"Doe Season" By David Michael Kaplan

In this story David Kaplan uses symbolism to represent the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the beginning of the story Andy says,"They were always the same woods" and "it was like thinking of the space between here and the moon" (pg. 456). The woods may be symbolic of Andy's world, her own safe haven, where everything is always the same. When she is out in the woods with her father and his friends however, the woods become unfamiliar. This symbolizes the transition that she is going through to become an adult. This experience is new and unfamiliar to her. When Andy spots the doe and is getting ready to shoot it she is thinking,"Why doesn't it hear us, why doesn't it run away" (pg. 464). When Andy is thinking these thoughts it symbolizes her fear and uncertainty of making the final move to becoming an adult (shooting the doe). There is another scene in the story where Andy is having a dream about the doe. There was a part in the dream where Andy "pressed deeper, through flesh and muscle and sinew, until her whole hand and more was inside the wound and she had found the doe's heart" (pg 466). This may symbolize the guilt that Andy feels from shooting the deer, she feels like she took everything away from the doe. The doe symbolizes the innocence that Andy possesses and by shooting and killing the deer she no longer feels that that part of her exists. Andy is transitioning into adulthood, and when she finally realizes how scary it is, she runs away.

"Doe Season"

Through out David Kaplan’s “Doe Season” There are several examples of symbolism. Firstly, when The story opens, the main character, nine year old Andy mentions that they are in the “same woods that lay behind her house” even thought they have traveled “for miles and miles” she is convinced that these are the same woods (Kaplan 456). Andy believes that these woods are the same as the ones behind her house to mask her fear of the unknown. In the mind of a nine year old, if there are the same woods, they are familiar. Andy compares the woods to the ocean, which she was afraid of because of its size, but in essence she is afraid of the woods. Finally, Andy spots a deer, and her father allows her to take a shot at is, because she is the one that spotted it. Andy is able to shoot the dear, however she is not able to kill it. She then experiences great guilt. In her sleep an owl awakens her, and nags at her. The owl is symbolizing her conscience, reminding her of what she has done, and the animal that is suffering at her hand. Finally they find the injured dear and begin to cut it. Andy runs, but she is running away from so much more than the blood and guts. She is running away from what her father has been trying to do, which is turn her into the son that he never had.

Work cited
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature : Reading, Reacting, Writing. 6th ed.Boston: Heinle, 2006.

"Doe Season" by David Michael Kaplan

"Doe Season" by David Michael Kaplan carries the classic theme of a child entering adulthood. Andy, the protagonist is only nine years old, but understands that she will be entering adulthood soon. I see the doe hunt symbolizing a rite of passage for Andy. This is her first hunt, and she is innocently excited. She has watched her father hunt every year, and knows the enjoyment it brings him, and wants to be a part of it. "Please let us get a deer, she prayed."(462)This plead expresses her innocence as a child. Later, when she sees the deer and is pressured by the hunting group to "shoot", she is having second thoughts. She wants the deer to run before she has to shoot it. It doesn't and Andy shoots it, which catapults her out of the innocence she has only known. Now she has killed an animal, which she struggles with. "What have I done? Andy thought."(465)This moment in time has forever changed her. She will even change her name, showing her passage through childhood into adulthood. "And now they were all calling to her-Charlie Spoon and Mac and her father-crying Andy,Andy (but that wasn't her name, she would no longer be called that);yet louder than any of them was the wind blowing through the treetops, like the ocean where her mother floated in green water, also calling come in, come in, while all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea."(467) The sea symbolizing her inevitable advancement into adulthood.

"The Chrysanthemums" By: John Steinbeck

Elisa a struggling trying to find her sexuality, while her love and passion is her garden. She seems to have no children and her husband seem to admire there romance. First we see a sing of symbolism when she is working with the Chrysanthemums and he love and care toward them. She indicates that “No aphids were there, no sowbugs or snails or cutworms. With her fingers destroyed such pets before they could get started (Steinbeck).” In the quote the pets are harmful to the flowers. She is also referring to the Chrysanthemums a sing of symbolism to children of her own and that she is mending them and taking care of them so they don’t get hurt. As the story shows that Elisa takes great pried in her work and love what she does for her self, and have the ability to nurture beautiful flowers.
Getting more indepth of the story you come across another symbolism showing Elisa womanly side and sexuality side. When Henry her husband fails to see the beauty in the flowers and comment saying "I wished that you'd be working in the orchard to raise our apples big (Steinbeck)". the quote shows us how feminine she is and that she'd rather work in the garden than out in a field where that's a mans job.

"Doe Season" By David Kaplan

In the story “Doe Season” by David Kaplan it has a couple different symbols that go along with how Andy goes from being a daddy’s girl or a tomboy to becoming a woman. The point where Mac mad her mad and she wanted to throw snow at him but she didn’t cause she didn’t want to displease her dad.(458) Goes to show she is there to please her father. Also when she was given coffee by her father she held the cup like him and “She drank it even though it made her feel queasy” (459). One of the reasons her father let her come with is because she is good luck. “Animals, I don’t know how she does it, but they come right up to her” (457) Then when she does see a deer and they come to shoot it, her dad offers and then pressures her to shoot it. She didn’t want to shoot it. She wanted it to run away. She does finally shoot it with a clean shot it falls down, and then they go over to see the deer it got up and walked away. “What have I done?” “Please let it die” (465) she couldn’t believe that she actually shot the deer. She had hurt an animal and she didn’t want it to suffer. Then when she had a dream her arm was in the dear feeling its heart beat her hand was burning hot and she couldn’t get it out. She was feeling guilty for what she had done. So now when they started to gut the deer she couldn’t handle any of it she turned and started to run away. They hollered “Andy Andy, but that wasn’t her name, she would no longer be called by that” (467). This is where she realized that this was not her. She was not a boy, she was a girl.

"I stand Here iorning" by Tillie Olsen

While reading I stand here ironing, it is obvious that the narrator fells responsible for some of the behaviors that her daughter displays. She correlates her actions with the hardships her daughter possesses.
At a young age, the mother is forced to send her daughter away to her father’s family. This was the only decision that the mother could have made at that time. The mother struggled with this, as the age that Emily was send away is incredibly crucial for bonding between a mother and a child. It is never easy for a mother to leave a child, but in this case it was the only option to send her daughter away. The alternative would result in a hungry child with no child care.
The child in this story did not want to trouble her mother. It was her kind and good nature. Children learn to adapt, just as Emily did. While Emily was five, here sister was born. During her sister’s infant year the mother was so exhausted that she could not will her self to comfort Emily as she had night terrors, therefore as Emily grew she would call back to her mother “I’m all right, go back to sleep”(Olsen 285)
The guilt that the mother feels in this story is warranted, but she was doing what was best for her daughter. Society makes the life of a single mom’s live very difficult The narrator in the story made sure her daughter was fed and clothed, and sometimes that is the best that can be done.
Amanda Klepperich

"The Storm"

Answering question #9
This story tells a lot about cheating and lieing. This woman who loves her husband so much and loves her child decides to stay home one afternoon. She sits sewing and notices the big dark clods rolling over and she get up to close them. As she's up closing the windows she sees a man riding toward her house. She soon finds out that's its Alcee a man she once loved. He makes his way inside. He comes on to her very quickly and soon the storm passes.
In the story you can see that every one is responsible for there own actions and the storm does not bring it upon them. She must of had feelings for him still wich means she was not faithfuly comitted to her husban and same goose for Alcee. "So the storm passes and every one was happy (Chopin)" This qoute fits the story because they decied not to do anyhitng about there emotions to one another.

Symbolism in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

Symbolism is a concept the author Shirley Jackson doesn’t seem to take lightly. Her short story “The Lottery” is teeming with objects and concepts that don’t show the reader their true meaning without a little digging. Three of the symbols that are very important to the story are the black box, the stones, and the pieces of paper.

The black box holding the lottery tickets is a symbol that holds a lot of mystery in the story. We don’t really know what is going on or the purpose of the story throughout, and the box represents this. It also serves as a symbol for death. Black is often associated with death and evil, which is how the story ends. Also, the box plays on the idea of a coffin holding dead people. One of the persons at the lottery are going to die, and the black box reflects this.

The stones are a symbol for tradition. Rocks are ancient and remind one of a simpler, more basic time. The traditions that the people follow are barbaric in nature and have been around for a very long time.

Another noticeable symbol is that of the pieces of paper. They represent the fragility and feebleness of life. This can be seen in the story wen Jackson says “he dropped all the papers but those on to the ground, where the breeze caught them and lifted them off” (Jackson 410). It shows how the people’s lives are just like the papers, insignificant.

Jackson truly shows how symbolism can add much depth to a short story. Without it, "The Lottery" would seem to be nothing more than an entertaining mystery tale.

"The Storm"

In "The Storm" by Kate Chopin they try to use the storm as an excuse to do the things they do. The two people in the story that committed adultery were both married. There is never an excuse to commit adultery. The husband of the women in the story was not feeling well about having to stay in the store while and leaving his wife home alone while the storm was coming so he bought her shrimp (256). Alcee, the man that committed adultery, showed up at Calixta's house and used the on coming rain as an excuse to get in. The storm was no reason to commit adultery but there is never a good enough reason to do that. The fact that neither of them felt guilty makes it even worse. At the end of the story the wife laughed with her family like nothing ever happened(259). The man sends a letter to his wife that she can stay away in another town.

I Stand Here Ironing

In “I Stand Here Ironing”, the narrator feels very guilty for the way her eldest daughter Emily was raised. Overall the narrator loves Emily in her own way and was doing what she thought was right, or what she simply had to do. “I was nineteen. It was the pre-relief, pre-WPA world of the depression.” (284) That would have been an extremely difficult time to be a single mother. Jobs were limited to females and money was tight even for people in upper class America. The narrator was perfectly just in “[having] to leave her daytimes with the woman downstairs” (284). I also don’t blame her for having to send Emily to her father’s family, but in other ways the narrator has every right to feel guilty. “With all the fierce rigidity of first motherhood” (283) she denied Emily milk when she was a hungry infant. She never rationed milk for the rest of her children. She forced goodness upon Emily rather than letting her throw tantrums like the normal four-year-old. The narrator never even smiled at Emily. That is a very scarring thing to a child. When Emily was sick and had nightmares the narrator didn’t go to her room and comfort Emily instead she yelled out “now go to sleep, Emily, there’s nothing to hurt you”. It is true that a child needs to learn to be independent and not afraid, but I think that underneath the fear Emily just wanted her mother to be with her. It was fortunate for the narrator that Emily had talent or else she would be feeling a lot more guilty than she does in the story.

"The Storm"

Question Number Nine
In "The Storm" by Kate Chopin, two adults, Calixta and Alcee, are brought together under the same roof, as a storm approaches and builds. These two adults were past lovers. The building of the storm leads to the progression of adultery between Calixta and Alcee (255-259). The storm that approaches is no excuse for breaking the strong commitment of marriage between two people. Calixta and Alcee are both married in the story. When two people are committed in marriage, there should be no reason that either of them commits adultery. While the storm brought Calixta and Alcee, two past lovers, together under the same roof, the feelings of fear of the storm that they felt does not excuse their behavior during the storm. Adultery is inexcusable on any level. Also, Alcee goes home after the storm and writes to his wife that they may stay longer at Biloxi if they would like (259). This shows that the behavior of Alcee and Calixta is no longer excusable by the storm because there is no regret for their actions afterwards. In fact, Alcee is looking for more opportunities to have time with Calixta in the future. If the behavior would have been heat of the moment and excusable by the storm, both characters would feel some sort of regret after the incident took place.

"I Stand Here Ironing"

"I Stand Here Ironing" explores the intense guilt of a mother who feels she did not live up to her duty as a mother. It is entirely possible that these events could occur in our world today. Single mothers face just as many challenges today as they did in the Depression era. It's not only much more costly to provide for a family, but the expectations put on parents to provide have only increased since that time period. Today, parents are faced with the pressures of providing name brand clothing, and the newest toys and games that most single parents are simply not able to afford, especially in these tough economic times that are being compared to that era.

Emily's mother states, "We were poor and could not afford for her the soil of easy growth. I was a young mother, I was a distracted mother. There were other children pushing up..." (Olsen 288) Emily's mother has not, in reality, done anything wrong. In this life, each of us can only aspire do our best with our children; this is an incredibly difficult task for anyone, but especially for a single mother of multiple children, struggling to provide. She has been a good mother to Emily. She states, "I used to try to hold and love her..." (Olsen 286) The best she could do is try.

I Stand Here Ironing

Answer to Question #3:
In "I Stand Here Ironing", Emily's mother feels a tremendous amount of guilt. This feeling is definitely warranted. There is a whole history of neglect to this first child, for example:"They persuaded me at the clinic to send her away to a convalescent home in the country where "she can have the kind of food and care you can't manage for her, and you'll be free to concentrate on the new baby."(285) It seems Emily's mother was easily influenced, and had skills of justifying her actions, which led to serial events of neglect. Now she is reminiscing about the past and understanding that she could of done things differently, feels it is "too late for Emily"(285). I think that it would be impossible for a mother not to feel guilty about the up-bringing Emily endured. I don't hold Emily's mother completely responsible for the neglect, as life is a huge obstacle, and the bills need to be paid somehow, but she could have made better choices. I believe she is an adequate mother because she did what she needed to do at the time, and Emily turns out alright, in-spite-of the events of her childhood. Now mother has insight and hopefully will try and make-up for lost time with Emily.

"The Storm"

In “The Storm” Calixta and Alcee happened to get together due to the bad weather which lead up to them committing adultery. I do not think that the storm is an excuse for adultery. It just so happened to be that there was a storm that day. It probably would have happened at any other day if Calixta’s husband wasn’t home and she knew that she was safe. Obviously Alcee had feelings still for Calixta the way he spoke of her such as” she was a little fuller than 5 yrs ago, but she had lost nothing of her vivacity.”(pg. 256). He remembered her quite vividly so he still had a thing for her. The worst part of it is he wrote his wife telling “her not to hurry back, but if she and the babies liked it at Biloxi, to stay a month longer.”(pg. 259) Clarisse thought he was being kind hearted when in fact he is not. He is hoping to get together again with Calixta. So then it goes to show that the storm had nothing to do with the adultery.

"The Storm"

In Kate Chopin's short story "The Storm" two past lovers end up in each others arms and follow their feelings of passion, committing an forgettable sin, adultery.
When a sin is committed like the one in this story there is never and excuse for it. The storm is no excuse for Calizta and Alcee's actions. The storm may very well be the reason for why they end up under the same roof, the power of the dangerous storm bringing out their past feeling for each other, that are very strong, and powerful like the storm. They obviously still passionately care about each other. The storm in not the reason to act on those feelings. No they cannot control the strength of there feelings which my reflect on the power of the storm, causing Calizta fear, that leads her into Alcee's arms in the first place. The storm my be to blame for them being in each other company, but they can do the right thing and strictly only take cover to stay safe and out of harm. Instead Alcee's move to comfort Calizta end up causing more harm in possibly hurting the people they love along with themselves. They are responsible for their own actions and cannot use the storm as an excuse.

The Storm

In this story a chain of events lead to a characters adultery.

In the Beginning of the story Calixta's husband (Bobinot), and son (Bibi) get stuck at Friedheimer's store waiting out a bad storm. Calixta is at home alone during the storm until M'sieur Alcee (A former fling) unexpectedly rides up on his horse. Calixta welcomes him inside to wait out the storm. Calixta and M'sieur Alcee are both well aware that they are married, but the temptations are too strong. Soon their lips are locked...and so on.

I do not think that the storm is an excuse in any way for Calixta's and M'sieur Alcee's affair. When two people are committed to each other in such a way as marriage there should be no excuse for those actions. When God wrote the seventh commandment (Thou shall not commit adultery), I doubt he viewed a storm let alone anything as an excuse to break that commandment. No matter how hard life is at the time or how big of an argument you are in with a partner, there should always be an alternative to cheating. My favorite quote in this story was, "So the storm passed and everyone was happy". It is the people who wait out that storms that are able to think about everything more logically.

A&P

In A&P Sammy gives a lot of information about himself and how he was raised. He was brought up thinking that work was very important and him and his family sounded very close. It also seemed that his family did not have a lot of money. This is important because it could not have been easy for him to quit his job so easily. But the reason he quit was because he felt his manager embarrassed some customers and one he happened to be attracted to. The fact that he quit over this shows that he lacks some immaturity but at the same time it shows he is very strong person and not afraid to stand up for what he believes in.