The story, “Stagolee”, written by Julius Lester, is a great and hilarious story. He, Stagolle, was one bad man that really didn’t have to deal with rasicism back in those days. He had control over anything he wanted. He killed when he thinks that he needs to. But, and the same times, he was sweet and respectful to women. A lot of people were afraid of him So, they stayed their distance from him and let do what he wants.
Stagolee was the baddest of them all. It was like he ran the whole town just by putting fear in people. If someone tries to push his button, you shouldn’t worry to much of that person anymore longer. The next thing you know, you’ll hear is gunshots going off. He was a lady’s man. His looks could make a woman’s heart melt. And it’s crazy because he lived a long life, Longer than what he suppose to live.
The baddest man alive was living in them honky-tonks town down in Alabama. For example, one night he was so drunk at a bar, he literally fell asleep. All the Klu Klux Klan that lived in different counties near by came to see him, Stagolee, get hung. As so they surrounded him, he woke up sober. He told them to hang him, so that gave them a better opportunity to kill him. And when they hung him, he laughed and laughed, and laughed some more. He was hanging for about an hour in a half and told them to go ahead and let him down so he can go back to sleep. And they did. I think the author was trying to reveal the theme is that not only white men back then took charge of things. So were the blacks. I do agree because I feel thing anyone in any race could be in charge of something.
I think what the author thought about the character, Stagolee, was that he was not the type of men that you would want to play around with. But, deep down in Stagolee heart, the author know that he was a god man but, doesn’t take shit from anyone, not even Death. For example, Stagolee said “You maybe the sheriff, and you maybe white, but you ain’t Stagolee, now deal with that.” I think the author wanted me to be surprised by how it ended because at the end, he was still in charge. When he died he went to hell, funny huh? He seem that Death wasn’t doing nothing because he was so along. So, Stagolee walked up to him wanting Death to party with him. I’m guessing that Death didn’t want to. As soon as Stagolee notice that Death wasn’t anything, he told him that he was going to take over hell, and he did.
My favorite movie is Belly. It’s similar to Stagolee, but in an up to date version way. Tommy, the main character, was the boss of them all. He tells the ones that’s under him what’s going to happens, how it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen. The theme was in the late 1990’s, New York, dealing with all types of drugs on the streets. The person who created this movie deliver the theme as life in the streets, basically saying money, females, and weed. It connects with Stagolee because they both was at the top, but hit rock bottom, and now trying to get up at the end.
Overall, I loved this story and I would recommend it to someone else to read it. Hilarious, but yet crazy at the same time. It’s always throwing something at you that would surprise you and still keep you interested in reading it
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
short story #2
Friendships can be important with some people, depending on who the person is to you. Some friendships are really worth anything, but others can mean everything. For example, a best friend is someone who sticks by you through thick and thin. What does she mean by that you ask? I mean if you were to ever hit rock bottom, your best friend would be right there trying to help you in any way possible. Now that’s what you call a best friend. Another example appears to in the story “My friend Moe” written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawling, Moe said, “Me and her is buddies, see? If her gate falls down, I go and fix it. If I git in a tight for money, she helps me if she got it, and if she ain’t got it, she gits it for me. We stick together. You got to stick to the bridge that carries you across.”
Moe and his were such good friends that if she had never scratched up a dollar, she would give it to him. When they first met, Moe introduced himself to her on her first Christmas Day at the creek. As she was cooking, Moe and the man he came with, Wihtey, sat on the back steps and visited with the men. After she, Moe’s buddy, got done cooking, she approach the men and asked if they wanted to join her for dinner to grab their attention. After dinner, they both, Moe and her, went to the back steps and talked.
They have an admiration for each other. In the beginning of their friendship, beyond their mutual helpfulness, there was a warm tenderness that made them sit down together on the back steps and talked about the world as they saw it. They both had the same type of view of the world and a lot of similarities with each other. It was like they could talk about anything together. As they got older, they both still remain best friends.
Later on, their friendship was kind of splitting far apart. Moe got married and had twelve kids. She, his friend, became a writer. Moe’s friend was going to New York but, as she was pulling off in her car, she saw Moe. He wasn’t looking so good. His face was so “gray”. His youngest child, Mary, was dying. Her illness that she had was close to pneumonia. Moe didn’t know what to do, he was so confused. He was getting sicker by the day as he had to watch his daughter struggle through the pain that she was in. Until one day he couldn’t fight anymore. As he sat in his chair, he made a stangling sound in his throat and his head dropped and didn’t left back up again.
I think the author’s purpose of writing the story, “ My Friend Moe”, was to show how friendships can be important. Show what you and or anyone can gain out of a friendship. When no one is there, knowing that you can depend on your best friend makes you feel good about yourself.
Overall, I liked the story. It was interesting and it grab my attention in the beginning. In the middle of it, it got serious as far as talking about Mary, Moe’s youngest daughter. But I can honestly say that I wasn’t expecting the end to turn out how it did. It left confused because I wanted to continue on reading it.
Moe and his were such good friends that if she had never scratched up a dollar, she would give it to him. When they first met, Moe introduced himself to her on her first Christmas Day at the creek. As she was cooking, Moe and the man he came with, Wihtey, sat on the back steps and visited with the men. After she, Moe’s buddy, got done cooking, she approach the men and asked if they wanted to join her for dinner to grab their attention. After dinner, they both, Moe and her, went to the back steps and talked.
They have an admiration for each other. In the beginning of their friendship, beyond their mutual helpfulness, there was a warm tenderness that made them sit down together on the back steps and talked about the world as they saw it. They both had the same type of view of the world and a lot of similarities with each other. It was like they could talk about anything together. As they got older, they both still remain best friends.
Later on, their friendship was kind of splitting far apart. Moe got married and had twelve kids. She, his friend, became a writer. Moe’s friend was going to New York but, as she was pulling off in her car, she saw Moe. He wasn’t looking so good. His face was so “gray”. His youngest child, Mary, was dying. Her illness that she had was close to pneumonia. Moe didn’t know what to do, he was so confused. He was getting sicker by the day as he had to watch his daughter struggle through the pain that she was in. Until one day he couldn’t fight anymore. As he sat in his chair, he made a stangling sound in his throat and his head dropped and didn’t left back up again.
I think the author’s purpose of writing the story, “ My Friend Moe”, was to show how friendships can be important. Show what you and or anyone can gain out of a friendship. When no one is there, knowing that you can depend on your best friend makes you feel good about yourself.
Overall, I liked the story. It was interesting and it grab my attention in the beginning. In the middle of it, it got serious as far as talking about Mary, Moe’s youngest daughter. But I can honestly say that I wasn’t expecting the end to turn out how it did. It left confused because I wanted to continue on reading it.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Short Story #1
Reading this book kind of affected me. It made me want to do better with my life and the people that's in it. The Scarlet Ibis is a bird that has a big head, a skinny long neck, and a tiny body which is red and shriveled like an old man's. I think this bird has a strong connection to Doodle, the main character's little brother.
Doodle was a crazy little brother,but not in a bad way, in a good way. He couldn't really talk and he couldn't walk either cause he was really sick.The doctor said he had a weak heart. He wanted to be just like his brother, but his brother didn't to much care for him. His thought that he was an embarrassment to him, so he treated him badly. Doodle's brother told his mom one day that he always wanted a normal little brother. A little brother that he can play football with and all sources of things.But being in the condition that Doodle is in, he wouldn't be able to things like a normal kid would. So, brother tries to teach him to be normal.
"Brother" was a terrible brother. He tries to hard to make Doodle becomes something he's not. He was ashamed of Doodle. He wouldn't even walk with him down the street. So, I guess he thought that if he take him down to the Old Woman Swamp by their selves, then he wouldn't be shy to try to walk. As much as he tried to walk, he crawled more and it made Brother even more mad because the fact was that he couldn't walk. So as days go by in the summer, Doodle learns to walk even more. One day going to the Old Woman Swamp, they saw a bird that looked just like Doodle. And the craziest thing about it is that what ever happens to the bird happens to Doodle. It's like whenever the bird gets sick, Doodle gets sick.
One day something weird was going on with the bird. It looked very tired. Doodle's hands were clasped at his throat and stayed still for so long. At a moment, the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying features, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud. Then it die.
Doodle and Brother were floating down the creek with the tide. But rolling back against the tide came big black clouds gathering together in the south west. Doodle was watching them while him and brother was trying to pull the oars faster. When they reach land, lighting was going across the sky, thunder roared loud, the sun disappeared, and the darkness descended, almost like night. Doodle was both tired and scared,so, he collapsed to the ground.Running home, Doodle was being left behind yelling for Brother to not leave him. Brother stop running because he got tired, so he decided to wait on Doodle. Doodle was taking to long to catch up, so Brother started calling his name and didn't get any answer.
Doodle was a crazy little brother,but not in a bad way, in a good way. He couldn't really talk and he couldn't walk either cause he was really sick.The doctor said he had a weak heart. He wanted to be just like his brother, but his brother didn't to much care for him. His thought that he was an embarrassment to him, so he treated him badly. Doodle's brother told his mom one day that he always wanted a normal little brother. A little brother that he can play football with and all sources of things.But being in the condition that Doodle is in, he wouldn't be able to things like a normal kid would. So, brother tries to teach him to be normal.
"Brother" was a terrible brother. He tries to hard to make Doodle becomes something he's not. He was ashamed of Doodle. He wouldn't even walk with him down the street. So, I guess he thought that if he take him down to the Old Woman Swamp by their selves, then he wouldn't be shy to try to walk. As much as he tried to walk, he crawled more and it made Brother even more mad because the fact was that he couldn't walk. So as days go by in the summer, Doodle learns to walk even more. One day going to the Old Woman Swamp, they saw a bird that looked just like Doodle. And the craziest thing about it is that what ever happens to the bird happens to Doodle. It's like whenever the bird gets sick, Doodle gets sick.
One day something weird was going on with the bird. It looked very tired. Doodle's hands were clasped at his throat and stayed still for so long. At a moment, the bird began to flutter, but the wings were uncoordinated, and amid much flapping and a spray of flying features, it tumbled down, bumping through the limbs of the bleeding tree and landing at our feet with a thud. Then it die.
Doodle and Brother were floating down the creek with the tide. But rolling back against the tide came big black clouds gathering together in the south west. Doodle was watching them while him and brother was trying to pull the oars faster. When they reach land, lighting was going across the sky, thunder roared loud, the sun disappeared, and the darkness descended, almost like night. Doodle was both tired and scared,so, he collapsed to the ground.Running home, Doodle was being left behind yelling for Brother to not leave him. Brother stop running because he got tired, so he decided to wait on Doodle. Doodle was taking to long to catch up, so Brother started calling his name and didn't get any answer.
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