First Day?

     Dead tired.  Few more minutes.  PLEASE.  

     The clock shows 6:30.  Late.  I get up, and charge downstairs.  Breakfast I can go without, but the bus is a necessity.  My dad's old, busted, and RED pickup would be my downfall starting high school.

     Mom appears from the kitchen.  "Oh, you woke up just in time for dinner!"

Gryphon Response

     In the middle of the Gryphon by Charles Baxter, I got out my dictionary too and looked up the word "gryphon."  I found exactly what Tommy found in his.  I am not sure if I would call Miss Ferenzci as a teacher "fantastic" though, but this is the respectable opinion of the character.  Yet the other half of the definition is that a gryphon "has a eagle's wings and a lion's body.  I think this also holds true for her.  As a teacher, I think Ms. Ferenzci's ideas and lessons are definitely different, and most times misleading, but she can grab the attention of all the bored students with them.  An eagle's wings can also achieve an incredible amount of attention from the other animals.  Yet her ideas don't just get attention, they can really take off and fly for the students.  A lion however, is commonly though of as a fast, aggressive, and powerful hunter, yet Ms. Ferenzci has no intention to kill.  She also isn't as physically strong, yet her connections in the first day of class were very powerful.  They were enough to excite little Tommy to the point where he ran home to his mother and told her all about this new substitute.  Ms. Ferenzci is so strong, she was eventually overturned by one of the students. This is the same outcome for many top officials, especially who have ideas opposite of what you were brought up to believe in.   This is also the outcome of the head lion in the pack.  Eventually one of the other members will overthrow him and find a new leader.
     In the last paragraph, we find Ms. Ferezci's replacement, the 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Mantai.  I find it interesting, because I can find no connection between their temporary area of study, insects, and the rest of the story.  Yet the last line might have a hint at what the paragraph is trying to achieve, "Mrs. Mantai said that our assignment would be to memorize these lists for the next day, when Mr. Hibler would certainly return and test us on our knowledge." I don't think this only refers to what was taught in Mrs. Mantia's class that day, but also in Ms. Ferezci's class.  Although academically their may not have been as much to learn from their gryphon substitute teacher, they definitely were introduced to a new teacher and a new adventure in which to think about their subjects about to resume with the return of Mr. Hibler.

Nawabdin Electrician Response

     My initial response to Nawabdin Electrician by Deniyal Mueenudin, was that it was a good short story.  It is still hard for me to try and extract the meaning from the pages, but I found some things interesting, such as how Nawab's main success in the beginning was cheating the electric company.  At the end of the story, however, he is refusing to forgive a man who wanted to steal his motorcycle.  This shows me that, although very likable in the story, Nawab gets away with cheating but he gets upset by others stealing from him.  Nawab's motorcycle is also his access to many more job opportunities and therefore his hopes for his many daughters as well.
     The characters in Nawabdin Electrician also struck me.  Of course, the author spends the most time talking about Nawab, because he's the protagonist, but I like how even in a short story, Mueenudin gives him many different aspects.  At first we are told about his working career, and throughout this we are shown that he is a family-man.  We see his relationship between daughters and wife and his reaction to the robber.  This antagonist of the story is much more flat than Nawabdin.  The robber is also a questionable candidate for a dynamic character.  Even though he is screaming out for forgiveness, before his death, the robber may have been just trying to stay alive, so we don't really know.  Although Nawabdin Electrician is a seemingly simple read, there is much more to be uncovered and to learn.

Indian Camp Response

     Anyone can write a short story.  As a matter of fact, this basic form of creative writing is practiced by every middle schooler.  As we graduate through the grades, high schooler's analyze the short stories of  famous writers.  Yet when I picked up Indian Camp by Ernest Hemingway, I thought I was reading a student's attempt to create a professional's work.  The voice of Indian Camp surprised me because I expected the author's style to be much more complex and experienced.  After all, this is Hemingway I'm talking about.  His syntax and diction of the story were so simple I felt as if I was reading my ten-year-old sister's tales.

      The characters of this story were also very basic.  I was given no details about Nick, his father, Uncle George, and the several Indians.  However, this did not affect my overall understanding and impression of the story.  I think Hemingway's knowledge and experience as a writer is obvious because he does not have to describe his characters with much detail.  Yet this overall simplicity of both his voice and his characters results in a very basic and boring story.  Although Ernest Hemingway has gained his status as a professional writer, it surely was not because of Indian Camp.