Welcome To The Monkey House

     Well this is a story that speaks for it self.  As I read this story over and over again it didn't make any sense to me.  When the author mention the word" nothinghead " what kind of word is this, then when he gave the meaning of the word I really was puzzled then.  Then the phrase " ethical birth-control pills three times a day."  As you see no one of this makes any sense.  So as I read on I started trying to understand this .  The Hostesses where the ladies that runs a call girl house.  when the police was looking for this guy name Billy but they had never seen him or didn't even have a picture to identify him by that is where they went.  But the girls was the only ones that could identify him.  So we have a drug dealer is who I took Billy at.  So when he would slip the men this pill they say that below the waist felt cold as iron or balsa-wood.  The woman said that below the waist they felt like wet cotton or stale ginger ale.  These pills was very poteen  as they say.  To the women Billy was known for the poems that he written or rewrote to fit the women he was trying to impress.  Near the end of the story Nancy was one of the ladies that the police know was close to him when they wired up her phone they thought they had him when he called her.  But when they traced him down he said he was  a friend.  Then one day he came and got Nancy  out the house, he didn't take her out the door and to a car or cab.  He took her down the sewer drain, so he kidnapped her.  as the police was looking for Billy they didn't know that their witness Nancy was missing as well.   When they went to the zoo that is where they went to the monkey house to see the monkeys and then the phone rang and they answered it right in the monkey house.  Now where do the Monkey House fit in with Billy and the girls?

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Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

     As I read this story I must say that Joyce Carol Oates did an excellent job writing this short story.  This puts you in the mind of two generations.  The generation when I was growing up and the generation of today.  Two sisters that are very different in how they seem to do things in there lives.  the sister June who is in her twenty's is more conservative, in her dress, make-up, and who she spend her time with, her work, and she still lives with her mother.  She has a good job as a secretary at the high school where her sister goes.  That is Connie the sixteen year old that we are comparing to.  Now Connie is very different she loves to where make-up, and color her hair  with loud colors that is fashion trends.  She also loves to go out with her friends and party.  On one Friday evening Connie   and her friend went to the mall were they would go to shop, movies, and to me boys.  Boys that is what was on Connie's mind.  Her sister June as we said was different.  There mother and her sister would always praise June and always asked Connie why she couldn't be like her.  With that said Connie would wish sometimes that her mother was dead.  There father was the bread winner of the family his routine was the same everyday.  He would go to work, come home ,eat dinner, read the paper, and then go to bed. 
     How I compare this I look at June as myself I was a very conservative person I would always clean up behind myself, made sure everything was in order, I didn't  go out every night of the week searching for a man or just to be seen.  the females of today some but not all are looking for someone to love them, they go out to clubs, movies, and will flirt just to get people to see them. 
     

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Lowell,Sexton,Plath

As you see I really fell for the girls out of the three authors in this section.  They both cam from extreme families.  They both went to top rated schools and I enjoyed their readings.  Sexton poem 'Housewife" when you read this it doesn't sound like the title.  A housewife is a person that takes care of their family by making sure there needs are fulfill as to what they need as food clean clothes, and a clean home.  But as you look at  the first line "Some woman marry houses" To me that is the woman that thinks more on how well she want that building to look.  That still does not mean that a home or a house.  Line 5 "See how she sits on her knees all day."  I take that as she is praying for her family and praying that her house is a house of peace.  Her Poem 'Somewhere in Africa " really lets you know that she was a spiritual woman and she put God first in her life.  The book should have put this poem before "Housewife" then I think you would have gotten a full understanding of what  her poems was all about.

     Now as I look at Plath poems her writing was really about becoming a single parent and raising her sons.  Her poems that was really written for her children because she  knew after separating from her husband that  they was going to need something to remember him by.  But she then took her own life, so now her sons have two voids to fill.  To me I think both of these ladies was always thinking about the other people or family members that they really cared deeply about.  So you can say that they did  have something both in common.

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Fear and Loathing

As I read the bio of Thompson I was amazed  of his articles that he wrote.  After reading about his life as a young child and how he  was raised as a kid.  His father deceased and his mother was an alcoholic.  As from my understanding of this reading he did use drugs and was in a gang or a gangster as they called it back in the day.  This caused him to go to jail because of all the things he did and the trouble he was in.  So that lead him to enlist in the military.  The dialog that he used in this article is all on what he thought and how he explained it.  But as I read it I still didn't think this was him being a bad boy or a good boy during this fear or loathing.  Then as you read this you will see that his lawyer was with him at all times.  So was the lawyer his protection or was he there as his partner of crime?  This could have been something that was made up.  The boy that they had with them was someone that they picked up along the way. Amazing how he traveled with drugs, weapons, and alcohol and firearms across country and he was never cult.  How would you really take this story, when I read the next segment I hope to have a better understanding.

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Joyce Johnson

This story was a good story to read.  What I like about this story is that a girl from a nice two parent family, decided that she was going to get her a job and save here some money and move out of her parents home.  What she did first was took some money and found her a room.  Then a few weeks later she bought her some essential things that she would need. Then when the day came she got up early that morning and went into her parents room and told them that she was moving out.  she knew that in her town that she lived what the down fall would be.  And as soon as the neighbor seen a single girl moved in and he knew her family he called her mother and told her that she was with child.  The girl knew that would happen.  When her mother called her she explained know that was not true.  She just was growing up and trying to be independent.  As for me growing up , she reminds me of how I was.  I became independent and had my first job when I was a junior in high school.  I bought things for myself, and there was know pressure for my parents.  I think that I am always the person in my family that will be called on the most.  what do you think do a man move out and able to take care of themselves?   

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Hobos Yesterday and Today

What we know as  homeless people in todays society was called hobos in the 50's though the 80's or maybe somewhere in the early 90's. Back then a homeless person or hobo didn't have the trouble that they have today.  They have no where to lay their heads or to take a good hot bath.  As we seem them in our city they are laying on sidewalks, bus stop benches, park benches, or just in a grassy area.  They are always standing in what might be a busy intersection with signs asking can you spear $1.00 so I can get something to eat.  When they ask for this you can see that some of them really only want the money to buy booze, cigarettes, or illegal drugs.  We look at them and we judge them as being dirty and contaminated.  I must apologize because I might have judge someone without thinking.  On the other hand as I read this article this is not how the hobos was treated back in the day.  They were sleeping in some fine places, they was not disturbed by the local authorities like they do today.  People would hand out money and food and some would even invite them into there homes and think nothing about it.  They where friends to some of the children and would help with handy work around the homes.  So why is things different then yesterday or today as you look at this situation.  They are both the same kind of issues in todays society as it was in the early years? 

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Sonny Blues

As I read this story it brought back memories of my childhood and how my family is today.  As a family first of all we were brought up in church and we went every Sunday even to Sunday school.  My mother was a woman that took care of the house and the children and my father was the bread winner of the family.  There are three children 1son and 2 daughters, with that said my brother is the first born.  He was always looking after my sister and I.  When in school he would ask me if  I had lunch money.  He had a car and drove to school in high school I new that I always had a ride home.  This story takes me back to the 70's and 80's era with him being three years older then me.  When my sister was born she and I are six years apart.  And I made sure she was taking care of.  Now as we gotten older I think we are like Sonny and his brother.  Sonny being the youngest his brother felt like he had let him down.  And in Sonny's  case he felt like all He let drugs and alcohol rule him.  When he was  confined for several years I think that is when he started trying to clear his mind and get his life on track.  When his mother died that really bought him down and his brother thought it was nothing that he could do to help him.    At some point in life I think every family goes through that  when we feel like you have grew up and you should be able to stand on your own two feet.  I did that with my family and sometimes they just need help on getting started.  when him and his brother had a conversation about what was on his mind.  Right then he knew that his brother was reaching out to him.  The revival was a breaking point as well.  I can tell that their mom must have taken them to church as kids, because of the songs that was  sung at the revival brought back memories.  When he told his brother he wanted him to go and her him play that was truly the day that they became really close.  We cannot judge a book by its cover and that goes for people we cannot judge a person by the way they look or act?

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Elizeabth Bishop and Theodore Roethke

As I read about these two authors, they both had amazing poems that I had to narrow it down,  I chose the poem" Big Wind " , as I read this poem it was really touching as it started off you would of thought it was talking about a greenhouse a place where you grow flowers.  Or maybe it was a Stem boat, or it even could have been a train as well.  But with the wind high it pushes the boat down the waters.  this boat was hitting the waves, so  hard it sounded like cracked glass.  The boiler was steaming up just as a pot soup cooking on the stove. If this boat was really a green house the flowers would have really grown  to  the top. The waves was so strong and high that it just pushed this boat down stream.  As it moved it started calming down in the middle of the night to the wee hours of the morning. The sail was flying high as well. Could this be a greenhouse to grow flowers or is this anhouse that was blown away in a storm?

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A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor

Bailey mother was trying to keep him from taking his family and her to Florida on vacation.  She had read in the paper that the Misfit was on the loose from the Federal Penn and he was headed toward Florida.  The grandmother(Baileys) mother was trying to tell Bailey and his wife that there children needed to go to different places so that they can explore new things, and learn history.  She also suggested going to Tennessee some place different for  Baileys family and  for her  as well.  Baileys mom wanted to meet up with her friends as well she hadn't seen them in a while.  You would have though that Bailey was a child not a grown man because of the way his mother treated him.  She always went with him and his family on vacation   and where ever they went.  When you look at Baileys  mother  she is from back in the day, when it was said that ladies should always wear dresses, and that their children  should take care of there parents.  As they started out on their journey the children was having such fun with the grandmother, she was keeping them engaged and teaching them about history.  There mother said that they were having fun and is enjoying this trip.  As they went on the grandmother with the help of the children talked Bailey into taking them to see the house that the grand mother grew up in.  After  driving for hours  the grandmother realize they was not the right place.  That caused the cat that she had smuggled on the trip, and caused them to have an accident and run off the road.  During this the car that stopped to help them was the Misfits.  The one they was not trying to come in contact with.  When the grandmother recognized who he was, Bailey tried to get his mother to stop talking but she keep on.  If she would have listen to her son they might be alive today? 

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The Swimmer by John Cheever

It all started on a midsummer Sunday afternoon when the Westerhazys had a few friends over and they where sitting around the pool.  They was talking about how they  dranked to much on Saturday night.  Among them was Neddy and Lucinda Merrill.  Neddy was a slender man as youthful as his younger years, but he was far from being young.  He must have been still tipsy from Saturday night when he got out of bed and slid down the banister just as a kid would do for fun.  Then he decided to jog toward the aroma of fresh brewed coffee coming from his dinning room.  At the Westerhazys Neddy sitting on the edge of the pool with one hand in the water and the other hand he had a glass of gin.  Neddy wasn't a joker of any kind but he consider his self as a legendary figure who is always trying to make discoveries or have good ideas.  He decided that he was going to swim and in the town it seems like everyone had a pool or there was a public pool around.  When his wife asked him what he was doing, that's when he decided that he was going to swim all the way back to Bullet Park to his home.  Even though everyone   knew that was not a good ideal for him because  of his age and the way he was breathing in the pool, he did it anyway.  His only plan that he had was by memory or imagination  this is not a well thought-out plan.  He swam through neighbors pools and public pools as well, crossed over yards and trails.  Lancaster is a town where it seems like everyone knew each other.  As Neddy stated out on his journey he made some amazing discoveries along the way.  Some of the people in town was treating him different they where not please to see him.  The rumor was out that his wife and family had lefted him and he didn't pick up on it. Some of the neighbors had moved and he didn't even know.  Neddy and Lucinder had not been in the lamplight for awhile.  Maybe it was due to his affair he had or things was just rocky in their life.  when he foundly reached his home he saw that there was some damage from the storm, but as he approached the door he couldn't get in, so he called out and know one heard him, he looked in the window and found out that his house was totally  empty.  His wife and children packed up and moved.  What was it from  the cheating, the booze, or just signs of old age? 

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Death of a Salesman (Dementia )

As I read this scrip and watched this video, this family had a lot going on.  Well Willy was a husband in his 60s and had just lost his job.  I want to say because the company decided that he was to old and they could hire a person that is fresh out of college with a degree, and much younger.  Then you look at another side of this is Willy beginning to slow down his work performance  do to an illness called Dementia Alzheimer.    I think that his wife Linda knows that there is something going on with him, but she is in denial about the todays society.  She is still living back in the early years maybe when they said that a wife is not to pressure her husband about anything.
     Willy showed signs to me that he has dementia when he told his wife that he took the windshield out and that he drove for hours.  Then when she suggested that the take a ride, and take the windshield  out to get some fresh air.  That's when he tells his wife that the car don't have a window that comes out.  Willy also stated that he has been driving a around for hours this is what took the case for me. 
Biff is his older son and he has been thinking about how he was always on top of everything he was involved in as a kid.  But now that he is grown he treats Biff as if he is a disappointment to the family, he cause him to really get upset when he see him. 
  

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