Face-to-Face Response

The stories that stuck out most to me were the ones that affected especially the children of the stereotyped ethnicities.  The first of these narratives was that of Satsuki Ina.  Ina was asked to help Muslim kids who were being bullied after 9/11 because they looked like the terrorist.  This story really upset me, not only because the kids were being bullied even though they had no possible connections to the attacks, but also because the insults that were spoken against these Islamic kids came from the other kid’s parents.

Satsuki Ina had another story that was equally intriguing: her own childhood.  Being Japanese, she faced extreme prejudice herself during WWII.  She was called “a dirty Jap” as a child when she stepped out of the rain onto a porch.  I don’t understand how someone could be so hateful against a child, the characterization of innocence, because one of her ancestors lived in the same country that attacked the US at Pearl Harbor. 

Book Blog 4: The Minister's Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathanial Hawthorne is set in a small, old timey, American town.  Everything about this town is pretty normal until that one fateful day.  One day Reverend Hooper suddenly decided to wear a strange article of clothing: a black veil.  Prior to Parson Hooper’s sudden change of fashion he was well liked, but when he puts on that veil suddenly no one wants to be around him anymore.

“Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he paid due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle aged with kind dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted the young with mingled authority and love, and laid his hands on the little children's heads to bless them. Such was always his custom on the Sabbath day. Strange and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy. None, as on former occasions, aspired to the honor of walking by their pastor's side. Old Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement.”

 

Although this isn’t the main theme of this story, it is interesting to see how acquaintances will suddenly turn on one another with one simple change: whether the change is simply a new clothing article, or a change in personality.  In this story, the minister’s veil causes all of the people of his church to be scared of him and neglect him regardless of all traditions.  This story reflects the way people react to situations like this in real life.

Book Blog 3: Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

The Kaatskill Mountains

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is a short story about a man who lives in a small village at the foot of the Kaatskill Mountains.  His name is, surprise, Rip Van Winkle.  Van Winkle is described as a pleasant man who is popular among the people of the village.  He is married to the woman Dame Van Winkle who abuses her husband with her sharp tongue.  Dame Van Winkle calls her husband “idle-minded” and isn’t fond of his mingling with philosophers and other so called “idle minded men”. 

One day Van Winkle goes on a squirrel hunt to get away from his wife.  This is the described scene:

Panting and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll, covered with mountain herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice.  From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country for many mile of rich woodland.  He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue hillside.

 Irving has an amazing ability to describe events, situations and especially landscapes.  Whether he is describing this branch of the Appalachian Mountains or if he is describing Ichabod Crane’s horseback ride in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving’s descriptions are always extremely vivid down to the tiniest details.  I have also noticed Irving’s tendency to cram an unnatural amount of clauses into a single sentence such as the third sentence in this quote describing the Hudson. 

After reading Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and now reading Rip Van Winkle Irving’s writing style continues to be pleasantly intriguing.  I wound encourage anyone who isn’t afraid of a couple of big words and intricate phrasing to read these short stories, also if you are thinking about reading Starters: don’t, read this instead.