Reading Response 3

The article that I choose to write about for my third reading response was Dorthy Allison What Did You Expect? I choose to read this because of the fact the she is the arthor of Bastard out of South Carolina, a movie that i remember seeing years ago. After reading the few pages I realized that Dorthy Allison is much like myself and other women in the world today. She does not want to fit into the traditional female role of the typical woman or house wife, and neither do I. You ould think that living in 21st century America that this is an idea of the past, however it's not the case at all. I have several of my female friends that whe I ask what the want to do in life the answer get married and stay home with children. However that is definately not the case for me, I don't ven k ow if I want children at all. The one thing that I do want in life is my own identity and being able to be involved in activities that I am passionate about. For xample ten years from now I see myself running Wall St. or a finance company, or even being a CFO but definately not a house wife. Not that there is anything wrong with being a housewife it's a wonderful thing to do for some women (like my mother) just not me. Another thing that I realized maybe by aciident that I am not very domestic, my entire life I actually thought I was. I figured this out my living in an apartment and never really cooking or baking, doing girly type things like that. Don't get me wrong I love to cook and am a very clean picky person, but I definately wouldnt want my life to revolve around it. When it comes down to it I woul much rather spend my evenings watching football or drag races then baking cookies, it's just not my thing. It's funny because when people see me much like the author I am in heals and a girly shirt but in reality I can't wait to get into my sweats and fav jersey. I guess you could say I have many sides, but definately being a housewife or even typical girl is not one of them. Overall I loved the reading, it reminded me of the preasures that women face even today!!!

REading response 2 revised

Danielle Kuschnik
10/30/09
Composition 106
Reading Response 2

It’s that time of year again, when the movie screens are filled with horror films. I myself have never truly thought of many horror films as having a real moral to the story, except for maybe Saw series; where the moral is clearly stated throughout the entire films. I have always viewed scary movies as an object of pure entertainment, because of the simple fact that most of the films are so out of the realm of reality that it is hard to pull a moral out of them. This however is not the case with the urban legend of The Hook by David Emery. This is the classic story of two lovers that park in the middle of nowhere, looking to be pernicious. Suddenly a news flash comes on the radio that an escaped convict is on the loose, with a hook as a right hand. The boy tries to advance on the girl even though she is frightened and eventually the boy gives in and drives her home; but not without finding a bloody hook on the passenger side door. When I first read this age old story again, I noticed the fact that I truly never would have understood the true moral of the story, unless it was pointed out as I was reading. The moral or the story is that when young, curious teenagers try to experiment with premarital sexual activities bad things happen. (This urban legend has been around since the nineteen fifties, a time when any premarital sexual activities where highly discouraged.) One subtle factor of the legend that I would have definitely missed unless it was mentioned was the meaning of the story, and why a hook was used as a means of slaughter verses something like a knife. The reason why a hook was used as a weapon of choice is because the boy is trying to relentlessly “hook” his teeth in the girl and really does not want to let go of his owns elfish “needs”(well more like lustfulness desires). Another factor of the story that I completely would have also missed was the symbolism that the news brad cast plays in the story. The voice of the news alert is really in reality a voice of reason that is trying to trigger a stopping mechanism for the premarital sexual activities. In closing I really liked reading this age old urban legend, especially around Halloween time and it nice for a change, to see more clearly the meanings of urban legends verses as just viewing them as a source of entertainment.