Flowering Judas

Ah, Flowering Judas =)
This short story has an old school writing technique but has wonderful language. The author, Katherine Anna Porter (1890-1980) incorporated personal life experiences into her writings. This correlation can be seen in ber bio in The Norton Anthology American Literaure; "she lived mainly in Mexico...[she] was involved in revolutionary politics" (972) and her work, Flowering Judas, whose protagonist is a female pondering revoluionary politics that lives in Mexico. By the way, she was married four times. Note to self. Don't get married four times.
I won't elaborate much on the story; read it yourself but I'll tell you my thoughts on the language.
When Braggioni (guy who's crushin on Laura, protagonist) comes to sing to her, she has to clench her teeth and force a smile.
"He scratches the guitar familiarly as thought it were a pet animal, singing passionately off key, taking the high notes in a prolonged painful squeal." I laughed for a good two minutes in class after reading that. Just picture a fat, cocky jerk singing like a complete retard and try not to smile.
I'm pretty sure every girl has had that moment when they have to be polite and put up with a guy they don't like hitting on them. I looove how Porter puts this-
"Now she longs to fly out of this room, down the narrow stairs, and into the street where the houses lean together like conspirators uner a single mottled lamp, and leave Braggioni singing to himself." Even the lifeless houses would be better company, comfort almost, to her as opposed to being with this guy she can't seem to evade.
That's all that really stood out to me.
She's interesting.

Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway is probably my favorite modern short story. The story itself isn't that wonderful- a man and a woman are at a train station having drinks. That's about all that happens. What's so great about it is the structure that it was written in. It's literally like somebody opened up a book of a novel to a couple of random pages and only read a portion. There is very little exposition/forshadowing; and what's there is well hidden. As the reader, you're complimented in the sense that the author assumes you have the competency to figure out what's going on.
"Letting the air in" refers to the woman having an abortion
"Hills Like White Elephants" exposes that the woman is thinking about children and possibly keeping the baby...which means she probably shouldn't be drinking...
The lack of cohesion between the man and woman, seen by their touch and go tone of voice, foreshadows the fact that this relationship will be short lived. Modern short stories engage your creative comprehension more than a full length novel because you have to do the work of writing the first and last of the chapters in your head. Love it.

Oh Society!

Your mind would prove a naked fright
without its fabrications,
just as your pretty body'd be
if worn only up to your knees.

Have you noticed that mankind is the only living thing that pretends to be something that it is not? What would happen if we actually told one another that we were not simply 'good' when someone asks? What would happen if we actually confessed our sins to one another as God called Christians to do?

Lust

I saw you in the city streets
I saw your mind was simple
my offer to-
you was disdained

But after time you looked my way
Attrician Warefare has no rules
the object is-
not peace

Cunning are the ways which I kill
but who knew men should be so blind
 to be enticed to come and die?

The best is this,
after you know my motive's truth
again I'll call
again you'll turn
again by your hand I'll-
rape you



So this poem is personifying lust (duh). The first stanza introduces the voice as a person who is looking at the city streets for the simple minded person. This is a metaphor relating to the woman of Folly in Proverbs 9:13-18.

The second stanza tells how the simple minded man eventually turns to the woman of Folly. The next three lines in the stanza is a random thought that Lust has- you have to remember that in the spiritual realm there is no negotiating, there is no bargain that will be honored. There's nothing that could possibly benefit you in the long run which comes from sin. Attrician warefare is war where the object is not peace. The single goal is killing the enemy.

So Lust continues on his chain of thoughts to tell us that there are many ways which the spiritual world attacks us, but what he finds- and what I frequently am baffled by- is that the number one trick that Satan plays on us, which we stumble with the most, is Lust. Think about it for a second. Instead of Satan attacking us with something a little more obvious he cunningly makes our death look desirable. Imagine is you're a soldier and you see the enemy approaching you. Instead of openly attacking you, he says, "Hey you, come stab yourself on my sword" and you did it. You'd say, psh I'm not that dumb- but we all do it. Not only that, but after we realize that it's wrong and that lust really is a bad road to go down, we continue to walk down the same street that the woman of Folly is on.