The Deer at Providencia

The Deer at Providencia (1982) is an essay by Annie Dillard. In this essay, she purposes that throughout our lives there is just time where we will not be able to imagine the suffering that other people go through. Dillard supports this by conversations with fellow peers, after they all witnessed an emotional event. I feel the author’s purpose was to inform the reader of her feelings and experiences, without being biased towards one side or the other, though saying this, Dillard makes a very emotional concern with the audience due to the sensitive subject matter.

            Reading this essay I automatically put myself in Dillard’s shoes. If I myself were to witness the event she went through, the struggling of a captured and injured deer, just waiting for its own death, then I too would have the same reaction. Dillard could have done something, but stood in unemotional silence. So as I thought about it, I felt I would do the same, as in reality, what is there you can really do for a deer captured by a tribe about to eat it? They are not going to just let it go. Dillard the goes on to speak about burns victims, and how because of their intense suffering many go on to commit suicide. This culminates in the story of Alan MacDonald, who was badly burned at 13 and again in later life. Dillard links the stories of the two, almost comparing the struggles of the captured deer to the non-ending saga of Alan MacDonald’s life, how they are both suffering indefinitely.

            I enjoyed reading this essay, I like the way it was written and how it linked two very different situations together through a single common theme, how different things suffer. The last impression it has left on me is that I will refrain from using the phrase “I know how you feel”, unless it really is applicable.

Rhys Jukes

Wife's RULE

In Judy Brady’s personal essay, “Why I want a Wife”, (1972) She informs the readers’ what the role of a wife is for her family.  She shows us how by liberating and giving real life reason on how exactly a wife provides for her family by specific household and personal duties. This essay was to show how a wife carries the most important position in order to release the reasoning why many families want and need one. I believe Brady’s was writing this essay to the general public and also mostly directed to men’ in the world today that depends on a woman/wife on household and personal duties.

Overall I felt like Judy Brady opened many wives’ eyes by writing this. It let women all over the world know that they could go back to school and establish their dreams while given support at home from their spouse.  It gave an image of a wife with the description of all what she is required to do. I for one took this essay as a motivation, that lets female, wives; women know that they are appreciated. It also open my eyes that men to can carry on a position that wives do. In the end men wouldn't be able to survive with all the wives responsibility and duties; that's why I believe WIFES' RULE. 

            By: Marlene B.

The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society by Jonathan Kozol points out the hardships that people go through on a daily basis because they are functionally illiterate. I feel the essay had a very specific purpose, to inform people would not know about illiteracy, a subject Kozol obvious feels is strongly affecting society. With this in mind, the audience is a general one, applying to anyone. The style is formal, and it is arranged in a typical essay format, with a solid introduction, with points in the introduction expanded in the main, and then concluded with thoughts expanded from the main.

Kozol defines illiteracy through quotes from the people who are illiterate; using examples to support his claim that illiteracy not only affects the individual, but the country as a whole. “If even one-third of all illiterates could vote, and read enough and do sufficient math to vote in their self-interest, Ronald Reagan would not likely have been chosen president” (93), is a good example that Kozol gives to show how these illiterate people affect the whole nation. Kozol then goes on lay blame on the United States government, stating, “This is the nation that we live in. This is a society that most of us did not create but which our President and the other leaders have been willing to sustain by virtue of malign neglect” (95).

From a personal perspective, I enjoyed reading this paper. I gives an insight into illiteracy that many literate people wont ever see, with a lot of good points in regards to the United States government, as it is true what Kozol is saying, that the fact that over 60 million people are illiterate. To put that in perspective, that is the same population as Great Britain, a whole country of illiterate people.

Black Men and Public Space

“Black Men and Public Space” (1986) and essay written by Brent Staples, describes the unfair accusations declared about black men. Staples develops his thesis using examples of how black men are treated and how was personally treated. Staples explained how he felt about being labeled and accused in order to make his readers think about racism. He forms a very personal relationship with his audience.

                When reading the essay, I began to think of the times where I had been afraid of someone on the street, and they happened to be a black man. I assumed they were up to no good, and walked away. Staples opened my mind up and made me think about the other person. I never thought that someone in the streets that late could be minding their own business. I might think differently next time there is a similar situation.

                Staples really opened up his reader’s minds to see the other side of things. A black man’s point of view is entirely different than a white man’s. “I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver-black, white, male or female-hammering down the door locks.” He was an innocent man, walking the streets, constantly being accused of being someone he was not. People feared him without knowing anything about him.

               

  By: Rachel Nabors

Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police

Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police by Martin Gansberg is a short story describing the murder of Catherine Genovese.  The murder of Ms. Genovese happened in Kew Gardens in Queens, New York. Gansberg describes almost every minute from the time Mrs. Genovese arrived home from work, then being stabbed by her killer, to witnesses in her apartment building not calling 911 until she was already died.

            Around 3:20 am one morning is when Ms. Genovese’s night mare all started. She was coming home from work and was headed up to her apartment, when she noticed a man at the end of the parking where she parked. She knew something was not right, so she started heading in the other direction, when the man came up behind her and grabbed her. The man stabbed her once and Ms. Genovese screamed for help. Her neighbors in the apartment turned on their lights and people looked and one man yelled “Let that girl alone!” The man left and Ms. Genovese tried to go to her apartment. The killer returned a second time, found her and then stabbed her again. Ms. Genovese screamed “I’m dying.” People in the apartment again turned on their apartment lights and looked but the killer fled. But, not knowing what was going to happen next, Ms. Genovese’s night mare got even worse. The killer returned for the last time, leaving Ms. Genovese to die. He stabbed her for the last time; the last stab is the one that end up killing her. Once she was died, her neighbors then decided to call the local police.

            The police cannot figure out why the neighbors did not call them. When the police received the phone call, they were at the crime scene in two minutes. The cops believe if someone would have called in when they first heard Ms. Genovese scream, then they might been able to have saved her life. The police officers asked some of her neighbors why they did not call in and some of them said “I didn’t know” or “I was tired.”

            This to me is unbelievable. I cannot see how thirty-eight people can witness a murder and not one call the police. They may not have seen the young lady, but when you hear someone scream early in the morning, something probably is wrong. In my opinion whether, they did or didn’t know what was really going on, the neighbors should have called the police. It is always in my opinion better to call the cops and be on the safe side then not call and something terrible happen. For example, my mom and I left our house one morning an noticed a suspicious car on our road. We called the cops to report them. We don’t think that they were up to anything but we were not sure. They could have been there to rob a house or something; who knows. So, that is why it is always good to keep your eyes open and pay attention to your surroundings. 

By: Brittany B.

Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain

Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain, an excerpt by Jessica Mitford describes the process in which a body is embalmed. The embalming process happens every day to someone who has become deceased. The excerpt that Mitford describes about the embalming process goes into every little detail about how the corpus becomes embalmed. From the time a corpus should be embalmed for when a body becomes deceased, then onto the process of the fluids and other items to prepare the corpus, and lastly when the body is being placed in the coffin for the corpus to be view.

            When Mitford is describing the process where the body is getting prepared for the embalming stage, she lists all the tools that the embalmer is going to use in the morgue. Mitford mentions that a lot of the tools used are very similar to what a surgeon uses in a operating room. Mitford says that the first step in the embalming process is to drain the blood from the body. When she was describing this part of the process, I immediately thought of a vampire. I thought of a vampire draining the blood out of someone. Later on in the embalming process, Mitford describes how the mouth and eyes get sewed together. When this part was being described, a zombie popped in my head. Hocus Pocus, a Disney movie, does a great job at showing a zombie. When reading Mitford’s excerpt, I started think about different Halloween characters when she was describing the embalming process. But, when Mitford started talking about the corpus being put in a casket and people coming to view the body, I thought about my own experiences with going to funerals. I was think about those time when I had to say my finally good bye to the people I loved.    

The whole embalming process, in my opinion, is a gross and disturbing. How someone can do this to a body blows my mind. I know that I could not do this but I am glad that someone can. At least that someone can do this, so that family and friends can see their love ones. When the viewing is allowed, this is our time to say our last good bye to our love ones. If the embalming process was not around now, I do not think that we could have funerals. The embalming process is a very essential thing to have when someone becomes deceased.

By: Brittany B

The Beauty of Color

In Diane Ackerman article, " Why leaves Turn Color in the fall", (1990) She focused on the beauty of fall and what all in goes through. She gave me very descriptive examples that made a clear version of what exactly she was talking about such as; red- winged blackbird or goldfinch perching. Doing so made the words on the paper come to life in my mind. Ackerman's purpose is to explain the scientific process of leases changing colors in a poetic fashion, in order to teach others how this process happens.

            Overall I was confused with the concept of the paper. Ackerman format was very hard to understand from how she moved for one thought to another. It was written in a poetry type setting which made it even harder since I really don’t have a fond for poetry. I do love the Fall season. It’s my favorite season of the year because of how cool the weather is and the colorful leaves that fall on the ground. I always thought that this season was called fall because of the symbolic of the leaves falling on the floor but after reading this article I was informed that it originated from the Old English word feallan and it means to fall. The season Fall is beautiful and peaceful. 

        By: Marlene. B