The poet, DonnaVorreye, cleverly compares words to wallflowers. She alludes to the fact that words can be like distant on lookers or “shy shadows” at a dance that do not participate in the activities, but long to be a part of the action. Words, like girls at a dance, do not want to be ignored but rather asked to dance or used in a literary work or common dialect. The author personifies words because they want to be noticed, just like humans would like to be. The poem “Wallflowers” suggests that it is importance to want to choose the best word to communicate and express one’s thoughts. It is necessary to appreciate a word’s nuance when using it for there can be great satisfaction in having chosen the perfect word to describe a person, thing, or situation. Vorreyer points out that if people do not have a love of words and use them, many words could disappear from our modern language. This would be a great loss as each word has its special meaning and helps people express their thoughts. In another way, words that are left hanging on the wall are detrimental to writers and readers because the art of writing cannot be fulfilled without them.
Vorreyer’s desire to keep words alive by taking unused words and turning them into “blooming flowers” made me better understand the need to learn vocabulary. Our weekly vocabulary tests broaden our knowledge and appreciation for words. By learning new words, we can more effectively communicate. When we take the vocabulary tests, we have to write the words, define them, and use them in a sentence. By doing this, we make the words “ours”, we give them a “home”, and we give them a chance to “bloom”.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
I Stand Here Ironing
“I Stand Here Ironing” is a short story about a mother who realizes that she did not give her daughter all the attention she needed, nor did she show all the affection she should have during her childhood, and as a result, her daughter has trouble fitting into society and is in a state of depression.
Level One Question:
What is Emily’s gift?
Level Two Question:
Why is “Somebody” capitalized on page 15?
Level Three Question:
Do you think affection and love are vital like the story implies?
The theme of this short story is that it is often human nature to put work and yourself ahead of others and loved ones. By doing this, loved ones often feel neglected, which causes them to become depressed and have flat personalities that could have been fixed through love and affection.
Emily “was a child seldom smiled at”. Instead of taking time to talk to Emily to see how she was feeling and what she wanted, her mother would try think how to “iron out” the problems between herself and her daughter. Her mom could not deal with Emily’s moodiness, which was caused by her feeling alienated from society, so she sent Emily to boarding school and to live with relatives. All of this moving is one of the sources to why Emily had a rough childhood, especially through the years when her personality and self-esteem were supposed to develop. This caused Emily to feel like she did not fit into society and this in turn caused her to have little confidence. In addition to feeling alienated, Emily was deprived of affection. The boarding school that she attended rejected showing any affection. Not only would the school not allow her to have any possessions or to keep letters from her family that would be of sentimental value, it believed in maintaining an “invisible wall” between parents and their children to prevent love or affection. These things caused Emily to have a nervous condition, even to the point where she would no longer eat. Emily was in a state of depression with no love and no one to care for her. This caused her to start acting, which was her way of becoming “Somebody”.
Level One Question:
What is Emily’s gift?
Level Two Question:
Why is “Somebody” capitalized on page 15?
Level Three Question:
Do you think affection and love are vital like the story implies?
The theme of this short story is that it is often human nature to put work and yourself ahead of others and loved ones. By doing this, loved ones often feel neglected, which causes them to become depressed and have flat personalities that could have been fixed through love and affection.
Emily “was a child seldom smiled at”. Instead of taking time to talk to Emily to see how she was feeling and what she wanted, her mother would try think how to “iron out” the problems between herself and her daughter. Her mom could not deal with Emily’s moodiness, which was caused by her feeling alienated from society, so she sent Emily to boarding school and to live with relatives. All of this moving is one of the sources to why Emily had a rough childhood, especially through the years when her personality and self-esteem were supposed to develop. This caused Emily to feel like she did not fit into society and this in turn caused her to have little confidence. In addition to feeling alienated, Emily was deprived of affection. The boarding school that she attended rejected showing any affection. Not only would the school not allow her to have any possessions or to keep letters from her family that would be of sentimental value, it believed in maintaining an “invisible wall” between parents and their children to prevent love or affection. These things caused Emily to have a nervous condition, even to the point where she would no longer eat. Emily was in a state of depression with no love and no one to care for her. This caused her to start acting, which was her way of becoming “Somebody”.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
"The Lesson"
“The Lesson” is a short story about a poor group of kids who go into a rich part of a city to realize that the economy, democracy, and the world are not fair.
Level One Question:
Who is Miss Moore and where did she take the kids?
Level Two Question:
Why would the students not have seen this before, even though they live close by?
Level Three Question:
What would you do/how would you react if you saw this situation?
The purpose of “The Lesson” is for the reader to see fortunate people and how they benefit from wealth through the eyes of a little girl. In addition to the girl’s point of view, the reader also sees how the other kids react to the teacher and to the stores. The author is doing this to show the reader that the poor do not always know about the world outside of their normal lives. This is exemplified when the children are oblivious to how much an actual boat or model really costs. They are used to making contraptions by themselves, which are cheap. They have never been in this setting before.
This short story also shows how some poor people can be afraid or they feel awkward to be in public around rich people. They feel like interlopers when they try to assimilate into the wealthy culture. In this story, the poor recognize that they are in a lower class and they feel inferior. I believe the teacher, Miss Moore, brought the kids to upscale New York City to show them how the wealthy live and how there are inequalities in society. By doing this, the children started questioning democracy and were trying to make sense of why people were living in poverty. I also think she did this to motivate the kids and to get them to think they belong anywhere that the rich belong. At the end, this shows through when Sylvia says “but ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” This means she is willing to work hard to improve her status in society and will strive to be better than others, including the rich people in F.A.O. Schwartz.
The theme of this story is that poor people do not have an equal opportunity to experience the same things as rich people do. Despite this, poor people still have morals and will strive to be their best.
Level One Question:
Who is Miss Moore and where did she take the kids?
Level Two Question:
Why would the students not have seen this before, even though they live close by?
Level Three Question:
What would you do/how would you react if you saw this situation?
The purpose of “The Lesson” is for the reader to see fortunate people and how they benefit from wealth through the eyes of a little girl. In addition to the girl’s point of view, the reader also sees how the other kids react to the teacher and to the stores. The author is doing this to show the reader that the poor do not always know about the world outside of their normal lives. This is exemplified when the children are oblivious to how much an actual boat or model really costs. They are used to making contraptions by themselves, which are cheap. They have never been in this setting before.
This short story also shows how some poor people can be afraid or they feel awkward to be in public around rich people. They feel like interlopers when they try to assimilate into the wealthy culture. In this story, the poor recognize that they are in a lower class and they feel inferior. I believe the teacher, Miss Moore, brought the kids to upscale New York City to show them how the wealthy live and how there are inequalities in society. By doing this, the children started questioning democracy and were trying to make sense of why people were living in poverty. I also think she did this to motivate the kids and to get them to think they belong anywhere that the rich belong. At the end, this shows through when Sylvia says “but ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” This means she is willing to work hard to improve her status in society and will strive to be better than others, including the rich people in F.A.O. Schwartz.
The theme of this story is that poor people do not have an equal opportunity to experience the same things as rich people do. Despite this, poor people still have morals and will strive to be their best.
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