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Poem Analysis: Ghost Of A Chance Interpretation

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“Ghost of a Chance” Interpretation
In the modern world, people are surrounded by their possessions and do not really think for themselves any longer. “Ghost of a Chance” by Adrienne Rich conveys an image of a man sitting separated from the world as he tries to think for himself. Rich demonstrates a major simile in the poem to solidify the man’s desperate need to think. In society, people are so involved within their own lives asserting people are seen to not really be thinking. The presence of this simile invokes the main idea that people can no longer access their own knowledge. Rich’s poem encompasses of a man, who is isolated form the world to come up with a single thought to escape reality of media. Then, Rich analyzes the comparison of the man to a fish on land, the fish struggling to live as they flop around. Rich displays a very complicated subject, as he is trying to get the reader to understand the severity of a problem in society today because they surround themselves around …show more content…

The tone of the simile in “Ghost of a Chance” is more didactic than any other. Rich emphasizes tone within his simile to convey that man is going deeper into media than ever and does not focus on the real parts of life anymore. Specifically Rich exemplifies a didactic tone when he incorporates the reader into the poem to create a second person point of view, “[y]ou see a man trying to think” (Rich 728). Rich sets the scene for an immediate didactic tone because of the point of view to set up for a simile. Second person point of view provides a more didactic tone because the speaker is trying to reach the reader by incorporating them into the poem. This didactic tone continues as the speaker addresses the “everything” that surrounds the narrator and wants them to “[k]eep off” (Rich728). A didactic tone is effective in this moment because the

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