erinc09’s Blog

In a town like Spoon River where things seem to move a lot slower than in a bustling city it can be easy to be sucked into a strict routine. Since there is not as much chaos or spontaneity there is not a lot that can switch up your schedule or provide more exciting opportunities. On page 59 I came across a character that seemed to be a victim of this problem. His name was Eugene Carman. His life story was that all he did for over twenty years was work in a store for 14 hours a day and for 313 days a year “saying ‘yes’m’ and ‘yes, sir’ and ‘thank you’ a thousand times a day, and all for fifty dollars a month.” (59). Then one day while getting ready for work he sees himself in the mirror and the only thing he notices is his gray hair and old face. It’s sad that he didn’t realize how he had wasted his life on one single routine until he was so old, and to the point where it was too late to change the course of his life. He was stuck in this town and in this pattern. It is no wonder to me why the character Archibald Higbie (on page 90) loathed Spoon River so much. He felt like it didn’t have enough culture for him to learn from and stopped him from developing a greater sense of the world.

When I came across “Mrs. Charles Bliss” I anticipated a much different woman than the one given. The word ‘bliss’ means peaceful and being content with oneself. However, she was the complete opposite which is kind of ironic. She wanted to get a divorce from her husband but she was not advised to, so she stuck out her marriage even though she was unhappy. Two of her children sided with her while theo ther two sided with her husband. Coming from a family with divorced parents I can definitely see how some children tend to feel more sympathy for one parent. I think had I been one of Mrs. Charles Bliss’ children I would have grieved more for her. She understood that it was better to raise your children in an environment not quite so polluted with anger and resentment between the parents. The people who advised her not to divorce her husband immediately thought that it would automatically be better for the children if they had two parents together, but I disagree with them. I think Mrs. Charles Bliss knew much better. The part where she said, “Now every gardener knows that plants grown in cellars or under stones are twisted and yellow and weak” was very powerful.

For this section I chose to write about Cooney Potter’s poem. It starts out saying how he had inherited 40 acres from his father, and by having him and his family work hard he made it to 1000 acres. However, he ended up wanting more and more. Nothing seemed good enough.  After earning 1000 acres he wanted 2000. For years he worked his family and denied them a more relaxed lifestyle. He finally died when he was sixty.

Cooney Potter’s dilemma of always wanting more reminds me of a common American trait. Throughout the years, and in our society today, it seems as if Americans are never satisfied with what they have. They constantly strive for more, and they will not settle for mediocre. Whether it has to do with money or land Americans have always, and will always, push the hardest they can to get what they want. Often it appears that they strive for better because they want to live the American dream of success, and once they achieve that success their reputations go up. However, many do not know when to settle down. Cooney Potter is a perfect example.

While reading the first part of Spoon River Anthology there were a lot of poems that I saw that I could write about, but the one I liked the most was one called “Indignation” Jones. He starts it out by saying that you would never know that he was actually an educated man, and someone who came from good blood because all people do is judge by looks. “You saw me only as a run-down man, with matted hair and beard and ragged clothes. Sometimes a man’s life turns into a cancer, from being bruised and continually bruised…so I crept, crept like a snail through the days of my life.” (11). I think I had the most sympathy for “Indignation” Jones of all the people mentioned in these pages. He didn’t seem to do anything to deserve the disrespect and pain he constantly felt from the community. He led a lonely life because people judged him before they even knew him. The fact that he knew that he was just as educated as them but didn’t brag or continue to remind them shows his pride.