"How to Become a Writer" By Lorrie Moore

     A short, intimate story it was, but the intricate details unveiled many points of intrigue.  Throughout this writing, Lorrie Moore discussed her particular life experiences that eventually lead her to become a writer, which was very unlike the generality of her title.  In this way, Moore initially fooled her reader into thinking that he would overtly read about broad, relatable topics, which would thus help him become a writer, or a better one at that.  Although many may have felt tricked by Moore's title, in actuality, Moore's written work did suffice the entailments of the title of such work, but such entailments need be found "between the lines". 

     As Moore took her reader through her specific occurrences in life, she allowed the reader to discover a truly real aspect of becoming a writer, which was that writing cannot be forced, if someone truly loves to write, then such will occur naturally - becoming innate - when the time is right.  With such an idea, the reader's eyes were opened to this type of go-with-the-flow attitude in terms of writing, the idea that nothing good usually comes from strained, obligatory writing, which was blatantly shown by Moore's past where her written works created in school were usually not a sufficient product of her true ability as a writer, especially when similar plots became repetitive within her writing, such as accidental deaths.  One can only assume that when life led Moore back to writing, such works were of a greater caliber, which based on the written work at hand, this can be proven to be valid.  

     On an even more general note, one could have maybe interpreted Moore's writing as expressing the idea of a predestined fate that everyone has a specific and particular purpose in life in which they will all eventually fulfill.  Such can be exemplified by how Moore's life took her in so many different directions, both educationally and occupationally, from gaining an education in child psychology to quitting school and the countless menial jobs that followed, but no matter where life took her, writing always came back to Moore somehow, thus expressing life's predestination. 

     Whether writing, or a predestined life was her true goal, no one can be sure, but one can be sure that Moore clearly wanted to imply that life has its fair share of unexpectedness, and by dealing with such surprises with an open mind and heart, the end possibilities are infinite, for no matter what one will end up somewhere, somehow. 

"Cathedral" By Raymond Carver

     A neophyte to the new and unfamiliar territory he was, especially to that of a blind man.  A man, who throughout such a written work remained nameless, described his first encounter with such a blind man, who was not so unfamiliar to this man's wife.  Having befriended this blind man, Robert, as a young woman under his discretion as her employer, her friendship with this man was well-maintained throughout the course of many years, up until her second marriage to this original man of whom I speak.  Due to the continuous closeness between Robert and this woman, she felt that her newly beloved husband should meet with this blind man, especially after his own wife had recently passed from the wretched disease that is cancer - he was in need of such close friends.  Wary of such a visit, the main man of this tale withheld much apprehension as to the success of this meeting, for he had never truly met and conversed with a blind man, but such was inevitable due to his wife's persistency.      

     Even before this blind man arrived, one could easily tell that this main man was not very open, but then again, everyone obtains feelings of nervousness when venturing in the unknown, especially when such is a physical meeting as this one.  Withholding such nervous tension, this man awaited the meeting that would eventually change his ways.  Although this man was greatly prepped for such a meeting by his wife, nothing could truly prepare him for this experience.  Then, before he knew it, this blind man walked through the foyer into his home, into his life.

     To be cordial was his knee-jerk reaction, of course, but the latter part of the evening was when the effect of this blind man's visit took hold.  As the night sky grew darker and the continuous conversing between Robert and the man's wife, on the topic of memories, died down, the main man and Robert began to bond, especially when the smoking of cannabis took place.  As both men began to loosen up from such smoking, the television simultaneously displayed a show pertaining to various cathedrals throughout the world.  With great curiosity, the main man questioned Robert on such cathedrals, specifically if he knew what they looked like and such, which was truly a question of how Robert experienced and identified with the world surrounding him.  In response, Robert explained that he only knew what he had heard about cathedrals, for he had never seen one; in light of such an idea, Robert requested that the main man describe the entailments of a cathedral.  Although much effort was put into such, the main man was unsuccessful in this attempt, thus causing Robert to request that the man draw a cathedral.  Even though the request was strange, the man went through with it, guiding Robert's hand as he drew the cathedral, which was eventually done without his own sight.  When the drawing was completed, both Robert and the man admired the picture without sight. 

     Due to the fact that the main man was not blind, one may wonder why the main man did not open his eyes when viewing the picture.  What was occurring was that the main man was viewing the drawing as Robert would, without sight, and thus viewing the world as Robert would, without sight.  Answering the context of his original question to Robert on his view of cathedrals he was, seeing just how Robert would see, with everything but his eyes. 

     One could see that the main man was changing, as he was being open to this new and different experience, seeing matters in a different light. 

                                      

"Everyday Use" By Alice Walker

      An interesting tale this was, for not only was it prevalent to present-day society, but it withheld prevalence within my own life, as well as many others, I am sure.  Although the plot may be perceived to have little gusto, the ideas behind such plots were what made this written work sufficiently metaphorically moving.  This story of which I speak of, dealt with an African American family, consisting of a mother and two daughters, Dee and Maggie.  Exemplified by a fire in which all three of them endured, Dee's persona and personality greatly overshadowed Maggie's, for Dee was more of an extrovert, while Maggie was the introvert of the two, which was seen by the fact that Dee's harm from the past house fire was minimal where as Maggie underwent sufficient physical harm - showing her fragility as both a mental and physical person.  Being a strong woman herself, the mother of these two seemed to have a much greater preference towards Dee, for Dee most likely represented the "perfect daughter", strong overall just like her mother. 

     Although this is only the beginning of this story, I, personally, felt a connection to Maggie, for it can be seen that she experienced "inferior sibling syndrome", which I have some experience with, as well.  Being the youngest of my family, there have been a few instances where my older sister has been the one of privilege, whether it be the choice of dinner for that night, or the winning of an ongoing quarrel between us.  Even though Maggie may have felt much more of the wrath of this syndrome, I can partially relate to her situation, which is most likely the same for many others.

     Fortunately, Maggie's experience with such a syndrome lessened in effect of Dee's endeavor to college.  However, upon her return, Maggie's bereft life returned from its long departure, but not for long.  In the midst of such a visit from Wangero, formerly known as Dee, and her new boyfriend, the topic of ancestry antiques became a source of discussion.  Feeling as though her scholarly ways greatened her rank among others, Wangero, or Dee, expressed much want and desire towards a particular family heir loom, a quilt in which her ancestors created with much love and care.  Although the mother never denied Wangero of any of her wants, this particular wish of Wangero's pushed her mother over the edge, for the mother felt that Maggie was the rightful owner of such a quilt - having the ability to put it to "everyday use".  An object to be awed by others was not the mother's plan for this quilt, even though Wangero persistently pleaded to put the quilt to such use.  Dropping her original preference for Wangero, the mother stood her ground, unwilling to budge, so that Wangero could put this quilt on useless display, which caused a smile to spread across Maggie's face of fragility, feeling as though she were loved.                                   

    The snootiness of the new Dee was most likely the turn off for the mother, feeling as though she were better than both her mother and Maggie combined.  Through such behavior, it is possible that the mother saw her beloved Dee as a "white intruder", attempting to take something away from her heritage, disregarding its original purpose.  Such racist thoughts most likely came into play, for the basis of such a tale came from a recent era descending from racism.  Ironically, Wangero, attempting to strengthen her African heritage, came off as trying to weaken such a past, thus causing her mother to lose favoritism towards her, and causing her to lose the quilt she so desired. 

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" By Flannery O'Connor

     Recently retiring from his college life, Julian currently resides with his mother, selling typewriters to others, all the while wishing for a sinecure in the field of writing in which he would be able to put such typewriters to good use.  Although Julian lives with his obsequious mother, he experiences pain when aiding her with common activities of a non-daily ritual.  A particular instance involved Julian physically taking his mother to one of her reducing classes, basically the "Weight Watchers" of today.  While on this endeavor, Julian feels the need to both internally and externally mock his mother, at one point remarking on her lilliputian stature with much cynicism.  Such behavior greatly implies how Julian feels that he is of a erudite status due to his college education, which is quite ironic based on his current residency with his mother, his lack of a promising occupation, and the mere fact that he is mocking a woman, his mother, in a child-like manner.  Ignoring such behavioral contradictions, Julian's malicious nature goes much farther than such snooty remarks. 

     Currently stationed on a bus towards their destination, Julian suddenly obtains the urge to greatly anger his mother, noting that her physical destruction would be taking it too far.  Due to the era of racism in which Julian's mother used to live, Julian decides to strike in such an area, particularly when an African American woman enters with her youthful son.  Hoping to create a strenuous situation for his mother, Julian mentally begs for this woman to sit close to him and his mother.  When such does happen, Julian plan begins to backfire, for his mother becomes intrigued and delighted by the young African American boy, but such contentment does not last.  

     Upon Julian and his mother's departure from the bus, which occurs simultaneously for the African American woman and her son, Julian's mother attempts to give the young boy a penny for his "cute" behavior.  Defying the warnings from Julian, Julian's mother continues to do so, until the African American boy's mother yells at Julian's mother with much hatred and contempt in her voice.  Julian's mother inadvertently freezes in place, stunned by the recent happenings.  Almost delighted at the sight, Julian explains that racism is gone, the world is not as it used to be, which is why her "condescending penny" was not well-received.  Along with such remarks, Julian expresses that his mother is not the person that she used to be, especially within this "new world", which most likely refers to the idea that Julian's mother is no longer the superior white woman that she has known herself to be.  Once such ideas permeate through Julian's mother's mind, Julian's mother begins to both mentally and physically break down.  Falling to the ground, Julian's mother screams those who she used to know and converse with in the past, and eventually dies having those people's names entail her final utterances. 

     It is possible that due to such a traumatic event and proceeding realization, the excitement may have overwhelmed Julian's mother physically, thus causing her life to come to its tragic end.  Although such is a possibility, there is also the idea that since she realized that the "old world" in which she knew best, one racially based, was no longer existent, maybe Julian's mother felt that her own existence was no longer necessary.  Or could her death be explained by a combination of both scenarios?  Possibly, Julian's mother lost "herself", her true self, and then she lost her physical placement, location at the time, thus all of this disorientation caused her to panic, raising her blood pressure, and unfortunately pass away. 

     Even though its reason is still unsure, Julian's mother did pass away at that time, contradicting Julian's original goal of "torture" for his mother, ultimately causing him to feel great heartache and grief, for he aided in his mother's death - an act frowned upon by any type of society. 

"Barn Burning" by William Faulkner

     A dilemma most teenagers face, but usually none are as severe as Colonel Sartoris Snopes.  Quite an august boy, one may say, for his actions dealing with such a trauma were far from the jejune nature in which one would expect from a teenage boy, especially with the entailments of this situation.  Basically, Colonel Sartoris Snopes' father, Abner Snopes, obtained the habit of committing arson in the midst of anger towards others within society.  After Abner Snopes burnt yet another building, particularly a barn, the Snopes family was ordered to move away by a court of law.  Although he was given this impunity, Abner Snopes' was unable to bring an end to his pyromaniac ways.  An anger at society he could not shake, and only the physical burning of particular matters would console this hatred.

     While Abner Snopes continued this state of self-loathing behavior, Colonel Sartoris Snopes attempted to maintain loyalty to his father, although his father endangered the safety and stability of his family.  Well aware of his father's foible, Colonel Sartoris Snopes externally expressed the erroneous nature of such actions, but internally, Colonel Sartoris' soul burned from the intensity produced by this well-known truth.  Such can be exemplified by the previously explained trial in which Colonel Sartoris Snopes was supposed to testify, even though this did not occur, Sartoris' view would clearly have favored his father; especially when he claimed that the judge was "[their] enemy...[their]n! [his] and hisn both! He's [his] father!" (14).  This internal secret would last for some time, but eventually, the truth would remove such a facade. 

     After moving into the new town in which Abner's "rebirth" was meant to take place, Colonel Sartoris Snopes noticed the unaffected mental and physical nature that his father exuded. Staying true to such nature, Abner Snopes obtained one of his most famously known piques brought on by a man of the name of Major de Spain; a man whose plantation housed the Snopes family, giving Colonel Sartoris Snopes the impression of safety, stability, and a fresh, new start, but Abner's thoughts were of a different type.  Having almost a great predilection for this disastrous behavior, Abner set his sights on the barn of Major de Spain.  Knowledgeable about his father's future plans, Colonel Sartoris Snopes attempted to protect his father and his family, for releasing such news would be a great detriment upon them.  Unable to fight the power of the truth, Colonel Sartoris Snopes eventually  informed Major de Spain about his father's plans to burn the barn.  Although Colonel Sartoris Snopes dropped his loyalty for his father and potentially endangered his family, his intentions were most likely of a less harmful nature; one could say that such actions were meant to not only protect another family from such a traumatic event, but to also send Sartoris' father a "wake-up call" as to ill-effects of his acts of arson in an attempt to discontinue such actions in the future. 

     Colonel Sartoris Snopes never truly knew the effects of his courageous act, for upon the completion of such an action, Sartoris left his family for good, aware that they would never forgive him.  Even the reader is unknowledgeable about the Snopes family's future, but one known truth lies in the fact that Colonel Sartoris completed an admiral act, one that surely affected his family greatly.  Unlike his father, Colonel Sartoris Snopes acted like a true "man", doing what was right for his family, even if that meant risking his own safety, for the safety of others.  Colonel Sartoris Snopes is the real man of this tale.