Reaction: "A Worn Path" by: Eudora Welty

We live in a culture where we don't appreciate the elderly people. In ancient times being able to live a long time was consider a blessing and old people were a symbol of wisdom. Nowadays we don't treat with respect or even admire old people. We see growing old as something horrible were our appearance decays and our mind start to slow down and that is in part responsible for all the cosmetic surgeries, all the elderly centers or even suicides of people.

In the story we see a woman who no mattering her age is strong and accomplishes a journey which is physically hard for her. The author describes with vivid images her trip, her appearance, the town, her reactions and her dream. Her trip more than a way to get fresh air was a trip for love. Her grandson was sick, I'm not really sure if he is alive, she had to go to town into a doctor's office for her grandsons medicine. At first she even forgets what was the reason of her trip but when the nurse asks her about her grandson she remembers why she was there.

Grandparents are a blessing to us all, at least for me, I have the best grandparents in the world. A grandparents is a symbol of tenderness, warmth and love. Grandparents play a major part in the uprising of any human being, the parents teach the discipline and love of an authority which loves you no matter what but the grandparents teach you that love with tenderness, in very rare occasion they ground you and everything is telled with peace and love. For me my grandparents are angels sent from heaven and if I am who I am right now is in part because of them.

Looking at this old woman sacrificing so much for her grandson doesn't only want to make me respect her more but also admire that strenght in her that many people of my age don't even have.

Reaction: "A Walk to the Jetty" by: Jamaica Kincaid

This story has left a warm feeling in my heart because it reminded me of the moment I had to leave my parents to go to the university. Everything I saw reminded me of my childhood, just like her. I think that's like a psychology way of saying goodbye and moving on.

At first it was like "Annie doesn't have a heart how can she not feel sad about leaving to another country and never coming back". I cried a lot and I see them on Christmas and summer, how can she not cry about not seeing them forever. At the same time in a way I understood she wanted to go away, as much as she loves her mother she couldn't stand her anymore and for the well being of both of them they had to be apart.

The way she described all the memories that came to her mind while walking the street towards the Jetty were beautifully described, she made them so real that while I was reading I was imagining them. That walk for me was what gave the story it's heart warming feeling and the part of the goodbye too, of course.

She was an adult now and she had to begin her own life now. As much as it's hurts there will always be different types of separations in life and those are the one that make us stronger and they help us value more life and our surroundings.

Reaction: "Columbus in Chains" by: Jamaica Kincaid

It was a really funny story, I laughed a lot. The main character Annie is a really rebellious girl that has a lot of anger inside of her. The awkward thing is that she has anger for something that was part of her history and she was not even born when the slavery on the island was legal. She is carrying strong feelings toward different persons that are not even alive, for example Christopher Columbus. I'm not saying that she hasn't have a right to get angry towards all the horrible stuff that her ancestors had to overcome but please get over it !!!!! The main danger of she carrying all those strong feelings is towards herself, she will always feel part of that tragedy in a way.

It's not her fault that she is that way she was thought to be that way. She is really similar to her mother. Her mother still has not forgive her dad for being strong and even abusive to her, and that deficiency of forgiveness and moving on has being passes to Annie.

In my blood there's Spanish, Indian and African heritage. And I think that when the Spanish colonized the island it wasn't on the greatest way, but I'm not going to be mad at them for something that passed ages ago and for the good or the bad it happened and I cant do anything about it. I'm proud of my heritage and my blood and what I can do is live my life not because of my past but for the outcome of my future.

Reaction: "To Hell with Dying" by: Alice Walker

Awwwww, It's such a cute, sad and gorgeous story. We humans fear death so much because we don't know it and we don't have a concrete thought about what it is.

It's a very interesting story, and is really well narrated. I could imagine all that she was saying even Mr. Sweet, such a great man, with flaws like anyone, but with a great heart. The way when she was a child she used to play with him and all the memories and smells that reminded her of him, it's a really fun way to describe someone.

There are a lot of elements in this story, one of them is the love that Mr. Sweet had for his wife, a love so strong that he even felt like dying when he remembered that she was not there with him anymore. All those times that he nearly died because of the pain that he felted,a pain so real that made him fee like he was dying and looking like that too. How the way that Alice jumping and playig with him gave him life again.

The most wonderful part of the story is at the end, when Mr. Sweet is lying there in his final moments and he rolls his finger through her face like when she was a child and then with a smile on his face he dies. She can't believe it because he would never really die, but this time was true. She looked at her parents, with their eyes full of tears, and she realized that Mr. Sweet was her fisrt love. HOW CUTE IS THAT !!!! Love in a pure way, love like the feeling that one gets when we admire, respect and love someone just as they are. Pure and Simple.

Reaction: "Everyday Use" By: Alice Walker

The story is great but sad in a way. It's great that at the end the Mama stood up to Dee and was fair with Maggie.

Sometimes when we fly to high we forget from where we came, we forget the basic things. A person that forgets their history never will be filled she or he will be always looking for something to fill that space that real love fills.

It's a great lesson what is tought in this story. The way Dee sees the house with pitty or even disgust is horrible, now that she is a city girl she doesn't value the worth that her family has. She thinks that being rich or famous it's was is important but she is wrong, being love and respected by others is way important. Material things may go away but the feelings that we treasure in our hearts will last forever.

Maggie in the other hand thinks that she's less important because she's burned but the reality is that she has a better heart and soul than her sister. She will reach any dream that she has if she gains more self confidence because the power to do it she has it in her all she needs is to understand that even though she is burned and she may not be as pretty as her sister she is still a human with the capacity of achieving anything.

Great story, great lesson !!!!

My experience with "The Use of Force"

When I was around 6 years old I went to the dentist to get a cleanup and the doctor was joking around and I was laughing and everything was great till he said to me that I had a cavity and it was not enough to drill it he need it to take it out. He said dont worry it's one of your milk teeth it will grow a new in no time. I was scared but at the same time I knew that it needed to be done. Then the moment arrive, he told me i'm just checking I'm not going to pull it out yet and in that moment he pulled it, when I was unaware and unprepared. I cried, I was scared and I hated him for that.

It took me 5 years to get over that and trust in another Dentist, I didn't touch a dentist office in 5 years I was terrified, I didn't like that he lied to me, maybe he did the right thing but at that time for me it was horrendous.

Maybe the use of force is neccesarily in some cases but to lie is not a good way to gain the confidence of someone. I got braces so I need to go to the dentist office every month, that was a great lesson for me. Now I trust them more and I have learned to appreciate their work.

Reaction: "The Use of Force" by: William Carlos Williams

It's a really interesting short story, because my dream is to become a doctor and in a situation like this I wouldn't know if I would act like the Doctor from the story or if I would act differently.

The title "The Use of Force" it's really peculiar because that kind of usage of force is not bad or aggressive. When I first read "The Use of Force" I thought that it was going to be a short story about a criminal or even a policeman. But that wasn't the case, it was about a doctor who had to use his physical force to examine a young girls' throat and that way determine if the girl had a fatal disease.

It's a weird theme for a story, it feels more like an article from a doctors "What to do in this kind of situation " manual, but for me it was interesting and it has a lot of different conflicts going on, it's not just the sick girls it is to the parents. I think the Doctor did what he had to, he came with good intentions and a plan but the girl had another plan of her own. At least the use of his force on her maybe was the action that saved that girl's life.