ENG. 232
Literary Journal
August 23; Reaction to first lecture This week as I opened the first lecture I had several thoughts running through my head. Since this was a new course to me I was not sure what to expect. Although I was very interested in many pieces of American literature I was very eager to see what we may be reading and to see what famous authors we may be studying about. As I opened the first lecture I noticed that we were going to be talking about realism this week. I always thought that realism was something that happened in real life and to some extent it is, but it is also much more than events that happened in real life. This week the most interesting thing I learned was that realism happened around the time of the civil war in which famous authors wrote about the lives of people in the United States. Some of these authors were Henry James and Mark Twain. Also, I did not realize that after the civil war the United States grew rapidly as well as the literary world meaning authors had many new events to write about.
August 28; Desiree’s Baby and Story of an Hour This week I am reading the story of the hour and Desiree’s baby. I decided to answer the study questions in my journal this week.
Desiree’s baby
1. I also Monsieur Valmonde described Desiree as a young white women from Louisiana.
2. I believe that Desiree is a white woman that is from Louisiana even though her husband may not agree.
3. Armand falls in love with Desiree thinking she is white although later on in the story he finds out the baby is not all white and blames her.
4. Back in those times this really reveals that if you were not full blooded white then you were considered a nobody.
5. Desiree’s son is never named because that is the whole point of the story “Desiree’s baby”.
6. We learn later on in the story that Armand is not fully white.
7.
8. Desiree is wearing a white cotton gown and no shoes when she disappears. I believe that she was going in the woods to kill herself.
9. The subject in this story is if you were not white during these times then you were pretty much a nobody.
10. The theme of this story would be a white person in slavery times had the most recognition.

The story of an Hour
1. I think that Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble and when she finds out her husband has died she has a heart attack.
2. The title is important because everything that happened was about one hour and she never left her house.
3. Mrs. Mallard sees a break in the clouds meaning she is going to heaven.
4. Mrs. Mallard said sometimes she didn’t love him but he loved her.
5. Josephine and Richard are Mrs. Mallard’s sister and brother-in-law and they are there to comfort her.
6. The climax is when Mrs. Mallard dies because it is unexpected.
7. Mrs. Mallard dies at the end to which the doctors expect of heart disease.
8. Kate Choplin says that marriage is two people together.

September 5; The Chrysanthemums and The story of the Bad Little Boy This week I am reading The story of the Bad Little Boy and The Chrysanthemums. Also I have done the study questions in my literary journal.
The story of the Bad Little Boy
1. Jim is a bad little boy always getting into trouble and he never seems to care.
2. The narrator is someone else that is not Jim.
3. Jim is very rude to his family especially to his mother.
4. Jim grows up, gets married, and has a large family and bruins them all with an axe one night. He is known to be the biggest crook that has ever lived.
5. The theme of this story is those little boys with bad home lives and has no one to care about them or take them to church than they are more than likely to grow up like Jim.
6. Satire is how one behaves and Jim is a perfect example with no satire at all.

The Chrysanthemums
1. It is about a lady who tends to her flower all day although she has feelings for another man while doing so.
2. Elisa is a very passionate lady about her Chrysanthemums flower.
3. Elisa