Six Rows of Flowers

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"The Contest." Story Analysis

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"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment:" Story Analysis

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Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)  An American writer.  He spent his early years in Maine.  An injury forced him to remain immobile for a considerable period, during which he developed an exceptional taste for reading and thinking.  He attended Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1825.  His books The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables are classics of American Literature.

Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment

                Dr. Heidegger was an old man with a sad and tragic love story.  One day he invited four of his friends over to persuade them to take part in an experiment he wanted to try.  After sharing his love story, he showed them a dry rose he had kept for years which he used to prove to them that the water  he had was from a “Fountain of Youth.”  Convinced, the four friends drank it eagerly.  Dr. Heidegger wanted to see if they had learned from their mistakes made in the past.  At the end he realized that they hadn’t.

* Analyzing the story’s plot: conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution.

Plot:  Dr. Heidegger invites four friends over to persuade them to take part in an experiment.

Conflict:  To see if the water of the Fountain of Youth really works.

Rising Action:  Dr. Heidegger´s friends think that what he is saying about the water is not possible.  

Climax:  The four friends become young again after drinking the water.

Resolution:  The four friends start acting in a strange way and become old again.

* Analyzing the characters.

                Dr. Heidegger:  he was an old strange man who had been living his life in pain for losing the opportunity to be happy when he was young.  He was interested in experimenting people’s behavior if given the opportunity to go back in time.

                Mr. Medbourne:  He was greedy and old.  He was homeless because he hadn’t been smart enough at making business deals, which caused him to lose the fortune he once had.

                Mr. Gascon:  He was old and poor.  He had a politician personality.  He had also had an unfortunate life.  He was a former convict for making the wrong choices in his past, he lived feeling ashamed.     

                Colonel Killigrew:  He was old and sick.  He had lived an unfortunate life for being an alcoholic and for not taking good care of his health.

                Widow Wycherly:  She was an old widow who had always had a very high opinion of herself, she was very conceited.  Seeing herself old, with white hair and deep wrinkles made her feel very unfortunate.

* Identifying the moral or teaching of the story.

                 In my opinion the moral of the story is that saying things is not enough to make change possible.  If you don’t truly change the negative aspects of your personality you can’t be a better person.

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                I really liked this story because the teaching that it gives us readers is meaningful.  The fact that we should live the present -that we do have- the best possible way, being the best we can be in all aspects of life, to try hard to be genuinely happy so that when we are old we can look back and have no regrets whatsoever.   I think that the irony in the story is that Dr. Heidegger was not willing to have the water, even though he had spent most of his life treasuring the memories of what could’ve been.

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"300 Pesos" Story Analysis

“Three Hundred Pesos.”   Story Analysis                           

Author’s Biography

                Manuela Williams Crosno was born in 1905 and died in 1977.  She lived most of her life in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Most of her stories were based on her interest in Hispanic culture and it is clearly reflected in them.    Besides being a writer, she was also a poet, an artist, and an accomplished English teacher.  With her essay “Why I Teach School,” Crosno won a statewide writing contest.

Summary of the story

                This story is about a man so greedy that he forgot to enjoy life and be happy.  His ambition wouldn’t let him see the fact that he had a family that needed him.  His name was Anastacio, all he wanted in life was to have a lot of money and own his own business.   He needed three hundred pesos to reach his goal.  He refuses to lend his sister and brother some money in desperate time of need.  He eventually dies in an accident just when he had finally accomplished what he had always wanted.

               

Analysis

PLOT

This short story is about a man who needed “Three Hundred Pesos” in order to achieve his dream of becoming rich and having his own business.  In order to pursue his goal he doesn’t  mind turning his back on his family in time of need.    

CONFLICT

Anastacio pursues his dream of becoming rich at any cost.  His goal is to have three hundred pesos in order to be able to achieve it.

RISING ACTION

Emilio needed one peso to get medicine for his sick child. 

Emilio asked Anastacio, but he refused to lend him the money.

The crops in the village were destroyed by a storm.

Berta also asked Anastacio for help, but he said no.

Anastacio’s crop was ruined by a flock of wandering sheep.

CLIMAX

Anastacio reaches his goal of having three hundred pesos, neverthless he dies in an accident.

RESOLUTION

Emilio and Berta find their death brother and spend the money in the funeral.

The Characters

Anastacio Perea:  He was a farmer but he didn’t like to be one.  He had big dreams but his selfish attitude made him extremely greedy.   He was unhappy and so money-oriented.         

Emilio Perea:   He was also a farmer.  He was Anastacio’s brother.  He was someone who cared about his family, he was a very loving father.  He cared more about others things in life than money, he was hard working and unselfish and still poor. 

Berta Perea:  She was Anastacio’s and Emilio’s sister.  She was also poor, but very hardworking and  generous.

The Teaching of the Story

In my opinion the take on this short story is simply that money is not the most important thing in life.  You could spend your life working extremely hard thinking mostly about your future that you forget to live and enjoy the moment you are on –the present-.  Also, that  family play an important role in our lives and that we should never forget that.

I liked this short story very much because it’s a story that reflects the irony of life.  Many times people focus their lives mostly on making money with the idea that it will give them the happiness they want,   and as we could see in this story, that is not always the case. 

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