While I read the first short story, “I’m A Believer” by Charlotte Hogg I thought the story would be about her fulfilling her goal to become a writer and to meet Davy Jones. And in the end, that is exactly what happened. There were a few things that surprised me about the article. She said that when she was fifteen she never wanted to be Davy’s girlfriend, but just to meet him. That is interesting me to me because most girls that age are daydreaming about celebrities and wishing they could become someone far from their league. I was also surprised by her maturity throughout the piece. While still holding on to a childhood dream and fantasy, she continued on with her life, not letting her dream hold her back from anything. The part I found most funny about the story was when she was saying that she was so infatuated with Davy Jones as a teenager that she actually, “[. . .] asked a total stranger to the prom simply because he looked so much like Davy Jones.”
The other story, “The Joy Of Mud” by Catherine Black was about finding the beauty in something you have overlooked throughout your past. While reading this short story, I thought it was interesting how she hated growing up on an island and how she differed from her peers. “I hunted down the few coffee shops Honolulu could offer and buried myself in novels set in faraway times and places.” This also ties into how she left as soon as she could get away and that no one thought she was going to come back. However, the most striking part of this piece is the fact that she found the joy and happiness in her hometown by not even looking for it.
The intriguing thing I found about these two articles is that they both had a realization towards the end. Something that they had been looking for all along, for instance Charlottes wish to meet Davy Jones and Catherine’s wish to acquaint herself with the spirit of Hawaii were found easier than they thought. Charlotte met Davy Jones quite easily, which was something she had not expected in reality. Catherine thought she would never find the true spirit of her homeland until she took a simple trip up a mountain that would change her views on her home forever. The thing these two readings disagree on is their faith. Charlotte’s faith and excitement on meeting Davy Jones was the same high energy throughout the whole story. On the other side, Catherine’s interest in Hawaii was not with excitement until she returned back to the island after going to college in the East and traveling abroad. The reasons why are what makes these stories different yet similar to each other. Charlotte followed her goals of meeting Davy Jones while maintaining a positive, lighthearted attitude throughout the duration of the story. Meanwhile, Catherine kept a negative attitude and always imagined her self somewhere completely different than where she ended up.
The realization that the characters find throughout the stories are what makes the stories into something more powerful than if they were just to write about meeting a favorite movie star or getting dirty in the mountains of Hawaii. I enjoyed the fact that it seemed as each character grew with their feelings and opinions throughout their findings. For example in Catherine’s story, her realization about how Hawaii actually was came in one of the last paragraphs of the story. “I can’t believe I was clueless about it for so long.” It was more of a personal journey for her rather than a sudden realization. For Charlotte, her realization that Davy Jones was rather a stranger than her best friend came quite suddenly and was a realization that took place over that one day. “I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all, and I, the daydream believer, am just a fan.”