Happier Times

The glisten of the river reminds me of,
Happier times
Times when everyone was still together,
Still alive
I remember the way my mother,
With her rosy cheeks,
Her plump figure,
Would tell me and my brother,
Even the smoothest surfaces have bumps buried beneath.
I couldn't comprehend it then,
When I was but a little girl,
But now it rings as clearly as church bells on Sunday,
You may have the appearance of a perfect and joyful life,
A life of innocence,
But down inside you hurt with such pain,
You feel as though someone is stabbing you with a sword of anguish,
Of disconcert,
Almost unbearable.
My family gone,
As well as the flame that plagued our farm that night,
And now so is my joy
The place I once thought of as home,
Only leaves me with the feeling of,
Emptiness,
Dread,
For I now know I will always be here gazing at the river,
Dreaming about
Happier times

The Good Earth- Chapter 1

Throughout the first chapter of "The Good Earth" I was appalled of how the women were treated in the Chinese culture, more like property then people. I had a hard time comprehending the reason behind the mis-treating of women, Why were they treated so poorly, even by men of such poverty? In the final sentence of chapter one Wang Lung's wife, O-Lan, is treated with a large amount of disrespect, but could do nothing of it, she was powerless. Were all women treated like this in China in the 1900's? From today's perspective in the United States, the women here have huge amounts of power, more than some men even. The chapter at first seemed to be a romance, with symbolism such as "morning" and "spring", but as the chapter went on it seemed to be only a romance for Wang Lung, and not his wife O-Lan. For O-Lan this chapter could be seen maybe as an irony, because of how she was in such a bad situation of being a slave at just the age of 10, which is not a good way at all to grow up. Also in the final part of the chapter she seemed to lose herself, become a new person, in the way Wang Lung acted.

Not Waving but Drowning
By:Stevie Smith

No one heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way
They said

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead man lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning

"A Jury of her Peers"

March 2

Why has this horrendous burden happen upon me? John my husband, or as I call him, my Warden, has taken my only happiness from my life, my dear sweet canary, and now I am left with nothing. I don't dare weep around him for the thought of his iron grip around me again scares me so. I wish I could go back to happier times when I could be free to sing, where my dear mother and father loved to hear the pretty tunes I had sung once upon a time. How have I let this happened? Something must be done and fast, for if it doesn't, I fear that soon my Warden will no longer want a prisoner who does not obey, and my canary and I will share the same fate.


Minne Foster




March 3


It is finally done. I no longer have a Warden and I am free! But at what cost? I have only just been free when, once again, my freedom is taken from me. I have been taken away from my home, my prison, and for that I ame grateful but when will this ever stop? I move from one prison to another in a days time, and all I wish is to be free! The sheriffs wife and Martha Hale stopped by today with the paper I write upon now as the other prisoners dream and my sewing things, and when I opened the basket I saw the box of which I had lay my dear canary to rest. I cried for hours of the thought of my dead bird and now my dead husband, both free, while I am still trapped in this world. What has happened to me? I need to escape from all of it. I want to be free and never have to come back to reality. Why has John been so lucky to escape? I am the one who freed him when I couldn't even free myself! Well not anymore, I will be free, I will!


Minne Foster