Reflectioning In Maxe Kumin's 'Woodchucks'

In Maxine Kumin’s poem “Woodchucks”, the speaker’s tone is informative, but through anger the speaker makes a drastic change and the tone becomes murderous and obsessed. The speaker’s shift in tone is related to the radical climax the speaker has with the woodchucks in her garden. After she shoots one of the woodchucks, the speaker becomes entranced and captivated by killing. The speaker professes that before this she was a pacifist, but after dropping some of the woodchucks, she turns murderous and hunts endlessly for the last one.

My favorite poem in “Reading, Responding, and Writing” is Maxine Kumin’s “Woodchucks”. This is an intriguing story that starts off with a gardener gassing these innocent woodchucks that are only trying to survive in their home but end up eating his produce in the garden. It escalates very quickly to him becoming obsessed with murdering them until each and everyone is dead. The story is interesting because at first you think nothing of the killings but then he takes it too far and won’t stop, as if he is addicted. Though the poem might just seem to be about a gardener killing woodchucks, it really shows that if a person is pushed too far they can become obsessed, lose all humanity, and become a monster.

Is Beowulf the hero or just a celebrated killer? The question to be asked is, “Just because we only see the bad qualities in someone, does that make them a monster? All the townspeople have ever known is Grendel kills everyone and destroys everything. All they see is destruction and evil.

This quote shows how the brutal killing of the sow directly relates to the hunters savagery, their cruel nature of slowly killing the beast and laughing and enjoying it. They don’t mean to kill this animal to survive but rather enjoy having blood on their hands. Lastly, when Simon discovers the head in the forest and has “a talk” with it, the Lord of the Flies mentions “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill… You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you” (Golding 147-148)

Throughout the play, Macbeth himself became more vicious and once he knew that Banquo was suspicious of him murdering Duncan, he hired murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance in the woods. Before Macbeth hired the murders, he made sure that the murders knew that Banquo was their enemy by saying “So is he mine, and in such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts Against my near'st of life”

As he killed those men he is “delighted with his night’s slaughter”(40-41). Grendel, had killed Danish people to fulfill a blood lust and a deep hatred because in his situation he was alone. However, Beowulf had to lead his geats to fight with Grendel in cruel way, they were ready to take blood for blood. Grendel’s first action had lead the poem to the most important part of the story which is the

Dante breaks a stick off one of the trees and hears screaming. Dante writes: “The Harpies, feeding on the foliage, create Pain, and an outlet for pain as well. We too shall come like the rest, each one to get His cast-off-body—but not for us to dwell Within again, for justice must forbid Having what one has robbed oneself of.”

Although this is to lure his victim to his untimely fate, Fortunato goes to his death with much ignorance and thereby joy. Poe’s writing for Fortunato is far more grave than that of the old man. One doesn’t appreciate the death as much because of how deadly of a game he is playing into. From a readers perspective, Fortunato walking down to the cellar is like watching a lamb walk into a wolf den; wholly unsuspecting of their outright fate both are set to be slaughtered from their very arrival. The whole tone of “The Cask of Amontillado” is more gruesome in every way compared to “A Tell-tale Heart”.

“A gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again, when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger return, a rage of anger; and, unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects” (Shelley 99). He is so angry that the family has left the cottage after seeing him that he knows he can’t take his anger out on the family but he can on the cottage itself. The book Frankenstein and short story “The Sniper” have a couple differences but they also have some similarities.

Portrayed as an inhumanly and malevolent being when in reality the desire for social interaction burns within his nature but is cut off due to an agoraphobic state, Boo Radley is conflicted in terms of reaching out and socializing with his neighbors Scout and Jem Finch. This can be concluded throughout Part One of, “To Kill a Mockingbird” as Boo demonstrates forms of communication and the urge for interaction. These acts consist of Boo stabbing his father, the displacement of tree treats, and the blanket he set on Scout. Each of these help to develop an idea that he’s become exhausted of being cooped up indoors and instead wants to break free from this restraint. Thus, in Harper Lee’s, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Boo yearns for social interaction with the Finch children.

We both agree that stealing is wrong. So if you agree stealing is wrong then you agree that you need to be evil to live in the wild. In the final chapters in the book Buck kills animals it the woods and enjoys doing it. The killing brings joy to him. "

Whether it be a boy or a pet, you must exterminate it to leave a reminder that her love made her weak and susceptible to the evils of society. You must make his death look like an accident so as to not acquire blame. One way that this can be done is by burning down his house at night, this creates an accident that could be blamed on countless things, such as a gas leak or a candle left burning overnight. The main task you have after setting the fire is to get your beast to discover the scene, this leaves a lasting memory which will haunt her throughout her life. When your monster is tearing down villages who don 't believe in your cause, she will envision finding the charred remains of her lover 's home.

Next, if George didn 't do it then Curley and the rest of the farm workers would have killed Lennie. It was better that someone who actually knew and cared about Lennie killed him, instead of strangers who didn 't understand that Lennie is harmless. “ ‘Don’t shoot ‘im?’ Curley cried. ‘He got Carlsons Luger ‘Course we’ll shoot ‘im’ ”

A.S Patric’s use of diction conveys his feelings as being almost culpable for killing off the snake, but he tries to make it seem like the man was obligated to kill it. The scene where the man says, “My first instinct was to let him go this way and I would go mine”, shows that he wasn’t violent by nature. The man describes afterward that he had to look out for the other people and animals that might be harmed by this venomous creature. The effects that this passage can have on a reader is one where they may feel pity for the naive snake and the ‘violent’ man. The use of the word, hacking, seems to indicate that the man was mercilessly trying to attack the creature.

Revenge: A Narrative and Scientific Perspective Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” and Browning’s “My Last Duchess” both revolve around revenge. We are introduced to men who swear vengeance on other characters. Yet, the mindsets of these men are, in some aspects, very different. To truly comprehend a story, we have to understand why authors make their characters behave the way they do in addition to the message being presented. In the case of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “My Last Duchess,” why do both narrators believe murder is totally necessary?