A Good Nites Sleep.

Ernest Himmingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Himmingway had poor vision so they would not let him join the army. He took a job working as an ambulance driver on the Italian front. He was wounded in the war and became a correspondent for the Toronto Star and covered the Greco-Turkish War. Then after that he went to Paris and along with some others helped to create a revolutionary literary style and language.

The train disappeared into the distance, through the burnt woods. Nick sat. The town of Seney was gone, burned down. He looked into the river. The trout were still there. He watched them. They still gave him the old feeling. Nick picked up his pack and started walking through the country. He was sore and hot, but happy. He felt he had left the need for everything, including writing and thinking, behind him. He came up to the pine tree plain. Far away, he could see the blue hills next to Lake Superior. He stopped for a moment to sit and smoke with his legs stretched in front of him. A black grasshopper attached to his sock. He realized that the grasshoppers had not always been black but had changed because the forest was all burnt out. Nick guided himself by the sun. He could have turned toward the river, but decided to keep going as far as possible that day. There was no underbrush near the pine trees. Under the shade of those trees, he took off his pack and went to sleep.

This passage is about how you can leave something behind that is painful and you don’t want to think about. There are points in a person’s life where you must leave the painful memories behind in order to survive. I think this passage is telling the reader that Nick is running away from all the pain and frustration. I feel that in order to take his mind off of the pain Nick walks without thinking of anything else. He just preoccupies himself with his journey and long travel ahead of him.

Correlate:
This passage reminds me off myself when things go wrong in my life that I don’t want to deal with. I just keep myself busy in order not to think about them. When my ex-girlfriend and I broke up I was heartbroken and couldn’t eat or sleep so I just kept myself busy. I got into a lot of extra curricular activities to try and numb the pain of loneliness and despair. It worked as long as I kept myself busy I didn’t have time to be sad.

Identify the cause of suffering:
Ones self is the cause of suffering. He alone can stop the pain but instead he chooses not to deal with it and run away. The inability to face what is bothering you causes you to suffer more than to recognize the problem and solve it further more he inflicts pain upon himself. He needs to heal in order to stop the pain but he is running away therefore the pain will succeed and overcome him unless he stops it.

How could this become a comedy?
In order for this story to become a comedy Nick would have to face his fears and what is bothering he and stop running away. He would have to recognize what is wrong and get a solution.

Identify the cause of happiness:

He made coffee like Hopkins made it. He ate a can of apricots. He began to think about Hopkins, a serious man who was wealthy. Hopkins "went away when the telegram came." He gave Nick his gun and Bill his camera. They were all supposed to go fishing again the next summer. They never saw him again. Nick returned to the present. The coffee was bitter. He got into bed. He was comfortable, except for a mosquito buzzing in his ear. He killed the mosquito and went to sleep.

Big Two-Hearted River "Post One"

Comment under this post for Hemingway's story "Big Two-Hearted River"


Don't forget to use headings in your response: Title, Basic Passage; Correlation; Difficulties.

When correlating, be sure to relate the story to yourself--your response should not sound like something from the internet.


Themes we discussed in class include: Resistence, Stoicism, The paradox of strength coming from destruction and sterility, Movement = Happiness; non-movement = Sadness.

That Evening Sun "Post One"

Here is the Professor's post for this week's story. Simply comment on this post for this first trial run in blogging. Don't forget to follow the format as shown in this blog.

The key points we went over Monday:

• The title "That Evening Sun" is from a blues-gospel song.

• Gospel incorporates call and response.

• Jesus is the "Trickster" or outsider.

• Ritual/common acts are passed through culture: the type of work you do, clothes you wear, whether or not you brush your teeth.

The following are the Lyrics from Van Morrison's Version of "When That Evening Sun Go Down"

I want you, be around
When that evening sun goes down
I want you, be around
Keep my both feet on the ground
When that evening sun goes down
I want you, understand
Little girl, take me by my hand
I want you, understand
I wanna be your loving man
When that evening sun goes down
If it's nice, we'll go for a walk, a stroll in the clear moonlight
Singing a song, won't take long
Everything gonna be alright
And I wanna hold you oh so near
Keep you, darling from all fear
I wanna hold you oh so near
Nibble on your little ear
When that evening sun goes down
If it's nice, go for a walk, stroll in the clear moonlight
Sing you a song, won't take long
Everything gonna be alright
And I wanna hold you oh so near
Keep you, darling from all fear
I wanna hold you oh so near
Nibble on your little ear
When that evening sun goes down
When that evening sun goes down
When that evening sun goes down..

Welcome

Welcome to the Reading Response Forum.

You will read a story, poem or play in class every Monday.
After class, you will come to this site and will post a response to that reading.

On Wednesday, in class, you share your response. Go back online before midnight that day and write a reaction to someone's reading response.

On Friday,
One person brings a response for everyone to read in class. Everyone else, writes an on-line reaction to a peer's post.



Use the Following Structure for Responses:
The ABC Reading Structure

A Title – Fill in the title field.

• State the author’s Name

• Summarize the author’s life/work in at least three to four sentences.

Basic Passage - Choose a passage: sentence or lines (no more than three) which include a

central meaning. This passage should connect with the title.

Correlate – Write about how the passage applies to you, to someone you know, to a group or to society. Here are some questions that might help you. See what connections you can make and explore:

• Are there any passages in the reading that you, because of your life experience, are especially able to understand and appreciate? Write about one of those passages and show how it relates to your experience.

• Choose a passage from the reading, and tell what it helps explain about an experience you have known. After you have said as much as you can, consider this: does the passage exhaust the meaning of the experience, account for the experience you have in mind?

• Would a person who accepted this character’s ideas choose the same paths in life that you have chosen or that you have seen others choose? How would the ideas for this reading alter your life or the life of someone you know well?

• Are the writer’s or character’s ideas useful to a person in a certain lifestyle or profession? What difference would these ideas make for someone living that lifestyle or practicing that profession?

Required questions and goals for Reading Responses and In-Class Discussion

1. Identify the cause of human suffering—Tragedy
2. How can the tragedy be turned into a comedy?
3. Identify the cause of joy or happiness—Comedy

Difficulties - Write down passages, sentences or lines that raise any questions in your
mind as you read the passage or answer the questions.