The Era
Note: I accidentally excited out of this tab and a few of my annotations didn't get uploaded. (I wrote them, and then uploaded). But I believe this won't effect much.
54 Matching Annotations
- Feb 2021
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www.guernicamag.com www.guernicamag.comThe Era39
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untruths
I believe this word was used in 1984? or at least something similar. This piece has a lot of parallels with the sort of simple languages used in that novel.
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Jimmy was a shoelooker who cooked his head in a food zapper.
He took his own life, it seems
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Because of them I’m not bottom/last in learning and I don’t wanna be overall bottom/last at all.
There appears to be a theme of an overuse of simple language, as well as repetition. .
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note-screens.
Depending on when this was written, this could be a reference to a dystopian future
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Leslie is always telling lies about how great things are or how nice everyone looks and how everybody is special. Leslie McStowe is one of the least truthful people around
Being nice = lies, in this society
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hey used to do: a man throws three balls into the air, a woman in a dress spins on one leg.
Most likely a dystopian future
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SpeedRead™ chips make reading easy/quick for them. SpeedRead™
Ok its definently a dystopian future
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clouding my truth.
These choice of words further push the belief of an unreliable narrator
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They’re anti-Good, anti-prebirth science, anti-progress
By labeling anyone or any group as an "anti" they automatically come off as bad to the unknowing person
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I say in a voice I imagine would have been regular a long time ago.
His sarcasm seems to have become genuine
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emotionally, like some kind of neck-crane
being emotional is seen as an insult
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because I’m thinking
Ben's thinking more and more
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Water Wars
"Water conflict" is an actual term used to describe "conflict between countries, states, or groups over the rights to access water resources"
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The result was catastrophic/horrific. Then, since the people of the old Federation were mad because of their own truth-clouding, they kept on warring for years and years, and the old Federation became the New Federation that stands proudly today. Later on, when the Amalgamation of Allies suspected a key reservoir had been poisoned, they asked the New Federation if they’d done it. In a stunning act of graciousness and honesty, my New Federation ancestors told the truth, said, “Yeah, we did poison that reservoir,” and in doing so, saved many, many lives, which were later more honorably destroyed via nuclear. The wars going on now, Valid Storm Alpha and the True Freedom Campaign, are valid/true wars because we know we aren’t being emotional fighting them.
Second-guessing the previous statements involving an "unreliable narrator." Either this is all from Ben's over imaginative thinking or the piece takes place in a different time or universe.
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I squeeze my eyes shut so no water can come from them. I try to have some pride.
Ben seems to be very close to becoming a "shoelooker" himself
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I see Samantha log into her class pad: I would have been pretty/beautiful.
The choice of the word "would" in this sentence is odd
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fat, ugly skin sack?
If the narrator is unreliable, then this is a self reflection upon himself
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My mother’s hand sits on my head for a while. Then she turns and leaves
Instead of comforting him she just injects him with more "Good." she was most likely raised in a similar fashion and finds this to be the only way she knows how to show any ounce of affection
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“science and philosopher guys realized that people had been living wrong the whole time before. Sacrificing themselves, their efficiency, and their wants. This made a world of distrust and misfortune, which led to both Big Wars.”
Narrator seems to be unreliable in his retelling, or this teacher should be out of a job
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I wasn’t optimized at all. I am not optimal or ideal. But I’m also not unoptimal,
Average in the sense of optimization
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HowItWas
this means history
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“H-How dow know?” says Samantha, in her broken, deep voice. She is normally quiet. “Mahbe okay.”
Samantha is very emotionally broken
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I think when I should be learning.
Relatable yet depressing how school's stifle basic creativity and thoughtfulness
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I have seen fifteen cycles now.
He's around 15, maybe? Depends on what the "cycles" to years ratio is
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which came after the Big Quick War, which came after the Long Big War
The simplicity of the words coming before war emphasize the narrator's lack of care for the subject
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No one asks where I am going.
His family really doesn't care for his safety
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something important
A shimmer of hope?
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Sometimes I imagine Marlene drowning in a tank of clear water
From shoelookers to people like Ben I feel as if this society has a lot of poorly held in rage and violence
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. I focus on the ground because it doesn’t make me want to disappear as much. The ground on the way there is grey and grey and grey. My shoes are black and grey.
Like a shoelooker
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I’m a full-middler who’s been teaching this stuff for more years than I’m proud of
"Full-middler" doesn't have a definition but it seems to be refering to someone who's completely in the middle of something? Perhaps middle class?
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“Is that the food sector your son killed himself in?” There’s a clang/clack sound from Mother McStowe dropping something on the floor.
I physically cringed
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“I’ve never had cake,” I say. I haven’t. It isn’t something proud people eat. It makes people fat, my mother says, just like the candy the Antis hand out in the streets.
Seems to be a sense of purity culture
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“Today, during a lot of your session, I was thinking about beating you to death with a rock.”
Very blunt and very dark
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shoelookers
This term was mentioned above, it most likely refers to someone who's very simple minded and emotional in the eyes of others
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HowItWas
No spaces causes the words to seem more like a company name or something of that sort
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depending on the package that works for you
Is Leslie's family also trying to sell "Good feelings" with packages?
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“Have you heard the one about the deaf man?”
A depressing yet fitting end to this story. I feel frustrated that there wasn't an end to the madness but at least it ends on a slightly bittersweet note.
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uck one and die,” says Scotty, a tall, mostly-true, kid. “I’m aggressive ’cause I think you don’t know shit.”
Confusing introduction dialogue, but it also creates interest
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enkare.org enkare.org
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Not for the first time, she wished the spirits of her mother and father would help her
Prayer towards unseen forces as a desperate attempt for comfort and safety. Emphasizes how cruel the physical world (her uncle) is towards her/
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The idea bloomed in her mind like a spark on dry kindling.
Idea is unsaid, creating suspense for what she could possibly plan
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She’d light it and the flames would burn her
The pain she feels from her uncle is so severe that she'd rather burn herself than face his wrath. This also parallels the metaphor of his temper being an inferno, since an inferno is much more severe than a slight burn.
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biting, stinging, burning
This group of verbs almost give a sort of life to the flames, causing them to seem even more dangerous in a sense
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it was 3 AM, so he’d missed all the excitement.
Her pain was for nothing since her uncle didn't even notice her.
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But how was Fwadausi to know that her uncle would receive a lofty raise at his job that day? That he would return home so overjoyed that he wouldn’t even notice Fwadausi?
Foreshadowing or possibly false foreshadowing, though it's most likely the former
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djinn
" supernatural creatures mentioned in Islamic theology. "
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seeing fire around every corner
The incident was traumatic for her
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arely gave her money
Lack of money results in a more caring nature for gifted items despite low monetary value
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we worry about most don’t happen and what we should worry about are often those very things we never imagine
Parallel emphasizing how common it is to lean into anxiety and ignorance for contrasting situations
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Nollywood
from the Nigerian film industry
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best to stay out of her uncle’s way
Fear creates distance between family members
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the filthy furry
Some sort of animal? Possibly some sort of rodent?
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This story is based on the news story below, the only story out there to remember the girl named Fwadausi Bello, who was so afraid of her uncle. I wanted to write her into story and in that story give her power, a future and triumph.
The piece honors the deceased girl by giving her a happy end, an alternate life
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It was due to a stupid thing done in a fit of panic that Fwadausi Bello altered her life forever.
Begins with a hook, resulting in an immediate questioning of what had occurred
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