America and In the Baggage Room at Greyhound

America

The first line of this poem says, “America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing”, may be referring to the aspiration of reaching the American dream. There are many people that come to America in hopes of achieving their dreams and working towards a better life. It seems that in this case, someone has tried with all they had, and failed.

A very peculiar line of the poem reads, “When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks.” This makes a reference to America’s obsession with appearance and beauty. These days there is a huge emphasis put on pretty people and what beauty means to the general public.

The way he talks to America, it’s as if he is talking to God. He brings up personal issues such as, “America I still haven’t told you what you did to Uncle Max after he came over from Russia.” He is talking as if he’s reaching out for advice.

In the Baggage Room at Greyhound

This story is told from the perspective of a person sitting on a baggage truck, waiting to leave. He goes into detail about the various people working at the Greyhound terminal. He describes this man Spade’s job, as an operating clerk, as if it were the most important one in the world. He tells us that Spade has, in his hands, “the fate of thousands of express packages.” He also refers to Spade as reminding him of “an angel.”

The perspective, in which he describes these men working at the Greyhound terminal, is extremely unique. He has taken the time to notice things, and people, that most people passing through the terminal would never notice. In the end he tells us that, “The wage they pay us is too low to live on. Tragedy reduced to numbers. This for the poor shepherds.” This compassion that he shows towards these people is truly inspiring. Most people would never take the time to notice these people, let alone feel sorry for them.

Howl by, Allen Ginsberg

In the first part it seems as if the poem is clearly depicting the lives of troubled teens and young adults who have gone down a dark, and dangerous path. He says some of them have been, “expelled from the academies for crazy and publishing obscene odes on the windows…” which shows the rebellion involved with these people. In my opinion the first line is very powerful. It says, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness…” I believe madness symbolizes the drug and alcohol abuse referenced throughout the story. He associates drugs with anger by saying things such as, “looking for an angry fix.”

There is a great deal of protest described in the story specifically in the line, “who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism.” The actions described in that quote also go along with the angry vibe of this poem.

There are many chaotic scenes described throughout this poem. The combination of anger and chaos can be seen in the line, “who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight in police cars for committing no crime but their own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication, who howled on their knees in the subway and were dragged off the roof waving genitals and manuscripts.” These are scenes that in reality, most people will never witness in real life. This scene is depicted in a way that is as if it is out of a horror movie.

The story takes a crude and sexual turn when he says, “who let them be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy, who blew and were blown by those human seraphim.” These are very graphic lines and are probably very offensive to most readers. He continues with sexual references by saying, “scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may.” This line is less graphic and more carefree and poetic, I guess you could say.

Suicidal references are scattered throughout the poem as well. In one line it says, “who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways…” This line makes it sound as if once this person died, no one remembered them and it was as if they had been erased from society. This line also leads into very sad imagery of, “who sang out their windows in despair, fell out of the subway window, jumped in the filthy Passaic, leaped on negroes, cried all over the street, danced on broken wineglasses barefoot smashed…” These are all very depressing, gloomy and disheartening images. It is a representation of these people’s true pain and suffering.

In part two of the poem, someone named Moloch mentioned repeatedly. It almost seems as if these lines involving Moloch are in reference to the government, but it is hard to tell.

In part three a place named Rockland is also referenced repeatedly. It says, “I’m with you in Rockland…” and then says something different describing this place on each line. Judging by the description of a straightjacket, doctors and insanity, it seems like the person isn’t quite right in the head, and may be crazy or in a mental institute.

The Glass Menagerie By, Tennessee Williams

There is a sense of irony in the beginning of scene 7 when the lights go out. In scene 6 we were told that Tom paid to join The Union of Merchant Seamen instead of paying for his family’s light bill. So when the lights go out, Amanda is completely clueless as to why this would have happened, while both Tom and Jim know the reason. Amanda tries to make conversation with Jim out of the situation and says, “Isn’t electricity a mysterious thing?” making Amanda sound ridiculous because Jim knows exactly why the electricity went off.

In the part of scene 7 where Jim and Laura are sitting alone on the ground together, in the very beginning you can almost feel how awkward and uncomfortable Laura feels. But Jim does a very good job of helping to ease her tension, and make her feel more comfortable. It isn’t until Jim remembers how he knows Laura that Laura starts to be more social with Jim. They realize how they knew one another when Laura asks Jim about his singing. Jim then realizes how he knows Laura and says, “Blue Roses! My gosh, yes-Blue Roses! That’s what I had on my tongue when you opened the door! Isn’t it funny what tricks your memory plays? I didn’t connect you with high school somehow or other.” After reconnecting and reliving high school memories, we are told, “Laura’s shyness is dissolving in his warmth.”

When Jim and Laura are dancing and they knock the unicorn over, breaking the horn off of it, Laura says, “It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.” This may be symbolic of Laura wanting to be just like everyone else, and not different, like the unicorn.

After the dancing, Jim goes out of his way to be extremely kind and complementary of Laura. He says, “Has anyone ever told you that you were pretty?”…Well you are!” He then goes on complementing her and saying that he likes that she is different. Laura is taken off guard by all of these compliments, and clearly was not used to hearing them.

“In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” by Delmore Schwartz

This short story is told from the perspective of a son, “watching a movie” about his parents in a movie theatre. He says it is “a silent picture, as if an old Biograph one, in which the actors are dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes.” He starts to tell us the story of what he is seeing on the screen in the movie theatre. His father is on his way to meet his mother’s parents for the first time. By the way he is describing it, his father is very nervous to meet the family, and clearly has intentions of continuing a serious relationship with his mother.

During the scene where his father is being introduced to his mother’s father, he says he is abruptly, “awakened to myself and my unhappiness just as my interest has become more intense.” After reading this line, it seems as if the son is comparing his own life to that of his parent’s at his age. He seems jealous of their relationship, and envious for one of his own.

Back to the movie, once his mother and father have left the mother’s house they reach Coney Island. We are then told that, “my mother really considers such pleasures inferior.” We are then told that when his father is telling his mother how much money he has made that week he, “exaggerated an amount which need not have been exaggerated.” This shows his mother in a whole new light. She seems as if she is from an upper middle class, and is used to the finer things in life.

In the next scene, the narrator describes the ocean as “the fatal merciless passionate ocean.” He then gets extremely emotional in the theatre and “bursts out weeping.” The old lady sitting next to him then has to remind him, “all of this is only a movie.” Clearly the narrator has strong emotions tied to the ocean, or whatever the ocean represents to him. He seems to see a connection between the ocean and death.

Later in the story, after the narrator’s father proposes to his mother, the narrator has a very strange reaction. He says, “Don’t do it! It’s not too late to change your minds, both of you. Nothing good will come of it, only remorse, hatred, scandal and two children whose characters are monstrous.” It seems that the narrator is dealing with a great deal of grief, possible because of his parent’s death.

What confuses me the most about this story is that although he is acting as if the people on this screen are his parents, he tells us that they are actors.

"The Flowers" by Alice Walker

This is a story about a young girl named Myop. From the very first line, you are able to see Myop as a carefree little girl, who enjoys nature and the simple things in life. She get’s excited by the simplest of things, such as, “the harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash.” Myop is very much living in an idealistic dream world in which exploring the woods behind her house, was her biggest priority. Everything was pleasant, until Myop stumbled upon what appeared to be a dead body. She “stepped smack into his eyes” and was surprised by what she was looking at. Upon closer observation she spotted the remains of a noose. This strange turn of events jolts the story from this carefree fantasy world to a world of hate and violence.

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

This work of literature seems to be coming from the perspective of a mother giving advice to her daughter. This advice comes in the form of a list of orders, telling her how to do certain things and how to act in certain situations. The majority of the rules have to do with taking care of a home and the girl’s relationship with a man. These rules vary from what days to do laundry to how to love a man. There are also a few rules pertaining to raising children. The narrator makes several references on not acting like, “the slut I have warned you against becoming.” In addition to being a good housewife, these rules help a girl to be a well-mannered young lady. One rule dealing directly with etiquette says, “always eat your food in such a way that it won’t turn someone else’s stomach.” All of these aspects reflect the stereotypical housewife, running a household and taking care of their children and husbands.

Letter of Introduction

Writing has always been something I enjoyed. In high school, I wrote for our school newspaper. Junior year I was able to be the news editor along with being a reporter, and then senior year I was the feature editor and was given my own column. Having my own column was something I really enjoyed. I was able to choose the topics I wrote about and therefore was able to write about topics I was passionate about. Being able to write for something that the entire student body reads was very exciting, and one of my favorite activities in high school.

One of my favorite books that I read in high school was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I loved this story and was captivated by the mysterious ways of Gatsby. I particularly enjoyed the time period in which this book takes place. The 1920’s were a time of optimism and entertainment that made this story even more fascinating. Another work of literature I read in high school that I particularly enjoyed was a play called, A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams.

After reading this play we watched the movie, and then were asked to compare and contrast the two. This was an interesting assignment that I really enjoyed. A book that I did not enjoy reading in high school was Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. I had trouble relating to the story, and have never particularly been a fan of the science fiction genre.

I am an English major from Charlotte, North Carolina. I am taking English 215 as a requirement for my major and in order to improve my ability to analyze literature.

Clemson Poem

Game day is here, orange is everywhere

Paws on the streets and on people’s cheeks

Tailgating before, hear the tiger’s roar

It’s a great day to be at Clemson