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…
The narrator also uses a variety of metaphors throughout the excerpt to explain her feelings.
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,
“homeless.” Kincaid uses colors to create a tone of gloominess throughout the passage. She describes the sun in the new place as “a pale-yellow sun, as if the sun had grown weak from trying too hard to shine” (20). This gives the illusion of a yellow that represents a tinge of hope with its brightness, but it is very weak. Further along in the passage, the narrator describes her future as “a gray blank, an overcast seascape on which rain was falling and no boats were in sight” (42). She later describes her future as a “large gray patch surrounded by black, blacker, blackest” (58). She narrator’s evolution of colors used to create a mood slowly turns from gloomy with a tinge of hope to floomy with no hope, just endless despair and discontent. This follows along with the psychological state of the narrator, as she first discusses some positives of the new place, but by the end, she has fallen into complete llonging of a place to call home. This clearly challenges her because she realizes home means much more than where one lives; it means who, when, what, and even how one lives. Ultimately, the narrator utilizes literary devices and very descriptive passages to detail her inner emotions and sense of self, which is challenged by longing for a place to call home. Her newfound independence is met with unexpected homesickness to throw her into a whirlwind of emotion. The passage ends with the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side, as the narrator, who once longed for independence, npw longs to go back to her old home.
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.
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."
comparing the realm to a large loss in her life. Finally, the statement in the
“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.
Although the little girl doesn’t listen to the mother the first time she eventually listens in the end. For example, in stanzas 1-4, the little girl asks if she can go to the Freedom March not once, but twice even after her mother had already denied her the first time. These stanzas show how the daughter is a little disobedient at first, but then is able to respect her mother’s wishes. In stanzas 5 and 6, as the little girl is getting ready the mother is happy and smiling because she knows that her little girl is going to be safe, or so she thinks. By these stanzas the reader is able to tell how happy the mother was because she thought her daughter would be safe by listening to her and not going to the March. The last two stanzas, 7 and 8, show that the mother senses something is wrong, she runs to the church to find nothing, but her daughter’s shoe. At this moment she realizes that her baby is gone. These stanzas symbolize that even though her daughter listened to her she still wasn’t safe and is now dead. The Shoe symbolizes the loss the mother is going through and her loss of hope as well. This poem shows how elastic the bond between the daughter and her mother is because the daughter respected her mother’s wish by not going to the March and although the daughter is now dead her mother will always have her in her heart. By her having her
...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.
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.
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.”
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...
...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.
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.”
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.
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...