Hammond’s “Halloween”: The Real Children of Halloween
We all remember dressing up for Halloween night as children. Getting together with best friends and competing to see who has the best costume or can collect the most candy. For some, this was the best night of the year. Then there are the children who sit at home and go through motions of what their parents do. These parents inevitably will carve a generic looking pumpkin and then sit down and hand out candy to kids the remainder of the night. These kids, they are handing out candy to the kids who are living and enjoying their Halloween. The poem “Halloween” by Mac Hammond conveys this idea perfectly. The true children are the ones who go out and experience Halloween instead of sitting
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at home like any other night. When it comes to children on Halloween night, nothing strikes a more vivid image than those children.
The poem “Halloween” does such a great job at conveying that image of trick or treating. This poem takes into account the nostalgic feeling one gets when looking back at past memories such as this. Going door to door dressed in your favorite outfit. The use of imagery is so strong it is easy to be right there almost as if it were yesterday. The poet Mac Hammond writes “Kids come, beckoned by / Fingers of shadows on leaf-strewn lawns / To trick or treat” (15-17). This goes on to describe the pull and excitement a child gets when arriving at a house. The shadows of the owners Halloween decorations are cast onto the fall lawn, calling children to the front door. Not only does this give the reader an image of the fall weather, but of the Halloween decorations on someone’s house. Children tend to be drawn towards homes with decorations because it feels more welcoming. Therefore, this is where the beckoning feeling comes from. Not only does Hammond do a wonderful job by using imagery, but also the sound personified in this poem is …show more content…
fantastic. Sound in a poem can play a concrete role. The s sound displayed can bring the poem to life and make the reader feel as if they were there. The author, Hammond, states “The hole of which / allows the hand to go / In to pull the gooey mess inside, out - / The walls scooped clean with a spoon” (3-5). The fifth line is the line that really hits home when it comes to sound. When he is talking about the walls being scooped clean with a spoon the reader can almost hear this. The spoon, scraping around the inside of the pumpkin until cleaned out. The sound of scraping is always a vivid sound. Scraping a plate, chalkboard, or even a pumpkin can make an unpleasant sound. All these s sounds combined stand out a lot. A sound that can be hard for some to forget. Hammond is able to knock home on the sound in this poem and also knock home when it comes to diction. Mac Hammond is able to use specific words, such as butcher knife, throughout “Halloween” that brings the reader closer to the poem. Halloween is a nostalgic holiday for most people and there are specific words that will trigger those memories. Hammond states “The butcher knife goes in, first, at the top / And carves out the round stemmed lid” (1-2). There are numerous words used just in these two lines that can connect us with the poem. No one can talk about Halloween or pumpkins without the word carved involved. Whenever one starts to carve a pumpkin, they have to carve out that circle at the top so the center can be accessed. Hammond does a great job of painting that picture by using the words such as carves, and stemmed. The authors use of words throughout this poem in order to display the importance of kids out on Halloween night is hard to match. To connect with his readers Hammond was very straight forward with how he wrote by writing in a realistic manner.
The concept of real children in “Halloween” is such a vivid experience. No child should be at home on Halloween night, they should be out trick or treating with their closest friends. According to one of Hammond’s Colleagues, Carl Dennis, he described Hammond’s writing style as “a mixture of romantic hoping and very down-to-earth concreteness...He was very much his own man. He wasn't part of any school” (Dennis, 2017). This example here by someone who knows him well shows exactly how Hammond wrote with a realistic sense. However, at the same time he was not like anyone else. The way he is able to make individuals feel nostalgic is unmatched. Holidays as children, especially Halloween, is hard for someone to forget. The main point that he tries to hammer home is that the so called real children are the ones who are out on Halloween night. Which is so true, a child is not fully involved in the Halloween experience unless they are out going door to
door. The true children of Halloween night are the real children who are truly experiencing Halloween. Staying at home and carving a pumpkin is great and all, but that is a parent’s duty. If a child is at home and not out making memories for them down the road, they are not truly experiencing Halloween. Holidays are a time that bring back such a nostalgic feeling for most of us. That is where Hammond comes into play so powerfully, bringing back those vivid memories. Showing to us that what is most important to take away is that one must truly go out and experience Halloween for themselves. When older, people are going to want to look back at these fun memories that were made as a child. To think of such a simpler and fun time. This right here is why Hammond states, that the true children of Halloween are out, dressed as ghosts.
Late autumn has arrived and with it comes the dark magic of Halloween--and, of course, the
Annie Dillard, in “A Christmas Story,” demonstrates for the audience that is so easy to miss the true meaning of life. The story “A Christmas Story,” begins with a setting of a enormous feast. The banquet hall decorated with expensive materials, for example, “two thousand chandeliers hung from the ceiling, parti-colored floor of lumber.” The atmosphere was lively. There were many guests attending the banquet. The food that was served was a soup, which was said to have all the perfect ingredients as well as it “seemed to contain all other dishes.” The host of the banquet was a young man. The young man observed carefully as the people stuffed themselves and the young man thought, “No one person has seen nor understood the excellence of that soup.”
In the film, “Halloween”, directed by John Carpenter, an outstanding work of art has been created with respect to the ‘on the edge of your seat’ thriller that has been conveyed in the film. Mise-en- scene is incorporated in many different facets throughout the film and has creatively developed the scenes that makeup the thriller and deliver an objective of tone, mood, and scary elements. Mise-en- scene sets up the setting in the film as the director has an objective to deliver a scary, dark scene that keeps the audience on their feet. Initially in the film, there is a unique introduction of a quiet town that leads up to believe there is no horror involved in the area. This unique set up by the director gives us the preamble that the
In “First Thanksgiving” Olds opens up to the readers about her excitement when her daughter returns home from college for the Thanksgiving holiday. She describes how she will hug her daughter, and smell her hair, and relish in the feel of her in her arms. It is through these moments that readers are also allowed the joy of having their child in their arms again-savoring their warm skin, the scent of their hair as they hug, the moment between mother and daughter as they reconnect. The imagery is so strong, strong enough in fact that readers can share in that joy, the feel, and the emotion with the writer. Olds continues to create a nostalgic feeling of times long ago, rocking and feeding a baby by moonlight. The bittersweet feeling a mother has knowing that her child has grown and those days are gone. Olds reflects even more by stating “As a child, I caught bees, by the wings, and held them, some seconds, looked into their wild faces, listened to them sing, then tossed them back into the air- I remember the moment the arc of my toss swerved, and they entered the corrected curve of their departure”. It is in those lines readers can see Olds catching bees which represent her children, and while she only held onto them for a little time while they were growing- she loved every minute of their youth, reveling in their songs and their wildness as children. In true motherly fashion she releases
roughout the whole film. The whole of the audience will know that pumpkins represent Halloween, which is about witches and ghosts. This reference also reminds the viewers that the genre is horror. The man inside the carriage is shown again, then an unnatural sound, the drawing and slashing of a sword, and the horses braying can be heard. The audience knows that it must be the Headless Horseman outside, but all that can actually be seen is the man inside the carriage that is starting to look very scared.
The story opens with the haunting anthem of “This is Halloween” as Halloween Town serenades an opening procession led by no other than Jack Skellington, the leader of Halloween Town. After the celebration is done, we see Jack wandering woefully by himself and reveals that he has grown weary of the holiday, he yearns for something new and exciting. He finds this when he accidentally stumbles into the world of Christmas. I believe this struggle of growing tired of things and yearning for something new is a feeling we all experience and helps us relate to Jack. The love story between Sally and Jack in the film gives reinvigorating and playful twist on the theme of ‘forbidden love’.
“Hey Mat since it’s halloween why don't we go to that scary maze everyone is talking about?” said Mark.
The film Nightmare Before Christmas embodies one of Burton’s best use of editing techniques. Burton uses crosscuts when Jack gets Halloween Town to prepare for Christmas and Christmas Town preparing for Christmas. When Jack discovers Christmas Town, he becomes astonished and wants to turn his home town of Halloween into a replica. While this seems all holly jolly, there is a classic Tim Burton twist. Since Halloween Town revolves around Halloween, it lacks the spirit of Christmas. So while the elves of Christmas town are wrapping nutcrackers, the goblins of Halloween Town are wrapping dead rats. This gives the audience a sense of uneasiness and foreshadows Jack’s failure. Although Jack did not change Halloween Town the way he thought he would, he did learn the importance of serving his own purpose in life rather than someone else’s. Burton presents another case where he edits the film to reveal an important part of the plot. In Edward Scissorhands, Burton adds a flashback in the scene where Kim asks Edward to hold her. Although Edward loves Kim deeply, he refuses because he fears he will end up hurting her. After the past events that occurred in the film, Edward feels trapped. He cannot be with the one he loves, but he cannot be accepted by the world either. Kim loves him all too much and wraps herself in his arms anyway. While
Jack Skellington or the Pumpkin King is the protagonist in Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas. He lives in Halloween Town where he is the star, the local celebrity. This town is a world that is purely dark in emotion with a murky color palette. (Chambers 18) It is an environment where monstrosities, cruelty, and fear are celebrated. This is evident in the introduction song This is Halloween where we are introduced to some of Halloween land’s terrifying inhabitants,“ I am the one hiding under your bed. Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red/I am the one hiding under your stairs. Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair”. (Thompson) Jack has played the role of the pumpkin king for what seems like forever and he has grown bored at his lack of progress, with living the same way for all of eternity. This stagnation pushes Jack into a state of despair. The colors of his clothes and environment symbolize the emotional struggle of the pumpkin king. When he faces the vivid color schemes they motivate him to take action and take back his life, because to Jack vibrant colors represent warmth and contentment. (McMahon
The novel says a great deal about humanity. It covers global topics that many if not most teenagers and even adults deal with every day. This novel represents for most of humanity, even in the face of feeling lost, or suffering grief, that there is always “hope” and personal resiliency, and a way to move on a forward. Even if we are searching for a greater meaning in life, and determining our personal beliefs of religion, that you can still celebrates someone’s life, no matter how short or long a life they live. Even if it is “prank” to commemorate someone’s life. We can always take something good away from the interactions of those that impact our life. You define who you are, but can find love, enlightenment, joy, sorrow and resiliency from the friends that become family.
How the Opening Sequence of Halloween Captures the Attention of the Audience ' 'Halloween' was made in 1978 and is a good example of the 'Slasher' movies from that time and this is an interesting piece of cinema as it can be related to the German expressionism of the late 1920's which used jerky camera shots and high contrast lighting to enthrall the viewer .In this essay I will discuss how the opening to Halloween captures the audiences attention and how codes and conventions create suspense and tension for the audience.
I can’t hold in my excitement as I run to the foyer. Mom looks at me worriedly, but I ignore her and throw open the door before the person standing behind it can knock. He looks at me with boredom lacing his expression, obviously expecting my weird gift to tell the future. I quickly hug him and grab his pale hand, pulling him outside. Tonight is Halloween, and the only time my pale blonde friend visits me. He’s my first and only friend, so I don’t mind that he doesn’t play with me the other three hundred sixty-something days in the year.
If you are a fan of scary Halloween costumes, who have probably already dressed up like a killer clown, an evil scarecrow or a grim reaper. Perhaps this year, you would like to try out something more original, something that few people would dare to wear. The following costume is suited for the true Halloween enthusiasts, those for whom no effort is too much for the perfect scary look.
Halloween was not supposed to be like that, it was supposed to be more like when I was a kid. Houses would be decorated, jack-o-lanterns would be sitting near doors, and
The nature also seems to join in with their joy as the sun shines with sheer brilliance over the playing children. The azure sky also seems to be smiling at the joy of these innocent children. The whole atmosphere further seems drunk with high-spirited fervor; the church bells add their sonorous chimes to this festive atmosphere. The poet symbolizes the innocence and delicacy of children with the...