"A very Short Story" by Ernest Hemingway, shows the process of a young couples love, while comparing thier personalities to the actual nations they are from. Hemingway uses a moment in history, either World War I or World War II, to demonstrate a very short romance. He uses characterisation, structure, and word choice to validate his intent.
The choice of words are very important to understand what the author intended by the end of his short story. The reader is first introduced to a character refered to as "him." The use of the pronoun "he" and "him" provides the reader with no name, no concrete personality, or person. The character forms with the story. Meanwhile, the female character is immediately reffered to by the name "Luz." If translated from the latin languages, it means "light." This character is called by three terms, her actual name, and the pronouns "she" and "her." The way these characters are identified changes quickly. Thier relationship changes quickly, therefore changing the words "him" and "her" to "they." In the third paragraph, the two characters are united as a couple. Its the only paragraph which only refers to "them" except for the "he" in the first sentence. Before this paragraph, they were together in the previous paragraphs, but not quite one. In the paragraphs after, the two characters are once again acknowledged separately. Hemingway shows the point of view of Luz. The fourth paragraph only mentions what she feels, which creates a sort of isolated, lonely feeling. The fifth paragraph does the same, except this time it only mentions "perspective" until close to the end of the paragraph, where the two characters are reunited for a short moment. Its the last time the chracters excist as "they." Hemingway washes away this unity in one sentence, starting the next sentence with a separation of "he," "When they had to say good-bye, in the station at Milan, they kissed goodbye, but were not finished with the quarrel. He felt sick about saying good-bye like that."
They become separated, not only emotionally, but also physically. Luz stays in Italy, and he goes back to the United States. The structure of the story, has various separations aswell. For a story of only a page and a small bit, it has quite alot of paragraphs, eight paragraphs. Each one show a different idea, from a different view, whether it be "him" "her" or "they", the structure is helpful into showing how separate each of these moments in this couples lives are.
THe entire piece, does not only relate to the hardships of a couple who can't be together, but also thier nationalities. One is italian, and the other is american. Towards the end, the italian woman, Luz, ends up falling in love with an Italion mayor. She claims she was never inlove with the american man and that thier relationship was "only a boy girl love." This is during one of the world wars. When the USA was still viewed as a young country. She calls the relationship a "boy girl" relationship, which suggests being young, and immature. The United States, at this time, could also be viewed as young and immature. She states she is inlove with the "major of the battalion" in italy. He is Italian, and unlike the young american soldier, he is suggested to be alot older, and more powerful. Italy, likewise, has experienced far more power than the USA, and is also alot older, perhaps even wiser. She decided to marry someone more well known, and leaves the american to die in a taxicab with a broken heart.
"A Very Short Story" is not only a short story, but also a short romance. Also, the USA had only been around for a short period of time. This peice uses language, structure, and the time period to create the authors intent. Its a story of sexual, and emotional feelings, as well as learning to mature, both the young soldier, and the nation from where he is from.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Deep into es-es-essay
The poem with the ending "W-o-te-M" by Patricia Grace, is a poem which deals with nature, life, and death. Grace uses structure, personification, and assonance, to form these points in her poem. Her poem involves nature, yet it also involves death, with a mix of giving life.
The poem is made up of three stanzas, each with six lines. This forms the number 666, which can be seen as the devils number in the bible. The number three, which is the number of stanzas in this poem, is also seen in other literary works including the bible. The poem ends up feeling very dark, since most literary works with these numbers are also very dark. The number of syllables in each line go from one to six, but none of them have five syllables. The number five, can be also related to the bible, but is related more to Christ and his five wounds. The structure helps by showing a sort of evil in the nature of the world, and the nature of the poem. When the poem is read outloud, it sounds like a chant. A spiritual song calling out to nature, or mother nature about her dead child.
The reader may believe the poem shows the good side of nature, since the poem makes it appear warm in loving at the beginning "Sky love earth" "earth give life." Nature in the poem is personified to sound like a loving mother "Turn breast to chi-i-ld." This chant like poem represents this "mother" like surroundings as good. What becomes bad is the child who is born. The child "steal light" and makes the rain turn away. The rain brings life, but without rain, thier is death. There is an actual murder of the earth "thrust bright sword deep into ea-ea-earth." The birth of this child, has created the death of its surrounding. The mother "bleed"s, and the child who has caused this "die"s. The child was only born, but is "already dead."
There is also alliteration and assonance, which creates an even more chant like feel to the poem. Each phrase starts with a consonance, except for the fifth line in the first stanza, and the sixth line in the last stanza, "Earth give life" "Already Dead." The mome also has a repetition of vowels in the world "ra-ai-ain" and "ea-ea-earth."
I believe the poet is trying to show a darkness of humanity, the child, and how it has created its own death in the life it was given by earth. The use of structure, aswell as personification and repition, allows this idea to manifest itself. Therfore becoming a chant like poem, to mourn the self destruction of nature upon nature.
The poem is made up of three stanzas, each with six lines. This forms the number 666, which can be seen as the devils number in the bible. The number three, which is the number of stanzas in this poem, is also seen in other literary works including the bible. The poem ends up feeling very dark, since most literary works with these numbers are also very dark. The number of syllables in each line go from one to six, but none of them have five syllables. The number five, can be also related to the bible, but is related more to Christ and his five wounds. The structure helps by showing a sort of evil in the nature of the world, and the nature of the poem. When the poem is read outloud, it sounds like a chant. A spiritual song calling out to nature, or mother nature about her dead child.
The reader may believe the poem shows the good side of nature, since the poem makes it appear warm in loving at the beginning "Sky love earth" "earth give life." Nature in the poem is personified to sound like a loving mother "Turn breast to chi-i-ld." This chant like poem represents this "mother" like surroundings as good. What becomes bad is the child who is born. The child "steal light" and makes the rain turn away. The rain brings life, but without rain, thier is death. There is an actual murder of the earth "thrust bright sword deep into ea-ea-earth." The birth of this child, has created the death of its surrounding. The mother "bleed"s, and the child who has caused this "die"s. The child was only born, but is "already dead."
There is also alliteration and assonance, which creates an even more chant like feel to the poem. Each phrase starts with a consonance, except for the fifth line in the first stanza, and the sixth line in the last stanza, "Earth give life" "Already Dead." The mome also has a repetition of vowels in the world "ra-ai-ain" and "ea-ea-earth."
I believe the poet is trying to show a darkness of humanity, the child, and how it has created its own death in the life it was given by earth. The use of structure, aswell as personification and repition, allows this idea to manifest itself. Therfore becoming a chant like poem, to mourn the self destruction of nature upon nature.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Change
(once again, my blog is not separating into paragraphs)
What I truly believe Toni Morrison is trying to explain in the interview, is not racisom, is not loneliness or the salem witch trials. I believe she wants to go further than that, and understand change in society. She studies history to understand these changes. She wants to see these changes with innocent eyes, which is why she chosses young girls, like Pecola and Claudia, to be the central figures of her book. These girls see what happens around them through innocent eyes, they are vulnerable to thier surroundings. Although Morrison did mention 'slavery' and 'racism,' she is not only looking at how blacks vere descriminated, but also how whites throughout history were discriminated. For example, she mentions the 'Salem witch trials' which delt with the killing of white people thought to be witches, and religion. She encorporates this idea of religion being an influence, to show that over time, people used religion to view an African American as a devil like creature. She doesn't only pin point religion, but defines it as a main cause. She shows that slavery does not mean the 'enslavement of black people through history', but instead 'enslavement of all races, and prisoners of war. She shows that in history, slaves have come from everywhere, not only africa, and not from only one race. The idea of slaves has only changed over time, and developed a change of how those people were viewed: through racism. There is also a personal slavery she talks about. One that I think Pecola relates to: loneliness. She speaks of how this feeling has changed. In the past, which I believe Pecola feels, a person had to stay in thier loneliness on thier own. They were left to thier own suffering, and thier own confusion, but now, our loneliness has changed. We are no longer as isolated as we used to be, we are more connected then ever! Whether it be through facebook, cellphones, TV, there is no denying we are more connected, and less 'lonely'. Perhaps in this world, Pecola would have solved her curiousity in good way, or a bad way, it could go both ways, just like before. We live in a dangerous world, and that hasn't canged from the past. We live in a world that is sometimes open to new ideas, or sometimes closed, it just depends on the moment in time. Morrison views herself as a voice. She is the voice of all her characters, and she is a voice of ideas. She states her opinion on racism, places it in her stories, and shows change in characters, such as Pecola and Claudia. She shows that everone changes, and that the change of ideas only takes time. She describes what america was before, and how she had to research how much its changed, yet how even with Obama, as the first African American president, some things haven't changed, and will remain the same for a while. We dream for our ideal perfect world, like Pecola dreams to be white. But as Morrison says , 'its a dream.' Ending on that note, I believe she thinks that the world can change, but its based on all our fantasys, and the world never reaches that fantasy level. 
What I truly believe Toni Morrison is trying to explain in the interview, is not racisom, is not loneliness or the salem witch trials. I believe she wants to go further than that, and understand change in society. She studies history to understand these changes. She wants to see these changes with innocent eyes, which is why she chosses young girls, like Pecola and Claudia, to be the central figures of her book. These girls see what happens around them through innocent eyes, they are vulnerable to thier surroundings. Although Morrison did mention 'slavery' and 'racism,' she is not only looking at how blacks vere descriminated, but also how whites throughout history were discriminated. For example, she mentions the 'Salem witch trials' which delt with the killing of white people thought to be witches, and religion. She encorporates this idea of religion being an influence, to show that over time, people used religion to view an African American as a devil like creature. She doesn't only pin point religion, but defines it as a main cause. She shows that slavery does not mean the 'enslavement of black people through history', but instead 'enslavement of all races, and prisoners of war. She shows that in history, slaves have come from everywhere, not only africa, and not from only one race. The idea of slaves has only changed over time, and developed a change of how those people were viewed: through racism. There is also a personal slavery she talks about. One that I think Pecola relates to: loneliness. She speaks of how this feeling has changed. In the past, which I believe Pecola feels, a person had to stay in thier loneliness on thier own. They were left to thier own suffering, and thier own confusion, but now, our loneliness has changed. We are no longer as isolated as we used to be, we are more connected then ever! Whether it be through facebook, cellphones, TV, there is no denying we are more connected, and less 'lonely'. Perhaps in this world, Pecola would have solved her curiousity in good way, or a bad way, it could go both ways, just like before. We live in a dangerous world, and that hasn't canged from the past. We live in a world that is sometimes open to new ideas, or sometimes closed, it just depends on the moment in time. Morrison views herself as a voice. She is the voice of all her characters, and she is a voice of ideas. She states her opinion on racism, places it in her stories, and shows change in characters, such as Pecola and Claudia. She shows that everone changes, and that the change of ideas only takes time. She describes what america was before, and how she had to research how much its changed, yet how even with Obama, as the first African American president, some things haven't changed, and will remain the same for a while. We dream for our ideal perfect world, like Pecola dreams to be white. But as Morrison says , 'its a dream.' Ending on that note, I believe she thinks that the world can change, but its based on all our fantasys, and the world never reaches that fantasy level. 
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Nakedness
Slashed by ~Cherry-RagDoll on deviantART
*note, my blog was separated in paragraphs, but for some strange reason, it won't post as paragraphs.
The chapter named,"HEREISTHEHOUSEITISGREENANDWHITEITHASAREDDOORITISVERYPRETTYITISVERYPRETTYPRETTYPRETTYP" seems to be all about life, change, home and family. This chapter, chapter two, even has the words "house" and "door" in its title, as if to state "in you go and out you change." The chapter describes thier living situation. Demonstrating that the house, which they live in, has also seen change. When we think of change in materialistic things, we tend to think of the object as becoming rotten or overused. These words would not be used in a family, especially on a child. A family is constantly changing, and reshaping to form new families. This comparison is used to show how short family life is. The house may be overused, but has served as a home for various families, while the families in the house, are together for a shor time. Then leave, wanting to change, and the kids all grown up. The kids, grow up way, to fast. The, "store on the southeast corner of broadway and Thirty-fith streen in Lorai, Ohio" has been "abandoned", yet its still there, and still has a personality and its role, "It does not recede into its background of leaden sky, nor harmonize with the gray fram houses and black telephone poles around it." The store is calm, and relaxed, not in a hurry, like the people passingby "It foits itself on the eye of passerby in a manner that is both irritating and melancholy. Visitors who drive to this tiny town wonder why it has not been torn down, while pedestrians, who are residents of the neighborhood, simply look away when they pass it." The visitors to be in such a hurry, in comparison to the house, they want change and want the old to be "torn down." At this point the author, Tony Morrison, takes us back in time, the old. We are taken back to a time when, "when the building house a pizza parlor", which often had "teen-aged boys huddled about the corner." We are placed in the lives of these teenagers, and a moment of the store's life. These teenagers are nothing like the store, they want to live life fast, and practically show off that they are "there to feel thier groins, smole cigarettes, and plan mild outrages." They smoke because they feel that it makes them appear more like an adult. The teenagers want this appearance of maturity to fill thier bodies,"The smoke from thier cigarettes they inhaled deeply, forcing it to fill thier lungs, thier hearts, thier thighs, and keep at bay the shiveriness, the energy of thier youth." These teenagers have the appearance of taking life calmly since they "moved slow", but they don't want to move slowly, they want to move fast and reach a more mature age, they, "flicked the ashes from thier cigarettes too quickly too often, and exposed themselves, to those who were interested, as novices to the habit." They are just like babies, born into a new life. We are told of other changes in the store, the hungarian baker, the real-estate office, and even the gypsies who used the store as a base. What really caught my attention were the gypsy girls. They sit at the window and "occasionally smiled, or winked, or beckoned." They were, "elaborate dresses, long sleeved and long skirt"(s). They appear to be flirting with the people who pass by. They are young, so they are almost afraid to flirt, which is why they flirt "occasionally." But like the young teenage boys, thier innocence is seen. The teenage boys innocence was seen as "novices to the habits", while the girls innocence is described as a "nakedness that stood in thier eyes." I think the personification of the house and the growth of the family is seen in the patchwork quilt. Its a mix of material, and reality of experiences. Its described as a creation for "a sense of belonging" and "a way they found each other." This piece of material, contains meomories, but other objects, seen later on, have no meaning. The furniture in the home is described as "various states of thoughtlessness, greed, and indifference." The furniture "aged" and no one recognized it. No one cared about the furniture, therefore, thier were no memories in the furniture. This seems to describe the family. Tied together by incidencts, like a split in a sofa, yet having no meaning, yet having no pride.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
How do you get somebody to love you?
mature by ~atrophi on deviantART From the very start of the novel, "The Bluest Eye" I was drawn into the story from the first words, "here is the house." There is a small story at the start of the whole novel, which appearst to have no reason for being there. Perhaps I will know later on what it means. This short story explores the use of punctuations and spaces.. First the sentences are short, and have commas and periods. Then, the story has no punction, and later, no spaces. Its a strange yet intriging beginning. What really caught my attention in the first chapter of the book, was the way the girls reacted to adults and adulthood. Specifically, how Claudia, the main character, reacts to her mothers scolds, and how she describes what they truly are, " My mother's voice drones on. She is not talking to me. She is talking to the puke, but she is calling it my name: Claudia." The moment she describes a relationship with an adult, is also the moment we learn her name. She views grownups as a group of people who nag, and who can be annoying, but have power, and whom you must obey, "Grown-ups talk in tired, edgy voices." But not all adults are like this, she specifically describes women to be this way. Mr.Henry is described as a man who is "pleasantly mysterious", not at all an annoying yacky-dy-yack stubborn mother. The mother on the otherhand, along with her friends, are a group of gossiping birds who "do not hide thier curiousity" and are like "a gently wicked dance." Grown-ups is a terminology used to only describe the people they obey, which is why Claudia states that, "with grown-ups we listen to watch out for thier voices." 'Grown-ups' are practically like dangerous creatures., and belong to a dangerous mysterious world, 'outdoors' of thier own childlike world. Men are seen as "sensible" or "pleasant." Quiet the opposite of what women are viewed as. They are viewed as balanced people who seem to know what they are doing. Mr. Henry is an example of this perfect man, he smells wonderful, he smiles alot, and actually talks to the young girls. When we first here about thier father, we are told that he smiles. When the young girl, Pecola, joins the family, it is also the beginning of her journey into adulthood. To become one of those, "grownups." She has to start understanding things about her body which she didn't know about before. She learns what her body is capable off. She is on a diffrent level then Claudia and her sister, who have yet to mature. But will she become another grown up?We have yet to find out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)