Interpretation of A Story About the Body

1. I am interpreting "A Story about the Body". I will be focusing on the main points of the young composer working for the older, brilliant Japanese woman. My main focus is on the reasoning of why the young composure went from loving this woman to being disgusted by her only because of a physical deformity.

2. This text needs to be interpreted further because there is more than meets the eye. There are words put in certain places and people used that can be looked over when their whole existence within the story is for a greater purpose. I don't think they need to go unnoticed.

3. I chose this text because I believe there are many underlying issues that are not made aware bluntly throughout the story. Reading this story the first time around lead me to believe this was only centered at a young boy who thought he was so in love with someone, but then finds out he is so shallow as to stop loving her because of her mastectomy. However, with a closer look at this story, I've found things I did not notice before, but are also pretty important in my opinion. The first line I want to take a look at is the very first one: "The young composer, working that summer at an artists' colony, had watcher her for a week." I'm focusing on the line because I believe Hass wants us, as readers, to know this is a young boy. He's talented and he knows what he wants. From this line we come to know that there is a girl he is interested in, but clearly hasn't had the guts to say anything to her because it had been a week. So we can conclude that the boy is talented, hard working, observant, but also timid when it comes to girls. In the next line, it says: "She was Japanese, a painter, almost sixty, and he thought he was in love with her." From this line I came to understand why she was Japanese. I think Hass made it a point to say she was Japanese to show that the boy was Japanese. To a boy who is not Japanese, a woman of this ethnicity can seem exotic even being sixty years old. I think the word "thought" should be looked into more too. Who ever THINKS they're in love? I believe you either know or you don't. I believe one can think they could fall in love with that person or that they are beginning to. But when you think you're in love with someone, you're clearly not. Throughout the story it came to my realization that this Japanese woman was very intuitive and could tell that the boy wanted her. Being sixty and having a young, perhaps attractive, male be interested in you can lead to have feelings or desires for that person too. However, I don't think the Japanese woman was being a floosy in saying she wanted him too. I think she was being cunning. She got his heart racing once she said she wanted him too. I feel like she waited a couple of seconds before telling him she had a double mastectomy. I don't think her only reason for telling him this was so he wasn't surprised when they became physical and she only had one breast. I think her true intentions were to see his reaction to her one breast. In turn, he denied her. Denied her because of a physical attraction for her. His love was not love, but infatuation. My interpretation of this story is that there is a growing generation of men that only will use the beautiful word, love, for something physical with another woman. Because this Japanese woman was to his liking he found this feeling inside him. This feeling was not of love, but of lust. Because of this lust, younger to older men will take this word meant for two people to share in unity forever to get something that could only be there for one night. Also, not to confuse infatuation with love. This common misconception is the result of so many divorces and break ups and pregnancies that could be avoided if one would take the time to truly get to know someone and begin to fall in love with their physical features, emotional feelings, and flaws altogether. 

4. I'm interpreting the story the way I am because this whole story is about love. There are times when we think we're in love, but we're nowhere near the capacity of what it could be. This text shows this infatuation by the terms like "he thought he was in love with her" and then the boy saying "I'm sorry. I don't think I could." after he finds out she's had a double mastectomy. These are all items that point to infatuation. It was all outward appearance, which can be the initial attraction, but it's also on the inside that counts and accepting that person for their outside and inside flaws.

5. This interpretation matters to me and readers because love is taken for granted too much. We throw the word love around like it means nothing, when it can mean more than we can imagine. Love has such a great capacity to do things, but very few know this because they don't take the time to get deep in love. They're on the surface of infatuation all of the time. If this boy would have looked beyond the outward appearance of this Japanese woman and truly fell in love with all her attributes like he thought he did, he could have found himself in a kind of love he had never known before. I'm doing this interpretation because love can be powerful, but also fragile. It must be handled delicately, but used to its highest ability.

A Temple of the Holy Ghost

This turned out to be one of my favorite stories to read. Not so much because I have this in depth interpretation of the story, but it was just entertaining for me. I'm guessing because I'm a girl and I can relate to some of these girls' personalities. This story reminded me of Cinderella, but almost opposite. The two girls  reminded me of the "evil step-sisters", except they weren't really evil. They weren't the sweetest strawberry patch, but they were like two normal young teenagers who think they're the best thing since milk and honey. The child, who I would normally perceive to be Cinderella, was quite opposite of her. I would expect the two girls, or the "evil step-sisters", to be the ones to ruin the child's life and make her miserable and think of mean things to do to her. Instead, the child tried to think of evil things to do to the girls and was downright mean to them.
I mainly liked this story because I think I was similar to the personalities of the two girls when I was fourteen. They loved attention from boys and there seemed to be no other entertainment, but to flirt and have a boy to look at you. Not that I was boy crazy then or anything..ha..I can also relate to these girls because I went to a private school all throughout middle school and even though that's nothing compared going to an all girls school, they were very strict about boy-girl conduct. I think this makes you even more boy or girl crazy. I don't really have a deep interpretation of the story. I just took this more of fun entertainment story for me that I really enjoyed. I think because I could relate it to a Disney story (which I LOVE!) and could relate it to myself...which seems to be a recurring theme in my blog posts haha.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

I had to take some time to reflect on this story because I was a little confused on what to say about this story. It was confusing at times and said some far out stuff, but towards the end I got a glimpse of something that struck me. This story reminds me of our world today and the believers and non believers of Christ. In the beginning it describes a kind of world that was a long time ago. The kind of world the could've once been the Earth or somewhere among the Earth. Over time, however, this place is slowly beginning to become corrupted. Then the story took a turn to talk about this unloved, unkempt, young boy. I have yet to really figure out why he was mentioned or who he really was. Towards the end of the story, it talks about the "ones" who left Omelas. I interpreted this specific scene as the "ones" began to realize the corruptness of Omelas and sought after something more fulfilling in life that could save them from this. I compare this with Christians in how we live in such a corrupt world and many non believers are constantly looking for something to heal or save them from the horrible things going on around them. That's when they leave the evil behind them and search for the One who can save them. They go on a journey searching until they finally find the very thing that can release them from all of this. Christ.

I'm still very curious about this boy, though. I don't know how he plays into the whole story and it's kind of aggrivating. I'm hoping tomorrow in class I can get a better idea of who he is and maybe that will help in my interpretation of him within the story.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

I honestly don't even know where to start. I enjoy fictional stories, but this one was interesting and weird. To me, this story was about someone who was weary and life had quite literally knocked him down. I think it's awful that, even though it was strange, to treat this man with wings like an animal. Clearly he was human too, just different. A lot of people today treat those who are "different" as in mentally handicapped, obese, or just weird as someone not to be touched. To only look at and talk about and be seen as a circus act. Just like this man with wings, though, they have different attributes about them that we don't have. In this case, a man has wings. I found myself sort of envying this man because even though people mocked him and hurt him and treated him like an animal, it didn't seem to bring him down. He did what he had to do to survive and in the end he was able to leave and go somewhere he wasn't treated like that. Elisenda, however, was happy he had left. I hate to say this, but I have seen people have no remorse when someone handicapped or "different" dies or gets hurt. They almost think of it as it was coming to them eventually. That somehow they brought it upon themselves. I think that's how Elisenda felt. So basically what I got out of this story was to not underestimate those who seem to be different around us. They too have a soul and feelings and we should respect that and treat them as equals. This is all I could really get out of this story. I could be completely wrong in my interpretation of it. I'm sure by next class, though, my eyes will be opened to a whole new meaning of the story.

Wind

The wind and I aren't so different ya know

We both are constantly moving different directions

Either tending to a new cause

Or being the cause of something new

Sometimes the wind turns into a storm

As do my troubles like a whirlwind in my own head

Leaving destruction in the process of my own deficiency

Wanting so much to be still like the eye of the storm

Everything is still there

Chaos is going on around it,

But inside is calm, unafraid,

Everything I wish I could be

And then, there are times when the wind stops

There's nothing to rustle the trees but squirrels

Very rarely does this happen, though

For in my life even the squirrels cause my mind to rustle

The greatest thing the wind does is blow

Not only blowing the trees and windmills

But standing outside with nothing else around

My mind troubled and my heart heavy

I let the wind take it all away

It takes my troubles as far as it will take it

I went to Lake Bonny Park and stayed for at least 45 minutes.

Circle B Bar Reserve

Going to this nature reserve was really a thrill for me. I was so excited to go and it was more than what I expected. Even though it wasn't bright and sunny outside, I still liked the ominous feel the cloudy skies and thunder in the background gave. I really enjoyed how we were able to get out and walk around the field and pick the grasses that were invasive to the rest of the vegetation. I also liked how we got to sit outside and read through "State of the Planet". It really brought it to life for me. Especially when some of the things he said like the wind whipping when it actually was outside was pretty cool. I think my favorite part, though, was when we got to walk around on our own and kind of meditate and just be aware of God's creation and how amazingly they work together. I enjoyed watching the fish the most try and swim up the small current, maneuvering their bodies through the moss and shrubbery. They just did it over and over again like it was new each time. From reading your notes on nature and poetry, I think I was finally able to slow down and actually slow down, be present in the moment, pay attention to things I wouldn't normally have done, have a sense of awe, and be aware of the loving spirit of God in plants and animals that we take for granted every day. And actually, going to this reserve has made me interested in wanting to look up and know different plants and animals that not many people know about. I had no idea this place even existed, but not that I do I definitely want to take advantage of it and visit and volunteer and bring others to hopefully enjoy and experience the things I did or something new.

Othello

I went to watch Othello