In the reading, White Heron, Jennet brings to our attention the story of Sylvie, a shy former city girl who enjoys nature and is keen on protecting the environment. Jennet’s story expresses the internal conflict Sylvie faces; she is torn between pleasing her grandmother and the young hunter and saving the life of the bird. She does not disclose the secret of the heron bird despite the enticing reward the young hunter from the city had promised. A sense of suspense is created where we wonder if Sylvie will disclose the location of the bird (Jennet, 516). Jennet at some point uses the present tense to create a sense of immediacy allowing the story to be memorable, illustrated when the girls hear the approaching hunter when she sees the nest and the point, she decides not to disclose the secret of the nest.
In the “New England Nun” reading, there is a story of freeman shows the character of a woman who cherishes her independence so much and believes that marriage life will make her feel caged. Freeman describes independence of his main character, Louisa, as that of using solitude and obsession with feminine belongings to satisfy her independent needs. Louisa has been enjoying her solitude and space for the fourteen that she feels threatened by the upcoming marriage to Joe. Freeman also uses symbolism to bring out the true personality of his character (Levine et al. 56). Her pet Caeser who is described in the story as a hermit symbolizes Louisa’s character in many ways. She feels that if the dog is let loose, it will go on a rampage, the same way she feels as she will be imprisoned in marriage, a prisoner of her absent husband.
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The reading, Under the Lion’s Paw, as depicted from the title, it can be deduced that one character will be taken advantage of or oppressed by another character of higher social standing in society. Garland describes the story of Haskins family who goes to search for greener pastures after a grasshopper infestation of their land that destroyed all their crop. Haskin believes that there are good people in this world after one man accommodates him for a night and refers him for a job. Haskins is gullible enough to believe the words of the rich man, Butler who is keen on using the vulnerability of Haskin’s determination to prove himself to his family as an opportunity to enrich himself further. After all the hardwork Haskin is disappointed to learn that Butler is selling the land to him for double the original price, but there is nothing he can do but accept the offer as it is. Garland has used the characters in the story to symbolize the people that exist in society today (Lipking 98). Haskins represents the common man who works hard under the rule of selfish rich leaders, like Butler to provide for their families and better themselves. In the end, though, they have very little or nothing to gain while the oppressor becomes the full beneficiary of the hard work.
In the week 4 reading, the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem that exercises internal monologue to express the conflicting emotions of the character towards fellow men, women in particular and surrounding environment. Eliot has emphasized the use of symbolism reflect the chaotic world we live in. In the poem, we can see that Prufrock at one point is in a state of indecisiveness and this only serves to set the pace for the poem to another level. Use of women in the poem has been used to demonstrate the psychic feelings and thoughts that are present in Prufrock's head but is external in conversation to the world. The dressing of Prufrock as illustrated in the poem symbolizes that he is a middle-aged man. Eliot has demonstrated using the 140 line poem in detail how poets were trapped in their innate feelings and use imagery of emotions to bring out their feelings and thoughts to the outside world.
The “Mending Wall” presents Frost who diligently uses the characters in the poem to bring the nature of human relationships shown in the phrase where the poet says that there is something that does not need a wall, but the neighbor replies that good fences make good neighbors. The phrase is used to illustrate human nature; a man can construct many walls all of which can be destroyed by nature like withering or by hunters and animals. Humans strive to make the best out of their lives, but circumstances occur that jeopardizes the foundations. When the poet says does not need a wall, he means something mysterious in nature does not require boundaries. From the poem, we can understand the significance of boundaries that have been created in the various aspects of life.
The poem “Birches” has two angles to it, a birch of branches and a boy swinging on the branches. It creates tension and suspense to the reader as they do not know if the branches will break from natural causes. The swinging of the boy creates a sense of suspense. Rhyme and rhythm have been used effectively in the poem; it gas also exercises repetition and diligent use of alliteration and internal rhymes to illustrate that the poem is for speaking out loud ('Literature of the American South: a Norton anthology' 120).
“Out-out” is a poem of a boy who dies while sawing logs in readiness for winter, frost has used contrast clearly in the poem. Noisy mechanical machine, the silent majesty of flamboyant Vermont range to show close-ups versus far away blur and industry against nature. (Frost, 231) Frost has used alliteration to create phonetism and texture for the reader, assonance to complement alliteration from the words sweet-scented/ breeze and appeal/keep. Caesura has also been used to break rhythm and pace. On the other hand, design is a sonnet that uses the movement of a spider to illustrate the theological argument that the universe is created by malevolent intelligence. Frost has exercised the use of rhythm, alliteration, anaphora, and irony of events and objects to bring out the desired understanding of the literary work of the narrator.
“The Red Wheelbarrow” is an experimental poem that uses unusual lineation of one image to bring forth the ideas, emotions, and abstractions into the world. In a station of the metro is a short ineffective that breaks all the rules of poetry but uses imagery, “petals on a wet, black bough,” to demonstrate the idea the weak elements of beauty in the natural world. According to Andrew Walker, differences and similarities of the images used have been used to create contrast between nature and the real world hence the title in a station of the metro. In Week 5, ‘Hills like White Elephants’ is a story of two love birds immersed in the trivialities of this world. The characters of the story are not personified; it feels like the author does not recognize his main characters. The hills like white elephants have been used to symbolize the girl in the story and the term white signifies fragility and need for care yet is of no importance (Lipking 68). The girls realize that the man does not love her conditionally hence needs her to have an abortion. A rose for Emily is a story that has used a myriad of literary devices such as imagery, symbolism, and allegory to bring forth the protagonist of the main character in the story. The story has been divided into five parts each part describing a certain stage in the life of the character ('Literature of the American South: a Norton anthology' 156). The narrator gives the reader an insight into what the townspeople think about miss rose that she may not just be the oldest spinster but a murderer as well. Barn burning stars a character of a small boy who seems to question the belief that blood is thicker than water. Faulks doesn’t know the plot of the story to be obvious, but it generally shows the conflicting rage of a boy and uses to examine the strength of family ties and loyalty to the right thing
This is a short story by Leo Tolstoy of a landowner who sets out on a journey with his peasant Nikita to find the owner of a forest so he can procure a business deal with the forest owner. The landowner is a greedy master while Nikita is a submissive servant. The author tries to tone down the stereotypic nature of the landowner who we can see is manipulative by trying to make his spiritual conversation somewhat convincing. Tolstoy has mandated the death scene in the hope of demonstrating how spiritual transformation can create liberation from hollow existence. Looking at the poem, The Weary Blue, its title is weary blue is itself a metaphor for a black man’s life. Langston demonstrates an evening of enjoying a blues musician in Harlem ('Literature of the American South: a Norton anthology' 86) The repetition of words in the poem is to bring out the mournful tone of blues music as an appreciation of what happens in the mind of the blues musician. The poem illustrates the Culture and identity of the African-Americans to Lenox Avenue as “down,” to show that a character is a black man. The symbol of blues music serves to show the struggles of a black man against discrimination, oppression, and racism. The poem by Langston brings out the character of a young man who is trying to figure himself out through an English assignment where he has doubts about the advice given to him by his instructor.
In the essay, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, Connor has used the story to demonstrate the controversies of good and evil in the presence of divine grace. The grandmother uses goodness to symbolize to show in her well-organized dressing that she only cares about her appearance even in the imminent result of a death in an accident. She hypothetically portrays that she is only concerned about the opinions of strangers and not the safety of her family members. The cryptic words of the misfit change the perspective of the grandmother who seems to realize that there is nothing like a good man, a divine truth that allows her to succumb to death peacefully. The irony in the story is that at first the Misfit was destruction for the grandmother but turns out to be her object of divine intervention in the end.
“Diving into the Wreck” is a free verse poem by Adrienne rich written in the first person persona. Diving has been used by rich to symbolize hidden desires and emotions and the wreck to represent the past happenings or events. Her act of living shows her transformation to a different being and discovers the trivialities of her inner power. The wreck and the sea are inclusive in the poem to show a female’s discovery of her identity. On the other hand, the poem daddy is the most controversial poem written by Sylvia Plath. The allegory of the poem is portrayed as surreal and dark illustrating a female victim getting herself free from her father. Sylvia creates a figurative image of her father and metaphors to show the reader her relationship with her father. The poem serves as a tool to show her struggle to tell the world that despite being done with her father, he remains in her mind.
Works Cited
- Levine, Robert S., et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Ninth Edition, Volume D. W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.
- Lipking. 'An Exchange on 'The Norton Anthology of English Literature and Sean Shesgreen: I.' Critical Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 4, 2009, p. 1054.
- 'The Literature of the American South: a Norton anthology.' Choice Reviews Online, vol. 35, no. 08, 1998, pp. 35-4353-35-4353.
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