyton Farquhar in Ambrose Beirce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Both characters were struggling against a force greater than themselves – Farquhar against his enemies at the bridge and Mrs. Mallard against her dominating husband. Sadly, it is only in death that both of these characters defeated their opponents and found the freedom they longed for.

Avatar

My second life avatar, HeatherC Heartsdale, is a reasonably true reflection of myself. I chose my name because one of my favorite literary devices is alliteration; I chose to use my real first name, Heather, and my last initial and feel that Heartsdale accompanies my name nicely. In second life, I chose to make my avatar look and dress similar to myself. My avatar’s outfit is simple and comfortable – just a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, much like what I would wear in real life. I find it intriguing that I can see a virtual version of myself walking around because in real life we do not get the chance to step back and see ourselves. While we are able to see an image of ourselves projected in a mirror or in a picture, it is impossible to remove ourselves from our body and see what we look like to others. Second Life affords us the opportunity to see how we appear to and interact with others through a virtual setting. I feel that any kind of avatar will work in second life, whether it resembles a human, alien or anything in between. An avatar is a representation of yourself and your online appearance is simply another aspect of your personality and a different view of yourself. Through my second life avatar, I hope to share my ideas and opinions with others in an open environment that is different from the type of environment the classroom provides. Many times it is easier to express our ideas online, through virtual vehicles such as blogs and avatars because we can quickly communicate an idea without over editing our initial reactions on a subject. I look forward to using Second Life as an alternative way of looking at literature and hope that it becomes a useful tool in my visualization of the pieces we explore this semester.

Paul's Case - Willa Cather

Halfway through Willa Cathar’s “Paul’s Case”, we are told that the character of Paul “had no desire to become an actor” (Cather 208), however, there are many instances throughout the story where Paul is purely acting by denying the truth of who he is. When Paul arrives at the Waldorf hotel, he tells a story about his parents arriving on a steamer just a short while after him (Cather 209). Although it is stated that Paul has no interest in acting, he seems to be quite a natural. Paul’s time in New York is spent pretending to be someone that he is not; essentially, Paul is playing a character and that character possesses the qualities that Paul desires to have. In New York, Paul feels more secure and sees big plans for his future. He creates a new identity by telling himself lies; when he realizes that he is simply playing a character and will have to return to his ordinary life, he completely breaks down. Unfortunately, life is not always easy and the lifestyle Paul so desperately wanted is not easily won. Paul’s suicide proved to be a cowardly action, for if he braved a few more years being himself he would have perhaps one day been able to return to the character he played so well.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

After reading Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, I immediately equated the narrator with myself and the character of Simon Wheeler with my grandparents. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator states that Simon Wheeler would prove to “go to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me”. (Twain 272). There are many times when my grandparents find themselves launching into stories of their past, some of which are interesting and others which tend to irritate me simply because they seem to have no point. The narrator in Twain’s story seems to feel the same way about Simon Wheeler’s tangent on Jim Smiley, a man whose story really serves no purpose to the narrator. However, the more I thought about this story, the more I felt that the narrator should not have dismissed Wheeler’s story, no matter how irrelevant it was to him. When I find myself trying to drown out the sounds of my grandparent’s stories, I often end up feeling guilty. Although these stories may not be relevant to my life, they are part of my grandparent’s history and I should take all of them in. My grandparents find great joy in relating their stories to me because they want me to know about their lives so that I can keep their memory alive and understand their past. By the end of “Jumping Frog”, I found myself disappointed in the narrator; although Wheeler’s story was not pertinent to the man he was looking for, Simon Wheeler most likely found enjoyment in having an audience to express Jim Smiley’s story to. Although this story is meant to be a comedy, I actually found it to be kind of sad because it made me realize how younger generations often dismiss older generations when instead we should be listening; their stories are what makes up history and we should be more than happy to listen.

Jorge Luis Borges – The Other Duel

Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Other Duel” is the story of a battle between two enemies that is literally fought to the death. However, “The Other Duel” is not just a story of revenge but a comment on the violent nature of humans. Both Cardoso and Silveira do not spend their last moments on earth pleading with their executioners - death is not the imposing force on these men but failure to prove themselves is.

Borges truly captures how far a person is willing to go to maintain their pride during the final scene when he states “As he fell, Cardoso stretched out his arms. He had won, but he likely never knew that.” (Borges 142). It is absolutely revolting that Cardoso would spend the final seconds of his life trying to put to rest a life long battle with Silveira. While this final scene seems grotesque, it is simply a display of the emotions that every human being feels at one point in their life. Everyone can identify with feelings of pride – we are naturally inclined to be somewhat competitive. Borges taps into these emotions by allowing Cardoso to win the duel. By the end of the story, the reader wants to feel disgust for Cardoso’s actions but is actually quite taken aback by how clever he proves to be. Cardoso knew that if he could somehow win the duel he would leave behind a legacy that would prove greater than anything Silveira could leave behind. Through one simple action in the final moments of his life, Cardoso created a lifetime of legacy. Cardoso may have lost his life, but he won immortality and if Borges makes one point abundantly clear in “The Other Duel” it is that we all want our story to be told – we all want to use our story to become immortal.

Ambrose Bierce – An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

“Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge.” (Bierce 139).

The last line of Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” packs a heavy punch. I was in no way expecting such a shock; although it seemed that Farquhar’s imagined utopia was too good to be true, I found myself wanting to believe that he could somehow have escaped into it. Upon my initial reading of the last line, I found myself feeling unsatisfied – the line felt so cold and unsympathetic to me. However, I immediately started the story again from the beginning and found that through this last line, Bierce succeeded in making his reader care for someone that had many unfavorable qualities. Farquhar owned slaves and supported the confederate army, yet we are convinced through Bierce’s storytelling that we should pardon his faults and care for Farquhar as a father, husband and human being. When Farquhar imagines his escape, the reader finds themselves holding their breath, waiting for the moment when he is free and safe from the enemy even though Farquhar is the enemy all along. Our mind is taken to another place while reading Bierce’s story just as Farquhar’s is while he awaits execution. Upon my second reading of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” I realized that Bierce gave Farquhar these final blissful visions of his escape and his family in order to completely contradict the rashness of the story’s end. Bierce’s last line may bring a cold finality to the story, but certainly does not dismiss the notion that in his own mind, Peyton Farquhar found peace and freedom.