Conventional Meets Interesting Gryphons, or griffons, are mythological creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. The new substitute teacher talks about these in the short story “Gryphon” written by Charles Baxter. This new substitute teacher comes in and disregards everything that the class had learned and done before that. Within the few days that she is there, she goes on to tell the class wild things about mythological creatures and angles that she claimed to have seen which made me think that she was kind of crazy. My Overall response was, like the narrator, intrigue. Since the way the narrator talked about the substitute gave off a sense of mystique, the author meant for her to be intriguing and strange.
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When I first started reading this short story I thought that the narrator, Tommy, was a perfect little innocent kid with a very conventional life. He didn’t like people who acted out. He thought the person who sat in front of him was a bad person. The girl, Carol, blew he nose into a piece of paper and then threw it away. “Carol sat at the desk in front of me and was a bad person” (Baxter 138). If Tommy thought that this act made her a bad person, he must really be a good kid. Seeing the way he acted in school made me wonder what his family was like. It seems like he had a normal home life. Tommy’s mother is compared to Betty Crocker, “Her face and hairstyle always reminded other people of Betty Crocker,” who is the symbol of perfect homemaking (142). He is also obedient and does his chores when his mother asks him. Considering that Tommy thought …show more content…
My reaction to “Gryphons” was intrigue, just like the author had intended. Tommy was so used to his life that when something new came along he became attached to it, and when it got taken away from him, he wanted to fight for it. Miss Ferenczi represents new ideas and creativity. In a way she represents mystery and magic. She makes us think about illusion and reality. Tommy had a taste for this new mystery that was his substitute teacher, and he didn’t want to give it up. He didn’t want to give up the newness and excitement that she brought him. I believe that he author’s purpose of this story was that we should all be more accepting of people even if they don’t fit in. Perhaps we could all use a little mystery and magic in our lives. Also, I thought that the narrator, Tommy, was this young naïve boy that represents the kid in all of us. Perhaps sometimes we all need to see the world the way that children
When I first started reading this short story I thought that the narrator, Tommy, was a perfect little innocent kid with a very conventional life. He didn’t like people who acted out. He thought the person who sat in front of him was a bad person. The girl, Carol, blew he nose into a piece of paper and then threw it away. “Carol sat at the desk in front of me and was a bad person” (Baxter 138). If Tommy thought that this act made her a bad person, he must really be a good kid. Seeing the way he acted in school made me wonder what his family was like. It seems like he had a normal home life. Tommy’s mother is compared to Betty Crocker, “Her face and hairstyle always reminded other people of Betty Crocker,” who is the symbol of perfect homemaking (142). He is also obedient and does his chores when his mother asks him. Considering that Tommy thought …show more content…
My reaction to “Gryphons” was intrigue, just like the author had intended. Tommy was so used to his life that when something new came along he became attached to it, and when it got taken away from him, he wanted to fight for it. Miss Ferenczi represents new ideas and creativity. In a way she represents mystery and magic. She makes us think about illusion and reality. Tommy had a taste for this new mystery that was his substitute teacher, and he didn’t want to give it up. He didn’t want to give up the newness and excitement that she brought him. I believe that he author’s purpose of this story was that we should all be more accepting of people even if they don’t fit in. Perhaps we could all use a little mystery and magic in our lives. Also, I thought that the narrator, Tommy, was this young naïve boy that represents the kid in all of us. Perhaps sometimes we all need to see the world the way that children