Heroin being cooked in a spoon
1. Find an example of irony. of whatever kind, and explain.
OR
2, Find an example of a smile or matephor, and say what is being compared to what, and try to say what the metaphor or simile suggests about the author's way of seeing the world.
OR
3. Compare Hannah Peace with Helene, Nel's mother (who is featured in pages 17-29).
17 comments:
A simile that stood out to me as on page 51. "They moved toward the ice-cream parlor like tightrope walkers, as thrilled by the possibility of a slip as by the maintenance of tension and balance."
The author uses this simile to show the reader the maturing interest in men that the girls are beginning to feel. It shows that the author is keenly aware of the growing awareness that young girls begin to feel as they grow older and begin to think about men and being loved. The "maintenance of tension and balance" refers to the way they have been taught to carry themselves, especially Nel. The possibility of a slip refers to the fact that if they give any attention to the men sitting on the streets, they could be swept up by these men and have their innocence taken away. The comparison of the tight rope walker captures the true idea of the fine line that exists between innocence, and the glances at the men which would change their lives and answer their questions and dreams.
In the simile we really see that the authors sensitivity to the ways of girls with imaginations and a curios fire burning in their hearts.
Hey guys
One simile I found in the reading was: "At the foot of the stairs she redistributed her weight between the crutches and swooped on through the front door, to the dining room, to the kitchen, swinging and swooping like a giant heron, so graceful sailing about in its own habitat but awkward and comical when it folded its wings and tried to walk." The simile used in the excerpt is "like a giant heron". I think this helps outline the author's outlook on life because she feels that even though she in on her crutches and is indeed disabled, she can still be as strong as a giant heron as she swoops from one place to another.
Hey everyone!
So the similie I found was: "They moved toward the ice-cream parlor like tightrope walkers, as thrilled by the possibility of a slip as by the maintenance of tension and balance." I thought this was interesting because it also created a sense of imagery. I can really picture the two people being very graceful and not wanting to make a move out of place. Young love usually hightens senses and makes people pay attention to things that they might not. For example when I walk I don't think about where I am placing my feet or how I look as I'm walking, but these people are strategically placing their feet in certain places. This was just interesting to me. I look forward to reading what everyone else has to say.
Hey everyone..again,
I'm so sorry, I just realized Maggie and I have the same quote...I hope that's alright!
Thanks!
On page 52,"..spent hours in the attic behind a roll of linoleum galloping through her own mind on a gray and white horse tasting sugar and smelling roses in full view of a someone who shared both the taste and the speed."
This is ironic because even though Sula is an only child and trying to live in a household full of chaos and disorder, she is still able to escape each day and picture nice things in her mind.
An example of a metephor that I found was on page 43. "While Eva tested and argued with her man, leaving them feeling as though they had been in combat with a worthy, if amiable foe,..." The author compares Eva agrument with a man to a battle. The authors describes that when Eva argues, it is like she is battling with an enemy. I am guessing that the author sees the wolrd as a battlefield when people are arguing and they are like enimies on different sides.
Both Hannah Peace and Helene are described as possessing a sort of beauty. However, they are very different people as far as their personalities go. Hannah is sure of herself as far as her beauty goes and she knows that men find her welcoming. Helene is aware of her beauty, but she seems to hide it, as she hides much of herself. Both women seem to spend a lot of time in their homes. Both women seem strong to me, and not very close to either of their mothers (especially Helene). This may influence how they relate to their daughters.
Hey Everyone,
The simile that I found was on page 56. "The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs."
In this passage of the story the "beautiful boys" are being compared to jewels. Throughout the reading in this chapter the author talks a lot about the interest that men of all ages have on women. He explains how whenever a woman walked by the men reacted differently, but when she started to walk away they all reacted alike. Here is a moment where the author explains what these boys look like and how marvelous they are as well. I just noticed that throughout this chapter the author pays special attention to gender. Either through things that she has seen or things she has thought herself. Comparing men to jewels says a lot about how she thinks of men. It shows the reader that she thinks that they should be treated with respect and care and maybe even praised every once in a while. Maybe I am going to far as to say some of this, but you get my main idea.
"She rolled a bit of newspaper into a tight stick about six inches long, lit it and threw it onto the bed where the kerosene-soaked Plum lay in snug delight."
I find it very ironic how his mother killed him. In a past chapter, when Plum was a baby and was sick, Eva sacrificed her last bit of food to save him and now she wants him to die? She's not doing it to be cruel, but to help him end his misery. It was already too late to save him. What he had seen in war probably changed him so much and he diteriorated and took heroin. It was hard for Eva, but she said her goodbyes and let him go.
On page 51, it reads, "Nel was the color of wet sandpaper--just dark enought to escape the blows of the pitch-black truebloods and the contempt of old women who worried about such things as bad blood mixtures... Had she been any lighter-skinned she would have needed either her mother's protection on the way to schoolo or a streak of mean to defend herself."
Sorry. I know that was kind of long, but I wanted to point out the irony of the words. The 1920's were a time when African Americans were looked down upon and disrespected, and it is ironic that she was considered lucky to be just barely dark enough to avaoid ridicule for not being dark enough, if you understand what I'm saying. Furthermore, when the Irish boys are bullying her and Sula, they actually do end up needing to change routes and develop a mean streak to survive. That is what the previous quote states Nel does NOT need because she happens to be just dark enough.
But it turns out that just because her color prevents her from being ridiculed by one group, it does not protect her from another group. I found that depressingly ironic, but a good example [hopefully].
Good night! :)
Hakuna Matata!
The quote i found humorously ironic was on page 50 "the cream colored trousers marking with a mere seam the place where the mystery curled. those smooth vanilla crotches invited them; those leon-yellow gabardines beckoned to them."
This quote is ironic because Toni Morrison is very obviously referring to the presentation and possibility of sex however by using diction which alludes to the previous very innocent topic of Ice Cream she is able to create a sort of tension that is humorous and ironic.
"Pig meat. The words were in all their minds. And one of them, one of the young ones, said it loud. Softly but definitively and there was no mistaking the compliment. His name was Ajax, a twenty-one-year-old pool haunt of sinister beauty. Graceful and economical in every movement, he held a place of envy with men of all ages for his magnificently foul mouth. In fact, he seldom cursed, and the epithets he chose were dull, even harmless."
I found it ironic that an epithet such as pig meat can be dismissed as a mere compliment or something harmless. Surely, a "pig meat" is not something nice to be called and who wants to get dissed? Also, a foul-mouthed person is not a role-model and I find it strange to that many men both young and old feel envious of Ajax.
"The four boys stared open-mouthed at the wound and the scrap of flesh, like a button mushroom, curling in the cherry blood that ran into the corners of the slate" (Pg. 54).
This is a simile (it uses the word "like"). Here a wound is being compared to a mushroom, in which curls with the touch of blood. This is a rather graphic image considering the content of the story and what is happening at the time. I do not think this particular quote portrays the author's opinion of the world but I do think it is an example of good imagery and brings out strong emotions as well as a very graphic image.
"The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs.
Not only is this a great simile, but it is also an exceptional case of imagery. This simile compares the boys who are not just beautiful, but beautiful to jewels. This emphasis on beautiful makes the image i formulate in my head that much more vivid. The boys are compared to something so treasured as a jewel, suggest me me that Toni Morrison is very keen on what she wants our thought of the boys to be.... that of beauty. Also the way she uses the word split, so harsh and pointed in a forum of ease, makes the sentence have a type of "bite" to it, and cause this uncomfortable division in the sentence just like the boys shouting divided the air. I feel as if Toni Morrison does not merely express with words, but more uses them as a tool that immerses you in the literature.
On page 52 I found a simile that caught my attention. "Shaped something like a stemmed rose." This simile is brought up when describing Sula after she and Nel were just introduced. The author is describing her birthmark. This shows that the author pays attention to the small details in life. Similar in music Schumann paid more attention towards the little details unlike Brahms. This brings gives a new prespective of life.
irony and simile:
"It gave her otherwise plain face a broken excitement and blue-blade threat like the keloid scar of the razored man who sometimes played checkers with her grandmother." (page 52)
this simile stuck out at me while I was reading because it was so strange for the author to compare Sula's birthmark to the scar on the face on an old man's face when in the sentence before it was described as a stemmed rose which is thought of as beautiful. By making her face less plain, it must give her a beautiful quality and make her look unique. However it is also associated with a scar which is something one tries to get rid of and adds to a person's character and a appearance in a sort of scary or ugly way. This simile and example of irony shows that the author depicts Sula as strikingly beautiful in an imaginative way that captures how she sees the world- imperfections of any kind are beautiful because they are what makes life interesting.
Pg56
Heavy sunflowers weeping over fences; iris curling and browning at the edges far away from their purple hearts; ears of corn letting their auburn hair wind down to their stalks.
This sentence is a metaphor concerning witht the weahter. The previous sentence was about summer. And suddenly the spring came, which means heavy and thick sunflowers, symbolizing strong smell of blooming and lively moment which weeps over the fences. The author used a great metaphor to compare the weather or the change of the weather very well.
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