THE INN OF THE TWO WITCHES BY JOSEPH CONRAD

Joseph Conrad's Life and Major Works

 Joseph Conrad was born on December 3rd, 1857. He was born in Berdichiv, Ukraine.
His birth name is Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. His parents (Apollo and Evelina
Korenziowski) were members of the Polish noble class. He was raised and educated
primarily in Poland. After a sea-faring career in the French and British merchant
marines, he wrote short stories and novels like Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness and The
Secret Agent. He died in England on August 3, 1924.
 Conrad began his own literary career in 1895 with the publication of his first novel,
Almayer's Folly, an adventure tale set in the Borneo jungles.
 Most of his novels and short stories have the sea as a background for the action. The
sea is also a symbolic parallel for their heroes’ inner turbulence. There’s little romantic
interest in his novels.
Some of His Short Stories
 "The Black Mate": written, according to Conrad, in 1886; may be counted as his opus
double zero; published 1908; posthumously collected in Tales of Hearsay, 1925.
 "Youth": written 1898; collected in Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories, 1902
 "Falk": novella / story, written early 1901; collected only in Typhoon and Other
Stories, 1903
 "Amy Foster": composed 1901; published in the Illustrated London News, December
1901, and collected in Typhoon and Other Stories, 1903.
 "The Secret Sharer": written December 1909; published in Harper's Magazine, 1910,
and collected in Twixt Land and Sea, 1912
 "Freya of the Seven Isles": a near-novella, written late 1910–early 1911; published
in The Metropolitan Magazine and London Magazine, early 1912 and July 1912,
respectively; collected in Twixt Land and Sea, 1912
 "The Partner": written 1911; published in Within the Tides, 1915
 "The Inn of the Two Witches": written 1913; published in Within the Tides, 1915
Most Famous Novels
 Almayer’s Folly (1889)
 Lord Jim (1900)
 Heart of Darkness (1902)
 Nostromo (1904)
 The Secret Agent (1907)
 Under Western Eyes (1911)
  Joseph Conrad was known for two types of writings, modernist as well as
post/colonial. Conrad found that persistence was key, some people may notice the
awkward syntax, as well as the stuttering. That was not the work of struggling to
understand the English language, yet it was the art of someone that mastered the gist
of it.
 Death On August 3, 1924 he died from a heart attack in Bishopsbourne, United
Kingdom. He is buried in the Canterbury Cemetery.
Importance of the Title
 There is Tom, stone cold dead. Just a simple bruise on his forehead and the
suggestion that Tom was trying to punch someone or something. At the end of this
novel we understand that the reason the young witch was killing people was for the
buttons on their jackets. So it can be said that general story goes around this issues.
There is a death man and how did this man die? We will see in the summary of the
story in detail on the following pages.
Main Characters
 I - the un-named outer narrator
 Two Witches - The witch with the mummy face&The witch with the puffy face.
 Edgar Byrne - the inner narrator, an officer on a sloop of war
 Tom Corbin - an English coxswain(steersman) with a pigtail. He was known on
board as Cuba Tom; not because he was Cuban however; he was indeed the best type
of a genuine British sailor of that time, and a man-of-war's man for years.
Minor Characters
 Bernardino:Bernardino, wine- seller, and alcalde of this most Christian and
hospitable village
 The Spaniard: Spanish
 The Homunculus: The little man in the large cloak and yellow hat had taken his
stand. He was a diminutive person, a mere homunculus, Byrne describes him, in a
ridiculously mysterious, yet assertive attitude, a corner of his cloak thrown
cavalierly(easily) over his left shoulder, muffling(v.Wrap) his chin and mouth; while
the broad- brimmed yellow hat hung on a corner of his square little head. He stood
there taking snuff, repeatedly.
 Gonzales: a local leader against the French.
Summary
 The story comes from an account given by a sixty year old man in the middle of the
nineteenth century. An un-named outer narrator discovers a handwritten manuscript
in a box of old books he buys. The document has been written by Edgar Byrne,
relating to an incident that took place in 1813 when he was a young officer just off
the coast of northern Spain.
 Edgar Byrne and his close friend Tom Corbin (‘Cuban Tom’) go ashore seeking to
make contact with Gonzales, a local leader against the French. They make enquiries
 at a wine shop run by one-eyed Bernadino regarding transport for a trip into the
mountains. Told that none is available, Tom goes off with a boy as a guide.
 Byrne is met by a small man in a large yellow hat who tells him they were deceived
by the wine shop owner, who is his brother-in-law. He suggests that Byrne
commandeer a mule from the shopkeeper and go off in pursuit of Tom.
 Byrne reports this to his captain back on board their ship: they have mixed feelings
about the incident and how to proceed. But next morning at dawn Byrne makes a
lone landing on the coast. He walks over hills all day, and at night comes to an inn
run by two old women who are the aunts of Bernadino.
 When he asks them about Tom, they confirm that he stayed the night before and left
in the morning. They offer him accommodation in the same room where Tom slept,
containing an enormous four-poster bed which was once occupied by an archbishop.
 Byrne is full of disquiet and suspicions, and thinks he can hear Tom’s voice warning
him to be careful. He feels that there is somebody in the room, and when he searches
it finds Tom’s dead body in the wardrobe. There are no signs on his body of how he
might have died. Byrne feels afraid that there is a plan afoot to kill him in the same
way before morning. He then sees that the huge upper canopy of the four-poster
descend, crushing the occupant of the bed with its enormous weight.
 Suddenly there is a frantic knocking at the door of the Inn. Byrne rushes down
unarmed and is knocked out by Gonzales and his men, who have come in search of
the English. The three women are despatched, as is Bernadino. Then Byrne and
Tom’s body are carried back to the ship, and Tom is later buried at sea.
 He puts Tom in the bed meant for him, and then watches the top of the bed lower
down and basically crush him. After this is done, someone comes to his door. But it
is not one of the witches, it is someone who has come to help him. They discover that
the reason the young witch was killing people was for the buttons on their jackets.
MAIN CHARACTERS’ FEATURES WITH QUOTES IN THE STORY
 Mr. Byrne: “The cocked hat of Mr. Byrne, the bushy whiskers and the enormous pigtail
of the sailor, filled them with mute wonder. They pressed behind the two Englishmen
staring like those islanders discovered by Captain Cook in the South Seas.”
 Tom Corbin: “Tom had the finest pigtail for thickness and length of any man in the
Navy. This appendage, much cared for and sheathed tightly in a porpoise skin, hung
half way down his broad back to the great admiration of all beholders and to the great
envy of some.”
 Two Witches:
“But anything was better than being approached by these blear-eyed nightmarish
witches.”
“The witch with the mummy face began to talk to him, ramblingly of old times; she
boasted of the inn's fame in those better days. Great people in their own coaches
stopped there. An archbishop slept once in the casa, a long, long time ago.”
“The witch with the puffy face seemed to be listening from her stool, motionless,
except for the trembling of her head.”
Plot Diagram
 Exposition: Tom and Edgar go to Spain
 Rising Action: Edgar find a ‘posada’. "It was no doubt a posada and some other
traveller was trying for admittance. He heard again the sound of cautious
knocking."(p,241)
 Climax: Edgar found Tom's dead body. "Dead! My poor Tom, dead," he repeated
mentally." (p,249)
 Falling action: He talked with soldiers and after talking, he could be sure that two
witches killed Tom.
 Resolution: Edgar picks up his friend's dead body. "Mr. Bryne, very pale and weak,
stepped into the boat which carried the body of his humble friend."(p, 256)
Setting
 It takes place on the Basque coast of Spain during the War of Independence.
Conflict
 Men vs. Evil
 Edgar vs. two Witch
Analysis
 We can say that Conrad's writing style is not what we are used to. All the elements in
the story are told in an almost completely implicit way. Some issues have been given
much importance in the story such as ages; ‘’by his own confession, was sixty years
old at the time. Sixty is not a bad age—unless in perspective, when no doubt it is
contemplated by the majority of us with mixed feelings. It is a calm age; the game is
practically over by then; and standing aside one begins to remember with a certain
vividness what a fine fellow one used to be.(p226)’’ As we understand from this
quotation writer talks about the benefits and views of being an old person.
 At the beginning of the story, there is someone who tells it with the first person, but
we don't know who this person is. We can say that, this a writing style of Conrad. ‘’I
suppose it was the romanticism of growing age which set our man to relate his
experience for his own satisfaction or for', the wonder of his posterity.(p226)’’
 We said that the author is obsessed with ages, here we can see another example; ‘’But
in one place the statement that in A.D. 1813 the writer was twenty-two years old caught
my eye. Two and twenty is an interesting age in which one is easily reckless and easily
frightened, the faculty of reflection being weak and the power of imagination
strong.(p227)’’
 We can say that Conrad's writing style is a bit like a fairy tale. ‘'A careful explanation
of all the circumstances was to be expected from our man, only, as I've said, some of
his pages (good tough paper too) were missing; gone in covers for jam-pots or in
wadding for the fowling-pieces' of his irreverent posterity.(p228)’’ When we look at
this quote, we can say that he is trying to create a mystery with saying '' missing
pages".
 We can also add "not being too sure of anything" and "probably talking all the time"
to Conrad's writing style.
 Conrad also has an interest in languages. He himself is in Polish but writes his works
in English. "Aye, aye, sir," said Tom, falling into step behind his officer. "A bit of
palaver as to course and distances can do no harm; I crossed the broadest part of Cuba
by the help of my tongue tho' knowing far less Spanish than I do now. ‘’
 Conrad's description language is too complex. ‘’The entrance to the wine shop was
like a rough hole in a wall of flints. The owner was the only person who was not in the
street, for he came out from the darkness at the back where the inflated forms of wine
skins hung on nails could be vaguely distinguished. He was a tall, one-eyed Asturian
with scrubby, hollow cheeks; a grave expression of countenance contrasted
enigmatically with the roaming restlessness of his solitary eye. On learning that the
matter in hand was the sending on his way of that English mariner toward a certain
Gonzales in the mountains, he closed his good eye for a moment as if in meditation.
Then he opened it, very lively again.(p231)’’
 Although he is not open to women, there is a bias in his words. While his words versus
men are more encouraging, more depicted, he has a rude language towards women in
his story. For example '' wooden legs '' "He is a great politicos in everything he does.
But one thing your worship may be certain of — that his intentions are always rascally.
This husband of my defunta sister ought to have been married a long time ago to the
widow with the wooden legs.(p235)’'
 Gothic and mystical elements are frequently mentioned, for example; '' No soul was
stirring abroad, no dog barked. ''(p239)
''...and he disappeared so suddenly that he might have been the unclean incarnation of
the Evil One?’’(p239)
''There was too something so weird in the manner of its coming and vanishing. that my
spirits, already by no means very high, became further depressed by the revolting sight
of this creature as if by an unlucky presage.”(p239)
 In this episode, Edgar meets two women; ''It is unnecessary to report the long process
of questions and answers by which he soothed the fears of two old women who sat on
each side of the fire, on which stood a large earthenware pot. Byrne thought at once of
two witches watching the brewing of some deadly potion. ‘’(P,241)
 Then he describes the two women; ''They were horrible. There was something
grotesque in their decrepitude. Their toothless mouths, their hooked noses, the
meagerness of the active One, and the hanging yellow cheeks of the other (the still-
one, whose head trembled) would have been laughable it the sight of their dreadful
physical degradation had not been appalling to one's eyes, had not gripped one's heart
with poignant amazement at the unspeakable misery of age, at the awful persistency
of life becoming at last an object of disgust and dread.’’(p,241) We can understand
how much the prejudice against women is after these depictions.
 The women say Tom is gone, but Tom is still inside, so Conrad might mean 'liar' to
women: ''Yes, the big, fierce Ingles went away in the morning, after eating a piece of
bread and drinking some wine. ‘'(p,242) Also; ‘’The sound of knocking had been faint,
 elusive, reflected Byrne. Perhaps only the effect of his fancy. He asked: "Who is that
man?", "Her novio!’'
 A sexist perspective; ‘’to look under the bed, like a silly girl.’’(248)
 We can see how much Edgar loves Tom; "Dead! My poor Tom, dead," he repeated
mentally. The light of the lamp standing near the edge of the table fell from above
straight on the stony, empty stare of these eyes which naturally had a mobile and merry
expression.''
 Edgar sees the stolen items, women are hinted at as thieves again; ''Byrne turned his
own away from them. Tom's black silk neckerchief was not knotted on 'his breast. It
was gone The murderers had also taken off his shoes and stockings. And noticing this
spoliation, 'the exposed throat, the bare upturned feet, Byrne felt his eyes ruin frill of
tears.’'(p249)
 Edgar throws his friend's corpse into the sea, but even this detail is not explicitly told
to us; ‘’Mr. Byrne, very pale and weak, stepped into the boat which carried the body
of his humble friend. For it was decided that Tom Corbin should rest far out in the bay
of Biscay.’’
Questions - Answers
1. What was the reason the young witch was killing people?
The reason the young witch was killing people was for the buttons on their jackets.
2. How does Mr. Byrne depicted in the story?
“The cocked hat of Mr. Byrne, the bushy whiskers and the enormous pigtail of the
sailor, filled them with mute wonder.”
3. Who are the people traveling to a Spanish town?
The story is about a journey. Two young men, Edgar Byrne and Tom Crobin (Cuba
Tom), go on this journey, one before the other.
I WANT TO KNOW WHY BY SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Sherwood Anderson's Life
 Sherwood Anderson was born on Sept. 13, 1876, in Camden, Ohio, the third of seven
children. His father was an easygoing, improvident man whose itinerant habits resulted
in spotty educations for his children. Sherwood had no formal education after the age
of 14, although he did attend Wittenberg College for a short time.
 Anderson had a belated writing career. He served in Cuba during the Spanish-
American War, then began a successful business career in advertising. But it was
while owning and managing a paint factory in Elyria, Ohio, that he began, about
1908, to write stories and novels.
 Anderson was a heavyset Midwesterner with a leonine head and masses of wavy
hair. He was comfortable only in casual clothes. An eccentric man, he once, in the
1920s, bought and edited two rival weekly newspapers in Marion, Va., one
 Democratic and one Republican. He was married four times; he had two sons and
one daughter by his first wifee.
 Having deserted Ohio for Chicago, he traveled extensively in Europe. Although he
continued to write until his death, his later work received scant attention. He died of
peritonitis at Colon, Panama, on March 8, 1941.
Some of His Works
 Windy McPherson's Son (1916)
Marching Men (1917)
Poor White (1920)
Many Marriages (1923)
Dark Laughter (1925)
Tar: A Midwest Childhood (1926, semi-autobiographical novel)
Beyond Desire (1932)
Kit Brandon: A Portrait (1936)
Short story collections;
Winesburg, Ohio (1919)
The Triumph of the Egg: A Book of Impressions From American Life in Tales
Poems;
Horses and Men (1923)
Death in the Woods and Other Stories (1933)
Poetry
Mid-American Chants (1918)
A New Testament (1927)
Summary
 The narrator is so awestruck with horses and horseracing that his throat hurts when
he sees a really promising horse and he is certain that he "can tell a winner«. He
considers his aching throat as a sure fire sign that the horse is a champion but in
reality it is a symbol of much more. The narrator's throat hurting can be likened to
the feeling of pride that swells up in a parent as her child takes her first step or
graduates from high school. In addition, just like a parent who thinks her child can do
no wrong, the narrator's vision of the perfect trainer is shattered when he witnesses
the grim reality of the trainer's life. The feeling of pride that washes over the narrator
as he sees these horses is because he feels that "horse racing is in every breath you
breathe’’. Within the community he lives, everyone "who is anyone at all, likes
horses’’. Horses are in his blood. They consume his every thought and he is "just
crazy about thoroughbred horses". It is only natural for him to take some ownership
of the horses that he spends so much time studying and watching. As part of his
ownership, his sense of pride is overwhelming at times .As his pride for the horses
grows, the narrator almost begins a love affair with the horses. "They're beautiful.
There isn't anything so lovely and clean and full of spunk as some race horses" . He
is totally smitten with the whole idea of the horses and even compares one,
Sunstreak, to "a girl you think about but never see. There is no mention of a
girlfriend in the story but the language he uses to describe the horses is sensual and
erotic at times. "He is hard all over and lovely too. When you look at his head you
want to kiss him. As the story progresses, the narrator's love affair intensifies. He
begins to not only love the horse but his trainer, Jerry Till ford, as well and then
 "there wasn't anything in the world but the man and the horse and the narrator. When
he switches his thoughts to the trainer he personalizes his feelings, and "liked him
that afternoon even more than [he] ever liked [his] own father". Those are very
strong emotions. He had idolized this man. Therefore, when he follows him and
observes him with that "bad woman", his ideal of Jerry is destroyed. Until that time,
the narrator had lived with the belief that trainers where these godlike men who were
able to train these heavenly animals. As the narrator's love of horses grew from his
boyhood wonder into a total love affair, so did his expectations. In learning the harsh
truth, the narrator was forced to face the fact that his ideal of the perfect trainer was
far better than the actual reality and that they are just men after all. With that in mind,
the honeymoon was over and "it spoils looking at horses and smelling things... and
everything".
Importance of the Title
 The title of the story is a manifestation of the boy's confusion and hurt. He has faith
in Till ford, but his faith goes unrewarded. The implications of what the narrator
witnesses are even more crushing than the scene itself; how many others who seem
good are really bad? Sherwood Anderson's "I Want to Know Why" is the story of a
young boy coming of age and waking up to a sad reality in this world: not everyone
who appears to be decent is truly worthy of one's respect and trust. And, this is what
he wants to know why about. The boy, leaving his mates behind, follows the trainer
who he sees acting lewdly at a house of ill repute. How can such a seemingly noble
fellow who instinctively understands fine horses be so crass and low. He brags in a
way no horse would and goes into low company no black man would. A year later
the boy still goes to the tracks, but some of the glory is gone. Sherwood Anderson 's
story I WANT TO KNOW WHY also highlights the world of teenager. In the present
story he depicts how a teenager boy's ideal person turns from hero to zero.
Theme
 Passion is the first theme that is clearly evident in the story. The narrator’s passion
for horses is on another level. It is for this reason that he and his three friends escape
to go experience horse-racing adventures without permission from their parents.
Additionally, the narrator indicates that whenever he sees horses running he gets a
“lump up into his throat.” This shows that the narrator has an intense passion for
horses. The narrator also depicts the inhabitants of Bakersville as passionate about
horses. In his words, he states, “every breath of air you breathe in Bakersville is
about horses." He also states that “everything talked about in Bakersville is about
horses." These two statements indicate that people in Bakersville are very passionate
about horses. It is due to his passion for horses that the narrator begins to idolize
Jerry Till ford, a successful horse trainer.
 Betrayal is another theme that is evident in the story. First, the narrator and his three
friends betray their parent's trust by escaping without informing them. In an ideal
situation, it is expected that children ask for permission from parents before they can
travel anywhere. However, this is not the case for the narrator and his three friends.
Another instance of betrayal is evident in the instance where the narrator finds Jerry
Tillman drunk and in the company of a prostitute. This is an indicator that reality is
far from what he had formerly perceived it to be. The narrator had so much trust in
Till ford and had even started to idolize him. It is evident in the story that the narrator
 had begun to like Till ford more than he even liked his father. However, after the
incident at the brothel, the narrator feels betrayed and lost, hence the title of the
story: “I Want to Know Why."
Setting
 The story is set in Bakersville, Kentucky, where horse racing is a popular sport.
Conflict
 Man and Environment= External Conflict
He goes on to say "There isn't anything so lovely and clean and full of spunk and
honest and everything as some race horses." The idea of horses being clean and
innocent and without ulterior motives is another attractive thing about them to the
boy. This is contrasted with the sometimes dishonest and dirty nature of the human
beings he associates with.
 Man and Himself= Internal Conflict
The boy was presented in the story as innocent and a lad who idealized the subject of
his passion. The relationship between one of his idols - a man and a "bad woman"
overturned his attitude to life.
Point of View
 A first-person account of a young man who associated truth and beauty with the
world of horse racing, in everything about this field, from the way the horses’
appearances, the smell of the stables and the people who tend the animals. Not close
to his father, he constantly runs away from home and positions Jerry Tilford, a horse
handler, as a father figure.
Symbol of the Story
 There is also some symbolism in the story which may be important. To the narrator
the horses represent or symbolize everything that is good in the world. They are
trustworthy, can be relied upon and are free of conceit. In contrast, Till ford and the
incident in the brothel may symbolize (for the narrator) everything that is wrong with
the world. If anything the brothel serves to represent the opposite of what the horses
symbolize for the narrator. The title of the story is also interesting as it is suggests
not only a desire to understand something (for the narrator) but it may also suggest
the narrator’s inability to accept the realities of life.
Characters
 Several of the narrator's friends are named, but their characters are not fully
developed, and we only know they are adolescents from Kentucky who shared an
interest in horses, albeit less intense than the narrator. They are Hanley Turner,
Henry Rieback, and Tom Tumberton.
 An unnamed young boy: The protagonist and main character in the story is unnamed
throughout. A 16 year-old boy from Kentucky, he recounts the events of the story
through the first person reflective narrative; the events in the story occurred one year
prior. The character's commitment to learning the sport of race horsing is intense, and
 at one point he observes that, ‘I'm always wanting to be trainer or owner, and at the
risk of being seen and caught and sent home I went to the paddocks before every
race. The other boys didn’t but I did.
 Jerry Tillford: The other major character in the story is Jerry Tillford, the trainer of
the stallion Sunstreak. The narrator quickly develops a familiar relationship with
Tillford, noting that he "liked him...even more than I ever liked my own father.
 Narrator’s father: The narrator's father is an attorney. While the reader is never
introduced to him except through short descriptions of his personality, he plays a
major role in the narrator's psychological complexions. The narrator lacks respect for
his father, but doesn't necessarily dislike him.
Plot Structure
 Exposition: The story begins with the Kentucky kids arriving at the race track. ‘On
the evening before we had climbed off a freight train at the edge of town, and with
the true instinct of Kentucky boys had found our way across town and to the race
track and the stables at once.’
 Rising Action: This is when the children decide to go to the race.
 Climax: The story’s climax takes place when the boy goes with his peers to New
York without their parents’ knowledge to see a horse race.
 Falling Action: When the narrator watches Jerry Tilford through the window of the
whorehouse, his spirits are crushed. His impeccable image of the trainer is destroyed
before his eyes. The boy tell us, "He lied and bragged like a fool" about Sunstreak.
He remembers how the drunken Jerry "swayed back and forth, and... kissed that
woman". This scene shocks the young boy.
 Resolution: The narrator cannot understand what Jerry Tilford has done and wonders
why. ‘Sometimes I'm so mad about it I want to fight someone. It gives me the
fantods. What did he do it for? I want to know why.’
 Conclusion: The end of the story is also interesting because it is clear to the reader
that, despite being aware of the facts of life, the narrator still cannot or has difficulty
accepting the incident in the brothel. It continues to disappear in the narrator that a
man may need to spend time with a woman and a person may have interests other
than horses. The narrator is no longer idolizing Tilford, and his passion for horses
seems to be tainted by what he saw in the brothel, although he continues to train and
go to the race track. How disappointed the narrator really was can be seen when he
tells the reader, 'I'm so angry at this, I want to fight someone'. This line is important
as it serves to highlight exactly how deeply the narrator was impressed by what he
saw in the brothel. Anderson, who explores the transition from innocence to
experience in many ways (for the narrator) and says, 'What did (Tilford) do for it?'
He wrote the story by asking questions. The reader is given the opportunity to see
how confused, angry and disappointed the narrator was.

THE GRAVE BY KATHERINE ANNE PORTER

Katherine Anne Porter's Life
  Katherine Anne Porter, (born May 15, 1890, Indian Creek, Texas, U.S.—died Sept.
18, 1980, Silver Spring, Md.), American novelist and short-story writer, a master
stylist whose long short stories have a richness of texture and complexity of character
delineation usually achieved only in the novel. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the
best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more
critical acclaim.
Background Information About the Story
 She published The Leaning Tower (1944), a collection of stories, and won an O. Henry
Award for her 1962 story, “Holiday.” The literary world awaited with great
anticipation the appearance of Porter’s only full-length novel, on which she had been
working since 1941.
Summary
 Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Grave” begins with the grandmother relocating her
husband’s body twice after his death in order to prepare for her burial next to him.
After her death, the family sells a portion of their land including the land for the family
cemetery to provide enough money to the grandmother’s children, forcing the bodies
of the grandmother, her husband, and several others to a public cemetery. One burning
day, their grandchildren Miranda and Paul, discover the excavated graves with sweet
and corrupt smelling dirt while on a hunt for doves and rabbits. Due to curiosity, the
young children decide to explore the holes in the ground; Miranda finds a silver dove,
and Paul finds a gold ring. After exchanging their treasures, Miranda and Paul leave
the cemetery and continue their hunt. With their twenty-two Winchester rifles, Paul
manages to kill a rabbit. While skinning and examining the rabbit, they discover that
the rabbit was about to have babies, upsetting Miranda over the next few days. Over
the next two decades, Miranda stops reliving the death. One burning day at the market,
Miranda comes across an Indian vendor selling baby animal-shaped candies. The
animal-shaped candies and the sweet corrupt smell remind Miranda of the murder of
the pregnant rabbit Paul killed when she was young. She flashes back to the
traumatizing day to a vision of a smiling twelve year-old Paul turning the silver dove
over and over in his hands.
Plot Structure
 Inroduction: The grandmother moves the grandfather's grave.
 Rising Action: Miranda and Paul find the grave site and treasure in the empty graves.
Then, Paul kills a rabbit along with its kits.
 Climax: Miranda became very upset and loses her innocence.
 Falling Action: In a new country, Miranda saw baby rabbits made of candy.
 Resolution: Miranda remembers Paul who is probably dead.
Setting
 Porter announces that the year is 1903, so the story happens in Texas not long after
the American Civil War and Reconstruction (Reconstruction era) had devastated the
South.
Main Characters
  Miranda: Miranda is the main character in the story; through most of it, she is nine
years old (“She was nine years old and he was twelve.”), but the story concludes with
the adult Miranda, perhaps nearing thirty, reflecting on her memories. (“Then it sank
quietly into her mind and was heaped over by accumulated thousands of impressions,
for nearly twenty years.”) She lives on the farm of her grandmother, now dead, with
her father, her brother Paul, and her sister. (“They knew the land had been sold, the
cemetery was no longer theirs, and they felt like trespassers.”) Lacking the guidance
of a woman—either her mother or grandmother—Miranda’s father dresses her in
boys clothes: “dark blue overalls, a light blue shirt, a hired-man’s straw hat, and thick
brown sandals.”
 Paul: Paul is Miranda’s twelve-year-old brother. (“She was nine years old and he was
twelve.”) He takes Miranda hunting with him reluctantly and instructs her on how to
handle her gun, (“On these expeditions Miranda always followed at Paul’s heels
along the path, obeying instructions about handling her gun when going through
fences; learning how to stand it up properly so it would not slip and fire
unexpectedly; how to wait her time for a shot and not just bang away in the air
without looking, spoiling shots for Paul, who really could hit things if given a
chance.”) although she listens poorly and displays little interest. (“She had no proper
sense of hunting at all.”) By contrast, Paul is almost too involved with the sport: “She
had seen him smash his hat and yell with fury when he had missed his aim.”
Minor Characters
 Grandfather: The grandfather is dead. (“The grandfather, dead for more than thirty
years, had been twice disturbed in his long repose by the constancy and
possessiveness of his widow.”) His bones have been moved three times. (“She
removed his bones first to Louisiana and then to Texas, as if she had set out to find
her own burial place, knowing well she would never return to the places she had
left.” - “It was necessary to take up the bodies and bury them again in the family plot
in the big new public cemetery, where Grandmother had been recently buried. At
long last her husband was to lie beside her for eternity, as she had planned.”)
 Grandmother: The grandmother is dead. (“After the grandmother’s death, part of her
land was to be sold for the benefit of certain of her children, and the cemetery
happened to lie in the part set aside for sale.”) She moves her husband's bones
repeatedly.
 Father: He is Miranda, Paul, and older sister’s father. His wife and mother are dead
so he is alone to care for the children. (“It was said the motherless family was
running down, with the grandmother no longer there to hold it together.”)
 Older Sister: She is Miranda's sister. She is wild and rides horses bareback. (“Her
father had been criticized for letting his girls dress like boys and go careering around
astride barebacked horses”)
 Old Woman: The woman is their neighbor, and she openly criticize the father for
how he raises his children. (“Ain’t you ashamed of yo’-self, Missy? It’s aginst the
Scriptures to dress like that. Whut yo’ Pappy thinkin’ about?”)
Conflict
 First, we see Miranda wearing men's clothes in the story because of her father.
However, in part of the story, with the effect of the golden ring on her finger,
 Miranda imagines herself in a beautiful dress. We understand from this contradiction
that although Miranda loves the clothes she wears and is comfortable in it, she still
has some feminine feelings.
 Second and last, Miranda's struggle against the innocence she lost after seeing the
dead rabbit and her cubs also stands out as an important element of conflict.
Themes
 Coming of age
 Death
 Loss of innocence
 The Capriciousness of Life
Importance of the Title
 When we look at the story in general, "The Grave" fits the story quite well. At the
beginning of the story, the death of the grandfather and that cemetery where he is
buried, the subject of the story, gives us information about the place where the story
will take place in the following parts. Again, over this title, the rabbit that was shot
remains there towards the end of the story once again proves this compatibility. But
perhaps the real grave was the symbol of Miranda's lost innocence after that rabbit
was shot and she saw her cubs. To sum up, the title fits the story in many ways and
adds great depth to the story.
Symbolism in the Story
 “The Grave” is rich with symbolism that can be interpreted in many different ways;
such symbols can be called “multivalent.” For example, the ring Paul finds in the
empty graves and gives to Miranda seems to symbolize for her both an ideal of
femininity and the now-lost wealth of her family. The rabbit Paul shoots was
pregnant; her dead body thus reflects both death and life, and for Miranda, it marks
both a fall from innocence and an initiation into womanhood. Finally, Miranda’s visit
to the foreign marketplace twenty years later suggests the power of symbolism.
Seeing a tray of sugar sweets shaped like baby birds and rabbits—animals she and
Paul hunted that day—the full force of that incident immediately returns, making her
temporarily immobile. The symbolic power of those little candies brings the entire
incident to life for her again.
Modernism in the Story
 Porter’s writing style in “The Grave” shares some characteristics with modernism, a
literary movement that occurred after World War I. “The Grave” exhibits modernist
tendencies in its spare but poetic style, its avoidance of a strictly linear plot, and its
emphasis on fluid boundaries. Modernism was not only a literary but also a cultural
movement, which stood in opposition to older Victorian social standards and
practices, particularly its rigid hierarchies of class, race, and gender. Modernism was
particularly important in the American South, which was also engaged in a conflict
between its plantation past and a newly developing, less stratified social order. In this
sense, too, Porter’s writing shares modernist concerns: in her depiction of Miranda’s
transgression of feminine standards, in allusions to her family’s fall from a grand
past, and in the graphic and ambiguously positive representation of feminine
reproductive power.
Questions - Answers
1. Why does Paul not want Miranda to say anything about the dead rabbit?
Because Paul thinks his father will be angry with him and mislead his sister.
2. What does our main character Miranda think about dressing like a boy?
Although Miranda thinks, “They’re just what you need, and they’ll save your dresses
for school. . . .” as her father called her, we see that at some point in the story she
imagines herself wearing a beautiful dress.
3. What are Paul and Miranda doing after spotting baby rabbits?
After they are both taken aback and examine them, we see them put it back on the
dead mother's belly and leave the rabbit's flesh and the cubs.
4. What does Miranda find in the empty grave?
Silver dove
A DOMESTIC DILEMMA BY CARSON MCCULLERS
Carson Mccullers' Life
 Originally Lula Carson Smith, Carson McCullers was born on February 19, 1917, in
Columbus, Georgia.
 She was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet.
 Success came early to this young writer. At the age of 19, McCullers had her first story,
“Wunderkind,” published in the December 1936.
 Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), explores the spiritual isolation
of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States.
 McCullers' work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her southern
roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope.
Her stories have been adapted to stage and film.
 McCullers suffered throughout her life from several illnesses and from alcoholism.

 At age of 15 she contracted rheumatic fever, which resulted in rheumatic heart disease.
As a result of the heart damage sustained, McCullers suffered from strokes that began
in her youth.
 By the age of 31 her left side was entirely paralyzed. She lived the last twenty years
of her life in Nyack, New York, where she died on September 29, 1967, at the age of
50, after a brain hemorrhage.
Her works
 "Wunderkind" (Story, 1936)
 "The Jockey" (The New Yorker, 1941)

 "Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland" (The New Yorker, 1941)

 "The Sojourner" (Mademoiselle, 1950)

  "A Domestic Dilemma" (New York Post magazine section, September 16, 1951)

 "A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud" (Harper's Bazaar, 1942)

Summary

 Martin and Emily Meadows moved to New York from Alabama, and Emily finds it
diffucult to get accustomed to the New York Life. Martin Meadows comes home one
day from work to his children complaining about supper and finds his wife Emily
drinking sherry in their room. Martin tells her that she shouldn't be around her
children in the drunken condition, so Emily gets mad. When Martin is making supper
and playing with his kids, Emily comes down from her room and makes a scene.
Martin gets frustrated, and he admits to hating her. The kids retreat to their dad,
which makes Emily upset. However, she is later crying by the kitchen table about
how her children hate her. Martin consoles her but later decides to leave her.

Point of View

 Third person point of view is used. The author seems to know more about Martin
than Emily. Doesn’t reveal much about Emily and her backstory of drinking.
Narrator somewhat reliable because he uses several devices to make the audience
feel sympathy for Martin. Subjective perspective, knowing of Martins point of view,
incite on Emily but only negative, one-sided story.

Conflict

 Internal vs. External Conflict: Internal conflicts within this story include the
husbands frustration with his wife and his love towards his family. There may also be
an internal conflict within the wife for after her breakdown she appears guilty for her
actions. External conflicts can be seen when Emily makes a scene before dinner in
front of the children.

Setting

 In a Northern New Jersey suburb across the Hudson River from New York City.
Takes place on a Thursday, an ordinary work day for Martin. The Meadows Cottage
parallels to the isolation of Emily symbolizing an integral setting. Setting wouldn’t
change the story whereas the cottage wouldn’t be as significant.

Tone

 The tone created through the story is one that makes the reader sympathize with
Martin, the father. It comes off as somewhat bittersweet, using phrases like, "looking
at his, lovely children" in contrast to the ones like, "she lied about drinking and
 deceived him" when referring to the antagonist, Emily who was tearing the family
apart. For the most par, the tone remains consistent, giving the reader the idea the
Emily was somewhat like about child that Martin had to care for ("Martin sought
words to calm his wife. '... that's a good girl.'") Through the tone, it is clear that
Martin is depressed, putting on a smiling face only for the sake of his children.

Theme

 Alcoholism ruins family ties.

 Mental and emotional stability are important in family relations.

 The complexities and unsaid truths about love can destroy the fantasy of love itself.

 All of these themes are implied throughout the story. Emily’s inability to serve her role
as a good wife and mother is an example that can be used to display each of these
themes. To analyze the last of the three listed themes, one might consider how love
itself lead to the destruction of love when Martin, who chose to marry Emily and stay
with her through her drunkenness, eventually had to leave her. Love is not as simple
as many fantasize or make it out to be. A Domestic Dilemma sets forth an example of
this. There are adversities in love that can destroy love itself.

Plot Structure

 Exposition: After spending time explaining the setting, the author begins explaining
background details that create the foundation for the story. He does this by having
some opening dialogue between the Martin, the father, and his children, Andy and
Marianne. The exchange of dialogue between Andy and Martin allows the reader to
understand the relationship shared between the protagonist and his children. Later
when Emily is introduced, there is a clear contrast between the relationship she shares
with the family and the relationship Martin shares with the family. Overall, the
beginnings of the dialogue give the reader background understanding of the contrasting
family ties between characters. This allows the reader to later understand the actions
and points of view of Martin and Emily.

 Rising Action: When Emily comes downstairs, clearly intoxicated, and tries to interact
with Martin and the children. Martin, not wanting for his children to see their mother
in this condition, asks Emily to go back upstairs. She is offended by this and denies
that she is in an unstable state of mind.

 Climax: As Martin talks to the children downstairs, Emily returns now even more
enraged. She believes that Martin has been turning their children against her,
convincing them that she has some sort of condition. Tension rises as Emily becomes
increasingly frustrated, refusing to believe that Martin had no bad intentions. She
begins pleading with her children to not believe what Martin has told them, even
 though he in fact had not been telling the children anything about their mother.
Amongst the sudden chaos, Martin manages to send Andy and Marianne upstairs.

 Falling Action: After this heated encounter, Emily breaks down and begins sobbing at
the kitchen table. At this point, she is somewhat calmer. She begins to accept her
mistakes, admitting to being ashamed of herself and the way she reacted in front of her
children. Still not quite sober, her emotions were still unstable and difficult to control.
Martin begins to ponder the intensity of the situation he and his family were being
placed in because of Emily. These little outbursts and mishaps had begun to add up;
they’d begun to take a toll on him and the family.

 Resolution: By the end of the story, it is clear that Martin has realized that Emily is
anything but a positive driving force in their family. Her drunkenness and lack of actual
emotional and mental “presence” make it difficult for her to live up to the standards
set by motherhood. Finally understanding this, the reader can infer by the last few lines
that Martin will choose to leave Emily. Interestingly, it is never said nor implied that
Martin has developed a hatred for his wife. On the contrary, it seems as though he still
loves her but cannot live with her any longer for the sake of the family and his own
sanity.

Characters

 Martin Meadows: Protagonist, loving, caring, understanding, responsible, Round

character, Dynamic Character -staying with Emily wouldn’t help his family, family
figure, reaches an epiphany at the end of the story, not as oblivious and realizes that
Emily is not a positive factor in their family

 Emily: Antagonist, Martin’s wife, distraught by the new environment, solves problems
by drinking, drunkard, reckless, addicted, bitter, isolates herself, feels as if Martin is
stealing her children away from her. Round and Static character, disconnected from
kids and husband, can’t maintain motherhood figure.

 Andy: Martin’s 6 year old son, curious, innocent, obedient, remotely unaware of their
mother’s lack of “presence”.

 Marianne: Martin’s daughter, innocent.

 Virgie: The maid who helps with the houseworks.

Topics About the Story

 Family relationships: Throughout the story, the reader sees how the Meadows family
is torn apart as Martin Meadows tries to cope with his wife’s problems which have
 been negatively impacting the entire family. Martin must deal with the fact that he no
longer can think about his marriage as something that can be salvaged, but as
something that could bring his whole family down the drain. Martin is faced with the
idea that his wife has to go no matter what.

 Male vs. Female: In this story, the gender roles are switched. The wife is portrayed as
the drunkard while the husband tries to keep the family together and does most of the
household work..

 Reason vs. Emotion: We see many examples of reason vs emotion throughout this
story, mainly at the end when Martin does not allow his emotions to cloud his
judgment. He rationally evaluates the long-term effects his wife’s problem could have
on the entire family and decides it would be better for the family to be without her.
Another example would be when Emily allows her grief and depression of moving to
a new environment overpower her reason and therefore, ruin her and her family’s life.

BALTHAZAR'S MARVELOUS AFTERNOON BY GABRIEL GARCIE

MARQUEZ
Gabriel Garcie Marquez's Life

 He was born March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia—died April 17, 2014, Mexico City,
Mexico.

 Colombian novelist and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, who was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, mostly for his masterpiece Cien años
de soledad (1967; One Hundred Years of Solitude).
 He received a better-than-average education but claimed as an adult that his most
important literary sources were the stories about Aracataca and his family that
Nicolás had told him.
 Although he studied law, García Márquez became a journalist, the trade at which he
earned his living before attaining literary fame.
 As a correspondent in Paris during the 1950s, he expanded his education, reading a
great deal of American literature, some of it in French translation.
 Before 1967 García Márquez had published two novels, 1955; The Leaf Storm
and 1962; In Evil Hour ; a novella, 1961; No One Writes to the Colonel; and a few
short stories. Then came One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which García Márquez
tells the story of Macondo, an isolated town whose history is like the history of Latin
America on a reduced scale. While the setting is realistic, there are fantastic episodes,
a combination that has come to be known as “magic realism,” wrongly thought to be
the peculiar feature of all Latin American literature.
Works
 Story: The Third Resignation (1947)
  Novels: The 1955 Litter
Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)
Love in the Time of Cholera (1985)
Living to Tell (2002)
Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004)
Summary
 Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon is a short story written about a 30 year old
carpenter who makes bird cages as a hobby . He has a girlfriend named Ursula
("wife") who he has been unmarried to for 4 years and no children. Balthazar makes
a beautiful cage which is publicaly admired and considered his best piece of work .
Many people are interested in the cage but Balthazar remains loyal to the customer
that originally ordered it . It turns out the the person who ordered the cage was a 12
year old boy and his parents were unaware that he ordered it . The parents refused to
pay for it and the boy had a fit . Instead of taking the cage , Balthazar gave it to him
for free . He left the boys and his family's house and someone asked him how much
he got for it . He responded "sixty pesos" . Then he went out and got drunk for the
first time and bought everyone drinks celebrating his 60 pesos that he was never
given . The story ends with him looking dead lying on the street drunk.
Briefly Describe the Cage
 The cage was big and most its structure was made of wire. It had an enormous dome
of wire and three stories inside, with passageways and compartments especially for
eating and sleeping and swings in the space set aside for the birds’ recreation. It
seemed like a small-scale model of a gigantic ice factory.
Characters
 Balthazar: 30 year old poor skilled carpenter, always on guard, uneducated, uneasy
with the rich, pities the rich, proud, lower class people. Balthazar is the central
character. Balthazar is an accomplished carpenter, with his work being admired by
the citizen of his town. In the story, Balthazar had just finished creating one of his
proudest works, an intricately designed and crafted birdcage. Balthazar, through his
behavior, personality, and the thoughts he has, portray him as a stereotypical washed
up artist. Despite this economic hardship, Balthazar goes on crafting his creations
and selling them, often times deciding to take the route that will give him less money
than selling to the highest bidder every time."For him, accustommed to making cages
since childhood, that had hardly been any more difficult a job than the others."
 Ursula: Balthazar's partner, lived with him for 4 years, no children, wanted money.
«He had been living with Ursula for four years, without marrying her and without
having children, and life had given him many reasons to be on guard, but none to be
frightened». She calls Balthazar «Capuchin». She doesn't want her husband to
neglect the carpentry shop, she gets angry about it.
 Jose Montiel: Rich person, obese and hairy, father of Pepe, paranoid, harsh on his
family, show-off, upper class people, doesn't easily spend his money. The antagonist
of the story. Mr. Montiel takes on the appearance of the archetypical fat, greedy,
 businessman. Mr. Montiel is first introduced when Balthazar arrives in his home to
deliver the bird cage and receive his payment. The first two words that are used to
explain Mr. Montiel as he is introduced are “obese” and “hairy”, only adding to his
personality. After seeing the cage that he had not ordered, Mr. Montiel proceeds to
scold his son, yelling and threatening the child. "He was such a cautious man that he
slept without an electric fan so he could watch over the noises of the house while he
slept."
 Adelaide Montiel: Wife of Jose, tortured by obsession with death, after lunch she
closes all windows and doors and lays for 2 hours with eyes open. «His wife, tortured
by an obsession with death, closed the doors and windows after lunch and lay for
two hours with her eyes opened to the shadow of the room.»
 Pepe Montiel: Son of Jose, 12 years old, he had curved eye lashes, was pathetic just
like his mother. He wants to bird cage. «He was about twelve, and he had the same
curved eyelashes and was as quietly as his mother».
 Dr. Octavio Giraldo: Old physician, happy with life, tire of his profession, educated
class. Dr. Octavio Giraldo. He's important because he has aesthetic taste and is
eloquent in recognizing the beauty of the cage. He has the most lyrical lines. He is
married. «Doctor Octavio Giraldo, an old physician , happy with life but tired of his
proffession, thought about Balthazar’s cage while he was eating lunch with his
invalid wife».
 Wife of Dr. Giraldo: Sickly, loved birds, hated cats. «His wife liked birds, and she
liked them so much that she hated cats because they could eat them up».
 People: Praised Balthazar's cage. Opportunists.
Setting
 There are 5 settings in the story. These are Balthazar's carpentry shop and house,
Jose Montiel's house, pool hall, bar and finally the street. Balthazar's shop and house
are located at the entrance of the story. As the story progresses, events develop in
Montiel's house. Columbia.
Point of View
 The point of view of the story is limited third person.
Symbol
 The bird cage: the cage represents the oppression of the poor. In selling the cage,
Balthazar is given the illusion of freedom; thus, he enjoys a marvelous afternoon
living like a rich man.

Importance of the Title

 The marvelous afternoon of Balthazar” some features of what is known as magical
realism emerge; and that can be seen from the title, where an exaggerated and glossy
word is used as “marvelous,” which contains in its meaning a direct allusion to
 something extraordinary, something outside the every day, something that is not
entirely normal.
Plot Structure
 Exposition: 30 year old carpenter who makes bird cages as a hobby , he was finished
he cage.
 Rising Action: Doctor Octavio came to Balthazar's house and saw the cage and
wanted to buy that huge cage, but the cage belonged to Mr. Chepe Montiel's son so,
Balthazar does not sell the cage to the doctor.
 Climax: Balthazar goes to the Montiel home to deliver the bird cage ;everyone
follows Mr. Montiel outraged to find out his son, Pepe asked Balthazar to make it,
Mr. Montiel refuse to pay but Balthazar gave the cage to pepe.
 Falling Action: Balthazar leaves and convinces everyone that he recieved 60 pesos
for it, they go to a bar and celebrate by Balthazar buying everyone beers and getting
drunk for the first time.
 Resolution: By the end of the night he ends up in the street passed out, being robbed
of his shoes the next morning.
Theme
 In Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon by Gabriel García Márquez we have
the theme of conflict, humility, greed, generosity and pride
 Although there are multiple themes in this short story, I think it’d be best to focus on
one of those many themes. That theme would be greed. the first example of greed
that caught my attention was when Dr. Octavio had first got a glimpse of Balthazar’s
beautiful hand made cage. Personally he was being greedy, by wanting something
that had been sold to someone else.
 Magical realism
 Irony
 Greed vs generosity
 Pride
Questions - Answers
1. Why does Balthazar gift the cage instead of selling it?
First, he had no intention of money when making beautiful cage. In the story, he was
accustomed to making and creating cage since childhood. So when Pepe ordered a
cage, he could make small cage just quickly rather than create big and beautiful cage
for two weeks; Also, if he was interested in earning the money, he would not even
start to work on the cage only by commission of the little boy because he couldn’t be
sure whether he can get money or not. However, Balthazar was a artist rather than a
common carpenter. What he really wanted as making the cage was to make the little
boy happier. Secondly, he felt mean and dirty about rich man’s money.
2. What was peculiar about Balthazar’s relation with Ursula?
 Until he was thirty years, Balthazar had been living with Ursula for four years,
without marrying her and without having children.
3. Why was Ursula annoyed with her husband?
Ursula was annoyed because her husband had neglected the work of his carpenter’s
shop to devote himself entirely to the cage, and for two weeks had slept poorly,
turning over and muttering incoherencies, and he hadn’t thought of shaving.