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Arsha Pourjahanshah Rough Draft

Children are famous for their incomparable imagination which leads them to perceive things differently. In “The Gift?”, Sylvia S. Lizárraga used invisibility as a metaphor for getting ignored by others. Lizárraga wrote this story from the point of view of a little girl who feels she has the power to be invisible since she went to a shop to grab some threads for her mom but the guy who sold the threads, he couldn’t see her so he left the shop without noticing the narrator. The same situation happens again to the little girl and when she and her friend go to this kind lady to help them get into school, but the lady only talked to her friend and didn’t notice the protagonist of the story at all. In the end, the little girl thinks she lacks something that people can’t see her and if they feel it when they don’t see her. Lizárraga used the point of view of a little girl to show sometimes people don’t really know why they’re getting pushed out by others and most of the time, it’s hard for them to figure out the reasoning.

The first part of the story has a shocked/excited tone which the little girl is excited about her new gift of invisibility and gets the reader hooked to the story, “I know it was a gift because it didn't happen little by little and each time it became more perfect; I just became invisible all of a sudden, and really invisible” (Lizárraga). but as we go forward in the story, the tone gets more to the sad side and the little girl is blaming herself for others not seeing her “Every time they can't see me I feel somewhat strange as if I'm lacking something. Although I don't know what it could be, the only thing I know is that I'm missing something” (Lizárraga). Lizárraga wants the readers to join the little girl in her roller coaster of emotions and the confusion she goes through and she gets the conclusion that she is lacking and missing something and it’s her fault which leads the reader to a metaphor of being invisible which isn’t the case.

The base of this story is the metaphor of being invisible but when at the end. The little girl was being ignored this whole time and Lizárraga used this show some people actually are invisible in society. No matter what they do or how much they are excited about something, they never get noticed by others. This metaphor makes it easier for the reader to relate to the protagonist for feeling invisible since most of the readers, including me, have experienced being ignored by somebody which makes it easier to be in the little girl’s shoes and feel what the main character is going through. What makes this more relatable is the settings of the story which makes the story more relatable.

Josue Ramirez Rough Draft

Many can suggest that the term family means a group of loved ones who are carefree from ordeals in life. That the lives involved in the family, the loved ones, are a fairy tale with a perfect ending. In the short story “Hansel and Grethel” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, these two children whose parents plan to abound them into a huge forest face great tribulation ahead of them.

Their father was a very poor woodcutter, and their mother was a housewife who barely was able to provide meals to the children due to the lack of income both parents had. One can indicate that this family is not normal because of the lack of resources and earnings of the father which becomes his biggest issue in the story. The father figure entitles the man to be able to produce and contribute solely since these were the principles once in time. However, not everyone around the world is fortunate as others and the opportunities are not always equal or at grasp. The symbolic meaning behind the story is that regardless of the problems faced one can always have alternative options that can become one’s possibilities if exploited.

After so many difficult challenges for Hansel and Grethel’s father to be able to feed his children, the father and mother then decide to send the kids into the forest so they can no longer suffer from hunger. The idea came from the housewife as she said, “I will tell you what, husband," answered the wife; "we will take the children early in the morning into the forest, where it is thickest; we will make them a fire, and we will give each of them a piece of bread, then we will go to our work and leave them alone; they will never find the way home again, and we shall be quit of them” (1). As we can tell the wife suggest for the kids to be taken to the forest in order to eradicate the problem of providing for the kids and feeding simultaneously. Moreover, sending them to the forest would allow for Hansel and Grethel to then get lost and eventually die from either lack of experience to survive or starvation as previous. Nevertheless, the father nor the mother expect the children to eavesdrop on their conversation which allowed Hansel to prepare for their abandonment. Hansel then goes on to explain to Grethel that he would be back, he then proceeded to collect white flints to leave a trail behind as they were taken to the forest by the parents.

The parents along with Hansel and Grethel finally reach deep inside the forest where their tribulations commence.

Mary Kesablian Rough Draft

Throughout “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin, Mrs.Louise Mallard experiences an unthinkable loss that brings light to all that life has to offer. Louise, feeling a sudden sense of abandonment, seeks time alone to process her trauma. Having just lost her husband, Mrs.Mallard is grieving, but through that grief, she comes to the realization that closing this chapter in her life will allow her to open a new one. Although devastated, Louise begins to accept the idea of life without her husband, and in a way, looks forward to the opportunities it may bring. Grief is an inevitable outcome of such a tragedy, yet once looking past what she has lost, Mrs.Mallard begins to see all that she will gain with her husband's death. Though at first Louise may seem heartless for feeling a sense of joy and intrigue through her newfound freedom, during what should be a difficult period in her life, she loved her husband dearly.

Grieve stricken and afraid for what her future may hold, Mrs.Louise Mallard turns to solitude to heal her broken heart. The “physical exhaustion”, brought on by the grief, “seemed to reach into her soul”. Louise was in mourning, missing the security and love that her husband once offered her. Within that isolation, she finds a sense of peace. She is no longer defined by her husband, Brently Mallard. Louise is free to be her own person, experience life the way she desires, without the need to consider another. Ironically, Mrs.Mallard confining herself to her room, leads her to realize that she is no longer in confinement, her independence is hers to claim.

Through her open window, Mrs.Mallard watches as the rest of the world changes, hers along with it. With the “delicious breath of rain… in the air”, there are signs of a new beginning. Rain brings with it life and clarity, one that Louise now has a chance to experience. As she watches the rain, “the dull stare in her eyes” presents the possibility of change, to explore the world. Although fearing the unknown, Louise is intrigued by what is in front of her. To an extent, a woman lacks freedom at the hands of their husband, especially during Louise’ lifetime. In the late 1800s, not only is freedom limited in the house, but also by society. Women are seen as inferior. They lack basic rights, such as voting, no matter their efforts to make a change. Whether her husband was loving or not, Louise felt as though she was trapped when he was alive, and now that he has passed away, she is not obligated to keep anyone but herself happy. Although in the eyes of society her status has not changed, becoming a widow gave her a sliver of freedom in her own home. For the first time, Mrs.Mallard is in charge of her life.

Louise begins to understand what she is facing, and with that feeling being so foreign, she tries pushing it away. “She was striving to beat it back with her will”, but her subconscious is eager to be exposed to the feeling of freedom. Her body is telling her all that she needs to know, “her pulses beat fast and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed her”. This freedom is going to bring her peace that she has not yet experienced. Louise is no longer afraid, but she begins to question what this joy says about her. It is difficult to believe that a sane person could be feeling such emotions after receiving the news of their significant others’ death. One must take into consideration how Louise feels after withstanding a lifetime of containment at the hands of her husband. As she iterates “free, free, free!”, her subconscious is making her aware of what she has been seeking for a long time. No loss comes without pain, but it opens the door to a lifetime of possibilities that were once not present.