Hills Like White Elephants, Sonny's Blues and the Rocking Horse Winner

Commonplace Log
Part 1
“You know in the old days it was not so easy to get a girl when you wanted to be married.” This quote begins the story of “High Horse’s Courting,” and it sets the tone that Black Elk wants to set. He is making a comment on the present and the past with the quote and wants to show that times were different when he was a young man and that the courting process was a lot more challenging back in the old days. It thus appears that he is talking to a younger audience and is both trying to entertain them a bit and trying to teach them a lesson—namely that if young men want to win a nice young girl they should be prepared to show that they are men. So that story that he is about to tell is one such a story, and I chose this quote because I can completely see an old man sitting down and gathering the youngsters around and starting off a story this way.
“What he wanted was a son who was a real man and good for something” (34). This quote explains the intentions of the father of the girl that High Horse is interested in. The old man does not care about a bunch of horses—he simply set that task for High Horse to see if the young man could accomplish it. The old man was testing the young man, since the young man showed interest in the old man’s daughter. It was the kind of test that one might see in ancient mythologies or in the Old Testament when Jacob is given a bunch of tasks to perform in order to marry Rachel. It is essentially the same idea here. I chose this quote because it reminded me of the Jacob-Rachel story.
“So High Horse got his girl after all, and I think he deserved her” (34). Unlike with Jacob, who is initially deceived by Rachel’s father, High Horse gets the girl he wanted and the author speaks directly to the reader at this point to let the reader know that he agrees with this outcome. High Horse demonstrated his manliness and showed that he would be a good, strong man for the old man’s daughter. I chose this quote because I like how the author intrudes on the story to give his own opinion and to show his approval. It is funny but also reassuring because you feel the same way as the reader.
Part 2
A story that used to be told in the oral tradition was the Iliad by Homer. Though most people read this story today, it was actually part of the ancient Greeks’ culture to memorize it and then tell it for entertainment and education purposes. It was not written down until Pisistratus the Tyrant, as he was called, ordered it to be written down. But until then it was told orally, and it is a long epic poem, which means that the Greeks had really good memories.
With the Iliad, I think Homer was trying to tell the story of the Greek ancestors and show how the gods and goddesses were involved in their lives. It was full of action and honor and pride but it was also interesting because it showed a very dramatic side of life that could produce a dramatic effect.
In telling the story, Homer was trying to pass on information about the Greek culture and it was likely persuasive because it was poetically written and the words could get people to feel sympathy for the characters. It could also produce understanding in the audience with respect to human nature. I think what I would apply to this story to my own life is the need to always have respect for others and to try to live honorably.
Part 3
Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is a story about a man and a woman who are dancing around a subject that neither explicitly brings up but both are talking about. If one pays attention and understanding the expression “white elephant” one can figure out that they are talking about the woman getting an abortion. Once you realize this you see that it is a very sad story because the woman clearly doesn’t want to do it and the man is pressuring her into it. She would probably be happy to just be with him and marry him and raise the child, but he does not want the responsibility and wants life to be carefree, whereas she sees life as meaningless if it is just lived selfishly. It is no fun being selfish in her eyes. She would only live with the self-loathing of knowing that she killed the innocent life growing inside her. She says, “Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could get along?” (47), which indicates that she wants to make it work—but he doesn’t want a child and that is evident in his sad, manipulative response.
The story by Chopin about a self-centered woman who spends money she was going to use on the children by spoiling herself for the day is typical Chopin. All of her stories seem to be about the oppressed woman, but they are always depressing. Even the ending of the story shows this, with the woman having "a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever." That shows that she just wants to get away from everything in her life because she is not happy. Chopin is always writing about unhappy female characters, which makes me think she was very unhappy herself. She seems unable of finding the light and happiness in her own situation but always longing for that hill where the grass is greener. I am not sure why her stories are always taught as though they were deep and meaningful. She just comes across as a spoiled person who can’t get over herself.
In Bierce’s story, the tale is of a deaf, mute child who cannot hear a battle raging around him. He wanders into the woods only to get swept up in the battle and when he gets home he finds his family has been killed. It is a shocking story that blends the innocence of the child with the horror of war. This story gave me chills to read and made me think that Bierce must have been quite a dark person to write such a story. The quote that stands out to me is “From the cradle of its race it had conquered its way through two continents, and, passing a great sea, had penetrated a third, there to be born to war and dominance as a heritage.” The quote tells me that these people are savages by nature but acting refined.
Part 4
Sonny’s Blues: I loved this story because it is about two brothers and the one who is stand-offish finally comes out of his anger and learns to understand his brother who is different but who also has his own wisdom and grace. The quote I like from this story is: “He was giving it back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever.” Baldwin says this about Sonny and his music, which is how he expresses his love. I think it is what Baldwin was expressing in his writing, giving his love back to his readers, back to the world.
The Rocking-Horse Winner: This is another good story that shows what it means to really love someone. The boy is so selfless and willing to sacrifice himself to make his mother happy, and the heart-breaking thing of it is that she does not even realize what he is doing. She is self-centered like the woman in the Chopin story, only wanting more and never thinking about others. A good quote from this story is: “She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering.” “What might stop whispering?” “Our house. I hate our house for whispering.” The boy hears the mother’s sadness everywhere he goes because that is what she projects outward. It is a terrible thing, but he rises above it and shows what it’s like to project love out to others.