The Great Gatsby - 3

"Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes." pg. 86

Up to this point, Gatsby has been described as a well put together, confident man. But, now that he is about to see Daisy, the love of his life, for the first time in years, he becomes nervous and clumsy.The simile, "pale as death," emphasizes how significant his nerves are. I don't understand why he is so nervous though. He is a well educated, sophisticated man with many spectacular accomplishments.The fact that he is so nervous though makes me respect him even more. I think that this shows that his feelings for Daisy are sincere. He has proper intentions and desires to be with her. However this is not just a physical, male satisfying desire. He seems to have real feelings for her and really respects her. I don't foresee Gatsby mistreating her like Tom does.

 

Tone 3: Getting Out

"We held on tight, and let go." line 24

The poem begins with the simile, "walking like inmates." This immediately implies confinement and unhappiness. It seems that this couple was once very much in love, but when they began living together, tension grew. Its like they couldn't adjust to living in each others lives daily. This is reflected by the tone, which is one of stress and unhappiness. After awhile of trying to coexist, "exhausted, we gave up." The end of this poem is rather sad. The couple seems to have rushed their relationship to quickly. Maybe they didn't know everything they needed to know about each other before getting married. Despite the way the couple treated each other, I think they deeply cared for one another. I thought this from the line, "Yet I think of the lawyer's bewilderment when we cried, the last day." By the way the couple acted, the lawyer was shocked they had any feelings for each other at all. I think their parting was bittersweet. Even though they loved each other, they needed to be apart.

4. Sorting Laundry

"Folding clothes, I think of folding you into my life." line 1

In this poem, I think sorting laundry is an extended metaphor for the woman trying to figure out what she wants. As she is folding the laundry, she is sorting the details of wanting to be with a man. The speaker uses many similes and metaphors to express that what the woman wants is the man in her life. It seems to me that this couple has had a pretty rocky relationship, and the woman is fighting to keep it together. Each simile/metaphor is an argument for why she wants to be with him. "All those wrinkles to be smoothed" refers to the issues they need to work out. "is tough to discard" is representing how hard it would be for the woman to let him and their memories together go. "In pockets, surprises" is the connection that will grow between them in time. As they continue to get to know each other, there will be surprises that will bring them closer. In the end, the woman realizes that what she wants is for them to be together. But, through the line, "left by a former lover. . . ." we see the woman is afraid the man will leave her. The end of the poem ties the metaphor of laundry together. Not being with this man will be like "a mountain of unsorted wash."

Figurative Language 1- Dream Deferred

"Or does it explode?" line 11

"Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes uses a combination of similes and a metaphor to describe the loss of an aspiration. In each simile, a deferred dream is compared to something unpleasant or with a negative connotation. The similes seem to represent individually negative aspects of a lost dream. The metaphor on the other hand, seems to encompass the similes into one. The metaphor compares the dream to an exploding bomb. When I think of a bomb exploding, I hear the ticks that count down to the explosion. To me, each simile seems to represent one tick, and the metaphor is the explosion itself. I think this makes sense because the metaphor has the most emphasis in the poem. A lost dream is an utter explosion to the person who lost it. The dried raisin, festering sore, rotten meat and heavy load are merely branches that build up the suspense of the ultimate explosion or loss of the dream.

Never Let Me Go 8

"As soon as I said this I realised I'd made a mistake; that until I'd mentioned these two, I'd had Ruth in a corner, but now she was out. It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you made..." pg. 124

There is a change made in part two. Eight of the Hailsham students arrive at the Cottages. I think the Cottage is designed as a place for maturing before entering the real world. However, as seen by the simile above, the new students need to mature much more before they are ready to venture on their own. The dynamics of the Cottage reminds me of the dynamics of high school. Kathy and her friends arrive at the Cottage as freshman. They are very insecure and scared, because they aren't used to the situation around them. They do everything that they can to prove that they have matured, even going as far as mimicking the upper class men, but it is very evident they are stuck in their middle school ways. Ruth and the rest of the eight are consumed with the child like mind games they partook in at Hailsham. I'm wondering if they, and anyone else for that matter, will ever be able to mature into adults. Or, is everyone truly a "child" deep down?

Brave New World 17

"Twins, twins. . . Like maggots they had swarmed defilingly over the mystery of Linda's death." pg. 209

This simile expresses John's true disgust and hatred with the World State. In realizing his feelings about this place, he decides to take action. I'm glad to see that someone is able to see past all the lying and superficial happiness and is willing to attempt to stop it. While reading this chapter, my initial feeling that this society was a cult was reemphasized. The workers are brainwashed into liking their minimal role in society. Then, when someone tries to help them become free, the police come and arrest the person (John) and fill the air with soma so that everyone is "happy." How is this society not a cult? I finally understand the purpose to this novel now. John is sent to help free the citizens in the World State. Without him, the people will never experience what it is like to connect to someone, to be a free man, or to have a soul.  John, like myself, realizes that the main element of brainwashing is soma. In order to rescue the people, he will have to find a way to either eliminate all the soma, or convince the people that they do not have to depend on it.