The Open Boat,Stephen Crane

When reading this story I was intrigued from the very beginning!! It takes us through the lives of four men as they face an tragic boat wreck. Each one of the men do a certain job towards helping each other stay alive. They are faced with rough waters, sharks, seagulls, and a lonely dark night on the sea. However, this story teaches us that life is short and we should live it well. We never know when our last moment will be so we shouldn't live life with regret! One of the men on the boat basically says the same thing...he looks back on his life and reminisces. This story has a great moral to it and makes you evaluate your life.

Desiree's Baby, Kate Chopin

This story is about a young lady who was adopted. Later she marries into a wealthy family and has a child, only to find out that the child is mixed. After a happy marriage and a healthy child she is thrown out by her husband because the baby is mixed. Desiree has been faced with hardship her whole life, but still she keeps her heard up high and takes whatever life throws her way! This story shows how racist our country can be, and how much people judge someone based on their heritage! Even though the baby is mixed due to Desiree's blood line, her husband didn't take the time to investigate! This story made me frustrated, but also inspired me to be more like Desiree.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins uses a lot of time focusing on the love of God and the importance of his presence in this world. In Pied Beauty, he talks about the beauty of the nature of God and all that he creates. Then we read The Kingishers Catch Fire, and this poem talks about how beautiful we are in God's eyes. Next, we read Carrion Comfort, which tells us how Hopkins was ready to give up on his life, but decided that God will bring him through. So, he decides not to give up, and puts his faith in God. Basically throughout all of his poems he completely focuses all his time and energy on making the readers realize how important God is in our lives.

Matthew Arnold

In his poem, Dover Beach, we are faced with many different ideas! At first, we witness the overwhelming beauty of a beach at night time, when everything is calm and peaceful. Then we are faced with reality, and realize that faith can be like the sea. It roles in and out with the tide and we never truly grasp hold of it. We can have it most of the time but loose it just as quick as the tide. It wasn't that Arnold was doubting God, he was doubting the church and Christians that are in it. I really think that we can be the same way in today's world, it can be so easy to gain and loose our faith with the blink of an eye!