Story Power

Blogging the Lit Life

Author: Jane S.

This Year

At the end of every school year, I come away with a distinct feeling about the novels we’ve read, whether I enjoyed them or not. I’ve come to understand that the goal of our English curriculum is not just to analyze texts, but to step into worlds that aren’t our own. We read to experience new perspectives, to imagine lives different from our own, and to gain a deeper understanding of people and situations we might not otherwise consider. Literature gives us that opportunity — to live through others, to feel what they feel, and to question what we think we know.

I’ve always struggled with reading during the school year. I tend to gravitate toward a specific writing style, and when something doesn’t fit that, I usually disengage. But this year, that was constantly challenged. Whether it was the emotionally complex and nonlinear structure of Beloved or the dense, old English language of King Lear, I found myself slowly coming around, and coming out the other side with more appreciation than I expected. These books pushed me to be a more reflective reader. To consider not just what was being said, but how and why it was being written.

Although Pride and Prejudice remains my favorite novel, this class gave me the chance to revisit it through a new, more analytical lens. It was the reason I took the class in the first place, and I’m grateful it ended up giving me so much more understanding about the dynamics in the text.

Going foward, I want to maybe challenge myself to pick up books that are going to truly challenge me in ways this class did, but also maybe alternate, because I think I would hate myself if that’s the only thing I read.

Relationships In 2025 – original satire

Relationships in 2025

Hey bros, I could not be more excited to share some of my biggest tips for navigating the dating scene in 2025, I know most of you have been in some situationships, even stacking that roster cause I mean let’s be real, were either done after Valentines Day or hold out long enough just to have a banging chick on our arms for Prom. I know some of you are even in committed relationships- like dude, I don’t even know how y’all get locked down like that, Men are like eagles bro, we need to soar. But today I bring you hella good advice for all audiences to help you maximize the alpha within you to benefit the most out of the dating scene truly. 

For Those Getting Back Into The Scene 

Hey hey, I know some of you may have just gotten out of that relationship, maybe you got cheated on or even left for another dude. (condolences) but just remember you always have the best out of this situation with one simple word.

“Crazy” 

 

It can be used in multiple ways! instead of self-reflecting on the reasons you may have been emotionally checked out and not been willing to talk things out, and taking even a sliver of responsibility for the downfall of your relationship that drove her to feel insecure about her relationship with you, she went to go look for those qualities in someone else, all of this can be deflected! It can be used in many different ways for example: 

“Dude she was so crazy, I didn’t even like her that much, I stopped hooking up with her and she was so desperate she cheated.”

“You know I was actually getting bored of her, she was crazy anyway” 

See it works, and can be used in many different ways to deflect responsibility, which will eventually foster deep emotional unavailability, that will manifest itself later. Or could simply be used as it has been for decades, to negatively impact women. 

For when you really, do like her, but can get whatever you want if you make her believe it’s going somewhere

Like I said before, when you want to get back onto the scene, after you had time to protect your precious feelings, or maybe you do have a sliver of emotional maturity and took some time to reflect, and reset. Once you feel deprived of the validation you resented at first when things ended with your last relationship, you’re ready to hit the scene. 

One day you get a notification that this total baddie followed you on Instagram, and after carefully reviewing, you hit up your friend who goes to her school to see if he knows her to see if you can get put on. To your surprise, everything you thought is confirmed! She’s totally in the clear. You ask your friend if you can get put on and to your surprise, she already has you added. You start talking to her and damn she’s super cool. You might even start thinking she might be cool enough for you. You make plans to hang out even, rizz her up. 

All of a sudden you’re talking every day, yet that feeling deep down inside doesn’t go away. You start to pull away a little, you don’t know why she’s like so cool and super similar to you,  she even comes to your games and gives you space dude you’re chillin’! At an afterparty, you can talk to her for five minutes then leave her to herself even though she knows no one and you spend 6 hours a day with these people. She sends you good morning texts, and when she asks you to hang out just push it off so you don’t have to hang out with her, because that makes you feel vulnerable, and you don’t want to be put in that position to be hurt again. So you pull away even more but it only makes her want you more, Sickk minimal effort and maximum give, all of a sudden this other girl I hear wants you! You’ve already pulled away and want to investigate this further. 

She’s super athletic also, and you look hella cool together. Even though the other chick was bangin’, and you may have let her believe you wanted something more with her, this other girl lives closer, and It’s just easier. Choose the easier chick, even though you really want things to work out with the other chick, the validation from your friends is more important, although you hate to admit it. It’s okay, you can randomly get over your issues and date her. But still enter the other chick’s life whenever you want cause she’ll always have hope you’ll want her back until she finally has enough self-respect to walk away and accept you two will just be friends.  Yet, you’ll miss the connection and it doesn’t compare to your non-emotional and easy relationship with the super athletic chick. 

Just remember if you like to avoid how you feel, and still have a sense of control over your emotions, just string them along, give them girlfriend treatment, and pop back in once and a while to feel alive, but never lock-in. If you do, make sure it’s a low-maintenance relationship and you don’t have to do much. 

Another Way to Get Girlfriend Treatment Without Having to Commit

Gentleman, when I tell you this one solution your lives will be fixed. With one simple phrase you can get a woman to do whatever you want. 

“I don’t want anything serious” 

Let’s be real, most women live by a code, and if they don’t, every underlying gender dynamic and role in society tells them this one thing. They’re the exception, or They can fix you. No matter what you do, however many women you have on your roster, even if she’s your favorite. Who cares if you’re freshly broken up with? Even if you hang out and talk, and give her the girlfriend treatment. She will do anything for you because deep down she believes she can fix it or make you change your mind. Even if she accepts it, she will still always have resentment for you and anxiety from the lack of security. 

Working through over your emotional issues, avoidant attachment, and insecurities to overly communicate what you want with women, so you don’t waste their time. 

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Anyways, that’s it, have an alpha day killas.

Women In Power- True Villains or a Manufactured Narrative?

Throughout history and literature, women in positions of power have often been labeled as villains, their ambition and authority scrutinized in ways that men in similar positions are not. This raises an important question: are powerful women truly villainous, or are they victims of a narrative that has been shaped by societal expectations and patriarchal structures?

In King Lear, the constant power struggles often leave the reader questioning who the true villains seem to be. The reader often leads to Edmund, Goneril, and Reagan. But what makes them villains? Doing everything they can do to gain power, in a patriarchal society where women are seen as tokens and not fit to be in power?

Goneril and Regan, are often portrayed as ruthless villains, their ambition leading them to betray their father and engage in various power struggles. However, when analyzed in a modern lens, their actions can be understood as a response to an oppressive system that leaves them little choice but to seize power. Yet, their sister Cordelia, who conforms to the ideal of a submissive and obedient woman, is portrayed as virtuous. Goneril Reagan and Cordelia may have had to endure similar displays of arrogance for the 40 years prior, who says they owe him the same respect as Cordelia?

Similarly, in modern shows and movies, women who wield power are often portrayed as antagonists—think of characters like Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada or Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Their ambition and authority are frequently linked to cruelty, while their male counterparts are celebrated for a similar trait.

 

Is “This Is Me Trying” by Taylor Swift poetry?

In 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor Swift released a 16-track LP album entitled Folklore. This album, one of her most poetic and literal albums yet,  including a multifaceted three-song story with 13 other tracks. Headlined in the Rolling Stone, the album: the most succesful of 2020, engrossing 2.3 million units and 1.276 million in sales.

Included in this LP is a track entitled: “This Is Me Trying.” Throughout the song, Swift carefully places poetic devices and the use of powerfully vulnerable lyrics to relay the struggle of grappling with past mistakes while attempting to move forward. The song is a written reminder of the quiet, often overlooked, strength it takes to keep living alongside depression and regret.

Swift uses evocative language that creates mental pictures and employs metaphor to deepen meaning. For example:

 I’ve been having a hard time adjusting

I had the shinest wheels now they’re rusting

Swift seeks to depitct her mental state and displeasure with her efforts to endure her struggle with depression. Along with the pain she feels from the grief she feels as she watches the person and life she had slowly “rust” away. In the second chorus she alludes to the same feeling:

They told me all of my cages were mental
So I got wasted like all my potential

Additionally conveying the constraints of anxiety and self-doubt, turning internal struggles into a tangible image. Swift’s use of figurative language is similar to techniques often found in poetry, where complex emotions are expressed through accessible yet layered imagery.

In the lines following she details:

Pulled the car off the road to the lookout
Could’ve followed my fears all the way down

With the use of this metaphor, she entails as she is encapsulated in the beauty of a scenic lookout, and is then prompted to metaphorically fall into a spiral, of depression and self-destruction feeling hopeless. Creating a contradiction. Then Comes the chorus, repetitively including “this is me trying” following the traditional verse-chorus format. “this is me trying” serves as a refrain emphasizing a plea for acknowledgment and validation.

The most powerful verse of the song, is found in most of the bridge of the song:

And it’s hard to be at a party
When I feel like an open wound
It’s hard to be anywhere these days
When all I want is you
You’re a flashback in a film reel
On the one screen in my town

Swift details the pain of normalcy while coping with her own struggles. In lines 1/2 she uses a simile detailing her “feeling like an open wound” when simply just “trying” to carry on with her life. Unable to rest from the yearning of her “unaffected” self to return. With the use of Hyperbole in line 3/4 she details the pain and inability to live without the person she desires.

To conclude, “This Is Me Trying” transcends its form as a song and delves into the world of poetry through its intentional use of language, emotional depth, and lyrical structure. It exemplifies how music and poetry are often intertwined in different forms.

 

Living with Trauma: Do We Heal Or Does It Become Apart of Us?

Throughout our readings of Beloved, many topics and questions came to me as we made our way toward the novel’s end.

As someone who considers herself an avid reader of many genres and of various difficulty levels, in the summer and on school breaks (I cannot read multiple books at once), I found this novel difficult and taxing. But, as I often tell the 5th grader I tutor in reading who does not like to read, if you want to get faster at running, you have to run with faster athletes. I often use this analogy to encourage her when we pick out books to read.

When Beloved came to an end, I felt somewhat relieved. But additionally appreciative that I had grown as a reader.

My Interpretation of the Ending

Morrison intended for the ending of Beloved to be ambiguous. This leaves the reader with a question- Should the legacy of trauma be buried and forgotten, or should it be confronted and understood?

At the end of the novel, I believe Sethe comes to a place of healing, where she can truly mourn her daughter Beloved and the life she could have lived. One step closer to regaining her humanity. Paul D, also by her side represents Sethe’s own autonomy to choose who she wants to be romantically involved with. He repeatedly reassures Sethe she is her own “best thing” suggesting she can begin to find value within herself and the life she will live out.

If Morrison seeks to illustrate that those were Sethe’s own choices to heal and stop the generational trauma, then she is leaving the reader with the idea of a broader theme: the necessity of confronting and acknowledging past traumas to create a better future.

Denver’s growth and increasing independence as she gets a job and gains more responsibilities, also symbolize the next generation’s potential to escape the oppressive and horrible traumas of the past.

I believe Morrison sought to immerse the reader in Sethe’s journey but to also prompt the reader to reflect on their place in history and how they will continue to process and carry trauma.

 

 

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