an ox-grunt kicking dust behind the teeth;
This metaphor is very powerful as it perfectly describes the stereotypes that were put on them at the time. This line makes me feel like he meant aggressive and about to pounce but controlled in a way. ALmost like people look at him through scared eyes that feel like he might attack at any time. it is sad to think that he has to write this to explain how he or others may feel
What were we, the skinny B-boys, to learn from you? How to hulk through Chicago in a hedgerow afro, an ox-grunt kicking dust behind the teeth; those eighteen glammering gold chains around the throat of pity, that fat hollow medallion like the sun on a leash
This whole end of the poem continues to dig deeper into the imagery the author is creating by using descriptive words such as, "hulk", "hedgerow", "glammering gold chains", "hollow", etc. All of these words give the reader a great image of how this man is viewed in the world... intimidating.
And liable to crush a fool’s face like newsprint; headlines of Hollywood blood and wincing.
Here the author is using the similie "Crush a fools face like newsprint" to give the idea that this is a strong african american man that people of hollywood (wealthy white people) might look at as scary or violent.
Sometimes drugged & duffled (by white men) into a cockpit bound for the next adventure
here I feel that the author is using this and the specification of white men doing this, to describe that the character isn't white while giving the imagery of him being pushed around a bit
white feathers flapping in each lobe for the skull’s migration,
this makes me picture a man with some sort of white feathery earrings as a culture thing
A man made of scrap muscle
This quote here makes me picture a man with lean muscle that doesn't look like he sculpted them (by going to the gym or something).
…
This poem seems to be a free verse
for an hour-where she was nothing, pure nothing, in the middle of the day….
This mom wants to be "nothing" and the author uses the word of "being nothing" to symbolize that she has no responsibility
And just what was mother doing out back with the field mice? Why, building a palace
I think the author includes what the daughter thinks of her mom out back because she doesnt understand that her mom is just trying to gather some time for herself. To the little girl, her mom isn't tired and I can see her daughter wondering that if she was, why wouldn't she take a nap too? This shows the daughters lack of understandinf of how hard being a mom is
she’d see only her own vivid blood.
this line here has me a little confused. Is this something she may be dreaming?
lugged
using the word "lugged" here gives the reader a great sense of how she moved the chair. It suggests that she had to use a lot of energy to move it. This strengthens the authors imagery in showing that the character is tired
She wanted a little room for thinking: but she saw diapers steaming on the line, a doll slumped behind the door.
This first line gives me the impression that she is a tired mother
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
he is saying that the glory of war is too exaggerated. There is nothing "glorious" of this moment here which is the true happenings of war. He feels that children shouldn't see it as glorious because it has scarred the narrator
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
again, very descriptive. He uses such extreme detail and examples that it makes the reader kind of cringe or want to look away even though there is nothing to look away from except some words on a page. This is how he creates such an impactful poem
like a devil’s sick of sin
here, Owen is using another very descriptive simile that is being used to paint the image of what is going on at this time, specifically of his friend getting gassed in war. This would be a horrible sight and he writes it in a way that gives the reader a great feel of what it would be like and how it would look.
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
the use of the word "writhing" to describe his eyes gives me a gross image of what the man could be looking like at this moment. Highly descriptive
In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
Has he dreamed of this sort of thing happening to one of his fellow men? And then it happened?
thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning
This line here has got me confused. The author went from a pretty broad topic, to a small focused topic really quick. And why is there green light?
panes
what does panes mean?
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime
Using a simile such as this gives a great image of how the men must be almost crazily running around
fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
the meaning of using the word ecstay in the place of "disoriented" is reassured here as he continues to use words such as "fumbling", "clumsy", "stumbling"
ecstasy
the word "ecstasy" is a very strong descriptive word. I immediately understood that it might be used as a stronger way to say "disoriented"
All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind
This describes well how tired they all must be while marching through war. Even in this first paragraph, the author never stated that they were in a way or that they were soldiers. However, I was able to grasp that from the metaphorically and detailed focused paragraph
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.
This is a very strong metaphor used to describe how the men are feeling as they march. I feel that I am able to picture the men, their faces, their emotions, and their posture. This gives me a better understanding of the setting
like old beggars under sacks
this quote is the vehicle for what the men are feeling as they march
This is persimmons, Father.
here we can begin to see how the author is using the chinese fruit to stand for painful memories of cultural barriers as seen with the classroom and how he just wtached and also a close connection to his blind father that is finally tied in here
Some things never leave a person: scent of the hair of one you love, the texture of persimmons, in your palm, the ripe weight
persimmons are obviously being used figuratively and literaraly as it is described closely to people and the actual fruit
Oh, the feel of the wolftail on the silk, the strength, the tense precision in the wrist.
very descriptive
precision
the author continues to describe persimmons closely with precision.
I gave him the persimmons, swelled, heavy as sadness, and sweet as love
the author is using persimmons for many different purposes as to use what a persimmon is as how it relates to a person or human traits
Once, in the cellar, I found two wrapped in newspaper, forgotten and not yet ripe.
the cellar? what cellar
My mother made birds out of yarn. I loved to watch her tie the stuff; a bird, a rabbit, a wee man.
The author is using the meaning of these words to uniquely add deeper meaning to a more personal event in his life. He seems to be using these words to elaborate more on what it could mean in every sense of the word in regards to a memory or action he participated in
How to eat: put the knife away, lay down newspaper. Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat. Chew the skin, suck it, and swallow. Now, eat the meat of the fruit, so sweet, all of it, to the heart.
I wonder if the detail in how to eat a persimmon is going to be relevant as an example or a metaphor for something else
persimmons
I had to look up on google what this word actually means and I found out what it actually is. It is " edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, Diospyros kaki – among the most commonly human-grown fruit trees on Earth."
I find this interesting that it is the mist commonly grown fruit tree on earth as I have never heard of it before
persimmon and precision
these words come up pretty early in the poem and the Persimmon word is even the title. I feel that the difference of these two words are going to be vital to the theme of the poem
When she whipped out the hairbrush, the slip of paper with Mr. Kapasi’saddress on it fluttered away in the wind. No one but Mr. Kapasi noticed.He watched as it rose, carried higher and higher by the breeze, into thetrees where th~ monkeys now sat, solemnly observing the scene below.Mr. Kapasi observed it too, knowing that this was the picture of the Dasfamily he would preserve forever in his mind.[1999]29
I think its sweet that mr kapasi said he would preserve their family in his mind. Not just Mrs. Das. i think that shows how mature and moral the man is
Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das,or is it guilt?
this is powerful as it asks the question the reader has been thinking and wanting to know her answer
Not that. Your other job. As an interpreter.
she is desperate to understand her own feelings, confusion, and guilt and just wants somoene else to tell her, so she doesnt have to think about it and blame it on herself
Not quite." It disturbed Mr. Kapasi to learn that she thought of himas a parent. The feeling he had had toward her, that had made him checkhis reflection in the rearview mirror as they drove, evaporated a littl
Mr kapasi is realizing that many of his thoughts and feelings about/toward mrs das were al due to a fake fantasy of who she was in his head
n "We mar-ried when we were still in college. We were in high school when he pro-poged
she is blaming her cheating on her husband on the fact that they have just been together a long time and maybe she didnt know wjhat she wanted?
"Raj’s. He’s not Raj’s son.
so she has already cheated on her husband, what would stop her from cheating on him again with this other guy? and would he be ok getting with theat type of person
almost delirious with relief. He did notknow what he would do or say to Mrs. Das once they arrived at the hills.Perhaps he would tell her what a pleasing smile she had. Perhaps hewould compliment her strawberry shirt, which he found irresistiblybecoming. Perhaps, when Mr. Das was busy taking a picture, he wouldtake her hand
I wonder if most of this is in his head and i=he thinks Mrs. Das feels similarly, although she may not
Mr. Das continued to read his book.
Mr Das is oblivious to this whole thing is seems
Accord-ing to his schedule, allowing room for delays, he would hear from Mrs.Das in approximately six weeks’ time
he really cares, to be counting this exactly
understood Surya’s beauty, his power. Perhaps they would discuss it fur-ther in their letters. He would explain things to her, things about India,and she would explain things to him about America. In its own way thiscorrespondence would fulfill his dream, of serving as an interpreterbetween nations.
mr kapasi wants to have some sort of relationship with mrs das for the long term. I feel that this could be more so because she appreciates him where he doesnt feel appreciated
Mr. Kapasi, wait. There’s room here," Mrs. Das called o
was this out of respect or possible feelings?
For this reason it flattered Mr. Kapasi that Mrs. Das was so intriguedby his job. Unlike.t’ds wife, she had reminded him of its intellectual chablenges.
are any feelings coming between mr kapasi and mrs. das? They seem to have a lot of emotional interaction
He knew itreminded her of the son she’d lost, and that she resented the other liveshe helped, in his own small way, to save.
his wife resented him for something that wasnt his fault. Another reason he feels that his job is a failure
e had taken the ,job as an interpreter after his first son, at the age o[seven, contracted typhoid
does he partially blame himself for any part of his sons death?
. Mr, Kapasi knew it was not a remark-able talent. Sometimes he feared that his children knew better Englishthan he did, just from watching television. Still, it came in handy for thetours.
This realization for mr kapasi may make him feel less educated as he had to try to learn something and his kids naturally picked it up from a television show
The ,job was a sign of his failings
Its an awfully good and should-be-rewarding job, however, because it reminds him of his failings, to him it is nothing
"In a way, more dependenton you than the doctor."
I like that the author chose to write this part in. It really highlights the importance of mr kapasi's job
"But so romantic," Mrs. Das said dreamily, breaking her extendedsilence. She lifted her pinkish brown sunglasses and arranged them ontop of her head like a tiara. For the first time, her eyes met Mr. Kapasi’sin the rearview min’or:
I think this ties back to her once "uninterested smile"
Mr. Das took a pictureof a barefoot man, his head wrapped in a dirly turban, seated on top of acart of grain sacks pulled by a pair of bullocks. Both the man and thebullocks were emaciated. In
I think that in a way this is rude as it may feel to the man being photographed, that he is some sort of zoo animal to these americans. I think this may continue to be a pattern later on in the story and may be a character building point later
"Isn’t this an air-conditioned car?" she asked, still blowing on herhand. The window on Tina’s side was broken and could not be rolleddown
Mrs. Das is very self centered and seems stuck up
date trees. Mr. and Mrs. Das behaved like an older brother and sister, notparents. It seemed that they were in charge of the children only for theday; it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anythingother than themselves.
This seems very important as it adds to the image of two of the main characters. Despite having three children, they are still selfish and dont seem responsible
"Leave me alone," Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning herbody slightly. "You’re making me mess up."
this seems full of rejection. I feel here that the author is adding to the implication that there may be a dysfunctional relationship between the mother and the daughter for some reason
While Mr. Das adjusted his telephoto lens, 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
I think this is a strange time to have began to paint her nails? I wonder if the addition of this sentence is more meant to begin to add depth to her character, than to make the most sense realistically
. In a way we have a lot incommon, you could say, you and I.
not sure the similarities he is seeing here
Mr. Kapasi found it strange that Mr. Das should refer to his wifeby her first name when speaking to the little girl
I wonder if calling her by her first name was purposeful or if it was by accident
Oh, Mina and I were both born in America," Mr. Das announced withan air of sudden confidence.
I think its great that they said this with confidence as I felt from the writing earlier in the story, that they might have been a little embarassed that they didnt know they "home" country better
e. He woregray trousers and a matching jacket-style shirt, tapered at the waist, withshort sleeves and a large pointed collm; made of a thin but durable syn-
In this sentence we can see how the author is comparing and contrasing the das family to Mr kapasi. The author seems to do this quite often
Mr. Das squeezed hands like an American so that Mr. Kapasi felt it inhis elbow. 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
I feel that the description of the "american customs" are going to come back later
Lahiri received a B.A. from Barnard College and applied unsuccess-fully to several graduate creative writing programs. She took a job as aresearch assistant and in her free time mornings and evenings in theoffice worked on her first book of short fiction. Soon she was acceptedinto Boston University’s creative writing program; finishing there, shetook a Ph.D. in Renaissance Studies and continued to ~vrite stories. Be-tween 1993 and t997 she won several fiction prizes. By 1997 she de-cided that she wished to work on fiction full-time, and was admittedinto the Fine Arts Work Center at Provincetown. In seven months shehad hired an agent, sold her first book, and published a story in TheNew Yorker. Her first book, Interpreter of Maladies (1999), a collectionof nine stories, one-thlrd of which had appeared in The New Yorker,won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000. Her first novel, The Namesake,appeared in 200
I like all of this background information included
she feels neither Indian nor American
I feel that this may show up later in the text with internal conflict
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross reminded himselfthat his obligation was not to be loved but to lead. He woulddispense with love; it was not now a factor. And if anyonequarreled or complained, he would simply tighten his lips andarrange his shoulders in the correct command posture.
the death of his friend under his watch really woke him up to love his men more than his dreams
He loved her but he hated her.
he realized it will never happen and hes mad at himself for caring so much and blaming it on her, thus hating her.
On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First LieutenantJimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burnedMartha's letters. Then he burned the two photographs.
the reality of the death of a friend woke him up to what was more important; the people he was with now and not the person he wishes he was with
Men killed, and died, because they wereembarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war inthe first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor,just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to dieof embarrassment.
I think this is powerful as this shows that being scared emotionally based off a societal standard can scare you more than the reality of death
They wereafraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it.
This is sad. The men are in such a dangerous position and are still afraid to show that they were scared.
Lying there, Kiowa admiredLieutenant Jimmy Cross's capacity for grief. He wanted toshare the man's pain, he wanted to care as Jimmy Cross cared.
Jimmy cross is more than a leader in the physical sense, he is a leader emotionally too as he lets his true emotions show
He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha morethan his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead,
I think this line is powerful because it shows how his lack of attention in the war resulted in one of his men dying. However, the reader knows that Jimmy didn't kill lavender, someone else did. So its not really his fault. This line shows the power of guilt for someone in a position of leadership
They carried USO stationery and pencils and pens. Theycarried Sterno, safety pins, trip flares, signal flares, spools ofwire, razor blades, chewing tobacco, liberated joss sticks andstatuettes of the smiling Buddha, candles, grease pencils, TheStars and Stripes, fingernail clippers, Psy Ops leaflets, bushhats, bolos, and much mor
i like how the author continuously throughout the story updates what they were all carrying. It helps give the reader an idea of how life and situations are changing and it is shown here in the story through how the items they carries changed
ee Strunk made a funny ghost sound, a kind of moaning,yet very happy, and right then, when Strunk made that highhappy moaning sound, when he went Ahhooooo, right thenTed Lavender was shot in the head on his way back frompeeing. He lay with his mouth open. The teeth were broken.There was a swollen black bruise under his left eye
I like how the author here went from telling of a happy, relieving moment in war to the horrors of war very quickly. I feel that this was meant to show how quickly war can change. There may be moments of happiness but it can turn around quicker than you could imagine
Worms, Rat Kiley said. Right out of the grave. Fuckin'zombie.
I wonder why there is no use of quotation marks with his dialogue
she dancedalone—and it was the aloneness that filled him with love
I find this sentence very intriguing, however, the complete meaning of it, I cant seem to grasp entirely
daydreams, just pretending,
Martha seems to be the only thing that carries Jimmy through the war
It was thisseparate-but-together quality, she wrote, that had inspired herto pick up the pebble and to carry it in her breast pocket forseveral days, where it seemed weightless, and then to send itthrough the mail, by air, as a token of her truest feelings forhim. Lieutenant Cross found this romantic.
Here again, it is seen that Martha seems to care and think about Jimmy more than an average friend would. I feel that this being included in the story alludes to Martha having romantic feelings about Jimmy
Heremembered kissing her good night at the dorm door.
so they dated and it mustve not worked out
Lieutenant Cross wondered who had takenthe picture,
how did he get this picture?
SOP
what does SOP mean
t weighed 5 pounds including the liner andcamouflage cover. They carried the standard fatigue jacketsand trousers. Very few carried underwear. On their feet theycarried jungle boots—2.1 pounds—and Dave Jensen carriedthree pairs of socks and a can of Dr. Scholl's foot powder as aprecaution against trench foot. Until he was shot, Ted Lavendercarried 6 or 7 ounces of premium dope
I think that the author writing in this level of detail, wanted to show how heavy their packs were to begin to show how hard they had it out there
hewas an English major at Mount Sebastian, and she wrotebeautifully about her professors and roommates and midtermexams, about her respect for Chaucer and her great affectionfor Virginia Woolf. She often quoted lines of poetry; she nevermentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself.
Martha taking time to write all of this, seems to possibly have some romantic feelings toward Jimmy
Martha
I feel that with Martha being mentioned here in the first sentence, she will probably make a big impact on the overall story
You got a real musician in your family," and he took his arm from Sonny's shoulder and slapped him, lightly, affectionately, with the back of his hand. "Well. Now I've heard it all," said a voice behind us. This was another musician, and a friend of Sonny's, a coal-black, cheerful-looking man built close to the ground. He immediately began confiding to me, at the top of his lungs, the most terrible things about Sonny, his teeth gleaming like a lighthouse and his laugh coming up out of him like the beginning of an earthquake. And it turned out that everyone at the bar knew Sonny, or almost everyone- some were musicians, working there, or nearby, or not working, some were simply hangers- on, and some were there to hear Sonny play. I was introduced to all of them and they were all very polite to me. Yet, it was clear that, for them I was only Sonny's brother. Here, I was in Sonny's world. Or, rather: his kingdom. Here, it was not even a question that his veins bore royal blo
I think its cool that sonny ended up having this strong presence in his own little world by being a musician. This seems to have really opened up his brothers eyes
I sensed, I don't know how, that I couldn't possibly say no. "Sure. Where?" He sat down on the sofa and picked up his notebook and started leafing through it. "I'm going to sit in with some fellows in a joint in the Village." "You mean, you're going to play, tonight?" "That's right." He took a swallow of his beer and moved back to the window. He gave me a sidelong look. "If you can stand it.
I think its great to see that they are getting to a point of trusting each other again emotionally. This can clearly be seen as sonny is reaching out to his big brother to see him play again
My trouble made his real
Im glad he admits that it was his own experience with suffering that made him understand his brothers
I didn't like the way he carried himself, loose and dreamlike all the time, and I didn't like his friends, and his music seemed to be merely an excuse for the life he led. It sounded just that weird and disordered
he felt that sonny wasn't living up to what he is worth but is failing to realize that sonny living his dream is worth everything if hes happy
He pulled away. "I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.
he feels ignored by his brother
"It don't," said Sonny, with dignity, "make any difference to me. I don't care what you listen to. Don't do me no favors.
Sonny is clearly hurt
He looked more helpless than ever, and annoyed, and deeply hurt.
with their mom just dying and this sudden disappointment in his dream, I think this interaction caused a lot of emotional distance between the two brothers
"You mean, you want to be a drummer?" I somehow had the feeling that being a drummer might be all right for other people but not for my brother Sonny.
he didnt feel that being a musician was good enough for sonny and I think when he remembered his promise he made to his mother, he felt that he needed a stronger opinion on what he should do with his life to uphold his promise
"It ain't a question of his being a good boy," Mama said, "nor of his having good sense. It ain't only the bad ones, nor yet the dumb ones that gets sucked under."
this shows the strong impact that the community had on the children, even if they were smart and good kids
t's always at the hour of trouble and confrontation that the missing member aches
who's the missing member?
I had heard the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he walked from our mother straight to me. I caught him just before he fell when he took the first steps
with his parents dead, it seems that the narrator was almost his brothers caretaker
with me being a musician.
he is a musician and seems to not feel support towards his career choice by his brother
hen I finally did, it was just after my little girl died,
it seems as though he didn't truly think about maybe why his brother took drugs and suffered in that way. he ignored him when his brother needed support. Now the narrator is only reaching out, it seems, when he is suffering
They'll send him away some place and they'll try to cure him." He shook his head. "Maybe he'll even think he's kicked the habit. Then they'll let him loose"-he gestured, throwing his cigarette into the gutter. "That's all."
sonny doesn't seem to have been "hung" like it said earlier. That must have been used to describe sonny getting caught. He seems to be going to rehab
"I thought Sonny was a smart boy, I thought he was too smart to get hung.
did sonny die?
But now, abruptly, I hated him
maybe because he influenced his brother into drugs
was always high and raggy.
perhaps this friend of Sonny's influenced his use with drugs
. I almost called his name.
the narrator is desperate
Perhaps I was listening to them because I was thinking about my brother and in them I heard my brother. And myself.
I found this line powerful as the narrator is seeking anything to remind him of his brother in an admirable way but also finding within the negative things he's hearing, the way he feels about the situation
Maybe it did more for them than algebra could
I feel that the narrator is sensing a feeling of hopelessness with the situation with Sonny and is letting it affect his ability to continue finding the purpose in his job
It was not to be believed and I kept telling myself that
he was so distraught that he was trying to convince himself it wasn't real