Note: I no longer have a computer that can connect to the internet, so I had to write this on my phone. That means that I have to battle auto correct and Swype at times to get the right words. I may have missed some incorrect words while proofreading this.
Note: I'm not sure if you're going to count the kittens as characters, but I'm going to because I ready like this passage and found it very interesting.
Early in the novel, the narrator tells a story about baptizing a litter of cats. He "moistened their brows, repeating the full Trinitarian formula" (p 22). While children are known to enjoy baby animals, it is not often that one hears about them baptizing said baby animals. The fact that the children decided to baptize these kittens shows how pious they are, even at a young age. It also shows a tenderness in their hearts, as shown by the narrator saying that, as the mother carried her kittens off, "we were fairly sure that some of the creatures had been borne away still in the darkness of paganism, and that worried us a good deal" (p 22). The good in the hearts of the children caused for them to worry about the souls of these tiny animals -- something that the adults in their community would not have considered. Their treatment of the kittens also suggests something about their values. Although a few of the kittens were adopted, the rest were left to live on their own. In the children's minds, the best way to help the kittens was not to give them food or shelter but to give them a blessing. This suggests that the children, particularly the narrator, believe that the most important thing anyone or anything can have is religion. This further proves how pious they are, even at a young age.
This demonstration of the piousness of the narrator as well as the following expansion of his beliefs where he says things such as "it doesn't enhance sacredness, but acknowledges it, and there is a power in that. I have felt it pass through me, so to speak" (p 23), add to the religious nature of the book and give the reader further insight into the charger of the narrator.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Charming Billy Post Two
Note: I no longer have a computer that can connect to the internet, so I had to write this on my phone. That means that I have to battle auto correct and Swype at times to get the right words. I may have missed some incorrect words while proofreading this.
The reader learns the backstory of Sheila, the mother of Dennis and wife of Mr. Holtzman, which gives an insight to her motivations and the creation of who she turned out to be. It is said that she did not marry Holtzman for love (p 126), and even that (for her) "love was an easy thing to do without" (p 127). Sheila's backstory shows the reader why Sheila didn't need love, further building her character. She spent some time living with an aunt and great-uncle who "didn't want her there" (p 113), sleeping in the room of their son who was away. Her aunt didn't want her "drilling the scent of her hair into his pillow, scattering undergarments, bleeding onto his mattress" (p 113), but they allowed her to stay as long as she only changed her clothes in the pantry. Her uncle got her a job at a local bakery where she would work for wages that went straight to him. At the bakery, she was often sexually assaulted by her boss. Her first day, he "kissed" her, though "it was not a kiss, it was all teeth and wet bone, and she could feel the low laughter in his chest in the moment before he released her" (p 116). She continued suffering such assaults throughout her days there, until she finally got a new job.
Once she took a new job, she dropped out of school. School was something her parents had wished for her to complete. Dropping out and fully entering the workforce signified her breaking away from her family and childish innocence. This abandonment of her former self and situation is further shown by describing how "at twelve she had imagined two hovering angels to guide her for the rest of her life, but she had since lived too many desolate nights in rooms where she was not wanted and did not belong, eaten too many bitter meals, every bite and every sip counted and resented. She had tasted Mr. Dixon's breath, smelled the sharp, lingering scent of his saliva on her cheeks and lips even as she bowed her head and asked them to deliver her" (p 119). Her life after her parents' deaths had so sorely lacked love that she slowly lost her innocence and grew up to the woman she turned out to be. Had they lived, perhaps she would have taken a different path, but the absence of their influence caused for Sheila to go in a different direction.
The effects of the absence of love on Sheila's character is shown by the author through the story about her interactions with Daniel. Each day he greeted her but she gave "him nothing in return, not even the time of day" (p 123). The author then reveals that "that was what she couldn't get enough of -- after the life she had led. To be noticed, to be singled out. To be recognized as someone unlike any other" (p 123). This shows the reader that her life without love has made her enjoy it but not know how to reciprocate it.
When the author tells about Sheila's marriage to Mr. Holtzman, she writes that "there was a laundry list of reasons why she had married again and not one of them had anything to do with love, but with enough space (when you came right down to it), enough baseboard and yarn and empty room, enough heat in the winter and sufficient websites to open for a cross breeze in the summer, love was an easy thing to do without" (p 126-7). This shows the reader that in the end, Sheila did not need love and did not value it as much as many others do. By giving her backstory before telling how Sheila doesn't need love, the author shows the reader exactly what it is that made Sheila the person she was in the end.
After McDermott wrote that "love was an easy thing to do without" (p 127) she added "fro some of us, anyway" (p 127). This comment brings the reader's mind back to Billy who, some suspected, never got over the loss of Eva, the woman he loved. Sheila serves as a character who lives the life Billy never could. She shows a large he could have taken but did not. This prompts the reader to consider the circumstances and character traits that allowed Sheila to survive without something which Billy was crippled by the loss of. This allows for a character analysis that allows the reader to realize something new about both Billy and Sheila, as well as about people in general.
The reader learns the backstory of Sheila, the mother of Dennis and wife of Mr. Holtzman, which gives an insight to her motivations and the creation of who she turned out to be. It is said that she did not marry Holtzman for love (p 126), and even that (for her) "love was an easy thing to do without" (p 127). Sheila's backstory shows the reader why Sheila didn't need love, further building her character. She spent some time living with an aunt and great-uncle who "didn't want her there" (p 113), sleeping in the room of their son who was away. Her aunt didn't want her "drilling the scent of her hair into his pillow, scattering undergarments, bleeding onto his mattress" (p 113), but they allowed her to stay as long as she only changed her clothes in the pantry. Her uncle got her a job at a local bakery where she would work for wages that went straight to him. At the bakery, she was often sexually assaulted by her boss. Her first day, he "kissed" her, though "it was not a kiss, it was all teeth and wet bone, and she could feel the low laughter in his chest in the moment before he released her" (p 116). She continued suffering such assaults throughout her days there, until she finally got a new job.
Once she took a new job, she dropped out of school. School was something her parents had wished for her to complete. Dropping out and fully entering the workforce signified her breaking away from her family and childish innocence. This abandonment of her former self and situation is further shown by describing how "at twelve she had imagined two hovering angels to guide her for the rest of her life, but she had since lived too many desolate nights in rooms where she was not wanted and did not belong, eaten too many bitter meals, every bite and every sip counted and resented. She had tasted Mr. Dixon's breath, smelled the sharp, lingering scent of his saliva on her cheeks and lips even as she bowed her head and asked them to deliver her" (p 119). Her life after her parents' deaths had so sorely lacked love that she slowly lost her innocence and grew up to the woman she turned out to be. Had they lived, perhaps she would have taken a different path, but the absence of their influence caused for Sheila to go in a different direction.
The effects of the absence of love on Sheila's character is shown by the author through the story about her interactions with Daniel. Each day he greeted her but she gave "him nothing in return, not even the time of day" (p 123). The author then reveals that "that was what she couldn't get enough of -- after the life she had led. To be noticed, to be singled out. To be recognized as someone unlike any other" (p 123). This shows the reader that her life without love has made her enjoy it but not know how to reciprocate it.
When the author tells about Sheila's marriage to Mr. Holtzman, she writes that "there was a laundry list of reasons why she had married again and not one of them had anything to do with love, but with enough space (when you came right down to it), enough baseboard and yarn and empty room, enough heat in the winter and sufficient websites to open for a cross breeze in the summer, love was an easy thing to do without" (p 126-7). This shows the reader that in the end, Sheila did not need love and did not value it as much as many others do. By giving her backstory before telling how Sheila doesn't need love, the author shows the reader exactly what it is that made Sheila the person she was in the end.
After McDermott wrote that "love was an easy thing to do without" (p 127) she added "fro some of us, anyway" (p 127). This comment brings the reader's mind back to Billy who, some suspected, never got over the loss of Eva, the woman he loved. Sheila serves as a character who lives the life Billy never could. She shows a large he could have taken but did not. This prompts the reader to consider the circumstances and character traits that allowed Sheila to survive without something which Billy was crippled by the loss of. This allows for a character analysis that allows the reader to realize something new about both Billy and Sheila, as well as about people in general.
Charming Billy Post One
Note: I no longer have a computer that can connect to the internet, so I had to write this on my phone. That means that I have to battle auto correct and Swype at times to get the right words. I may have missed some incorrect words while proofreading this.
The author attempts to fully engage her reader throughout the book, especially in the beginning. A method she uses early on is providing a lot of background information in a short period of time. This is particularly prevalent in the passage "And if you loved him, we all knew, you pleaded with him at some point. Or you drove him to AA, waited outside the church till the meeting was over, and drove him home again. Or you advanced him whatever you could afford so he could travel to Ireland to take the pledge. If you loved him, you took his car keys away, took his incoherent phone calls after midnight. You banished him from your house until he could show up sober. You saw the bloody scraps of flesh he cited up into his drinks. If you loved him, then you told him at some point that he was killing himself and felt the way his indifference rip poured through your affection. You left work really to identify his body at the VA, and instead of being grateful that the ideal was at long last over, you felt a momentary surge of joy as you turned away: This was not Billy, it was somecolored man" (page 7). In this paragraph, the author tells the reader the story of Billy 's alcoholism and of the roles the members of the funeral party played in this aspect of his life. By giving the reader this background information all at once very early on, the author throws them into the story immediately. Although she gives the reader a lot of information, the author does it quickly and without much detail. She only gives the reader a general idea of what happened. This leaves the reader curious, and makes them want to keep reading to learn the stories of everything she quickly mentioned.
As McDermott is giving the reader this information, she uses the word "you" throughout the passage, saying things like "if you loved him," "you banished him from your house," and "his indifference ripped through your affection." This makes the reader feel as if they were part of the funeral party and had experienced these things. This draws more emotion from the reader than it would have if the author had not written the passage this way. This creates a stronger emotional attachment to the story and characters for the reader, making them more invested in the book.
By doing these things in a passage at the very beginning of the book, McDermott ensures that the reader will stay invested in the story throughout the rest of the book.
The author attempts to fully engage her reader throughout the book, especially in the beginning. A method she uses early on is providing a lot of background information in a short period of time. This is particularly prevalent in the passage "And if you loved him, we all knew, you pleaded with him at some point. Or you drove him to AA, waited outside the church till the meeting was over, and drove him home again. Or you advanced him whatever you could afford so he could travel to Ireland to take the pledge. If you loved him, you took his car keys away, took his incoherent phone calls after midnight. You banished him from your house until he could show up sober. You saw the bloody scraps of flesh he cited up into his drinks. If you loved him, then you told him at some point that he was killing himself and felt the way his indifference rip poured through your affection. You left work really to identify his body at the VA, and instead of being grateful that the ideal was at long last over, you felt a momentary surge of joy as you turned away: This was not Billy, it was somecolored man" (page 7). In this paragraph, the author tells the reader the story of Billy 's alcoholism and of the roles the members of the funeral party played in this aspect of his life. By giving the reader this background information all at once very early on, the author throws them into the story immediately. Although she gives the reader a lot of information, the author does it quickly and without much detail. She only gives the reader a general idea of what happened. This leaves the reader curious, and makes them want to keep reading to learn the stories of everything she quickly mentioned.
As McDermott is giving the reader this information, she uses the word "you" throughout the passage, saying things like "if you loved him," "you banished him from your house," and "his indifference ripped through your affection." This makes the reader feel as if they were part of the funeral party and had experienced these things. This draws more emotion from the reader than it would have if the author had not written the passage this way. This creates a stronger emotional attachment to the story and characters for the reader, making them more invested in the book.
By doing these things in a passage at the very beginning of the book, McDermott ensures that the reader will stay invested in the story throughout the rest of the book.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
The Scarlet Letter Post Two
Throughout the story, Dimmesdale, the father of Pearl and fellow sinner of Hester, struggles with the choice of whether to hide his sin or reveal it to the town. He fears that confessing to his sin will harm the community because he is their religious leader and they look to him for support. Until the very end, he chooses to hide it. He is observed to be growing sicker and sicker as the story progresses, and this is implied to be a result of the sin he hid within him as well as the torture inflicted upon him by Hester's husband, Chillingworth. This contrasts with how Hester appears to be healing by wearing her sin on her chest. This contrast shows the reader that it is better to confess to your sins than to hide them, for the dishonesty will prevent you from recovering.
At the end of the story, Dimmesdale reveals his sin and Pearl kisses him (something she had previously refused to do, for he would not admit to being her father). This represents a form of forgiveness for his sin. He then dies. This shows that revealing his sin freed him from the torture bestowed upon him by Chillingworth, who was, in a way, the physical manifestation of Dimmesdale's sin, showing that only once a person admits to their wrongdoings can they finally be free to escape the darkness of sin.
At the end of the story, Dimmesdale reveals his sin and Pearl kisses him (something she had previously refused to do, for he would not admit to being her father). This represents a form of forgiveness for his sin. He then dies. This shows that revealing his sin freed him from the torture bestowed upon him by Chillingworth, who was, in a way, the physical manifestation of Dimmesdale's sin, showing that only once a person admits to their wrongdoings can they finally be free to escape the darkness of sin.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
The Scarlet Letter Post One
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is set in Puritan New England prior to the establishment of the United States. Puritan society had, as Hawthorne described it, "the chillest of social atmospheres" (p. 9). This was due to the rigid social rules that the Puritans adhered to. These rules, like laws, were derived from the Puritan religion, and "religion and law were almost identical" (p 46). These laws dictated that adultery, the act committed by Hester Prynne, was illegal. The description of the strict laws and social customs of the time allows us, as Americans ("us" in this case refers to our class, not to all readers of the book), to understand why Hester was punished and essentially exiled for something that, in our country today, is not illegal and does not have such severe social consequences.
The physical description of the setting serves to create a contrast between Hester and her daughter, Pearl, and the place in which they live. Hester and Pearl exist in the midst of people in "sad-colored garments," (p. 43) later described as "stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women" (p. 50). Hester, on the other hand, is described as having "dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam; and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness of belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes" (p. 49). Adjectives such as "abundant," "glossy," and "beautiful" create a vibrant image that contrasts with the dull image created by the use of "sad-colored," "stern-browed," and "unkindly visaged." This contrast makes Hester stand out in more ways than simply being the protagonist. It creates an image of her being the only one in the town who is truly alive, although she is also the one marked by sin. Later in the book, the house in which Hester and Pearl live is described as a "lonesome dwelling" (p. 78) surrounded by "scrubby trees" (p. 78). Pearl is described as having "an absolute circle of radiance around her on the darksome cottage floor" (p. 88). This contrast between "radiance" and "darksome" gives the reader the impression of Pearl, like Hester, being a being of a different, more lively and vibrant, nature than her surroundings. This impression is reinforced when Pearl is compared to an "airy sprite" (p. 90). The image of Pearl created for the reader is one of light and life that sets her apart from the lonely place in which she lives. The contrast between the mother and child and the setting of the story helps the reader to understand that these characters are worth more than their sin and the place and people who condemned them, and are capable of rising above them.
The physical description of the setting serves to create a contrast between Hester and her daughter, Pearl, and the place in which they live. Hester and Pearl exist in the midst of people in "sad-colored garments," (p. 43) later described as "stern-browed men and unkindly visaged women" (p. 50). Hester, on the other hand, is described as having "dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam; and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness of belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes" (p. 49). Adjectives such as "abundant," "glossy," and "beautiful" create a vibrant image that contrasts with the dull image created by the use of "sad-colored," "stern-browed," and "unkindly visaged." This contrast makes Hester stand out in more ways than simply being the protagonist. It creates an image of her being the only one in the town who is truly alive, although she is also the one marked by sin. Later in the book, the house in which Hester and Pearl live is described as a "lonesome dwelling" (p. 78) surrounded by "scrubby trees" (p. 78). Pearl is described as having "an absolute circle of radiance around her on the darksome cottage floor" (p. 88). This contrast between "radiance" and "darksome" gives the reader the impression of Pearl, like Hester, being a being of a different, more lively and vibrant, nature than her surroundings. This impression is reinforced when Pearl is compared to an "airy sprite" (p. 90). The image of Pearl created for the reader is one of light and life that sets her apart from the lonely place in which she lives. The contrast between the mother and child and the setting of the story helps the reader to understand that these characters are worth more than their sin and the place and people who condemned them, and are capable of rising above them.
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