Top Ten List

I was quite relieved after reading the two stories. Both O'Conner and Ellison write at a level that allow me to see into the world they are trying to draw their readers into. I've said it before, literature is not my forte. I found myself, while reading Ellison, to be picking out different elements of the story all on my own. I found the symbolism of the American flag, I found the racial tensions, and the tensions of sexism laced throughout the story. I walked away feeling like an English major. I walked away feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Following Ellison I read O'Conner. O'Conner, when just scratching the surface of her story, seems to be just a writer merely for entertainment. I began to sit and wonder why she wrote the story, surely it could not be for just entertainment. The story would not have been included in a Norton anthology had it been for pure entertainment. Then it hit me. O'Conner was a true postmodernist writer. The idea that old myths don't work and yet nothing can really work. O'Conner captured this with her character, Joy (my personal favorite). I caught myself actually laughing (as horrible as it is) when the bible salesman stole her leg. How did she get home? How did she get down out of the loft? What a fool! I had even seen that coming! These two stories have made my top ten list for this course along with Anne Bradstreet's "The Prologue." Very enjoyable!