"My Mistress' Eyes"
William Shakespeare
When reading the title of this poem, the reader might initially think that this poem will be a sappy love poem. However, this poem expresses the speaker's view that other things are more beautiful or appealing than his mistress. The majority of the poem lists his mistress' shortcomings. "Coral is far more red than her lips' "; And in some perfumes is there more delight /Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks"; music hath a far more pleasing sound" (Shakespeare). For a majority of the poem, the reader can imply that the speaker is not fond of his mistress. However, a major shift occurs at the end of the poem. "And yet, by heave, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare" Shakespeare). "And yet" clearly indicates to the reader that the speaker's tone will change. The speaker states that his love for his mistress is rare. His rare love matches with the rarity of the mistress' features as described earlier in the poem. Essentially, Shakespeare used the first twelve lines of the poem to describe unique traits of his mistress in a somewhat backhanded compliment way only to shift in the last two lines to say that he loves this rarity of the woman.
Showing posts with label Gender Unit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gender Unit. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
"Barbie Doll"
"Barbie Doll"
Marge Piercy
In this poem, a beautiful young girl faces peer pressure as she goes through puberty. The people around stress how unattractive they view her nose and legs. "Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs" (Piercy). The diction that Piercy uses helps to emphasize this point. The phrase is not 'Everyone saw a fat nose and thick legs. The phrase specifically uses the preposition on. This preposition helps to express that these two features of the young girl are they only features that people see of her. The young girl tries to change in order to appeal to society, and she dies from it. When she is in her casket people finally say that she looks beautiful. This outrageous end expresses a strong point. People should not focus on the outer appearance of others because they will miss the hidden beauties of the individual. in this poem, the people could not see that "She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, ..." (Piercy). In addition, people should not try to change their appearance to please others because it will bring harm to themselves, maybe not through death but at least in a dishonesty to their unique being.
Marge Piercy
In this poem, a beautiful young girl faces peer pressure as she goes through puberty. The people around stress how unattractive they view her nose and legs. "Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs" (Piercy). The diction that Piercy uses helps to emphasize this point. The phrase is not 'Everyone saw a fat nose and thick legs. The phrase specifically uses the preposition on. This preposition helps to express that these two features of the young girl are they only features that people see of her. The young girl tries to change in order to appeal to society, and she dies from it. When she is in her casket people finally say that she looks beautiful. This outrageous end expresses a strong point. People should not focus on the outer appearance of others because they will miss the hidden beauties of the individual. in this poem, the people could not see that "She was healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, ..." (Piercy). In addition, people should not try to change their appearance to please others because it will bring harm to themselves, maybe not through death but at least in a dishonesty to their unique being.
"A Jury of Her Peers"
"A Jury of Her Peers"
Susan Glaspell
As the reader discovers early on in this short story, Mrs. Wright killed her husband. The question of the story is 'What provoked her to kill her husband'? As the men of the story search for this motive, the anticipation of the discovery creates suspense for the reader. Ironically, the Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who the men viewed as inferior, found clues that piece together to form Mrs. Wright's motive. As the two women wait for their husbands to find clues to the mystery, the ladies wait in Mrs. Wright's house and begin to straighten up the kitchen. In doing this, the women stumble upon some interesting objects such as the bird cage without a bird, a pristine quilt with only a few patches sewn frantically, and half a bag of sugar transferred from the bag. These first few discoveries cause the women to suspicion that something made Mrs. Wright stop in the middle of her work and also made her nervous. However, the women never said aloud that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. Later the women also discover the use of the birdcage by finding a dead bird among Mrs. Wright's sewing materials. The bird's neck had been wrung, and with this information the suspense grew because now the women knew that the death of this bird, possibly Mrs. Wright's only companion, caused her to kill her husband because he had wrung its neck. The women empathized with Mrs. Wright and her loneliness. They decided that she should not be found guilty for her actions, so they decided to take the bird and conceal it. "Desperately she opened it, started to take the bird out...and got it in the pocket of her big coat just as the sheriff and the county attorney came back into the kitchen" (Glaspell). The ladies were the jury for Mrs. Wright because they decided on her innocence and concealed the only clue to Mrs. Wright's motive.
Susan Glaspell
As the reader discovers early on in this short story, Mrs. Wright killed her husband. The question of the story is 'What provoked her to kill her husband'? As the men of the story search for this motive, the anticipation of the discovery creates suspense for the reader. Ironically, the Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, who the men viewed as inferior, found clues that piece together to form Mrs. Wright's motive. As the two women wait for their husbands to find clues to the mystery, the ladies wait in Mrs. Wright's house and begin to straighten up the kitchen. In doing this, the women stumble upon some interesting objects such as the bird cage without a bird, a pristine quilt with only a few patches sewn frantically, and half a bag of sugar transferred from the bag. These first few discoveries cause the women to suspicion that something made Mrs. Wright stop in the middle of her work and also made her nervous. However, the women never said aloud that Mrs. Wright killed her husband. Later the women also discover the use of the birdcage by finding a dead bird among Mrs. Wright's sewing materials. The bird's neck had been wrung, and with this information the suspense grew because now the women knew that the death of this bird, possibly Mrs. Wright's only companion, caused her to kill her husband because he had wrung its neck. The women empathized with Mrs. Wright and her loneliness. They decided that she should not be found guilty for her actions, so they decided to take the bird and conceal it. "Desperately she opened it, started to take the bird out...and got it in the pocket of her big coat just as the sheriff and the county attorney came back into the kitchen" (Glaspell). The ladies were the jury for Mrs. Wright because they decided on her innocence and concealed the only clue to Mrs. Wright's motive.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"Hunters in the Snow"
"Hunters in the Snow"
Tobias Wolff
In this short story, the reader feels sympathy for Tub early on. He waits for his friends for an hour out in the snow. Also, his friends mock him for being overweight and leave him behind while they are hunting. This early feeling of sympathy for Tub causes the reader to feel disgust and disapproval of Frank and Kenny. However, the reader may begin to feel some sympathy for Frank towards the middle to the end of the story. Early in the story, Kenny teases Frank about " a certain babysitter", which upsets Frank suggesting that the babysitter has deeper involvement with Frank. After Tub shot Kenny, Frank and Tub have a heart-to-heart conversation in the cab of the truck. Frank reveals that his foul temper stems from his contemplation of leaving his wife to pursue a fifteen year old girl. Also in this set of conversations, Tub reveals that his obesity is not from a gland disorder but from his inability to control his desire to eat. This conversation which allows the reader to feel some sympathy for both characters because of their problems also causes the reader to not feel sympathy for these characters because their problems are trivial and could be easily managed.The true sympathy in this story is not for Tub who cannot control his eating habits, or for Frank who lusts for a fifteen year old girl, but for Kenny who was shot and mistakenly thinks that is idiotic friends are actually taking him to the hospital. " ' I'm going to the hospital, ' Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back" (Wolff). The reader feels sympathy for Kenny because, even though he was mean earlier in the story, he now lies shot, bleeding, freezing, and possibly dying in the bed of a truck while his two friends mope over their comparatively minor issues.
Tobias Wolff
In this short story, the reader feels sympathy for Tub early on. He waits for his friends for an hour out in the snow. Also, his friends mock him for being overweight and leave him behind while they are hunting. This early feeling of sympathy for Tub causes the reader to feel disgust and disapproval of Frank and Kenny. However, the reader may begin to feel some sympathy for Frank towards the middle to the end of the story. Early in the story, Kenny teases Frank about " a certain babysitter", which upsets Frank suggesting that the babysitter has deeper involvement with Frank. After Tub shot Kenny, Frank and Tub have a heart-to-heart conversation in the cab of the truck. Frank reveals that his foul temper stems from his contemplation of leaving his wife to pursue a fifteen year old girl. Also in this set of conversations, Tub reveals that his obesity is not from a gland disorder but from his inability to control his desire to eat. This conversation which allows the reader to feel some sympathy for both characters because of their problems also causes the reader to not feel sympathy for these characters because their problems are trivial and could be easily managed.The true sympathy in this story is not for Tub who cannot control his eating habits, or for Frank who lusts for a fifteen year old girl, but for Kenny who was shot and mistakenly thinks that is idiotic friends are actually taking him to the hospital. " ' I'm going to the hospital, ' Kenny said. But he was wrong. They had taken a different turn a long way back" (Wolff). The reader feels sympathy for Kenny because, even though he was mean earlier in the story, he now lies shot, bleeding, freezing, and possibly dying in the bed of a truck while his two friends mope over their comparatively minor issues.
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