1. This story concerns a young, married mother who is content and/or happy with her life but realizes that there are other things out there, things that could bring her complete bliss, if only for a fleeting moment. In the end she chooses her husband and her contentment. She realizes that she does truly love him.

2. The ending sucked. This is mostly my opinion because she could have had a moment of complete and utter joy but instead chose a life of mediocrity and contentment. She did love her husband, unfortunately it was without passion, something she would always know was missing from her life. This isn’t something I could live the rest of my life knowing. Overall, because of these reasons, I disliked the story. Although it does show something that a lot of people do. They give up something that could make them truly happy for a life of content safety.

3. Both the woman in the stories, while over all were content with their lot in life, their stable homes and husbands. They were both were missing that essential piece of bliss that would have made everything they had experienced up until that point seem like nothing. Boring and incomplete. Neither quite realized that they were missing that piece until a person came into their life and showed them what could be compared to what they have.

4. The Pear Tree could probably symbolize the beauty and passion in a woman’s soul. Her happiness maybe??? I’m not for sure.

5. Because she isn’t, not really. She just thinks she is.

6. “But the pear tree was as lovely as ever and as full of flower and as still.” This means that whatever was in her, whatever possibilities for her to be happy for her to have a wonderful life are still there, despite having realized that her husband isn’t being faithful, and that she isn’t, truly, deep down in her self happy. She is confused though, despite knowing this, she doesn’t know how to react, what to do. She is completely lost and confused.

1. Born January 25, 1882.

2. Virginia inherited her father’s passion for books and her beauty from her mother.

3. When she and her sis Vanessa were young they were strikingly good-looking being classic Greek.

4. After they were grown Henry James was shocked by their unladylike behavior. Both girls had a certain demure shyness but underneath they were like their father, out-spoken and satirical.

5. Virginia was frail and educated herself with father’s library.

6. Virginia attempted suicide, she overdosed on veronal tablets. 4 trained nurses were required during recovery Leonard was the only thing that saved her from being committed.

7. After both her parents died she moved out of her family home. Eventually she took a lease on a large four-storied house in Brunswick Square and rented to top floor to Leonard Woolf. She occupied to third floor; her brother Adrian lived on the second; and Maynard Keynes and Duncan Grant occupied the bottom apartment. This was a very daring arrangement for most young woman at this time.

8. Later on she married Leonard Woolf.

9. She had a history of mental instability. In childhood she suffered a breakdown as well as another after her mothers death.

10.  In 1913 while she was finishing The Voyage Out Leonard noticed that she was becoming irritable and nervous, he didn’t know that she had a history of mental problems.

11. Was an essayist, novelist, critic, short story writer, diarist, and biographer.

12. She and her husband founded the Hogarth Press.

13. Her husband was a political journalist and novelist.

Mr. Poldero – He is more concerned about $$$ than taking care of another living being.

““How long since any fool paid to look at the phoenix?”” Pg. 344 4^th paragraph - Dialogue

““Suppose,” continued Mr. Poldero, “we could somehow get him alight? We’d advertise it beforehand, of course, work up interest. Then we’d have a new bird, and a bird with some romance about it, a bird with a life-story. We could sell a bird like that.””

Pg. 345 3^rd paragraph

Decision

“The phoenix was moved to a small cage that had a sprinkler in the ceiling. Every night the sprinkler was turned on. The phoenix began to cough. Mr. Poldero had another good idea. Dailoy he stationed himself in front of the cage to jeer at the bird and abuse it.”

Pg. 345 7^th paragraph

Action

Mr. Poldero – He is more concerned about $$$ than taking care of another living being.

““How long since any fool paid to look at the phoenix?”” Pg. 344 4^th paragraph - Dialogue

““Suppose,” continued Mr. Poldero, “we could somehow get him alight? We’d advertise it beforehand, of course, work up interest. Then we’d have a new bird, and a bird with some romance about it, a bird with a life-story. We could sell a bird like that.””

Pg. 345 3^rd paragraph

Decision

“The phoenix was moved to a small cage that had a sprinkler in the ceiling. Every night the sprinkler was turned on. The phoenix began to cough. Mr. Poldero had another good idea. Dailoy he stationed himself in front of the cage to jeer at the bird and abuse it.”

Pg. 345 7^th paragraph

Action

The chaser is about a guy who's madly in love with a beautiful girl who doesn't love him. He's beyond desperate to get her, willing to do anything, even something that's out of the normal, something many people wouldn't normally believe in. The guy tells him all these wonderful things, tells him how extreme wonderful things might become. Like how she'd NEVER divorce him? At the time that probably didn't sound to bad for the guy, but what about later on? When he grew tired of her? realized that he didn't want someone who would just blindly do whatever he wanted, and watched his every move, painfully taking care of him until the day he dies. The man with the potion also first describes a poison, saying that the people who bought the love potions usually came back richer asking for the poison. That kinda gives you the impression that people figured out that the love potion isn’t what they want after all, but the only way to fix it is to kill their woman. It's ironic that the man discusses the poison before even selling the love potion. the man didn't catch on.

The story was about a guy named Patent Farquar or something or other. He was a southerner during the American Civil war. Basically a good guy, or at least I get the impression of this. He was at his house with his wife and kids when a scout shows up and tells him about a nearby bridge, stating that any civilians found messing with it will be killed. Well, the dude was seriously wanting to get himself involved in the war, some unknown circumstance had previously kept him from doing his duty in the war. So, naturally, he went out to do some damage to the bridge. Needless to say, he got caught. The story tells about him imaging his escape and journey back to his wife. In the end, he dies. He didn’t escape but died. You think he does for a little while though, makes the ending much more shocking.

This story is about a small town with an unusual custom. Once a year on a certain date they have a lottery which everyone must participate in. One person is selected out of the entire town. Everyone dreads this time, and some people think that this custom should be done away with, you hear some people talking about this, also you know that there are other towns that also have this custom, it’s not an isolated thing. Although a few towns have done away with it. Anyways, the person who’s selected is stoned to death. Mrs. Hutchison was the one who was stoned to death. She screamed at the end, “it’s not fair, it’s not fair!!!”

There is a doctor, an older gentlemen whose wife has passed on. He has a picture, an old faded one, of her hanging on the wall. Also he has a rose she gave him. He’s got a vase full of water supposedly from the fountain of youth. He wants to experiment with it and so he invites three of his friends over, one used to be a successful politician, before doing something or other to ruin his reputation, then slowly fading into mediocrity. Another was once a beautiful young lady who loved to play with mens affections, now just an old widow. And the third dealt with money, unfortunately he used it incorrectly in very unintelligent ways, he also, had faded into nothing. The Doctor gave them the water, convincing them to try it by using it on the rose first. They loved it, but instantly fell back into their old ways, rather then mending them, the woman taunted the two men, loving the fact that they both wanted her. The two men began to fight over the woman and had thoughts of pursuing the things that had corrupted them when they were young. They broke the vase with the water, and then faded back into being old once again. The three old people were making plans to locate the fountain of youth.

There once was a king, a semi-barbaric king, who had a warped sense of justice. He would pick out at random, whatever case happened to catch his eye actually, and put them into a place, which he designed, the place was surrounded with seats so people could watch. The person had two choices, two doors behind which he had no clue what lay. One has a beautiful lady he has to marry, the other a tiger to eat him. The king figured that the person would just deal out his own justice, if he chose the lady he was innocent, the tiger, guilty. Well, the king had a daughter, who had a lover. The king found out, didn’t like it and so sent the dude to the pit to make his choice. The king didn’t care, either way the guy would be unavailable to his daughter from that point on. The daughter managed to bribe her fathers workers and found out which door the tiger and lady lay on, so all she had to do was to signal the prince and let him know which door to choose. The ending didn’t tell you which one she chose. But did say the princess worried very much over the decision.