The Storm

Quote:

“Bonté!” She cried, releasing herself from his encircling arm and retreating from the window, “the house’ll go next! If I only knew w’ere Bibi was!” She would not compose herself; she would not be seated. Alcée clasped her shoulders and looked into her face. The contact of her warm, palpitating body when he had unthinkingly drawn her into his arms, had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh.

Calixta is all alone during a storm, her husband and kids are both out of the house. An old time boyfriend stops by the house when the storm is going on. Calixta is a mess, worried her house will fall down during the storm. She is soothed by her old time boyfriend Alcee, who grabs her and tells her everything, will be all right. The two remembering old times embrace each other again during the storm. Alcee calms her down and they soon rekindle the flame until the storm passes.

"The Real Thing"

“The Real Thing” is a creative short story about a couple that were Monarchs and have falling on bad times. The narrator in the story is the artist and has an awkward encounter with this couple. The artist paints portraits of models, in this case the Monarchs don’t want to pay for a picture, they want to be paid to model for a painting. At first the artist gets excited that there are real Monarchs that came to him. After talking to them he soon realizes that they have come for a different reason. The artist is confused that such a high class couple wants to be paid for something.  This changes the mood of the story because the artist has never been in a position where a couple wants to be paid to model. As the story progresses he realizes the Monarchs are not fit for the job and they are ruining his reputation.  He ends the story with, “If it be true I am content to have paid the price-for the memory.” The Monarchs are desperate for money but do not have a skill set to earn any. The artist feeling bad and puts them to work with manual labor. He soon doesn’t want them around anymore so he pays them to leave. The artist puts it together that this couple is not what he thought they would be.

The Black Cat

Poe,

I’ve just finished reading your short story The Black Cat. It was very dark and you touched upon symbols that connected throughout the story. Your love for animals reminds me of how important science is to me. However the animal abuse in the story is dark and left my asking why a character could preform such an action. The character that is depicted seems like he had a normal life until he brings up how he hit his wife. It seemed liked nothing could get worse until the character gouges his cats eye out with a pen knife. I believe in karma, after the cat was killed, there was a sense that there would be something bad to follow it. The story left me questioning what horrid event could happen next. I liked how you wrapped up the story with introducing another cat that eventually led the character to kill his wife and be taken away by the police. Overall the story caught my attention and left me questioning what the character would do next.

Sincerely,

Hawthorne  

What is American Literature?

         American literature is comprised of writing that has been done in the U.S. and is full of all different genres. This literature consists of stories that have happened within American, fiction stories, and poetry. Literature in America has been around for centuries and is a strong part of our culture. Books are widely popular and contain knowledge and stories for everyone.  Without literature key parts of American history would be lost.