The Writer As Explorer

This short story by Joyce Carol Oates depicts the story of a woman living– unhappily– as the mistress of a married man. He supports her financially, to an extent. She still works at an office, as a secretary, and resents his half-support, the money given to her like an afterthought and the expensive shoes she […]

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Joyce Carol Oates brings on a story about a man and a woman. The man, who has a wife, has a mistress who he financially and sexually supports. I think the biggest and most obvious theme in this story is the sheer male and female roles that are addressed within actions and emotions. The man sheds […]

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Something that Joyce Carol Oates does so incredibly well is differentiate between the text centering the man versus the woman. It’s quite clear who is speaking or thinking in each section based on the elegance of the prose or the structure of the sentences. Something else that Oates is able to do well is not only […]

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During a time when money was scarce, there was often chaos that complemented this scarcity. In The Music Room by Stephen King, the readers are taken on a journey through time to the Great Depression, where we meet a couple trying to make a living during these trying times. However, rather than going about making […]

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Gail Levin’s short story “The Preacher Collects” is told from the perspective of Arthayer R. Sandborn, a preacher who stole thousands of dollars worth of Edward Hopper’s early artwork from his childhood home and managed to not only sell it, but get it authenticated. While reading this story, I noticed two things. First, I noticed […]

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I believe that this story is a reflection of isolation and the sense of escapism, as also communicated through the painting itself. Knowing of the author’s background, the reader can already gauge where the progression of the story will ultimately lead. It is through both the author and artist’s portrayal of tone that the idea […]

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This week I have decided to write about “The Preacher Collects” by Gail Levin. This story was not what I first envisioned it to be. I had the idea that it would have some sort of focus on religion. Looking at the artwork I was intrigued to find out how the author would relate it […]

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“The Preacher Collects” by Gail Levin felt very different from some of the other things we have read so far. The point of view is first person, and yet the narrator is telling things in such a way that it feels like it is from a third person point of view. The story is very […]

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“The Preacher Collects” by Gavin Levin is so ironic to the point that it is almost funny but also exposes the injustices carried out on the people involved. In this story, we meet Reverend Sanborn although his actions are anything but holy. From the start, he looked for any opportunity to take advantage of others to better his […]

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The most prominent theme in “The Music Room” is the thumping. The first thought after reading this is the complete similarity to the “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. We see this, sort of, different look at a recurring noise. The difference between this story and the “Tell-Tale Heart” is the state of being of the […]

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There is almost nothing out of the ordinary in this story once one knows its author. Stephen King is notorious for his horror novels and “The Music Room” is no different. King is able to take a perfect, seemingly average painting and put his own mysterious, gruesome spin on it. Something I found to be quite […]

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“The Music Room” provides a look into the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Enderby, who kidnap and extort businessmen in order to pay off their needs during the Great Depression. The story itself is quite short, but its content compensates for the length. Mr. and Mrs. Enderby treat their profession with complete emotional detachment–there is […]

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My initial impression of “The Music Room,” before and after I started reading, was how unnerving it was.  This was something I had expected (to that extent) when I realized that the author was Stephen King, though I was still taken completely by surprise by the actions of the two characters, Mr. and Mrs. Enderby.  I […]

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  Rejected the usage of forenames and was gender-nonconforming, opting to use the names Peter and Hig interchangeably. When an art society that they were vice president of referred to them as “Miss Gluck,” they resigned. Established a “paint war” against the quality of paint during the 1950s, having become unsatisfied with the unreliability and […]

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“There were two doors into this house. The first, in a small unfurnished room, opened directly onto the sea. It could only be entered from the water.” “Rooms by the Sea” upon its first reading can feel like a dull narrative without true depth or incentive to portray thought-provoking meaning. However, once read a second […]

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The investigation into the significance of vision becomes a pivotal key point and consistent theme throughout the short novel. This extends not only to the ideals of artistic vision but as well as the multiple concepts of sight, physically and metaphorically. This is delved into as early as the very beginning of the novel when […]

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“For fifteen years, Gregorio Aruna worked among us, building his museum of miniatures here in our village of Monterojo, high in the Sierras de las Marinas, and in all that time, no one was allowed in the door of his museum.” As we navigate the introduction of Carrie Brown’s “Miniature Man,” we are led to […]

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In “Nighthawks” by Michael Connelly we see, as we have been taught all semester, that observation is the key part within writing and life. Without speaking and observation there is no story and there is nothing happening. In the story, if Bosch had not been so observant with the painting, there would not have been […]

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This short story, based on Edward Hopper’s most famous work by the same name, follows a retired detective now working as a private eye. After tracking a young woman to the museum where the painting Nighthawks is on display, he is accidentally placed into a situation where he must have a conversation with her. She […]

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“Nighthawks” by Michael Connelly speaks of the humanity of man. At the start of the story we are introduced to the Private Detective, Bosch. Bosch is an older man who seems to be deeply focused on his case. His subject is a young woman who is a writer. At the beginning of the story, I perceived Bosch […]

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In “Nighthawks” by Micheal Connelly, the perspective is that of a third person who is limited to following the character of Bosch, a private investigator tasked with looking for Griffin’s runaway daughter. Initially, the reader does not know Bosch’s reasoning for surveilling this young woman, drawing in the reader through mystery and intrigue. While that […]

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Right off the bat, we can tell in “Nighthawks” that the main character we follow – Bosch – is obsessed with this woman that writes at the museum.  He details her daily schedule, he knows where she does or doesn’t look, how she interacts with other museum goers around her, etc.  It doesn’t seem like […]

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This story is full of confusion and mystery, yet has a backbone of clarity and reason. Fabius, the house’s cook and long time friend of Carmen’s great grandmother, Claudine, seems to poses much knowledge, but he expresses it subtly. We know from his long relationship with Claudine and extensive travels that he must know more than […]

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A house just as confusing as the story, Rooms by the Sea, by Nicholas Christopher, tells a story based on the painting “Rooms by the Sea.” In this short story, we meet Carmen Ronson, the great-granddaughter of Claudine Rementeria, an author of a book that coincidentally has the name of the painting as the title. […]

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“Nighthawks” pans out as a noir detective-type story with a private investigator (Bosch) tailing his person of interest, Angela. The initial assumption one makes is that Angela is perhaps a criminal, a spy, or the accomplice to a criminal. Bosch follows her through her daily life, but the majority of the story takes place in […]

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This week I have decided to write about the short story “Nighthawks” by Micheal Connelly based on the painting by Edward Hopper. Connelly uses his confidence in his writing to give the reader a profound and exciting experience into the world of a private eye following his subject. The writing leads the reader to the […]

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Something that I didn’t notice about this story until a good amount of the way in was the addition of the character Harry Bosch. As I read, I realized that name sounded familiar to me but I couldn’t quite place it. The character’s first name “Harry” is never said throughout the story, just his surname, […]

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One recurring theme in Girl With a Pearl Earring is the innate artistic ability Griet possesses. From before her first encounters with Vermeer, we see her eye for detail in the precise observations of others, the way she keeps her cap starched and wears it religiously, the way she chops and arranges vegetables into a […]

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One aspect of this story that I found particularly interesting was Griet’s choice at the end to marry Pieter, and the results of it. Up until we were directly told, I hadn’t been able to predict what her decision would be. I knew she wouldn’t go to Van Ruijven’s, and I found it difficult to […]

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One of the most notable features of Griet is her perceptiveness, how observant she is. Not only does the reader pick up on this, but so do Vermeer and others. It is almost as if her perceptiveness is childlike instead of a means of judging the things around her. Vermeer picks up on this as well. This […]

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Griet presents herself as the version of herself she wishes she was. Someone who is clean and doesn’t break rules. Someone who does what she is asked and thinks of nothing but that of which she is supposed to. In many ways she does embody those virtues. Her apron is always tidy, her hands are always […]

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Louise joined the American Abstract Artists Group after moving to New York City from Paris. After joining the group was when her art career shifted from junkyard scraps of driftwood to marble, plaster, and bronze. Through her artistic transition she began to explore her fears through her work, supplying her with a way to cope […]

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Helen Frankenthaler was an American artist who moved to New York City as a baby from Germany. She studied at the Dalton School under Mexican artist Rufino Tomayo and at Bennington College under Paul Feely, director of Bennington’s art department. Once she stated “A really good picture looks as if it’s happened all at once.” […]

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Dorothea Lange was a photographer, based mostly in California and worked for the California State Emergency Relief Administration. She photographed before the Depression, during it, throughout WWII, and more after. Her work was published in San Francisco News, LIFE Magazine, and Los Angeles Times. She complained that contemporary photography was too concerned with uniqueness rather […]

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One of the most important currents in A Girl with a Pearl Earring (from my perspective), though certainly not the only current, is the focus on Griet and how naive she is across the entire story.  This is the opposite side of the coin, I feel, since Griet tends to be very perceptive in many other […]

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Girl With A Pearl Earring ends in a very unexpected way. After the painting is discovered by Catharina, Griet leaves the house and goes to the center of the square in town, and thinks of which direction she should go. Ultimately, her decision is what some would consider to be the ‘safe’ one for the […]

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The most prominent theme in Girl With A Pearl Earring is power or rather Griet’s lack of it. Abuse of power can be seen clearly in Van Ruijven as he uses his power and money to harass Griet and make Vermeer create a painting of her even though she does not want to. In a less […]

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One of the biggest developments in Griet is her ability to become less the observant one and more the one who’s directly involved. Griet’s original intention for herself was to stay out of trouble and do whatever was asked of her, to keep a low profile. At the beginning of the story, all Griet wanted […]

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