People can change

By: Zach Maderski

Author’s Note: This is a response to the story “Thank you Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. It talks about some quotes from the story and how they are important and show a change in the characters and in the reader’s thoughts.

There are several quotes in this story that affect the way the reader feels about the characters. Their importance not only affects how you feel about a character but also shows how that character changes throughout the story. For example Roger in the beginning of the story was a thief and would take any chance he could to get money or food, but in the end he learned respect and trust.

In the beginning of the story Roger has almost no trust in Mrs. Jones partly because she had caught him red handed trying to steal her pocket book but also, she is a complete stranger to him. There is a quote in the story that proves that Roger is scared and has no trust in this women that he had just tried to steal from.  "If I turn you loose, will you run?" asked the woman. "Yes’m," said the boy. This quote just proves that Roger is still in a way a thief and has no trust what so ever in Mrs. Jones.

An important quote in the story that really stands out was when Mrs. Jones brought Roger to her house after he had tried to steal her pocket book. When he got to the bathroom after she told him to wash up the quote said,” Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to the sink.” This quote is probably one of the most important quotes in the story because it shows how much Roger changed from the beginning of the story to now, and it shows how much he is beginning to trust her because if I was in his position I would have taken her pocket book and ran.

Toward the end of the book Mrs. Jones did something risky, she left her pocket book on the couch were Roger was sitting. This part of the story will really changes what you think or believe about Roger, because Mrs. Jones could not even see Roger nor could he see her. He decided to scoot to the edge of the couch to where she could see him out of the corner of her eye. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.

Telling from Roger’s actions at the beginning of the book to the end of the book you can really see how much he had changed. You might not have been able to see his change in attitude and confidence throughout the story if it weren’t for these quotes. Overall quotes can really change how the reader thinks and shows their improvement throughout the story.

Ribbons

 The grandmother's culture has some ways that are different than our. Some of these ways are shown in the story, for example Chines people bow to you or other people instead of just hugging them or saying hello. Also their is a way that the chines people have of trying to make their self beautiful and it is not very pleasant.They try to make their feet small so they rap their toes around our foot and then cut off the circulation to their foot so it doesn't hurt. I think that this next reason is very mean because the Chines people like boys more than girls because like the grandmother said," boys are everything.” An example of a way that we would do for the sake of beauty would be like getting plastic surgery or dying hair. This is bad because stuff like plastic surgery are permanent but dying hair could make you look bad even though you thought it looked good. 

A clean Well lighted Place Book or Movie

   There are many examples of a book being better than a movie or a movie being better than the book because of sound. In the book A Clean Well Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway, there is both a book and a movie for it. In the story there are two men in a bar and it is really late. There is a man who comes in and stays until way after closing time. The younger waiter doesn’t like staying so late so he tells the old man to go home. In the story it was difficult to feel a mood or tone but in the movie there was because of the sound of voices, music, and facial expressions.

   A good example of the movie being better than the book is when the old man was sent home from the bar. This was a great example of setting the tone of the whole movie. It was  good because there was  music in the background that was  sad and gloomy as he was walking away. It makes you feel sad for the old man so the tone is a very sad one. Also you could really tell that the older waiter understood how the old man felt because he to liked working at the bar and didn’t mind being nice to an old man who lost a lot.

   A good example of when the book is better than the movie is in the beginning of both the book and the movie. In the movie there was a long period of time when it was just showing the bar and there was music playing. The music was sad and it was boring to watch. In the book it went right into the story, the conversations, and also it gave us more information about them.

   Another example of when the movie is better than the book is how the music and the sounds set the tone of the whole piece. In the movie the music sets a sad tone for the whole thing. Also the tone of the older waiter voices really shows that he cared about the old man and that he know what he was going through. Now in the book you can’t really tell whether or not they are just saying it or they actually mean it.

   As you can see many factors can change how an individual feels or thinks about characters or events in a story. People may think that movies are better than books or books are better than movies because of the type of events in it, like was or fighting scenes. It all really has to do with whether or not the books or movie has these factors that may decide which one you like best.

After you my Dear Alphonse response

I think that this story really relates to reverse racism because in the story Mrs.Wilson thinks that Boyd is very pore. She shows these examples by saying that Boyd can have some of Johnny's old clothes. Also she was telling him that he could eat as much as he wanted because she thought that he didn't have much for at his house. I personally think that she is doing all of these things because of the stereotypes of black people. 

She was being very naivete because she would say stuff based off of stereotypes and then he would tell her wrong. And toward the and of the story when she said that she was disappointed in him because he wasn't what she thought he was going to be like.