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Modern American Literature: Rise of Realism The Express man named Thompson put chicken feathers, dried apples, leaf tobacco, rags, old shoes, sulphur, and asafoetida to try to get rid of the foul odor. In the story “The Invalid Story” by Mark Twain the protagonist called The Invalid has to make a decision about how to get rid of the foul odor on the train. A mood of sadness was clearly portrayed throughout the whole story. The Protagonist called The Invalid is unmarried and is heading to Bethlehem, Wisconsin on a train because his friend/classmate named Deacon Levi Hackett died and The Invalid promised to take his friends body to his parents. Invalid is sad at the beginning of the story because his friend died but by the end of the story his miserable because of the foul odor that is on the train. Protagonist The Invalid is in good health at the beginning of the story but in back health by the end of the story because of all the extreme measures he took to escape the foul odor on the train. The odor only intensified the sadness of the story because lives are risked just to escape the foul odor. Bad odor made the Invalid and Thompson spend most of their time outside to escape the foul odor of the cheese. Invalid traveled on a train in bad weather with a long white-pine box that has guns in it just to keep his promise. Thompson gently hummed a song called “sweet by and by” to pass the time by faster. They ended up getting bad health because they spent most of their time in the freezing cold. The dialect of the story is from a different region of the United States. Thompson said “Twood ‘a’ ben dum sight better, all around if they’d started him along last summer.” Thompson does not seem like he has much education in his background so some of his actions does not seem like they are the smartest ideas. For example, when Thompson kept putting other odors into the stove to get rid of the first odor of the cheese all the odors combined so it made it worse instead of better. At first they thought it was the odor of the body but later on they found out it was odor of the cheese. Thompson asked, “Do you reckon we started the Gen’rul any” meaning he did not want to disturb anyone with the mistakes that he made with the foul odor because he did not want to get in trouble. The Invalid and Thompson kept running in and out of the train to escape the odor, “We’re all right now! I reckon we’ve got all the commodore this time. I judge I’ve got the stuff here that’ll take the tuck out of him”, asked Thompson. They tried to make the odor go away because the odor was so bad. The more you think about things and add more odors to make on odor go away the worse you make it for yourself and all the people around you. Therefore nothing The Invalid and Thompson did or tried got rid of the foul odor it just make worse. The odor of the cheese was chosen because it is the main point of the story and they risked their lives to just get rid of the odor of the bad cheese. They did everything they could think of to get rid of the odor of bad cheese and they almost lost their lives because of all the extreme measures they took by spending most of their time outside on the platform and by the window exposing themselves to the cold weather for hours at a time just to get rid of one foul odor after they kept making the odor worse by adding more things to it.

Choose one of the stories to apply feminist criticism to the reading. Identify the protagonist and antagonist and describe their relationship as it relates to the theme. How does the relationship to the foil, if there is one, reflect the theme? Identify whether the protagonist is round or flat, dynamic or static. Support your response with examples from the text. In Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” the protagonist in the story Louise Mallard is living in a society where she has not freedom at all and her husband has control over her. **Great job identifying the protagonist and touching on feminist criticism. Can you think of an example or quote in the text that would support this statement? Always support your arguments with evidence from the text!** The antagonist is society because society’s expectations about how men and women should be treated. **Wow, this is a very good thought. Again, can you think of a quote/ example you could pull from the text to support it with??** Louise Mallard is sad and starts crying because she found out that her husband was dead so she went walking off to her room alone and then she is happy because now she can do what she wants to do and have the freedom she wants. **What did she say or do that signifies she was happy?** Then her husband walks through the front door and now she drops dead because her husband has control over her and she has no freedom at all. It relates to the theme because in their society Patriarchy which is where the men have control over the women and children restricts freedom on people. **You seem to have a good grasp on theme and patriarchy. Can you elaborate on these concepts a little further? What in the text lead you to believe the theme was patriarchy?** The relationship to the foil reflects the theme because Louise Mallard shows the strengths of her husband by him having control over her and getting her to do what he wants her to do and she doesn’t get to do anything she wants to do at all because she doesn’t have any freedom at all her husband has all the freedom over her. Mr. Mallard shows weaknesses over his wife because she can’t do what she wants to do because she doesn’t have any freedom at all. In that society your husband has all the control over you but the husband can go out and do whatever he wants to do and he has control over himself. **Elaborate on the concept of foil in “Story of an Hour.” What characteristics does Louise display? Do these characteristics offset her husband’s? What do you mean by “Mr. Mallard shows weaknesses over his wife?” Does she need him to be gone in order to show strength?** The Protagonist Louise Mallard is a round character because when she found out her husband died she was sad and started crying and she walked away to her room alone but the more she thought about everything and how she could do what she wants and have the freedom she wants she became happy. **I think you're right! Can you think of a point in the text that showed this turning point?** Louise Mallard is a dynamic character because she had a revelation in her life because she found out that her husband died and she got sad and started crying but then again she was happy because she could have her freedom but then after she gets happy her husband walks through the front door and then she drops over dead because she got all happy about having her freedom and being able to do what she wants to do and not getting controlled but then her husband walks through the door and crushes all her thoughts and she gets startled and dies.
 * Chopin’s “Story of and Hour” and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”**
 * Frankie, you did a wonderful job answering the questions.** **You feel society is the antagonist? How interesting! Would you say we still live in a patriarchal society? If so, is Chopin's piece relevant even today?** **Next time, think about supporting your ideas with evidence. You articulated a number of developed thoughts through this assessment... I would like to see where in the text you are drawing these thoughts from!**

Select an example of imagery that creates the mood of the story? How does the mood of the setting reflect the character’s motivations driven by their id, ego, and superego? When the dying man looked into the sky all he could see was a line of gray smoke. The man with the canteens went running by the dying man and didn’t stop to give him some water or anything because he was in the middle of the battlefield and he didn’t want to get killed or injured like the dying man was. By the time the man carrying the canteens got back across the battlefield he had lost most of the water out of the bucket because it was swaying back and forth and water just slopping out. In the story of Steven Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism” there was a man that got dared by his fellow friends to go across the battlefield to the well and bring them back water so he did and he came running back across the battlefield with a bucket of water it was so heavy the man had to hold it with both hands and as he came running across the battlefield the bucket was swaying back and forth and water was sloshing out of the bucket. His id wanted to do it because he didn’t want to look like he was afraid and get teased by his fellow friends about it so he went to get water from the well and on the way back from the well he wanted to stop and help a man that was dying. **Great observation. The id definitely played a role in his decision to run across the field. Was it his id that caused him to feel guilt about passing the dying man?** The man went to all the across the battlefield just to go to the well and get water for his fellow friends because he was dared and he didn’t want to seem afraid and get teased about it by his fellow friends. So he went across the battlefield to the well to get water for his fellow friends and it was hard to get the water out because the bucket barely reached down that far in the well to where the water was and then on his way back he saw a dying man on the battlefield and he wanted to stop and help the dying man and bring back the water but he didn’t because he didn’t want to die on the battlefield. When the man went running across the battlefield all he could see was a line of gray smoke and all he could hear was the canteens knocking together as he ran and all he wanted to do to feel good was to return the canteens back to people that owned them. As he was running across the battlefield all he could think about was wanting to return the canteens and to stop and help the dying man but all he did was splash a little bit of water on the dying man and kept running to save his own life and return the canteens back to the people they belonged to. In conclusion the man that went running across the battlefield returned the canteens to the people that they belonged to. No matter how much you want to do something or help someone you can’t always do it because it isn’t always the right time and place and sometimes in order to save your own life you can’t always help everyone else.
 * Crane’s “Mystery of Heroism”**
 * Do you think the protagonist was being selfish by passing the dying man? How did the mood of the story change as he ran across the field? Did this change in mood affect the character's motivations?**

How does the author indirectly characterize the protagonist through the use of dialect? What does this tell us about the character? How are they influenced by their id, ego, or superego?
 * Wharton’s “April Showers” and Twain’s “The Invalid’s Story”**

In the Invalid’s story and in April Showers both of the protagonists wanted to help people in some way. In the Invalid’s story the narrator wanted to help by taking his friend’s dead body to his parents in Wisconsin and in April Showers Theodora Dace wanted to help by becoming a writer and getting her stories published so she could get money to give to her family. My paper is going to be about The Invalid’s Story by, Mark Twain and April Showers by, Edith Wharton. **Good job, keep making connections like this!** “Twood’ a’ ben dum sight better, all around if they’d started him along last summer”, said the express man. **How does this dialect portray the character? Does it make him seem intelligent? Ignorant?** In the Invalid’s story the mood is sad because the narrator’s friend died and he has to travel to Wisconsin to bring his friends body to his parents like he promised that he would. The narrator and the express man named Thompson kept going outside and broke the pane on the window sill to open the window because the smell in the train was so bad because there was a box of cheese that they didn’t know about and they thought it was his friend’s body smelling that bad. The Narrators id wanted to get rid of the nasty smell, the ego was that he tried to get rid of the smell, and the superego is that he couldn’t get rid of the smell of the cheese. **Interesting observation. Why do you think the cheesy smell is so relavent? Can you think of a quote that represents the id, superego, or ego in this situation?** “Don’t walk so fast child, you’ll get tired”, said Doctor Dace. **How does this quote show us the mood of the story? Is it depicting the stress you describe?** In April showers the mood of the story was stressful because Theodora Dace had to do everything for the family including getting the kids ready and off to school all the time and getting her parents fed also because her father was busy being a doctor and her mother was ill and couldn’t do anything for the household anymore so she laid in bed all the time. Theodora wrote in her spare time because she wanted to become a writer. Her id was that she wanted to become a writer, her ego was that she wrote to get money to give to her family and her superego was that she has to take care of her siblings and family. **Great job. Why do you feel this way? What part of the story supports these claims?** In both stories both of the protagonists helped someone out that was close to them. So both protagonist’s ended up helping out people who were in need and that were really close to their hearts and it shows that they both care about the people that are close to them and will help them out when they are in need in any way that they can. Even if it didn’t benefit them they still stopped and try to help the people that are close to them that they care very dearly for and even though there were obstacles to overcome they still got through it and helped the people they are close to in any way that they could. **You made some great points, Frankie! Elaborate on these points. Think about examples and quotes you can use to support them. Also, try to make one main argument/statement, called the thesis, in the introduction.**

The Express man named Thompson put chicken feathers, dried apples, leaf tobacco, rags, old shoes, sulphur, and asafoetida to try to get rid of the foul odor. **Interesting choice of quote... why do you open with this? How does it introduce your argument?** In the story “The Invalid Story” by Mark Twain the protagonist called The Invalid has to make a decision about how to get rid of the foul odor on the train. A mood of sadness was clearly portrayed throughout the whole story. **This is a great starting point, Frankie! Why was this mood portrayed so clearly? How does the foul odor relate to the mood?** The Protagonist called The Invalid is unmarried and is heading to Bethlehem, Wisconsin on a train because his friend/classmate named Deacon Levi Hackett died and The Invalid promised to take his friends body to his parents. Invalid is sad at the beginning of the story because his friend died but by the end of the story his miserable because of the foul odor that is on the train. Protagonist The Invalid is in good health at the beginning of the story but in bad health by the end of the story because of all the extreme measures he took to escape the foul odor on the train. The odor only intensified the sadness of the story because lives are risked just to escape the foul odor. **I like that you relate back to the thesis here. How does the series of risky events affect the mood? Can you offer some specific examples from the text?** Bad odor made the Invalid and Thompson spend most of their time outside to escape the foul odor of the cheese. Invalid traveled on a train in bad weather with a long white-pine box that has guns in it just to keep his promise. Thompson gently hummed a song called “sweet by and by” to pass the time by faster. **Does this contribute to the "sadness?"** They ended up getting bad health because they spent most of their time in the freezing cold. The dialect of the story is from a different region of the United States. Thompson said “Twood ‘a’ ben dum sight better, all around if they’d started him along last summer.” Thompson does not seem like he has much education in his background so some of his actions does not seem like they are the smartest ideas. For example, when Thompson kept putting other odors into the stove to get rid of the first odor of the cheese all the odors combined so it made it worse instead of better. At first they thought it was the odor of the body but later on they found out it was odor of the cheese. **Awesome job, Frankie! Keep using examples to support your ideas! Remember: you can make any argument you want as long as you support it!** Thompson asked, “Do you reckon we started the Gen’rul any” meaning he did not want to disturb anyone with the mistakes that he made with the foul odor because he did not want to get in trouble. The Invalid and Thompson kept running in and out of the train to escape the odor, “We’re all right now! I reckon we’ve got all the commodore this time. I judge I’ve got the stuff here that’ll take the tuck out of him”, asked Thompson. They tried to make the odor go away because the odor was so bad. The more you think about things and add more odors to make on odor go away the worse you make it for yourself and all the people around you. **This is a good thought, ellaborate on it. How does it apply to the theme? Can you relate this idea to something else in the story?** Therefore nothing The Invalid and Thompson did or tried got rid of the foul odor it just make worse. The odor of the cheese was chosen because it is the main point of the story and they risked their lives to just get rid of the odor of the bad cheese. **Remember: you changed your thesis to a statement about the mood, because a thesis nees to be arguable. You could argue the mood is depressing or happy, but you could not argue the characters tried to get rid of the cheesy odor.** They did everything they could think of to get rid of the odor of bad cheese and they almost lost their lives because of all the extreme measures they took by spending most of their time outside on the platform and by the window exposing themselves to the cold weather for hours at a time just to get rid of one foul odor after they kept making the odor worse by adding more things to it.
 * Frankie, I see a lot of improvement in your writing. Great job! Think about relating each paragraph back to the thesis statement, which should be something a reader can argue. Concepts like tone/ mood, feminist critisism, or foil all make good thesis statements. You're off to a wonderful start-- keep using examples and quotes from the text to support your writing!** **I can't wait to read your next peice!**