glammering gold chains around the throat of pity,
Visual imagery to show how the riches and gold hide the true phenomenon of these men and what society has done to them. As if the narrartor is able to hide the pain by covering it in what society believes to be tangible values on people.
How to hulk through Chicago in a hedgerow afro, an ox-grunt kicking dust behind the teeth
The author is questioning what the directors were trying to teach young children.
What were we, the skinny B-boys, to learn from you?
The author is making critical comments about Mr. T and the men he worked for who made Mr. T out to be a poor role model to the black youth.
Sometimes drugged & duffled (by white men) into a cockpit bound for the next adventure.
It sounds like a person of color being taken advantage of by white men. "drugged" and "duffled" in a literal sense refers to kidnappings, so I believe the author may use this implied metaphor to represent a person being coerced into something for the benefit of someone else.
A man made of scrap muscle & the steam engine’s imagination,
The author uses personification in a metaphorical way to describe a mans physical characteristics and possibly mentality with the use "steam engine's imagination."
she would open her eyes and think of the place that was hers for an hour-where she was nothing,
The poem shows the devices of an elegy. The mother is showing her physical and mental exhaustion. As expected, she feels hopeless and sad, while dreaming of a better life.
And just what was mother doing out back with the field mice?
The child does not yet have the ability to understand why her mom may need some alone time to herself. The child does not mean this to be unsympathetic, she just simply does not understand the emotion at play. This is suggesting that the child is very young.
slumped
The mother is referring to the child's doll in a physical way, but the using the word "Slumped" has a connotation for being extremely tired or asleep. This could possibly be projecting on how she feels.
Other days she starred until she was assured when she closed her eyes
The visual imagery used in this sentence compared to the one behind it, speaking of what she enjoyed watching outside, shows a huge contrast. The tired mother describes day where the exhaustion is so heavy that all she wants to do is close her eyes and focus on nothing.
Sometimes there were things to watch- the pinched armor of a vanished cricket, a floating maple leaf.
Visual imagery to show readers what she enjoys watching when she needs rest. It makes readers feel connected to her feelings.
So she lugged a chair behind the garage to sit out the children’s naps.
It shows the exhaustion and need to escape
She wanted a little room for thinking: but she saw diapers steaming on the line,
A theme of realism sets the tone for the poem. It shows the struggle of a mother who wants a break from her surrounding, but it is hard to get away from.
flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. —
visual immagery to describe a man who inhaled gas.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!
exclamation of immediate danger
Men marched asleep.
Oxymoron
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
The overall first segment uses conceit poetic devices. We see this with numerous metaphors to describe the conditions.
deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
The soldiers are numb to gunshots surrounding them as they have been used to this constant state for a while.
Drunk with fatigue;
Extreme tiredness
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Visual imagery to describe the soldiers physical state.
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Strong visual and auditory devices used to show the depth of what they poem is trying to convey.
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
Visual elements for readers to visualize what is about to happen
"I don’t know. Something." She shrugged, knitting her brows togetherfor an instant. "Would you like a piece of gum, Mr. Kapasi?" she askedbrightb: She reached into her straw bag and handed him a small squarewrapped in green-and-white-striped paper. As soon as Mr. Kapasi put thegum in his m~uth a thick sweet liquid burst onto his tongue."Tell us more about your job, Mr. Kapasi," Mrs. Das said."What would you llke to know, madame?""I don’t know," she shrugged, munching on some puffed rice and lick-ing the mustard oil from the corners of her mouth. "Tell us a typical situ-ation." She settled back in her seat, her head tilted in a patch of sun, andclosed her eyes. "I want to picture what happens."
Mrs. Das has acted very uninterested in the trip with her family, however seems eager to talk to Mr. Kapasi. I noted earlier in the text that the author made a specific note about how Mrs. Das smiled politely when meeting him, but didn't show any interest. I thought it was odd that it was written in such way, but could this possibly connect and have a meaning.
Her confession depressedhim, depressed him all the more when he thought of Mr. Das at the topof the path, Tina clinging to his shoulders, taking pictures of ancientmonastic cells~ut into the hills to show his students in America, unsus-pecting and unaware that one of his sons was not his own.
Mr. Kapasi feels conflicted with his own morality.
ignoring her husband’s requests that she pose foranother picture,
Again, aloof to her husband and family.
The promise that he would hear from Mrs. Das now filled him with thesame belief.
Mr. Kapasi definitely has feelings towards her.
"They all do that here, dummy," Ronny said."Don’t call your brother a dummy," Mr. Das sai
Mr. Das seems to parent the two older boys better than his younger daughter. I wonder if it has something to do with gender or age, maybe both?
Mrs. Das reached into herstraw bag and pulled out a bottle of colorless nail polish, which she pro-ceeded to stroke on the tip of her index finger
It is a strange place to paint nails
"mD~" in yellow letters and looked as if it had beenpublished abroad
It had been made known they are foreigners
Mrs. Das, lbr her part, had flexed one side of her mouth, smil-ing dutif~ally at Mr. Kapasi, without displaying any interest in him
Author specifically noted Mrs. Das smiled politely as it was customary, but without showing any interest in him. Could this imply a later theme in the text?
Eventually Mrs. Das relented when Mr. Das pointed out thathe had given the girl her bath the night before
This could point to gender stereotypes as the husband immediately alluded to the fact that he had previously cared for the daughter and now believes it to be the Wife's responsibility, instead of taking equal action to care for their child.
she readily admits that she feels neither Indian nor American
Culture will be a defining theme in the story. It seems it will narrate both cultures and how they blend together in Lahiri's life.
Men killed, and died, because they wereembarrassed not to.
During the time it was seen as brave for men to go to war. This act brought them tremendous respect that otherwise would not have occurred. People need to feel respected and appreciated for who they are and many make sacrifices, as such to gain it.
and the warwas entirely a matter of posture and carriage,
O'brien describes the war as something that is based on how it presents itself, rather than the reason it is happening.
They all carried ghosts.
I believe the word "ghost" is representative of memories from their lives back home.
not like the movies where the dead guyrolls around and does fancy spins and goes ass over teakettle—not like that, Kiowa said, the poor bastard just flat-fuck fell.Boom. Down. Nothing else
visual imagery used to depict death in war.
He pictured Martha's smoothyoung face, thinking he loved her more than anything, morethan his men, and now Ted Lavender was dead because heloved her so much and could not stop thinking about her.
Cross admits his distractions of Martha causes him to loose focus. Thus, he blames himself for Lavender's death and feels a strong sense of guilt.
knowing her tongue hadbeen there.
Lieutenant Cross deeply misses Martha and reminisces on their time together. He holds the only physical connection to her very close.
I won't let nothing happen to Sonny."
The narrator making a strong promise to his mother to always watch over Sonny no matter what happens and to always be there for him
And thank God she was there, for I was filled with that icy dread again.
Repeated visual metaphor to describe emotion from previous page.
It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending trickles of ice water all up and down my veins, but it never got less.
The use of a visual metaphor using strong adjectives gives readers an imaged depiction of the raw emotion the narrator is feeling. In this case, the narrator is feeling as though something is intuitively going wrong.
You mean he'll never kick the habit. Is that what you mean?" "That's right," he said, cheerfully.
The man (Sonny's friend) does not believe Sonny would be able to rid of his drug addiction. He believes he will repeat the process of going back to jail.
"Look. Don't tell me your sad story, if it was up to me, I'd give you one." Then I felt guilty- guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own
The narrator had been disturbed by the conversation with sonny's friend that he feels resentment towards the man. He nips back with a spiteful comment, however, immediately feels bad and realizes the man may have has personal issues his past. The narrator is educated about how people react and grow based on their given situations.