Ysrael

I think that the details of this story are being told from an adult looking back. In the second paragraph of the story the narrator says " Mami shipped me and Rafa out to campo every summer" -showing the reader that this is someone who is looking back on his childhood experiences.

Its kind of ironic that while Ysrael is severly disfigured, he is still quite confident of his abilities. He boasts about himself and his talent as a wrestler stating that he "almost went to the Captiol to wrestle". I think that through Rafa's attitude at this point in the story, its easy to see that he is a bit jealous of Ysrael. I also think that certain of aspects of this story are easy to relate to for many of us because there is always that one person growing up who is made fun of by the others for their physcial apperance. It is these same people however, just as Ysrael was able to display, who are the strongest. Although it is Ysrael who should be the one that is insecure, it is actaully Rafa who displays this characteristic more. When people act the way that Rafa did in this story its clear how insecure they are with themselves. They have to scruitinize other people in order to make themselves feel good. The fact that he always has his brother following him around and telling him what to do also shows his insecurities. He has to always be in control of every situation.

The saying dont judge a book by its cover, came to mind while reading this story. Sometimes things arent always what they seem to be. Someone could be beautiful on the outside but an ugly person on the inside, while the person who is not so nice to look at on the outside can have the biggest heart out of anyone.

How easy is it to be persuaded into doing things we know arent right? How can a person want so desperatly to make themselves fit in at the expensive of another person feelings. What does this say about society and how some children are brought up?

all because of the mistake

Yes, I think that by giving the character a name and an age would have made the story a bit better. Although it was general, and everyone could relate I think that as far as grabbing the readers attention it would have helped.

The first few lines of the story ,"there is neither a precise moment nor an agreed day, no forewarning conveyed by an external sign..."p.203. says alot. Sometimes people think that there needs to be a sign that something in your life is going to go wrong, that something in the universe will be able to forewarn you of bad things to come- however the narrator of the story expresses the idea that most of the time there are not any of these things, that sometimes mistakes just happen. Another message that I think was supposed to be expressed is that when you make mistakes, you are able to learn from them and do better next time. When the narrator forgot to open the flaps and risked running out of runway for take-off, Bruno still did not tell him what to do. He sat back casually, while the pilot was frantic and allowed him to figure things out for himself. Learning things for yourself, always helps you to remember the lesson in the end. If people were always giving you the answers and allowing you to take the easy way out of sticky situations, you would not learn have as much. Also I think that its ironic that on pg. 205 the narrator says that "WE forgot to open the flaps." Its obvious that there was only one pilot who made the mistake but I think in this short amount of dialogue we are able to see a little bit about human nature. When things go wrong, many of us are quick to take the blame off of ourselves and place it in the hands of others and thats exactly what the narrator did in this situation. Even though it was entirely his fault for not opening the flaps, he still tried to give partial blame to his co-pilot/instructor.

It says at the end of the story that it was translated from Italian. Critics have said that translations are difficult and alot of the time, pieces of the work is lost in translation. Do you think that from Italian to English any parts of the story were lost?

Ysrael

This story is mostly about characterization. It doesn't spend much time describing the setting, and even the characterization doesn't include much background. The two brothers and Ysrael are the main focus, their personalities as seen through the younger brother's memory. I think the theme of this story is that Ysrael may be physically disfigured, but the older brother is an ugly person. He looks out on "the brucal trees that blazed like fires on the mountain" and his only thought is to curse them (pg. 211). He rides the bus without paying, he smashes a bottle over Ysrael's head, he steals from his uncle. His brother just tags along, but he is slowly becoming the same person; he ends the story pushing an old lady with his feet (p. 219).

I think the style of characterization in this story can be effective. Instead of just describing the brothers from third-person, they are detailed along the way of their journey. How they act and what they do is the main way that the author tells the story. For example, when Rafa declines to wrestle with Ysrael (pg. 218), this gives more color to his character as a coward and bully. It allows the action to flow more quickly, and the dialogue doesn't need to be structured. There are no quotes, just quick mentions of what's being said.

Because the story is told from the younger brother's point of view, there is some innocence about the perspective. He suspects that his brother is a jerk, because of the way he gets treated himself, but he doesn't know what it means. If the story were told from Ysrael's perspective, there might be more explanation or commentary on Rafa's behavior. His brother sees how he acts, but he doesn't really evaluate the behavior. He's just following along with his older brother.

When is this story being told? Is the younger brother an adult looking back or still a child? Does it matter?

All Because of the Mistake

The second-person point of view in this story is interesting, because the "you" is not the reader. The story is about the main character, and is told by him. I think this kind of second-person works because it draws the reader into the action, while not requiring him to become a character. He can associate with the "you" of the main character.

Another thing I found interesting was that the specific action of the story (flying an airplane) was not important to the theme. The character could have been doing anything. It was the psychological process of learning that mattered. I think this is why the author chose the second-person, because it keeps the story real but also general. The character is detailing real action, but he is doing so in a general way, so that the "you" can be anyone, and that theme of learning can be applied to anything, not just flying an airplane.

I think the airplane aspect is important in another way, because it really makes the story. It's not important to the theme, but without the detail about flying, there wouldn't be a story. It's a good lesson about writing fiction, that not everything has to be directly related to the theme. Do anemometers and maneuvers and the other technical details of the story really matter? They contribute to the story as entertainment, and the theme is made in a subtle way around them. It isn't until the end that the mistake made at the beginning of the story is related to the theme. Before that it's just an event that we experience through someone's eyes, which is what makes a story entertaining.

Is there any particular reason why we aren't given personal details about the main character, such as name and age? Would they make the story better?

Mark of Satan

I had a hard time keeping focus on this story. Like another person stated in a earlier post all of the uneeded ramblings made it hard for me to focus on the big picture. Harvey was indeed an evil man. Thelma and her daughter while trying to do good were very much nieve to go about preaching the word of G-d without caution.
I think this story tells of two different dilemasin everyday life. One of which people don't seem to realize when they are in the midst of danger. Everywhere around us there are people that are out to hurt and take advantage of us without our knowledge. Thelma was trusting in G-d and the mission that she was on to help save those souls that have been marked by evil, but wasn't aware that that very evil could doom the life of her and her child. Her want and need to spread the word of the Bible and teach Harvey of the love and hope that G-d had for him was her main concern. This blinded her eyes to the true nature of Harvey's hospitality. If it wasn't for the drugged stupidity of her demented host she could have been raped and killed along with her daughter.
The other side can speak for those with strong beliefs and faith in G-d's works. This means that no matter what the danger that finds you, if you have faith in him, speak his words and spread the love and compassion he has for us with others he will see you through all the bad things that come your way. Thelma's mission to make Harvey understand that he too was loved by G-d was all that she was focused on. She believed that if she was passionate enough with her readings from the Bible that the scriptures would speak to his very soul and help him to Love G-d again and have faith.
Although it seemed as though Harvey was going to see his evil plan through, even if he had to crawl after her through the gravel and glass. He realized it wasn't worth it. In the end it seems that Thelma's words though finally made more sense. He at last saw that he was alone in the world with only his evil intentions to keep him company. I believe that this was what ultimately made him ask to be saved.
I wonder though Harvey seemed to finally turn over a new leaf in life would his sister and her anger towards him eventually influence him to turn evil again. What do you think?

Mark of Satan

I, along with most of the majority of the other students, felt this story was not as well done as it could have been. The author's incessant rambling on pointless details just made me lose focus. Now I'm sure these details were necessary for character devolopment for the author. "Flash" paid extreme attention to detail, but I found myself saying "enough already" as the story progressed. Certain quotes such as "The grimy venetian blinds of the room were drawn ahainst the glaring heat. It was above 90 degrees outside and there had been no soaking rains for weeks and in every visible tree hung ghostly bagworm nests" further instill my point of his ramblings on details that didn't seem to ever end. Although we can see Flash is obviously psychological unstable, we get the sense that Flash hasn't always been this way. We get hints of an addiction to heroin that he suffered early in his life. A heroin addiction can change the psychological perception of a person to the entire world. Has anyone actually ever met a sane junkie?

-Dan Morgan

Mark of Satan

I was actually pretty disappointed with this short story though it Wasn't bad and an easy read I suppose i expected more from the title, maybe its because I'm sitting in the waiting room of a hospital but i didn't really enjoy it. Anyway from what i got 'Mr. Flashman" had the intentions of raping Thelma . I think that rape is pretty evil, although he had no plans to kill either of them at first he had a sense of goodness in the way he went about it. A sort of eire sweetness, an example is when the narrator reveals that he wouldn't want the child's heart to stop beating after he measures how much to put in each drink.This guy is about to rape a messenger of God, that's about as bad as it gets, why would he care? It is definitely a battle between good and evil, not only Flash and Thelma but Flash and himself. Throughout the story he switches back and forth from personalities he is sure to have psychopathic tendencies but are they induced by the devil? I personally am not religious but do have what i believe to be premonitions. Flashes premonition could have been just a craving for violence or a sign from God to change his way and that his chance was coming but the point is your not supposed to know. The story ends with Flash "changed" and for good too because the part about bleeding out his sins or creating deep wounds in his knee that would develop into scars so he will always remember the day he was saved kind of leads you to believe that he is pointed in the right direction. Lets not forget that he was about to rape an ordained missionary as her four year old daughter lay sedated somewhere close by. Using my imagination from where the story left off he slipped back into his duel personalities and went back and forth from leading life with no regret or morals to a sad and pathetic piece of charity work.

Mark of Satan

I think "his things" can be interpreted many ways. First off, I think that it was meant to be mysterious and make you wonder about this man. By adding those subtle details you wonder, Is he psychotic? Is he on drugs? Or does he posses the "mark of Satan"? So with that said i think "his things" is an out burst or a craving, more specifically to drug and rape women. I think his things simply refer to another few people to terrorize and send them off running (if he lets them live of course). If you take the three quotes and read them one after another it makes a lot of sense. "Hadn't he wakened in the night with a pounding heart and a taste of bile with the premonition that something, one of his things, was to happen soon?" This sounds like craving, heart pounding, the taste of BILE and a 'premonition' or anticipation of a future event. "He was frightened of the possibility of one of his things veering out of control, for in the past when this had happened the consequences were always very bad. For him, as for others." This indicates its happened before, and had ended very badly... His sister also mentions that he is on parole. And lastly, "He could not believe the woman was escaping so easily. That his thing was no thing of his at all." I think after this realization, after his crazy had passed, I think he actually felt remorse for his terrible thoughts and that's why he begged Thelma to stay. That's why he dug his knees into the broken glass, so that he would remember. So he would have a physical "mark of Satan" that he could look at to remind himself how he felt.

I also believe that stupidly, he drank Thelma's glass of drugged lemonade.

There were some incredible description in the story. I think this added some subtle indication as to how crazy he was. "The sun was a soft slow explosion in the sky." "Blinking the way a mollusk might if they had eyes." "Then easing like a brisk mechanic doll into her recitation." and finally, "The gin coursing through his veins, which ordinarily buoyed him up like debris riding the crest of a flood and provided him with an acute clarity of mind, had had a dulling downward sort of effect." I adore these descriptions. Dont these seem like decriptions a psycho would use?

Mark of Satan

I like how the author makes a contrast between the two main characters of the story, Flashman and Thelma. On the one hand, Thelma is just willing to help. She is a witness of God’s love and her mission is to bring this love to everyone. She is a figure of innocence; she doesn’t even notice Flasman’s bad intentions. “Another woman would have been aware of Flash’s calculating eyes on her like ants swarming over sugar, but not this impassioned missionary for the Church of the Holy Witness.” She wants to save Flash’s soul by letting him feel loved and important. “He tried not to show his impatience with Thelma, fixing instead on the amazing fact of her: a woman not known to him an hour before, now sitting less than a yard away addressing him as if, out of all of the universe, he mattered.”

On the other hand, Flashman is having an inner struggle. He wants to pay attention to Thelma but for some reason, it is very difficult for him to do this. “The man who called himself Flash was making every effort to listen.” He hears some voices on the inside that tell him to do good or bad things. “Offer them drinks, lemonade, but no, he was thinking, no.” “Don’t flatter yourself you matter enough even to be grieved! Asshole!”

I also noticed that the author stresses on the word “death” by writing it several times and in italics. “The Holy Witness records, ‘He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death.’ As abruptly as she’d begun, the child ceased, her mouth going slack on the word death”, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there will be no more death. Maybe it was so? So simple? No more death”, “Her voice rose jubilantly on the word death”. I don’t really understand what the child means when she speaks about this second death, but it seems like what the missionaries want to do is to give Flashman the hope of having his soul saved and being immortal in some way. By receiving a message of love and hope, Flashman seems to have realized that life is worth living. At the end of the story, Harvey has finally gained full control of himself, so we can say that the missionaries were a positive influence to him. The change in Harvey is revealed by his eyes. When Harvey raised his eyes to his sister’s, “he did not appear to be drunk or drugged; his eyes were terribly bloodshot, as if he’d had one of his crying jags, but his manner was unnervingly composed”, he had a “look of maddening calm” a “blasted sober look in his eyes she hadn’t seen in twelve years”.

There is a contrast between Flashman and Thelma but there is also a contrast inside Flashman himself. The story refers to Flasman’s “things” coming out as if he couldn’t control them. “Hadn’t he wakened in the night to a pounding heart and a taste of bile with the premonition that something, one of his things, was to happen soon?” and also “He was frightened of the possibility of one of his things veering out of his control, for in the past when this had happened the consequences were always very bad. For him as for others.” It seems like he often loses control of his actions because of drugs’ influence. What does “one of his things” refer to?

To answer Jason’s question, I think that it is probable that Harvey lied to the missionaries about being orphan just to inspire them pity, which wouldn’t be surprising since he also lied about his name. We could think that he is lying because he exaggerates a lot by saying “I was an orphan discarded at birth, set out with the trash. There’s a multitude of us scorned by man and God. What happened to me before the age of twelve is lost to me. Just a whirlwind. A whirlpool of oblivion.” Maybe he just wants to show how miserable his life is, he wants the missionary to realize that life is unfair for some people and to make her see this he has to exaggerate. “If it was a cruel mother, which I don’t contest, it was a cruel God guiding her hand, Thelma – wasn’t it?”, “Our Savior? Who says? On my trash heap I looked up, and He looked down, and He said, Fuck you, kid. Life is unfair.” He wants to explain why he has “lost contact” with God over the years but apparently, it’s not true that he was an orphan discarded at birth since his sister says that “by accident of birth they’d shared a household with two hapless adults who were their parents”.

Mark of Satan

I think it is hard to tell wether or not he really wanted to change or he just did not want to be alone. Like someone mentioned earlier, there is a struggle between good and evil, which make me believe this might be one of his battles where he is trying desperately to change the way he has become. However, he might just be scared of being alone and abandoned. I pity this character because he had very bad intentions toward the woman and child who were just trying to help him. The ending was very ironic, and made me think of how karma comes back and kicks you in the face. He was being malicious by spiking the lemonade in order to take advantage of the woman, but instead he got injured and was in need of her help. Made me think twice of any evil actions i might want to take in the future. Did anyone else find it interesting that the narrator switches over to Gracies point of view? any idea of why the author did that?

Mark of Satan

"A woman had come to save his soul, and he didnt think that he was ready"(466). I think that the first statement of the short stories says so much about the character himself. As the previous post mentioned, "Mr. Flashman", is clearly having an inner struggle and its not just between what is right and wrong, but also he struggles with his belief in God. " He said apologetically that he wasnt one hundred percent sure how his credit stood with God these days, "God and me he said have sort of lost contact over the years"The childs response to his statement was that "we can loose God but God never looses us. We can dispair God, but God never despairs us."(469) I think that his statement represents the war that is going on within himself, and ironically enough I think can be connected to the war that is going on outside as well. In a time like we are having now, so many have lost all of their faith in God, I myself have also asked the question how can there be a God when so many awful things are happening in the world. There are people men dying, and children starving but yet people still believe. The character looks back on his life and questions how any mother can be cruel enough to leave her child in the trash for someone else to find. He asks if a mother was cruel enough to leave her baby,"wasnt it a cruel god that was guiding her hand?" Because he mad serval comments like this,I think that another part of this characters inner struggle had something to do with abandoment as well because he was abandoned by his mother at an early age and also felt that God had betrayed him for that same reason. The woman also mentions that God had really nothing to do with that and that wickedness of the world is in Satans hands. Her saying this to him made me think about the good and evil arguement. Heaven and hell. If there is a higher power who does good, can there be a lower power who does bad?

Throughout most of the short story, the character is adament that there is no God, thats why when he falls to the ground begging for forgivness from Thelma, I questioned his intentions. He did a complete turn around. Do you think that his change in behavior could be attriubted to the fact that yet another person was walking away from him. He had been abanded before, and now had another person walking away from him. Did he truly believe that he needed to be "saved" or did he just not want to be left alone again?

Mark of Satan

I like some of the metaphors that the author uses in this story. For example, she says that Thelma is astonished "like a cow...in the instant that the sledgehammer comes crashing down on her head" (pp. 472-473). This is a great image of how Flashman's words seem to her, violent and unexpected. The image of slaughter is used elsewhere, for example, when the neighbor is running a chainsaw (pg. 471), and when Flashman regrets not keeping his sister's room cool (pg. 472), in case he has to drag them there like a butcher to the cattle freezer. This makes him seem even more grotesque.

I also like Flashman's observation that "if this was a movie...the missionary would be walking out of the frame, leaving him behind -- just him" (pg. 474). The author could have described his emotions in great detail, but instead she makes a comparison, which works better. Everyone has probably felt like their life was a movie. These kinds of analogies help to relate the story to the reader with an idea instead of words. For example, she could have said that he was suddenly "self-conscious," but that wouldn't have the same impact as comparing his new consciousness to being the only character in a movie scene.

I think his point about movies also fits into the theme. The author mentions Flashman's irony (pg. 467). What is more ironic than Flashman telling Thelma that she can't cope (pg. 474), when he is the "parolee kid brother, once an honors student, now a balding, middle-aged man" (pg. 476) who has "crying jags" (pg. 475)? At the end, his sister wonders about everyone coming to see the fire, to draw attention to herself. The great irony is that the most despicable person imaginable (Flashman) has a moment of Divine grace, while his sister looks at him as a "begrudged guest" (pg. 466). She's angry that God looks at the most despicable and saves him, as if he were a character in a movie, and she's too prideful to admit that she needs the same thing, so she just waves the pamphlet at him in anger (pg. 475).

Was Harvey actually abandoned as a child as he says (pg. 472), or did he grow up with parents as his sister says (pg. 475)?

Mark Of Satan

I think that part of Flash's problem is that he has an inner struggle between what he knows is right and wrong. In the beginning of the story it seems like he invites Thelma and Magdalena inside against his better judgment. "Quickly, before he could change his mind, before no! no! intervened, he invited Thelma and little Magdalena inside.(pg466)"
He fights with himself again when he first considers whether or not to offer them lemonade. "This, an opportunity for him to confront goodness, to look innocence direct in the eye, should not be violated.(pg467)" This line made me think that he was fighting to keep the darker side of himself from taking over.
The line "Hadn't he wakened in the night to a pounding heart and a taste of bile with the premonition that something, one of his things , was to happen soon?(pg468) makes me think that he is mentally unstable.
Flash's behavior is also very erratic. Once Thelma asks if he's been baptized he begins to lose the calm facade he had been projecting. He becomes even more angry when she mentions satan, but once she leaves he's begging her to stay. The line "Satan is here! In me! He speaks through me! It Isn't me!(pg474) is more proof of his inner struggle.
When his sister comes home we find out that Flash's real name is Harvey. We also learn that his friend's death by heroin overdose is part of what fuels his drug addiction.

Is there any significance in the fact that his sister's coffee table is a grave marker?

Amore Divino

I thought the name Yolanda was pretty unique but in this story its not. The main character is one of many Yolanda's is going through what appears to be a much needed divorce. The way she talks about her husband John she has love for him but is no longer in love with him. The one point in the story that really stood out to me was the part where they go to the museum and look at Chagall's painting of the woman in the air and the man clinging to her ankles. I believe that Yolanda's free spirit is being held down by her husband or at least she feels that way, much like her grandmother. Although then you would have to assume that Don Edmundo was doing the same thing and the way that she described her grandmother she sounded like she was just crazy. She also talks about how her grandmother threw rice at her at the wedding as if she knew that Yolanda Jr would not be happy. I don't think that its is the specific man that makes them unhappy but just being tied down in general.

Amor Divino

The author does a good job providing background without introducing a whole new train of thought. For example, she says that John "prefers not to be called [at his office] for disagreeable things" (p. 15). This one small detail tells us everything about John, and how his cold business mentality affects his marriage. The author doesn't need to waste paragraphs explaining him; everything is in that one sentence. There's another small detail about John, that when he swears, "His British accent makes the expletive all the more shocking, as if he had to stoop much more than an American to use such language" (p. 16). This paints him as an Englishman, with the stereotype of nobility and formality attached, what the mother calls a man "with titles" (p. 19). Again, there is no need to provide an extensive background. The author weaves it into the story with a sentence here and there. There are other examples of this, for example, mentioning that Yolanda was a tomboy as a child (p. 18), or that in New York the grandmother could "drink and gamble...to her heart's content" (p. 21). This mention of her vices puts everything else that we learn about her marriage into perspective.

It's called a short story for a reason. The author needs to give life to her characters without writing biographies for each of them. These kinds of single, descriptive sentences are an effective way to flesh out a character who may not be central to the story, but who is important to its background. This story is about Yolanda, but the other characters are sufficiently introduced so that the story doesn't assume too much.

Would the story have been better if it were written in the first-person instead of the third-person?

Amor Divino

I think that Yolanda and John got married only because the felt that it was a better option than breaking it off. It seems to me like they were more comfortable with eachother than "in love". On page 20 it describes how Yolanda and John were living together off and on for three years and finally decided to, " get married or make a clean break of it since they were getting on in years and both imagined they wanted a family."

This makes me believe that they were thinking, "what the hell? We might as well just do it because we're not getting any younger". I think that these two were in love at one point, but little by little started to change the love they shared for eachother with comfortability. Yolanda seemed more in love with the way her family looked at her because she was with him than who he really was. He continually pronounce her name wrong eventhough she showed obvious annoyance by it. He couldn't give her the satisfaction of answering a harmless question about the Chagall painting. It was obvious that John didn't show that he cared that much for her.

Yolanda craved love and being in love. When she thought of the love that her grandfather had and still has for her grandmother despite all of their crazy arguments, it sadened her. She wanted to have that same divine love for herself. I feel that on page 23 when John calls her and they have a warm exchange that they are both just feeling lonely and vunerable. They obviously care about eachother, but in think its only because having someone in your life for so long you grow to care for them as family. This is why I think she has a moment of weakness. She wants to just give in and give it another go because the thought of not having someone to hold or children to wipe their drooling faces when they're older scares her.

Just because you stay with someone for so long doesn't mean that you love them. Sometime when someone is in a relationship for a long time they are just used to the repetition. It just becomes another part of your daily routine. Yolanda wanted passion and romance and someone to grow old with.

At the end of the story I think it becomes abundantly clear to her what love really is when her grandfather thinks she is her grandmother. He hears her say it is me Yolanda. He then smiles, takes her hand places it on his chest to where his heart was. He Brings her heard down to his face and kisses her over and over. He says "Now it is all fixed between us, now it's all fixed" I belive it is there that Yolanda learns what divine love truely is. From her grandfather's forgiveness of her grandmotherfor all the nasty things she had done to him. He still loved her and that is what she had to look forward to in her future.

Amor Divino

I find interesting that a vicious cycle has been created in Yolanda’s family. Every girl named Yolanda will have the same destiny of the grandmother. Yolanda, the protagonist of the story, has been cursed by the grandmother when she threw rice at her and already knew that her marriage was going to be unsuccessful. This is why when Yolanda sees the little girl, she’s like looking at herself in a mirror, the same grey eyes, the same curly hair. She feels pity for that little girl who doesn’t know how her life will be. Probably when Yolanda will be old, she will attend to the little girl’s wedding and will curse her so she will have the same unsuccessful marriage that she had.

We can observe that Yolanda identifies herself with her grandfather who is mourning because of his wife’s death. We can say that according to Yolanda, John is now death, because he is going to be an “absence in her life”.

By generalizing every character’s life and feelings, the author has managed to predict that everyone will have a difficult marriage. Maybe the author wanted to say that everyone will lose loved ones sometime, either because of divorce or death. The author is also analyzing if love is always the most important thing in marriage. I think that Yolanda loves John, but she doesn’t know it and now that she’s losing him, she finally realizes what she feels.

The story is very depressing, the main theme is the feeling of losing somebody we love. “Amor divino tesoro, ya te vas para no volver”: love, divine treasure, you’re now leaving never to return. Yolanda wants to forget everything, to lose her memory as her grandfather did, because it is very hard for her to lose someone that she loved and with whom she shared a part of her life. “Momentarily, she wishes for that blessed blank in the grandfather’s head – not to feel the pain of what is gone, never to return.” There’s a whole dilema in Yolanda’s mind, she knows that the best thing to do is to get divorced, because the only reason she married him in the first place was because of her family’s expectations. But at the same time, she’s afraid of change, of losing someone she loved, of taking the wrong decision.

I think that maybe what will happen after is that Yolanda won’t get divorced, because she “has found love’s divine treasure buried deep in her grandfather’s memory”. This means that the grandfather, even if he fought a lot with his wife and never agreed with her, he still loved her, this is why he wishes to hear someone speak in English at night, because deep inside him, he remembers her. Probably he is trying to aware Yolanda not to lose her husband, he’s trying to remind her that deep inside her, she loves him too.

I also find interesting that it is always at night that people think a lot and remember everything they miss. The grandfather remembers his wife every night and Yolanda remembers how her marriage use to be: “that night she lies awake, remembering other nights from her childhood. She wants to keep her memory busy so she will not think of his body tucked in the hollow her body makes, his breath in her hair.” Even if she gets divorced and tries to get him out of her life, the memories will always hunt her at night.

In addition, I like how the grandfather is compared to a child. “Let him be a little boy. A playmate for his great-granddaughter.” “In the bedroom, all is quiet now. The little night lamp glows so peacefully that Yolanda wonder if she hasn’t stepped into the wrong room in the compound. Maybe she has been misled into a child’s bedroom?” This makes us think that when we get older, we return to our childhood.

Do you think that Yolanda is going to divorce John in the end?

Amor Divino

I found that Yolanda and her grandfathers suffering were one in the same. The pain that he was expressing was how she truely felt about her divorce from John. I liked how Yolanda went back to the reason why she orignally married John and how she was marrying her family. He fit perfectly into the clan but what got me was the fact that her grandmother knew that he wasn't the one for her thats why she through rice on her before she said "I do". To me that was like a prediction into what was going to happen that the author was trying to show. I thought the ending was ironic because when John told Yolanda that he finally sent the papers to her that very night her grandfather seem to have gotten better which made it seem like she wasn't suffering anymore about the divorce.

I believe Yolanda is so desperate to get the papers signed because the pain of the ensuing divorce has been so much, that she wants it finalized so she can try to move on with the rest of her life. Although they once loved each other, their personalities clashed. Yolanda was a poet, an artist to the core. John was a English businessman with "titles" and all that made up aristocratic stuff to make the rich feel better about themselves. We see this clash come into full view while the both of them observe a Chagall painting. She wants to analyze the meaning behind the work, while John could care-less.

I feel the grandfather's physical suffering could possibly be a symbol of the suffering that Yolanda is emotionally feeling. Her grandfather is dying, and so is her marriage; the love she once had. We've all had our fair share of people come through our lives, but its the ones you love that will always be remembered. Yolanda will remember John forever as well. Just because a love goes sour, doesn't mean it will leave your memory. In fact those are the memories that sting the most. Does any one else find that the grandfather can't remember his mother's death, but He still remembers the love he once had with his own wife to be very ironic?

I think what it comes down to is that in a relationship the little things ARE the important things. She touched on the "stupid fights" that had happened, and I feel like those are incredibly damaging in the grand scheme of things. The fight in the museum was a perfect example, I feel, of negligence. The simple fact that he wouldn't entertain the discussion of a painting. Something so small can mean so much in a true love connection. I think that love is the ultimate exploration of the heart and mind... and to suffocate any aspect of that leads to broken hearts, unappeased minds, and broken marriages. To get to the point, I think Yolanda wanted the divorce papers so badly because she knew she would forever be unsatisfied and unappreciated. I think she knew it in her heart that something wasn't right and in times where you HAVE to decide, I think its less painful to stick to you guns, stay the course and get it over with, despite her lonely feelings at night. What do you think about the way it was written? Did anything strike you?

In my opinion, I think Yolanda is wrong for wanting to divorce John. I think both still had love for eachother, but both are too proud to say it. Indications that John still loves her come up when Yolanda says, "It's all your fault, you know. If you hadn't married us twice, we could just tear up our Dominican license and call it a day." John in response to her comment says "hardly" this means its not that easy to just get divorce and forget about her. He then goes on and says "this has gone on long enough. My answer is no. N.O." Although the way he says it is a bit insulting, it's all a facade, and his own way of saying he does not want their marriage to end. The quick change from "hardly" to the dogmatic response following that, makes me think he says that to cover up the emotional breakdown he almost had. John in my opinion is just as stubborn and proud as she is, the only thing is he doesn't know how to express emotions. I am curious to know more about how John feels, because to me he comes off as a character who builds a wall and doesn't let people in, especially Yolanda. At one point in the story Yolanda realizes this because she says "Perhaps the Englishman doesn't really want a divorce, for why wouldn't he cooperate in this effortless procedure that won't cost him anything? Is she sure this divorce is mutual or has she flown off the handle again as she used to when she was a child?" I think a lot of us sometimes build up a wall against others, maybe we do it subconciously, but we do it because we are scared of rejection, or getting hurt. I noticed also that Yolanda has a fear of ending like her aunts, "miserable, but married" Although, Yolanda has made a drastic decision by divorcing him, and I don't think she should have done that, I do think both needed time apart, to see if they missed or even loved eachother. John has no idea that she still loves him, that she lays at night thinking of his touch, because she is too busy fighting with him about the divorce. She wants the divorce so badly, that in the end any love John might have had for her was killed by that desperation of wanting to get rid of their marriage. Why do think Yolanda is so desperate to have John sign the divorce papers?

Amor Divino

I think that in the last sentence in the story,"Yes, for a moment, she, too, has found love's divine treasure buried deep in her grandfather's memory" (24), the author was trying to say that even the old grandfather could not remember much of anything, he in that moment had remebered the love that he shared with his wife. Although they didnt get along most of the time,the love that they shared between each other was evident. The old man would wake up and want to be spoken to in English. Clearly that is something intimiate that he and his wife shared, and as soon as he heard that it was Yolanda( although not the right one...) that was sitting with him, "His face comes fully awake, a smile suffuses his features." p.24 Although they spent most of their time fighting with one another, you can tell from the pleading that he does," lets not fight, lets not fight he pleads", that he doesnt always want to be in disagreement. In this story, stuborness also plays a huge role. The woman knew what they wanted and didnt want a man to hold them back from living the life that they had planned for themselves, yet they both found themselves in similar situations. the fighting that went on in the marriages represnts not only stubborness but also shows how strong willed these woman were. Alot of times in a marriage woman are overpowered by the men, loosing thems entirely and giving in to the demands of their husbands. But no the Yolanda's ,even though their husbands try to hold them back, they still maintained their own personalities. Its like trying to hold sand- the tighter you squeeze it, the faster it falls through your fingers. I think that if the husbands had been less controlling and more able to have fun, then perhaps the marriages would be much happier. I think that saudy was right in saying that both men were insecure, which in turn caused them to act in the manner they did.

The author also presents an issue that many people deal with when they are older. What to do when a parent is unable to care for themselves. There seems to be a constant dilemma between what is right, and what is wrong. Alot of the time, when people are faced with this situation, they question whether or not they have the time and/or qualifications to help their parents, who will bascially be completly dependent on them. They realize that their parents took care of not only themselves, but also the children at the same time, so they feel as though the care to their parents is owed to them. Its hard for children to make the decision to put their parents in a nursing home or hire home care. At the same time, it has to be realized that most of these elderly people, having been taking care of themseleves for 70+ years and to have someone come in and help is completely insulting to them. "... had the crazy yearning to fly up beyond the reach of her husband, her bossy children, and the vigilante nursemaids"p.21 When parents reach this stage in their lives, the children feel as though they always know whats best for them. From the other perspective, the parents feel as though the children are being bossy and over protective, these two different opinions making it very difficult to come to an agreement. As I was writing this, I remembered a song that I once heard. Its a country song that talks about this very topic. One of the scences depicted in the song is a a child who has reached adult hood, having to take away his elderly fathers keys because he was no longer able to drive. It was a difficult situation for the child, and as he did it, his dad started to cry because it wasnt just his keys that were taken away but also his mobility and independence. Its a scary thing to have to face.

The cycle of life happens to all of us, we go from infants up to gernrally high school, were we are dependent upon our parents to live and make sure we are safe. Then we reach young adulthood where we are self sufficient and begin our own lives and as the years pass we return to the begnning of the cycle( although in this case its the end, but same implications as the beginning), where we have to depend on others to take care of us. I think that in this story the author has displayed
these stages of life. There was the grandfather who was clearly at the end of the cycle, depending upon others to survive, then there was Yolanda who was at the middle stage where she could provide for herself- the sky being the limit, and then you had the youngest Yolanda who was introduced towards the end. She is in the beginning stage where she is still dependent on her parents for survival, on page 22, the author is able to make a comparison between the young girl and the old man"After all she too sometimes has to reminded that its bed time, or that she was chew her sweet plaintain instead of gulping it down."

Throughout most of the story- Yolanda and John do not get along. Yolanda makes the comment "Its over, we dont love each other anymore." and the aunts reply to that is "But is that any reason for divorce? Love sometimes comes and goes in a marriage" p.19 Yolanda clearly loves him because towards the end she wanted to call him to try and work things out. How meaningful are the words spoken at a wedding , "for better, for worse, 'til death do us part". Is the aunt right in saying that a love comes and goes in a marriage and that it is something that should be worked through, or is Yolanda right in deciding to divorce him?

Amor Divino

"The young woman was flying up into the sky and the groom was holdig her by the ankles, trying to pull her back down" (20). The painting by Chagall descibes Yolanda and her gradmother completely. These are two women remind me of children that have seen the playgound, but have never been able to play and enjoy the playground. Yolanda is held down by her husband, John, by him simply not wanting to play and joke around with her. She's a fun loving person that loves to enjoy life and has open arms to receive what the world has to offer her. Her grandmother, the first Yolanda, has the same attitude, but in a different sense. She's been there and done that so before she died she wanted to live, but to really live with no inibitions. They didn't care what other people said to them or about them, as long as they were free and happy. That's why the grandmother tried to stop Yolanda from marrying John by throwing a "handful of rice out of turn" (16). The grandmother saw her granddaughter as herself and John as Papito.

The men, on the other hand, were stern and always thought what other people thought of them and your charater must be in front of other people. Both Papito and John wanted to keep their spirits and bay, but what they didn't know is that if you keep something too tightly in your hand is that it dies. "He had tricked her. He had brought her to live in the compound when she had wanted to pend her old age spreading her wings in the apartment she hd talkd him into buying in New York" (21). They crushed it and I think it was because they were afraid. Afraid that they were going to loose the most important thing to them. What those two men didn't realize is that their wives wouldn't hvae left them behind, they would have taken them with them to the next adventure.

Being free doesn't mean that you have to let go the person you love most. Being free and happy is just letting go of all of the responisibilities of everyday life and have ing fun. Papito and John didn't understand that, but both Yolanda's did. The younger Yolanda just wanted to have fun with John; while, the older Yolanda wanted to gamble and get away from her "bossy children" and "the vigilante nursemaids" (21). It must suck to live in this world for a very long time and have people try to tell you what to do when you gave birth and raised them.

I tried to google the portrait by Chagall and couldn't find it, but I found a lot of other work he did. Most of his portaits are about love and marraige. Either both the bride and groom are on solid ground or are fyling high in the sky. But there's one painting called "Promenade." In this painting the woman is flying in to sky or at least trying to and the man is on the gornd and has her by her hand. If you look closely the woman is frowning and the man is smiling. Being free has everything to do with love, but I don't think Papito and John saw that. I think they were insecure. They killed the love that they never wished to kill. For the men in this the women were their "Amor Divino, " but for the women living life was "Amor Divino."

What do you think the author meant by saying, "Yes, for a moment, she, too, has found love's divine treasure buried deep in her grandfather's memory" (24)?

The Immortals

When I first read the story I also thought he was one of those survivors as well. The way he doesn't confirm things but rather uses words such as, I think, means he is not a hundred percent sure of what he is saying. For example, "I think I must have been a dud god or something..." The faint memory he refers of a woman and a child also make me believe he is in denial like someone said earlier. He believes this past to be "fake" and very "human" as if it were a bad thing because that would mean he was a survivor. This brings up a common human characteristic of denial. In my opinon people often are in denial of things, especially when its something bad. In his case it would be not accepting the fact that he is one of the survivors who is in reality experiencing delusions and is slowly dying as well. In his mind he probably views himself as some kind of supreme being as a defense mechanism to get through the reality. I had suspicions also that the other people were survivors but I hadn't based it on anything, however very interesting that someone noticed the title hinting out more than one survivor. Amis did a great job of reaching out to his audience throughout the book by bringing up common themes/issues we experience. He touches upon love, relationships, life, denial and incorporates historical as well as evolutionary facts to give the story more credibility.

commentary!

The main character is obviously out of context about his setting; and his entire life. After the nuclear bomb, his entire life is all but a blur; like some crazed drugged out hippie straight out of San Francisco in the late 1960's. He can slightly recall what has happened, but he has no true recollection of what has happened to him. In the story, the main character explains how long he has lived; claiming his roots stemmed from the African continent, but any civilized human being would know that man originated from the African Continent. "Then the plants showed up, which made a nice change" is a quote that I perceive as him further perpetuating his own denial of everything that has happened to him; as well as the "Ice Age" that he has endured. The "Ice Age" was just the dramatic climate change that occurred following the nuclear bomb that devistated his world. "They all got old and died, like my pets" details how the other survivors around him were dying from the radiation that followed after the bomb was set off. The weather just kept getting hotter and hotter as time progressed, which caused the other survivors to worship and welcome night-time, when the temperature would be milder. I'm not sure where the Tokyo reference comes from, but I have an idea that the author felt the need to mention the travesties that occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the USA dropped the A-bomb on those establishments to give the reader a picture of what happened to him; to empathize with the survivors of those tragedies. The main character continues his out of context thinking when he believes he is living in the Middle East; the birthplace of civilization. How fitting that at the end of civilization, he pictures himself at the birthplace of it all. The main character is so out of touch with reality that he falls in love with his own domesticated elephant; a far-fetched notion, but if you're lonely in this world, i suppose any type of lofe from something else would be sufficient for him. In the end of the story, we can see what the main character truly is; "Sometimes I have this weird idea that I am just a second-rate New Zealand schoolmaster who never did anything or went anywhere." We see from this "flashback" what his life really was before the devastating nuclear bomb. We also see that he's blocked out those memories to create a fantasy life in which he can truly accept after the loss and everything that was so dear to him.

The Immortals

Although the short story The Immortals was very depressing i found it to be very entertaining and overall a good read. His jumps between times was a little difficult to follow but he definatly put a lot of emotion into his writing which i find is sometimes hard to do. His constant depression in understandable and even though i can't relate I envy him because he believes he has seen so much.I wish I had endless amounts of time so i could see and experience everything but just like the charicter i would long for an end which sadly he thinks he will never recieve. The mood of the story was morbid because he talks about how twentie years in nothing but a knee-trembler and thats the longest he has to maintain a relationship with someone other then his beloved pet elephant Babalaya. I do agree with Ashley that he does give himself away to be mortal with the way he talks about time.The fact that he looked like,thought and acted like a human before there was even plant life just dosent make enough sence, the writer could have added that he evolved along with all other living things, it would have made it flow a little better. Also he talks about how he spent that whole time keeping his immortality a secret and then explains that he once saw his grandaughter as an old woman and she recognized him throws that off. Hypotheticly if you were immortal you could have no ties with anyone. I supose a life alone is not woth living but thats how it would have to be. In the end i came to believe that he is a survivor of what seemed to be a nuclear war or solar radiation but is in no way immortal. The story is a stream of consciousness spiling from a deranged and warped mind of a human effected by some form of radiation.

Immortals

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The Immortals

I definately agree with Saudy when she says that it is sad that the 'immortal' cant have a beginning or end to his life and his wanting it essentially makes him partially mortal.

I did have a different take on the story though. I believe it to be the descriptive inner thoughts of a person about to die due to some 'end of the world' event. Toward the end of the story he says that there were also people who thought they were immortal. He also said that he had a faint sort of memory that he was a school master and was dieing off due to solar radiation just like the rest of the last few. I think this story is the portrayal of ones last thoughts, or delusions rather before they died. I found this to be an interesting read. I like the element of mystery that you dont really know whats going on, whether he is crazy or some how really immortal... Did anyone get that feeling?

The Immortals

I agree with the previos post about this story being very depressing. There's a man that walks around this world before everything has been created and at the end of life this man will still be here; alone. "The Immortals" is a tale about one man trying to find things to so while being on earth. I believe that he doesn't know how he was created when he says, "I was born, or I appeared or materialized or beamed down...I think I must have been a dud god or something" (25). He becomes utterly bored with his life and the life of mortals that he starts to make himself a guinea pig to his own experiments. He stays awake for seven years, he sleeps for ten years, and he picked he nose for eighteen months. Before I read the assignment I first figured it was about a family that could live forever and only because the title specifies "Immortals" meaning more then one. I wonder if later on in this book there are more Immortals; more like him. After a while you start to notice that he's extremely lonely which cause him to be depressed, selfish, and cynical at times. One of the examples for this is when he says, "In fact I had recently emerged from a five-year hangover and, for me, the furture looked bright." At the end of the story, he doesn't want to live anymore. He wants there to be an end for him like there's an end for everybody else. In that sense he is mortal. We as humans and mortals need to feel, to touch, and hear another human life. It's our need to be wanted, to be loved, and that's what makes him mortal even though he doesn't realize it. All he knows is that he's going to live forever and alone. This story is sad and it makes me wonder why there are people here on earth, right now, that do want to live forever. Death is the end and the beginning of life. How else would we find peace? The Immortal can't find that and that's sad and depressing.

The Immortals

I think that this story doesn’t stay on the fiction, it goes deeper. It is a fictive story, but it also makes us think about some philosophical problems, as for example our aspiration to immortality, our fear of death and loneliness, our will to have a purpose in life.

The story is a bit contradictory because, as Caitlyn mentioned, the main character is immortal and yet, he has a lot of human characteristics: he feels pain, loneliness and boredom. As a consequence, we can see that the author wanted to stress on the human’s fear of loneliness. We can observe that the sentence “Soon the people will all be gone and I will be alone forever” is repeated several times throughout the story. Also, I found interesting that the main character of the story is supposed to be the only immortal existing in the world, however, the title is “The Immortals”, this can also refer to the fact that humans fear to be left alone. It also leaves us in suspense, wondering if maybe he will find people like him at the end of the story.

It is a very depressing story because the immortal never found a purpose in life; he spent a lot of time doing useless things, only caring about himself. Although the author inserted a humorous tone in the description of how the immortal spent several years; at the end, it makes us think about it on a more serious way. It stresses on human’s selfishness. It makes us wonder what our purpose in life should be. If we aren’t immortals and we’re going to leave this world someday, we would like to stay at least in other people’s memories. In the end, what counts is what we did for others, not what we did for ourselves. But what did the immortal do for others? Nothing, at the beginning, he was just caring about his self-survival, and at the end, he just watched everyone else die. Although he speaks about global warming and other current issues, he never did anything to help humans survive. He had the power to be immortal but never helped the mortals.

I found Jason’s interpretation very interesting, maybe the immortal is just one of many humans who believe himself to be eternal, who wants to rise beyond mediocrity, and doesn’t want to be left alone and be forgotten by everyone else after dying. Maybe the immortal is just one of us. If we think about it, we all want to be immortals in our own way. We can either believe in re-incarnation or in a paradise after death, but we all humans question ourselves about what will happen after we die. We can’t just think that there is an end, that after we die we become nothing. This is probably what the author wanted to stress on: the humans’ will of eternity.

I felt like the main character was kind of blaming humanity for damaging the world, this is why the reader feels kind of guilty and responsible for all the atrocities mentioned in the story. “There is no weather now. Days are just a mask of fire. (…) I saw what you were doing to the place. What was the matter? Was it too nice for you or something? Jesus Christ, you were only here for ten minutes. And look what you did.” He speaks like a god blaming humanity. For him, a human’s life lasts only for ten minutes, and yet, he speaks of it as if having a huge power to damage or save the world.

By blaming us, he makes us think about important issues as global warming, and the consequences that it can have on next generations. It threatens us by saying that if we keep damaging the world, this is how it will end. I think the story is a human parody.

I also like that the author managed to begin his story with the creation of the world, continue with several historical facts, going through classical antiquity, the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, and finally imagine the end of humanity, all in a four-page story. He also mentions countries, such as Africa, China, Thailand and New Zealand; famous people, such as Shakespeare, the Queen of Sheba and Marie Antoinette; and historical events, such as wars. All this makes the fictive story seem more realistic.

Overall, I liked this story because it didn’t just please me with its fictive and imaginative side, but it also made me think about real issues that currently affect humanity.

Here’s my question: How does the author manages to create an Immortal that seems human?

The Immortals

I thought that the point of view of the character was well done. He tells the story in a rambling way, switching back and forth between the past and the present; one moment he’s in Tokyo and the next he’s in classical antiquity (pg. 28). A few times he indicates how he sees the other survivors, for example, they “gather by the polluted well and talk their [nonsense]” (pg. 28). This gives the clue of who the character is, and he makes this more explicit toward the end of the story when he says that “they all believe that they are -- that they are eternal, that they are immortal” (pg. 31). The entire story has been the delusions of a nuclear bomb survivor. He is one of those who believe they are immortal, when in fact he is “a second-rate New Zealand schoolmaster who never did anything or went anywhere and is now painfully and noisily dying of solar radiation along with everybody else” (pg. 31). This explains the rambling point of view. His real life seems to him to be the delusion. Maybe “there was a woman, and a child” (pg. 31), but that’s all gone now. The author never says explicitly that the man is not immortal, he only hints at it. This makes the story a lot more interesting, because then it can be read for what it is, the thoughts of a crazy man who has survived a nuclear holocaust. If he had spelled it out, it would have seemed like an intrusion, because the story is supposed to be told from inside the man's head. The key for the story is that the clue is there. Without the clue, it’s just a pointless story about some immortal creature observing other people. Saudy makes a good point in her post that “the title specifies ‘Immortals’ meaning more then one.” I hadn’t noticed this, and it makes sense because the “Immortals” are all the survivors. The story is told through the eyes of one of those survivors who have gone mad. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to ask a question at the end of this, but if I am, is there anything unique about the way the author forms the sentences, that maybe fits the character?

the immortals

I think that although the man in "The Immortals" is quite different from an actual human... because he has the ability to live forever...that he does say alot about human nature. As the previous post said, all of us mortal or immortal want to be wanted, loved, needed and not end up being alone. Although the man was very much immortal he did possess these human qualities many times throughout the story. I also think if people did go on living forever that they would be VERY lonley. While reading the previous blog and the story, it made me think of the saying "every end is the start of a new beginning". Even though death is something that is feared by many, it is the ending of a life here on earth but for those of us who believe in the after life- a start of different but new type of life somewhere else. "I swear, the entire planet seemed to be staging some kind of stupidity contest". This quote, I think was one of the best sayings throughout the story because again- I think it says alot about humans. It seems as though no matter how stupid something is, if one person does it then alot of others follow suit and do the same thing. This is where the term trends come from! The characters reference to global warming," at first around here we were pleased that the world started getting warmer... but then it went to far in the other direction, it just kept on getting hotter- or rather there was a change in the nature of heat"p.27 I also thought was clever because it is something that is a huge issue for us today. Overall, I found the story to be very depressing. The author created a character who was very sad and lonley. As previously mentioned- I dont think that people should have to live forever because forever is such a very long time- but the Immortal spend a good portion of the story describing how he came up with ways to end his own life. There are just way to many people out there who would give anything to live just one more day, and he was finding ways to end his. I found it morbid that he was wishing away something that is so precious to so many people.