The speaker in the poem “Prelude to Jumping in the River” by Katia Grubisic, uses his observations of a man preparing to jump into a river as a metaphor for making important decisions. The speaker presents instances of metaphor in the moments before the jump, the unpredictable outcome of the jump, and in the possibility of missing the jump. When the speaker witnesses a man standing at the edge of a river preparing to jump he reflects on how “the mental preparation takes some time” (4-5). Comparably, careful thought and anticipation are also involved when approaching significant decisions. Certainly, the speaker’s observation addresses how responsibly handling a major decision is a lengthy process that requires careful consideration. In addition
“Why have hope?”, is the question raised in the poem “Drifters” by Bruce Dawe. Bruce Dawe’s poem explores how change can damage a family 's relationship and cause them to drift apart. This poem has underlying and straight forward themes depicted about change. Straight forward depiction is the physical movement of the family from place to place and not everyone is in favour of this change. The very first line of the poem, “One day soon he’ll tell her it’s time to start packing”, supports the inevitable change that no one else has a say in except the man. This highlights the power imbalance in a patriarchal house hold. The underlying depiction is the fact that the family is drifting apart because of this change. This is conveyed through the mother choosing to ignore the children and packing aimlessly almost as if she’s following a routine. This idea is reinforced by the repetition of ‘and’ as well as the listing effect which creates a sense of routine.
“Each house-hunting trip I’ve made to the countryside has been fraught with two emotions: elation at the prospect of living closer to nature and a sense of absolute doom at what might befall me in the backwoods” (White 1064). In her essay, “Black Women and the Wilderness, Evelyn White describes her contradictory feelings about nature, and throughout her text, her experiences display a very complex perspective of nature. Raymond Williams, in his article, “Nature” describes the word ‘nature’ as the most complex word in language (Williams 219). When referring nature, people generally think of it representing something of peace, comfort, and a place where most can feel safe, almost as if it were a home. White revises our understanding of nature
Considering that he has experienced the camp before the modern world diluted it’s old-world feel, White has a difficult time accepting the differences at the lake. In another passage, White uses symbolism to reminisce upon the days when he was young, “Outside, the road was tarred...Inside, all was just as it had always been, except there was more Coca-cola and not so much Moxie and root beer and birch beer and sarsaparilla.” White uses the the store as a symbol to describe the changes that have taken place at the lake. He describes that they no longer have certain products because of larger businesses taking over and changing the aura of the store. He also uses the tarr to symbolize the modernization of the old roads surrounding the
In her book the ,The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day discusses her transition to Catholicism with important life events. She recounts her childhood and her encounters with religion as well as her later life. She has long dedicated her life to helping those who are often overlooked, especially the poor. From her experiences Day comes to believe that a non-individualistic society would make it easier for people to be good.
‘’I was a coward. I went to the war’’ Pg187. In the short story, ‘’On The Rainy River’’ by Tim O’Brien, The protagonist faces a difficult life decision, he did not want to conform to society the way others wanted him to. He wanted to keep his personal beliefs. Tim O’Brien does not want to conform no matter how vital it is that he should. If he does not conform, he will lose everything including his personal beliefs, on the contrary, if he does conform he risks his life. Conforming in any way, shape or form has consequences, usually ending with losing something. Tim realizes this when he has to chose between himself and others. This could also be a form of peer pressure. Tim has a desire to live a normal life; work and play, a family someday,
1. In the prologue, the alchemist reads a version if the story of the death of Narcissus that has
Born in 1941 in New York, Billy Collins has grown to become an excellent writer. He currently appointed as the Poet Laureate of the United States. Billy Collins poems discuss human experiences with in life to relate to the reader. The experiences discussed or remembrance, questioning, and love.
The Color of Water is a memoir of James McBride’s life. James tells us about his struggles of childhood. In The Color of Water he went through phases which ranged between good and bad. James began to hang around with the wrong crowds and that did not develop him in a good way. He found out how it would affect him in the long run and decided to change how he was living.
At that moment, he heard the door. Not the doorbell but a series of soft, polite raps, almost apologetic about the late hour. Every house has a logic, and its laws are more eloquent at night, when things occur without palliative noises. He didn’t look at his watch or jump, or suspect that he was hearing things. He simply got up from his chair and walked toward the door without turning on any lights; when he found himself standing face-to-face with his father. He had not seen his father since his death. And, at that moment, he had the strange realization that he had become used to the idea of never seeing him again.
In the beginning of chapter 5, the author talks about how the things that revolved around him was school and church. Outside school and church there were the endless street games on 122nd street. The block was safe to play on under the watch of housewives. Plus on page 39, Walter and his friend decided to hang Richard Aisles. Fortunately, the pastor came there and stopped the whole thing. Finally on page 45, he starts to read books instead of comic books, and becomes really great at writing poems.
In paragraph 5 of E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”, White is going fishing with his son at the lake. As they are fishing, he notices that the lake’s setting is practically identical to when White was fishing as a child. White is forgetting that he is now the adult and no longer the child.
I am reading “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” by W. D. Wetherell. This story ia about a boy who has a crush on Sheila Mant, so he takes her on a date in a boat and catches the biggest bass he has ever caught. He now has to decide on Sheila or the bass. I will be questioning and connecting
In the stories, All Summer in a Day by Rad Bradbury and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes demonstrates how jealousy can bring out the worst of you. Therefore, jealousy can drive you to do bad things to those surrounding you. For instance, in All Summer in a Day the kids that lived in Venus for their whole entire life’s were jealous of Margot because she had experienced being outdoors when the sun has been up. Due to their jealousy, they did something awful to Margot the day that the sun was going to be up which is only up every seven years. In the other hand, in Flowers for Algernon, Charlie’s co-workers seemed to be jealous of Charlie since he was improving his level of intelligence because of the operation that he went through, thus they are treating him differently. In both stories, it is seen that jealousy can cause you to act in different ways such as how these distinctive characters in Flowers for Algernon and All Summer in a Day did.
In, A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room , by Lemony Snicket, a memory moment that seems to appear a lot is the memory of the Baudelaire children 's parents, the memory often shows a very gloomy mood. It was a gloomy mood because their life was so much better then and the moments they remember with their parents are always the good and happy moments. In the text it states, “ They were both remembering a time when the two of got up early to make a special breakfast for their parents.”( The Bad Beginning 31) This shows how the kids loved their parents a lot and would care for them, this quote also shows a happy mood because they become happy thinking of their parents and them,