Thursday July 12th text reflections

"Daystar"

When I first read this I felt very connected to the author, not because of motherhood but because of the following line, "and think of that place that was hers, for an hour where she was nothing", I felt connected to this because I used to have a spot out behind my house where I would go when I lived at home because in that spot I could just be...and do nothing but just sit and think and relax. When I read that part of the story I instantly thought of my spot back home and I remembered how nice it felt to just wind down and go outside and sit and just enjoy nature as the author is doing. I remembered how nice it was to take a break out of the hectic schedule that was my life to just breathe. I don't get that as often as I would like in college, but maybe after reading this poem and remembering how nice it was I will have to try and remind myself to make time for me in the future.


"A Pair of Silk Stockings"

In this story when I read it I started to picture this small little woman, I pictured her as someone poverish but still with an air of elegance. I could see her shopping and wanting all the things she got, and I could picture the items in my head. I thought of certain movies that are portrayed in this same kind of time and then the movie "Vanity Fair" came to mind and the similarities between the movie and the story are numerous. In the movie Reese Witherspoon plays a poor woman who grows up to marry into wealth and she is constantly doing all she can to get more and more of the luxuries that she didn't have as a child, only thing is that as this goes on she ends up losing everything. She loses her family and her dignity and eventually all the stuff that she thought she had wanted so badly.
One part in the text that gave me a good mental image (there were many) was when she said, "There was a restaurant at the corner. She had never entered its doors; from the outside she had sometimes caught glimpses of spotless damask and shining crystal, and soft-stepping waiters serving people of fashion", I had this perfect image of this lower class women looking in through the window of this fancy restaurant, with chandeliers and beautifully lit candles and rich coupes dining. I really liked this story because the author uses a lot of detail like in the segment above and it really was easy for me to picture the story in my mind from beginning to end with all that she gives us.


"Why I Want a Wife"

After reading this story I laughed. I laughed because my own mother has said something so similar to this when she was displeased with my dad and when she was being sarcastic. She would say, "Well, I wish I had a wife to do all the stuff I do for your dad, for me! Why I would love that...someone to take care of everything for me. That would be great." This wife in this story sounds just like my mom, im sure she doesn't really want a wife but the idea of someone who does everything for you is a nice one. It sounds like to me that in her relationship this woman has al the responsibilities, I will say that my father and mother do share a lot of things. The husband in this story sounds like he takes for granted all the stuff his wife does and she is finally realizing that. The part where she says, "As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife." made me have this very clear picture of a woman standing at an ironing board looking somewhat similar to Mrs. Cleaver and all those 50's sitcom mothers. I pictured her standing there in her little apron ironing away and suddenly stopping and looking up as she has an epiphany. I imagined a look of total shock and realization going across her face as she brews up this thought of what if she had a wife. That was the picture that I got in my mnd and then I pictured my own mom doing the same thing, only without the apron and she was doing dishes instead of ironing, but the look was the same. That is why I really enjoyed reading this short story.