I enjoyed reading the 'Reunion' and felt that there were many things that made this story interesting. This story made me feel sorry for Charlie who was eager to meet his father and spend time with him, only to find out that he was a bit of a snob.
Also, may be the way the father was in the story, coming off as being entitled to everything and putting people down might of been a reason why Charlie's mother divorced him.
The way the father speaks to the waiters is a small stereotype of how waiters are often seen, perceived and treated by people. And I too have seen this kind of treatment on waiters and when I use to work as a waiter, very seldom times I was talked somewhat in the same fashion.
Over all I enjoyed how the author used foreign language in his story. Especially the Italian text. Italian being my fourth language, I was able to read and understand it very well. Of course, if someone has a strong proficiency in Spanish, they may understand the Italian text too.
When the father speaks in Italian, it gave me an impression that he may be an Italian-American. Also, given that he lives in New York where many Italians immigrate.
I found it interesting, yet a bit comical how the father was calling the waiters in four different languages. For example,
Garçon means boy in French. Kellner means waiter in German, and Cameriere means waiter in Italian. And in the end he addresses them in English.
For those who may be lost with the way the father was calling the waiters, he was basically calling them boy or lad.
In A Kind Of Flying I though it was going to be about those wedding conspiracies and how someone got cold feet but the story actually made me feel two different emotions once I reached the ending, happy and sad. Why those two emotions? The author was being honest, he was telling a story but at the same time staying true to the concept of marriage. Brady's husband gave up whatever it is he wanted to do to give the spouse that freedom and liberty to live out her dream. Symbolism played a big part when the author introduced the birds picking up the groom figurine off the wedding cake. It foreshadowed that the husband would have to eventually give himself up entirely for the sake of his wife and her dreams. That's marriage, and it's completely honestly the truth. At least that's what I feel is to be true. He gave up what he wanted for her sake, if that's not love I don't know what is.
Yesenia Betancourt Reunion The story Reunion was a bit surprising when I first read it. I thought it was going to be a story about a happy reunion between Charlie and his father. The description of how Charlie feels when he sees his father fooled me into thinking that that is what was going to happen, but there is a twist that probably both Charlie and I did not see coming. Charlie’s father is actually a very hateful man. In every single restaurant they go to Charlie’s father is very rude and unapologetic about his behavior towards the waiters. By the time Charlie has to leave he does not seem so excited about having been with his dad, as he just “…went down the stairs and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father.” The twist was a nice surprise because it got me more interested in the story. Like I said, I thought the story was going to be a happy reunion, but Charlie ended up learning his father’s true personality. By the end of the reunion Charlie was probably going back on what he had previously said, about being seen with his father and wanting a photo of them for proof of having spent time together.
When seeing his father for the first time in three years, it seems that the narrator has only a vague memory of his father. I like to imagine that he was nine or ten when the divorce took place, which might be way he knows so little of his father's personality yet recognizes his face so easily. Being able to see the narrator's physical recognition of his father paired with how little he knew of his father's personality made a sharp contrast.
The person commenting above me mentioned something about expecting a "happy reunion" when starting the story. I myself was not expecting a happy reunion, I was expecting the stereotypical situation where the child finds the father to be someone who could care less about the last three years of his son's life, I thought the narrator might try to bond with his father only to find that his father was in a hurry to finish up the meal and leave again.
Instead the John Cheever did a remarkable job of displaying the father's disgusting entitlement and obnoxious personality, even while the father himself believed he was making a grand attempt to show his son a good time by buying him alcoholic drinks and showing off his Italian (and other languages). During most of this the son seems to silently absorb the conversation, which is always directed between the father and a waiter while the boy (I imagine) silently regrets having told his father he was visiting. When the narrator finally speaks we see him trying to leave "I have to get my train" "That's alright" and "I have to go."
The fact that the narrator, out of habit, still calls his father "Daddy" also tells me that he must have been young-ish when his father left and is at the time of the story about thirteen or fourteen.
I enjoyed reading the Reunion because I think it had a lot of feeling behind it. I liked the descriptions that John Cheever used without being annoying and overly descriptive. Throughout the short story I felt what the protagonist felt, the happiness at the beginning when he gets to spend time with his dad and gradually that happy feeling changes and although they never said it straight out, you can tell he was disappointed in the outcome of the lunch with his dad and this day changed his outlook of his father.
Reading this story made me laugh and had an interesting feel at the beginning while they were talking about the day of the wedding. Although things didn’t seem to go as planned, like having a bird take your husband into the sky, or having judgment on some of the decisions that were made for the wedding, it was humorous. I enjoyed this story because I admired the ‘sacrifices’ ,if you will, that he made in order to please his wife and her photography dreams. Another aspect that I enjoyed in this short story was that it didn’t just stay on the wedding day alone, it made its way into the future describing what life was like for his marriage as well as his sisters. I won’t say that the story had good imagery because I’ll admit it, while reading this I couldn’t really picture anything in my head. However, this story had a way of touching my heart. Although a number of things went wrong on their wedding day, it still had a way of making one feel happy. He didn’t claim that marriage was easy nor the worst, he worded it in the perfect way, “sometimes it pinches like a bird’s mouth, but it’s definitely flying, it’s definitely a kind of flying.” Probably one of the most favorite things I’ve read about a love story.
Gabriela Montfort A Kind of Flying by Ron Carlson and Reunion by John Cheever
I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of these stories, they were very relatable and fun. I believe that we all know a Linda or someone like Charlie’s father, people who walk around acting as if they are better and above everyone else. I liked how Carlson described the events surrounding the wedding in A Kind of Flying, it felt easy to imagined how annoyed Linda made her brother in law and his need to sass her any chance he got. It was also very heart felt, the way the groom describes the things his wife Brady would do show his affection for her and her quirkiness. I also love the irony of Trina, Linda’s daughter, asking for his advice when her mother had been so vocal about her disgust towards him and so quick to judge all decisions he made about his wedding seems like the tables turned.
John Cheever’s Reunion hit close to home in a way, my father was not a rude or boisterous man but he was someone who knew what and how he wanted things done and didn’t expect any less. He would make sure you knew if you had done something wrong by his standards. So while reading this I couldn’t help but find myself thinking about my father, when Charlie says “He put his arm around me, and I smelled my father the way my mother sniffs a rose.” I couldn’t help but remember that very particular scent my father had and how comforting it was to me especially when I couldn’t see him often which was Charlie’s case. The only thing I really disliked about this was the fact the dialogue parts, some not all, the author used the typical “my father said” “the waiter said” “he said” etc. That when reading it out loud was very annoying to me.
For being a short story the author really dove into some deep subjects that came about within the story. One being the subject of divorce and how that impacted the father-son relationship. Charlie now has a strained relationship with his father due to the divorce and throughout the story we see that both want to so salvage what they have, but sadly at the end Charlie realizes that he can never have the relationship that he hoped to have with his father. Cheever uses character development to show a reversal in charlie's character. The story ends where it begins at Grand Central Station, and beginnings usually mean hope, but Charlie is not the same hopeful son he was when he first starts the story, he is now an adult who loses hope in reconnecting with his dad, and accepts that things won't be the same. Ending at Grand Central Station signifies a loss of hope and goodbyes.
Reunion As I began to read this story I felt the narrator was conflicted and for me it really set the tone for the remainder of the story. When he saw his father he instantly felt reconnected. Throughout the story he calls his father “Daddy” and perhaps that is his way of remaining connected with his father despite his absence. When the narrator describes his father’s scent as “whiskey, after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woolens, and the rankness of a mature male”, this was a great description, and you can sense the narrator appreciating every moment of his visit. Now as the story goes on I could see that the father had no intentions of reconnecting with his son. At each restaurant, the father immediately orders an alcoholic beverage and he is loud and obnoxious towards the staff. I felt he was avoiding any interaction with his son, possibly trying to make this visit as fast as possible so he wouldn’t have to have any awkward conversation. At the end of the story the narrator say goodbye to him, but he doesn’t hug or shake his hand, he just leaves, and I felt those were great clues indicating he never wanted anything to do with his father again.
The story was quite interesting. It told you the main character back story about his family. In my mind, I thought this was going to be one of those heartwarming stories. One of the reasons why I thought that was because the fact that he wanted people to know he was with his dad. He had stated that he wanted a picture of him and his dad. I found that paragraph to be cute. Even thought I’m not from a divorced family, I could feel what the main character was feeling about situation of meeting up with him after a few years. He didn’t know what to expect. Throughout the story, the father character was kind of misleading. The way the son described the father, it kind of seemed as the dad was a hard working person, someone with class. I guess it’s my fault for thinking that. The father was a rude person, who only wanted to drink. He ruined the reunion with his son. I felt bad for the main character. He wanted to reconnect with his father, but it seemed his dad didn’t care. The end was not expected.
Personally, I found the Reunion to be bitter-sweet. On the one hand, the son is finally meeting his father after three years – not since his parents divorced – and now they have an opportunity to catch up. As the reader, you could tell that the son at least thought their meeting was important. I mean, why else would he sit through all that? On the other hand, the father it seems is very difficult to be around. At the beginning of the story, as a reader, I was curious why the main character’s parents divorced in the first place. By the end, I understood perfectly why. He’s too confrontational. In these cases though, I enjoyed the conversational and diverse tones the author used with each interaction. It brought life to the conversations and characterized the personality of the father.
While I found the interactions between the father and the waiting staff amusing, I couldn’t help feel that the main character was reliving a past he did not want to have. Throughout all these exchanges between the father and the staff of each establishment, the son does not really comment on the actions of the father… almost as if this was something normal to him, or at least not new. It stands to reason why the son would be both hopeful and foreboding in his description of the father: “as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and doom.” This story does make me wonder about the end however: did the main character just not want to meet his father anymore, or did the father die or go away?
I really enjoyed reading this short story because it had a lot of meaning behind it and it was also bitter-sweet. The narrator is so calm in the story, even though you know that there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in the experience. One way that you can tell is the way Cheever writes the story. Here’s the first sentence: The last time I saw my father was in Grand Central Station. And here’s the last one: “Goodbye, Daddy,” I said, and I went down the stairs and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father. There’s a balance to the story, as though the narrator has closed a chapter of his life and has made it clear to the reader that he has no more to say on the subject. You don’t have to be told plainly; you can feel the closing of a door.
A kind of Flying Ron Carlson When I first read the title of this story I didn’t think it was going to be about marriage. This story was a quick and entertaining read, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. It seemed so normal like the same as a lot of other stories with a similar theme of “prove them wrong” “It’s your opinion that counts not others” “tables turned” etc. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful wedding story. The ending was one of the parts of the story I really liked because the niece went to get advice from him and not her mother. It makes you think that maybe her mother was being the same to her as she was being with her brother 20 years ago.
I find “Reunion” to be an interesting piece of work. I believe it helped showcase the situation that thousands of kids face when their parents get a divorce. They get a feeling of yearning, a deep, unconscious desire to have that role model return for them, for their daddy to rescue them from the pits of the unknown. They want their superhero back.
While I am not slighting towards the mother in any way, shape, or form (I was raised by my mother alone), when children born to matrimony see their parents split up suddenly and are subsequently left with the mother, they are most likely to develop such feelings in regards to their father. The same could be said vice versa.
As I read through the story, I got the feeling that the main character, Charlie, went from being ecstatic about being with his father to something akin to disappointed at how confrontational he is about quite petty things. Every second he tried to spend with his father in peace, enjoying his company, he would nag and complain to people.
I found myself greatly disliking the father because of that. Instead of spending time being a considerate, responsible man and actually cater to the needs of the child he engendered, he wastes it on conflicts.
However, a much as I dislike the father for what he is, he represents a sad truth for children throughout the world: a life without caring parents.
I found this story to be very interesting and pretty deep even though it seems like it’s just a story of a young boy and his difficult father. At the beginning of the story we meet Charlie who is eager to meet his father. His parent’s had a messy divorce, which led to Charlie not seeing his father for several years. Without being said we can tell that Charlie has an idealistic view of how their time together will go. He seems to really miss his father. Unfortunately we quickly see that Charlie’s father isn’t father of the year at all. While out to eat we see his father turns into an obnoxious customer and verbally act out to the staff at restaurant after restaurant. Charlie’s father manages to ruin the first afternoon with his son in years. Charlie quickly becomes tired of his father and eventually leaves him and never sees his again. I really like the way the father falls from grace throughout the story. Charlie goes from feeling a longing for his father, “as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and doom,” to “that was the last time I saw my father.” I guess in theory Charlie’s father was everything a father should be but people aren’t always what we expect them to be.
I was captured right away as I started reading "Reunion" by John Cheever. At the beginning of the story I felt happiness. I was happy because Charlie was going to finally be reunited with his father, and as a child of divorce I know how overwhelming it is. Although he refers to his father as a stranger, everything changed as soon as he saw him for the first time in three years. "I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom." Charlie felt proud of his father and was excited to be seen with him. Everything started out nice and dandy, until a plot twist occurs and Charlie's father becomes that "stranger." That's when my mood changed as I continued reading and I started to feel anger. I felt angry because Charlie was looking forward to a nice lunch with his estranged father, but instead he saw his father for his true colors. The way the father was treating the servers and hard workers shows how little respect he has for others. To me it seemed as if Charlie's father felt as if he was better than others. As the story came to a conclusion I felt sadness and disappointment for Charlie. Charlie was looking forward to being reunited when his father, a man he looked up to. Instead, he missed out on lunch, and on an opportunity to have a relationship with his father.
By using flight as a metaphor for marriage, the story explores the various facets of matrimony. To begin with, Carlson juxtaposes travel and adventure with marriage; for instance, Brady’s sister Linda gets to travel because of her husband’s job as a GI in the army. On the other hand, the narrator, quite humorously, only travels vicariously through music (choosing the song “El Paso” to be performed at his wedding) and Brady’s own traveling experiences. Brady’s sister Linda condescendingly remarked that by marrying the narrator, Brady will stay anchored in Steven’s Point. However, quite the opposite occurred, and it was the narrator who remained grounded in order for Linda to fulfill her dream job.
Also, the story with the cake has two separate instances of flight: the photographic illusion of the bride and groom climbing the church roof and the crows grabbing the groom off the wedding cake. After that, every time Brady spotted a crow, she quipped, “There you go,” as a way to illustrate the journey that they have gone through since their wedding day.
Reunion by John Cheveer When a boy and his father finally meet, after not seeing each other for a long time, it is expected to be an encounter filled with bonding and love. The author takes this expectation and twists it up, adding a dash of reality to it. When Charlie met his dad at the train station, he is left in awe with his father… his scent, his touch, his presence all leaves him dumbfounded. In a span of an hour and a half, the man who was a total stranger to him went from having potential to be the hero, to being absolutely repulsive with his behavior. The author creates the role of the antagonist through the father, who is condescending and quick to anger. The reunion to him is not at all about his son; it is about getting a rise out of people and being a total douche. I felt like I would be incredibly awkward if I was in Charlie’s shoes. I quickly got the impression that the father was an alcoholic, due to the fact that he began messing up his speech so early in the story. The fact that Charlie remains so quiet throughout the story makes me think the author intentionally left his emotions out of this short story, so the reader can come to the conclusion of what his emotions were, given the context clues. The fact that this reunion was the last he’d see of his father makes the title a little funny to me. Kind of like a blind date gone horrifically wrong, and all you want to do is go home and forget all about it.
When I first read the word "wedding" at the beginning of the story, I thought it was going to be your typical wedding story: guy is nervous, everyone congratulating him, everything goes great, and the couple is happy with the outcome.. I was already unhappy with the use of that word since I am not such a big fan of wedding or love stories. However, that didn't seem to be the case. The wedding cake gets slightly ruined, the bride was unhappy with the song the groom wanted to play, and a few other things. Overall, I still thought it was a boring story to read and nothing in my interest had really happened. I did like the answer the narrator gave Trina when she asked him what marriage really was. I also liked how the wedding day really didn't go as planned, but the narrator makes it a point to tell the readers how well is going twenty years later.
The Reunion by John Cheever was an excellent reading that allowed, maybe even forced the reader to read in between the lines to create a scenario vividly in their mind of what really may have happened during his time spent with his father. I liked how Charlie described his father as his "future and his doom." Even Charlie himself knows that although his parents have been divorced for the past three years, not much has changed. His father probably had very little time to spend with Charlie and his mother which ultimately led to a divorce. I understand Charlie not being able to see his father in three years, I too can relate since I have a father that would rather work to make a great living. This led me to believe that Charlie was much older in age, he never mentioned that he took the divorce hard, and since he was traveling in his own via train and is even responsible enough to set up a meeting place between him and his father, even if it's at the expense of communicating to his father's secretary. This clue too led me to believe that his father came from higher authority or presence. The father was probably a well established man seeing that his son described him so professionally. The father mentions that he would "like to take you up to my club" but settles for something close by since they were on a time constraint. Charlie was obviously very proud of dad, he described him as "a big, good-looking man" and "hoped that someone would see [them] together." He wanted to freeze that moment with his father. Charlie mentions that his father smelled like a "rich compound of whiskey, after-shave lotion, woolens, and the rankness of a mature male." Piece these things together with a tall good-looking man, that owns a club and has his personal secretary, you're looking at a piece of meat that likes to enjoy himself and thrives in the status quo he has built for himself regardless of his obnoxious and arrogant behaviors. He's probably rich, and has no regards nor manners towards those below his rank. Just the way this gentlemen carried himself in the public eye of a restaurant spoke volumes of his demeanor. Throughout the reading I believed that Charlie was of age to be drinking. After they left the first restaurant they proceed to a new one where they were severed their alcoholic beverages. It was until the father used a knife to tap the edge of the glass to call the waiter is when the waiter asked if they Charlie was old enough to be drinking. The father replied rudely and said it was none of his God-dammed business. In the past three years since the parents have been divorced, I believed the father went through a phase were his status amongst the people has risen. Although his rank is now much higher, that level of authority has yet to be displayed for his own "flesh and blood", Charlie. I can see throughout the reading the father was trying to in a way show off to his son which brought out this fake image of his father. He was simply trying to present the power he has gained throughout the years to his son and failed to acknowledge that his son was on a time frame and the window was getting much smaller. He even tried to leave a humorous lasting impression on his son by getting "a rise out of this chap" he was trying to purchase a paper from. Charlie said "Goodbye, Daddy" and that was the last time he saw his father. I believe that Charlie made an attempt to see his father only to realize that the man he once looked up to wanting to be, has now changed in his point of view. Charlie has matured now and his intelligence and time away from his father has now given his a new look at the way he views his father.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the 'Reunion' and felt that there were many things that made this story interesting. This story made me feel sorry for Charlie who was eager to meet his father and spend time with him, only to find out that he was a bit of a snob.
ReplyDeleteAlso, may be the way the father was in the story, coming off as being entitled to everything and putting people down might of been a reason why Charlie's mother divorced him.
The way the father speaks to the waiters is a small stereotype of how waiters are often seen, perceived and treated by people. And I too have seen this kind of treatment on waiters and when I use to work as a waiter, very seldom times I was talked somewhat in the same fashion.
Over all I enjoyed how the author used foreign language in his story. Especially the Italian text. Italian being my fourth language, I was able to read and understand it very well. Of course, if someone has a strong proficiency in Spanish, they may understand the Italian text too.
When the father speaks in Italian, it gave me an impression that he may be an Italian-American. Also, given that he lives in New York where many Italians immigrate.
I found it interesting, yet a bit comical how the father was calling the waiters in four different languages. For example,
Garçon means boy in French. Kellner means waiter in German, and Cameriere means waiter in Italian. And in the end he addresses them in English.
For those who may be lost with the way the father was calling the waiters, he was basically calling them boy or lad.
Selena Garza
ReplyDeleteA Kind Of Flying by Ron Carson
In A Kind Of Flying I though it was going to be about those wedding conspiracies and how someone got cold feet but the story actually made me feel two different emotions once I reached the ending, happy and sad. Why those two emotions? The author was being honest, he was telling a story but at the same time staying true to the concept of marriage. Brady's husband gave up whatever it is he wanted to do to give the spouse that freedom and liberty to live out her dream. Symbolism played a big part when the author introduced the birds picking up the groom figurine off the wedding cake. It foreshadowed that the husband would have to eventually give himself up entirely for the sake of his wife and her dreams. That's marriage, and it's completely honestly the truth. At least that's what I feel is to be true. He gave up what he wanted for her sake, if that's not love I don't know what is.
Yesenia Betancourt
ReplyDeleteReunion
The story Reunion was a bit surprising when I first read it. I thought it was going to be a story about a happy reunion between Charlie and his father. The description of how Charlie feels when he sees his father fooled me into thinking that that is what was going to happen, but there is a twist that probably both Charlie and I did not see coming. Charlie’s father is actually a very hateful man. In every single restaurant they go to Charlie’s father is very rude and unapologetic about his behavior towards the waiters. By the time Charlie has to leave he does not seem so excited about having been with his dad, as he just “…went down the stairs and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father.” The twist was a nice surprise because it got me more interested in the story. Like I said, I thought the story was going to be a happy reunion, but Charlie ended up learning his father’s true personality. By the end of the reunion Charlie was probably going back on what he had previously said, about being seen with his father and wanting a photo of them for proof of having spent time together.
Andrea De Llano
ReplyDeleteReunion
When seeing his father for the first time in three years, it seems that the narrator has only a vague memory of his father. I like to imagine that he was nine or ten when the divorce took place, which might be way he knows so little of his father's personality yet recognizes his face so easily. Being able to see the narrator's physical recognition of his father paired with how little he knew of his father's personality made a sharp contrast.
The person commenting above me mentioned something about expecting a "happy reunion" when starting the story. I myself was not expecting a happy reunion, I was expecting the stereotypical situation where the child finds the father to be someone who could care less about the last three years of his son's life, I thought the narrator might try to bond with his father only to find that his father was in a hurry to finish up the meal and leave again.
Instead the John Cheever did a remarkable job of displaying the father's disgusting entitlement and obnoxious personality, even while the father himself believed he was making a grand attempt to show his son a good time by buying him alcoholic drinks and showing off his Italian (and other languages). During most of this the son seems to silently absorb the conversation, which is always directed between the father and a waiter while the boy (I imagine) silently regrets having told his father he was visiting. When the narrator finally speaks we see him trying to leave "I have to get my train" "That's alright" and "I have to go."
The fact that the narrator, out of habit, still calls his father "Daddy" also tells me that he must have been young-ish when his father left and is at the time of the story about thirteen or fourteen.
The Reunion
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the Reunion because I think it had a lot of feeling behind it. I liked the descriptions that John Cheever used without being annoying and overly descriptive. Throughout the short story I felt what the protagonist felt, the happiness at the beginning when he gets to spend time with his dad and gradually that happy feeling changes and although they never said it straight out, you can tell he was disappointed in the outcome of the lunch with his dad and this day changed his outlook of his father.
A Kind of Flying
ReplyDeleteBy: Ron Carlson
Reading this story made me laugh and had an interesting feel at the beginning while they were talking about the day of the wedding. Although things didn’t seem to go as planned, like having a bird take your husband into the sky, or having judgment on some of the decisions that were made for the wedding, it was humorous. I enjoyed this story because I admired the ‘sacrifices’ ,if you will, that he made in order to please his wife and her photography dreams. Another aspect that I enjoyed in this short story was that it didn’t just stay on the wedding day alone, it made its way into the future describing what life was like for his marriage as well as his sisters. I won’t say that the story had good imagery because I’ll admit it, while reading this I couldn’t really picture anything in my head. However, this story had a way of touching my heart. Although a number of things went wrong on their wedding day, it still had a way of making one feel happy. He didn’t claim that marriage was easy nor the worst, he worded it in the perfect way, “sometimes it pinches like a bird’s mouth, but it’s definitely flying, it’s definitely a kind of flying.” Probably one of the most favorite things I’ve read about a love story.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGabriela Montfort
ReplyDeleteA Kind of Flying by Ron Carlson and Reunion by John Cheever
I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of these stories, they were very relatable and fun. I believe that we all know a Linda or someone like Charlie’s father, people who walk around acting as if they are better and above everyone else. I liked how Carlson described the events surrounding the wedding in A Kind of Flying, it felt easy to imagined how annoyed Linda made her brother in law and his need to sass her any chance he got. It was also very heart felt, the way the groom describes the things his wife Brady would do show his affection for her and her quirkiness. I also love the irony of Trina, Linda’s daughter, asking for his advice when her mother had been so vocal about her disgust towards him and so quick to judge all decisions he made about his wedding seems like the tables turned.
John Cheever’s Reunion hit close to home in a way, my father was not a rude or boisterous man but he was someone who knew what and how he wanted things done and didn’t expect any less. He would make sure you knew if you had done something wrong by his standards. So while reading this I couldn’t help but find myself thinking about my father, when Charlie says “He put his arm around me, and I smelled my father the way my mother sniffs a rose.” I couldn’t help but remember that very particular scent my father had and how comforting it was to me especially when I couldn’t see him often which was Charlie’s case. The only thing I really disliked about this was the fact the dialogue parts, some not all, the author used the typical “my father said” “the waiter said” “he said” etc. That when reading it out loud was very annoying to me.
Alexis Madrigal
ReplyDeleteReunion by John Cheever
For being a short story the author really dove into some deep subjects that came about within the story. One being the subject of divorce and how that impacted the father-son relationship. Charlie now has a strained relationship with his father due to the divorce and throughout the story we see that both want to so salvage what they have, but sadly at the end Charlie realizes that he can never have the relationship that he hoped to have with his father.
Cheever uses character development to show a reversal in charlie's character. The story ends where it begins at Grand Central Station, and beginnings usually mean hope, but Charlie is not the same hopeful son he was when he first starts the story, he is now an adult who loses hope in reconnecting with his dad, and accepts that things won't be the same. Ending at Grand Central Station signifies a loss of hope and goodbyes.
Gabriela Canales
ReplyDeleteReunion
As I began to read this story I felt the narrator was conflicted and for me it really set the tone for the remainder of the story. When he saw his father he instantly felt reconnected. Throughout the story he calls his father “Daddy” and perhaps that is his way of remaining connected with his father despite his absence. When the narrator describes his father’s scent as “whiskey, after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woolens, and the rankness of a mature male”, this was a great description, and you can sense the narrator appreciating every moment of his visit. Now as the story goes on I could see that the father had no intentions of reconnecting with his son. At each restaurant, the father immediately orders an alcoholic beverage and he is loud and obnoxious towards the staff. I felt he was avoiding any interaction with his son, possibly trying to make this visit as fast as possible so he wouldn’t have to have any awkward conversation. At the end of the story the narrator say goodbye to him, but he doesn’t hug or shake his hand, he just leaves, and I felt those were great clues indicating he never wanted anything to do with his father again.
Brenda Salinas
ReplyDeleteReunion
The story was quite interesting. It told you the main character back story about his family. In my mind, I thought this was going to be one of those heartwarming stories. One of the reasons why I thought that was because the fact that he wanted people to know he was with his dad. He had stated that he wanted a picture of him and his dad. I found that paragraph to be cute. Even thought I’m not from a divorced family, I could feel what the main character was feeling about situation of meeting up with him after a few years. He didn’t know what to expect. Throughout the story, the father character was kind of misleading. The way the son described the father, it kind of seemed as the dad was a hard working person, someone with class. I guess it’s my fault for thinking that. The father was a rude person, who only wanted to drink. He ruined the reunion with his son. I felt bad for the main character. He wanted to reconnect with his father, but it seemed his dad didn’t care. The end was not expected.
Andres Sanchez 20229480
ReplyDeleteThe Reunion by John Cheever
Personally, I found the Reunion to be bitter-sweet. On the one hand, the son is finally meeting his father after three years – not since his parents divorced – and now they have an opportunity to catch up. As the reader, you could tell that the son at least thought their meeting was important. I mean, why else would he sit through all that? On the other hand, the father it seems is very difficult to be around. At the beginning of the story, as a reader, I was curious why the main character’s parents divorced in the first place. By the end, I understood perfectly why. He’s too confrontational. In these cases though, I enjoyed the conversational and diverse tones the author used with each interaction. It brought life to the conversations and characterized the personality of the father.
While I found the interactions between the father and the waiting staff amusing, I couldn’t help feel that the main character was reliving a past he did not want to have. Throughout all these exchanges between the father and the staff of each establishment, the son does not really comment on the actions of the father… almost as if this was something normal to him, or at least not new. It stands to reason why the son would be both hopeful and foreboding in his description of the father: “as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and doom.” This story does make me wonder about the end however: did the main character just not want to meet his father anymore, or did the father die or go away?
Reunion by John Cheever
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this short story because it had a lot of meaning behind it and it was also bitter-sweet. The narrator is so calm in the story, even though you know that there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in the experience. One way that you can tell is the way Cheever writes the story. Here’s the first sentence: The last time I saw my father was in Grand Central Station. And here’s the last one: “Goodbye, Daddy,” I said, and I went down the stairs and got my train, and that was the last time I saw my father. There’s a balance to the story, as though the narrator has closed a chapter of his life and has made it clear to the reader that he has no more to say on the subject. You don’t have to be told plainly; you can feel the closing of a door.
A kind of Flying
ReplyDeleteRon Carlson
When I first read the title of this story I didn’t think it was going to be about marriage. This story was a quick and entertaining read, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. It seemed so normal like the same as a lot of other stories with a similar theme of “prove them wrong” “It’s your opinion that counts not others” “tables turned” etc. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful wedding story. The ending was one of the parts of the story I really liked because the niece went to get advice from him and not her mother. It makes you think that maybe her mother was being the same to her as she was being with her brother 20 years ago.
Pedro Cano (20049610)
ReplyDeleteReunion by John Cheever
I find “Reunion” to be an interesting piece of work. I believe it helped showcase the situation that thousands of kids face when their parents get a divorce. They get a feeling of yearning, a deep, unconscious desire to have that role model return for them, for their daddy to rescue them from the pits of the unknown. They want their superhero back.
While I am not slighting towards the mother in any way, shape, or form (I was raised by my mother alone), when children born to matrimony see their parents split up suddenly and are subsequently left with the mother, they are most likely to develop such feelings in regards to their father. The same could be said vice versa.
As I read through the story, I got the feeling that the main character, Charlie, went from being ecstatic about being with his father to something akin to disappointed at how confrontational he is about quite petty things. Every second he tried to spend with his father in peace, enjoying his company, he would nag and complain to people.
I found myself greatly disliking the father because of that. Instead of spending time being a considerate, responsible man and actually cater to the needs of the child he engendered, he wastes it on conflicts.
However, a much as I dislike the father for what he is, he represents a sad truth for children throughout the world: a life without caring parents.
The Reunion
ReplyDeleteI found this story to be very interesting and pretty deep even though it seems like it’s just a story of a young boy and his difficult father. At the beginning of the story we meet Charlie who is eager to meet his father. His parent’s had a messy divorce, which led to Charlie not seeing his father for several years. Without being said we can tell that Charlie has an idealistic view of how their time together will go. He seems to really miss his father. Unfortunately we quickly see that Charlie’s father isn’t father of the year at all. While out to eat we see his father turns into an obnoxious customer and verbally act out to the staff at restaurant after restaurant. Charlie’s father manages to ruin the first afternoon with his son in years. Charlie quickly becomes tired of his father and eventually leaves him and never sees his again. I really like the way the father falls from grace throughout the story. Charlie goes from feeling a longing for his father, “as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and doom,” to “that was the last time I saw my father.” I guess in theory Charlie’s father was everything a father should be but people aren’t always what we expect them to be.
Mayela Montenegro
ReplyDeleteI was captured right away as I started reading "Reunion" by John Cheever. At the beginning of the story I felt happiness. I was happy because Charlie was going to finally be reunited with his father, and as a child of divorce I know how overwhelming it is. Although he refers to his father as a stranger, everything changed as soon as he saw him for the first time in three years. "I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom." Charlie felt proud of his father and was excited to be seen with him. Everything started out nice and dandy, until a plot twist occurs and Charlie's father becomes that "stranger." That's when my mood changed as I continued reading and I started to feel anger. I felt angry because Charlie was looking forward to a nice lunch with his estranged father, but instead he saw his father for his true colors. The way the father was treating the servers and hard workers shows how little respect he has for others. To me it seemed as if Charlie's father felt as if he was better than others. As the story came to a conclusion I felt sadness and disappointment for Charlie. Charlie was looking forward to being reunited when his father, a man he looked up to. Instead, he missed out on lunch, and on an opportunity to have a relationship with his father.
Christian Martinez
ReplyDelete"A Kind of Flying" by Ron Carlson
By using flight as a metaphor for marriage, the story explores the various facets of matrimony. To begin with, Carlson juxtaposes travel and adventure with marriage; for instance, Brady’s sister Linda gets to travel because of her husband’s job as a GI in the army. On the other hand, the narrator, quite humorously, only travels vicariously through music (choosing the song “El Paso” to be performed at his wedding) and Brady’s own traveling experiences. Brady’s sister Linda condescendingly remarked that by marrying the narrator, Brady will stay anchored in Steven’s Point. However, quite the opposite occurred, and it was the narrator who remained grounded in order for Linda to fulfill her dream job.
Also, the story with the cake has two separate instances of flight: the photographic illusion of the bride and groom climbing the church roof and the crows grabbing the groom off the wedding cake. After that, every time Brady spotted a crow, she quipped, “There you go,” as a way to illustrate the journey that they have gone through since their wedding day.
Reunion by John Cheveer
ReplyDeleteWhen a boy and his father finally meet, after not seeing each other for a long time, it is expected to be an encounter filled with bonding and love. The author takes this expectation and twists it up, adding a dash of reality to it. When Charlie met his dad at the train station, he is left in awe with his father… his scent, his touch, his presence all leaves him dumbfounded. In a span of an hour and a half, the man who was a total stranger to him went from having potential to be the hero, to being absolutely repulsive with his behavior. The author creates the role of the antagonist through the father, who is condescending and quick to anger. The reunion to him is not at all about his son; it is about getting a rise out of people and being a total douche. I felt like I would be incredibly awkward if I was in Charlie’s shoes. I quickly got the impression that the father was an alcoholic, due to the fact that he began messing up his speech so early in the story. The fact that Charlie remains so quiet throughout the story makes me think the author intentionally left his emotions out of this short story, so the reader can come to the conclusion of what his emotions were, given the context clues. The fact that this reunion was the last he’d see of his father makes the title a little funny to me. Kind of like a blind date gone horrifically wrong, and all you want to do is go home and forget all about it.
Adam Rivas
ReplyDelete"A Kind of Flying" by Raymond Carver
When I first read the word "wedding" at the beginning of the story, I thought it was going to be your typical wedding story: guy is nervous, everyone congratulating him, everything goes great, and the couple is happy with the outcome.. I was already unhappy with the use of that word since I am not such a big fan of wedding or love stories. However, that didn't seem to be the case. The wedding cake gets slightly ruined, the bride was unhappy with the song the groom wanted to play, and a few other things. Overall, I still thought it was a boring story to read and nothing in my interest had really happened. I did like the answer the narrator gave Trina when she asked him what marriage really was. I also liked how the wedding day really didn't go as planned, but the narrator makes it a point to tell the readers how well is going twenty years later.
The Reunion by John Cheever was an excellent reading that allowed, maybe even forced the reader to read in between the lines to create a scenario vividly in their mind of what really may have happened during his time spent with his father. I liked how Charlie described his father as his "future and his doom." Even Charlie himself knows that although his parents have been divorced for the past three years, not much has changed. His father probably had very little time to spend with Charlie and his mother which ultimately led to a divorce. I understand Charlie not being able to see his father in three years, I too can relate since I have a father that would rather work to make a great living. This led me to believe that Charlie was much older in age, he never mentioned that he took the divorce hard, and since he was traveling in his own via train and is even responsible enough to set up a meeting place between him and his father, even if it's at the expense of communicating to his father's secretary. This clue too led me to believe that his father came from higher authority or presence. The father was probably a well established man seeing that his son described him so professionally. The father mentions that he would "like to take you up to my club" but settles for something close by since they were on a time constraint. Charlie was obviously very proud of dad, he described him as "a big, good-looking man" and "hoped that someone would see [them] together." He wanted to freeze that moment with his father. Charlie mentions that his father smelled like a "rich compound of whiskey, after-shave lotion, woolens, and the rankness of a mature male." Piece these things together with a tall good-looking man, that owns a club and has his personal secretary, you're looking at a piece of meat that likes to enjoy himself and thrives in the status quo he has built for himself regardless of his obnoxious and arrogant behaviors. He's probably rich, and has no regards nor manners towards those below his rank. Just the way this gentlemen carried himself in the public eye of a restaurant spoke volumes of his demeanor. Throughout the reading I believed that Charlie was of age to be drinking. After they left the first restaurant they proceed to a new one where they were severed their alcoholic beverages. It was until the father used a knife to tap the edge of the glass to call the waiter is when the waiter asked if they Charlie was old enough to be drinking. The father replied rudely and said it was none of his God-dammed business. In the past three years since the parents have been divorced, I believed the father went through a phase were his status amongst the people has risen. Although his rank is now much higher, that level of authority has yet to be displayed for his own "flesh and blood", Charlie. I can see throughout the reading the father was trying to in a way show off to his son which brought out this fake image of his father. He was simply trying to present the power he has gained throughout the years to his son and failed to acknowledge that his son was on a time frame and the window was getting much smaller. He even tried to leave a humorous lasting impression on his son by getting "a rise out of this chap" he was trying to purchase a paper from. Charlie said "Goodbye, Daddy" and that was the last time he saw his father. I believe that Charlie made an attempt to see his father only to realize that the man he once looked up to wanting to be, has now changed in his point of view. Charlie has matured now and his intelligence and time away from his father has now given his a new look at the way he views his father.
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