Poetry Response #2

The poet, DonnaVorreye, cleverly compares words to wallflowers. She alludes to the fact that words can be like distant on lookers or “shy shadows” at a dance that do not participate in the activities, but long to be a part of the action. Words, like girls at a dance, do not want to be ignored but rather asked to dance or used in a literary work or common dialect. The author personifies words because they want to be noticed, just like humans would like to be. The poem “Wallflowers” suggests that it is importance to want to choose the best word to communicate and express one’s thoughts. It is necessary to appreciate a word’s nuance when using it for there can be great satisfaction in having chosen the perfect word to describe a person, thing, or situation. Vorreyer points out that if people do not have a love of words and use them, many words could disappear from our modern language. This would be a great loss as each word has its special meaning and helps people express their thoughts. In another way, words that are left hanging on the wall are detrimental to writers and readers because the art of writing cannot be fulfilled without them.

Vorreyer’s desire to keep words alive by taking unused words and turning them into “blooming flowers” made me better understand the need to learn vocabulary. Our weekly vocabulary tests broaden our knowledge and appreciation for words. By learning new words, we can more effectively communicate. When we take the vocabulary tests, we have to write the words, define them, and use them in a sentence. By doing this, we make the words “ours”, we give them a “home”, and we give them a chance to “bloom”.

I Stand Here Ironing

“I Stand Here Ironing” is a short story about a mother who realizes that she did not give her daughter all the attention she needed, nor did she show all the affection she should have during her childhood, and as a result, her daughter has trouble fitting into society and is in a state of depression.


Level One Question:
What is Emily’s gift?

Level Two Question:
Why is “Somebody” capitalized on page 15?

Level Three Question:
Do you think affection and love are vital like the story implies?



The theme of this short story is that it is often human nature to put work and yourself ahead of others and loved ones. By doing this, loved ones often feel neglected, which causes them to become depressed and have flat personalities that could have been fixed through love and affection.

Emily “was a child seldom smiled at”. Instead of taking time to talk to Emily to see how she was feeling and what she wanted, her mother would try think how to “iron out” the problems between herself and her daughter. Her mom could not deal with Emily’s moodiness, which was caused by her feeling alienated from society, so she sent Emily to boarding school and to live with relatives. All of this moving is one of the sources to why Emily had a rough childhood, especially through the years when her personality and self-esteem were supposed to develop. This caused Emily to feel like she did not fit into society and this in turn caused her to have little confidence. In addition to feeling alienated, Emily was deprived of affection. The boarding school that she attended rejected showing any affection. Not only would the school not allow her to have any possessions or to keep letters from her family that would be of sentimental value, it believed in maintaining an “invisible wall” between parents and their children to prevent love or affection. These things caused Emily to have a nervous condition, even to the point where she would no longer eat. Emily was in a state of depression with no love and no one to care for her. This caused her to start acting, which was her way of becoming “Somebody”.

"The Lesson"

“The Lesson” is a short story about a poor group of kids who go into a rich part of a city to realize that the economy, democracy, and the world are not fair.


Level One Question:
Who is Miss Moore and where did she take the kids?

Level Two Question:
Why would the students not have seen this before, even though they live close by?

Level Three Question:
What would you do/how would you react if you saw this situation?



The purpose of “The Lesson” is for the reader to see fortunate people and how they benefit from wealth through the eyes of a little girl. In addition to the girl’s point of view, the reader also sees how the other kids react to the teacher and to the stores. The author is doing this to show the reader that the poor do not always know about the world outside of their normal lives. This is exemplified when the children are oblivious to how much an actual boat or model really costs. They are used to making contraptions by themselves, which are cheap. They have never been in this setting before.

This short story also shows how some poor people can be afraid or they feel awkward to be in public around rich people. They feel like interlopers when they try to assimilate into the wealthy culture. In this story, the poor recognize that they are in a lower class and they feel inferior. I believe the teacher, Miss Moore, brought the kids to upscale New York City to show them how the wealthy live and how there are inequalities in society. By doing this, the children started questioning democracy and were trying to make sense of why people were living in poverty. I also think she did this to motivate the kids and to get them to think they belong anywhere that the rich belong. At the end, this shows through when Sylvia says “but ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” This means she is willing to work hard to improve her status in society and will strive to be better than others, including the rich people in F.A.O. Schwartz.

The theme of this story is that poor people do not have an equal opportunity to experience the same things as rich people do. Despite this, poor people still have morals and will strive to be their best.

THE VERY LAST BLOG!

At the end of the novel, Joe realizes he is the future. He represents what will happen to people if they go to war and fight. They will get hurt, cripple, be like him, or even die. Even though he is the future, he has no future and has no hope left because he cannot be free from the hospital since it is “against regulations”. He is not going to be able to enlighten people about what his views are and what he thinks the world should be like. The government and military just want to suppress him so people will still want to fight for their country in wars and be supportive.

He is pointing the gun at the “masters of men” or the authority that sends people to war like the government. They are the ones who organize it and plan it, but yet they do not fight in it. They are spectators while the soldiers they sent are getting killed. He realizes that people are being told that they are fighting for democracy, but in reality they aren’t. How can they be fighting for democracy when everyone is being shot and killed? The ones who fight are not given democracy since they are dead.

At the end of this book, it seems that the writer switched his point of view on wars. Throughout the book, Trumbo seemed very anti-war and that all wars are pointless. In the end, it seemed he was saying if a war has a good cause then people should stand up and fight.

Joe's Desires

I agree with Joe and his desire to be as an exhibit to a certain extent. He wants people to come and view him since he is very unique. He just wants the human contact because he only he feels the presence of the doctors and nurses. He wants more than that so he can feel alive. If people would come and visit him, then he would not be lonely. However, by doing this he is making himself somewhat of an exhibition. He would be put on display and anyone and everyone would be able to look at him. He would not know what they were saying or thinking about him. He would be like an animal in the zoo, always being watched.

I’m not sure if I would want it or not. I bet if I were in that situation I would be desperate enough to put myself on display just so I would not feel alone. However, I would hate the feeling that people would be staring at me and judging me when they did not actually know me since I could not talk, speak, see, or hear.

What Joe Wants and What He Can't Get

Joe wants the things that people take for granted like legs, arms, and the ability to smell, taste, see, talk, and feel. He wants to be able to feel the air. He also wants to communicate to the nurses and doctors and have interaction. He desires to be considered an alive man and he does not want to be forgotten. Joe wishes to get out of the hospital so he can feel people around him that are of his own. In the hospital, he feels like a prisoner because it is like he is locked up and cannot do anything. He feels like is wrongly there since he has not committed a crime or done anything illegal. It is against regulations to let him out because they do not want people to see what war can do to them. They do not want people to be affected by seeing him and not fight for their country. They were afraid that Joe would show the soldiers the future if they went to war, so they kept him a secret. It was to keep people positive about war.

The Injured Joe

Joe is severely injured from being in the war. When a bomb was dropped right where he was, he dove into a hole. The next thing he knows is that he has no arms, no legs, and he does not have a face. He is deaf, blind, and without a nose. The places where he can feel something is on the top of his head and his stomach and on his stubs of his arms and legs. The only way he knows if someone is around him is by trying to feel vibrations from their footsteps or from the door (unless they touch him, then he knows). The way he can tell time is by really focusing on the temperature of his stomach or parts of his body that he can feel heat. When his skin starts to get warmer, he knows it is sunrise.

Even though Joe is incredibly injured and crippled, he is very much alive. His mind is always thinking about the past and of ways to try to communicate with the nurses or doctors. Since no one understands his tapping code, he cannot communicate. His state severely affects him.