“If you took these threads and attempted to follow them back even a few days you could never unravel the wisdom behind this strange connection.” (Dulaney) In the last passage of “Worthless Days” the author Margret Dulaney explores the complex idea of fate and the delicate balance of cause and effect. I was first drawn to this essay by the sole fact that it was about a dog. However as I started my closes analysis I realized there is a much deeper meaning to this essay, specifically in the last passage. Starting with the first sentence the author uses repetition of the word thread, “ the thread of my own dreary thinking…thread of the dog’s fearful journey…thread of the misery from each member of the dog’s household.”(Dulaney) This makes me think …show more content…
of a story quilt, each piece of fabric is sewn together to complete the picture on the quilt. Just like the different events of the story were woven together into one event. In addition to having a strong metaphor, this sentence of the passage raises a lot of questions. The first being how long was the dog away from his family? The author says the dog went on a “journey,” to me this implies that it took a long time, if she had said the dog's trip for example, I would have assumed that the dog's family did not live a long distance away. My second question is why did the dog leave in the first place? Was he chasing something, or did a child leave the gate open. Judging from the family’s distress, he had certainly not been neglected. While animals can have a mind of their own, I have never met one that leaves their home without reason. Lastly, I am curious to know how far the author lived from where the dog’s family lived. Alluding back to the statement about the dog having a “fearful journey” (Dulaney) why had the dog not gone to someone else’s home closer to where he lived? Moving forward in the passage the author elaborates more about the idea of fate, things being predetermined and connected.
Dulaney continues to say, “You could never unravel the wisdom behind this strange connection.”(Dulaney) The wording in this quote particularly the use of the word wisdom has a huge effect on the overall meaning. Wisdom in the dictionary is defined as “knowledge gained from experience.” Using this word, to me implies that the connection of events is not up to chance, there is predetermined thought and experience behind the decision. If the author had worded this any differently, I believe the entire essay would not have been as effective. There is one other instance where the wording of the statement is miraculously important. In the next sentence Dulaney writes, “This fabric of cause and effect seems to be fabulously complex.”(Dulaney) Not only does this statement continue the metaphor of a quilt or blanket it uses the word fabulous in an interesting way. Fabulous to me means something amazing, however in this sense it makes me think of awe inspiring. That the complexity of this connection of events is so elaborate that it leaves us in …show more content…
awe. Farther into this sentence the author uses a literary device similar to a metaphor, a simile. She compares the connection of events to a rug. Specifically a “dense…thick rug”(Delaney) this gives the impression of layers and layers of threads connecting each event. The rug metaphor continues as the authors' says, “were I believed I had found a worn spot… a bit of light shining through”(Dulaney) I read this as a place where our tiny minds could even begin to fathom the amazing mosaic of life and our connection to others. Dulaney writes more and finishes saying, “I suspect the relative shining is like that of a candle next to the sun.” (Dulaney) This speaks volumes about the authors understanding of the subject of this fate like connection of events in our lives.
Dulaney seems to know very much about the subject, but even she says her understanding of this is little compared to the final design. The sound of this passage takes on a philosophical disposition. You can tell that the author has pondered this a great deal and is still astonished by the subject. The style of writing also continues to hint that the author has put a lot of thought into the subject of fate and things happening for a reason. It is very informal sounding due to the amount of emotion in the writing. It sounds like a topic the author feels deeply about and wants to greater
understand. What stood out to me about this passage more than the rest of the narrative, was just how much it made me think. Everyone does have that “worthless day” feeling where we feel there is nothing for us to do and we can’t change anything, but this passage has changed my perspective. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, but this has made me think about the reason. Why does this happen, does it happen for personal gain or the benefit of others? In “Worthless Days” the dog's journey, benefited the author, but later it benefits the family. The author tries to understand this idea of fate, things happening for a reason, and the balance of cause and effect. There is such a delicate balance, like a scale, what would the effect be if I had done something different? Just like the metaphor of the thread, we can try to pick apart the connection piece by piece but we may never find the end.
Henry was an extremely lonely nine-year-old boy whose greatest wish was to get a dog. His parents were busy with their work most of the time and it seemed that Henry did not have any friends, perhaps because they moved so often. A dog would have provided Henry with unconditional love - something in short supply around his house - and would have been the perfect companion. The problem was, his parents did not want dog, which would have been another obligation and something else to take care of. As emotionally detached as his parents were, something else to take care of was just not desirable.
...he suggestion that fate is predetermined. Another example of this is the young officer who was hit leading his men onto the battle ground. He died with the look, "I wasn’t ready. Unfair!" Malouf shows that fate is predetermined. The only way the individual can escape it is by creating his own ‘imagined’ world.
In life we go through very hard times that’s just how life circles, but do these problems really help shape your spirit to who you are today and who you will be one day in the future? In the book Copper Sun by Sharon Draper Amari overcomes some of the most complicated problems in the history of the U.S., in which I personally don’t think I would have been able to handle as swiftly and fast as Amari had. With the help of others Amari was able to create a strong backbone to carry her thought out the way and support her in her worst times. Although some of these influences weren’t always the best people such as Clay, he helped shape Amaris future and the theme of the story. Finally, how important where the minor characters on helping to shape the main character’s spirit and inner mind, and after that transaction how where they able to slowly develop the theme/message of the book?
...ulted in pure disaster, as could be predicted. Consequently, fate itself may lead to pure bliss as designed, however, when challenged, fate has the potential to result in solely destruction.
Overall, it expresses the love and affection of Collin about this poem. This poem is basically looked at, or listened to, and the rodent tested. Such imagery used in poem supports the central ideas of Collin in poem, that the reading poetry must be, just like a good exploration, a discovery act. The poem has a very conversational effect and scholastic feel in it. First stanza directly linked to the second stanza while the third and fourth stanza of this poem has distinct thoughts in them. Similarly, the six stanzas come in a follow-up way but the mood actually changed in the last two stanzas of the poem. In short, Collin has written this poem in a very special and artistic way which really changes other’s minds about how to better understand a poem by knowing its actual meaning.
D. The interlacing of the hunting and bedroom scenes follows a romance plot convention and is prominent feature of the poem. What is the point of this interlacing? What overall affects does it create for the reader?
feelings in the man and the dog, of a constant battle with this world of
...s to avoid fate, a chain of unexpected unfortunate events are unleashed and a divine master plan is fulfilled. Man must simply act according to his own convictions concerning the matter and hope that if Fate is indeed existent, there might be an even balance between her and the freedom of choice.
The dog they rescued is a particularly prominent topic, a vestige of the past civilizations. In defiance of the treacherous environment, the dog managed to survive, a feat that even Lisa, the most cold-blooded of the three main characters, could not help but be “impressed by” (Bacigalupi 61). Therefore, the dog is a symbol of hope for the reader, an animal that is in the extreme, completely out of its element, and yet capable of surviving. As a result, nature’s idea of itself is astoundingly resilient, keeping certain species alive as an attempt to return to the normal state of the world. Even after horrendous trauma the natural world is still capable of a stalwart attempt at reclaiming itself. Accordingly, it is never too late to start fixing the damages and help nature’s cause, before allowing it to escalate to such a degree where the oceans are black with pollution and there is no room left for the humans of today. Chen could not help but notice that the dog is different than them in more than just a physiological nature; “there’s something there” and it’s not a characteristic that either them or the bio-jobs are capable of (64). Subsequently, the dog has something that the evolved humans are missing, compassion. In consequence, the author portrays the idea that the dog
“Downtime is where we become ourselves, looking into the middle distance, kicking at the curb, lying on the grass, or sitting on the stoop and staring at the tedious blue of the summer sky” (Quindlen 82). Anna Quindlen is an author of children’s books and is well known for her comments on contemporary life. In her work “Doing Nothing is Something”, Quindlen makes an observation about the lack of free time that children have in their lives. She begins with a comparison to her life as a child, explaining the boredom that she used to have during the summer. However, she continues with how children now are as overscheduled as their parents, which reduces the amount of time they have for creativity. Furthermore, she explains that this is because of the parents’ expectations for what their child will do in the future and what they could do if left alone. As a final point, she illustrates her belief that children can still have free time, despite the immense number of activities that can take place. Despite Quindlen’s point, she has missed the importance of children being able to find creativity in such a busy schedule.
There are many themes that occur and can be interpreted differently throughout the novel. The three main themes that stand out most are healing, communication, and relationships.
Shakespeare first establishes his stance on fate through foreshadowing. By referring to Romeo and Juliet as “star crossed lovers” he reveals that fate has
...ll of the speaker’s hopes are prematurely executed in the third stanza when the lady crushes the flea between her nails. This stanza is anticlimactic because the eager hopping around from argument to argument abruptly comes to a halt with one action. The speaker is rejected, and immediately retreats from his pursuit. His tone becomes scathing and the overall mood becomes like the purple blood that has stained the lady’s nail: "a hue of mourning." The hopes of the speaker coil down from the high apex of hope that builds in the first two stanzas to an embarrassing low in the last stanza.
The 1945 B-movie classic, Detour, as with most noir films, makes interesting notions regarding fate and life itself. Edgar Ulmer uses the journey of a pianist to discuss a concept deeper than hitchhiking and the life of an average human being that can’t seem to find his way on the right side of anything. The concept is fate. This term is used countless times in the film, which makes it apparent that Ulmer wants the audience to know he is making a commentary on the subject. Though he makes his intentions obvious, he arrives at his thesis through flashbacks and memories of the story’s protagonist, therein lies the issue at hand. It is through cynical dialogue, characters molded to serve as closely as possible as caricatures, and the bleak nature of the B-movie aesthetic that Ulmer creates an illusion centric tale of a man so fearful of fate that his fears become his fate.
Throughout the poem, the animal’s appearance evokes the memory of clothing from the speaker. The image clothing is visited three times. The first is at the beginning of the poem “‘like the chasuble” and then in the later stanzas of the poem where the speaker is focusing on his wife undressing: “sootfall of your things” and “the plunge-line nightdress.” The “sootfall” or light sound of the clothes dropping to the floor is reminiscen...