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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
What I liked how the author Joyce Carol Oates from the story “Wolf’s Head Lake” is giving good descriptions on how the sky and the clouds look like. I also like how she describes the lake and her experience going there. The reader can be able to picture how the landscape will look like. I already feel like going to the Wolf’s Head Lake and spend my holidays over there. What I did not like about the story is that it was a rainy day and they felt the trip to the Wolf’s Head Lake that day went to fast.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked about the story “El Recuerdo” by Guadalupe Valdes is that she is a caring mother with Maruca because at the end of the story Rosa emphasizes that she wants a good man for her daughter. Also, she set high expectations for her daughter, she does not want to see her daughter suffering with 10 children and no food on the table because her husband is very poor and struggles to get a job. What I did not like about the story is that Rosita had an emptiness and loneliness on her way to Don Lorenzo's house. I did not like how Lorenzo messed up with Rosa’s little daughter whose named is Maruca. I do not understand why Rosa arrived at her house with a bad mood she was very outraged because Maruca was talking with Petra one of her best friends.
Oscar A. Jacome Serrano
“Recuerdo” actually made me a little bit emotional towards the end when Rosa was heading home. it put me in a weird place of feeling sorry for Rosa but also disgusted at the suggestion that she would almost sell her daughter off to a wealthy man who wants her for her body. You could almost feel the bit of resentment that Rosa has towards her daughter, Maruca. Maruca is described to be pretty, young and slim; something to be desired by men. Characteristics that Rosa does not possess. You can tell that Rosa wants best for her daughter but maybe not in the most conventional way. She does not want Maruca to struggle in life when she could use her looks to secure her a comfortable future. It feels like such a taboo way of thinking now but I can’t help but think that older generations still think the same way as Rosa. Marry into a good family with money that will leave you well off, don’t marry poor and make yourself struggle in life. Underneath the superficial view of money, Rosa does still states that she wants her children to be better off and not have to worry about having to feed so many children with such little money like she is doing now.
ReplyDeleteBethanee Campos
After reading Joyce Carol Oates’s “Wolf’s Head Lake”, I enjoyed the details Oates put into this selection. While reading, you could imagine the scenery of the sky that she was describing. With that being said, I also enjoyed how detailed she was about her own personal feelings and how going to the make made her feel. It reminded me of when I was a child, going to Doolittle park with it’s huge lake and just feed the ducks that were there. Once I finished the piece “El Recuerdo” by Guadalupe Valdes, I picked up a liking for Rosa’s motherhood. As a mother, you just want what’s best for your daughter, and that’s exactly what Rosa wanted for Maruca. One thing she really wants for her daughter is a good husband that way she won’t struggle in life. What was a real shame was that Lorenzo really didn’t make it with Maruca, which basically means things just did not work out between them. In the end, this kind of stunk due to that being the only thing Rosa had wanted. One thing I still don’t understand is why Rosa felt some kind of way, like empty, when arriving to Don Lorenzo’s. One thing Overall these two pieces were both interesting reads.
ReplyDeleteClarissa Partida
The story “Wolf’s Head Lake” by Joyce Carol Oates starts us off with incredible detail about an early dusk at the lake. On page 164, the author says, “it’s an early dusk at the lake because the sky’s marbled with clouds and some of them are dark, heavy, tumescent as skins of flesh ready to burst”, which helps us picture what the author is picturing at the moment. The author then discusses the cottages along Wolf’s Head Lake and everything that she remembers in that moment. She remembers the kids laughing, the people, scenery, etc. Then she begins to describe a woman that she met at the cabin who was with a group of guys. This story was rich in details and descriptive features of the authors surroundings. In “Recuerdo” by Guadalupe Valdes, the author discusses many things in this long short story. However, what hurt me the most was at the very end when Rosa was even contemplating selling her daughter to a man just for money. It’s honestly messed up to think that could even be a possibility, but she thought about the money mostly. Rosa also discusses looks and how she is not exactly comfortable with herself anymore like she used to, so she uses her daughter to sort of fill that void in a way, which is weird to say.
ReplyDelete-Alec De La Garza
From reading the story "Recuerdo" I immediately was taken back to the times where our ancestors had to overlook love due ti the fact of needing to provide. However, not everyone was like that, there was some who would stay loyal to their feelings and stick to their loved ones despite the poverty situations. Throughout this story we encounter Rosa, Maruca's mother to indeed love her and want to protect her the only way she knows it's best done. Rosa insists for Maruca to marry into a wealthy and well positioned man. Though it is brought a bit harsh the way she's portraying her love towards her daughter, Rosa means well and prefers that over watching her be in a situation she has been through. Just like Rosa and Maruca, many women generations before us had to deal with these type of relationships and arrangements. Guadalupe Valdez wrote something similar to many novelas I've seen. I recall one "Teresa" which is mainly about the struggles a young and beautiful girl has to endure for being poor. She learns how men are indeed attracted to her and decides to put her assets to use in order to get rich and never have to struggle again like her family did. My point being, this concept brought to us by the author is not an unknown one since we have seen it through arranged marriages, gold diggers and/or just like Rosa, people who want the best for their family do anything to succeed in life or novelas.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Rodriguez
For this week I enjoyed reading “Recuerdo”. I feel that it was a story about a mother who wanted better for her daughter for selfish reasons but also for reasons that would benefit the daughter. On pg. 168 Rosa speaks about how her partner Pablo was beginning to look at Maruca in a lustful way, Valdes writes, “True. He had begun to look at Maruca, and it bothered Rosa….Because men are men, she said to herself, and if there is a temptation…”. Her Rosa speaks about how she feels that it’s time for her daughter to move out, maybe marry Lorenzo since he’s offered. Once Maruca is out of the house Rosa feels that she’ll have the security of her relationship back. But on the other hand as a mother she is repulsed at the idea of Lorenzo “taking care” of her daughter. He’s a man with money, true, but he’s disgusting. Maruca’s disgust plays in the back of Rosa’s mind she would for her daughter to have a better life, not worrying about hungry kids, and other problems she faces, but she wants her daughter to have a good life at what cost? I feel that Valdes captures to a degree the back and forth between a lot of mothers, they want their children to go off and do great things, be successful, and have no worries, but mothers also want to protect their children forever.
ReplyDeleteAisha Teegarden
“Recuerdo” is a story that got me emotional because it reminds me of family members trying to set me up with guys that they know. I relate because I know the feeling that Maruca has when she is being offered to be sold to a wealthy man by her mother Rosa. My mom wants me to marry wealthy to have a good life and seeing how Rosa wants the same thing hits close to home. I grew up for the first four years of my life in a mobile home with my siblings and my parents. We barely had enough space to live a functional life. So reading this, I can empathize with Rosa on her wanting a better life for her children with even going to desperate measures of having Maruca be given away for marriage. “Wolf’s Head Lake” reminds me of the vacation I took in Hawaii in high school with the dance team I was in. One of the days it rained extremely hard, but unlike the story we did not let that ruin the day for us. It upsets me how they let the rain ruin their day at the lake. However, the attention to detail in this reading is enjoyable and easy to read.
ReplyDeleteKrista Olivarez
The story I really enjoyed was, “Recuerdo” there was something about the story that I feel becomes to real sometimes. Even if it is fiction I feel like we all heard stories like that are sometimes too true. I somewhat didn’t like Rosa, but understand why she thinks the way she does. She’s not very happy with her life, and in a way I feel like she does envy her daughter a bit. That her daughter can more than likely have a better life if she gets with this man. Even if the man is just a disgusting person, she’s considering it to give her daughter a better life. I think she wants what’s best for her daughter, but at the same time it’s also her selfishness that is what makes me not like her too much. Since she is not even really considering her daughters feelings at some point. The last story “Wolf’s Head Lake” was really hard to understand for me, maybe I didn’t understand the tone of the story? I just had a hard time reading it and had to read it multiple times and in all honesty I just really did not understand the story at all.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Rangel
After reading “Recuerdo” I felt sad for Rosa. This story describes how a mother suffers to maintain a house with children and a man. It also show the struggles a family goes through in life. I think the author did a good job with this story, as a reader, I was able to feel a lot of emotions while reading it. The part that I feel was really sad was when Rosa was walking back home on page 168. “But she was not fooling anyone, and when at last she saw the tin and cardboard shack against the side of the hill, with its cluttered front and screaming children, she wanted to turn back.” Rosa did not want to go back to her children and her children, despite the situation of how they live, they were still happy to see their mother.
ReplyDeleteFor “Wolf’s Head Lake,” I like how the author describes the scenario. The way the thunder is being described, on page 164. “that laughing-rippling sound at the base of the spine. And heat lightning, quick spasms of nerves, forming in the sky then gone before you can exactly see.” I like how the author compares the color of the car to the color of the storm, I feel like it gives it like a suspense feeling.
Mayra Zarazua
My first impression was sex trafficking. Some weirdo driving around in a car and leaving stuff in their hotel, never to return. Then Oates mentions an uncle who owns a cheap hotel in Port Oriskany and says, “he tells stories of guys like this how they appear, and then they disappear…, no trace.” If anyone watches the news or has an overprotective mother, these are the obvious signs of someone trying to kidnap someone. When Oates mentioned a companion with “a quick wide smile like a knife”, I thought of those woman that one run the strip clubs where they end up sending girls that are ripped from their homes or a pimp. I’ve watched a lot of law and order and have noticed that in an invasion, while trying to find a missing teenager, theres always a guy that checks to make sure the girls are in place to send them out. And theres a woman usually staying with them, much older and almost worn by age, keeping watch on them and also helps in aiding a kidnapping. That’s what I though of. They were trying to kidnap her.
ReplyDeleteGuadalupe Valdes’ “Recuerdo” gave me mixed emotions. First of all, I’m totally against marrying off her daughter to Senor Lozano, who groped her without consent. That’s gross. I’m not against marrying a old man but he touched the girl, most likely still underage. I wouldn’t want to marry my child off like that. Who knows if he’ll treat her right. Like Valdes wrote as Rosa’s thoughts, “men will be men.” Then there’s the mention of Pedro, whom Rosa had noticed, was looking at Maruca. I reckon this was in the old days when parents still married off their kids for them to have a better life. Any man can marry a woman but which one has the guts of treating her right and respecting her the way a woman should be?
Susana Lupercio
Both passages focus strongly on scene or setting. Joyce Carol Oates, “Wolf’s Head Lake” gives me a families summer trip kinda vibe. It started off really warm but had somewhat of a dark presence to it. She gives the setting right away, describing the “early dusk” at the lake due to the dark clouds that “marble” the sky. She speaks of storm, comparing the thunder to “that laughing-rippling sound at the base of the spine. I don't know if I like it or not. It's asking you to witness this event, even if this is not an actual event. I think this is more of a dream, a crazy scary imagination. It’s almost as if the narrator does not want to be there or as if they’re there against their will as there’s a sense of unfamiliarity between the narrator and the other people.
ReplyDeleteGuadalupe Valdes’ “Recuerdo”, in the real world, plenty of women are in unhappy relationships or living conditions but they put up with it because of financial stability. I think the fact that this story has some truth behind it makes it all the more interesting. The strongest themes within the story are marriage, financial security, motherhood, etc. and I feel like this is something every woman has thought of and or feared when it comes to marriage and the heavy oath that is put on them.
Zealen Garcia
I’m not sure that I like Wolf’s Head Lake. The story gives me a feeling of being intentionally mislead while concealing details that would make it clear. Misleading information always has a place in writing, but here it comes off as pointless. Any good information is drowned out in seemingly endless and seemingly pointless description. The mysterious men the narrator seems so interested in fade against a backdrop of a lake and a maple tree. The men have a way in. But they end up bearing no more prominence than the humble maple leaf.
ReplyDeleteIt isn’t too often that I read a story filled with characters as despicable as the ones in Recuerdo. Typically there is some redeeming quality or coup de grace to bring them back into favor with the reader. Here there is only a wish – a short-sighted one at that. I think it’s worth wondering what the purpose of this story is. Perhaps exposure to a mindset? More likely drawing awareness to something awful that happens. This is something that needs to be done; this story does it well. In this respect, I can say that I like the story. It needed to be written.
Christopher Hinkle
I really liked that the short story “Wolf’s Head Lake” because of the details in it. As I was reading this I felt like I was there, and I could imagine seeing the scenery or hearing the thunder. It wasn’t a very enjoyable story for me because I like drama or scary stories more than anything. But I liked “Recuerdo” a lot more because it felt like a novela to me, which I’m sure there is a novela or movie very similar to this. A lot of the times people think well you just have to marry someone rich and you will be well off. But in reality that isn’t the case at all. There is so many other things one can do but I’m pretty sure the women feel pressured to do as their parents say. I know my aunt has that kind of mindset and doesn’t care what others think about it. It made me feel sad for Rosa and Maruca because I know the mom feels bad she can’t give her what she deserves but she wants her to be well off and not have to worry. My parents always tell me that they don’t want me to struggle the way that they do so I need to go to school, but not a lot of parents think that’s the way out and would rather let them do something a lot easier like marrying into a rich family. I dont believe in that but there is people from different cultures that do.
ReplyDeleteI really liked that the short story “Wolf’s Head Lake” because of the details in it. As I was reading this I felt like I was there, and I could imagine seeing the scenery or hearing the thunder. It wasn’t a very enjoyable story for me because I like drama or scary stories more than anything. But I liked “Recuerdo” a lot more because it felt like a novela to me, which I’m sure there is a novela or movie very similar to this. A lot of the times people think well you just have to marry someone rich and you will be well off. But in reality that isn’t the case at all. There is so many other things one can do but I’m pretty sure the women feel pressured to do as their parents say. I know my aunt has that kind of mindset and doesn’t care what others think about it. It made me feel sad for Rosa and Maruca because I know the mom feels bad she can’t give her what she deserves but she wants her to be well off and not have to worry. My parents always tell me that they don’t want me to struggle the way that they do so I need to go to school, but not a lot of parents think that’s the way out and would rather let them do something a lot easier like marrying into a rich family. I dont believe in that but there is people from different cultures that do.
ReplyDelete-Cecilia cantu
Wolf’s Head Lake was pretty enjoyable. I enjoyed how the details included were not overbearing. It was just the right amount. Sadly, Recuerdo called out to me more than Wolf’s Head lake. The scene where Rosa goes to speak to Don Lorenzo is both interesting and a sad reality. Interesting because of how men can speak like that without any repercussions. This reminds me of a quote by John Berger -“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting 'Vanity,' thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure." This is the same thing regarding the relation between Maruca and Don Lorenzo. But on the other hand, Rosa sadly must take into account the life that Maruca would have if she were to marry a bum off the street. Marriage back in the olden times were more of a way to prosper. People would rarely marry out of love. Maybe Maruca would find Don Lorenzo repulsive, but atleast she would have a life better than any other woman who marries a man who cannot find a job, a poor man. Her kids would be fed, and she could live a nice and calm life, unless Don Lorenzo is abusive.
ReplyDeleteJonathon Morin