The Second Tree from the Corner: By E.B. White

Author: E.B. White or Elwyn Brooks White was born on july 11 1899 Mount Vernon, New York. He gratuaded from Cornell University. James Thurber once said "No one can write a sentence like White." Elwyn was 86 when he died in Main.

Summery: The story begins with Mr. Trexler in a shincs office. The Doctor asked if he had ever had any Bizarre thoughts before. Mr. Trexler had to think for while about this question. He know if he answered yes and told him some of his thought then the doctor would be more concered about him. But he also knew if he said no then the doctor would know that he was lying. After a while Mr. Trexler said "no." After twenty mins of theropy the doctor came up with a conclusion. Mr. Trexler was was scared. He came up with the conclusion because when ever he asked Mr. Trexler a question he would move it back little by little. Trexler started to think about how the other patients must fell while they are waiting. The Sesson was then over and Trexler left. Trexler went to see the doctor routinly. The doctor was trying to convince him that it was all fear nothing else. The Doctor said this to Trexler "What do you want". Trexler could not reply. When this session was over Trexler walked down Third Avenue and thought what did he want. After he thought and came to a conclusion he felt much better and his sickness seemed to heal. He felt like a brand new person.

Themes and Meaning : The theme of this story was to find out who you were. Trexler didn't know who he was at the beggining but in the end he found out who he was and he felt much better about himself. The author of the story was trying to say don't forget who you are. Also if you do forget who you are then you always can remind yourself.

Questions: Why did the doctor not try to figure out what else was wrong with Trexler? Why didn't Trexler say what he wanted to do? What made Trexler feel better about him self and heal his sickness?

Reader Reasponse: I like this story because it had to do with Phycology and trying to figure out someone. I Also like the story because of all the asspects it went through.

Miami-New York By: Martha Gellhorn

Author: Martha Gellhorn was born on November 8, 1908 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was a American Novelist. She was also one of the best war writers during her time. Gellhorn was Ernest Hemingway's third wife before he committed suicide. At the age of 81 she became and ill was almost completely blind. She committed suicide by eating a poison pill.

Summery: Miami to New York is about Kate Merlin who is a famous Artist, and John Hanley who is a Lieutenant in the Navy. John had just gotten back from war and was spending some time in Miami. Kate and John board a Plane to New York were they ended up sitting next to one another. Kate was a timmed person who was insecure about her self. John did not want to talk to anyone on the plane, all he wanted to do was sleep. Kate thought to herself about how John's life would be. She thought he had a wife that was waiting for him and he had a nice home were he was happy. John noticed that she was wealth, he thought she was lonley because of the way she acted. John felt as if he saw the womans troubled life, and how sad she had become. He felt as if her lips were asking to be kissed. Kate looked at him and they kissed each other. Kate pulled away from him and hesitated for a miniate and exchanged names with him. Kate asked him "how did you know you could kiss me". John reasponded with " I didn't know anything I didn't plan anything". Kate thought to her self, that she had never done something like this before. She hoped that John didn't think of her as a girl that did this all the time. John then kissed her again right before she told him how she. Then John took her head and pressed it against his shoulder, and said It's all right. They both then went to sleep.

A Few Hours Later

When they woke up, the plane was over New York and preparing to land. John and some of the other passenger's got up from there seats and began to talk. When John came back he asked Kate if she was Kate Merlin the Famous artist. Kate said yes and asked if there was a problem. John said that he thought she was older. Kate was only 35, and John was 24. Kate asked John if he was staying in New york for a long time. When John said know he was leaving for home, Kate felt as if he had rejected her, and she did not want to be around him anymore. When the plane landed Kate got a Taxi Cab and told John that she hopes to she him some time and John saluted her goodbye.

Themes: One themes in this story was Lonlyness Kate was lonley, and she wanted a companion to chare a relationship with. She had a husband but he was never there for her. Another theme could be speculations. Kate thought that John's life was almost perfect. She thought he had a wife that loved him and that he was happy.

Questions: Why did Kate let John Kiss her? Why didn't John stay in New York with Kate for a little while? What was the reason for the Kiss? Why did Kate and John think

Reader response: I thought that the story Miami-New York was very interesting. One of the reason's I thought it was interesting was because when you get onto a plane you don't always know the person sitting next to you and In this story John and Kate got to learn alot about the people sitting next to them.

"Greenleaf" By: Flannery O' Connor

Summery: The story "GreenLeaf "was about a woman named Ms. May. She was a country woman or a Redneck. She was racist. One of her workers was Mr. GreenLeaf. He was a black man that had already had 2 children and was married. Ms. May thought that he was very strange, the book made it seem that she was in love with him. She would talk make fun of him and call him names, but deep down she had feelings for him. Mr. Greenleafs son's Ot and Et's bull had gotten out of the farm and walk to Ms. May's farm. The bull had been eating Ms. May's crops and grass. She told Mr. Greenleaf that he had to get the bull of the farm or he was going to have to kill it. Ms. May told her son's Scofield and Wesley what had happened. Scofield was a professor at a college, and Wesley was an insurance man. The two brother's just laughed at there mother. She made a remark that she wished that here sons were Ot and Et. Ot and Et were in the army. They achieved the rank of Sergent and married French women and had children. They also had a farm that was very successful.

The Next Day at Ot and Et's Farm....

She asked some of Ot and Et's workers were they were. When they replied they said that they had gone into town to. When Ms. May went around to look to see the quality of the place, she found out that they kept a clean farm. When Ms. May went back to her farm, she talk to her son's. They made fun of her and talk to her in a inappropriate way. Ms. May got very angry and and ran out of the room. There was a knock on her door, it was Mr. Greenleaf. Mr. Green Leaf said he heard a bump and he wanted to see if everything was ok. Ms. May told him that the bull was stilling eating her grass and that he need to be shot. Ms. May taunted Mr. Greenleaf about his son's not caring about him. Mr. Greenleaf got his gun and went after the bull. Ms. May drove her car to were the bull was. Ms. May saw Mr. Greenleaf one second and then he disappeared into the woods with the bull. After a while Ms. May got out of her car and sat on it. Ms. May thought for a while about how her life was going. After awhile Ms. May saw the bull running toward her and then it gored her in the stomach. Ms. Mays saw white after that....

Themes: Racism was one of the themes in Greenleaf. Ms. May and her son's were racist against black people. Mrs. May would always refer to a black person as the N word. Religon was another aspect in Greenleaf. Mrs. Greenleaf would always pray to god and bury news clipping's of bad things that happend in the world and pray over them. The Unsucpecting Love between Ms. May and Mr. Greenleaf. Mrs. May would say that she loved Mr. Greenleaf but in reality she had feeling for him. She would call him name but she really want to be with him.

Questions: Why didn't Ms. May move out of the way or run away from the bull before it mauled her. Why did Mrs. May's Son's talk bad about and not care about her. How did Mr. Greenleaf put up with Mrs. May and all the things she did to him.

Reader Response: I thought this story was easy to understand and very interesting to read. Some of the aspects that I liked was how people succeded after people didn't want them to. Mrs. May didn't want Ot and Et to have a good life she thought that they were slobs. Just because they were black she didn't think that they could have a good life.

Video: This video shows a bull going crazy. This connects with the story because there is a bull that is eating Mrs. May's grass, and Mr Greenleaf has to kill it. At the end of the video the bull gets stabed and killed, at the end of Greenleaf the bull gets shot and killed.

The Killers By: Ernest Himingway

Summery: The story the Killers begins in the town called Summit in Henry’s Dinner. Some of the main characters were George, Nick Adams, Ole Anderson and Sam. There were two killers that walked in the Dinner. They asked if they could have something to eat George gave them some food. The two men asked if Ole Anderson a former boxer ever came to the restaurant. George told them that he came in around 6:30. They started hassling George and calling him bright boy. Then they told him to go into the back of the dinner. Nick Adams then saw them pull out a shotgun.




In the Kitchen. . .


They tied Nick and Sam and let George handle the customers that came in. A motorists came in and asked for something to eat. George told him that Sam was not in and he would be back in a while. George then went back to the kitchen. Where the two killers were holding them hostage. The killers were verbally assaulting Sam by calling him the N word. When Ole finally didn’t show up the killers left. George then untied Nick and Sam. George told Nick that someone should go tell Ole what happened. Nick said the he would tell him.

At Ole's apartment. . .

When Nick went to see Ole, Ole was sitting in his bed. Nick told him what happened in the Diner, but Ole didn’t care about what happened he knew that someone wanted to kill him. Nick left him and went back to the diner to tell George. Nick told George that he had to get out of the town.

Themes and meaning: The author was trying to say that if people made to many mistakes in life that they would come back to haunt them. Like Ole, he must have made a mistake in his life and someone wanted to kill him. Ole's life was successful but he could have made many mistakes or done something wrong to get to higher in life. This is why it is not always right to make bad dissections.

Characters:

Sam-

George, Nick Adams, Max, Al

Ole Anderson-

Video: The reason I put this video in my blog is because of Ole Anderson. He was a boxer that got into a little trouble in his life. The boxer in the video is Rocky Marciano. Ole Anderson boxing carrrer was going up, Rockys carrer was amazing. Rocky was 49-0 when he retired from boxing. In the story Ole must have been a great boxer if people were trying to kill him. The reason I think this is because someone might have wanted him to take a dive in a fight so they could make money. He might have said know to taking a dive so they might have wanted to kill him.

Youtube: If you want you can look at The clips from the Killers on youtube. Also you can look at any video your big hearts disire.