Short Story Final Essay

In an essay (1-2 pages) with a well defined thesis statement and supporting evidence compare/contrast the following characters: The House/Henry

          It's pretty sad when you find yourself talking to someone who's not even there. Whether or not the person you're thinking you're talking to is alive or not arguably draws the line on the person in question's sanity. This is where I'll be adventuring, through the minds of two characters who both hold interactions with people who have passed away long ago. We'll see the comparisons between the two along with how they perceive their situations and what is different about how they act.

          These two characters are the House from Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains and Henry from Mark Twain's The Californian's Tale. Both believe to have people attached to them who are still alive. Regardless of any clues around them, they can't get the death(s) past themselves to make sense of any of it. With the House, there is a whole family that it used to tend to, feed, wake up, recite poetry to. It was quite the busy house catering to all those human's and without any indications that they had died after the nuclear war, it still persists in trying to please the now-deceased family. Henry, gives the whole situation a more mindful, human twist due to the fact he has been reliving his wife's last days on a return from a trip over the course of nineteen years. With her dead he, much like the House, doesn't alter his actions from any previous years.

        A plainly obvious difference between these two are the mind. The House was not programmed to feel or hold any emotions towards the family that it was designed to take care of. This is what makes Henry's condition a little more severe since we can assume that before his wife died he was an average, sane individual. Henry therefore has suffered some emotional injuries in the incident of his wife's death whereas the House is still in its intended programmed state, even with the lack of family presence.

        
       Since both the House and Henry have the false image of someone they cared for still in their brain/programming, is this the only characteristic they share? Well, it can be, however  there isn't a possibility for either of them to be like each other. When I say this, I mean the possibility of the House sharing the same mental instability as Henry due to the lack of a conscious mind. Same can be said for Henry because of his lack of programming and a motherboard, he has the ability to be driven crazy after a traumatizing experience in which he has had.

Vocabulary Part 2 (After the Ball)

Using five of the above words, describe the beating of the Tartar from the Colonel's perspective.



             "What a majestic evening!" I thought to myself after leaving the ball that night! And majestic it was; dancing with my lovely, elegant daughter, conversing with some of my closest friends, and even the little things like walking outside under the ethereal glow of the two o'clock moon. Yet, I feared that something would ruin my happiness; a small sense of disappointment foreboding was in the night mist. 

            And that's when I got the call. One of the privates under my command had informed me of a Tartar fleeing from our detainment site. There was a flame burning in the pit of my being seeing how this was the third attempted escape in the last week. My contempt for these blasted Tartars grew as my tolerance decreased, so an epic punishment was in need to show some of these hellions a lesson. I reported to the men in my platoon, and had them bring some rope, their rifles, and the batons we normally used to initiate the new recruits. I hand selected one of Tartars from the pen and tied him to the rifles of my two leading men. This detestable excuse of a human would be a sign of what would happen if any of them attempted to escape again. As for the one that did try to escape, I plucked our best rifle from the armory and shot him myself. Now it was time for the message to get put across to the Tartars, so we proceeded to drag him to the town square to let the beating ensue.

           

Vocabulary Words (Oct. 4 - Oct. 8)

Chagrin - (n.) a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or embarrassment.
         "Sadly to his chagrin, Jonathan was not elected for school president."

Detestable - (adj.) Abominable; hateful
         "The detestable mutant terrorized the wasteland because he hadn't looked like a normal human in six years.

Ethereal - (adj.) Extremely delicate, heavenly, celestial
          "Kyle described Darla as the most ethereal cheerleader that ever lived and asked her to homecoming."

Imposing - (adj.) Impressive due to great size.
          "The imposing statue of Paul Bunyan was criticized for scaring away children from the amusement park with his amazingly large axe."

Majestic - (adj.) of relating to unicorns, grand, holding great beauty, majesty.
          "After seeing the majestic unicorn, David devoted his life to worshipping it and studying its language."

Contempt - (n.) a feeling of hate, having despise for someone.
          "Despite the presents given to her, Shiela still held contempt towards Herald for trashing her dinner party last Wednesday."

Posterity - (n.) All descendants of one person
          "Grandma May's posterity was shown through her eleven daughters and fourteen sons who all had twelve kids each."

Sirens - (n.) Seductive half-woman, half-bird creatures that lure men to their death.
          "The sailor was lured to his death after he directed his ship's course towards the sirens."

Pluck - (v.) to pull off, or take from.
          "Alvin yelped and screamed as his mother proceeded to pluck the hairs off of his head."

Perspicacity - (n.) Keenness of mental perception, knowledge, or ability.
          "Having the perspicacity of a monkey isn't the best thing to put on a job application."