"Edward"-Anonymous

    Through the refrain of Edward, the reader discovers a conversation between a mother and a son.  In this conversation, the son commits several grievances.  One of which is lying.  In the beginning, he lies to his mother about why there is blood on his sword.  After this, his second grievance is made known: he has killed his father.  While this was shocking enough to serve as the sole climax to the poem, another high point is presented.  Edward claims he is leaving and is leaving his family, house, and ultimately his life behind.  
    One point of confusion I found in this poem is when Edward claims "the curse of hell from me shall ye bear, Mother, Mother" (Anonymous, 978)  This suggests Edward is angry with his mother for some reason.  The resolution to my confusion may not be explicitly defined as much of the poem's message is implicit.  

"The Drunkard"-Frank O' Connor

"'It was God did it you were there.  You were his guardian angel'" (O'Connor, 351)

     --The story is told in retrospect by a man recalling an incident from his boyhood.  What does this removal in time do to the treatment of the material?--

   As humans, we can easily recall big moments in our lives.  Due to the fact that the story is told in terms of recalling a memory, this moment had to have some sort of significance to Larry.  While becoming drunk at such a young age would be memorable, I doubt one would be able to remember it with such clarity years later.  Because of this, there is an implied message that follows the ending of this story.  The message can be decoded by thinking of the point of view in which this story is being told or by considering the final quote of the story.  Both of these ways compliment each other and lead to basically the same answer.  After reading the final quote, one assumes that the father in the story quits drinking after the drunken episode of Larry.  The fact that the mother is grateful to Larry for getting drunk suggests something good came from it.  By considering the point of view from which the story is told, the reader can almost instantaneously add a quote by the grown Larry at the end of the story that states, "And that was the day my father quit drinking".  However, the way in which O'Connor decides to end his short story still leaves behind a sense of mystery as to whether or not the father quits alcohol for good or simply temporarily.   

"Once Upon a Time"-Nadine Gordimer

"And then last night I woke up--or rather was awakened without knowing what had roused me.  A voice  in the echo-chamber of the subconscious?  A sound.  A creaking of the kind made by the weight carried by once foot after another along a wooden floor" (Gordimer, 231)

     Through her satirization of society, the woman in Gordimer's story creates an irony/disconnect between herself and the society she creates.  From the beginning, the character presents the paradoxical manner in which these families live.  They live "happily ever after" lives, yet at the same time are obsessed and worried about the security of their houses and families at every moment.  How can this be?  How can one be living happily ever after while being worried every second of every day.  This obsession with security is the hubris of the family the character focuses her night time story upon; it also presents one of the many points of irony in the story.  Rather than the outside world coming in and taking their son, the safety system they have established is what kills him.  From this, a larger irony is built.  The character who tells the story seems to have less fear in a house that has no security/alarm/fence system than the family who has all of these things.  She can better rationalize and recognize reality in situations such as these, while the family's sight has been obscured by society.  

"A Worn Path"-Double Meaning

"I bound to go to town, mister...I bound to go on my way, mister" (Welty, 227)

     Phoenix Jackson's age seems to have had a profound effect on her health.  She cannot see well and her movements are made at an extremely slow pace.  Because of this, the reader recognizes that this is not the first time Phoenix has walked this journey to town.  In this sense, she is literally walking a "worn" path.  Phoenix Jackson is also tired and has little patience for those that trouble her.  Her attitude with the white man and the nurse suggest she has acquired a sense of familiarity with cases such as these.  Exhausted by being classified/discriminated by her race, age, and financial state, Phoenix presents Welty's figurative "worn" path.  The specific journey of retrieving medicine for her sick grandson is paralleled with the much wider journey of life of this poor, old, black woman.  She is not irritated with either path rather fatigued by them.  Living a life of taking care of others before oneself and being classified by others as an outlier of society has obviously taken a toll on Phoenix's physical, mental, and spiritual health.       

"A Raisin in the Sun"-The House and The Home

The Younger's apartment serves as a major symbol in Hansberry's play.  Within Act I, one can tell the apartment is symbolic of the family.  The apartment is falling apart and will not be able to support the family all together much longer.  Similarly, the family's structure is beginning to display "cracks".  The relationship between Walter and everyone else is slowly deteriorating.  Ruth has become indifferent, and Mama is surrounded by worries.  As much as they want to hide it, the cracks in the wall and the roaches on the floor do not lie: they cannot stay here much longer.   Likewise, the family will not last much longer in this condition either.  This presents Mama's main reason for purchasing the house.  "I--I just seen my family falling apart today...just falling to pieces in front of my eyes...We couldn't of gone on like we was today.  We was going backwards 'stead of forwards--talking 'bout killing babies and wishing each other was dead...When it get like that in life--you just got to do something different, push on out and do something bigger"  (Hansberry, 94).  From this, the reader concludes the family would not have survived if they had not moved.

"A Raisin in the Sun"-Something Wrong

Throughout the entirety of Hansberry's play, I was pondering why the characters's moods were not more solemn.  Why were they not sad?  Assuming the death was not too long ago because they are just now receiving the insurance check, the audience wonders why the family would not resurrect his memory more often and focus on the man rather on what the man left them.  Through the trials of the times, they (with the exception of Mama) lose sight of why they are getting the money in the first place: the death of the father.  The man, who is referred to as extremely hard-working, is little remembered for who he was rather for what he left in monetary terms.  The greedy attitudes, especially those of Beneatha (for her education) and Walter, present a foreign sentiment to the play.  Most surprisingly is the fact that they do not even seem to notice what they are doing: forgetting their father and his legacy in the search for financial security.  Asagai must point this out for Beneatha.  "Then isn't there something wrong in a house --in a world--where all dreams, good or bad, must depend on the death of a man? (Hansberry, 135).  In this, the audience learns that money is not this family's problem, it is the way they have chosen to lead their lives because of money that is the problem.    

"A Raisin in the Sun"-Money is...

To Mama and Ruth, money is a painful, but eternal aspect of life.  To Travis and Beneatha, money has yet to gain serious significance.  To Walter however, money is the source of all things.  "Mama: 'Son--how come you talk so much 'bout money' Walter: Because it is  life, Mama!'"  Most importantly, however, is that Hansberry uses money as a type of measurement of Walter's masculinity in A Raisin in the Sun.  Without it, Walter fails to see himself as the "Man of the House" that everyone so desperately wants him to be.
Money also is a major contributing factor to the generation gap that occurs between Walter and his mother.  Mama understands that it is necessary but does not fully grasp the tight hold it has on Walter's life.  His life and family revolve around it.  He needs a new house for his wife, needs to create a better future for his son, and needs to support his aging mother.  When the money finally presents itself, he can not but help to try and invest it to further improve his idea of a better life.  Hansberry reverts back to her reference of money as life when Ruth and Walter find out all of the money is gone.  "(RUTH stands stiffly and quietly in back of them, as though somehow she senses death, her eyes fixed on her husband)". (Hansberry, 126)  For them, money was symbolic of better, refreshing life.