:Valerie’s Blog

Henry Layton tells the reader about how his father was gentle and his father was violent, and it wasn’t just that he was both of those that killed him. He claims

“neither half of me wrought my ruin.

It was the falling asunder of halves,

Never a part of eachother,

That left me a lifeless soul”

This is an interesting idea. In most books when one person is attempting to be two people at one and put on a facade for someone else, or another group of people, this causes their demise. The stress and fastidiousness required to keep up two personalities and acts is usually too much and that is what kills them. That or they get discovered and murdered. Even if these two ‘people’ are working together for the real person to achieve their goals, it’s not a failure if the two don’t ‘jive’, a problem Henry Layton had.

Lucinda Matlock’s poem is deep and really reflects positively on her life. Despite how her sons and daughters turned out she’s able to accept that it’s time to go, at age ninety-six, and learns that life is something to be enjoyed as well as to be a time to experience everything you’re meant to experience.

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“I lothed you, Spoon River, I tried to rise above you,

I was ashamed of you. I despised you

As the place of my nativity”

Archibald explicitly states what many residents of Spoon River have been thinking, that they just want to leave the place. Searcy Foote and Mickey M’Grew talked about college and how they saved up the money, or attempted to, so that they could go on and have a life beyond Spoon River. The small community where everyone knew something about everyone elses life was not what any of those who hoped to leave were looking for. It got to the point where Archibald was ashamed of the place where he grew up because it brought him nothing. He thought that if he were to change where he was born, he would have had more oppurtunities and been a different person who wouldn’t have to have been reminded of where he came from, and been embarrassed about it.

Archibald sought a more exciting life beyond the boring day-to-day gossip and small town of Spoon River.

“There was no culture, you know, in Spoon River,

And I burned with shame and held my peace”

This is why so many residents travel to France and Spain and other countries, something we were trying to figure out in the begining. They want more than they already have and have to go somewhere with such high expecatations. These places they travel to don’t live up to the reputations they’ve given them, but are still sometimes better than Spoon River.

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As I was reading this section, i had something little to say about many of the poems, so I figured I would post it here, since we can’t write in the books.

Wendell P. Bloyd- It was interesting for me to see how the whole Adam and Eve story was just like God, and that’s why he crucified His Own Son

Franklin Jones- reminded me of George Gray, who failed to seize his opportunities and, in the case of Franklin Jones, didn’t finish his flying machine and become famous as he dreamt.

Pauline Barrett- a great quote i found from here was ” ‘One should be all dead when one is half-dead-’ Nor ever mock life, nor ever cheat love.’ ”

Albert Schirding- “But I know of a fate more trying than that: It is to be a failure while your children are successes”. He put all of his money into becoming superintendent and failed again, while his daughter was successful. And that’s what killed him.

Jonas Keene- He provides an alternate viewpoint to Alberts, saying that your children bring you honor, because you are the one that raised them. This relates very much to Mrs. Williams and that she thought all of the children might as well be raised by the county, but maybe Alberts “American Dream” inspired his kids and made them better. His failure could have led him to further inspire them to go and push their limits for success.

Mary McNeely- “To love is to find your soul Through the soul of a beloved one”. Maybe the American Dream is different in small town Spoon River, maybe they don’t desire money as much as love, something less tangible, but that would probably make you the most happy in a small town with nowhere to go.

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For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.

And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.

To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire–

It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

This poem is probably one of the most abstract in the whole book, but that also makes it the easiest to relate to. George shys away from love because of his fear, and doesn’t answer the door, where oppurtunity may very well be knocking. He was driven to succede but afraid of failure, but wasn’t happy with his life while living in this fear.

It’s only once he dies that George realizes that he should have taken advantage of all those oppurtunities he had, for both love, meaning, and success. It’s almost that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and in this case gone is taken to the extreme, death.

This poem is full of advice to all of the living that will listen, sieze your chances, let the winds take you, and even if you may struggle you’re on your path to success and a fulfilling life!

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I chose these three related people because they all think differently of themselves when presented with similar information.

Doctor Meyers thinks he did so much for the town as a doctor who took in those who could not pay, and then when he is blamed for Minerva’s death dies himself. He was “blessed” with a wife, and married kids, but then criticized for the death of a patient he took on, and his wife died, then him. He puts most of his blame on the the newspapers that disgraced him, but it was maybe his fault because he was so ‘great’ and took in anyone.

Mrs. Meyers feels bad that her husband failed at helping Minerva alive, but believes what he told her- that “he had broken the law human and divine” by attempting such a feat. She doesn’t seem to miss life as much as the doctor, but gives the advice to be peaceful and keep all of Gods comandments. I’m not sure where exactly this comes from though.

Doc Hill had a wife that wasn’t as sympathetic, but was actually his motivation to care for the sick. He doesn’t seem to think of himself as great as Doctor Meyers did, and is almost proud when he sees all the people gather around on the lawns. I’m not sure who Em Stranton is either, but I think it has to do with him not leaving those who didn’t care about him (his son and wife) and being able to love her.

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