Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" is about what the title implies but it is also about something more than what the simple title states. The poem is filled with many colorful images. It is very descriptive, using imagery, symbolism and similes as well as other forms of descriptive language. It is also a narrative poem, describing, what takes place in a boat.

The poem is actually about a simple subject; the catching of a fish. The entire poem is filled with the narrator's interpretation (in descriptive form) of what he sees when he catches the fish. In the first half of the poem, the fish is compared to a war hero. The last part of the poem seems to be an epiphany that the fish will be let go. The speaker of the poem is a man whose hobby is fishing. The tone of the speaker is challenging in the beginning then at the end it is filled with sorrow and sympathy. Throughout the poem the fish is addressed as "he", which seem to imply how important the fish is, to the narrator.

The narrator catches a prize fish. The fish is large, infected with sea lice and very old. When he looks at the fish he does not simply see a fish, but sees far beyond. He first takes in the fish's outward appearance, then goes further giving the reader a sense of "his" past. The narrator describes its outward appearance in great detail, describing everything from its skin to its jaw, to its eyes. Five old fishhooks were embedded into its mouth, after previous attempts at catching the fish had failed. The fish finally just gave up and now "he" is calm and not fighting. "He didn't fight/He hadn't fought at all." This clearly shows that the narrator is feeling sorry for the fish but at the same time he feels success in the fact that he has caught the fish.

The narrator has a great respect for the fish and does not want to defeat this special hero. He goes to great length to bring this fish "alive" in the sense that readers can visualize what he sees, for themselves. "While his grills were breathing in / the terrible oxygen" This also shows the good use the author makes of 'imagery' throughout this poem. One use of a simile is found when he describes the fish's skin and compared that to ancient wallpaper. "Here and there / his brown skin hung in strips/like ancient wall-paper." He does this by taking two very different objects and finding a way to liken them giving the reader a clear picture of what he would like us to visualize.

The narrator set the tone of the poem in the very beginning when he made the statement about the fish. "He hadn't fought at all." Readers immediately have a sense of defeat and sorrow for the fish. He further portrays this feeling when he goes on to describe the fish as being old and battered. " battered and venerable / and homely" Another simile is found in the poem when he states "shapes like full-brown roses/ stained and lost through age." to bring us a very vivid picture through comparison. He describes how its skin is stained and has lost its glory due to the old age. He is comparing the old fish with an old aged man's body. The fish is like an old man who is suffering from many diseases that does not have any strength for self-defense and has no desire to live. The narrator is trying to get the readers attention by telling them how badly he feels for the fish. Later in the poem, he goes on to describe its breathing and in doing so we can almost hear its ragged breathing giving the poem another dimension, that of sound. The fish he catches is not only old and ill but also it is dying. It is struggling for air not for life.

The author makes use of a hyperbole in the poem to drive a particular point across, in this case a vivid description. This is evident when he describes fish's eye and face. "I looked into his eyes/ which were far larger than mine". He is so much involved in feeling sorry for the fish that he thinks its eyes are bigger than his own. He gives you the impression that he can see the innocence and fear in its eyes. He also feels sorry for its swollen jaw and the pain it must feel from the old fishhooks. He is also very clear in showing how much he cares for the fish and giving importance to it. He makes use of an apostrophe to give more importance to the fish and to make it livelier for the readers. This is evident when he tries to talk to the fish by making eye to eye contact. "They shifted a little, but not/ to return my stare."

He makes use of personification in the poem to give credit to the fish. This is evident when he describes how the fish managed to leave five times before. "When it broke and he got away / Like medals with their ribbons. " It is picturing an soldier perhaps in place of the fish and you get the feeling that he had once stood for something important and still had a very strong sense of pride. When the author speaks of the hooks and lenses still hanging from the fish, I could almost picture, a long-forgotten soldier standing there. "With the swivel still attached, / with all their five big hooks" You picture the fish as if a solder, standing with regal bearing with his long ago earned medals still in place. They were worn as reminder of his once past pride and of all he had survived. I feel that the author is able to change the tone of the poem. By the end of the poem, I feel the tone has changed from one of defeat to one of admiration. Instead of feeling triumph for catching the great fish, the narrator feels regret that the challenge of catching the fish has gone. In the end, the narrator sees everything as a rainbow, which signifies the end of the battle. "the gunnels-until everything / was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!" Initially the battle is the challenge of catching the fish, later it is an emotional battle for the fish. In this instance the author does not like the fact he has won over the fish. He feels like what kind of winning is that where you play a trick and take away someone's freedom. What kind of winning is that, where there is no sense of equality; it is like a war between the strong and the weak.

In the end the fish wins the battle and the narrator lets the fish go. "And I let the fish go." This poem is a good example, which exhibits a tendency to combining the factual with the fanciful, the real with the imaginary.

GENERAL REVIEW OF THE SEX SITUATION by Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker's "General Review of the Sex Situation" is only eight lines long, but it is charged with power. This poem is designed to explain the difference of views that men and women have in regards to love. I believe that the speaker is taking the women's side, the way the poem describes the different approaches to love and also frustration over the love and the relationship. The tone of the speaker is full of frustration, anger and sympathy towards women.

The first line "Woman wants monogamy;" explains very simply, what a woman expects from a serious relationship. She expects the man to be faithful to her and her alone. She wants to be number one in his life with no other women to compete with for his love and attention. She wants her lover or husband to be honest with her so, she can trust and believe in him. She wants to feel proud of her lover's caring nature and respect to her. She would like to have a long lasting relationship with a man and feel secure in the relationship.

In the second line " Man delights in the novelty" it explains just how far apart women and men are in their expectations from a relationship by stating that a "man delights in novelty." In other words, the man rather than being completely satisfied with one partner may often enjoy the "novelty" of perhaps having several choices, for more excitement in his life. A man may never have satisfaction with a single relationship because of his search for variety. However, the man expects his woman to have only a monogamous single relationship, but the same does not apply to him. This also proves how men still like to show their dominance over women. Men can design bridges and build railroads across deserts and yet they contend successfully the job of sewing on a button is beyond them. Accordingly, they don't have to sew buttons. The man thinks of himself as the active lover, and women as the relatively passive people who are meant to be loved.

In the third line it states that " Love is woman's moon and sun;" Which I interpret to show just how much importance women place on love. To a woman it is very important and they would go to the ends of the world for their "love" For a woman love often means everything. True love for a woman is utmost importance. She will often sacrifice her life to retain the relationship. Just like "moon" and "sun" most of the time you can not see both of them at the same time, but they are in the sky all the time. In a relationship a woman's love and affection is not always visible, if you observe deeply enough you will be able to feel it. Women have simple tastes. They can get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms or in lying in the arms of the man they love.

The line that states " Man has other forms of fun" to me refers to other aspects of his life. To a lot of men, love is not a number one priority and he may enjoy several less serious relationships in his life. Work may also be of more importance to him or perhaps a hobby or various other things. For many men a relationship is just a physical pleasure in life. They do not understand the importance of a bond in a relationship and they only care for their own physical satisfaction out of any relationship. For a man the sun may not rise or set in regards to the woman in his life, because it may not be of that much important to him. You can see the "moon" and "sun" both together only twice a day for a very short time that is in the morning and evening just before and after the sun rise and set. In the same aspect a man only cares very little for a woman for his own fulfillment.

In the second stanza of the poem it expresses again the strong differences apparent in women and men and their views on love and relationship.

In line five " Woman lives but in her lord;" it states that a woman often places her "lord" or man's happiness above all else. For a woman, it is very important to maintain a long lasting relationship. She may often sacrifice her own happiness to save the relationship. She is willing to give all of her love and respect to the man of her life. Pleasing her "love" is of great importance to her, as in the common saying " your happiness is my happiness". Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious powers of reflecting the figure of a man at twice it's natural size. Men have always depended on women for a measurement of their self worth.

In the sixth line " Count to ten, and man is bored." It states that men on the other hand place a lot less importance on maintaining a relationship. They often like short-term relationships in which, they do not have to make any kind of commitment. They do not like to take the time in the responsibility that it takes to maintain a serious relationship. Many men avoid a long lasting relationship in fear of loosing their autonomy and freedom. Men are motivated to become involved in a relationship only when they have a need to be loved and cared for. They often become bored when the challenge or "newness" of the relationship wears off.

At the end of the poem in the last two lines, it asks the question "What earthly good can come of it?" Which basically implies that if the way men and women look at the things are so differently then "what good will ever come of it?" In other words I feel it ends by asking how a relationship between a man and a woman can ever work if they each look at things so differently.

It is very surprising to find out just how men and women differ in all areas of their lives. Not only do men and women communicate differently but they think, feel, perceive, react, respond, love, need, and appreciate differently. They almost seem to be from different planets, speaking different languages and needing different nourishment. This expanded understanding of our differences helps resolve much of the frustration in dealing with, and trying to understand the opposite sex. Misunderstanding and incorrect expectations are then can be easily avoided and corrected, that often come with serious relationships.

A & P by John Updike

After reading the story, we learned how Sammy got insightful picture of life complexity. Did he know the consequences of his decision before or not? He was a nineteen-year-old young man, with very little life experience, may be he did the right thing in that situation. When you are young with no experience of other side of the life, you do things without knowing right or wrong. You just do things in the flow. I have done things at that age which is unbelievable for me now, like attempting to drive dangerously on a motorbike to impress girls, while not even knowing how to ride the bike properly. There I risked my life and others in the road. In the story he only risked his job.

It was a bad day for Sammy or he was unlucky on that day of work. An A & P grocery store was located in the middle of town, five miles away from the beach. He was still lucky enough to see three girls with two-piece bathing suits inside the store, which was quite unusual. The way he described one girl in a suit " it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale" clearly shows how closely he was analyzing at that time. He cursed a customer "she is one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch" at check out lane for watching him and interfering with his thought process. He was attracted towards them, which was evident by the fact that he was feeling sorry when another store worker was watching them.

He got more and more attracted towards the girls during their every minutes of stay in the store. He was not himself " she lifts a folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top" when Queenie gave him the money at the check out lane. He described that as cute and sexy. It is not very uncommon for any young adult to do almost any thing to impress a girl, in that particular situation and time. He tried his best to impress her by opposing his supervisor's action and by giving up his job in hope of getting attention " hoping they will stop and watch me".

He felt insulted and stupid after the whole situation. He could have taken the job back by saying sorry to his supervisor, because the girls were not there to see him as their hero or to make fun of him. He did realize the consequences of not having work afterwards but not taking the job back indicates either his ego was hurt or he was dissatisfied with his current job.

THE ARTIFICIAL FAMILY by Anne Tyler

Now it is difficult to define the true meaning of family. True family is based on true love, caring each other and faithful to each other. It is kind of scary to think if you can't trust your family. There are many families based on artificial love, lack of trust and care for each other. Some families exist just to fulfill physical needs of one another. Family is made of more than one person so if one member of the family has any characteristic of an artificial family than the whole family suffers.

Sometime you expect something, but exactly opposite happens what one has expected. In the artificial family story Toby was the innocent victim. Life did not treat him fairly and his family life experience was a disaster. If foundation of a family will start with confusion like "Did you know I have a daughter?" then we expect very little for its future. For Mary it meant she expected Toby to love her, but not her daughter because she was not his own daughter anyway. For Toby it meant if he wanted a relationship with Mary then he required to love her daughter. Mary and Toby both were hungry for love. For Toby it was simply an unconditional love and to have a family life. On the other hand for Mary it was either just for physical need fulfillment or she did not wanted to share Toby's love with anybody.

On there first date, Toby was surprised that Mary's daughter Samantha had no exposure to outside world and her mental age was underdeveloped compared to her actual age. "Bugs Bunny was a stranger to her". It also tells us how a child's development depends upon a strong loving family. He followed his philosophy of love and wanted to become close to Samantha by offering to do babysitting for her. Mary rejected his offer and hired a babysitter to avoid any possibility of his involvement with her daughter. She even paid more to babysitter for their evenings out so that she did not have to share her love with her daughter during dating.

Open communication and honesty plays an important role for the long-term relationship. Lack of any of these brings problem later in relationship. That was what exactly happened with Toby and Mary after their marriage. They got married just after five months of dating. None of them knew what they expected from each other. Samantha played a vital role in their family life. For Toby, he needed to love her in order to have a good family life. For Mary, if her husband will not share his love with Samantha then they were going to have a good family life. As for Toby's parent, they did not want to have a ready-made grandchild.

True love, real family life is long lasting because, it based upon mutual understanding. Fake love, artificial family life is short term because lack of commitment. Toby was always afraid of losing his wife even after their marriage. He was still unsure about his wife's past marriage and his wife never wanted to share that with him. "Slammed a door on the subject". For him it was important to know because he did not wanted to have any similar situation in which he might lose his wife. He wanted to please his wife with every possible way without realizing he was actually making distance between them. His family problem was initiated during his parent's visit at Christmas. "Everything was meant to remind them of their artificiality". However his love towards his wife and his stepdaughter was real. He never treated Samantha as his stepdaughter "The only time he was ever angry was when she put her life in danger". He loved her as his own daughter. He brought her presents on holidays, went to garden and took her to school as a real father. When Samantha also started loving him then the real problem started. On the other hand Mary always as usual wanted to keep her daughter away from her husband. She even made rules for her daughter setting bedtime, not disturbing him during study time "that's Toby's place to be alone" and also created a separated study room for him. She expressed her anger and disagreement differently towards him when he brought gifts and his involvement with her daughter. She also blamed him for spoiling her daughter but did not tell him the real fact.

To secure their family life he wanted to have another baby, which was not supported by his wife. She did not wish to share her love with another person. She voiced this view by saying "Women don't." When Toby tried to explain why he gave gifts to them. She dressed differently, made her hair to look beautiful " she wore sweaters and skirts" and hoped this might divert her husband's attention, love from her daughter. She wanted to have all the attention, love from her husband and she did not want to share it with anybody. After not succeeded with her last attempt she left him alone without a family. Both of them were failed to secure their family life because of the lack of communication. She should not have expected him to know what she wanted and that was another reason why their marriage did not last long. Toby suffered unknowingly, as he was the part of that artificial love family.

CATHEDRAL by Raymond Carver

Over a lifetime of experience, people develop certain habits, be it good or bad. One should not make any kind of conclusion without knowing the complete fact. In our everyday life we get ideas for many things and make assumption of many things from the little knowledge we receive from our surroundings. Even sometimes, without exploring the detail information and knowledge we often create a mental image about something and react according to that.

Carver provides the reader with ample evidence of the central character's ignorant, stereotyped state of mind. Carver uses the image of a blind man, to exhibit the central character's outlook on life in the first half of the story .

The short story " Cathedral" opens with an irritated and sometimes hostile narrator whose wife invited a blind man to spend the night. The narrator's initial anger and anxiety seemed way out of proportion to the situation, as if the blind man was threatening him somehow. The narrator was not happy with the blind man's visit and it bothered him for two reasons. The first reason was, he was not looking forward having a blind man in his house. His disfigured image of blind men was that they were different from a normal person and that they react, talk and do things differently. "In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed". The second reason was, he was jealous about the blind man because he was his wife's childhood sweetheart. He was not under the direct threat but from his inner conscious he was anxious of losing his wife. "Anyway this man who'd first enjoyed her favors, � childhood sweetheart". Carver creates a conflict between the wife and husband about the blind man, which is the result of the central character's jealousy and inability to accept a blind person.

Gradually, as the evening wears on, the narrator began to relax with the blind man. He learned many things from the blind man that night. First when he saw the blind man, his mental picture for the blinds was changed. "I'd always thought dark glasses were a must for the blind". He also came to know that blind people could feel and do things perfectly as normal people can do. "The blind man had right ... � was everything on his plate." During their conversation he intentionally challenged the blind man in all sorts of ways, such as drinking, smoking cigarettes and dope, and turning on the television, which of course, the blind could not see. He also showed defensiveness and ignorance towards the blind man during their conversation. "I reached to draw her robe back ... I flipped the robe open again".

When the narrator was turning the television channels, he found a channel showing documentary about cathedral. He tried to describe a cathedral in words to the blind man. When that did not succeed, the blind man holds the narrator's hand as he draws a cathedral on a paper bag. The experience of that successful communication transformed the narrator.

As the blind man said, "Terrific. You are doing fine. Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime?" The narrator closed his eyes and draws blind, said "So we kept on with it. His finger rode my finger as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing in my life up to now." The ending left us pondering about how much more the narrator was learning about himself and about human communication than the blind man was learning about cathedral.

EVERYDAY USE by Alice Walker

The story "Everyday Use" contrasts two generations to define a lost heritage. A person never change by altering his or her appearance and neither the personality. Generally, a life learning experience associated with a personality or attitude change. Sudden change in personality could be due to impulsiveness or hiding from self.

It's a story about a family of two daughters and the mother. The mother had a very realistic and objective view of herself. She admitted that she was a large, big-boned with hands of a man. " In real life I am large, big-boned woman with rough," She offered the reader a lengthy, and seemingly, derogatory accounts of herself. She also admitted that she would like to be thinner. The mother's wished to be more attractive was, only to satisfy her visiting daughter, Dee. She was when talking about her fantasy of being on the television, even said that, " I am the way my daughter would want me to be". She also told reality about her childhood days that she never had any education, after her second grade her school closed down for no known reason.

Maggie, the younger daughter represented a sweet innocent, who struggled with life. She learned from the childhood that she could expect to hear 'No' or to be turned down in her desired. The world could treat her anyway it wants to and she learned to keep silent. She became handicapped after the disaster that burned their house and her normal growth. Since then she was very thin with a shuffling gate and learned to look down. "Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me". She was always nervous in presence of her sister. Even with her disability she tried to prepare herself and their home as decent as she could.

Dee, the elder daughter with lighter in skin, nicer hair and a fuller figure body. She represented ego, cleverness and cunning. She did not know what life struggle was and 'No" was a word that she never learned to listen. The fire disaster was the happiest moment for her because it burned down their old house, which she hated for its old look. " Why don't you do a dance around the ashes?" She had a dominating nature and always criticized her family for their way of living. The old house represented memory to the mother and Maggie but for Dee it was just an old house with no hope and she was ashamed to bring her friends to their home." But she will never bring her friends".

Dee came home from college with her boyfriend, with sudden interest in her ancestry. It was surprised for her family because before she refused to bring her friends but she brought her boyfriend to their home. When she arrived, the mother and Maggie seem to get nervous and treated her as if she was just another visitor. She was dressed in an old-fashioned way to represent her ancestry and changed her family name Dee to 'Wangero'. During mealtime she ate her meal and was delighted with the taste of the food. The benches, made by their father as they could not afford to buy chairs, was just a piece of wood before but it changed to a piece of priceless tradition. " I never knew how lovely these benches are". The churn top and dash were suddenly become invaluable to her.

When she asked her mother for the quilt, Maggie and her mother were nervous and afraid to refuse. The ironic part was that Dee wanted to display the quilt to reflect her heritage. She did not seem to have any respect for this newly discovered heritage, however the quilt was, indeed, a true symbol of their heritage. Every generation had owned the quilt and added on it, adding character and significance. The mother had also promised to give the quilt to Maggie. Dee accused her sister of being "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." The mother observed that she had offered the quilt to Dee when she left for college, but Dee did not want the quilt then because the quilt was old-fashion and out of style. Now she came back home saying that the quilt was priceless. It seemed that the quilt had become fashionable, as well as the idea of valued heritage. The irony of the whole situation was that Dee accused Maggie and her mother for not understanding their heritage. The reader knows that Dee was the one who had no understanding of heritage. She thought the quilt was something to be displayed. She only picked and chose the parts of her heritage that are generally accepted and could be displayed but she despised the way her mother and sister lived. She told Maggie that she ought to make something of herself. She rejected the lifestyle of her family, which was all a part of her own heritage.

MISERY by Anton Chekhov

Deep suffering is incommunicable, but the sufferer must try to find an outlet. Without outlet one feel suffocated and distressed. Depending on the situation and incident we react differently to distress. Sometimes some incidents can change our lifestyle and make us vulnerable. Patience and way of handling to that situation determines how we can conquer over the suffering.

This story " Misery" was about a man and his grief. Iona Potapov, an old cabman's son has died. He was sitting outside on the roadside just like a regular day with his cab and waiting for passengers. The only difference that day was, he was lost in his thoughts and was mourning his son. His grief and suffering was so deep he did not realize what was happening around him. "He sits on the box without stirring," He was so badly hurt from his son's death that he even did not realize the time and could not keep track of his day's work. When he realized it's becoming dark he came to know that he did not had a single passenger since morning. " It is a long time since Iona and his nag have budged".

His thoughts were interrupted, when a passenger came for the cab. He sits in his cab hesitatingly before he even realized. He was so badly affected from his misery that, he even was not able to concentrate on the road. "Where the devil are you going". This also indicated how a common cabman was treated at that time. For Iona it might not be a new experience but in that particular day he was expecting to get sympathy from others. He deserved sympathy from others but the public treated him as they supposed to treat a cabman.

He was in grief and wanted to share his grief with somebody. He tried to share his feelings with every person who was in his cab. He said to each of them, "My son died last week." The first passenger responded by asking, "What did he died of?" Before Iona answered that completely the passenger interrupted him by cursing. " Turn around, you devil!" The passenger did not pay attention to his story but instead was anxious to get to his destination. Then he met a group of three passengers and they offered him less fare than usual but he did not care much for it because he was not in a mood to make any argument with anybody. Instead he was in search of somebody who could listen to his grief and feel sorry for him. When he tried to share his grief to the group of passenger, they gave him a flip response; "We shall all die." Again that trivialized his story and his feeling. No one listened to him and no one was willing to talk to him.

After he returned to the yard, he tried to tell one of his colleague about his sad story but the person did not even bother to answer him and went to sleep. He was " thirsts for speech." He needed to occupy his mind, to share his anguish, to avoid the silence in which he imagined his son. " To talk about him with someone is possible," In the end he was reduced to experience some relief in warm, animal companionship of his horse, mare. As he told his sad story to the mare, she "breathes on her master's hand."

The story demonstrates how a human being, sometimes can get vulnerable and even utter their grief to an animal. Iona's eyes were in search of crowds to find someone who would listen to him. After he tried to talk to many people he discovered that it was no good to appeal to other people. Then consciously he turned from human to the mare (horse) and his action seemed to be entirely natural and inevitable.

THE METAMORPHOSIS by Franz Kafka

The story "The Metamorphosis" is vague and symbolic. It deals with disability, and the idea that one's work determines one's importance. If you are healthy, making a good living and have status in society, then you are respected by the others. At same time if you are disabled, poor and don't have status in society then you are not treated well by the others. In our society both status and money are essential for a respectful lifestyle. Your actual value depends upon the two factors. The actual meaning of metamorphosis is natural growth. In this story metamorphoses happened to all family members including the main character and the society.

This story is about a man named Gregor Samsa, one morning he awakes to find himself transformed into a giant insect. At first he was pre-occupied with practical, every day concerns. He hated himself for not getting up in time and missing his train to work. From this his punctuality towards his job reflects. At the same time he also voiced about how much he was bored with his work, because he had to get up early in the morning every day for his work. " A man needs his sleep." He was also worried about how to get out of the bed and to walk with his weak legs for his travelling job. When he focused his thoughts from his bedroom to his family, he was concerned about his family, because his family was depending upon him financially. His family was the main reason that he chooses to take travelling salesman job because it paid more than the regular office work. He kept doing the salesman job for long time even though he did not liked it. At that time his sole desire was to do his utmost to help the family to forget the catastrophe which had overwhelmed his father's business and thrown them all into a state of complete despair. "become a commercial traveler instead of a little clerk."

Finally when Gregor realized about his condition, his abilities, tastes and interests began to change. Some of his changes were generated from within and some were conditioned by the world's reaction to his metamorphosis. His new transformed condition can be compared to that of any person suffering from severe, particularly disfiguring, chronic illness or disability. His family's attitude changed towards him. He was amazed particularly about his mother's change in attitude. Before she was very kind and loved him all the time. She was the one who explained to chief clerk the reason for him not going to work that day, "He's not well". She also voiced concerned by asking for a doctor to treat his son, but later she totally isolated herself from her son. She reacted very strangely both times she came in contact with him accidentally or voluntarily. In fact her reaction stimulated his father to attack him by throwing apples to at him. His mother's changed in attitude was quite surprising for Gregor and for all readers. She disfigured the universal mother's loving image.

On the other hand his father's attitude remained same. He maintained his selfish character before and after his son's disability. After his failure in the business he never tried to went back to work and accepted his old age and got used to live with his son's support. He never told his son about the money he had from his previous business; it could be that he did not wanted to restart his business again. Before he could even realize he became dependent upon his son and his son took over his position in the family " he had grown rather fat and become sluggish". Even at the chief clerk's presence he expressed his impatience by knotting his fist with a fierce expression and suggested calling a locksmith rather than trying to find out what was wrong with his son. After knowing his son's condition his first action was locking him in his room. "Pitilessly Gregor's father drove back". Later he was angry from the fact that he had to go back to his previous family responsibility. So his isolation from his son did not bothered Gregor or to the readers.

At the same time his sister Grete's attitude changed slowly throughout the story. Because of her brother's support, she never had to work before. Her brother always showed his love and gave her importance in family matters. He was the one who wanted her to take violin lessons despite great expenses to fulfill her dream. So after his disability her immediate reaction was not bad as compared to other members of his family. Initially she served him with his favorite food and cleaned his room twice everyday " although milk had been his favorite food and that was certainly why his sister had set it". After few months she gave him any food which was available at that time,"hurriedly pushed into his room with her foot" and cleaned his room once a day. Later they hired a servant to establish complete isolation from the whole family. Finally she proposed in front of the family to get rid of him. " Then we wouldn't have any brother, but we'd be able... ."

As time passed Gregor learned to adapt to his new life as an insect, while his family learned to live without his vital income, so in this way metamorphosis occurred to the whole family. After his disability, his lifestyle and personal identity changed. In the new identity, his senses were different. His abilities changed, now he had to struggle to move around his room. His voice changed, now nobody could understand him. His family withdrawn from him and kept him isolated in a closed room. He lost his importance in the family. His sister took his importance in the family. His sister also got a job and started a new life. Now she made the decisions of what was good for his brother. His father, who had been disabled, mobilized and went back to work. He changed from being an "old man" to a bank worker "holding himself very erect". Gregor's mental image changed about his family. His sister could play violin for the outsider who even did not appreciated her but she did not had time to play for him. His family did not had time to take care of him during his disabled condition. He finally died from starvation, unhygienic condition, and hunger for love and care from his own family, for whom he had sacrifice in past.

After the change he was imprisoned by social and economic demands. Before he had become strong as a result of his father's failure. Unintentionally he crippled his father's self-esteem and took over the father's position in the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence took place in reverse; son became weak, and father killed him. His ability was greatly appreciated before but his disability created extra burden for the family. After his death, family planed for a celebration for their daughter's marriage. Grete got all the importance because of her work.

THE RUMOR by John Updike

I would like to start with an old story, once upon a time there was a girl, her name was Amy. She was known for her abnormal size of her eyes. Everybody used to believe that whenever she looked at something a wrong thing happened afterwards. Because of her eyes, her life was distressing and miserable. Things got worse after her marriage. Her husband blamed her for everything went wrong in their life. Soon she started doubting herself and put an end to her eyesight to prevent any harm to her unborn child. This clearly shows how sometimes people, surrounding and family can affect our own belief. Sometime outside force (rumor) can cause internal character changes.

Frank and Sharon both knew each other from their childhood. Their families were also known to each other. Their marriage was successful and they had a very good understanding with each other. " She knew that together ... " clearly shows how successful their married life was. After moving to Hasting, NewYork from Cincinnati, Ohio she heard about the rumor. The story provided the evidence that Sharon had a different personality. She could believe anything very easily but at the same time, defended her own beliefs. Over the phone she listened to Avis, a friend of her about the rumor and at the same time she was distorted from the fact, how could Avis have said such thing because; she had a sexual relationship with her husband. The rumor was Frank was going to leave Sharon and will run off with his young homosexual lover.

At first Sharon did not believe the rumor however her suspicion mind dominated their married life. Their long lasting relationship, their strong understanding did not stop her from thinking about the rumor. She knew him from her childhood still she could not stop herself from doubting her husband. On the other hand Frank was calm and quite. He did not care for his wife's suspicion. He knew he was innocent and he didn't need to prove it. His reaction to his wife's suspicion was neutral at first then later on he started making fun of it. When he sensed the intensity of the problem, he was very upset with his wife. To solve that problem he even compromised with his family life "neglect to the house and their sons". It is not surprising how our attitude changes from one situation to other "how she helplessly". He was frustrated that his wife could listen to a person over the phone who she didn't like anyway, and not believe her husband, who was sitting beside her.

Environment and surrounding does affect our thinking and sometimes even our personality and character. Frank started thinking about the rumor, which he had been ignoring before. There must be something even knowing that, he was innocent. It is very surprising and unbelievable how we can doubt ourselves just from the fact what other people are saying. He started analyzing his previous life style, his relationship with his friends, his love towards his father and how he always liked taller and stronger men before. All these things were meaningless to him before but now it became active and part of his life.

Sometimes to find truth about a baseless thing we don't realize that we are becoming part of that. We don't realize others don't care about it anymore and here we are doing it for them and unconsciously becoming part of that baseless thing. When Frank came to know the truth about the rumor, he was excited to pass on that to his wife. He did not realize his wife don't care much about it anymore. At the same time he was so much involved with the fact that he could not separate himself from it. His personality and his thinking had changed unconsciously. The rumor, the mindless power was responsible for that. It is surprising to know how outside environment can control and change our character. It can stop believing in us.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN by Arthur Miller

Hiding from truth and reality do not help a person to succeed in life. Sometimes our families, our surroundings significantly influence our lifestyle. Our personality can be changed by our surroundings. There are people who only believe in themselves, some people are influenced by others, and still there are some people that listen but don't do anything. The type of people around us often determines our success in life. They can make or break our life. "The tragic right is a condition of life, in which the human personality is able to flower and realize itself. The wrong is a condition, which suppresses man, perverts the flower out of his love and creative instinct"(Miller).

The drama "Death of a salesman" was a play about a man and his false pride. The story revolved around a man named Willy Loman, a travelling salesman. He was not a successful salesman, but remained at his job for thirty-six years as the result of his false pride and his dream.

One day he came home from a sales trip and told his wife that he was not able to continue his job travelling because; he was not able to concentrate on the road. " I am tired to the death". It showed his tiredness with the travelling and given upon his dream. He was very good with his hands " Yeah, that's piece of work." He had decided on becoming a salesman after meeting a successful salesman Dave Singleman. Dave gave him the impression that one could continue to make good money after retirement without leaving the home. "Pick up his phone and call the buyers". Willy was also impressed with the fact that, when Dave died hundreds of salesmen and buyers came to his funeral to show their respect. From this impression he decided that salesman job was the one of the best job to gain respect and personality. Later even when he realized that this was not true, he did not change his opinion it could be due to fear of hurting his ego or because of his wife's false support. Due to his false pride, he did not take the job offered by his friend but instead chose to borrow money from him.

Willy was not a successful father for his children. As a father he did not earned trust or respect from his children. He expected a lot from his children but never tried to prevent his elder son Biff from stealing, which was brought to his attention by his friend. "Listen, if they steal any more that building ... " He was proud of his son because he was a good football player. While he was in high school his son received many athletic scholarships offers by numerous university teams. From that Willy received the message that his son was very popular, and Willy thought that was what counts to be successful. His idea of success in business was therefore based on appearances, personality and popularity. "Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world ... is the man who gets ahead". He was convinced that both of his sons had character that necessary for success, and decided he need not to be concerned about their academic activities. Because of this conclusion when his son's friend Bernard told him about his failure in Mathematics which could prevent his graduation. Instead of correcting his son he criticized Bernard by saying, "Bernard is not well liked, is he?" in front of his children. Because of this false idea he never really understood the reality of success.

He also failed as a husband. He never treated his wife with respect and never listened to her for her opinion in any of their family matters. "Will you let me talk? Willy said to Linda continually". On the other hand his wife Linda tried to be a good mother and wife but she did not really know what she was doing. During the majority of the play she hid her true self and passively agreed with her husband on most subjects. She was smart enough to differentiate between right and wrong or true and false; however she never told her husband what was the right thing to do, she simply agreed with everything that her husband said. Because of this, she played a part in keeping Willy from facing the truth about him. When he told her after a sales trip that he could not concentrate on the road and he was tired, she instead encouraged him by diverting the topic "Maybe it's your glasses." " Next week you will do better." She also manipulated him, by making his ideas seem greater and by giving her full support. For example when Willy planned to see Howard, his boss for job placement she was fully aware of the situation, but she supported him blindly. "When he brought them business, when he was young" She always encouraged both sons to apology to their father even when he was wrong. " Don't let him go to bed that way."

Willy's two son's Biff and Happy, were two aspects of him. Biff represented Willy's spiritual needs. He was unsuccessful with his life, partly because of himself and partly because of his parents. He had a bad habit of stealing from childhood and because of that he was never able to hold any job after he left home. " I stole myself out of every good job since high school." The other reason for his failure was his parents. They never did anything to correct his bad habits. His father expected more from him than he could do. "And I never got anywhere because you blew me so full of hot air I could ... " His father was the reason why he never pursued for college after he failed high school. He also happened to see his father's affair with a woman. That precipitated his drifting through his life. However, he always loved his parents, especially his father even before "Missed you every minute." and after "A fine, trouble prince." the incident. On the other hand' his younger son Happy represented Willy's materialism and sexuality. He was able to manage his living with a strong presence of mind and by manipulating other people. He never cared much about his parents and never tried to become involved with any family matters. " I didn't know that, Mom." He gave more importance to women than his parents. At the restaurant he choose not to introduce his father in front of the women, in fear of losing them but instead denied his father, leaving in a vulnerable condition. "No, that's not my father."

Willy's initial wrong idea about the salesman's job brought disaster to him and his family. Because of his travelling he had to live away from his family and which led him to an inappropriate relationship, which he tried to justify to Biff. "She's nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely," His fixation with the idea that one only needs personal attraction to be successful in the business world, is what prevented him from disciplining his son, which led to Biff's false expectations. His false pride about his job and self-centered personality made him suffer all the time. When he realized the truth about his son and was convinced that Biff still loved him then he proceeded with his plan. His plan was committing suicide for insurance money, which he came up with during an imaginary conversation with his dead brother.

In the play Willy's friend Charley and his son Bernard told him several times the truth about himself. "Willy, when're you gonna realize" He did not listen to them because of his pride or because he did not want to be insulted. When his boss told him about his false pride "This is no time for false pride, Willy." he started to recognize his true value. At the end when Biff told the truth about him (Willy) and himself "Pop! I'm a dime a dozen, and so are you!" then he realized his mistakes. Throughout the play Linda listened to Willy and never stopped him even when she knew he was wrong. So she was also to fault for attributing to her husband going insane and for corrupting the minds of her children.

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THE FISH by Elizabeth Bishop