"I met him one night London and he seemed to be very flush... Poor O'Hara! Boose, I suppose?"
"Other things, too," said Little Chandler shortly.
Ignatius Gallaher laughed.
"Tommy," he said, "I see you haven't changed an atom. You're the very same serious person that used to lecture me on Sunday mornings when I had a sore head and a fur on my tongue. You'd want to knock about a bit in the world. Have you never been anywhere even for a trip?"
"I've been to the Isle of Man," said Little Chandler.
Ignatius Gallaher laughed.
* * *
Little Chandler, on top of being referred to as such, is, in this extract, constantly referred to by, or associated with, diminutive language. When he says, "Other things, too", Joyce has him say it, "shortly". Almost immediately after this, Gallaher says that Little Chandler "hasn't changed an atom" (at the time of writing, the smallest known particle). Gallaher's advice that Little Chandler "knock about a bit in the world" is followed by the latter's revelation that he has "been to the Isle of Man". The Isle of Man is a very small island, less than 230 square miles, between Ireland and the UK. The creature most often associated with the island is the Manx cat. It is notable for having no tail, i.e. for having been shortened. By inundating the reader with this kind of terminology and allusion throughout the exchange, Joyce is seeking to reinforce Little Chandler's status as something of a lowly character in the eyes of Gallaher. This is cemented by Gallaher's use of the name, "Tommy" (perhaps a childhood abbreviation or nickname) when addressing Little Chandler, which highlights the imbalanced nature of their friendship. Further to this, Joyce's repetition of the line, "Ignatius Gallaher laughed', leaves the reader in no doubt as to Gallaher's dismissiveness toward his 'friend'. Our sympathy for Little Chandler is elicited here and throughout the rest of his encounter with Gallaher, as he struggles to keep up with his well-travelled, well-to-do friend of old. Joyce's deliberate choice of words seems to imply that, in keeping with the theme of paralysis that runs through 'Dubliners', perhaps he struggles in vain.
By Simon
Monday, February 1, 2010
SAC Paragraph - "Neighbors" by Raymond Carver
"In the morning he had Arlene call in for him."
With this sentence, Carver succinctly conveys the shift in his character's attitude towards his forays into his neighbours' apartment. Whereas before, at the start of the story, the act of exploring the Stones' apartment was just something a little different and exciting to do, it has now quickly become almost an obsession. Bill doesn't even want to go to work anymore and gets his wife to call in sick for him. He tries to distract himself and stop thinking about the apartment across the hall. "He tried to start a book" but that didn't work so "He went out for a walk and felt better." While outside, he is fine, but as soon as he re-enters the building, he wants to go into the Stones' place again. He at first tried to make excuses, as if suspecting that he was doing something wrong by trespassing, by stopping by his neighbours' door "on the chance he might hear the cat moving about", but eventually couldn't control himself anymore and "went to the kitchen for the key."
In this short paragraph, filled with brief, declarative sentences, Carver is showing the reader how the decision to first enter the neighbours’ place has affected and changed Bill. The shortness of the sentences shows a restlessness, mirroring Bill's inability to stay focused on anything other than the Stones' apartment.
The strength of his obsession (and later Arlene's) reveals the couple to be unhappy with their lives. At the beginning, we learnt that they constantly compare themselves to the Stones and it seems that these excursions into the Stones' home are their version of the holidays that the Stones always seem to take. The Millers find their own lives to be ordinary and dull, empty, while the Stones' lives seem "fuller and brighter", so they venture across the hall to try and discover what it's like to be someone else, their neighbours - perhaps attempting to find what is missing from their own lives.
Through the rest of the story, the Millers are revealed to be quite voyeuristic in their obsession with the Stones' apartment, but at the same time, their experience is quite ordinary, something that could happen to anyone, because it is a common human experience to feel jealous or "passed by somehow" and to wonder what life is like in someone else's shoes and what makes their life seem better than ours.
By Maddy, Genny and Maeve
With this sentence, Carver succinctly conveys the shift in his character's attitude towards his forays into his neighbours' apartment. Whereas before, at the start of the story, the act of exploring the Stones' apartment was just something a little different and exciting to do, it has now quickly become almost an obsession. Bill doesn't even want to go to work anymore and gets his wife to call in sick for him. He tries to distract himself and stop thinking about the apartment across the hall. "He tried to start a book" but that didn't work so "He went out for a walk and felt better." While outside, he is fine, but as soon as he re-enters the building, he wants to go into the Stones' place again. He at first tried to make excuses, as if suspecting that he was doing something wrong by trespassing, by stopping by his neighbours' door "on the chance he might hear the cat moving about", but eventually couldn't control himself anymore and "went to the kitchen for the key."
In this short paragraph, filled with brief, declarative sentences, Carver is showing the reader how the decision to first enter the neighbours’ place has affected and changed Bill. The shortness of the sentences shows a restlessness, mirroring Bill's inability to stay focused on anything other than the Stones' apartment.
The strength of his obsession (and later Arlene's) reveals the couple to be unhappy with their lives. At the beginning, we learnt that they constantly compare themselves to the Stones and it seems that these excursions into the Stones' home are their version of the holidays that the Stones always seem to take. The Millers find their own lives to be ordinary and dull, empty, while the Stones' lives seem "fuller and brighter", so they venture across the hall to try and discover what it's like to be someone else, their neighbours - perhaps attempting to find what is missing from their own lives.
Through the rest of the story, the Millers are revealed to be quite voyeuristic in their obsession with the Stones' apartment, but at the same time, their experience is quite ordinary, something that could happen to anyone, because it is a common human experience to feel jealous or "passed by somehow" and to wonder what life is like in someone else's shoes and what makes their life seem better than ours.
By Maddy, Genny and Maeve
Joyce, Eveline, lit sac preporation
A passage in the last paragraph, you'll probably figure it out.
So Joyce gives us an image of Eveline being small and fragile in a moment of descision using the contrast of 'all the seas if the world' as a metaphor for the unknown, large, heavy, uncontrolable possibilities which could come depending on her descision. Furthermore, Joyce says that the sea 'tumbles about her heart'. This gives the reader an idea of how paricularly vulnerable Eveline is about this descision, as it threatens her being's core, putting her on edge emotionally as this danger is tumbling - putting pressure upon - her where she's weakest.
As these emotions dawn upon Eveline she becomes defensive and sees Frank as the one pulling her into this descision, this possible danger. 'He was pulling her into them' (into the sea of unknown possibilities). She then jumps to the conclusion that he will drown her, and we, the reader, know that she is freaking out to the point where she has lost her logical thinking skills. She sees the sea of possible danger as definite danger, which will drown her with all that she doesn't know and has no control over, and she sees Frank as one with too much control over her where she's so volnerable.
'She gripped with both hands at the iron railing.' Eveline seeks stability and support in the dizzy maze of her emotions, she seeks stability to guide her through the descision, and support to keep her steady, the iron railing helps physically (which then helps mentally I suppose) and she throws herself at it with desperation (both of her hands).
Frank's calling, '"Come!'", is reality calling into Eveline's frantic mind, which is deep in the ocean still, and Eveline's previous defensive thoughts give this call two tones - it's sneaky, pulling her to a foreign land where she's weak and he's strong, and it's also (though she's forgotten this) an escape from living the pitiful life her mother did.
'No! No! No!' The three nos are insisting the difficulty for Eveline, however the third repition suggests frustratoin that she has to be saying no and doesn't have more control. In my opinion. 'It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy.' She's paralysed, unable to go either way, clutching the iron for the mutual guidance between her Father and Frank - both demanding difficulties. The use of the word frenzy goes with the insistance of her hand's grip, teamed with her emotions.
'Amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish.' She's lost, and crying for help in a large, dangerous world in which she has no control. No body's going to answer, she must stop, breathe, think for herself, and go to buenos ayres.
BY BRONIA AND SOFIA :)
So Joyce gives us an image of Eveline being small and fragile in a moment of descision using the contrast of 'all the seas if the world' as a metaphor for the unknown, large, heavy, uncontrolable possibilities which could come depending on her descision. Furthermore, Joyce says that the sea 'tumbles about her heart'. This gives the reader an idea of how paricularly vulnerable Eveline is about this descision, as it threatens her being's core, putting her on edge emotionally as this danger is tumbling - putting pressure upon - her where she's weakest.
As these emotions dawn upon Eveline she becomes defensive and sees Frank as the one pulling her into this descision, this possible danger. 'He was pulling her into them' (into the sea of unknown possibilities). She then jumps to the conclusion that he will drown her, and we, the reader, know that she is freaking out to the point where she has lost her logical thinking skills. She sees the sea of possible danger as definite danger, which will drown her with all that she doesn't know and has no control over, and she sees Frank as one with too much control over her where she's so volnerable.
'She gripped with both hands at the iron railing.' Eveline seeks stability and support in the dizzy maze of her emotions, she seeks stability to guide her through the descision, and support to keep her steady, the iron railing helps physically (which then helps mentally I suppose) and she throws herself at it with desperation (both of her hands).
Frank's calling, '"Come!'", is reality calling into Eveline's frantic mind, which is deep in the ocean still, and Eveline's previous defensive thoughts give this call two tones - it's sneaky, pulling her to a foreign land where she's weak and he's strong, and it's also (though she's forgotten this) an escape from living the pitiful life her mother did.
'No! No! No!' The three nos are insisting the difficulty for Eveline, however the third repition suggests frustratoin that she has to be saying no and doesn't have more control. In my opinion. 'It was impossible. Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy.' She's paralysed, unable to go either way, clutching the iron for the mutual guidance between her Father and Frank - both demanding difficulties. The use of the word frenzy goes with the insistance of her hand's grip, teamed with her emotions.
'Amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish.' She's lost, and crying for help in a large, dangerous world in which she has no control. No body's going to answer, she must stop, breathe, think for herself, and go to buenos ayres.
BY BRONIA AND SOFIA :)
Free Radicals- Alice Munro
"She sits in her usual ample armchair, with piles of books and unopened magazines around her. She sips cautiously from the mug of weak herb tea that is now her substitute for coffee. At one time she thought that she could not live without coffee, but it turned out that it is really the warm large mug she wants in her hands, that is the aid to thought or whatever it is she practices through the procession of hours, or of days."
Munro portrays Nita as a widow in denial. Nita receives phone calls from all her closest friends, checking up on her, and she quickly assures them she is "fine", and makes excuses to end the conversation. It's in this passage that Munro subtly indicates that Nita feels the need to have familiar things around her. It's her warm cup of tea that she has in her hands for comfort, and the books and magazines surrounding her for the feeling of familiarity.
We also learn that Nita keeps avoiding doing certain things, like cleaning her husband's study.
"that is the aid to thought or whatever it is she practices through the procession of hours, or of days."
This indicates that Nita has lost track of time. Days are passing her, and she has done nothing to help herself move on.
Munro certainly paints a picture with this passage. The description of Nita sitting in her armchair is detailed enough for us to imagine it very clearly.
Lauren & Georgia
Munro portrays Nita as a widow in denial. Nita receives phone calls from all her closest friends, checking up on her, and she quickly assures them she is "fine", and makes excuses to end the conversation. It's in this passage that Munro subtly indicates that Nita feels the need to have familiar things around her. It's her warm cup of tea that she has in her hands for comfort, and the books and magazines surrounding her for the feeling of familiarity.
We also learn that Nita keeps avoiding doing certain things, like cleaning her husband's study.
"that is the aid to thought or whatever it is she practices through the procession of hours, or of days."
This indicates that Nita has lost track of time. Days are passing her, and she has done nothing to help herself move on.
Munro certainly paints a picture with this passage. The description of Nita sitting in her armchair is detailed enough for us to imagine it very clearly.
Lauren & Georgia
SAC paragraph - Bliss - Katherine Mansfield
"Like the flame of a candle, to stretch up, to point, to quiver in the bright air, to grow taller and taller as they gazed-almost to touch the rim of the round, silver moon."
Mansfield uses similes to create a visual image in the readers mind. This use of similes can often evoke personal memories and allow the reader to see into the characters thoughts. Mansfield writes "and the two women stood side by side looking at the slender flowering tree" this shows that the two women are connected by the same image before them, something they are both able to see in the same way.
By Sunday, Amelia, Sophia, Lucy and Brigette
Mansfield uses similes to create a visual image in the readers mind. This use of similes can often evoke personal memories and allow the reader to see into the characters thoughts. Mansfield writes "and the two women stood side by side looking at the slender flowering tree" this shows that the two women are connected by the same image before them, something they are both able to see in the same way.
By Sunday, Amelia, Sophia, Lucy and Brigette
Katherine Mansfield: Bliss: Pear Tree
In Katherine Mansfeild's Bliss, Bertha refers to a pear tree throughout the story.
"The windows of the drawing-room opened on to a balcony overlooking the garden. At the far end, against the wall, there was a tall slender pear tree in fullest, richest bloom; it stood perfect, as though becalmed against the jade-green sky. Bertha couldn't help feeling, even from this distance, that it had not a single bud or a faded petal."
The pear tree symbolises beauty, especially beauty of Bertha's blissful life. "And she seemed to see on her eyelids the lovely pear tree with it's wide open blossoms as a symbol of her own life."
Bertha sees the blooming pear tree in the garden as a symbol of her blissful happiness and her friendship with Pearl. However, when Bertha's life falls apart in the end, the tree is the same, showing that Bertha was not really connected to the beauty of the pear tree and was simply kidding herself. "But the pear tree was as lovely as ever and as full of flower and as still."
But it could also be seen as a sign that all beauty is not lost. Perhaps Bertha will move on to a richer and fuller life in the future. Or maybe she will choose to ignore her discovery, and continue to live in ignorant bliss.
"Your lovely pear tree-pear tree-pear tree!"
-Rasphal, Cecelia, Jack, Viv
SAC PARAGRAPH - HEMINGWAY "UP IN MICHIGAN"
In the third paragraph of "Up In Michigan", Hemingway uses an unusually large amount of repetition and exposition. He places this at the very beginning of the story to give it emphasis and indicate that it is a major plot point. he starts off by simply stating that, "Liz liked Jim very much" and then continues to use the word 'like' no less than nine times more. The ridiculous amount of times the word that is used is comparable with Liz's ridiculous obbsession for Jim, and it gives us insight into how Liz thinks and feels. Because Hemingway provides basically nothin on characters thoughts, this paragraph is vital for figuring out why Liz responds the way she does, when she is abused by Jim.
... Zak, Brighde, Jessica, Jacob
... Zak, Brighde, Jessica, Jacob
Boys, Chekhov - Sac Paragraph
The winter sun, making its way through the snow and the frozen tracery on the window-panes, gleamed on the samovar, and plunged its pure rays in the tea basin. The room was warm, and the boys felt as though the warmth and the frost were struggling together with a tingling sensation in their bodies.
'The winter sun, making its way through the snow and the frozen tracery on the window-panes' is the moment in Chekhov's writing where he brings an outside fantasy up close to an inside reality. The concept of reality vs fantasy is continuous and fluid throughout each of Chekhov's stories. The characters are confronted with the illusion of a somewhat impossible fantasy and the reality of an ordinary existence. For the boys 'the warmth and the frost were struggling together with a tingling sensation in their bodies' implys the desire to be out living their fantasy, yet still feeling comfortable and warm in the fimilar. The use of the word 'tingling' eludes that the feeling they are experiencing is somewhat uncomfortable, unusual, curious and almost exciting.
The imagery of the 'winter sun' that 'gleamed on the samovar' reminds us that the boys are in a family home, with expectations from the family themselves. The samovar is a representation of the families tradition, it reminds us of love, warmth and togetherness - a fantasy of the families which is later shattered when Volodya comments that 'In California they don't drink tea, but gin'. Chekhov often uses clashes of individuals fantasies to address and bring the characters back to face their common reality. In the particular scene of the boys sitting down to tea the scene is set first with 'the winter sun', outside we can imagine that with the sun comes warmth and life, yet with the use of winter before the word sun it changes the scene completely. When first you think of warmth and life, winter clashes against this, eluding the family to the idea that everything outside is all well and good as they can only see the sunshine, but the boys who have come from outside have in fact witnessed the suprising cold which comes with the 'pure ray's of the sun......
And so on and so forth. The bell is about to go.
- Mara Hurley.
'The winter sun, making its way through the snow and the frozen tracery on the window-panes' is the moment in Chekhov's writing where he brings an outside fantasy up close to an inside reality. The concept of reality vs fantasy is continuous and fluid throughout each of Chekhov's stories. The characters are confronted with the illusion of a somewhat impossible fantasy and the reality of an ordinary existence. For the boys 'the warmth and the frost were struggling together with a tingling sensation in their bodies' implys the desire to be out living their fantasy, yet still feeling comfortable and warm in the fimilar. The use of the word 'tingling' eludes that the feeling they are experiencing is somewhat uncomfortable, unusual, curious and almost exciting.
The imagery of the 'winter sun' that 'gleamed on the samovar' reminds us that the boys are in a family home, with expectations from the family themselves. The samovar is a representation of the families tradition, it reminds us of love, warmth and togetherness - a fantasy of the families which is later shattered when Volodya comments that 'In California they don't drink tea, but gin'. Chekhov often uses clashes of individuals fantasies to address and bring the characters back to face their common reality. In the particular scene of the boys sitting down to tea the scene is set first with 'the winter sun', outside we can imagine that with the sun comes warmth and life, yet with the use of winter before the word sun it changes the scene completely. When first you think of warmth and life, winter clashes against this, eluding the family to the idea that everything outside is all well and good as they can only see the sunshine, but the boys who have come from outside have in fact witnessed the suprising cold which comes with the 'pure ray's of the sun......
And so on and so forth. The bell is about to go.
- Mara Hurley.
Hemingway - 'Hills Like White Elephants'
"I love you now. You know I love you."
"I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you'll like it?"
"I'll love it. I love it now but I just can't think about it. You know how I get when I worry."
To the girl, and to us, the man's words ring hollow and insincere as he promises her that he 'loves' her, despite the impossible situation he has forced her into - she must choose between the baby and their own relationship. The girl aready senses this, and presses him to confirm her fears, but also to make the decision for her - 'if I do it, then will it be nice again [...] and you'll like it?' His noncommittal answer shows us his ignorance towards her feelings and desires, and his flippant attitude towards her obvious reliance on him for moral support, stuck in a foreign country whose language she doesn't know. Their relationship cannot carry on in this vein, as he leads her from hotel to hotel, continuing to deny her what she wants and needs - a family and a home. It seems inevitable that she will make the break for her freedom, and tragic that the price of this decision will be the baby.
Hemingway strips the dialogue down to the bare minimum and offers no judgment on the situation as a narrator. No adverbs are used, and thus the reader's feelings towards the situation must come from their own judgments, making this story almost ambiguous in its morality. The audience cannot really tell if the man is manipulative or just oblivious, and whether his 'love' for the girl is real or faked. The girl certainly loves him, but her love will sour as she realizes he does not want 'anybody else', and the baby will not be welcome.
Dom, Claudia, Isabelle
"I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you'll like it?"
"I'll love it. I love it now but I just can't think about it. You know how I get when I worry."
To the girl, and to us, the man's words ring hollow and insincere as he promises her that he 'loves' her, despite the impossible situation he has forced her into - she must choose between the baby and their own relationship. The girl aready senses this, and presses him to confirm her fears, but also to make the decision for her - 'if I do it, then will it be nice again [...] and you'll like it?' His noncommittal answer shows us his ignorance towards her feelings and desires, and his flippant attitude towards her obvious reliance on him for moral support, stuck in a foreign country whose language she doesn't know. Their relationship cannot carry on in this vein, as he leads her from hotel to hotel, continuing to deny her what she wants and needs - a family and a home. It seems inevitable that she will make the break for her freedom, and tragic that the price of this decision will be the baby.
Hemingway strips the dialogue down to the bare minimum and offers no judgment on the situation as a narrator. No adverbs are used, and thus the reader's feelings towards the situation must come from their own judgments, making this story almost ambiguous in its morality. The audience cannot really tell if the man is manipulative or just oblivious, and whether his 'love' for the girl is real or faked. The girl certainly loves him, but her love will sour as she realizes he does not want 'anybody else', and the baby will not be welcome.
Dom, Claudia, Isabelle
SAC Paragraph - Up In Michigan - Hemingway
"She liked it the way the hair was black on his arms and how white they were above the tanned line."
Using short, descriptive sentences, Hemingway creates the impression that Liz has dangerously obsessive feelings for Jim. Liz is attracted to Jim's physical features, "how white his teeth were," how he "washed", how he "looked." These observations show that Liz's crush on Jim is purely based on appearance. This alludes to her ignorance of relationships (as revealed later in the story). Without the knowledge of Jim's point of view, the reader takes pity on Liz's delusional idea of love, or what Liz refers to as what "made her feel funny."
Flo, Ali, Anna and Odette
Using short, descriptive sentences, Hemingway creates the impression that Liz has dangerously obsessive feelings for Jim. Liz is attracted to Jim's physical features, "how white his teeth were," how he "washed", how he "looked." These observations show that Liz's crush on Jim is purely based on appearance. This alludes to her ignorance of relationships (as revealed later in the story). Without the knowledge of Jim's point of view, the reader takes pity on Liz's delusional idea of love, or what Liz refers to as what "made her feel funny."
Flo, Ali, Anna and Odette
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