Exploring Loss and Detachment in 'The Fourth State of Matter'

362 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Management of grief

Derek Rhoades-DiLiberti Professor Mary Sheffield-Gentry LIT2010: Interpretation of Fiction September 29, 2017 Plasma and Detachment In her essay, “The Fourth State of Matter”, Jo Ann Beard ruminates over the idea of plasma as a state of matter while dealing with the disintegration of her marriage, the death of her dog, and the violent deaths of her friend and colleagues. The tone, dialogue, and reflections in her essay mirror the detached bewilderment Beard feels while trying to make sense of the loss around her. Beard’s tone throughout the essay is reflective and detached. Even at the moments of immediacy--during the shooting, when Beard is talking to her friends and coworkers--Beard’s tone makes it apparent that the events she relates are

Show More
Related

  • he Death of Benny Paret by Norman Mailer

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the whole essay, Mailer interspersed various stylistic devices ranging from diction to syntax in order to give the reader an overall melancholy mood to reflect how he felt that day when he witnessed Paret die. Since he had utilized these stylistic devices, he had engendered potency for his passage as a whole and he had reinforced the mood throughout the passage with efficacy. More importantly, from this passage, Mailer wanted the reader to remember the significance of Benny Paret and the fact that surprises lurk in every corner of life.

    Read More

  • George Gould Women's Brain Analysis

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    11. Through the shift from first to third person and vice versa the technique strengthens his essay. With Gould’s usage of nouns and pronouns which refer to himself, the audience's attention is directed to that idea or concept. Provided that the essay had instead just been in third person, the monotony would have been too overbearing to target and decipher the real purpose. Using first person adds in his personal aspect about this research, ultimately making him seem more relatable and understanding, instead of just the

    Read More

  • Perspectives through Voices in Our Time by John Edgar Wideman

    667 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moreover, Wideman ends up having difficulties trying to represents what his brother is “saying” because he ends up writing his own personal opinions and thoughts. Although it was something he was trying to avoid considering it would be a manipulation of the story. Throughout the essay, the reader can observe how Wideman analyzes his past experiences with Robby, and how their relationship has transformed over the years. For instance, the author conveys the bonds he had with his brother in order to express that after all this years they still shared “common history, values, and style developed within the tall stockade of family, and that was enough to make us care about each other” (Wideman 674). In addition, he tells the reader how he wanted Robby to know that he was thinking about “Our shared roots and destiny” (Wideman 674) and how that thinking was getting him closer to Robby.

    Read More

  • Steven Galloway's 'The Cellist Of Sarajevo'

    431 Words  | 1 Pages

    Galloway keeps up a melancholy yet optimistic mood for the readers throughout the scene. The mix of emotions makes this writing distinct from other writings because the mood is more favorable for readers. He states “Kenan watches as his city reheals itself,” which suggests a positive and a more hopeful tone. In addition, he also states “like he used to when they were much younger.” This quotations carries a more melancholy mood with it. This combination of emotion, from being sad to hopeful, creates a subtle mood within a reader which keeps readers interested in the scene. Thus making the story more likely for readers to never forget about.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Arm Wrestling With My Father

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the beginning of the essay the narrator and her father lived in a house “like the Civil War battleground it was” (Kennedy 146). The narrator did not agree with her dad’s political views or understood his love of guns. Contrast to her twin sister, the narrator has a very artistic personality. Her difference in personality caused the narrators frustration towards her father. “Dad and I started bickering in earnest when I was fourteen” (Kennedy 147). The author shows the narrator and her father had started seeing different since she was young. The narrator was frustrated with her father stubbornness and the way she felt she was being treated. “My domain was the cramped, cold space known as the music room” (Kennedy 148). The narrator felt like she was lonely and excluded from her family because of her difference in views. As the narrator’s father tries to get her somewhat involved in his love of cannons and guns, the narrator notices that they have similar interests. “I’ve given this a lot of thought- how to convey the giddiness I felt when the cannon shot off” (Kennedy 150). In addition, the narrator and her father both shared an enjoyment for the loud noise the cannon produced and although they both had opposing political views, they were involved in politics. The author

    Read More

  • The Alice Williamson Diary

    3370 Words  | 7 Pages

    To read the Civil War diary of Alice Williamson, a 16 year old girl, is to meander through the personal, cultural and political experience of both the author and one's self. Her writing feels like a bullet ricocheted through war, time, death, literary form, femininity, youth, state, freedom and obligation. This investigation attempts to do the same; to touch on the many issues that arise in the mind of the reader when becoming part of the text through the act of reading. This paper will lay no definitive claims to the absolute meaning of the diary, for it has many possible interpretations, for the journey is the ultimate answer. I seek to acknowledge the fluidity of thought when reading, a fluidity which incorporates personal experience with the content of Williamson's journal. I read the journal personally- as a woman, a peer in age to Alice Williamson, a surrogate experiencialist, a writer, an academic and most of all, a modern reader unaccustomed to the personal experience of war. I read the text within a context- as a researcher versed on the period, genre, aesthetics, and to some degree the writer herself. The molding of the personal and contextual create a rich personalized textual meaning .

    Read More

  • William And Ellen Craft Analysis

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    It should be noted that gaining an identity in autobiographical writing is crucial “because literacy becomes a way of creating an identity where before there was none in the public discourse” (Finkelman, vol.2, 190). Although the identities of William and Ellen Craft may have been revealed partially before their narrative, their own words and experience have a much greater impact on the reader than if told by a secondary source.

    Read More

  • Feminist Perspective of Addie Bundren of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kristeva, Julia. "A Question of Subjectivity--an Interview."  Modern Literary Theory:  A Reader.  Ed. Philip Rice and Patricia Waugh. New York:  Routledge, Chapman, and Hall, 1989.

    Read More

  • The Misery Of Silence Analysis

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author also tends to add a lot of descriptive adjectives to her writing. For example, “A telephone call makes my throat bleed and takes up that day's courage. It spoils my day with self-disgust when I hear my broken voice come skittering out into the open. It makes people wince to hear it.” The descriptive words: self-disgust, spoil, and wince provide the needed explanation to the reader for how the narrator feels. As the reader gets deeper into the essay more examples of these descriptive adjectives become present, “It was when I found out I had to talk that school became a misery, that the silence became a misery. I did not speak and felt bad each time that I did not speak. I read aloud in first grade, though, and heard the barest whisper with little squeaks come out of my throat.” This line is full of unique adjectives about how the narrator feels about speaking English. Words like: misery, barest, whisper, and the phrase “little squeaks” all add to Kingston’s style of writing and show her descriptive language used when writing. Although the essay does not lack detail or description, the essay is particularly

    Read More

  • Negotiating Fine Lines between Women’s Work and Women’s Worth

    2507 Words  | 6 Pages

    In analyzing McBride’s essay the rhetorical devices found to be used were logos and pathos. First, it will be sho...

    Read More

  • Charles Murray's Are Too Many People Going to College?

    665 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essay is written in a very critical style where the reader will feel like they have been wast...

    Read More

  • In Cold Blood: Nature vs Nurture

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Capote uses different voices to tell the story, creating an intimacy between the readers and the murders, the readers and the victims, and all the other players in this event—townspeople, investigators, friends of the family. This intimacy lead...

    Read More

  • The Outsiders In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Ms. McMulkin, this is Alex. That essay--- how long can it be?" "Why, uh, not less than 600 words." He sounded a little surprised. I'd forgotten it was late at night. "Can it be longer?" "Certainly, Alex, as long as you want it." "Thanks," I said and hung up. I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a minute. Remembering. Remembering a handsome, dark boy with a reckless grin and a hot temper. A tough, towheaded boy with a cigarette in his mouth and a bitter grin on his hard face. Remembering- -- and this time it didn't hurt--- a quiet, defeated-looking sixteen-year-old whose hair needed cutting badly and who had black eyes with a frightened expression to them. One week had taken all three of them. And I decided I could tell people, beginning with my English teacher. I wondered for a long time how to start that theme, how to start writing about something that was important to me. And I finally began like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride

    Read More

  • Summary Of Somebody Somewhere Poem By Donna Williams

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her

    Read More

  • John Updike's A&P

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    The narrative voice in this selection clearly demonstrates the qualities of the main character, the narrator. Through the diction and tone contained within the narrative voice, it is obvious that Sammy is still in his teens and has a very mature perception of women.

    Read More

More about Exploring Loss and Detachment in 'The Fourth State of Matter'

Open Document