Wagner Matinee:
At the beginning of the short story, the reader is told by Clark that his home is in the town of Boston although his Aunt Georgiana's home in Nebraska is described in detail. There is a big contrast in the two settings that leads to conflict. Boston, where Aunt Georgiana comes to visit, is a town rich in culture. The matinee they attend displays the classiness and sophisticated life that Clark lives. In contrast, Nebraska's conditions are described as "primitive savagery." The weather is, "a pitiless wind, and the alkaline water, which transforms the most transparent cuticle into a sort of flexible leather." These setting gaps create an internal conflict within Aunt Georgiana who at first worked and lived in Boston as a music teacher, but followed her husband to her now home of Nebraska. She wonders whether or not to regret her decision of leaving her love of music for the love of her penniless husband.
Aunt Georgiana's home of Nebraska results in her appearance to become a bad image of, "primitive savagery." The alkaline water is supposed to "turn the most transparent cuticle into a sort of flexible leather." Clark calls her appearance shocking because she is misshapen, has a set of false teeth, and a constant twitch of her eyebrow and mouth. Her appearance is looked upon negatively by the narrator because he calls her, "pathetic and grotesque."
Aunt Georgiana is the most affected character by the setting of her current residence of Nebraska verses her past residences in Boston and Paris. Before the move, she was a bright music teacher who taught Clark to interpret Shakespeare, learn Latin, and share her love of music by playing the organ with him. Once she moved away, she lost her ability to do the things she loved. Her appearance changed, as well as her attitude into a glum woman. By losing the ability to indulge in her passions, her initiative to enjoy life was blown out because she could not enjoy what she loved to do in Nebraska. We can see her awaken from this when she cries at the Matinee.
An Account of Experience With Discrimination:
The racist bus driver in the story was described as having, "the old slaveholding spirit." When growing up in a community, a person is raised with a set of moral values. Where this man was raised, he was taught to believe that discriminating against black people was an accepted practice (maybe even encouraged). When the set of ideals changed, he did not respond well. He still has all of the years of racism drilled into his memories. The author states that , "it is hard for the old slaveholding spirit to die, but die it must."
A primary source is a document or object that was created during the time under study. A secondary source is key to interpreting and analyzing primary sources, such as a news person reporting on an event.
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall :
Granny Wetherall has had a long lasting life of about. Her jilting f eighty years. Her jilting from many years ago was different from the final paragraph because when she was sixty she, “felt old and finished”. She had a notion that she was done with life, but overtime she passed that idea. She asks herself why the priest couldn't be there then. During the final paragraph, it was the second jilting, where Granny Wetherall had no signs, and did not try to remember any other things, such as her will or family, as many people do when they die. She was no longer prepared to die, as she was when she was sixty.
According to Granny Wetherall, she believed the community dissolved because of the people. She saw the disrespect of the doctor “I’d have you respect your elders young man,” signifying a lack of respect within the community. Also due to her daughter and how Granny thought Cornelia thought she was “deaf, dumb, and blind.” She was annoyed so much by her daughter that she stated, "I'd like to spank her."
A dissolving and disappearing community is different from a changing one because with being dissolved and disappearing, communities are gone forever, while a changing community evolves for either the god or bad.
Song: Church Pew or a Bar Stool By: Jason Aldean
Lyrics:
Ain't a whole lot going on Small town
Friday night Revving up at a red light
On your mark get set go
Pass a mom and pop restaurant
Same four trucks parked out front I guess ya gotta make your own fun
When you're stuck in a place this slow
There's only two means of salvation around here that seem to work Whiskey or the bible, shot glass or revival
When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence
People act like you don't make sense These big town dreams that I've been chasing
Will never come true if I wind up staying And I don't want, to fall in, the same rut, that everybody who seems to be stuck in now
Why do I hang around
yeah,yeah In this church pew or bar stool kinda town
I'm like that am station that never comes in right till u pass that city limit sign its the only time it gets clear its crystal clear that i just need to find a place
that where there's no lines nothing like it is around here someplace where it don't feel like this world revolves around
Whiskey or the bible, shot glass or revival
When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence
People act like you don't make sense
These big town dreams that I've been chasing
Will never come true if I wind up staying
And I don't want, to fall in, the same rut, that everybody who seems to be stuck in now
Why do I hang around In this church pew or bar stool kinda town
here it sometimes feels just like this world revolves around whiskey or the bible, shot glass or revival
When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence
People act like you don't make sense These big town dreams that I've been chasing
Will never come true if I wind up staying And I don't want, to fall in, the same rut, that everybody who seems to be stuck in now
Why do I hang around In this church pew or bar stool kinda town yeah i need to get out of this church pew or bar stool kind of town
Response to Song:
The artist uses the song to say how he does not like the small town he lives in. He dislikes seeing the same people over and over again, referring to them as being in “the same rut.” He believes the people have the choice of either being in a, “church pew or bar stool...” He restates this claim of either drinking or turning to God by singing, “Whiskey or the bible, shot glass or revival.” When he says, “These big town dreams that I've been chasing, will never come true if I wind up staying,” he feels trapped to stay in the community’s secluded atmosphere instead of pursuing his dreams. In the final line of the song, he states that, “I need to get out.” This quote directly says that he wishes to leave the town.
