"Burge McCall"

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In the class we read a funny story called “Burge McCall”, which is about a married couple who lived together but could not tolerate each other. This couple had an unusual relationship. Burge McCall and his wife lived together for three years and four months.

Burge McCall was a short, heavy-set man with a loud voice. He was a chief clerk of the District Court and made a good salary, but he was very stringy with his wife, Mrs. McCall. He liked to spend all his money on himself and was generous with other women. Burge McCall had been married twice before, but his other wives ran away from him and got divorced. Burge McCall was quite a lady killer and most of the women in their town said they would not touch him with a ten-foot pole.

Mrs. McCall was a tall, thin woman with black hair and big black eyes. She was a quite person, who never had much to say. Her first name was Venita, but other women used to call her Mrs. The women in their town said Mrs. McCall married Burge McCall to get away from the noise of the Santa Fe railroad engines. Some said they didn’t blame her, although Burge McCall would be much worse than an engine.

In the beginning of the story the two characters almost didn’t talk. When Burge McCall called his wife names, she never answered. That made him start hating her within two months after they were married. Burge McCall used physical and verbal violence against Mrs. McCall. One day Mrs. McCall called her husband “big rat” after he slapped her on the face. This nickname had a meaning, when we, the readers, had read that she bought a pound of a rat poison.

Burge McCall knew from the seller that she had bought the poison. He decided to behave well to his wife because he was afraid she wanted to poison him. They were a good couple and both were happy and satisfied from the new situation. In the end, we discovered that Mrs. McCall was so wise because she didn’t buy rat poison, she told the seller to tell Burge McCall that she bought it.
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After reading the story, I think the main idea in the story is Mrs. McCall's wisdom. She didn’t pay attention to her annoying husband, she had a plan that was the only way to go back to a normal relationship. That can teach us that in life we need to do things in other ways, which can be harder from the direct way, and in the end will supply our purpose...
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Very good work! I'm impressed and very proud of you.
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Daphna.