Comments on: The apple orchard

By: trineelve

trineelve — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:33:57 +0000

Thanks for the post

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:47:21 +0000

Comments for this post are closed. This post is saved for consulting only. Any new comments will be discarded.

By: Pedro Luna

Pedro Luna — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:22:29 +0000

There might be some meaning lying on some specifc facts.

The teacher is clearly represented ideally. I don’t know if we can say it is only beacuse she is a representative of the American culture. But I don’t think we are able to deny it also.

The boys are all chicanos, but there is a very clear distinction separating Isador from the others. When the teacher decides to show the boy what he wanted to see, she takes into consideration this distinction.

Maybe the point in this SS is showing how a chicano boy viewed this American teacher and how the fact that she, being American and possibly having an idea of how the boy viewed her, decided to trust him her secret (which might represent so many things in this SS). The focus here could be how the teacher’s reaction, which was not expected, will affect the boy’s life in a very good way.

By: Diana Castor

Diana Castor — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:18:05 +0000

Thsi story remind’s me a little “Amar Verbo Intransitivo”, the idea of sexual awereness and a boy falling in love with a teacher or some superior female figure.

By: Priscilla Ghetti

Priscilla Ghetti — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:10:45 +0000

As many people have already mentioned I couldn`t realize any Mexican influcence on the SS. I think, as Juliana said, that in general, boys are boys whatever culture they belong to. Besides, who never heard about a boy that fell in love with his teacher???It`s so natural!
I don`t agree that the chicano boys were rebellious, they were just boys and bevahed as many of them do all over the world, especially when their sexuality is being awakened. Those curiosities are very common during sexuality awareness.

I think that Elisa`s comment on the revealed secret : “The journey never ends” is something very common!!!The pursuit of the “new” and the “unkown” is eternal!!!
I did love this SS! Brilliant!

By: Miss

Miss — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:42:12 +0000

During the readings at web i found a poem with the same name writtenMaria Rilke..food for thought:

Come let us watch the sun go down
and walk in twilight through the orchard’s green.
Does it not seem as if we had for long
collected, saved and harbored within us
old memories? To find releases and seek
new hopes, remembering half-forgotten joys,
mingled with darkness coming from within,
as we randomly voice our thoughts aloud
wandering beneath these harvest-laden trees
reminiscent of Durer woodcuts, branches
which, bent under the fully ripened fruit,
wait patiently, trying to outlast, to
serve another season’s hundred days of toil,
straining, uncomplaining, by not breaking
but succeeding, even though the burden
should at times seem almost past endurance.
Not to falter! Not to be found wanting!

Thus must it be, when willingly you strive
throughout a long and uncomplaining life,
committed to one goal: to give yourself!
And silently to grow and to bear fruit.

By: Miss

Miss — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:34:55 +0000

I think this Short story is very nice.The themes explored in this SS are present in every teenager’s lives, I think…and as Jean very well pointed out this situation is very common, principally in this age…
I totally agre with what simone said: “This confusion, this doubt about knowing where to go or where to follow, this atmosphere could illustrate the feelings of the Chicanos as they fought to find their identity”

By: Glaucia

Glaucia — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:07:28 +0000

I liked this story. The theme related to the awareness of teenagers’ sexuality was interesting! The boy that “falls in love” with his teacher, as Jean M. said: who never had been in love with a teacher or knew someone who had been in love? This kind of situation is very common and through this common situation, the author introduces some important issues related to the American and to the Chicano cultures.

As Simone said, there is this search of identity; the Chicanos were searching their real identity. And as they were between two cultures, American and Chicano, they always will be looking for their identity. It can not be defined since both cultures are always changing and one influences the other.

By: Jorgeane

Jorgeane — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:23:22 +0000

I totally agree when Luciana says that “SSs that make us reflect on some quite relevant issues, such as women status, relationships, marriage, children, individualism, truth, religion, culture, society, future, etc.” and its elements are strong and as valuable today as they have been historically.

The text refers to the unknown, curiosity an the sexual awakening of a teenager, things that happens with almost all the boys in their passage for adolescence no matter the culture he leaves on. Reading a little bi about the other, seemed to me that he wanted his literature to be accessible to all community, and reflected the strands of history which define us all.

By: Raquel

Raquel — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:32:14 +0000

I liked this story because of the beautiful way that the author describes the curiosity about sexuality of a teenager. Simple themes like an innocent love for his teacher, his curiosity about the girls and their “secrets”, and his doubts about growing up are portrayed with so purity and simplicity in this short story, that made it very realistic. I think that it happens with almost all the boys in their passage for adolescence.
Like Mel, I didn’t see any symbol between American and Mexican culture, because like someone said, it happens in every culture, like ours for example.