"When she whipped out the hairbrush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasi's address on it fluttered away in the wind." pg 166
Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
Throughout the story, there is a sympathetic tone set up toward Mr. Kapasi's character. He finds his job as an interpreter for doctor's to be mundane and unimportant. He had always hoped to be something more honorable like an interpreter for diplomats. He is a lonely tour guide too, even though he is married. His marriage seem to be failing, as his wife does not appear to be truly in love with him. He finds hope in Mrs. Das's kindness and interest in him, yet his hopes all come crashing down as the story comes to a close, and his address flies away from her purse. All of these things cause us to feel sorry for or sympathetic toward Mr. Kapasi. The ending of this story was unhappy because Mr. Kapasi realized that he wasn't fit for Mrs. Das and her life. I feel bad for Mr. Kapasi because he doesn't seem to have any joy in his life. Meanwhile, Mrs. Das has children and a husband that does care about her, and she does not seem to fully appreciate them. Mr. Kapasi really just wants to be noticed, which is why he initially took interest in Mrs. Das, because she displayed curiosity about his job as an interpreter. Even though Mr. Kapasi doesn't realize it, he does have worth and meaning in his life: he helps to cure people from maladies all the time, which couldn't even be done without his interpretations.
Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tone. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
To His Coy Mistress
"We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love's day."
"To His Coy Mistress"
Andrew Marvell
I decided to look up the word "coy" because I still didn't really understand what it exactly meant..so dictionary.com says it is "slyly hesitant," and "showing reluctance." This means that the tone of the speaker is urgent toward the coy mistress. The speaker talks about how much he loves her and how there is not even enough time to begin to explain how much this woman means to him. On the other hand, she seems to prefer a slower pace, and she is more reluctant to express undying love for him. I'm guessing that the speaker wants to marry this woman, or run away with her pretty much ASAP. As of now, their relationship is compared to "vegetable love. This most likely means that it's very unchanging and predictable, and it's not really going anywhere. The speaker wants it to grow which is why he urges the mistress to basically give up her virginity. ("that long-preserved virginity") This poem seems to be the opposite of "Getting Out" because this relationship is technically just meeting its beginning, while the other was meeting its end.
To walk, and pass our long love's day."
"To His Coy Mistress"
Andrew Marvell
I decided to look up the word "coy" because I still didn't really understand what it exactly meant..so dictionary.com says it is "slyly hesitant," and "showing reluctance." This means that the tone of the speaker is urgent toward the coy mistress. The speaker talks about how much he loves her and how there is not even enough time to begin to explain how much this woman means to him. On the other hand, she seems to prefer a slower pace, and she is more reluctant to express undying love for him. I'm guessing that the speaker wants to marry this woman, or run away with her pretty much ASAP. As of now, their relationship is compared to "vegetable love. This most likely means that it's very unchanging and predictable, and it's not really going anywhere. The speaker wants it to grow which is why he urges the mistress to basically give up her virginity. ("that long-preserved virginity") This poem seems to be the opposite of "Getting Out" because this relationship is technically just meeting its beginning, while the other was meeting its end.
Dover Beach
"And here we are on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."
"Dover Beach"
Matthew Arnold
This poem is an apostrophe that directly addresses "The Sea of Faith." For this poem, I am going to answer some of the questions in the book. Question number 4 talks about how the speaker is lamenting the decline of faith in his time. It asks, "Is he himself a believer?"
The speaker is most likely a believer of faith because he says, "I only hear the [Sea of Faith's] melancholy, long withdrawing roar." He is sad that people's faith these days has declined to the point that it's evident everywhere ("naked shingles of the world"); it was, "once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore," but now it has lessened and people are becoming more materialistic rather than spiritual. He also shows that he is faithful through his pleading to the sea/faith that they will become closer--"let us be true To one another!" He wants to grow in faith so that he may help those around him in a world where everyone struggles and no one seems to be able to make compromises over issues.
The overall tone of this poem (question 6) is a reflective one. The speaker is listening to the sea, remembering the history of "human misery" that has caused a decline in faith, and he is reflecting on how he wishes he could fix the reality of people's "confused alarms of struggle and flight."
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."
"Dover Beach"
Matthew Arnold
This poem is an apostrophe that directly addresses "The Sea of Faith." For this poem, I am going to answer some of the questions in the book. Question number 4 talks about how the speaker is lamenting the decline of faith in his time. It asks, "Is he himself a believer?"
The speaker is most likely a believer of faith because he says, "I only hear the [Sea of Faith's] melancholy, long withdrawing roar." He is sad that people's faith these days has declined to the point that it's evident everywhere ("naked shingles of the world"); it was, "once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore," but now it has lessened and people are becoming more materialistic rather than spiritual. He also shows that he is faithful through his pleading to the sea/faith that they will become closer--"let us be true To one another!" He wants to grow in faith so that he may help those around him in a world where everyone struggles and no one seems to be able to make compromises over issues.
The overall tone of this poem (question 6) is a reflective one. The speaker is listening to the sea, remembering the history of "human misery" that has caused a decline in faith, and he is reflecting on how he wishes he could fix the reality of people's "confused alarms of struggle and flight."
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
London
"In every cry of every man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
the mind-forged manacles I hear."
"London"
William Blake
The primary purpose of this poem is to portray the dark side of London. Despite the breath-taking sites like Big Ben and Buckinghman Palace, London also has a not so glamorous side. Blake is showing us that during the day, London may appear beautiful, but "through midnight streets" [at night], the underlying problems will begin to creep out. This poem has an overall tone of hopelessness. There is the notion that the Soldiers are always left in charge of taking care of the "blood down the Palace walls" or the conflicts occurring within the government. There are "Harlot's" or prostitutes roaming the city, causing plagues upon marriage as well as new-borns. The man walking through London seems to feel that the cause of all these issues are "marks of weakness." The man recognizes despair in every cry of every man, infant, and and in every voice he hears. All of these recognitions make his mind feel overwhelmed, and he concludes that the city surrounding him has numerous issues, which may sometimes be obscured during the day.
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
the mind-forged manacles I hear."
"London"
William Blake
The primary purpose of this poem is to portray the dark side of London. Despite the breath-taking sites like Big Ben and Buckinghman Palace, London also has a not so glamorous side. Blake is showing us that during the day, London may appear beautiful, but "through midnight streets" [at night], the underlying problems will begin to creep out. This poem has an overall tone of hopelessness. There is the notion that the Soldiers are always left in charge of taking care of the "blood down the Palace walls" or the conflicts occurring within the government. There are "Harlot's" or prostitutes roaming the city, causing plagues upon marriage as well as new-borns. The man walking through London seems to feel that the cause of all these issues are "marks of weakness." The man recognizes despair in every cry of every man, infant, and and in every voice he hears. All of these recognitions make his mind feel overwhelmed, and he concludes that the city surrounding him has numerous issues, which may sometimes be obscured during the day.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Reminders of the Past
"I feel that I would like
to go there
and fall into those flowers
and sink into the marsh near them."
"The Widow's Lament in Springtime"
William Carlos Williams
The tone of this poem was rather sad and depressing. It was filled with dismal diction such as "sorrow" "cold," "grief," "sink," etc. This tone was used to convey the feelings of the wife. The white flowers remind her of her husband whom she loved, and when she sees them bloom in the spring, she remembered how much she missed him.
In this poem, an example of an oxy moron is used. The phrase "with the cold fire that closes round me this year," is contradictory. Usually a fire is not cold, but the purpose of having a cold fire shows the internal conflict the wife is experiencing. She has a raging fire of emptiness inside her. Instead of a hot fire that is passionate and strong, she senses a great feeling of coldness and weakness.
The white flowers have a sort of conflicting image as well. On one hand, they are beautiful and signs of spring life. On the other, they are a reminder of the past, and what joy once existed in the wife's life. The white flowers represent life to most people, while the wife views them as a symbol of death and mourning.
to go there
and fall into those flowers
and sink into the marsh near them."
"The Widow's Lament in Springtime"
William Carlos Williams
The tone of this poem was rather sad and depressing. It was filled with dismal diction such as "sorrow" "cold," "grief," "sink," etc. This tone was used to convey the feelings of the wife. The white flowers remind her of her husband whom she loved, and when she sees them bloom in the spring, she remembered how much she missed him.
In this poem, an example of an oxy moron is used. The phrase "with the cold fire that closes round me this year," is contradictory. Usually a fire is not cold, but the purpose of having a cold fire shows the internal conflict the wife is experiencing. She has a raging fire of emptiness inside her. Instead of a hot fire that is passionate and strong, she senses a great feeling of coldness and weakness.
The white flowers have a sort of conflicting image as well. On one hand, they are beautiful and signs of spring life. On the other, they are a reminder of the past, and what joy once existed in the wife's life. The white flowers represent life to most people, while the wife views them as a symbol of death and mourning.
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