In Annie Dillard’s, “Water of Separation” a chapter from her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, the chapter marks a year since Annie Dillard began living at Tinker Creek. By utilizing personal anecdotes and allusions, she reveals her reflection of the past year at Tinker Creak. The personal anecdotes and allusions give the entire chapter a tone of candid. At the beginning of the chapter, Dillard describes an interaction between her and a, “December bee” (Dillard 266), which brings to her mind a myth that Romans were able to kill a bee with an echo of voice. She decides to test the theory, leaving behind the bee to find a new bee. When she finds another bee, she screams in English, then in Latin saying, “Habeas corpus… Veni!” (Dillard 267). Veni is Latin for, “I came, I saw, I conquered”. Dillard’s words relate to that of her journey at Tinker Creek. She had spent an entire year at Tinker …show more content…
Dillard than alludes to the Hebrew religion, specifically, the story about the priest sacrificing a, “red heifer” (Dillard 272). Dillard describes the story rather bluntly, showing a lack of emotion for the priest or red heifer. She relates the story to Nature and God, because from what she had witnessed, often times beautiful aspects of nature are sacrificed turbulently. The reader gains insight on Dillard’s personal religious views, through the use of the allusion. Dillard continues to allude to Hebrew religion, speaking about the “waters of separation” (Dillard 272). Again, a red heifer is burned; however, the heifer’s ashes mix with running water. Thus, creating the “waters of
In Civil War Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott presented her six-week experience as a volunteered nurse during the American Civil War. She gave herself an alias: Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle. Throughout the story, there were three concise “sketches” that portrayed her experience. The first sketch was about her decision to become a nurse, evading other suggestions by her family such as writing a book, teaching, and getting married. The second sketch was about her nursing job and how she took care and treated wounded American soldiers in the hospital. Her last sketch described when she contracted a serious illness from nursing and was forced and brought back home by her father. In chapter four, A Night, John, who was a young blacksmith, a soldier, and one of Periwinkle’s dying patients, affected her the most during her experience as a nurse. Alcott’s diction and imagery about John served to inform her audience’s understanding of the Civil War.
Boyle, T. Coraghessan. "Greasy Lake." X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Joe Terry. Pearson, 2012. Text. 28 January 2014.
Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer – An Introduction to Short Fiction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.
Carrie Watts was a countrywoman at heart. She loved the childhood home where she grew up and never liked the life of the city she was forced to live. She did not hide the fact that she was miserable living with her daughter-in-law. She appeared to be long suffering, a martyr, and given to fits and crying (Ebert, 1986). When given the right timing and occasion, she would open up like a flower, blooming for the first time. She found solace remembering her past life and held a candle to the time when she would go back to
The novel, The Color of Water follows the author and narrator James McBride, and his mother Ruth’s life. It explores their childhood—when they were both embarrassed by their mothers—through the part of their lives where they began to accept themselves for who they are. Moreover, this memoir is quite distinctive as McBride cleverly parallels his story to his mother, Ruth’s story using dual narration. This technique further helps contribute to the theme of self-identity. Throughout the novel, McBride searches for identity and a sense of belonging that derives from his multiracial family. By using two different narrations, McBride gradually establishes his identity and by integrating both narratives at the end, McBride also shows that although both narrators at the beginning had different upbringings, in the end they came together, and understood each other’s perspective.
As Bowker continues what seems to be a trip back to what is reality he circles the town lake nearly 13 times. This lake is the life of the town and is very symbolic in itself. On one side of the lake the houses are "modern, with big porches and picture windows facing the water" on the opposite side the houses were described as "handsome, though less expensive and on a smaller scale".
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
The novel, The Color of Water follows the author and narrator James McBride and his mother Ruth’s life, through their childhood—when they were both embarrassed about their mother—through the part of their lives where they began to accept themself for who they are and became proud of it. Moreover, this memoir is quite distinctive as McBride cleverly parallels his story to his mother, Ruth’s story by using dual narration which further helps to contribute to the theme of self-identity. Throughout the novel, McBride searches for identity and a sense of self that derives from his multiracial family and through the use of two different narrations, McBride slowly establishes his identity. Plus by integrating both narratives at the end, McBride also shows that although both narrators at the beginning had different upbringing, in the end they come together and understand each other’s perspective.
Thomson, Jeff. "What is Called Heaven: Identity in Sandra Cisneros's Woman Hollering Creek." Studies in Short Fiction. Vol. 31 Issue 3 1994.
Her poetry is greatly informed by her childhood in hockey town Swift Current, Saskatchewan, with that environmental aesthetic often forming the backdrop to her stories of poverty, alcoholism, and the natural world. As a prairie girl myself, it’s easy for me to picture the agricultural landscapes and rustic animals described in poems such as “Inventing the Hawk”. Her authorial voice is wistful yet confessional, a voice that looks back fondly, but not blind to the issues of the past. Sex is also a recurring theme of her work, and the intimacies of her relationship with her husband Patrick Lane are a common topic of her work. One of her poems, “Watching My Lover”, tells of Lane bathing his dying mother, the mother’s scent lingering "so everyone who lies with him / will know he’s still / his mother’s son". Animals from cats to horses feature heavily in her work, tying in once again to her love of nature.
In her essay “Seeing”, Annie Dillard focuses on showing how different people have different perceptions. Dillard gives multiple examples to support her main idea, which is that preconceived and inherited notions influence our perceptions. Dillard discusses the different ways of seeing, how people with different backgrounds have different experiences with seeing, and many more. While Dillard’s idea about perceptions is definitely relevant and accurate, but are certainly not complete as there are multiple things that influence our perceptions.
The first and most evident example of alienation and isolation in the novel is Len...
Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 1999.
Dead at the age of thirty nine years young, Flannery O’Conner lost her fight with lupus, but had won her place as one of America’s great short story writers and essayist. Born in Savannah, Georgia, within the borders of America’s “Bible Belt”, she is raised Catholic, making O’Connor a minority in the midst of the conservative Protestant and Baptist faiths observed in the Southern United States. In the midst of losing her father at the age fifteen, followed by her diagnosis and struggle with the same physical illness that took him, as well as her strong unwavering faith in the Catholic Church are crucial components of O’Connor’s literary style which mold and guide her stories of loss, regret, and redemption. Flannery O’Connor’s writings may be difficult to comprehend at times, but the overall theme of finding grace, sometimes in the midst of violence or tragedy, can be recognized in the body of her works. O’Connor’s stories are written about family dysfunction, internal angst towards life or a loved one, and commonly take place on a farm, plantation or a family home in the American South. Her stories of ethical and moral challenge blur the boundaries between her Catholic faith and values, which also include the values of the other religious faiths surrounding her in her youth, simply writing of the pain and struggles which people from all walks of life commonly share.
Theodore Dreiser was a writer whose dramatic life shown through into his works indirectly. He led a life that could be considered a “typical American” one by the standards of persons reflecting back upon his upbringing and his climb to literary greatness. Dreiser was influenced by the social and political changes during his lifetime, as well as his family and upbringing and the impression those around him had on his life. Born in 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the ninth of ten siblings born to a German father and Mennonite mother. Unfortunately, Dreiser’s family had suffered great losses before he was even born. His father, who had started his own business in wool, suffered a great loss when his mill caught fire and was severely injured and left disabled for life (Smith). This is not something that the family could ever recover from, and so Theodore Dreiser grew up impoverished and with a Father, whose own mental stability undoubtedly not only influenced his writing, but his own mental well-being. Dreiser never finished high school, and did one year at University before leaving his formal education behind him completely. He began his writing in the 1890’s as a journalist for the Chicago Globe. Although his writing did not elicit a “by line” that created a following for him through the newspaper, his experiences there are another aspect of his life which shaped some of his writing (Rizzio). He was a naturalist writer who was influenced by the popularity of social Darwinism at the turn of the century. Dreiser’s first novel, “Sister Carrie” is one that was controversial for its time, but would not be considered as such now. Publishers were hesitant to promote this novel, but were not successful in squandering its p...