In Eve Merriam's "Thumbprint", the author prides the uniqueness she has amongst many others. Within this literary work, Merriam takes the time to thoroughly describe the make-up of her own body to prove her claim. Through metaphors, alliteration, and a tone filled with joy, Merriam provides a clear image as to why she gratifies her individuality. First of all, the author presents her audience with a series of metaphors to support the reasoning behind the ego that she has for her singularity. To make an illustration, Merriam writes, "In the heel of my thumb are whorls, whirls, and wheels in a unique design... What a treasure to own!" This shows that the author compares the layout of her thumb to a treasure. When one thinks of treasure, a treasure …show more content…
Hundreds of years ago, it was very rare to possess gold due to the difficulty to create it as well as its high value in currency. If one were to find a chest filled with gold back then or even today, he would have a substantial amount of pride; furthermore, he is the owner of something in which many people can merely dream of inheriting. Similarly, our thumb print is something that nobody else can attain. Science has proven that nobody from the past, present, or future can have the equivalent thumb print design as any other person. It is difficult to comprehend the notion that not even luck can tamper with somebody having a one of a kind thumb print. Consequently, if one is proud of owning a humongous amount of gold that seldom anybody else can own, then it is plausible to believe that somebody can have self-satisfaction with a thumb print that will never be witnessed again. Another example of Merriam's pride toward her uniqueness is evident when she boasts, "And out of my blood and my brain I make my own interior weather". In this phrase, Merriam draws a comparison between herself and the controller of the weather. A plethora of …show more content…
For example, to describe her thumb print, the author writes, "In the heel of my thumb are whorls, whirls, and wheels." The author uses the sound repetition of "wh" to emphasize "whorls", "whirls, and "wheels". These three words are of importance in this poem because they characterize the make-up of the thumb print. The thumb print is particularly essential since it is a symbol for individuality. As stated in the previous paragraph, everybody from any era of the world has a set of thumb prints that nobody else owns. This fact deems a thumb print unique. Also, the writer uses the alliteration "impress, implant" to express how others can classify someone as one of a kind. In order to impress a group of people, an individual is required to perform something out of the ordinary with skill and hard work. Afterwards, once that particular individual receives praise, he can truly cherish the sense of
The symbols that stand out to understand the central concern of the poem are the camera, the photograph of the narrator and the photograph of the narrator’s grandmother. The camera symbolizes the time that has passed between the generations of the grandmother and the narrator. It acts as a witness of the past and the present after taking the photos of the narrator in the bikini and the grandmother in the dress. Her grandmother is wearing a “cotton meal-sack dress” (l. 17), showing very little skin exposure, representing
In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Story of My Body” Ortiz Cofer represents herself narrative story when she were young. Her autobiography has four headlines these parts are skin, color, size, and looks. Every headline has it is own stories underneath it. Ortiz Cofer’s is expressing her life story about her physical and psychological struggle with her body. Heilbrun’s narrative, “Writing a Woman’s Life” shows that, a woman’s does not have to be an ideal to write a self-autobiography to tell the world something about herself and her life. Ortiz Cofer’s facing a body struggle that is not made by herself, but by people around her. Therefore, every woman is able to write can write an autobiography with no exception.
Since the character is illiterate, he has no ability to determine his true feelings for the loved one. Additionally, this use of repetitive words in the poem also shows the lack of diction by the character. When words are repeated, it typically tells someone that they are either confused or have a weak vocabulary. Since it is implied that the man had a small lexicon because of his illiteracy, the poem reveals his ideas in a simplistic and repetitive wording
Photographs capture the essence of a moment because the truth shown in an image cannot be questioned. In her novel, The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold uses the language of rhetoric to liberate Abigail from the façade of being a mother and spouse in a picture taken by her daughter, Susie. On the morning of her eleventh birthday, Susie, awake before the rest of the family, discovers her unwrapped birthday present, an instamatic camera, and finds her mother alone in the backyard. The significance of this scene is that it starts the author’s challenge of the false utopia of suburbia in the novel, particularly, the role of women in it.
The birthmark is a compelling story of one man’s obsession with his scientific ability to produce perfection. Aylmer, a scientist, is married to a Georgiana who is a very beautiful woman. Not long after getting married Georgiana’s birthmark, which is in the shape of a tiny handprint on her check, really begins to bother Aylmer. He sees it as a flaw in an other wise perfect woman. Georgiana knows that her birthmark disgusts him and, having grown up not bother at all by it, begins to hate it herself. He asks if she has ever considered having it removed. This is not something she has considered since other people in her life, especially men, have always seen it as a “charm”. Aylmer being an amazing scientist almost sees himself as god and feels that he has the power to remove this imperfection. Georgiana, bothered by her husband’s reaction to her birthmark, agrees to let him try to rid her of it. She is taken to his laboratory and he immediately begins to experiment. After she finds Aylmer’s book of experiments, which all end in failure, she for the first time, has some doubt about how this will work and confronts him. He reassures her and begins to try a multitude of methods, with the help of his assistant Aminadab, which do not work. At one point, there are several experiments going on and he even refers to himself as a “sorcerer” (Hawthorne 232). Finally, he produces a potion, which she drinks, and the birthmark begins to disappear! Slowly though, even as the experiment is working, Georgiana is fading away. He finds that ultimately, the birthmark was connected to her very soul and in his trying to act god like he actually kills her. Really this short story just proves that science has its limits and no man should try to act like G...
“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection,”(George Orwell) is a relevant idea pertaining to the theme, how striving for perfection in humanity is foolish. Aylmer is a late 18th-century scientist who recently retired so he could marry his love Georgiana. Georgiana has a small birthmark on her cheek in the shape of a small hand. Most men who liked her found the birthmark attractive. Some women on the other hand said that it messed up an otherwise flawless face. Georgiana did not have a problem with it until one day, until one day Aylmer says he does not like the birthmark. He feels as though Georgiana would be perfect and flawless if it were just removed. Georgiana is crushed, because Aylmer thinks the birthmark is ugly, so of course she now thinks she is ugly. For Aylmer, the birthmark is a symbol of human imperfection. Aylmer has a dream in which he tried to remove the birthmark on Georgiana’s face. The deeper he cut, the deeper the birthmark would go. Until it was, finally, all the way down to Georgiana's heart. In the dream, he keeps cutting through her heart to finally get it out. Georgiana is disturbed and upset by this dream. She decides that she will let Aylmer find a way to remove the birthmark to make his unhappiness stop. Of Aylmer already has been working this at his laboratory. He has set up a room for her to stay while he comes up with a solution to remove the birthmark. When the antidote is finished,
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
Kosut, M. (2006). An Ironic Fad: The Commodification And Consumption Of Tattoos. The Journal of Popular Culture, 39(6), 1035-1048. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2006.00333.x
Our society has many ways of manifesting its obsession with physical perfection. In our society people go to extreme lengths to achieve perfection. The 'Birthmark';, written more than a century ago, is an early version of our modern obsession with physical perfection.
this poem. I believe it is mainly what the poem is about. To make the
“The impact on the world today through the history and visual reasoning behind tattoos, lead to the inquiry of personal life changing experiences.
...urrent trend. Throughout her essay Mernissi creates sympathy for herself due to how she was treated, and also for the average Western woman, as they are also apparently not normal. Additionally, the emotional appeal is key for one to understand Mernissi’s predicament, as it persuades the audience to realize that the “size 6” trend is insulting to women.
The excitement is building up inside of me, just like Eudora Welty feels when she reads, as described in a passage from One Writer’s Beginnings. I know exactly what I am looking for; two purses for my mother and sister. Nothing to big, or to small. One is going to be black, one brown. Try as I might to keep my mind on the task at hand, it is difficult to concentrate on just purses when there are fascinating items all around me! Leather jackets, jewelry, bolt upon bolt of the most gorgeous fabrics I have ever seen, and so much more. I can’t help but walk over to the people when they call to me; I am drawn by their eagerness and obvious love for their product. They have to be really great scarves if the man holding them thinks so much of them,...
Moniza Alvi employ a wide variety of techniques, from end-stopped lines and formatting in structure, to rhyme, tone, and even imagery and language to attempt to explore the vast concept of identity. She successfully manages to explore the concept of identity, and conveys to the reader the meaningful message that discovering your true identity is dearly valued and highly significant.
A persons’ image is vital when meeting someone for the first time. Our peers, employers, family, superiors, even strangers that you walk past can automatically judge someone, and imagine how they present themselves to the world. Tattoos have been predominantly linked with a rebellious attitude and pictured on out of control stereotypes such as rock starts, bikers, sailors, and disobedient teenagers who want nothing more than to hack off their parents. With a new coming of age generation and a step into a more lenient and liberal society these types of patrons still participate in body art but so do doctors, lawyers, or just the run of the mill house mom. Tattoos signify religious beliefs, cultural influence, or each individual’s sole style. Body art is no longer socially offensive, employers are more apt to hiring tatted hopeful applicants, parents are warming up to the idea of their children inking their body and no longer a stranger on the street with a tattoo is necessarily prejudged as a criminal or safety hazard. Tattoos have become more evolved over the years because they have become more of a socially accepted element of the general public.