As we look forward to Turkey Day, it has been yet another eventful month on the AP Lit quest, which includes the start of a civil war between the hours.
So, we started out this period by finishing our discussions of Death of A Salesman. I had some mixed feelings about the "fishbowl" discussions. It was actually rather interesting to watch them and participate a little, and I liked having some structure in our discussions for a change through the simple prompts. On the other hand, with the restrictions of the fishbowl, I felt like less ideas were stated and discussed. Still, since Ms. Holmes is by far the Salesman expert, I'm sure we understood what needed to be understood. Funnily enough towards the end, I began to realize that my family is kind of like the Lomans in the story. We've got the same structure: two sons and two parents, and my dad also drives a lot for his job. Though we are by no means dysfunctional like the Lomans are, when I recognized these simple similarities, it emphasized Miller's idea of the common man to me; the Lomans are kind of generic, if not archetypal, characters that can easily be related to.
Moving on, we went on to write our first closed prompt this month as well, where we analyzed the poem, "The Century Quilt." Once again, though, I never failed to miss some deeper meaning/connection in the poem. I guess with "Promises like Pie-Crust" it was understandable since I'd never really heard of the saying. But with this poem, I kind of skirted around the deeper meaning by recognizing the simple, noticeable trends in the details. When Holmes took it apart using her insane tools of literary analysis, I was kind of shocked that I had failed to trends as simple as structure (the sandwiches throughout the poem) the first time around. In the end, I'm assuming that it's okay for now, since we probably have many closed prompts awaiting us in the future. These essays actually remind me a lot of the history A.P. exams, even if we have a bit more freedom in A.P. Lit; these closed prompts particularly reminded me of the DBQs that we had to do in A.P.U.S.H., recognizing trends and pulling evidence directly from the sources just as with "The Century Quilt."
Of course, now we have just finished our big read of Hamlet, and I have got to say that so far, I have seen a lot of Macbeth in this play. From the presence of messengers to the idea of sending off the good guy to England (like Macduff), there have been many Brit Lit déjà-vu moments for me. When I asked Holmes, she told me that Macbeth was actually written after this play, so my thoughts were turned upside-down, but I have also noticed some major differences between the two, especially the fact that Macbeth isn't much of a Senecan drama. For example, everybody doesn't just die at the end of Macbeth, as opposed to Hamlet. I also made a mini-connection with The Children of Men, another story I read during Brit Lit, when Hamlet mentioned the word, "quietus," which is a term used in the dystopian world of the novel. After making these connections, I am really excited to see what new ideas I'll discover during my close reading of the play, especially looking at meter. I was able to recognize some areas where Shakespeare wrote in a long set of rhyming lines, but I have yet to figure out whether they are an actual sonnet or not. I do have to say that deciphering some of the language is a bit challenging, especially with the myriad apostrophes thrown around. Yet, it was still exciting to read a British work; even if Shakespeare's perspective is dated, his writing is still masterful and a little enigmatic too.
As second quarter continues to move along, I would say that my biggest challenges so far remain with recognizing some of the less obvious rhetorical techniques, especially structure. With more experience in essay-writing, I hope to greatly improve on this, and I am eager to continue building on my general writing skills with our voice lessons.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Open Prompts, Part One
For this post, I chose the 2008 prompt:
In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.
Student #1:
The introduction is very concise, but still sets up the context for the writer's argument. Without going too much into detail, describes Huang as the foil, and generates a nice thesis that returns to the real question of meaning in his/her chosen text, The Joy Luck Club. Though they have a great analysis of the overall meaning of the text, the writer spends more than half of it summarizing the text. These details were relevant because they show the interplay between Huang and Linda, which ties into the assertion that Huang's abuse led Linda to become more independent; however, it probably would have been better to shorten down on these details and intersperse their analysis of the meaning within them, as opposed to separating them into two different sections. The conclusion was exemplary, summarizing the details of the argument and tying things back to their argument on the meaning. This essay was very well-written and is actually one of the best open prompt responses that I have read so far.
Student #2:
From the beginning of this essay, the writer seems to lack focus on the prompt, which (not to sound like a stickler, but...) says the minor character, not characters. However, the author did have good insights into the interactions between Celle and the minor character, and I liked how the essay seemed to mimic the book as the descriptions of the foils seemed to mimic Celle's actual progression throughout the novel. Throughout the essay, they also do a great job of reemphasizing their original argument, which is pretty important considering the context of this essay - specifically the reader (AP test graders), who would most likely be caught somewhere between self-loathing and utter misery, who would probably like the idea of getting reminded of the argument they're grading. However, back to my original point, I think that the writer could have easily just picked one character, probably either Celle's father or Shug, who could speak to Celle's development and the overall meaning of the text, which is also never really clearly stated in the essay.
Student #3:
First of all, this writer uses the syntax of a seventh grader; their sentence structure has almost no variation. Also, as a reader I have no idea who the main character is (Baba or Hassan?). Though I can infer that Hassan is the main character, I think it is a good idea to always assume the reader has no previous context with the subject material - better safe than sorry. None of their comparisons really tie into the meaning (which they do explicitly mention, so that's good), and their conclusion does not make much sense. They start off saying that the differences between the two highlight the good traits in Hassan, but then they say that both were loyal in the end. Also they say that Hassan "kept mostly to himself," so I did not really see how this ties into the theme of loyalty, which the author actually does explain earlier with Hassan's loyalty to his friends. This contradiction really detracts from the essay. Ultimately, like a lot of these "third essays," I believe that this writer got to this question in the end with say ten minutes left and just wrote something down to get credit. Some of the basics were covered, like what the meaning of their text was, but they really failed to adequately develop their ideas and provide an understandable context for their assertions.
In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.
Student #1:
The introduction is very concise, but still sets up the context for the writer's argument. Without going too much into detail, describes Huang as the foil, and generates a nice thesis that returns to the real question of meaning in his/her chosen text, The Joy Luck Club. Though they have a great analysis of the overall meaning of the text, the writer spends more than half of it summarizing the text. These details were relevant because they show the interplay between Huang and Linda, which ties into the assertion that Huang's abuse led Linda to become more independent; however, it probably would have been better to shorten down on these details and intersperse their analysis of the meaning within them, as opposed to separating them into two different sections. The conclusion was exemplary, summarizing the details of the argument and tying things back to their argument on the meaning. This essay was very well-written and is actually one of the best open prompt responses that I have read so far.
Student #2:
From the beginning of this essay, the writer seems to lack focus on the prompt, which (not to sound like a stickler, but...) says the minor character, not characters. However, the author did have good insights into the interactions between Celle and the minor character, and I liked how the essay seemed to mimic the book as the descriptions of the foils seemed to mimic Celle's actual progression throughout the novel. Throughout the essay, they also do a great job of reemphasizing their original argument, which is pretty important considering the context of this essay - specifically the reader (AP test graders), who would most likely be caught somewhere between self-loathing and utter misery, who would probably like the idea of getting reminded of the argument they're grading. However, back to my original point, I think that the writer could have easily just picked one character, probably either Celle's father or Shug, who could speak to Celle's development and the overall meaning of the text, which is also never really clearly stated in the essay.
Student #3:
First of all, this writer uses the syntax of a seventh grader; their sentence structure has almost no variation. Also, as a reader I have no idea who the main character is (Baba or Hassan?). Though I can infer that Hassan is the main character, I think it is a good idea to always assume the reader has no previous context with the subject material - better safe than sorry. None of their comparisons really tie into the meaning (which they do explicitly mention, so that's good), and their conclusion does not make much sense. They start off saying that the differences between the two highlight the good traits in Hassan, but then they say that both were loyal in the end. Also they say that Hassan "kept mostly to himself," so I did not really see how this ties into the theme of loyalty, which the author actually does explain earlier with Hassan's loyalty to his friends. This contradiction really detracts from the essay. Ultimately, like a lot of these "third essays," I believe that this writer got to this question in the end with say ten minutes left and just wrote something down to get credit. Some of the basics were covered, like what the meaning of their text was, but they really failed to adequately develop their ideas and provide an understandable context for their assertions.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Summary and Analysis: Death of A Salesman
THE BASICS
-The author of Death of A Salesman is Arthur Miller, who was born in 1915 New York, New York. He was Jewish, though his wife was an firm believer in Christianity. He was known for testifying before HUAC during the Red Scare.
-The play is set in New York, going between the city proper and a tenement-housing development in Brooklyn, which is where the Lomans and Charley & Bernard live. The time period is generally considered around the 1950s, which is when Miller wrote the play although this is not often explicitly stated in the play.
Plot:
The play opens with Willy Loman returning home after another long trip. His son, Biff, has just returned from his travels out west and is trying to settle down, but for reasons unknown for the moment, Willy is deeply bothered by Biff's presence. When he arrives home, Linda receives him warmly, even as he starts to rant on over Biff advising him to relax his mind, and she tells him to make a sandwich before coming up to bed. In this moment, we see Willy slip into a flashback, which is the first time we notice his "overactive" mind. He slips into memories of his past, specifically episodes with Biff and Happy, his two sons, whom he loves and idolizes. While he is ranting throughout this memory, his sons are in their rooms at the house, discussing their memories of their childhod and youth as well as their father's bizarre behavior and their concerns over his mental state. As Willy's daydream continues, he goes outside for a walk, during which Linda and the sons meet in the kitchen, where Linda explains Willy's suicidal tendencies. As she explains the sons' their responsibility to their father, Willy returns, and Biff and Happy leave him in the night with the proposition that Biff is finally going to settle down and pursue a business opportunity with Bill Oliver, an old acquaintance. The next morning, everyone leaves the house optimistic, but as the day unfolds, all of their plans fail. Oliver doesn't even recognize Biff, and Biff impulsively steals a pen from him. Willy's attempt at gaining an office position in New York fails miserably and he leaves the office depressed and in another flashback moment. He ends up going to see Charlie, and sees a successful Bernard there, who is going to the Supreme Court in DC. This leaves Willy pondering the methods of success and revealing a suicidal urge. The three Loman men converge at a restaurant and everything is laid bare, which ultimately leads to a flashback revealing the origin of the rift between Biff and Willy: Biff witnessed Willy cheating on Linda. Willy is left alone at the restaurant and returns home with some seed to start planting in the garden. Biff and Happy return to an indignant Linda, who demands that they leave, but Biff decides to make it his final departure and hopes to leave on good terms with Willy. In trying to connect, he ends up arguing with Willy then crying in his arms. Willy takes this as a sign that Biff has forgiven him and loves him, and from that he finally decides upon taking his own life, so Biff can start a new life and business. In the final scene, the Lomans and Charlie are at Willy's funeral, where Biff denounces his father and decides to head out West while Happy announces that he will take the money and fulfill his father's dream (doubtful, though). In the end, Linda announces that she just finished the last payment on the house, but ironically no one is left to live in it but her.
Major Characters:
-Willy: An aged salesman and family man, who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. He tries to deny his failures and inadequacies to both himself and others, especially his family, but he is definitely "tired," and this fatigue grows throughout the play.
-Biff: Willy's eldest son, who has lost pretty much all self-esteem. After witnessing his father's infidelity to his mother, he lost faith in all of his beliefs, as he had grown up idolizing his father. This ultimately led him to drop out of school, and head out west to try and explore life as a free man. He has a fantasy of living out in nature with cattle, as opposed to staying confined in an office and the regularity of a structured life.
-Ben: Willy's deceased elder brother. He often served as a father figure for Willy, since his father passed on when they were young and he was the man of the house. He eventually hit it big through the diamond industry in Africa. He offered Willy a position in Alaska to work for him, and Willy often regrets passing up this opportunity,
-Happy: Willy's youngest son, who comes off as rather dumb for most of the play, settling with the status quo of his life as a blue-collar worker. He sort of fills in gaps in the family but has no substantial relationship with anyone, as he is often disregarded by others, especially his parents who tend to focus on Biff alone, which causes him to try and capture others' attention
-Charley: Willy's close friend; he is basically considered family. He is actually a rather successful businessman, and he provides Willy assistance in order to maintain his pride, even though everyone knows that Willy asks for his money. Willy continually tries to differentiate himself from Charley.
Tone/Style--
tone:
Since this is a play, there is not much of a tone since the author uses dialogue. However, Miller does tend to take on a more frustrated and conflicted persona through Willy Loman. As Willy is the main protagonist, his conflicts speak to Miller's views on the changing values in American society, where such things as age and wisdom are not valued in the face of commercial or monetary success.
symbols:
-The Phonograph from Howard's office: This represents the unalterable nature of the past. In recording the actual sounds, Howard can remember the moments with his children. However, this almost frightens Willy because it threatens to ruin his delusional memories of the past.
-Rain/umbrella: This might represent misfortune, as it begins raining right before Willy meets with Howard. In addition, Ben always carries an umbrella, which might "protect" his fortune.
-Stockings: They represent Willy's guilt in two ways: one for cheating on Linda and another for not providing Linda as her husband
-Seeds: These represent Willy's hope for the future, which he believes will be a lot better with the help of his death and the insurance money.
point-of-view:
The play is definitely in the third person. However, there is plenty of first-person, as we experience Willy's flashbacks from the way he tells a lot of the story. There is really no reason to believe that Willy is unreliable, though since his memories do not shut out any of the bad details, such as his capture by Biff.
imagery:
A lot of the setting has a sort of drab, gray feeling that is typically associated with urban areas, where there is just a lot of people. A lot of the imagery is emotional, especially for Willy, whose actions and words tend to reveal much about his state of mind. The reader is able to feel and almost understand his deterioration. In the flashbacks there also seems to be nicer weather or a happier mood, which contributes to the overall feeling of hope that Miller tries to give that time period.
Theme Statement:
In Death of A Salesman, Arthur Miller comments on the eventual self-destruction that results from deluding one's self by placing faith in words and ideas rather than taking responsibility for/charge of these goals, all in the name of achieving conventional success and maintaining personal dignity.
-The title, alongside the few instances where it occurs in the play, especially when it basically happens in Howard's office, support this as Willy's optimism is the root of his downfall. He continuously fails to take true responsibility for his actions or embrace his guilt, and his failure to escape his delusion destroys him as a person.
-I think the setting offers a contrast between the industrious life of the city folk and the somewhat lazy life that the Loman children lead as semi-suburbanites and in their fantasies of life out west in nature. There is a recurring theme of the freedom of the open landscapes of the seemingly untouched west. However, in the end, these ideas display the characters lack of responsibility. Rather than face their problems, they simply hope to escape them and start afresh, which Biff has already done when he went out to explore his options before the action of the plot.
-Miller's style supports this theme because he uses Willy to reflect the frustration that every person feels when they have nothing truly genuine of their own. He continually juxtaposes different ideas and objects to show how Willy's firm clutch on a useless dream is both unrealistic and unhealthy. There is also a promotion of self-dependence and the people who take it upon themselves to achieve success like Bernard and Ben.
Quotes:
"Will you let me go, for Christ's sake?" - Biff
Throughout this scene, there is a mounting sense of dramatic irony. Biff keeps talking about moving on, and how he is ready to give up on Willy's romanticized vision of his future. Yet Willy cannot accept reality and let Biff go in peace; he has to leave some mark in his mind, something that will bring him back in the future. Everything that Biff says implies that he is going to leave and never plans on coming back, but Willy cannot leave the delusion and misinterprets Biff's words as an approval for his suicide.
"Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." - Charley
I think that this quote serves to put some closure to the question of Charley's friendship with Willy, while acting as a sort of simple summary of the problems and hopes that Willy faced. As his life was spent trying to please others enough to buy products from his company, Willy was all but forced to dream of the day when he would have something of his own to sell or brag about to his customers. I think the first part also shows how Charley never really gave up on Willy, as reflected by his immediate condemning of Willy's first suicide thought in his office.
-The author of Death of A Salesman is Arthur Miller, who was born in 1915 New York, New York. He was Jewish, though his wife was an firm believer in Christianity. He was known for testifying before HUAC during the Red Scare.
-The play is set in New York, going between the city proper and a tenement-housing development in Brooklyn, which is where the Lomans and Charley & Bernard live. The time period is generally considered around the 1950s, which is when Miller wrote the play although this is not often explicitly stated in the play.
Plot:
The play opens with Willy Loman returning home after another long trip. His son, Biff, has just returned from his travels out west and is trying to settle down, but for reasons unknown for the moment, Willy is deeply bothered by Biff's presence. When he arrives home, Linda receives him warmly, even as he starts to rant on over Biff advising him to relax his mind, and she tells him to make a sandwich before coming up to bed. In this moment, we see Willy slip into a flashback, which is the first time we notice his "overactive" mind. He slips into memories of his past, specifically episodes with Biff and Happy, his two sons, whom he loves and idolizes. While he is ranting throughout this memory, his sons are in their rooms at the house, discussing their memories of their childhod and youth as well as their father's bizarre behavior and their concerns over his mental state. As Willy's daydream continues, he goes outside for a walk, during which Linda and the sons meet in the kitchen, where Linda explains Willy's suicidal tendencies. As she explains the sons' their responsibility to their father, Willy returns, and Biff and Happy leave him in the night with the proposition that Biff is finally going to settle down and pursue a business opportunity with Bill Oliver, an old acquaintance. The next morning, everyone leaves the house optimistic, but as the day unfolds, all of their plans fail. Oliver doesn't even recognize Biff, and Biff impulsively steals a pen from him. Willy's attempt at gaining an office position in New York fails miserably and he leaves the office depressed and in another flashback moment. He ends up going to see Charlie, and sees a successful Bernard there, who is going to the Supreme Court in DC. This leaves Willy pondering the methods of success and revealing a suicidal urge. The three Loman men converge at a restaurant and everything is laid bare, which ultimately leads to a flashback revealing the origin of the rift between Biff and Willy: Biff witnessed Willy cheating on Linda. Willy is left alone at the restaurant and returns home with some seed to start planting in the garden. Biff and Happy return to an indignant Linda, who demands that they leave, but Biff decides to make it his final departure and hopes to leave on good terms with Willy. In trying to connect, he ends up arguing with Willy then crying in his arms. Willy takes this as a sign that Biff has forgiven him and loves him, and from that he finally decides upon taking his own life, so Biff can start a new life and business. In the final scene, the Lomans and Charlie are at Willy's funeral, where Biff denounces his father and decides to head out West while Happy announces that he will take the money and fulfill his father's dream (doubtful, though). In the end, Linda announces that she just finished the last payment on the house, but ironically no one is left to live in it but her.
Major Characters:
-Willy: An aged salesman and family man, who is beginning to lose his grip on reality. He tries to deny his failures and inadequacies to both himself and others, especially his family, but he is definitely "tired," and this fatigue grows throughout the play.
-Biff: Willy's eldest son, who has lost pretty much all self-esteem. After witnessing his father's infidelity to his mother, he lost faith in all of his beliefs, as he had grown up idolizing his father. This ultimately led him to drop out of school, and head out west to try and explore life as a free man. He has a fantasy of living out in nature with cattle, as opposed to staying confined in an office and the regularity of a structured life.
-Ben: Willy's deceased elder brother. He often served as a father figure for Willy, since his father passed on when they were young and he was the man of the house. He eventually hit it big through the diamond industry in Africa. He offered Willy a position in Alaska to work for him, and Willy often regrets passing up this opportunity,
-Happy: Willy's youngest son, who comes off as rather dumb for most of the play, settling with the status quo of his life as a blue-collar worker. He sort of fills in gaps in the family but has no substantial relationship with anyone, as he is often disregarded by others, especially his parents who tend to focus on Biff alone, which causes him to try and capture others' attention
-Charley: Willy's close friend; he is basically considered family. He is actually a rather successful businessman, and he provides Willy assistance in order to maintain his pride, even though everyone knows that Willy asks for his money. Willy continually tries to differentiate himself from Charley.
Tone/Style--
tone:
Since this is a play, there is not much of a tone since the author uses dialogue. However, Miller does tend to take on a more frustrated and conflicted persona through Willy Loman. As Willy is the main protagonist, his conflicts speak to Miller's views on the changing values in American society, where such things as age and wisdom are not valued in the face of commercial or monetary success.
symbols:
-The Phonograph from Howard's office: This represents the unalterable nature of the past. In recording the actual sounds, Howard can remember the moments with his children. However, this almost frightens Willy because it threatens to ruin his delusional memories of the past.
-Rain/umbrella: This might represent misfortune, as it begins raining right before Willy meets with Howard. In addition, Ben always carries an umbrella, which might "protect" his fortune.
-Stockings: They represent Willy's guilt in two ways: one for cheating on Linda and another for not providing Linda as her husband
-Seeds: These represent Willy's hope for the future, which he believes will be a lot better with the help of his death and the insurance money.
point-of-view:
The play is definitely in the third person. However, there is plenty of first-person, as we experience Willy's flashbacks from the way he tells a lot of the story. There is really no reason to believe that Willy is unreliable, though since his memories do not shut out any of the bad details, such as his capture by Biff.
imagery:
A lot of the setting has a sort of drab, gray feeling that is typically associated with urban areas, where there is just a lot of people. A lot of the imagery is emotional, especially for Willy, whose actions and words tend to reveal much about his state of mind. The reader is able to feel and almost understand his deterioration. In the flashbacks there also seems to be nicer weather or a happier mood, which contributes to the overall feeling of hope that Miller tries to give that time period.
Theme Statement:
In Death of A Salesman, Arthur Miller comments on the eventual self-destruction that results from deluding one's self by placing faith in words and ideas rather than taking responsibility for/charge of these goals, all in the name of achieving conventional success and maintaining personal dignity.
-The title, alongside the few instances where it occurs in the play, especially when it basically happens in Howard's office, support this as Willy's optimism is the root of his downfall. He continuously fails to take true responsibility for his actions or embrace his guilt, and his failure to escape his delusion destroys him as a person.
-I think the setting offers a contrast between the industrious life of the city folk and the somewhat lazy life that the Loman children lead as semi-suburbanites and in their fantasies of life out west in nature. There is a recurring theme of the freedom of the open landscapes of the seemingly untouched west. However, in the end, these ideas display the characters lack of responsibility. Rather than face their problems, they simply hope to escape them and start afresh, which Biff has already done when he went out to explore his options before the action of the plot.
-Miller's style supports this theme because he uses Willy to reflect the frustration that every person feels when they have nothing truly genuine of their own. He continually juxtaposes different ideas and objects to show how Willy's firm clutch on a useless dream is both unrealistic and unhealthy. There is also a promotion of self-dependence and the people who take it upon themselves to achieve success like Bernard and Ben.
Quotes:
"Will you let me go, for Christ's sake?" - Biff
Throughout this scene, there is a mounting sense of dramatic irony. Biff keeps talking about moving on, and how he is ready to give up on Willy's romanticized vision of his future. Yet Willy cannot accept reality and let Biff go in peace; he has to leave some mark in his mind, something that will bring him back in the future. Everything that Biff says implies that he is going to leave and never plans on coming back, but Willy cannot leave the delusion and misinterprets Biff's words as an approval for his suicide.
"Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." - Charley
I think that this quote serves to put some closure to the question of Charley's friendship with Willy, while acting as a sort of simple summary of the problems and hopes that Willy faced. As his life was spent trying to please others enough to buy products from his company, Willy was all but forced to dream of the day when he would have something of his own to sell or brag about to his customers. I think the first part also shows how Charley never really gave up on Willy, as reflected by his immediate condemning of Willy's first suicide thought in his office.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Close Reading No. 3
For this post, I chose the Slate article, "Comfort food," by Larry Lake. It can be found at http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/11/families_dealing_with_mental_illness_need_support_too.html
In this article, Lake describes how society tends to embrace certain diseases and problems, like cancer or accidents, but points a cold shoulder towards many serious issues like drug abuse and mental illness. In describing his experiences between his wife and daughter, he uses imagery, syntax, and details to get his ideas across.
Lake uses imagery to emphasize different ideas throughout his essay. In the beginning of the essay, he uses sensory imagery to describe the food that his family received from the community during his wife's breast cancer treatments. For example, he describes "chicken breasts encrusted with parmesan," "bubbling pans of lasagna," and "warm home-baked rolls." He appeals to almost all of the reader's senses and almost instills a feeling of actual hunger in them by vividly portraying the food that he received. Through this description, Lake is able to emphasize the idea that his entire community was in support of his family during their ordeal with his wife's cancer. This serves as a deep contrast to the later descriptions of food in the article under the narrative of his daughter's struggles with alcohol abuse. In pointing out the lack of community support, he describes one meal as "soup and grilled cheese," which almost sounds bland and depressing, which follows in this contrast. The most detailed imagery in this section comes during the description of his daughter's car accident; he writes "a swollen mass of stitches, bruises and torn flesh" in describing her face in the hospital. Lake never went into such graphic detail when describing his wife's outlook during radiation treatment, and these conflicting techniques serve to show the support they received in one case and the lack of in another. The reader is also left in a much more empathetic position towards Maggie (his daughter). Through a tactical use of imagery, Lake is able to establish his idea that those who suffer from mental ailments and addictions, like his daughter, are almost cast away by society with little to no support.
The syntax in the article serves to maintain the flow of ideas as Lake builds his argument. In particular, he makes use of verbals to build up suspense in the narrative on Maggie. For example, right before the accident, he writes "dozing off" and "maybe she was thinking." As he describes the scene in the car, the reader is left to wonder about what is coming next until Lake ends this situation abruptly and forcefully with a short, straightforward sentence ("That night, an oncoming speeding car hit the van head on."). He also makes repeated use of fragments to emphasize the lack of food (and thus support), such as in the sentence, "No warm casseroles." Though short and choppy, this technique is especially effective as Lake tries to reemphasize the lack of compassion from his community while his daughter was dealing with an issue that could be considered more serious than his wife's cancer. Likewise, he uses this technique of short or fragmented sentences in the earlier narrative of his wife's issues to emphasize and repeat certain details. Aside from these, Lake mostly employs long, complex sentence structure, which connects his details into these strings of thought. An example of this is: "Leftovers piled up in the refrigerator, and soon the freezer filled up too, this tsunami of food offerings an edible symbol of our community’s abundant generosity." By combining the trends of his filling fridge with the support of his friends into one long sentence, he creates a correlation between the two. Lake's use of syntax serves to maintain a flow throughout the essay, which is interrupted at certain points to call to the reader's attention.
The details that Lake chose to include greatly influence the overall effect of the piece upon the reader. Most often, the contrasting information between his wife's and daughter's stories serve to illustrate his overall point that people tend to ignore mental disease. For example, he barely skims over the process in describing his wife's treatment, but in his daughter's treatment, he goes into each specific stage and event that occurred throughout. In a way, it makes the reader more aware of the issue that Lake is trying to expose. The fact that his wife had breast cancer is much more understandable to a reader as opposed to alcohol addiction but Lake reverses that scenario in the description. Furthermore, certain details that are brought up in his wife's story resurface throughout, such as the idea of people offering or not offering help. That detail in particular serves to point a finger at society or communities for failing to recognize the gravity of mental illnesses. The conflicting details that Lake places in the article emphasize the societal issue that he is trying to point out to the reader.
In this article, Lake tries to get his readers to understand the bleak situation caused by society ignoring the needs of mentally ill or addicted people, as opposed to more universal problems/diseases like cancer or car crashes. Through an effective use of imagery, syntax, and details, he succeeds in getting this point across.
In this article, Lake describes how society tends to embrace certain diseases and problems, like cancer or accidents, but points a cold shoulder towards many serious issues like drug abuse and mental illness. In describing his experiences between his wife and daughter, he uses imagery, syntax, and details to get his ideas across.
Lake uses imagery to emphasize different ideas throughout his essay. In the beginning of the essay, he uses sensory imagery to describe the food that his family received from the community during his wife's breast cancer treatments. For example, he describes "chicken breasts encrusted with parmesan," "bubbling pans of lasagna," and "warm home-baked rolls." He appeals to almost all of the reader's senses and almost instills a feeling of actual hunger in them by vividly portraying the food that he received. Through this description, Lake is able to emphasize the idea that his entire community was in support of his family during their ordeal with his wife's cancer. This serves as a deep contrast to the later descriptions of food in the article under the narrative of his daughter's struggles with alcohol abuse. In pointing out the lack of community support, he describes one meal as "soup and grilled cheese," which almost sounds bland and depressing, which follows in this contrast. The most detailed imagery in this section comes during the description of his daughter's car accident; he writes "a swollen mass of stitches, bruises and torn flesh" in describing her face in the hospital. Lake never went into such graphic detail when describing his wife's outlook during radiation treatment, and these conflicting techniques serve to show the support they received in one case and the lack of in another. The reader is also left in a much more empathetic position towards Maggie (his daughter). Through a tactical use of imagery, Lake is able to establish his idea that those who suffer from mental ailments and addictions, like his daughter, are almost cast away by society with little to no support.
The syntax in the article serves to maintain the flow of ideas as Lake builds his argument. In particular, he makes use of verbals to build up suspense in the narrative on Maggie. For example, right before the accident, he writes "dozing off" and "maybe she was thinking." As he describes the scene in the car, the reader is left to wonder about what is coming next until Lake ends this situation abruptly and forcefully with a short, straightforward sentence ("That night, an oncoming speeding car hit the van head on."). He also makes repeated use of fragments to emphasize the lack of food (and thus support), such as in the sentence, "No warm casseroles." Though short and choppy, this technique is especially effective as Lake tries to reemphasize the lack of compassion from his community while his daughter was dealing with an issue that could be considered more serious than his wife's cancer. Likewise, he uses this technique of short or fragmented sentences in the earlier narrative of his wife's issues to emphasize and repeat certain details. Aside from these, Lake mostly employs long, complex sentence structure, which connects his details into these strings of thought. An example of this is: "Leftovers piled up in the refrigerator, and soon the freezer filled up too, this tsunami of food offerings an edible symbol of our community’s abundant generosity." By combining the trends of his filling fridge with the support of his friends into one long sentence, he creates a correlation between the two. Lake's use of syntax serves to maintain a flow throughout the essay, which is interrupted at certain points to call to the reader's attention.
The details that Lake chose to include greatly influence the overall effect of the piece upon the reader. Most often, the contrasting information between his wife's and daughter's stories serve to illustrate his overall point that people tend to ignore mental disease. For example, he barely skims over the process in describing his wife's treatment, but in his daughter's treatment, he goes into each specific stage and event that occurred throughout. In a way, it makes the reader more aware of the issue that Lake is trying to expose. The fact that his wife had breast cancer is much more understandable to a reader as opposed to alcohol addiction but Lake reverses that scenario in the description. Furthermore, certain details that are brought up in his wife's story resurface throughout, such as the idea of people offering or not offering help. That detail in particular serves to point a finger at society or communities for failing to recognize the gravity of mental illnesses. The conflicting details that Lake places in the article emphasize the societal issue that he is trying to point out to the reader.
In this article, Lake tries to get his readers to understand the bleak situation caused by society ignoring the needs of mentally ill or addicted people, as opposed to more universal problems/diseases like cancer or car crashes. Through an effective use of imagery, syntax, and details, he succeeds in getting this point across.
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