Alphonse and Gaston was an American comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper, featuring a bumbling pair of Frenchmen with a penchant for politeness. They first appeared in William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the New York Journal on September 22, 1901, in a strip titled: Alphonse a la Carte and His Friend Gaston de Table d'Hote.[1]
Their "After you, Alphonse.", "No, you first, my dear Gaston!" routine entertained readers for more than a decade. Alphonse was short and grotesque; Gaston was tall and grotesque. The strip's premise was that both were extremely polite, constantly bowing and deferring to each other. Neither could ever do anything or go anywhere because each insisted on letting the other precede him.
Though never a daily or even weekly feature, Alphonse and Gaston appeared on Sundays for several years. In addition to Hearst collections and licensed products, it was adapted into a stage play and several comedy shorts.
PLEASE RESPOND BY COMMENTING.....
Response to Question 3: What is the mood of the story?
ReplyDeleteBy Ismaeel and Jarah
In the short story, “After You, My Dear Alphonse”, the was mood was disappointing because the mother was always judgemental about Boyd and his family because of their skin colour. For example, while Johnny and Boyd were eating, Mrs. Wilson asked Boyd if his father worked, the response was yes. The saddening part was when she quickly assumed that the father worked as a labourer in the factory,” “'And he certainly has to be strong to do that-all that lifting and carrying at a factory.'’’ Because Boyd’s family skin colour is black she quickly infers that the father has a low status and labour job. In addition, she assumes that Boyd has many siblings, “'What about all your other brother and sister?'” She asks this because people who lived in poverty, like African-American who lived in the fifties and sixties had a lot of children, thus she thought that this applied to all black families. All in all, it is disappointing that the Mrs. Wilson had such ill thoughts, since all of humanity is equal and should not be judged on the pigmentation of their skin.
Response to Question #7: Olivia Hill and Insha Merchant
ReplyDelete(A)What is the climax? Write out the line. (B) How do you know it is the climax? Check yourself.
(A) The climax is when Boyd says “‘But I have plenty of clothes, thank you,’ or more specifically “...I guess we we buy about everything we need. Thank you very much though.’”. With the trigger being Mrs.Wilson seeing Boyd and noting that he's a “negro” boy, the rising action paves the way for how she treats Boyd as if he needs her charity and is supposedly less fortunate because he is African-American.
(B) The climax occurs when Boyd says “‘...I guess we buy about everything we need. Thank you very much though’” because it is the ultimate turning point of the story. Throughout the rising action Mrs. Wilson treats Boyd as if he less fortunate than her because he is in her words “Negro” or African-American, attempting to dole out various forms of charity to him. However, when Boyd says the above sentence, her attitude towards him changes, her tone becoming offended as if his words are an affront to her benevolence. Additionally, this is the climax because it reveals something important to the reader, which is characteristic of a climax.The reader learns that Mrs. Wilson is prejudiced towards African-Americans, believing they are lesser, despite Boyd living a stable, plentiful life.
David and Kevin
ReplyDeleteQuestion 10: Explain the significance of the ending.
The ending really shows Mrs. Wilson's true colours of how she perceives Boyd's family. Throughout the short story, Mrs. Wilson's views are shown as racist towards his family, even asking stereotypical questions about them and the narrator referring him as a "Negro." At the ending, she feels best to give Boyd her family's used clothes and have his mother sew them if she would like. This takes her views to an extent because not only does she think that his mother can sew because she is black, but also that his family has less status than hers, so she feels that she would contribute. The way Boyd approaches this situation by continuing to say "after you, my dear Alphonse" after disappointing Mrs. Wilson shows how he does not want to disappoint her and continues with his kind gestures with Johnny. The ending contradicts her racist views with Boyd's kindness and also refers to when slave masters would be angry towards the slaves and the slaves would not speak up to avoid punishment and continue with their day.
Genya and Sarmitha
ReplyDeleteQuestion #2: Why might Jackson have chosen this setting? Discuss the author's purpose.
A kitchen is a casual, friendly place where friends and family eat together. Jackson may have chosen this setting because it initially misleads the reader to think that this visit will be a comfortable one. Later, though, Mrs. Wilson makes things awkward by displaying prejudice and offering Boyd charity he does not need. The friendly atmosphere starts to feel tense and uncomfortable. Jackson may be implying that Mrs. Wilson now sees her kitchen as a soup kitchen, one which Boyd is not aware he has walked into.
Laila and Namira
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1) What is the setting of the story?
The setting is a 1940s time period in the home of Johnny and his mother, Mrs.Wilson. We can assume that it’s the 1940s because Johnny said, “Dead Japanese… We stand them in the ground and run over them with tanks.” From this dialogue we can assume that this has taken place around the time that Americans thought that the Japanese were enemy aliens and tormented them and it was seemed as appropriate. The way Johnny spoke was like it was a common thing to say something atrocious like that about the Japanese. We know that it’s in Johnny’s home at noon because Mrs.Wilson invites Boyd in for lunch. “... Mrs. Wilson lifted the plate of gingerbread off the table…” sets the scene as a dining space within Johnny’s home.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 8: write a thematic statement for the story. Write a paragraph showing that this theme is woven throughout the story. Is there an image or lit device that relates to the theme?
ReplyDelete“Making assumptions based off of racial and stereotypical views can limit progressive thinking.”
We believe that this is the theme because it is woven all throughout the story. First of all, at the start of the story we see that the mother is casual with both boys. But when she sees that Boyd is a negro, she becomes concerned because she assumes that he is poor or lives in poor conditions. We first see this when the mother says that there is plenty of food for Boyd to eat, assuming that Boyd doesn't get proper meals at home. The next time we see this theme is when johnny mentions that Boyd doesn't eat tomatoes. The mother replies saying that “Boyd will eat anything” assuming that he will eat anything because she thinks that he is poor. Another way the theme is woven is when Johnny's mother assumes that Boyd's father is a labour worker in a factory when in reality he is a foreman. We see this for the last time when Johnny's mother offers Johnny’s old clothes to Boyd. Boyd declines because in reality he has money to buy new clothes. Johnny’s mother then says that many boys “like you, Boyd” would be grateful for clothes. We see clearly here that she is assuming that black people would be are poor and could use lots of help when, on the contrary, many black people are well off like Boyd and his family. We found that this story used situational irony throughout in Johnny's mother’s perspective because she has expectations and assumptions that black people are poor meanwhile, Boyd is well of and doesn't need the help.
Avi and Teia
Ross and Skye
ReplyDeleteQuestion #5: What is the conflict of the story?
The conflict of the short story is predominantly Person vs Person. This is because of the conflict between Boyd and Johnny's mother, Mrs. Wilson. Mrs. Wilson exhibits signs of racism and prejudiced towards Boyd. This is shown when Mrs. Wilson believes that Boyd is poor and he is malnourished based solely on the fact that he is African-American. In the text, Mrs. Wilson offers Boyd all the food he needs and even second hand clothing from Johnny. Yet, when Boyd declines her offer, she says she is "not angry... just disappointed", where as if she meant to make donations out of kindness, she would have been happy that Boyd did not require financial assistance.
Therefore, since the main conflict arises from Mrs. Wilson's prejudice against Boyd due to his skin colour, the conflict is a Person vs Person.
-Ross Stewart
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 4: Find two examples of figurative language and explain why they are affective.
ReplyDeleteBy: Emma and Kiyo
One of the most direct examples of figurative language comes from the title, as well as the multiple references the author makes towards to cartoon “Alphonse and Gaston”. The cartoon is famously recognised because of the extreme politeness between the characters, and how they would try to be more polite than one another. This also connects to Irony, more specifically, situational Irony. Since there are many references to Alphonse (politeness), the reader expects the mother to be very polite like in the cartoons. Instead, she seems to have offensive and stereotypical ideas about Boyd just because of the colour of his skin.
Another example of figurative language is when the gingerbread house is used as a symbol of Mrs. Wilson's "acceptance" of Boyd. At first she presents the gingerbread house, and tells Boyd to take as much as he needs, then when Boyd turns down her help she takes the gingerbread house away.
Question #6: What is the trigger incident? Write out the line.
ReplyDeleteBy: Josie and Prabidhi
The trigger incident occurred when Mrs Wilson, Johnny's mom, lets Boyd in for lunch as that incited the main conflict of the story.
The line is the first page:
"Boyd?" Mrs Wilson thought for a moment. "I don't believe I've met Boyd. Bring him in dear, since you've invited him. Lunch is ready."