Popular Mechanics (Potpourri)

"But he would not let go. He felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard.

In this manner, the issue was decided."

 

The husband and wife are fighting and a divorce is likely taking place. The man is leaving the house and they are fighting over posessions. Then, they start to fight over their baby. My first thought was that they both love the baby so much and do not want to let it go. However, I later realized that they do not love the baby at all. They are fighting over it just to fight so one can have control over the other. They show no concern for the safety of the baby what so ever. I do not think either of them deserve the baby. I'm not totally sure, but I want to believe that they baby is symbolic for something else. Maybe for control over the relationship and the split. No one wants to feel like they are out of control after a break up/divorce.

 

You're Ugly Too (Potpourri)

"Really, I was just kidding!" Zoe shouted. -page 370

Zoe is clearly very insecure about herself. She always concentrates on her appearance and focuses on what people say about her. She is also extremely cynical. All of the things she focuses on are the negatives of every situation or story. I see her as the typical grade school bully. The big kid who is insecure about themselves so picks on other people to take attention off of their flaws. Only Zoe isn't really a bully just very rude and sarcastic. She hardly ever gives a straight answer to anything. Zoe uses her jokes to cover up what her true feelings are. She truly does care what people think about her and wants people to like her. However, she wants to act like she does not care at all. She needs to "take off her mask" (Retreat reference). When she finally does stop being so ironic/sarcastic, she about kills Earl and says she was kidding. Someone in my small group suggested that she was going through a mid-life crisis. I think it is much worse than that.

The Drunkard (Potpourri)

"My brave little man!" she said with her eyes shining. "It was God did it you were there. You were his guardian angel." -page 351
This quote provides the unltimate irony of the story. The ten-year-old boy is drunk and originally is scolded. However, once the father leaves the mother comes and tells the boy that she is grateful for what he did. He unknowingly prevented his father from becoming very drunk and humiliating himself, the family, and missing work. I found it ironic and somewhat sickening that the father was more upset that he didn't get to drink, than he was that his son was drunk, sick, and wounded. Even before the incident, the father told the boy to go play in the street right outside of a bar. Wait, let me back up even more! The father wants to go get drunk after a funeral with a friend who did not even know the man who had died, and then he takes his son with him to the bar and hardly watches him. Clearly, this father is not aware of his responsibilities as a parent. The boy was expecting to have to take care of his drunk dad, but he ends up being the one taken care of. I feel like the boy's drunken rant is probably very similar to the way his father acts when drunk.

The Lottery (Potpourri)

"'Pack of crazy fools,' he said. 'Listening to the young folks, nothing's good enough for them. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves...'" -page 268

When I first read the title, I expected the lottery to be something good. Usually when I think of lottery I think of winning something like money or a prize. This lottery is actually for something awful. The person who gets randomly chosen gets stoned to death by the entire village. Even Tessie Hutchinson's son Davy was given stones to throw at her. She is the only one upset, and the rest of the village does not think anything of it. I'm not sure if this is some sort of population control or what. I found the quote above to be even more ridiculous once I knew what the lottery was for. It's ironic how he sees the other village to be barbaric when they are the ones stoning someone to death based off of a lottery. Most of the story has to do with tradition. The lottery has always been a tradition in this village, but many things have changed or are no longer worried about. The box is raggedy, uses paper instead, etc. They are continuing the lottery simply for sake of tradition. I think the author's meaning is that some traditions are not meant to be upkept, especially if the reason for the tradition is no longer even valid. Some traditions are ridiculous and can be done away with.