People Need People
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utation came to her house for her taxes, Faulkner describes how the house and Ms. Emily looks. “only Miss Emilys house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores”, this statement explains how the house gives off such a depressing mood. “Her skeleton was small and spare;”, this line shows us how her appearance showcases death also.
When Ms. Emily was younger, her deceased father used to force away all the young men that was in love with her. The summer after her father death, she fell in love with a Yankee by the name of Homer Barron. Everyone in the town was whispering about their relationship and wondering if they were married. After a while they stop seeing Homer and decided that they got married. The townspeople then proceeds by saying that Ms. Emily then died a while after. They didnt know she was sick.
After they buried her, they knew that there was one room that wasnt opened. So after they decently buried her they went to see upon the room. When they opened the room they was greeted by great amounts of dust. They also explain that the “room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the mans toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured.” They also saw a mans collar, tie, suit, shoes, and discarded socks. “Then shockingly, laying right there in the bed was the man. For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust. Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.”
Sonnys Blues by James Baldwin
Frequently anthologized, James Baldwins “Sonnys Blues” tells the story of two brothers who come to understand each other. More specifically, it highlights, through its two main characters, the two sides of the African-American experience. The narrator has assimilated into white society as much as possible but still feels the pain of institutional racism and the limits placed upon his opportunity. Conversely, Sonny has never tried assimilate and must find an outlet for the deep pain and suffering that his status as permanent outsider confers upon him. Sonny channels his suffering into music, especially bebop jazz and the blues, forms developed by African-American musicians. “Sonnys Blues” was first published in 1957 and was collected in Baldwins 1965 book, Going to Meet the Man.
The story also has biblical implications. Baldwin became a street preacher early in his life, and religious themes appear throughout his writings. In “Sonnys Blues,” Baldwin uses the image from the book of Isaiah of the “cup of trembling” to symbolize the suffering and trouble that Sonny has experienced in his life. At the end of the story, while Sonny is playing the piano, Sonnys brother watches a barmaid bring a glass of Scotch and milk to the piano, which “glowed and shook above my brothers head like the very cup of trembling.” As Sonny plays, the cup reminds his brother of all of the suffering that both he and Sonny have endured. His brother finally understands that it is through music that Sonny is able to turn his suffering into something worthwhile.
The Greatest Man in the World by Thurber
the time is 1937, Jack Smurch accepts the challenge to be the first person to fly solo around the world without stopping. Reporters track down the story of his life, and find that those who know him, including his mother, view him as a rotten apple. Smurch succeeds in his flight, but the powers-that-be realize the pilot is too balky and unpresentable to be made into a national hero, so they dispose of him. Once safely dead, the young lout can be made into a hero fit for public consumption.
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Le Guin
She leads off taking us through a beautifully constructed utopian society, called Omelas, asking periodically, if we agree or disagree with her construction of that society. The citizens are happy and joyous, rejoicing in the pristine eloquence of the city they created. They have no enemies, no military, no crime, and no guilt. A child appears half way into the story. The child is a martyr and the child is necessary for Omelass economy, happiness, and existence. We can almost place a religious type figure like Jesus Christ in place of the child in this story. This single child suffers for the benefit of the whole. This is similar to Christs suffering on the cross for all of our sins. In order for us to understand the story, we must delve deeply into Le Guins symbolism of the martyr child and discover what exactly she is suggesting to us.
“It is because of the child that they are so gentle with children,” and the childs room contains two mops and a bucket, which possibly indicates two mops which could make up a cross and the bucket which could be the holy grail (406). The child is “afraid of the mops.” The narrator says that the child finds the mops “[] horrible. It shuts its eyes, but it knows the mops are still there” (406). Many depictions of Jesus on the cross in films have that famous scene where he doubts his destiny, and closes his eyes and questions his higher purpose. The child knows the mops represent his higher purpose and the mops will not go away even when the child closes his eyes. Similarly, Jesus while on the cross had guards watching over him so he could not escape. The child is kept locked in his tool room and is not aloud to leave by the ones watching over him. In addition, the room in which the child must remain is “[…] about three paces long and two paces wide” (406). The word “paces,” an old measurement term, used in the Bible, describe the room.
This martyr child produces the gifts of greatness for this city. The details, which are hazy, as to why the child is kept locked up forever are given to the reader when the remarkable statement which follows: “[…]in that day and hour