ME! and my exploration of fables vs.modern short stories..

Hello Class! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Anne Dellwo, but my hiking buddies call me Dell-whoa! because I enjoy taking on ambitious challenges when it comes to adventure in the outdoors. I am an avid hiker, skier and newbie rock climber and ideally aspire to be able to incorporate those activities into my future career.
I don't have a "five-year plan" at this point; I am just trying to get through college one assignment at a time while working part time as a legal assistant. I dropped out of school for several years due to my inability to handle the stressful moments that come part and parcel with classes: exams, essays, reports and whatever else professors decide to throw at us. I worked in various jobs during my time off but eventually came to realize that without a bachelor's degree I'm never going to be able to find that career that I love to wake up and go to every day. More important to me then money or position is finding that niche in the professional world that fits me just right.

Now (cue stress), for my first essay, in which we are asked to contrast the literary elements of a fable or parable with that of the more modern short story, I've chosen to write on "The Appointment in Samarra," by W. Somerset Maugham, as representing the fable, and "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker to exemplify the modern short story.
If I am honest, I suppose, I chose "Samarra" because I was intrigued by the idea of the character of death as being portrayed as a woman. "Everyday Use" was a clear choice for a counter piece as it also depicts a very strong feminine presence and alludes to an underlying religious theme, the latter being most evident at the end of the story when mother Johnson has her epiphany with regard to her daughters.
As we might expect of a fable, "Samarra" is the less realistic of the two texts; after all, death does not frequent any grocers market I've been to lately. Also indicative of its literary style, "Samarra" comes forth with a clearly implied moral: "haste makes waste." Whereas "Everyday Use" describes a moment in time of an average family of southern black women. The characters would have been particularly common during the time of writing, considering the historical and political happenings during early 1970's. As is typical of the style of a short story, Walker relays images of everyday life and its conflicts and resolutions; her intention or "moral" is neither explicitly stated nor easily detected by the reader.

WELCOME ONE AND ALL! Let the critical thinking commence...

Hmmm.. Where to begin?
I'm a first time blogger but excited to utilize this new form of communication, ready to share my thoughts on literature with my fellow Eng 102'ers and anyone else that happens upon my blogspot. Hoping that standard rules for grammar and syntax can be left for essay assignments and that here I can let my words flow freely, though haven't gotten the final go ahead from my professor on that tidbit. I guess TBD.. resolution will surely be obvious from the style of my next posting.. dry and grammatically correct or filled with emphatic exclamations!!! and honest opinion.