Reaction to "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"

I thought it was interesting how the only person to mention Connie’s friends’ names is the creepy man stalking Connie. It adds to Connie’s overall narcissism, as if her friends are not important enough to receive names, even though they spend all of their free time together. Connie’s life centers around herself and everyone else in her life are merely supporting characters. I hated Connie at first; she is vain, obnoxious, and rude to everyone around her. Yet as the story continues, I feel like she did not deserve to be treated the way that she was by the two unsettling men. While she should have exercised more caution and gotten away before things progressed as far as they did, she found herself in a position with no real escape route. The men were clearly stalking Connie, as well as the rest of her family, and had grossly overstepped boundaries. Connie did bring it upon herself by going over to the restaurant, but I felt that her bad decisions were not enough to warrant her getting kidnapped and probably raped by some creepy men. She did not talk to them at the restaurant and did not seem to lead them on in any way. Connie used to live in a fantasy world where she could hang out with boys and escape the eyes of her parents and perfect sister, and while her behavior is immature and dangerous, the area that she describes her friends going to seemed safe enough and I was surprised that the men turned out to be as disconcerting as they were. As much as I dislike Connie, I am not entirely sure that she deserves the troubling end that awaits her.

I loved the way Oates used Arnold Friend to flesh out the observations that the narrator gives us. Connie never mentions her friend’s names and keeps all of her observations vague, but Friend explains all of Connie’s friend’s first and last names, plus several other disturbing images. He knows the color of June’s dress, while Connie only notes that her sister is dressed up, and the most disturbing details about Connie’s family. Arnold gives the reader a clearer image of the setting and characters in the story, while developing his own character as frightening and exceptionally disturbing. Connie only offers information about herself, from her hair to her shoes and charms bracelets, but Friend cleans up the vague information Connie gives, while once again establishing how narcissistic Connie is and how creepy he and Eddie are.

Reaction to "The Yellow Woman"

“The Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko often surprised and confused me. Once again, the narrator is left nameless, only known by the “pet” name “Yellow Woman.” I think that the narrator’s reluctance to admit her own name, background, and pretty much everything in her life adds to the dream-like, mystical mood behind the short story. This mood is reflected in parts of the plot as well. At first, I was somewhat confused that the narrator continues to return to Silva, even though she has a life and family at home and sets off to return to them. I think she feels somehow connected and attracted to Silva. After he refers to her as “Little Yellow Woman” she suddenly desires to actually be the yellow woman, although she denies any possibility of connection constantly. She follows the mystical feel of the short story and wants to mentally abandon her family for as long as she can in order to act out the stories of the yellow woman, and feel like a part of the ancient stories she had been told. She goes back to her husband after Silva shoots the man he has been stealing from, when she feels like she doesn’t really have a choice anymore and he ruined the dream for her. The shock of reality finally shakes the narrator out of her daydream and leads to her return to normalcy.
A huge part of my shock came from the scene where the two spend the night together. Silva essentially rapes her, telling the narrator that he could hurt her as she feels his power under his skin. I thought that this would be the end of her dreams and she would finally give up her fascination with Silva, but it seems their forced physical relationship only made their connection stronger. The narrator even leans over and kisses him at the end of what I believed to be a rape scene, and the next day she seems fine with following Silva anywhere.
Also, the timing of the story confused me. From the beginning of the story, I pictured the work taking place some time ago. I was surprised to see that she mentions jets; I had imagined the story being set before modern technology.
The entire story somewhat confused me, but I did enjoy the differences between the two worlds of present day reality and old-fashioned folk lore and spiritual trances.

Reaction to "Saboteur"

Ha Jin’s “Saboteur” frustrated me. It seems like this power struggle occurs often in societies; people with authority, usually the police, seem to believe that they have much more power than the law actually grants them. When people are put in a position of power some, if not many, of them are bound to abuse it. I have seen the police exploit their power a number of times; give someone power to arrest, ruin reputations, and even lives, in addition to a weapon, and he is unstoppable. In America, society always tries to paint the police as great men who save the day and protect citizens, modern day real-live superheroes. Sometimes this is true, sometimes the police are far from valiant. While the police in the short story infuriate me, I was not actually surprised that they abuse their power and act rudely. That being said, it is the witnesses that bothered me the most. They immediately side with the police. I could not tell if this was out of fear that they would be arrested for lying, or if they simply believe what the cops told them and either intentionally, or unintentionally, fabricate stories that correspond with the polices’ lies. Whatever the reason, the fact that the police can force bystanders to lie about what they saw and let an innocent man go to jail is disgusting. At one point it even appears as if Mr. Chiu connects with one of the witnesses, a purchasing agent from one of the shipyards. Chiu Maguang was sabotaged by his own countrymen.

Mr. Chiu’s coping mechanism is definitely out of line; he has no right to infect innocent people. However, I can see where he is coming from, especially after the description of his horrible time in the jail. I think everyone knows what it feels like to be powerless in a situation. It is a classic story, even in elementary school. The teacher “knows” a student did something wrong and the student’s only option is to falsely admit to something he did not do; we read about this occurrence in “Eleven” early on this semester. It is infuriating, humiliating, and can be impossible to move past emotionally. Instead of breaking down and crying like Rachel in “Eleven,” Mr. Chiu retaliates against the townspeople. I have a strong need for retribution, despite how immature it may seem, and I believe that Mr. Chiu had every right to retaliate against the disgusting way that he was treated. However, killing innocent people with hepatitis is a horrible way to achieve vengeance. Mr. Chiu becomes the saboteur that the police claim that he is. Honestly, the police bring the illnesses down upon themselves, and deserve a large portion of the blame, even if they never know it.