Forget about the conflicts within the short story, "Odour of Chrysanthemums"; I have a conflict with the story myself. What a depressing tale! A husband and wife who are "strangers" to each other? But they produced children anyway? The wife only realizing how isolated they were after her husband is dead? His naked, dead body was a strange and awful sight for her because she had truly never seen it. Really?
Obviously, they ultimate conflict within this story is the conflict between Elizabeth Bates and her husband. They gave up on their marriage and lived lives of isolation and anger. Out of this one conflict so many other conflicts arose such as the conflict between Elizabeth and her father, who disapproves of her husband. The conflict between Elizabeth and her mother in-law arise because the mother of her husband weeps for the sweet boy that she once used to know, but Elizabeth never knew.
There is also the conflict that is apparent in the chrysanthemums throughout he story. It is the conflict between the flowers and the memories they remind Elizabeth of. They remind her of the past that was once bright, but now she is shrouded in darkness. She does not like the thought of her child, Annie, returning home in the darkness, and the darkness symbolizes Elizabeth's anger and angst that she felt every night her husband did not return home for supper after work. Elizabeth has a conflict with darkness, that could he further symbolize her husband. The chrysanthemums represent the life and light that are still present in the world. This is very obvious when Elizabeth places the flowers in her waistband against her swollen belly that holds a child. When the men knock over the vase of flowers when they are bringing the dead husband in, it is as if they are officially announcing that Mr. Bates' life is over. Perhaps the biggest conflict was between the chrysanthemums and darkness - life and death – in this short story.
Conflicts in my Short Story Main character, Chansler, and The Girl encounter a giant spider monster, Phobos. It attacks them, and they have to try to defeat it. It touches Chanselor and gives him a sickness that he had in a previous life.
Chansler and his constant battle with fear in his mind.
Chansler and his battle with his sickness - cancer.
Chansler and his tension with The Girl, who constantly tells him not to fear.
Chansler and his confrontation of an evil action he performed in his previous life out of fear.
Chansler's struggle to figure out who or what The Girl resembles from his previous life.
Chansler and his fear-based relationship with Thanatos, his horse.
Chansler and his struggle to define his surroundings and where he is.
I thought that your blog was very interesting. I did not see some of the conflicts that you did. I knew that the flowers were a symbol, but I thought it was very interesting how you made it into a conflict. I did not see that at first. I also liked how you said that all of the conflicts branched from the conflict of Walter and Elizabeth. I think that the conflicts in your short story will also be very helpful. Nice job!
You had a really awesome blog. I really like how you saw the flowers as a symbol. I did not see that until you pointed it out, then I realized that its symbolizes a conflict and the last. That was great. I also can't wait to see how your story turns out. It seems like you have the whole thing thought out and organized, and you have a ton of conflicts. Keep up the good work!
I agree that the biggest conflict in this story is between the couple. I also cannot believe that the couple had children together even though they really don't even now each other. I also found the conflict between Elizabeth and her mother in law. I however did not make the connection with the flowers and the darkness, now that I read your blog though it makes sense. Your conflicts for your shirt story seem very good and I am extremely interested to see how it all plays out. Great job.
The major conflict in this story is clearly Mrs. Bates and her husband, Mr. Bates. As the story progresses the reader learns that Mr. Bates clearly has a drinking problem and often goes drinking after work. This greatly agitates Mrs. Bates as he has obviously done this many times before and twice last week. The children grow worried along with their mother.
Mrs. Bates grows wearisome and starts looking for her husband. She comes back from neighboring houses and her mother in law busts through the door. Mrs. Bates then learns that her husband has died while at work in the mines. This when we learn that Mrs. Bates and Mr. Bates had many conflicts during their marriage through Mrs. Bates' s own thoughts. We learn that they didn't really love each other but had two children together and one on the way. The couple fought frequently and Mrs. Bates clearly disapproves of Mr. Bates's drinking habits.
A smaller conflict within the story is between Mrs. Bates and her mother in law. Mrs. Bates has control of her emotions as she deals with her dead husband however her mother in law doesn't. She is crying hysterically and all noise threatens to wake up the children. Elizabeth tries to keep her quite but she is unable to take cars of her husband and deal with her mother in law.
There is also another smaller conflict between the mother and her children. Elizabeth tries to conceal her anger form her children. However, there are several times when she snaps at them because she takes her anger out on them due to her husband. The children also cause a conflict because Elizabeth doesn't want them to wake up and see their father dead on the floor.
My Story The biggest conflict in my story is a man vs. man conflict between Jamie and Gabbi. They will conflict repeatedly due to their strong personalities. Gabbi doesn't really care about what anyone thinks of her and this is is why she has no problem fighting with Jamie. This conflict is going to be the easiest one to pick out in my story.
Another significant conflict in the story will between Jamie and her consciences. As the story progresses her conscience will become more and more significant. This discovery and growth will then lead to smaller conflicts between her and her closest friends. A teacher will also have a role in the development of Jamie's conscience and will have conflicts with Jamie and her friends. The conflict within Jamie herself will be the most significant and prominent to my short story.
I like all of the conflicts you scoped out of the short story, especially the one between Mrs. Bates and her children. That one was deep! Haha! I agree with your other ones, as well. In the beginning I thought you did a little too much of plot summary, but it panned out nicely toward the end. The conflicts within your own story are very intriguing! I like how you classified them between man vs. man and man vs. self. I sense a little Mean Girls action going on in your story. I like it! Keep up the good work, girl!
Nice blog. You did a great job finding the conflicts. I especially liked how you talked about the conflict between the children and Elizabeth. There was a definite conflict between them, and I think your pointed it out well. I think that your conflicts in story will work out well. The man vs. self conflict should be very effective. Nice job.
Great job! You found several conflicts in Odour of Chrysanthemums that I didn't even think of! The conflict between Mrs. Bates and her mother-in-law was ingenious. There was certainly a clash there and they were interesting foils to one another, one who's emotions were completely in check and another who had sorta...lost it. However, I do not necessary agree that Mrs. Bates was in conflict with her children. I think her struggle to not outwardly show her anger towards her husband is more of an internal struggle. However, it was certainly an interesting perspective and I see where you're coming from entirely. Additionally, I can't wait to read your story!
The short story Odour of Chrysanthemums has many conflicts. These conflicts are heightened by the death of Elizabeth’s husband, Walter. His death makes her realize all of the issues with their marriage. She realizes how they are not very close, and the only time that she sees him, he is unconscious from drinking. This first conflict is the conflict between Elizabeth and Walter. This conflict is the main conflict in the story. The conflict starts when Elizabeth’s father tells her that he thinks Walter is drinking. She immediately has thoughts of how he will come home unconscious. She vows not to clean him up and dress him when he returns home. This is ironic because when his dead body is returned she has a change of heart and does clean and dress him. The conflict also shows how the couple were not very close. Elizabeth was not able to cry when her own husband was dead.
Although the main conflict was between the couple, there were other conflicts in the story. Another conflict was the conflict between Elizabeth and herself. This conflict was very noticeable throughout the story. She was unsure what to believe about Walter. She did not want to believe that he was out drinking again, so she waited to start dinner. After a while she realized that he was not coming and she started dinner.
The final conflict was between Elizabeth and her father. Her father mentioned that he was going to remarry, which upset Elizabeth. She was unsure how to respond to this. She did not outwardly express her dislike, but it was understood. She also did not want to believe her father when he said that Walter was out drinking again. Although it turned out to not be true, Elizabeth did end up believing her father that he was just drinking.
In my own short story there will be three main conflicts. The first will be the man vs. self. The man on the boat will have many conflicts with himself, such as what he wants to do next, how he wants to approach the other people on the island, and how to go about making a raft. This is the main conflict in the story. The next conflict is the man vs. nature. The man will have to make shelter and a raft to combat the way that nature acts. He will have to struggle to survive on the island. The final struggle will be man vs. other people. There will be other people on the island that the man will have to struggle against. He will be forced to act accordingly to their actions.
Some of the conflicts you picked out of the short story are awesome! I absolutely enjoy the irony you discovered in the story about how Elizabeth Bates said she would not dress her husband, but when he is dead she actually ends up dressing him. Wow! Great critical thinking! I agree with all of your conflicts, and I especially enjoy how you like to point out the conflicts between Mrs. Bates and her father. Your conflicts in your own short story are very interesting. I also enjoy how you labeled them man vs. nature, etc. I cannot wait to see how your character prevails in the story! Good work, Kraus! Keep it up!
I liked your blog. After you first conflict, you supported your blog with the conflict of Elizabeth vs herself and against her father. You made a good point when you said that she did not want to clean her husband's dead body, but she did it anyways. You said that she didn't mourn for her husband's death because she realized their marriage was a failure, which was a good point. I liked how you labeled your conflicts in your own short story. Nice blog! Can't wait to see how your story turns out.
Kraus, I think that your blog this week was great. I really liked the conflict that you picked out between Elizabeth and her father. I did not think to use that one in my blog. It was a very original choice for this. I also think that your other two conflicts were well done too. Elizabeth has a huge conflict with herself throughout the whole story, but it reaches its height when she realizes that she never seemed to know her husband at all. As for the conflicts in your story, I think they will be pretty good. I can’t wait to see what your character finds, or better yet how he will be forced to deal with it. It is going to be great!
So there were two very obvious conflicts in this story. First there was the conflict that Elizabeth's husband Walt was supposedly out partying at a local pub. This could've been a conflict because Elizabeth knew that he would not be setting a good example for his children. Also, he was spending away all of his family's money getting drunk for reasons of very little significance. There was no reason that he should have been getting drunk every night.
Not to get off track or anything, but wasting money on alcohol and other useless things seems like a reoccurring theme in every single book we read, well, almost every one. You got Sydney Carton in Tale of Two Cities, Marmeladov in Crime and Punishment, and now in this short story Walt is doing the same thing. They all cause someone grief and they have significant moments in the book. Sydney's life was resurrected because of his decision to help out a friend, Marmeladov caused Sonia to be a prostitute, and now Walt is making his family worried sick. There are probably other instances where this happened, but these are just some I recalled.
Anyways getting back on track, the second conflict was when Walt turned out to have died in a mining accident. His and Elizabeth's house was pandemonium that night. Walt's mother was sobbing excessively, Elizabeth was trying to keep the children from waking and going down stairs, and there were men trying to settle the whole situation. You can't even imagine what it would be like to tell the worried children that their father had died the next day. After this Elizabeth reflects on how her marriage was a failure, which only darkens the mood. This was the main conflict of the story, because Elizabeth's stepmother foreshadowed the death by running around saying that there is something going terribly wrong here. There was also foreshadowing when the mother was up all night long waiting for her husband to get home. Something just was not right. There was quick rising action, and then the men came in saying that he died. Then pandemonium followed.
So after those shenanigans, the conflict in my story is how in the world is my main character, Adam, going to escape the Forest alive and in decent health. I don't know how I'm going to write it out yet (actually I know exactly what I'm going to do, I just can't tell anyone) but I'm going to try to make it suspenseful. I already told everyone that the guy broke his hip, and he has a pretty smart and loyal dog with him. He will play some part in his rescue, as well as the guys back at the police station. The conflict here is going to be Man vs. Nature, at least that will be the main one I'm focused on. Limited supplies, the night quickly approaching, I think it will be good to see how it turns out.
Matt Bobby, Your blog this week made me laugh! You are so right about how alcohol and wasting money on it seems to be something that we read about a lot, but I never really noticed it before. Now to the rest of the blog. I think that your discussion of the conflicts is very accurate. I really liked your first conflict because I did not even think of that. I didn’t really see it as a conflict originally, but now that you pointed it out I totally agree. Also think that your point about his mother being foreshadowing was really good too. They say a mother always knows, and this case she does. I am excited for your short story. I am glad you aren’t telling us what is going to happen. That wouldn’t be any fun! I hope it turns out as good as it sounds.
I also enjoyed your blog this week. I agree that drinking seems to be a consistent theme throughout several works that we have read this year. The conflicts that you picked out were very good. I also cannot wait to read your short story. I am glad that you aren't telling us how it is exactly going to happen. Can't wait to read it. Great job!
The Odour of Chrysanthemums is a story that is brimming with conflict. All of this conflict is also rooted around Elizabeth Bates. She has so many different forms of struggle throughout this story that she is forced to deal with. She also has to remain sane and alive through it all.
One of the conflicts that Elizabeth has is with her husband. He is constantly drinking after work, and he refuses to even come home for dinner. He just walks by the house to the nearest bar and drinks his life away. He leaves Elizabeth to constantly worry about the state of her husband, who only comes home whenever the other men from the bar bring him unconscious. She never knows if he is alive or dead, but there is also a part of her that doesn’t care. Elizabeth just tends to assume that her husband is drunk and useless like always. What a terrible way to live.
The second conflict in this story is between Elizabeth and her conscience. She goes through a serious internal struggle. She asks herself questions like “Why did I marry this man?” or “Did I even really know him?”. She realizes that her and her husband were strangers, and they had no right to carry on their marriage as they did. She also says that her children were brought from two separate beings, but the beings should have been one at that time. She realizes that she may have made a mistake in the husband that she chose to spend her life with. Elizabeth realizes her marriage was beyond saving before anything happened to her husband. There was no hope to fix their union. Elizabeth also feels that she should weep for her husband, but she can’t bring herself to cry over someone that she didn’t’ know.
My story Calfuray vs. Nature Calfuray vs. The Wolf- This is more in the beginning. Calfuray vs. Herself Calfuray vs. The Chief Elder
Nice blog! Blogging feels weird again. Two weeks off have left me spoiled! Anyways, we found the same conflict essentially. I particularly enjoyed your reflection on Elizabeth's fights with herself. It very much captures the sadness that isolation that she felt. Your conflicts for your own story sound very interesting, however, I wish you would have elaborated on them slightly more. I wold love to hear more. I guess I will just have to wait!
Okay, so Odour of Chrysanthemums was not the happiest tale we've read thus far, however, since when are conflicts generally happy anyway?
I would say the characters in this story faced two major conflicts. The first being the conflict between husband and wife.
Elizabeth Bates and William Bates first appear to be a cliche "bad marriage." Elizabeth is the doting wife who is constantly faced with long nights of waiting and continued disappointment as a result of her husband's incessant drinking habits. The children want their father, and Elizabeth is growing bitter due to years of hardships issued to her by the hand of her husband.
Katerina and Marmeladov, anyone?
This opening conflict makes Elizabeth out to be the victim and makes it appear as though it is her fighting against her husband and his destructive habits. The presentation of the conflict in this way makes the audience feel sorry for her. Or at least I felt bad for her.
However, the conflict takes a shift when the corpse is brought into the home. Elizabeth struggles to make a connection with the dead individual laid before her, so much so that she can not even shed a tear for his loss. She begins to finally acknowledge her role in the failure of the marriage, never realizing that she refused to view him as a human being and instead only saw him as her cross to bear in life.
This shifts the major conflict to one of "Man vs. Self." Elizabeth is fighting with herself to realize and take responsibility for her actions throughout the marriage.
I find "Man vs. Self" to be an interesting form of conflict. We go through it everyday and sometimes our biggest enemy is ourself. We are our own worst enemy. (Shout out to Lit).
So that's why it is for certain going to be one of the main conflicts in my story. Sure, Bakir was sort of screwed over after his fifteen minutes of fame were up, but his expectations were high and he pushed everyone further away and worsened his isolation. A big part of the story is going to be Bakir learning to let people in and learning to stop putting up so many walls.
Man vs Society. Though my story takes place in a mystical, Nordic, Skyrim-esque place, I still intend the struggle to be somewhat a reflection of our society. We idolize famous people and treat them like gods, however, how many washed up stars do we see in the tabloids and we all just shake our heads and think "what a shame." Well it is a shame. I imagine its hard to be on top of the world one minute and then simply just another average human the next! This is the story of the washed up celebrity learning to live again in a fantasy way.
Lastly there is a slight struggle of Man vs. Fate. Bakir's whole life has been revolved around fate. His destiny. His life was sort of a whirlwind experience ever since he was named "The Chosen one." That's all his life has ever really been and with "fate" no longer playing a large role in his life, he is lost. His struggle is not so much about changing some predetermined destiny, but rather learning how to make his own.
So those are the conflicts I was thinking for my story. So many struggles.
Forget about the conflicts within the short story, "Odour of Chrysanthemums"; I have a conflict with the story myself. What a depressing tale! A husband and wife who are "strangers" to each other? But they produced children anyway? The wife only realizing how isolated they were after her husband is dead? His naked, dead body was a strange and awful sight for her because she had truly never seen it. Really?
ReplyDeleteObviously, they ultimate conflict within this story is the conflict between Elizabeth Bates and her husband. They gave up on their marriage and lived lives of isolation and anger. Out of this one conflict so many other conflicts arose such as the conflict between Elizabeth and her father, who disapproves of her husband. The conflict between Elizabeth and her mother in-law arise because the mother of her husband weeps for the sweet boy that she once used to know, but Elizabeth never knew.
There is also the conflict that is apparent in the chrysanthemums throughout he story. It is the conflict between the flowers and the memories they remind Elizabeth of. They remind her of the past that was once bright, but now she is shrouded in darkness. She does not like the thought of her child, Annie, returning home in the darkness, and the darkness symbolizes Elizabeth's anger and angst that she felt every night her husband did not return home for supper after work. Elizabeth has a conflict with darkness, that could he further symbolize her husband. The chrysanthemums represent the life and light that are still present in the world. This is very obvious when Elizabeth places the flowers in her waistband against her swollen belly that holds a child. When the men knock over the vase of flowers when they are bringing the dead husband in, it is as if they are officially announcing that Mr. Bates' life is over. Perhaps the biggest conflict was between the chrysanthemums and darkness - life and death – in this short story.
Conflicts in my Short Story
Main character, Chansler, and The Girl encounter a giant spider monster, Phobos. It attacks them, and they have to try to defeat it. It touches Chanselor and gives him a sickness that he had in a previous life.
Chansler and his constant battle with fear in his mind.
Chansler and his battle with his sickness - cancer.
Chansler and his tension with The Girl, who constantly tells him not to fear.
Chansler and his confrontation of an evil action he performed in his previous life out of fear.
Chansler's struggle to figure out who or what The Girl resembles from his previous life.
Chansler and his fear-based relationship with Thanatos, his horse.
Chansler and his struggle to define his surroundings and where he is.
Rachel,
DeleteI thought that your blog was very interesting. I did not see some of the conflicts that you did. I knew that the flowers were a symbol, but I thought it was very interesting how you made it into a conflict. I did not see that at first. I also liked how you said that all of the conflicts branched from the conflict of Walter and Elizabeth. I think that the conflicts in your short story will also be very helpful. Nice job!
Rachel,
DeleteYou had a really awesome blog. I really like how you saw the flowers as a symbol. I did not see that until you pointed it out, then I realized that its symbolizes a conflict and the last. That was great. I also can't wait to see how your story turns out. It seems like you have the whole thing thought out and organized, and you have a ton of conflicts. Keep up the good work!
Rachel,
DeleteI agree that the biggest conflict in this story is between the couple. I also cannot believe that the couple had children together even though they really don't even now each other. I also found the conflict between Elizabeth and her mother in law. I however did not make the connection with the flowers and the darkness, now that I read your blog though it makes sense. Your conflicts for your shirt story seem very good and I am extremely interested to see how it all plays out. Great job.
The major conflict in this story is clearly Mrs. Bates and her husband, Mr. Bates. As the story progresses the reader learns that Mr. Bates clearly has a drinking problem and often goes drinking after work. This greatly agitates Mrs. Bates as he has obviously done this many times before and twice last week. The children grow worried along with their mother.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Bates grows wearisome and starts looking for her husband. She comes back from neighboring houses and her mother in law busts through the door. Mrs. Bates then learns that her husband has died while at work in the mines. This when we learn that Mrs. Bates and Mr. Bates had many conflicts during their marriage through Mrs. Bates' s own thoughts. We learn that they didn't really love each other but had two children together and one on the way. The couple fought frequently and Mrs. Bates clearly disapproves of Mr. Bates's drinking habits.
A smaller conflict within the story is between Mrs. Bates and her mother in law. Mrs. Bates has control of her emotions as she deals with her dead husband however her mother in law doesn't. She is crying hysterically and all noise threatens to wake up the children. Elizabeth tries to keep her quite but she is unable to take cars of her husband and deal with her mother in law.
There is also another smaller conflict between the mother and her children. Elizabeth tries to conceal her anger form her children. However, there are several times when she snaps at them because she takes her anger out on them due to her husband. The children also cause a conflict because Elizabeth doesn't want them to wake up and see their father dead on the floor.
My Story
The biggest conflict in my story is a man vs. man conflict between Jamie and Gabbi. They will conflict repeatedly due to their strong personalities. Gabbi doesn't really care about what anyone thinks of her and this is is why she has no problem fighting with Jamie. This conflict is going to be the easiest one to pick out in my story.
Another significant conflict in the story will between Jamie and her consciences. As the story progresses her conscience will become more and more significant. This discovery and growth will then lead to smaller conflicts between her and her closest friends. A teacher will also have a role in the development of Jamie's conscience and will have conflicts with Jamie and her friends. The conflict within Jamie herself will be the most significant and prominent to my short story.
Michaela Cashmer,
DeleteI like all of the conflicts you scoped out of the short story, especially the one between Mrs. Bates and her children. That one was deep! Haha! I agree with your other ones, as well. In the beginning I thought you did a little too much of plot summary, but it panned out nicely toward the end.
The conflicts within your own story are very intriguing! I like how you classified them between man vs. man and man vs. self. I sense a little Mean Girls action going on in your story. I like it! Keep up the good work, girl!
Michaela,
DeleteNice blog. You did a great job finding the conflicts. I especially liked how you talked about the conflict between the children and Elizabeth. There was a definite conflict between them, and I think your pointed it out well. I think that your conflicts in story will work out well. The man vs. self conflict should be very effective. Nice job.
Michaela,
DeleteGreat job! You found several conflicts in Odour of Chrysanthemums that I didn't even think of! The conflict between Mrs. Bates and her mother-in-law was ingenious. There was certainly a clash there and they were interesting foils to one another, one who's emotions were completely in check and another who had sorta...lost it. However, I do not necessary agree that Mrs. Bates was in conflict with her children. I think her struggle to not outwardly show her anger towards her husband is more of an internal struggle. However, it was certainly an interesting perspective and I see where you're coming from entirely. Additionally, I can't wait to read your story!
The short story Odour of Chrysanthemums has many conflicts. These conflicts are heightened by the death of Elizabeth’s husband, Walter. His death makes her realize all of the issues with their marriage. She realizes how they are not very close, and the only time that she sees him, he is unconscious from drinking. This first conflict is the conflict between Elizabeth and Walter. This conflict is the main conflict in the story. The conflict starts when Elizabeth’s father tells her that he thinks Walter is drinking. She immediately has thoughts of how he will come home unconscious. She vows not to clean him up and dress him when he returns home. This is ironic because when his dead body is returned she has a change of heart and does clean and dress him. The conflict also shows how the couple were not very close. Elizabeth was not able to cry when her own husband was dead.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the main conflict was between the couple, there were other conflicts in the story. Another conflict was the conflict between Elizabeth and herself. This conflict was very noticeable throughout the story. She was unsure what to believe about Walter. She did not want to believe that he was out drinking again, so she waited to start dinner. After a while she realized that he was not coming and she started dinner.
The final conflict was between Elizabeth and her father. Her father mentioned that he was going to remarry, which upset Elizabeth. She was unsure how to respond to this. She did not outwardly express her dislike, but it was understood. She also did not want to believe her father when he said that Walter was out drinking again. Although it turned out to not be true, Elizabeth did end up believing her father that he was just drinking.
In my own short story there will be three main conflicts. The first will be the man vs. self. The man on the boat will have many conflicts with himself, such as what he wants to do next, how he wants to approach the other people on the island, and how to go about making a raft. This is the main conflict in the story. The next conflict is the man vs. nature. The man will have to make shelter and a raft to combat the way that nature acts. He will have to struggle to survive on the island. The final struggle will be man vs. other people. There will be other people on the island that the man will have to struggle against. He will be forced to act accordingly to their actions.
Luke Kraus,
DeleteSome of the conflicts you picked out of the short story are awesome! I absolutely enjoy the irony you discovered in the story about how Elizabeth Bates said she would not dress her husband, but when he is dead she actually ends up dressing him. Wow! Great critical thinking! I agree with all of your conflicts, and I especially enjoy how you like to point out the conflicts between Mrs. Bates and her father.
Your conflicts in your own short story are very interesting. I also enjoy how you labeled them man vs. nature, etc. I cannot wait to see how your character prevails in the story! Good work, Kraus! Keep it up!
Luke Kraus,
DeleteI liked your blog. After you first conflict, you supported your blog with the conflict of Elizabeth vs herself and against her father. You made a good point when you said that she did not want to clean her husband's dead body, but she did it anyways. You said that she didn't mourn for her husband's death because she realized their marriage was a failure, which was a good point. I liked how you labeled your conflicts in your own short story. Nice blog! Can't wait to see how your story turns out.
Kraus,
DeleteI think that your blog this week was great. I really liked the conflict that you picked out between Elizabeth and her father. I did not think to use that one in my blog. It was a very original choice for this. I also think that your other two conflicts were well done too. Elizabeth has a huge conflict with herself throughout the whole story, but it reaches its height when she realizes that she never seemed to know her husband at all. As for the conflicts in your story, I think they will be pretty good. I can’t wait to see what your character finds, or better yet how he will be forced to deal with it. It is going to be great!
Well, back to Blogspot. Here goes nothing.
ReplyDeleteSo there were two very obvious conflicts in this story. First there was the conflict that Elizabeth's husband Walt was supposedly out partying at a local pub. This could've been a conflict because Elizabeth knew that he would not be setting a good example for his children. Also, he was spending away all of his family's money getting drunk for reasons of very little significance. There was no reason that he should have been getting drunk every night.
Not to get off track or anything, but wasting money on alcohol and other useless things seems like a reoccurring theme in every single book we read, well, almost every one. You got Sydney Carton in Tale of Two Cities, Marmeladov in Crime and Punishment, and now in this short story Walt is doing the same thing. They all cause someone grief and they have significant moments in the book. Sydney's life was resurrected because of his decision to help out a friend, Marmeladov caused Sonia to be a prostitute, and now Walt is making his family worried sick. There are probably other instances where this happened, but these are just some I recalled.
Anyways getting back on track, the second conflict was when Walt turned out to have died in a mining accident. His and Elizabeth's house was pandemonium that night. Walt's mother was sobbing excessively, Elizabeth was trying to keep the children from waking and going down stairs, and there were men trying to settle the whole situation. You can't even imagine what it would be like to tell the worried children that their father had died the next day. After this Elizabeth reflects on how her marriage was a failure, which only darkens the mood. This was the main conflict of the story, because Elizabeth's stepmother foreshadowed the death by running around saying that there is something going terribly wrong here. There was also foreshadowing when the mother was up all night long waiting for her husband to get home. Something just was not right. There was quick rising action, and then the men came in saying that he died. Then pandemonium followed.
So after those shenanigans, the conflict in my story is how in the world is my main character, Adam, going to escape the Forest alive and in decent health. I don't know how I'm going to write it out yet (actually I know exactly what I'm going to do, I just can't tell anyone) but I'm going to try to make it suspenseful. I already told everyone that the guy broke his hip, and he has a pretty smart and loyal dog with him. He will play some part in his rescue, as well as the guys back at the police station. The conflict here is going to be Man vs. Nature, at least that will be the main one I'm focused on. Limited supplies, the night quickly approaching, I think it will be good to see how it turns out.
Matt Bobby,
DeleteYour blog this week made me laugh! You are so right about how alcohol and wasting money on it seems to be something that we read about a lot, but I never really noticed it before. Now to the rest of the blog. I think that your discussion of the conflicts is very accurate. I really liked your first conflict because I did not even think of that. I didn’t really see it as a conflict originally, but now that you pointed it out I totally agree. Also think that your point about his mother being foreshadowing was really good too. They say a mother always knows, and this case she does. I am excited for your short story. I am glad you aren’t telling us what is going to happen. That wouldn’t be any fun! I hope it turns out as good as it sounds.
Matt,
DeleteI also enjoyed your blog this week. I agree that drinking seems to be a consistent theme throughout several works that we have read this year. The conflicts that you picked out were very good. I also cannot wait to read your short story. I am glad that you aren't telling us how it is exactly going to happen. Can't wait to read it. Great job!
The Odour of Chrysanthemums is a story that is brimming with conflict. All of this conflict is also rooted around Elizabeth Bates. She has so many different forms of struggle throughout this story that she is forced to deal with. She also has to remain sane and alive through it all.
ReplyDeleteOne of the conflicts that Elizabeth has is with her husband. He is constantly drinking after work, and he refuses to even come home for dinner. He just walks by the house to the nearest bar and drinks his life away. He leaves Elizabeth to constantly worry about the state of her husband, who only comes home whenever the other men from the bar bring him unconscious. She never knows if he is alive or dead, but there is also a part of her that doesn’t care. Elizabeth just tends to assume that her husband is drunk and useless like always. What a terrible way to live.
The second conflict in this story is between Elizabeth and her conscience. She goes through a serious internal struggle. She asks herself questions like “Why did I marry this man?” or “Did I even really know him?”. She realizes that her and her husband were strangers, and they had no right to carry on their marriage as they did. She also says that her children were brought from two separate beings, but the beings should have been one at that time. She realizes that she may have made a mistake in the husband that she chose to spend her life with. Elizabeth realizes her marriage was beyond saving before anything happened to her husband. There was no hope to fix their union. Elizabeth also feels that she should weep for her husband, but she can’t bring herself to cry over someone that she didn’t’ know.
My story
Calfuray vs. Nature
Calfuray vs. The Wolf- This is more in the beginning.
Calfuray vs. Herself
Calfuray vs. The Chief Elder
Megan,
DeleteNice blog! Blogging feels weird again. Two weeks off have left me spoiled! Anyways, we found the same conflict essentially. I particularly enjoyed your reflection on Elizabeth's fights with herself. It very much captures the sadness that isolation that she felt. Your conflicts for your own story sound very interesting, however, I wish you would have elaborated on them slightly more. I wold love to hear more. I guess I will just have to wait!
Mm. Well, that was depressing.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so Odour of Chrysanthemums was not the happiest tale we've read thus far, however, since when are conflicts generally happy anyway?
I would say the characters in this story faced two major conflicts. The first being the conflict between husband and wife.
Elizabeth Bates and William Bates first appear to be a cliche "bad marriage." Elizabeth is the doting wife who is constantly faced with long nights of waiting and continued disappointment as a result of her husband's incessant drinking habits. The children want their father, and Elizabeth is growing bitter due to years of hardships issued to her by the hand of her husband.
Katerina and Marmeladov, anyone?
This opening conflict makes Elizabeth out to be the victim and makes it appear as though it is her fighting against her husband and his destructive habits. The presentation of the conflict in this way makes the audience feel sorry for her. Or at least I felt bad for her.
However, the conflict takes a shift when the corpse is brought into the home. Elizabeth struggles to make a connection with the dead individual laid before her, so much so that she can not even shed a tear for his loss. She begins to finally acknowledge her role in the failure of the marriage, never realizing that she refused to view him as a human being and instead only saw him as her cross to bear in life.
This shifts the major conflict to one of "Man vs. Self." Elizabeth is fighting with herself to realize and take responsibility for her actions throughout the marriage.
I find "Man vs. Self" to be an interesting form of conflict. We go through it everyday and sometimes our biggest enemy is ourself. We are our own worst enemy. (Shout out to Lit).
So that's why it is for certain going to be one of the main conflicts in my story. Sure, Bakir was sort of screwed over after his fifteen minutes of fame were up, but his expectations were high and he pushed everyone further away and worsened his isolation. A big part of the story is going to be Bakir learning to let people in and learning to stop putting up so many walls.
Man vs Society. Though my story takes place in a mystical, Nordic, Skyrim-esque place, I still intend the struggle to be somewhat a reflection of our society. We idolize famous people and treat them like gods, however, how many washed up stars do we see in the tabloids and we all just shake our heads and think "what a shame." Well it is a shame. I imagine its hard to be on top of the world one minute and then simply just another average human the next! This is the story of the washed up celebrity learning to live again in a fantasy way.
Lastly there is a slight struggle of Man vs. Fate. Bakir's whole life has been revolved around fate. His destiny. His life was sort of a whirlwind experience ever since he was named "The Chosen one." That's all his life has ever really been and with "fate" no longer playing a large role in his life, he is lost. His struggle is not so much about changing some predetermined destiny, but rather learning how to make his own.
So those are the conflicts I was thinking for my story. So many struggles.
Have a nice Sunday :)