The time, a pleasant Sunday afternoon in the early autumn of 1861. The place, a forest 's heart in the mountain region of southwestern Virginia. Private Grayrock of the Federal Army is discovered seated comfortably at the root of a great pine tree, against which he leans, his legs extended straight along the ground, his rifle lying across his thighs, his hands (clasped in order that they may not fall away to his sides) resting upon the barrel of the weapon. The contact of the back of his head with the tree has pushed his cap downward over his eyes, almost concealing them; one seeing him would say that he slept.
Private Grayrock did not sleep; to have done so would have imperiled the interests of the United States, for he was a long way outside
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For two hours after he had been left at his lonely post that Saturday night he stood stock-still, leaning against the trunk of a large tree, staring into the darkness in his front and trying to recognize known objects; for he had been posted at the same spot during the day. But all was now different; he saw nothing in detail, but only groups of things, whose shapes, not observed when there was something more of them to observe, were now unfamiliar. They seemed not to have been there before. A landscape that is all trees and undergrowth, moreover, lacks definition, is confused and without accentuated points upon which attention can gain a foothold. Add the gloom of a moonless night, and something more than great natural intelligence and a city education is required to preserve one 's knowledge of direction. And that is how it occurred that Private Grayrock, after vigilantly watching the spaces in his front and then imprudently executing a circumspection of his whole dimly visible environment (silently walking around his tree to accomplish it) lost his bearings and seriously impaired his usefulness as a sentinel. Lost at his post--unable to say in which direction to look for an enemy 's approach, and in which lay the sleeping camp for whose security he was accountable with his life--conscious, too, of many another awkward feature of the situation and of considerations affecting his own safety, Private Grayrock was profoundly disquieted. Nor was he given time to recover his …show more content…
The kinsmen who had adopted the boys were enemies, holding no communication. For a time letters full of boyish bravado and boastful narratives of the new and larger experience--grotesque descriptions of their widening lives and the new worlds they had conquered--passed between them; but these gradually became less frequent, and with William 's removal to another and greater city ceased altogether. But ever through it all ran the song of the mocking-bird, and when the dreamer opened his eyes and stared through the vistas of the pine forest the cessation of its music first apprised him that he was awake.
The sun was low and red in the west; the level rays projected from the trunk of each giant pine a wall of shadow traversing the golden haze to eastward until light and shade were blended in
“A cool breeze came up behind us, sending shivers along the spines of the mesquite trees.” The text contains elements of the unconscious process of shivering and allows Taylor to project her inner feelings onto the landscape. The language mirrors how Taylor’s mind works and shows this by sending “shivers along the spines of the mesquite trees” as well as up her own spine, almost personifying the trees. Kingsolver’s descriptions of the natural landscape, shows her consciousness of the environment.
But, nature does not exclude humans, human excludes themselves from nature. Within the “mists of [the] chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand and one items to be allowed for”(277). He uses clouds and storms and quicksands to convey that civilized life includes the same negativity included in the connotation of those conditions, but nonetheless, those too are apart of nature. The purpose of utilizing imagery is so evoke images people already have to connect with them on that level to make them understand that they must find a harmony and balance in the world. So, in order to restore order within one’s individual life, one must defy the social norms that distance themselves from nature to find harmony with it.
There was undergrowth—a mat of brambles and bracken. There were no obvious paths. Dark and light came and went, inviting and mysterious, as the wind pushed clouds across the face of the sun.” (355) The "thing" in the story was symbolized as the terror
Vanessa Rodriguez Mrs. Muñoz-Matheny English 9, Period 1 12 May 2016 Family Families will always grow together, like a bouquet of flowers. In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Harper Lee clarifies the importance of a supportive family. Harper Lee walks around and clears up that having a supportive family is significant in the Maycomb town. Lee highlights the Finch family relationships and supplies a variety of quotes to prove their devoted bond with each other. A theme in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ is that family is priceless and worthy to rescue from danger, and this theme connects with real life crisis in the modern world today.
The peacocks become a central point of the narrator’s life. The narrator describes the appearance and attitude of these grand birds in great
After nightfall on the October 6, the troops moved out in a cold and stormy weather to make a plan and dig their first battle field. The heavy overcast weather was shielding the huge digging operation from the British’s eyes.
The advancements have morphed nature’s designs into abstract and detached forms that people cannot associate with and overpowered physical nature to such a degree that humans cannot even identify with the most common of experiences. Clarisse mentions that “‘There 's dew on the grass in the morning’” but, “He [Montag] suddenly couldn 't remember if he had known this or not…” (Bradbury 9). It is in these moments in the novel where the disconnection between humans in society and the abundant nature around them reflects their estrangement from their own physical senses. This anomaly in the novel literally translates to society’s inability to connect to their true nature, since physical senses are an inherent part of the body that should be recognized.
In the essay, “A Literature of Place”, by Barry Lopez focuses on the topic of human relationships with nature. He believes human imagination is shaped by the architectures it encounters within life. Lopez first starts his essay with the statement that geography is a shaping force for humans. This shaping force is what creates our imagination; the shaping force is found within nature. Everything humans see within nature is remembered, thus creating new ideas and thoughts for our imagination.
Imagine knowing the evils of the world before age ten and having a full idea of how cruel people can be at such a young age. With the help of parents, kids grow and understand the world. Youngsters can see what humans are on the inside. and with knowledge from caretakers, they comprehend the wicked. Harper Lee’s
He could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.
Dhyanee Bhatt 9A Scout’s Development for Narration All of us grow, develop, and adapt to our surroundings according to what we see and learn. However, we don’t always only the just induce the positive values, but also adapt to the disadvantageous values, as well. To Kill a Mockingbird is a unique novel written by Harper Lee, which tells about a sophisticated family living in a small town. The focus of the book is Scout, the main character and an innocent child, and the story is presented from her perspective.
On Baumer’s journey to his home town, he notes the scenery saying, “…Far away, in a long line one behind the other, stand the poplars, unsubstantial, swaying and dark, fashioned out of shadow, light, and desire” (155). Lines of poplars drenched the fields in long columns symbolically representing the army. One must learn to form straight rows upon command, all while attempting to become unsubstantial by blending into the single body. The soldier’s shadows, inner-lights, and desires are all symbolized by these humble
“I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move” written by Louise Erdrich focuses on a child and a grandfather horrifically observing a flood consuming their entire village and the surrounding trees, obliterating the nests of the herons that had lived there. In the future they remember back to the day when they started cleaning up after the flood, when they notice the herons without their habitat “dancing” in the sky. According to the poet’s biographical context, many of the poems the poet had wrote themselves were a metaphor. There could be many viable explanations and themes to this fascinating poem, and the main literary devices that constitute this poem are imagery, personification, and a metaphor.
He describes the land outside the city as “unnoticed,” “hidden,” “neglected,” and “isolated.” This differs from the crowded city environment that the speaker did not approve of. The author also portrays the “unfenced existence” of the space, such as a bird flying through the sky or a fish swimming through the sea. Lastly, the speaker concludes with repetition of the word “here.” By using this technique, he displays his excitement for the new land around him.
There was no chattering or chirping of birds; no growling of bears and no chuckling of contented otters; instead, the clearing lay desolate and still, as though it never wished to be turned into day. The only occupants were rodents and spiders who had set their home in the dank, forgotten shack. From its base, dead, brown grass reached out, all the way to the edge of the tree-line, unable to survive in the perished, infertile soil that made up the foundations of the house. Bird houses and feeders swung still from the once growing apple trees, in the back garden, consigned to a life of