Junyoung Ro World Lit Journal

 Visitors that Come in the Night, by Jang Ryujin (2019) Rating: 8.5/10 It was fun to guess of the men coming in front of the door and why were they coming. I guessed that the place where she moved was used as a prostitution before. The men knew the password of the doorlock so they kept pressing. And also they come at night. So these are the evidences of this place.  In Korean society now, there could be a similar situation like this. In the news sometimes appears the situation like this. A strange man follows a woman and tries to go inside her house. So I think this story is giving a warning to people as a Urban Myth. Because of this, it made the story more excited and I wanted to read the full version of this story. I'm very curious of the men's identity and how the woman deals with this situation. (143 words)

Snowman, by Seo Yoo Mi (2012) Rating 9/10 This short story showed the inside of the Korean society of office workers. I want to talk about two things. First, the symbol of snow. Climate changed on Korea so it snowed a lot, even people couldn't go to work. However, the main character digs the snow and try to go to work. I think the snow means pressure for Korean office workers, or even all the people in the society. They have to get rid of this pressure and go to work. Yoo couldn't withstand this pressure and finally he died.  Second, the irony of the New Year's Day. In this short story, the setting is 1/1. Genarally, January 1st is the happiest day of the year. People began the year and they make new year plans. They expect the year can be fine. Unfortunately, this day became a nightmare because of the snow. The main character and Yoo's effort fell down with the snow. The specific date of this story made the characters more ironical. (167 words)

 Caring for Plants, by Hye-Young Pyun (2017) Rating : 9.7/10 This story was the most interesting short story that we have covered in World Lit. First, I liked the arguments which the readers could think differently. For example, about the hole's role. I thought that the hole which mother-in-law was digging at the corner was a hole to put Oghi inside and kill him. It was because mother-in-law saw Oghi in very suspicious eyes, tried to hide the hole in front of other people coming home, making people near Oghi leave and forget him, and talking about money and her difficulties of caring Oghi to him. However, on the other hand, some say that it's just Oghi's delusion. Because of his accident, he became to sensitive to others. To the mother-in-law, it may be just a popular behavior but Oghi brought it too sensitively. Second, it's a Korean story so the background culture was easy to understand. Husbands get afraid of their mother-in-law in Korea. This background was appeared...

 A Manual for Cleaning Woman, by Lucia Berlin (2015) Rating: 7/10 This story was not very interesting to me. Especially, the writing style did not satisfised me. Its writing style was the reminiscences of the narrator, by looking at the buses passing through her. This made the short story complexed. Short stories are too short to know about the sub characters, especially like these madames in theins story. Their description is not very long to know about them and how the narrator felt about them. If there were more specific descriptions, I think thw story would have been fun, because there are some funny episodes like finding the puzzle piece etc. And also, it was difficult for me to understand the theme of this story. The narrator thinks about her past, and watches the laundry room and the people riding motorcycles, and she cries. At first, the final ending developed too fast to understand. After listening about the discussion, I realized that she felt a lot of things, for example...

I think George Saunders' short stories are very reflective of our society now. For example, in 'Puppy', it felt like seeing our moms. And in 'The Semplica Girl Diaries', the narrator's behavior was like envying the rich and being a car poor. Like this, his short stories are very related to our society. I think this is because his short stories, which we read, were all written in the 21th centuries and these writing moments were hard to read at World Lit 1.  Also his writing style was diffrent from each short story. In 'Victory Lap', the point of view changed a lot by skipping each characters' brain. This part made the readers, especially me, difficult to understand the story. However in 'The Semplica Girl Diaries', the concept of the diary was easy to understand. Also in this short story, the sentence length was mixed up. Sometimes it was really long and the other was short like two words. This part made the story's development more rapid...

 After reading Afternoon in Linen and The Lottery, I knew that why Shirley Jackson was a horror writer. The first story looked not like a horror story to me. Maybe the child's lie may be like a horror theme because their family believed her but it is kind of a betray. In the second story, the genre of horror really appered. The ways of describing popular looking villagers but how they change when they throw stones, it was a horror story. Also the talks around villagers are just popular but we know the end when we read, that it felt scary when reading along the story.

  A Mother, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 8/10 Mrs. Kearney felt like a Gangnam Mother in our society. She takes too much care of her daughter. This is the way that can stop her daughter's future. Now and then, people don't like interference from a person's family. The person doesn't have any feelings, but because of her family, she may be on the black-list from the committee.  In my experience, I also don't have good attention to whom are like mama boys. They grew up as well as to communicate with us, but their parents think that they are still young to give their opinion. This is the reason why this story is best related to me and easy to understand. I also felt that mothers who are like that were still there a hundred years ago. 

  Clay, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 7.5/10 The most interesting part of this story was where Maria sings at the end. She is an old lady, and she is very deteriorated. So she sings the same part once more. No one points out her mistake, and Joe fell into tears. I think this is because of the theme of death. Maria is too old so Joe is worried about her death. And this situation, singing the same verse one more time, makes Joe feel that Maria is getting older. This seems similar to The Dead 's ending where Gabriel feels sad. His aunt Julia may be in the same situation as Maria.  The title clay means an early death. At first, I couldn't understand why clay was the symbol of early death. However, after hearing about the Halloween Game and the background in Dublin, clay is quite dark and hard to catch so it's like an uneventful early death which Maria is in.  The plot was kind of a hero's journey for Joe, which understood more about Maria. This is the another reason why I l...

  Two Gallants, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 7/10 I want to talk about the title, "Two Gallants". A gallant means a man who is polite and kind towards women, especially when in public. It's an irony in this story. The two main characters, Corley and Lenehan, don't act as gallant. They are just 20C dubliners who are paralyzed in women. In this part, I think James Joyce made this title in an irony. Also, the gold coin may be a symbol. In this story, Corley got the gold coin from a woman. I thought this is quite different from modern society. In modern society, usually, women get money from men, but in 1904 Dublin, men get money from women. This part was interesting and shocking to me, and I think Joyce wanted to tell the readers that this is not right. The reason I rated this story 7 is that it was fun and interesting but it didn't come to me well. The interesting part was that there were parts where paralysis appeared a lot, and these parts were good to me because...

  The Boarding House, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 8/10 I want to talk about the place 'boarding house'. A boarding house is a place where lots of people stay, but usually, people who aren't rich manage and those class of people stay there. Mrs. Mooney was worried of these guests. They aren't rich so they may seem bad, and they could do something bad to Polly so she was very sharp of the part from Polly. Guests stay long in the boarding house, so they are almost familiar with each other and know well about each other. Also there are such rules to keep in the house, so the guest may have been afraid of the owner. Mr. Doran might have been that too. He afraid Mrs. Mooney so it was difficult to meet with Polly.  Also I want to compare about the marriage with Eveline. In Eveline, the social background, which people thought that marriage is a kind of death to women, block marrying. In the boarding house, what Mrs. Monney thought about the husband could stop the marriage, bu...

 What I want to compare and contrast between Joyce and Chekhov is how they say about love. In 'Lady with the dog', Gurov is obsessed with the lady and always tries to follow her. And finally, there was a part about thinking about their future. In 'Eveline', Eveline loved Frank but she had a confusion so she didn't follow Frank and ran away.  I think there is a difference because of the analysis and the social background. First, in the analysis, Joyce's ending is more opened than Chekhov's. Like other stories in Dubliners, Joyce is trying the readers to make creative thoughts from his story. Chekhov is also making to think but I think it is less than Joyce's  Next, the social background can make this difference. I think Ireland in the early 20th century is more closed than Russia in the late 19th century. Ireland is related to the catholic, which is unsociable. So this can be the reason why James Joyce is making a big open ending than Chekhov. (171 words)

  Eveline, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 7.5/10 In this story, I thought about the description of dead people by the narrator. I searched for some information about forms of death and found out that marriage could be a death in 20th century Dublin. Death means the end of one life and the beginning of a new life in Catholicism. Marriage is the ending of a solo and the beginning of partners. I think this is the reason why Eveline didn't follow Frank in the end. She might have thought living in a solo could be better that day. If he run away, his father could do something for families who were left in Dublin. Also, her trust in Frank was not that high. Her father said, "I know these sailor chaps." She might have heard it as a joke, but at the harbor, the word may be offensive so she didn't follow Frank. The reason why I rated 7.5 is the plot was too speedy to understand fully. Also, the easter eggs in this story were difficult for me to know well. Reading this time, I wa...

  An Encounter, By James Joyce (1914)  Rating: 8/10 The most sympathized part was to get out of the routine. Living in KMLA in a strict routine, makes me deviate. In this short story, the narrator and his friend Mahony make a deviation and wander around Dublin. And then they see many people and places and meet a man. I think this man has bad thoughts. He is so conservative. Maybe it is because of the Irish religion. Catholic is one of the strict and conservative religions that I know, so this man may be influenced by the religion. I liked this quote from the story. "But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain home: they must be sought abroad." I think this is like a hint of this full story. Because of this thought, the narrator could break away and see the society, meet a man that was an encounter. From this encounter, the narrator could feel better about his friend.  I think both <An Encounter> and <Araby> are similar as a growth stor...

  Araby, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 9/10 My step of the hero's journey is No.7 Approach to the innermost cave. I think in this short story, there is a hero's journey. The main chatacter was first just attracted to Mangan's sister. However, after going to the Araby, he finds out that the world is not like his illusion and she has no interest in him. The 7th stage of the hero's journey is that when he said he wanted to go to Araby to his uncle.  The reason I rated this story 9 is I liked the grow of the main character. He is just a teenager so he might see the world as a illusion. He is a power 'N' in the MBTI personality test. However, after finding the unconcern of the people in the bazaar, and the Araby is not a fancy place like he thought, he was shocked. After that, he thought that his love was in one-way, and he may give up his love. This part was the favorite part. This felt really like a growth story of a teenage boy. (178 words)

  The Sisters, By James Joyce (1914) Rating: 6.5/10 I wanted to talk about Flynn's confess. In the story, there is no answer of what Flynn confessed. However, through reading the story, there were hints. For example, old Cotter doesn't like the relationship between the narrator and Flynn. And, the sisters also talk about the confess. What I think is that Flynn did something wrong to the narrator, so he comes out in the narrator's dream and keeps it reminded.  The reason I rated this story 6.5 is I read this three times but it is stil difficult for me to understand. I can't know what the death of Flynn symbols. And also I don't know a lot of the Irish culture so it makes me difficult too. (119 words)

  The Black Monk, By Anton Chekhov Rating : 7.5/10 It was little longer than other short stories, but the development was good to concentrate. I thought about why Covrin could see the black monk alone. I think it was because of his illness. The monk said Covrin is a genius, but he is too sacrifising his body and the monk felt pity of Covrin. The quote of external life and enjoyment also reminded me. I think Covrin was enjoying his life with Tanya, but after Tanya treated him, his life was not filled up with enjoyment. So this might be the reason that the black monk appeared again at the hotel, and Covrin died with a smile. I think Covrin knew that he will die and that was the reason why he was smiling when he was dead. (129 words)

  Gooseberries, By Anton Chekhov (1898) Rating: 8/10   I was very impressed about the little hammer knocking. Before I read this short story, I couldn't think about who were marginalized from happiness. I just thought if I am happy, then everyone near me are all happy. This story has changed my life.   And I thought about why Ivan said "if I were young!" I think Ivan is envy of his brother. His brother had a long long dream of having his own house with gooseberry bushes. And finally, he earned his dream. I could see that Ivan is stressed of it. If he was young, he could do what he wants and live happy like his brother. He must be the marginalized from happiness.    The reason I rated this short story 8 out of 10 is because the expression that I mentioned above moved my heart. It felt like a moral to me. (145 words)

  The Lady With the Dog, By Anton Chekhov (1899) Rating: 6/10 I could see a hero's journey in this short story. Gurov is becoming a hero. At first, I think he was not caring to Anna. Just because he loved him, he met her a lot in Yalta and when they met in the hotel, he just ate watermelon and said nothing. Gurov looked too clumsy and careless to me. When Anna went back home, Gurov went to her town, and started to wait her. It also looked careless, because he could have seen to Anna's husband. However, at the end of the story, Gurov and Anna started to think about their future. In this part, I though Gurov has grown a little and became a hero himself. The reason I gave this short story 6 out of 10 is the ending is too opened. If the author had gave more information about their future, it would be easy to understand. But the structure was easy to understand, and it felt like a model of a love story to me. (169 words)

  The Student, By Anton Chekhov (1894) Rating: 7.5/10 I think 'The Student' does fill the 7th stage,  Approach To The Inmost Cave. It's because Ivan didn't want to go home, so he had to do something to pass time. To start telling the story to Vasilisa can fit in this step. The reason why I rated this short story 8 out of 10 is that Ivan is more like a hero than Eckels in the last story. Ivan made the two widows realize and made them impressive. The story of Peter was really familiar to me. So it helped me to understand this story more easily. Like Peter denied Jesus three times, Vasilisa and Lukerya's trauma came back up. I think this was the reason why they both cried. In the end, Ivan felt happy. I think this is because he made both the widows sensitive using the story in the bible. He wants to become a preacher, so he must practice telling the bible and he made it. He felt like cold winter and in hunger in the beginning, but telling the story successively could m...

  A Sound of Thunder By Ray Bradbury (1952) Rating: 7/10 The part that I was fun but also not quite interesting was when Eckles and his team came back to the "changed" future. Killing one butterfly has changed a lot in the future. I was fun because I didn't know that the theme 'butterfly effect' came from this story. However, I was not quite interesting because I knew what the butterfly effect is. If I read this story with not knowing about the butterfly effect, it would have been more interesting.  I think this story would be a good moral to modern people. This story's moral is to warn the butterfly effect. When we do something, it will be related to our future. In nowadays, I think many people forget this. They just say and do what they want. So this story would be very good to people who do like it. These are the reasons why I rated this story 7 out of 10. (155 words)