This statment connect the child and the freak at the fair. The freak was referring to its deformity and the child was referring to her impure thoughts. The child immediately remembers this statement as reported from the other girls visit at the fair when she started having ugly thoughts in the "presence of god".

Im unsure of why the little girl was simply referred to as the child, unless O'Connor was inviting the reader to take that childs place in the story...

What also bothers me is the "maturity" of the two older girls sexually and the innocence of the younger one. There is only 2 years difference but it is completely noticable. I mean the 14 years olds were permitted to witness the transsexual at the fair compared to the 12 year olds idea of childrearing is "seeing" a rabbit spit babies out of its mouth. Thats a huge difference.

My first reaction to this story was amazement at her ignorance of the situation. She gained weight, had morning sickness, shortness of breath, her husbands recent hapiness, and just about every other indicator for pregnancy. I knew she was pregnant from the beginning when she described what the fortune teller had told her. Although, I must admit that I thought that she would have fell down the stairs or something of that nature to end the childs life and probably hers simply due to the depressing nature of the previous O'Connors we've read.

She sees pregnancy and motherhood as being old and making her age rapidly. She views children as heathens and then refers to her brother as worthless... I think that there is association between her brother and her unborn fetus, or rather her idea of what the fetus will develop into.

Although I dont really enjoy writing research papers, I do believe that having the resources and ability to do research does help us grow, individually and culurally. Whether it is for a new antibody or just for peace of mind. In my case its usually the latter. I will just be wandering through my day and some small trivial fact will be presented. If for some reason it doesnt seem right I have to do some research to find an answer that satisfies my need to know. When this happens I am determined to find what I am looking for and pull all stops until I get what I am looking for. While personal research and assigned research are the same it is almost impossible for me to get that involved or interested in a topic like I do when its just a hearsay "rumor" that I want to justify.

I think that this essay isvery successful in pulling out relating peices from the wholes story and not just one part. I also find that creating a lenthy paper on the topic of eggs is facinating. I dont know if this is a acquired skill or what but I need to find a way to get it.

This statement sticks strongly in my head because the mother is putting all her trust into Mr. Shiftlet. And then as the story goes on it is shown how exactly wrong this is. He leaves her at a diner with no knowledge of where she is, how to get home, or even survival instincts.

Then as he is driving he sees the road sign that says "Drive Carefully: The Life You Save May Be Your Own." I dont understand where this comes from. Plus it says how he is even more depressed being alone... So why wouldnt he just take the deaf girl with him. What damage would she have done? He could have atleast taken her closer to home to where she would have a slight chance of finding her way... Then the random outburst from the hitchhiker... I dont see the relevance of it. Was Shiftlet talking about his mother or Mrs. Lucynell??

I like the rain at the end. But it is also a weird request from Shiftlet. He prays, "Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!". When in all realness he is slime for taking advantage of the Lucynells. So I take it as he is praying for his own end.

“The cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars – on stars where no human race is
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.”

The speaker outright says “They cannot scare me…”, I have it in me so much nearer home to scare myself with my own desert places.” The speaker holds his own hell in their soul and no deserted woods will even compare to the loneliness that they contain.

"Before I built a wall Id ask to know what I was walling in or walling out.”

His neighbor on the other hand doesn’t ask this at all but just keeps repeating his mantra,

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

It is very noticable that the speaker is against the idea of the fence but yet the speaker goes along with it. I think that he is trying to prove to his neighbors that people can be just as good neighbors as a fence.

This statement shows Bevel/Harry's dislike for the apartment and being with his parents. The words of the preacher hold more appeal to him than his home and parents. By this statement alone it is noticeable that Harrys parents and homelife is less than perfect. Especially when Harry is so young (4 or 5). When a child is so young it is often hard for them to except anything bad about their parents and here Harry would rather go to the "Kingdom of Christ" with some strangers than be at the apartment with his parents.

Then later on in the story her "memory" of this dirt road begins their series of misfortunate events. Her convincing her son to go down this dirt road, caused the cat to escape from the bag, the car to wreck, and finally the death of all of them except for the cat.

This is why I consider the grandmother a contradicting character. The quote I mentioned above was actually the exact opposite than what unfolded in the story. But in a way I question who is to fault the untimely deaths. Whether grandma for leading them down the road or Bailey for not going to Tennessee like the grandmother wanted in the first place.

"(a major mover) will arrange their words in order to make themselves seem blameless."

"Each person's report will have the "hidden agenda" of making herself or himself seem honest, objective. intelligent, impartial, and thorough."

This confuses me slightly because what would a character be considered if say a crime was committed, they werent the person that actually did it, but they wanted to take the credit/blame for it? Wouldnt that go against both of these statements and yet wouldnt that person be a major participant in the story?

This brings to mind this documentary about a serial killer called the Iceman that I watched the other night. He killed over 100 people and whne talking about what drove him to do those thiings he never once said that he regretted it or tried to place blame on someone else. He didnt even say that the victims brought it on themselves. He simply claimed that it was something he had to do. Now in this case he was the major participant but he didnt try to seem blameless. Although I guess this goes along with my nd quote about being honest.

"They (symbolism and allegory) are based on the fact that people associate important qualities of their existence with particular objects, places, or accurrences."

Symbolism means something entirely different to every person. It all depends on what you've experienced in your life, and how far your "journey" took you.

For example, while growing up my father was never around or included in my life. Even though he lived/s in my town less than 3 miles away I never got a birthday card or even just a call to say hello. So what my symbolism of a father or even my symbolism of a mother would be completely different than someone who has a "man-of-the-house". The difference would be the importance and independence I stress on my mother and being able to do so-called jobs that a man should do. Because of this I feel that a person must know a little bit about the authors history in order to understand the symbolism that is being shown.

In Brendas blog she says something about how the more meanings a symbol has the richer the context becomes. So the more experiences a person encounters the more peices of literature will be appreciated.

"In poetry, rythm is significant because poetry is so emotionally sharged, compact, and intense."

These two statements out of this chapter really explain why exactly poems are associated with poetry. A poem is like a short accapello song. Each hold the same amount of feelings and emotions while still comunicating a centralized idea. To write a successful song and poem require the same basics. Structure, flow, and interest.

This goes along with what Lisa Randolph said about reading a poem isnt the same as our everyday speech. She points out that there are rythms and syllables that need to be stressed in order to give it meaning. This further strengthens the connection between songs and poems. Because the same can be said for song lyrics.