Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” strikingly relates a particularly morbid, yet surreal experience: the death of a teen, Gary, in a freak canoeing accident. From writing about this particular incident, Fadiman reflects her own development and maturation as a person, from an “impatient” person to one who is “no longer in a hurry.” However, in a more general sense, the essay also deals with how people react to death. In the seventh paragraph of “Under Water,” Fadiman’s use of personification and the use of a metaphor describing the body of Gary highlights how individuals insistently attempt to detach themselves from death, refusing to accept the truth of the situation, ultimately damaging themselves in the process.
Through this, “Feet in Smoke” allows the reader to “walk in someone else’s shoes” and conveys the cathartic and shared human experience of death and its looming
These devices also develop the theme of coming-of-age and maturity. The excerpt describes describes a transformative moment in which Judd comprehends that he will die, his family will die, and that one must cope with death. This idea is developed through the use of disorganized diction, detailed imagery, and repetition, as Judd’s overwhelmed state is intensified through these devices and thus conveys his sprouting emotional maturity. Through the use of these devices, Judd Mulvaney is characterized as a young, coming-of-age boy, suddenly aware of the brevity of
The fear of dying is something a lot of people are afraid of. However, in the the novel, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, the main character, Morrie accepts death. Morrie was diagnosed with AlS and instead of being depressed for the rest of his life, he accepts the fact and lives the rest of his life to the fullest. When Mitch saw on a TV show from an interview that his old professor was sick, he started visiting him every tuesday. In this novel, the author uses figurative language, dialogue, and flashbacks to display the theme of following the popular culture is not always the best way.
The theme of the story is about the happiness in life so many people have numbed themselves to or feel as though they are forbidden to feel. Through the surprise and ironic death of the protagonist, Oates shows how easily that joy and happiness can disappear or be ripped away. The setting and theme of this story relates to our current society and how individuals within society feel entitled to extreme privacy and personal space and are unable to cope with stress, anxiety and the struggles of everyday life. Oates also depicts and how an invasion of this could trigger irrational reactions to something as small as a
Since The Road is more about the Boy’s journey than his father’s, the supreme ordeal at the end of the novel is the death of the Man. The death of the Man, who acted as the Boy’s mentor during the many challenges faced by the duo, represents the largest and most devastating challenge faced by the Boy. Not only is this due to the fact that the Boy feels unprepared to continue on without his father, but it is also because the “reward” and “road back” are not immediately apparent to the Boy. Compared to even the most challenging obstacles the Boy faced in the past, the death of his father leaves him both physically and mentally pained and exhausted. However, relief from his situation arrives promptly in the form of the stranger who claims to be a “good guy,” though the Boy’s future remains forever uncertain.
Immigration Argumentative works are written to persuade the audience that the writer’s idea is valid, or more valid than someone else’s. Ethos, pathos, and logos are three types of persuasion that are used to persuade the reader to feel a certain way on array of topics from minor affairs to contentious matters. Immigration, for example, has become a controversial topic that many have strong feels about on both sides of the argument. “My Life in the Shadows” by Reyna Wences debates for support of immigration reforms, while “Unskilled Workers Lose Out to Immigrants” by Steven A. Camarota argues that immigration should be restricted.
The father’s wife had recently died, leaving him with the boy to take care of with the only mindset of keeping him alive, doing anything for their survival. This affected the father in a big way, leaving him with little hope and hardly any reason to stay alive, but the boy was “his warrant” (McCarthy 5) , his only reason for life. The boy starts out very scared and weak, always wanting to hide behind his father, knowing that one day he will die. The boy matures with every event that happens, and he maintains to have hope throughout most of them. “The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.
In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part. One of the first apparent emotions the boy experiences with the death of his father is loneliness to make this section memorable. The boy expresses this sentiment when he stays with his father described as, “When he came back he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again,” (McCarthy 281). The definition of loneliness is, “sadness because one has no friends or company.”
There is no comparison to the amount of pain a parent endures when they outlive their child. A tale of woe is what resides after such incident. An endless cycle of grief is exemplified in the short story “Night” by Bret Lott. The way the father in the story pays meticulous attention to detail makes the audience believe that he does not want to forget the existence of his child. He is merely in denial.
Regardless how unique and unparalleled individuals throughout society may seem, there is one inevitable commonality that all of humanity must encounter: death. Don DeLillo presents the inevitability of death through the Gladney family in his post-modern novel White Noise. Through the journey and characterization of protagonist Jack Gladney, readers are capable of recognizing how uncomfortable the subject of death truly is, as well as how individuals repress their fear of dying. However, DeLillo’s also focuses intensely on other aspects of American society, such as consumerism and humanity’s impact on nature, through his unique implementation of literary elements. Analyzing DeLillo’s White Noise through the Marxist, psychoanalytic, environmentalist,
Magical thinking is the anthropological idea that if one performs the right actions, or hopes enough for something, their desired outcome will happen. The concept of “magical thinking” is one of the central ideas discussed in Joan Didion’s memoir The Year of Magical Thinking. This memoir explores the grief experienced by the author after losing her husband of nearly forty years. In no way does Didion try to approach death poetically, but rather honestly and practically. She bravely discusses the universal, yet rarely talked about, aspects of death, such as self pity, regret, isolation, secretly going crazy, and the phenomenon she describes as “magical thinking.”
Death surrounds us everywhere to go, but we try not to directly think of it. Don Delillo discusses the idea of powerless beliefs through realistic life events and the problems that such beliefs has on one’s life. Over the course of the book, White Noise, Delillo speaks about the effects that distress can have on the actions in life. Delillo gives his audience an appreciation of life through the appalling beliefs of the main character, Jack; making you think about your own life. He gives his readers hope that they can live a long happy life though a satisfying conclusion that you when you believe enough you can overcome your fears.
Also included, in this section is the story called “A Cupid’s Disease”. This story tells of a 90-year old woman who had syphilis but rather than choosing to get treated, she chose to stay energetic and live her life without having to take medication. In the transports section, all six chapters deal with patients who have vivid dreams, or unconscious experiences. In “Reminiscence”, Mrs. O’C dreamed of her days as a child in Ireland. This caused her to feel as if she was actually living her childhood over again.
Written by Wystan Hugh Auden in 1940, “As I Walked Out One Evening” is a poem that is complex in many ways, just like Auden was. Born in 1907 England, Auden was from a well-off family, a son to a doctor and a nurse named George and Constance, respectively (#). Raised in a heavily industrialized section of England, Auden was heavily influenced by science and math in his young life (Carpenter #). Up until his career and through his educational career, Auden was interested in the mechanics of the world, how everything worked, but he was not interested in pursuing anything more. He found, after attending college for math and science for a while, that he was more suited for the English language.
