Author Archives: Gabrielle Valentini

Like we said in class yesterday, YHCHI draws attention from its readers/viewers by its unique presentation. Even more than the first YHCHI assignment we had, Bust Down the Doors! really got my attention because it was just the same story … Continue reading →

Reading the first 30 pages of “The Crying of Lot 49,” I immediately noticed that the characters all had peculiar names, but after reading through previous posts, I can see that I am not the only reader who noticed (darn!). … Continue reading →

The hopefulness in “My Mother Dreams another Country” that eventually the nation of “waving Stars and Stripes” (line 30) would become more tolerant of the black race made me realize that this book of poems has a common thread of … Continue reading →

The letter that the speaker of this poem writes to a friend “at the post office” (1) is not as simple as a greeting “hello” or a “thinking of you.” Through the writing of this letter we see the speaker’s … Continue reading →

As we said in class Tuesday, Part 1 of the novella leads the reader to believe that the central theme is racial passing. As the plot progresses, though, we see that it is more about the relationship between Irene and … Continue reading →

“The Emperor of Ice Cream” is all about taking life for what it is. The narrator emphasizes the things in life that do not live up to high expectations by commenting on them – the “horny feet” that are not … Continue reading →

What caught my attention most about this short story was the idea that soldiers are never truly able to leave the war. The opening line “the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more” (206) … Continue reading →

Hemingway’s succinct style of writing is apparent in this story, as it is only one and a half pages in length yet it allows for lengthy discussion over its meaning. The story involves characters from the United States and Europe, … Continue reading →

It was a time when it seemed like everybody had a nickname. When Rose died having Babe, Dave came after the doctor with a gun. The family gave him Rose’s cousin Molly to marry so she could raise the children. … Continue reading →

Of all the poems in this selection, I relate most to [We do not play on Graves—] because it discusses the act of pondering death, rather than dying itself. While in the last stanza, the speakers, “we”, remove themselves from … Continue reading →