Ummmmmmm duh!

OK so after reading the short story Speaking in Tongues, all I can say to Tia is DUH!!!!! OK, I understand that Tia was unhappy and I do agree that her culture was very demanding, but boy does she make some dumb decisions.

First she runs away to a big city where she doesn't even know if her mom is even alive and with hardly any money at all. Then she goes to McDonald's to get something to eat with the little money she has and a man starts staring at her. What does she do? She stares back!!!!!! That is a big no no. Then the next day he comes back. If a strange man came up to me and invited me back to his house to take care of a cut that I got from running away from a mad woman whose car I slept in, I would run the other way so fast that he wouldn't even be able to complete his question. But what does she do? She agrees to go with him. Another big no no.

After she spends one night there she leaves the next morning safely. She should have run then especially after she met the woman that told her what a bad man he is. But what does she do? She goes back with him yet again!!!!!!

Yes, this was a very terrible thing that happened to Tia but there were many chances where she could have prevented this. It drove me nuts while I was reading this that she wasn't taking care of herself.

Soldier's Letters

I really enjoyed reading the letters from soldiers. The ones that I particularly enjoyed were those from soldiers back to their girlfriends and wives. Each one tells stories and makes you feel almost as if you are experiencing what they are going through. You know that each letter was written with great thought for this was the only communication between them and their love back home.

One that I enjoyed the most was from a soldier in the civil war named William F. Testerman and he was writing a letter to his girlfriend, Miss Jane Davis. It was written July 25th, 1864. Unlike most of the writing individuals create in letters today, it was very beautifully written. Though there were a lot of spelling errors due to his lack of education, his writing was still beautiful. William's letter almost seemed graceful as you read from one word to the next. He used phrases such as, "if you were to fail it would almost break my heart for you are the girl that I am depending upon and if it was not for you I would not be writing by my candle tonight". Reading this letter makes you realize how much these two individuals must miss each other. Being so far apart and not knowing if you would ever be together again.

Here is the link if you would like to read the whole letter...
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/cwlove/testerman.html

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

I found this story extremely depressing, but I think I liked it the best out of all the stories we have read in college lit. Yes, it is about a man getting hung in front of Yankees, but the story was rather good. I think it was written extremely well. When you first start reading it you wonder, what did this man do that was bad enough for him to be hung? As you read on, you find out that he even has a wife and children which makes you feel even worse for this poor man.

As you continue reading, the author tells of this man being hung meeting a Yankee soldier. The soldier informed this man and his wife that "the Yanks are repairing the railroad" and that, "any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged". I believe that this is the reason this man is in this situation. He was with the South and tried to interfere with the Yankes and this bridge.

When describing the actual act of when he was being hung, a very vivid image is put into your head. Then all of a sudden he hits the water. Although the men are shooting at him they keep missing! He is going to live! Then it arrives at the part where he is walking down the street to his house. I actually believed at first that he actually made it out of the Yankes' hands, however now I believe differently. I think that this man died at the hanging. He never even made it into the water. Those thoughts of escaping were his last before he died. He imagined them all as he was hanging there. He died just as he reached the gate to his home in his dream.

How freaking sad and depressing! However, I do like the writing style of Ambrose Bierce and this story was definitely one of my favorites.