ESSAY CEMETERY

Reflection on life She was an old woman now, and her life had become memories. Attention to the elements (of nature) Thinking of the past and future Weaving Denial/ misunderstanding/spirituality? It wasn't like Jimmie died. He just never came back [...] White people distinguished as "the white man" Nature is relaxing The sun warmth relaxed her and took the fear and anger away. She lay back on the rock and watched the sky. It seemed to her that she could walk into the sky, stepping through clouds endlessly. Danny played with little pebbles and stones, pretending they were birds’ eggs and then little rabbits. Ella sat at her feet and dropped fistfuls of dirt into the breeze, watching the dust and particles of sand intently. Ayah watched a hawk soar high above them, dark wings gliding; hunting or only watching, she did not know. The hawk was patient and he circled all afternoon before he disappeared around the high volcanic peak the Mexicans called Guadalupe. Emotions associ

PDF of Tony's Story: Link   (Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with this link) Army men returning to the reservation I wondered why men who came back from the army were troublemakers on the reservation. The fantastic (Todorov) I looked back and saw the red light on top of the car whirling around, and I could make out the dark image of a man, but where the face should have been there were only the silvery lenses of the dark glasses he wore. How could just speaking about something make it more real? But I knew that cop was something terrible, and even to speak about it risked bringing it close to all of us; so I didn’t say anything. There's some more abstract fear that haunts Tony than the cop, something others can't see Leon glanced in the rear-view mirror. "He's following us!" My body began to shake and I wasn't sure if I would be able to speak. "There's no place left to hide. It follows us everywhere." Tony refers to the cop as "it"

This short story is summarized in bullet points for no good reason. Events ·        It's a hot dry summer. Tony's friend Leon comes back from the army. He is drinking. ·        A state cop punches Leon in the face ·        Leon is admitted to the hospital with broken teeth and get stitches ·        Tony dreams about the cop who has white round eyes on a ceremonial black mask instead of a face ·        Leon gets better but wants revenge and Tony tries to dissuade him ·        Tony sees the cop in a gas station store and Leon says he is just as good as the cop ·        The cop follows them and they pull over. He makes them get out of the car. ·        Tony knows he can't look at the cop's eyes. He tries not to but then looks at his face, and can't find eyes behind the mirrored lenses ·        The cop tells them they transferred him to keep him away from Indians ·        Tony feels an urgency to get off the highway but Leon continues becaus

The story is comprised mostly of the main character's thoughts, which I decided were more easily summarized in bullet points. Ayah (an old Indian) sits outside in the snow immersed in nature reflecting on the past and the future Her son Jimmie was a soldier She thinks of her mother, grandmother and herself preparing wool and weaving blankets She thinks of Jimmie's birth She recalls when she was informed of Jimmie's death Chato- Ayah's husband? She recalls how: She mourned Jimmie She signed papers that allowed her children Ella and Danny to be taken away by doctors without understanding what she signed, but then ran away with the children The next day Chato, Ayah’s husband, explained that the children had inherited a disease from Ayah's grandmother and she had signed an agreement to treat them The children were taken away She had had other children who died but it was bearable because they were with her Back to the present: It starts snowing Ch