"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen

Analysis-

Characters:
- A warn down mother, with several children.
- Emily, the troubled child. The first child, some may call the "test dummy".

Characteristics:
- The mother was a young mother. She was overworked and made several mistakes with her first child. This shows the difficulties of being a single mother and trying to make ends meet.
- The daughter, Emily, was a sweet, loving child in her younger years. Then she was sent to a "school" where love and tenderness was not allowed. When she came back, she was changed.

Setting:
- No completely sure.

Plot:
Introduction: A young, single mother deals with her first child and trying to make a living.
Rising Action: Puts her into a "school" to help her and all it does is make it worst.
Climax: Mother realizes that her daughter is now emotionally detached.
Falling Action: Accepting it and letting her daughter be herself.
Denouement: Realizing all she can do is help her daughter experience life from now on.

Conflict:
Man vs. Himself (Psychological). The mother feels like she has let her daughter down. But all she can do now is help her from this point forward in her life.

Response-

I didn't like this story as much. It flipped several times for me. It was hard to see the mother struggling against everything in the beginning. My mother was a single mother from the time I was nine and on. She is an amazing mother and would do anything for my brother and I. I can only imagine how hard it was for this mother after she sent her to that school to help her and she came back the way she was.

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

Analysis-

Characters:
- The Narrator (who is also Maggie and Dee's mother)
- Maggie: who is the shy, withdrawn sister
- Dee a.k.a. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo: who is the outgoing, flashy sister

Characteristics of the Characters:
- Narrator is an older black woman. She does what she needs to have done. She is wonderful at doing man's work. She loves her daughters. She understands that her daughters are extremely different. She sees Maggie's pain and sees her shyness around Dee.
- Maggie is very withdrawn. She was burnt very badly when their house burnt down. She is very uneducated. Shys away when her sister comes around.
- Dee is the flashy sister. She hates the fact that she was raised in a shack. Her family raised money so that she could go to Augusta for school.

Setting:
My guess is that the setting is in the South in the 1970's.

Plot:
Introduction - Introduces the characters, tells of them getting everything ready for Dee's visit. Tells of the fire and how Maggie was burnt.
Rising Action - Shows the pain in Maggie and discusses how Dee behaves.
Climax- When Dee comes home and tries to take things to "show" her heritage. Some of the items had already been promised to Maggie. Dee comments and says how she would just destroy them and not value them like the should be.
Falling Action- When the mother finally stands up to Dee and tells her that she can't have the quilts and tells Maggie that they had been promised to her. And that they meant more to her than they ever would to Dee.
Denoument- Dee leaves angry; Maggie and the mother go on living.

Conflict:
I would say that there was a man vs. society conflict, due to the fact that the mother and Maggie were leaving in social issues that denied them education. Dee, on the other hand, was given the opportunity to expand her horizon. She ventured out into the world and found a different way to live. She came back to visit her mother and sister and tried taking some family valuables. This didn't settle well when she tried to take some quilts that had been promised to Maggie. In the end, Maggie was able to keep the quilts.

Response-

I enjoyed this piece. It showed how difficult it was in those days. I almost felt the pain that Maggie was experiencing. She was the sister that had been burnt, and she was the sister that stayed at the house to help the family. Dee was the spoiled sister. She had everything handed to her and never seen the hardship that her family had to experience. I was extremely happy when her mother finally stood up to her (Dee) and said no. Maggie deserved the quilts and didn't need to be treated the way that Dee had treated her.

"Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

Summary:

In "Story of an Hour", Louise Mallard is told that her husband had been killed in an accident. Her husband's friend, Richard, and her sister, Josephine, were the ones who had told her. They had to be very cautious when they told her because Louise had heart trouble. When she was told she cried and went into her room alone. She was sad at first and then she felt released. Released from having to fight her illness. She was free. Then Josephine and Richard were at her door trying to check on her and when they came in she was gone. Then the door opened and Lousie's husband walked in. He hadn't been in an accident.

Response:

This story was very depressing. It became very confusing when she went into her bedroom. She was flipping between several things. It was strange how she switched from being upset to filling over joyed that her husband was gone. I believe that the only reason why she was still alive was becasue she was holding on for her husband's sake. Then once she knew he was gone, she didn't feel the need to try anymore. It was very sad that her husband had to witness Richard and Josephine trying to save Louise.