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- Reading responses are due Mondays and Wednesdays by midnight, no exceptions.
In "Tunguska" I really loved the flashback to present time transitions from where he is watching TV to relating those moments he is watching to flashbacks and just memories that make him smile. It made me smile the most when he was talking about how Miss Lara would be proud of him for spelling out the words. I noticed the boy has a habit of wiping his chin a lot to clean up the drool? It just had me questioning how young he is and made me curious as it stood out to me. While reading "Shoes" at first I thought I was just reading about a dude who has some shoe fetish/obsession, but this definitely was eerie read for me, but it was something I found myself so drawn to. They kind of remind me of a Bonnie and Clyde duo except Brudos and Cynthia. I loved the atmosphere change when she tells her mother to try on the shoes. It felt like that moment in a movie where it just gets silent and hostile which is a moment I personally love. I loved seeing that moment put into words. In "Hollywood Ends" I liked the structure of the piece overall because I love to read things in scenes. I have a like/dislike with how fast paced with everything happening, but I just found it hard to understand what is happening exactly even though I looked up to what they connected to, but I somewhat understood the gist of it. Honestly though, the comedic elements make up for it because I found myself smiling a lot with what they were saying. I'm just curious if it's portraying the life of actors within the scenes or is it the roles they're playing? I find myself bouncing back and forth between those two perspectives.
ReplyDeleteFaith Ortiz
The story “Tunguska” traces the behavior of a boy with developmental issues, although they are not explicitly stated. We see him drooling, and reading the letters on TV like “white on thin strips of black” and his unusual treatment to the family cat. The title is significant because Tunguska is the name of the explosion that took place in Siberia in 1908, the causes of which are still unknown. Just as this was a giant force, and impactful crash into the earth, the boy’s life contains a lot of energy, but has a mystery to it. “Shoes” shows a man with a strange obsession over women’s feet in heeled shoes. I liked the tension of the story building as we learn how the man’s wife is aware of the murders he commits, and ends with the implication that perhaps the wife incites him to kill these women. Brudos’ line, “I fix things” has a double entendre, because perhaps he fixes problems by eliminating them… “Hollywood Ends” seems to weave various movies and dialogue into a man’s life. I found this piece most confusing, partly from the usual scene structure, and also because I only recognized two of the references to movies/actors and would have to research the rest to understand the implications.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Roeglin
“Tunguska” is a little boy’s account of the chilling events that unfold during what seems like an average day. First the little boy is shown to be slowly pronouncing words on the television. He is fascinated by the paper chimes. The story escalates when an artic wind flows by, knocking the boy over, leaving the mother still like a paper chime. Questions of possible suicide or if he is describing the events of the famous explosion arise. “Shoes” also seems to go through a typical day in the life of a grown man. He seems obsessed with footwear, and his dynamic with his wife seems odd. I felt an odd feeling when the mother is introduced with the peppers. This makes me feel uneasy, which only exemplifies when we realize that Cyn was raped by her own father, and her mother did nothing to prevent it. “Hollywood Ends” is a smooth transition from person to person relating movies and quotes, ending in freedom. When Gloria is fired, we see a switch in the main character. He finds a newfound liberty. We find that this group of friends is close, and often fill up their work time with references to their favorite movies.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Campos
“Tunguska,” from what I understand is about a young boy who is fascinated from the scenes that play out on the television. To him, they are wondrous and beautiful, unlike anything he has ever seen, and he watches everything in closed captions and focuses on the words that are being displayed on the screen. At one point in the story the kid cuts the tail off of a stray cat, unbeknownst of the legitimate damage he had done to a living animal. There is also a quick scene where he is getting punished for dismembering frogs, although it doesn’t seem that way on the first read through. “He felt the thrust on his shoulders from his mother’s thumbs each time a flustered Miss Lara pointed into the dish with the dismembered frogs,” is placed so slickly that it does not seem like a big deal until you realize that the boy is the one who is doing the massacring (1). During both of the slaughtering incidents the mother does nothing more but remain silent and washes him of his harmful deeds whether it be cleaning off his hands or running him a bath. Then things start to get truly intense when the young boy follows what he thinks is the tailless cat into his parent’s room where his mother is napping, and something happens that I can’t quite decipher. Is she having a miscarriage by the boy’s own doing? Also, the hot breaths are something to pay attention to because I view them as an indication of life since it is brought up multiple times when the boy is faced talking to his mother. At the very end the boy feels a wind of cold air which must mean that a life has now ended. I enjoyed this short story a lot, but I’m slightly confused, I hope I’m not overthinking it.
ReplyDelete“Shoes” has to be one of the most interesting short stories I have ever read. This story begins with a head on collision of what the audience is to expect of the main character, Brudos, who is a serial-killing-foot-fetish-fiend with a wife, Cynthia, who knows all of his dirty secrets and doesn’t care, at least I assume she doesn’t. The couple is expecting Cynthia’s mother who is asking her daughter to sign papers that will guarantee her a settlement from her husband who is dying. The husband/father is exposed in the story, through dialogue, as a disgusting man who molested his daughter while the mother did nothing about his actions. Brudos immediately notices his mother-in-law’s cheap pumps so his lust is misplaced until his wife insists that her mother put on a brand-new pair of sleek black stilettos. This immediately catches his attention which gives him an itch in his left nostril, a telltale sign that he is excited for what is about to come. Insisting that she’ll put them on later, Cynthia tells her mother that she will only sign it when her mother puts on the heels and stands up to showcase her new accessory. The mother stands only to end up falling and asking for help, and Cynthia then tells Brudos to “help” her mother before she walks away with the slap of her flip flops on the title. I loved that ending paragraph because it makes one think about the amount of pain Cynthia must carry for her to seek revenge in such a deliberate, and strange manner. It’s shocking, yet when put into Cynthia’s position the question of morality comes into play.
“Hollywood Ends” are scenes broken down into five separate moments following one character. I don’t think I have ever read something in this format and I was lost with all of the references which sucks because I think it’s what makes the story. I couldn’t piece everything together and I was left feeling confused. I’m sure tomorrow when it’s explained, and we have class discussion I’ll have a moment of clarity. However, I do appreciate the amount of film knowledge that went into this piece, I think it’s neat that classic films are incorporated into the story.
Kimberlee Salas
In the first selection, "Tunguska" a boy is being described and we can infer that he is a bit different. He seems to have possible medical issues which ties into the fact that he is always drooling, and observing a television so closely. He also has odd encounters with the family cat. I had a hard time making out what this selection was supposed to mean, but after reading other responses I came to find out the title of the story has significance. After learning that this title has connection to an explosion that happened I was able to get a different feel from reading this piece. The second story, "Shoes" was by far the most interesting piece. I was able to understand what was going on, and it had such an eerie vibe with the organization. This story gave the reader hints so I was able to take into account all the points in the story. This helped me give significance to some of the symbols used throughout the story. There was also something oddly satisfying knowing that the wife was going to get revenge on her mom for allowing her father to continuously assault her. In the last story, " Hollywood Ends" I wasn't really sure what we were talking about. I couldn't grasp the main idea and it was very confusing for me. I did enjoy the structure of the story because it was something different that connected the title. The fact that these scenes were in the story allowed me to play the events as if it were a movie which is why thought it was clever to name the story 'Hollywood Ends'.
ReplyDeleteLianna Andrade
“Tunguska” reminded me of my little brother when he was younger. As I was reading, I envisioned my brother because that was the way he would act. He wouldn’t cut animals tails off, but he was certainly rough with animals, had speech impediments and would be entertained by the TV a lot; just like the boy in this reading. My brother is a special needs child, so I’m wondering if maybe the boy in the reading is a special needs child as well. It was a good read, I liked the amount of detail in it. What I didn’t understand fully was the ending. What is it referring to?
ReplyDelete“Shoes” was my favorite reading. It was intense and even though it didn’t specifically have action, as a reader I knew exactly what was going on. It was interesting and yet a mysterious read. I also liked the amount of detail in this reading, it kind of reminded of American Horror Story: Murder House when the Doctor was working in his basement trying to sow back his kid that was brutally decapitated. But instead this man was working on shoes I’m assuming… shoes that probably break peoples’ feet and then he cuts them off. But I’m not certain if that’s the case, I’m only making assumptions. The ending was super intense and good also. This was probably one of the best readings I have ever read.
I was kind of confused while reading “Hollywood Ends” but I feel like that was the whole point of it. It seemed to transition from person to person. Talking about movies but I would like to know why. Why are all the conversations based on discussing actors and movies. It was an interesting read but I would like to know more.
Ilene Guevara
In the first story “Tunguska”, I was immediately drawn in by the descriptive details and the attention grabber in the first paragraph. With those kind of details, it was easy to imagine the character, which seems to have a learning disability and how he sees the world. I felt like I could somewhat relate to the story because I have a niece that was born with Down’s Syndrome and this story gave me their point of view. The second story called “Shoes” reminded me of a movie. The dialogue made it easy to imagine it play out how a movie would, and the plot about how a murderer with an obsession to women’s high heels makes it Hollywood like. The ending left me with doubts about the couple. Is she okay with her husband having such dark secrets? It seems like her whole life has been plagued with bad situations, first with getting raped by her dad then by having a killer husband. The last script “Hollywood Ends” was hard for me to understand and follow. The setup that it’s in, script, is confusing and doesn’t follow a straight narrative like a story does. Even though it was hard to follow, it did get the main idea through of a man that gets in trouble for watching a movie at work.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Rosales
Tunguska by Robert Paul Moreria was interesting to read the way the story starts off is a great attention grabber with descriptive detail to where it was not hard to envision this character. I was unsure but I felt as if they boy had a disability but the character reminded me of my cousin who was just a wild as him to an extent I mean he wouldn’t harm animals but we were constantly having to remind him that they have feelings too. I enjoyed it the most. “Shoes” was also good the dialogue helped me get through the reading with ease. But it was somewhat dark with everything going Cynthia was harboring a lot of anger towards her mother for letting her father hurt her as a kid and in away she found revenge. It was pretty crazy on how it leaves you hanging but deep down you know Brudos killed her mother. Now with “Hollywood Ends” I was completely lost no matter how many times I read it. But I will say the title did intrigue me in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteAndi Rubalcava
"Tunguska" i can infer that the young boy is a special needs child. He was described as drooling, highly observant, and other factors that were kind of red flags. In my opinion, this was a bit of a hard read for me, mainly because I didn't really understand what was the meaning behind the entire thing, but from reading other comments it looks like there is a connection between the title and the selection. "Shoes" was a very interesting read more so because the revenge aspect in this selection is very intriguing to me personally. Just reading how the plot correlates around a pair of high heels makes me feel like it is a movie topic.
ReplyDeleteCaesar De Luna
In the story Tunguska what I interpreted was a serial killer in the making, not only does he seem to have some sort of brain underdevelopment issues because of the fact he’s “wiping his drool”, but the fact that he’s abusing animals such as cutting off tail of a cat, old enough to know its wrong? Or old enough to know it wouldn’t make him feel anything. However, the ending does seem to show a significant event that happened in 1908 to give us an idea of what time era this was being taken place. In the story “shoes” what it seems to me is that Brudos is a serial killer and that his wife Cynthia Marie had a notion of the acts her husband would commit. And she and used this to have her mother murdered for wanting to keep the inheritance of Cynthia Marie’s father who happened to molest her. Therefore making the wife just as messed up as the husband. In the last story or script was a bit confusing, but probably because its meant to be acted out and not read so maybe itd be more interesting. I really enjoyed the first few scenes where they contained quite a bit of humor.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Ruiz
I enjoyed reading “Tangusta”, because it offered such a vast amount of sensory details. Each time the boy would wipe drool from his chin, I could truly imagine the innocence of the moment. I enjoyed how intriguing the story was from beginning to end; I believe it was entertaining because of the amount of description offered for each event, or flashback. I also enjoyed how the construction paper wind chimes, had more significance than just an arts and crafts project. As a child, I was always mesmerized with reading subtitles, it always made television more entertaining, so I related to this story in that aspect. “Shoes” was such an interesting read. Brudos has a foot fetish, and his wife seems so be completely aware and cool about it. Whenever Brudos gets interested or aroused, his nostril begins to itch; I like how that is emphasized throughout the story. The ending was so weird to me, but in the best possible way. Cynthia forces her mother to put on heels, that she knows Brudos will like, in exchange for her signature on her father’s will. I think this was an interesting take on telling a story about a man with a foot fetish, very well written. In “Hollywood Ends” I was really confused. There was a lot of movement through dialogue and I had trouble understanding the references.
ReplyDeleteValerie Jackson
Tunguska’s title is a complete allusion to the Tunguska event that occurred near the Stony Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia; the Tunguska event was an explosion that flattened over 770 square miles. When first reading this story, I was under the impression the boy was deaf, and I’m pretty sure he’s deaf because sounds are almost never described and the sentence “He watched as the chime swayed to the silent wisps of the ceiling fan” came up, with the keyword being “silent.” However, I was under the impression the boy had become deaf as a result of the Tunguska event, which would have been curious, seeing as the actual event claimed no human casualties. We can infer from the television sequence “JONES. CHURCH. DRUGS.” that Jim Jones is being referenced, and that the current date is November 18, 1978 or beyond that. This is also curious, because this goes against my initial impression that the boy was deafened by the Tunguska event, so either the boy was never deafened from the event and the Tunguska event is used metaphorically, or the boy isn’t actually a boy, but is actually a man with the behavior befitting a child. This deepens the mystery. Another thing I found curious… It’s how the boy reads off the consonants of Tunguska… “TUNG...TUN-GU…” and it’s used almost akin to the sound of an explosion.
ReplyDeleteThe second story Shoes brings together both beginning and ending metaphorically, and even turns the roles around between shoes and feet, mother and daughter. In the beginning we see evidence of corpses of young girls with their feet cut off, which is symbolic to a lack of escape, and quite literally from their situation. “Her maiden name, too: Rose. Her mother appeared and said she had last seen Patty on the morning of June 5 just prior to the girl leaving the house for an interview at the local building and loan.” This sentence mirrors the near-end as Cyn’s actual mother then comes in asking for a loan, and the daughter’s behavior is basically telling her that she is dead to her, especially after this loan. This is a reversal of the roles in the beginning, as the daughter was the one who died while the mother lived to tell the story.
Hollywood Ends. On the first time around, it was difficult to understand any of the allusions made throughout the piece itself, though a good second-read through all the references reveals there to be much more character to the story. Where exactly the narrator works is ambiguous, though I believe he works at a movie theater, hence the mentions of an office and a golf cart. This is a piece of a man who goes through the motions and escapes into fantasies at work, using everyday details as references to movies he’s watched. His life is particularly tedious, and it is implied that he used to be more passive and dutiful when it came to work; it is only through Gloria and the movies the two watch that he is able to find meaning beyond work; Gloria is even compared to Ann from Roman Holiday in the line “Gloria teetering on a golf cart and Gloria in Roman Holiday sandals,” which lends character to Gloria through one reference - she is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (someone who takes the reins on adventure and those with her on it) and even possibly a stepford smiler, who may also be going through her life in a fit of escapism. The ending paragraph to note, “But it’s too late for him. Too late for me. I’m way past the Stalag 17 barracks already. Me and Gloria and Dunbar and Sefton. Past the cold, muddy perimeter. We’re done cutting through the wire fence and into a freedom.” With this in mind, it is implied that Frank also resigns from works, embracing his fantasies and stepping out of the prison that was work.
Gary Tolar
In "Tunguska," there is a little boy who isn't all there and does a lot of things a little boy shouldn't be doing. His mother has a miscarriage and the little boy believes it is a cat, while his dad is asleep on the couch. All the while, they don't realize they are about to meet their doom. The explosion. In "Shoes," there was a man who had a dangerous fetish for women's feet when wearing heels. He would do his business with them and then go back upstairs to his wife, not knowing that she knows about his obsession and killing spree of women with heels. Maybe that's why she doesn't wear heels in the story. His mother in law is in the house, wearing ugly heels, as described by him, and asks his wife for a favor. His wife declines because her father raped her, while her mother did nothing about it. Her mother said she deserved whatever was in the will and Cyn believed otherwise. Cyn said she would sign the papers if her mother put on some heels that Brudos, her husband, had hidden. Brudos learns that his wife knew his secret all along. The mother agrees and we can assume that Brudos murders her, finishing off to her feet. Quite disturbing. I can't say I understood the last play at all, "Hollywood Ends."
ReplyDeleteSidney Carranco