The writer makes us see the mother by describing the way she moves in the first paragraph of the story. The writer informs the reader that she is now blind, and says,
"She walks slowly through the house... She has never upset an object or as much as brushed a magazine onto the floor. She has never lost her balance or bumped into a closet door left carelessly open."
From these few sentences, you can tell that she has either been blind for years and is used to finding her way without trouble, or that she's been living in this house for years and is accustomed to where everything is placed. You could think that if she's been living in the same house for years, if could mean that she's insecure about change. She has to have everything stay exactly where she wants it to be - "a closet door left carelessly open", the writer is saying this as if, any one little thing is not where it should be, it's bad and that the person who committed this is "careless".
The writer uses phrases such as, "Catlike precision" which makes me think she has a very good sense of place. With these in mind, I can picture the mother walking slowly through the house in a nightgown, almost angelically, wearing a soft focused face as if she's concentrating on where she's going, but not concentrated enough to make her seem tense or uncomfortable.
She is described as catlike, graceful, comfortable, matter-of-fact and one with the constant dark by the writer. I would describe her as daring, brave, loyal, and strong. She's daring and brave because she was seven months pregnant and still doing jumps from large heights. She's loyal because she did anything to get her child out from their burning house. Finally, she's strong because she deals with the the death of her husband, and daughter, and re-marries and has another child.
The narrator is the child of the person she's telling the story about. This perspective tells us about the mother in an obvious way, that she has a child. This perspective also shows that the mother is close to her child, therefore; you know that the mother is caring, loving, and is a good parental figure.
"The child, however, is buried around the corner, beyond this house and just down the highway. sometimes I used to walk there just to sit. She was a girl, but I rarely thought of her as a sister or even as a separate person really." Page 193, paragraph 1.
I have a brother that was born before me that was stillborn, and I would do almost the same thing. I remember walking with my friends and near my house is the cemetery, I walked over to see the grave. The cemetery is just across the highway, so I'm close, like the narrator is. That part of the short story reminds me of this moment in my life.
I am happy on this. I can't touch things where the end of me are. It is hard, and has things that rest where the end of me are when I'm not on this. There is a thing on one side of it that makes me stay up. It is blue, and the things resting are silver.
She & Him is a band that I have been listening to for just a few months now. They have a different style that reminds me of vintage sort of music. The vintage style is great because it makes me think of teenagers just enjoying the day, taking photos with their friends in a park, or something of the sort. It's carefree times in the summer where you don't have to worry about working or school, or the time. I like this because I feel like I worry too much about everything, and this band takes me to another place where I can just let my worries fade for a few minutes.
I like watching the big bang theory because most of the characters are very smart. I wish I were as smart as those characters, and watch because I want to know how they socialize and how they interact with the surroundings. For instance, Sheldon, who is the smartest lacks the understanding of sarcasm and doesn't understand why people have the emotions they do. I feel as though I connect with him, not because of his intelligence, but because he seems awkward in social settings and I feel like I can be awkward in certain social situations. I like watching The Big Bang Theory because I feel like I can connect to how the characters socialize.
I like doing singing competitions because I like being able to learn new techniques and know if my singing is any good. I guess that's what competing is all about, determining who is a better singer, who people like seeing on stage more, and who is a better performer. Like what you were talking about in class, about male ego's, how a female could walk up to a male and say that they look attractive. So, in that way, repetitive competing is like a male ego, where you could win them all, and keep pretending that you know you're great, when really, you don't believe them. I like being in singing competitions because I like trying to achieve a higher level of appreciation of my singing. Almost like I'm striving for compliments by singing all the time.
It's not just about competing and looking for compliments though, I have been singing for ever since I can remember, and I enjoy it very much. I love to sing because it's something that I always can improve, and it's a way of communication that can be nice to listen to. I like to use singing as a way to bring joy to other people. If I work hard enough at it, I hope to make my parents proud of my voice and what I have achieved by just singing. Everyone can sing, but not all people have a voice that people want to listen to, that being said, if everyone just spoke to music, like rap, I don't think it would make as big of an impact as it does to sing it. Singing brings out a different part of me, and depending on the song, it could make me feel happier, angry, or even motivated for things. It can make me feel very powerful, or make me feel like another person.
I like acting. It, along with singing, makes me feel like a different person. I can pretend to be someone I'm not. I like that because most of the time, I'm not happy with myself, and it's kind of a way to escape myself for a while and see what it's like to be someone I'm not. It can also make me appreciate my life though, too. If I am playing a character that has problems in their life, it can make me realize that I don't actually have it so bad, and that others have problems too. I think most of my "problems" are that I'm worrying too much about everything. What people think of me, if they like how I dress, what if I'm not smart enough to do this, what happens if I raise my hand to answer something and I get it totally wrong. Acting is my way of becoming someone else, someone I feel is better than what I can be, that is why I like to act.
I think one of my strengths in school would be independent work. Last year in English I didn't have very many friends in my class; I either worked alone if I could or got placed with a random group. It was fine with me though, I enjoy doing some types of school work alone. It just seems more difficult if I have to try to get common knowledge and ideas out of the other person. However, if they give me tons of ideas and I have none, I feel like I'm not contributing and it's not fun for either of us. I just enjoy working alone; also, that way I can write and think at my own pace.
A weakness in school i have, would be getting homework done. I usually forget about what I have to do, it's not that I don't care, I just end up forgetting what happened in class. I like that you have all your notes of what we talked about in class on the blog. Then I can go there and remind myself of what I need to do. This year I plan to try to remember what I have to do that night, or week, and get it done. Especially for projects, because I would put them off until the nights before it's due and get stressed because I can't finish it fast enough. I don't want to go through that stress this year, so I'm going to work on my homework skills.
I've been trying to think of the mark that I need, and to be honest. I don't know what mark I need. I know that I need a passing mark, but to which extent; I have no idea. I know what mark I would like, that would be around an 85% or higher. I think in English last year I got an 82%, a few marks had brought the average down. I hope to get the same or better in this course this year. I will achieve this mark by doing my homework (as explained above), asking questions if I don't understand a concept, and I will try to answer more questions in class. I think those are some of my low points in school, so I will work on those to try to bring up my mark.
