In this excerpt by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator’s new situation challenges her sense of self by causing her to experience homesickness and independence all at once. The narrator details her experience moving to a completely new place. Even though this new home is nicer, she longs to be back with her family. As she attempts to take in all of these changes, she feels overwhelmed and sleeps because she “didn’t want to take in anything else” (14). The excerpt opens with the description of a refrigerator, which the narrator believes is a very useful and good idea. However, this refrigerator also makes her very uncomfortable because it is so new, describing that she could “imagine [she] would grow used to it and like it very much, but at first it was all so new that [she] had to smile with [her] mouth turned down at the corners” (10). The refrigerator is an opening symbol of the new place the narrator has moved to. She understands its capability and quality might be better than what she has ever had, but the shadow of her homesickness weighs over her, causing her to feel discomfort at the idea of anything new. …show more content…
Towards the end of the passage, she describes how sometimes her family would make her so mad that she “longed to see them all dead at [her] feet” (64). Along with this, she uses a simile to describe how she wanted to leave her own life behind “as if it were an old garment never to be worn again” (67). These devices contrast with most of the passage in that they describe the narrator’s unhappiness with her old home, which she now longs so much to be back in. This challenges her sense of self because she feels discontent in both places, implying she is, metaphorically,
Ruth Schwartz Cowan wrote “How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum” in 1983. It was included in the section, “Failed Machines” of her book. I never thought about why most refrigerators are electric. We have owned gas stoves and dryers, but never a gas refrigerator. Gas appliances cost more upfront, but are inexpensive to run over time. Personally, I would rather have gas appliances than electric and believe many other people would too; however, there are major factors that caused the gas refrigerator to fail.
In the passage from the novel LUCY, author Jamaica Kincaid dramatizes the forces of self and environment, through her character whose identity is challenged with a move. The new home provided all she needed, but it was all so many changes, she “didn’t want to take in anything else” (15-16). Her old “familiar and predictable past”(40) stayed behind her, and she now had to find who she was in her new life. Kincaid uses detail, metaphor, and tone in the passage to show her character’s internal struggle.
She hates that she is getting a special treatment because of her age: "What I hate about being my age is how nice everyone tries to be. I was never nice, but now everybody is pelting me with sugar cubes." (p. 117). When she was young she was a social rebel, trying to change the world: " She had spent her life in the company of rebels and deviationists, and she recognized all their styles."
Under the orders of her husband, the narrator is moved to a house far from society in the country, where she is locked into an upstairs room. This environment serves not as an inspiration for mental health, but as an element of repression. The locked door and barred windows serve to physically restrain her: “the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.” The narrator is affected not only by the physical restraints but also by being exposed to the room’s yellow wallpaper which is dreadful and fosters only negative creativity. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide – plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.”
She also did many activities such as spinning, weaving, keeping the house up and also nursed the sick, which could relate to the time period this poem is taking place in also. The intent that the author was trying to get across is one that, people could live happy lives in a very simplistic way, such as Lucinda did. In his poems, Masters used free verse patterns to make his subjects seem more natural. There are no historical or literary allusions to this poem. Although she barely includes any similes or metaphors in her poem, there are a few.
The selected passage from Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Lucy: A Novel emphasizes an explicit conflict between the narrator’s immediate and expected joy over being able to experience relative luxury for the first time against the implicit force of her inner schock and realization of her past situation as it ties into and shapes her identity and perspective of the world at large. The first paragraph details the specifics of her past situation through direct thoughts of the reader and her way of describing the luxury she’s in as presented through slightly clumsy, almost uncomfortable syntax, whether she “got into an elevator, some [she] had never done before,” (1-2) or when she was “eating food just taken from a refrigerator.” (3) She says that the experience in the apartment, compared to her home, “was such a good idea that [she] would grow used to it and like it very much.”
“her head cutting a V through the water and her anxious eyes upon the departing family she considered as her own” (23).
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
...tegrating as her legs were stuck to the ground. The last stanza despairs that that no one mourned the death of this woman who dies for the love of her home and emphasizes that women like Lot’s wife should not be forgotten.
I walked around unsteadily all day like a lost baby, far away from its pack. Surrounded by unfamiliar territory and uncomfortable weather, I tried to search for any signs of similarities with my previous country. I roamed around from place to place and moved along with the day, wanting to just get away and go back home. This was my first day in the United States of America.
In lines fifty-one through sixty the speaker conveys that, although she may have been a drudge before, she will not be one any more. She refuses to submit to society and be a hard working drudge. The speaker believes she is more than that — perhaps even a queen: “They thought death was worth it, but I have a self to recover, a queen.”
...had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days" (138). The sensations that colored her world and gave her voice also gave her an unquenchable desire for freedom, for choice, for self-determined solitude. Unable to make those whom she loved understand, she makes another choice, and opens herself to another wrap of sensation. Like the man in "Solitude," Edna stands upon the beach naked, surrounded by space and air. But unlike that man, her solitude and exposure are chosen - she is not left behind, she is leaving. The sea holds no boundaries any longer, she is not afraid to leave the shore and she knows she can swim to sea, as far out as it takes to be free. As she swims out, her senses revive in memory of her father and sister's voices and the odor of dianthus; once again she is being lulled, but this time toward a resolution.
The speaker’s language towards the woman’s death in “The Last Night that she lived” portrays a yearning attitude that leads to disappointment; which reiterates human discontent with the imperfections of life. The description of woman’s death creates an image of tranquility that causes the speaker to aspire towards death. Her death compares to a reed floating in water without any struggle. The simile paradoxically juxtaposes nature and death because nature’s connotation living things, while death refers to dead things, but death becomes a part of nature. She consents to death, so she quietly dies while those around her refuse to accept her imminent death. The speaker’s description of death sounds like a peaceful experience, like going to sleep, but for eternity. These lines describe her tranquil death, “We waited while She passed—It was a narrow time—Too jostled were Our Souls to speak. At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot—Then lightly as a Reed Bent to the water, struggled scarce- Consented, and was dead-“ .Alliteration in “We waited”, emphasizes their impatience of the arrival of her death because of their curiosity about death. The woman’s suffering will be over soon. This is exhibited through the employment of dashes figuratively that form a narrow sentence to show the narrowing time remaining in her life, which creates suspense for the speaker, and also foreshadows that she dies quickly. The line also includes a pun because “notice” refers to the information of her death, and also announcement, which parallels to the soul’s inability to speak. “She mentioned, and forgot—“, refers to her attempt to announce her farewell to everyone, which connects to the previous line’s announcement. The dashes fig...
Everything seems like it’s falling out of place, it’s going too fast, and my mind is out of control. I think these thoughts as I lay on my new bed, in my new room, in this new house, in this new city, wondering how I got to this place. “My life was fine,” I say to myself, “I didn’t want to go.” Thinking back I wonder how my father felt as he came home to the house in Stockton, knowing his wife and kids left to San Diego to live a new life. Every time that thought comes to my mind, it feels as if I’m carrying a ten ton boulder around my heart; weighing me down with guilt. The thought is blocked out as I close my eyes, picturing my old room; I see the light brown walls again and the vacation pictures of the Florida and camping trip stapled to them. I can see the photo of me on the ice rink with my friends and the desk that I built with my own hands. I see my bed; it still has my checkered blue and green blanket on it! Across from the room stands my bulky gray television with its back facing the black curtain covered closet. My emotions run deep, sadness rages through my body with a wave of regret. As I open my eyes I see this new place in San Diego, one large black covered bed and a small wooden nightstand that sits next to a similar closet like in my old room. When I was told we would be moving to San Diego, I was silenced from the decision.
“There is no place like home.” Now that I have been away from home for almost three years, I have come to appreciate everything that I have there, starting with being in company of my family and friends to having a comfortable bed and all the commodities that come with. I learned to appreciate the food my mom prepares, even the ones I used to complain about, because when I am away I miss her cooking and being in company of my best friend. I have learned to value everything that my parents do for me when I am home to make me feel comfortable and special. I know that there aren’t many people in the world who have this opportunity to have a place to call home, which has make me appreciate more what God has given me. A case in Keesha’s House i...