A Blame Artist The poem “Woodchucks” written by Maxine Kumin seems to be about the “speaker” in the poem attempting justify her actions, but it is actually about her blaming the woodchucks for bringing her out the desire to kill the woodchucks, the so called “Hunter.” If the the poem was supposedly about her justification of her actions, she would have talk more about the process of her trying to keep the woodchucks away from her garden and how she had to use the last method although she allegedly didn’t want. But she started with gassing the woodchucks out and was blaming the woodchucks for their actions till the end of the poem. Right from the beginning, it poem seemed pretty dark. The speaker was already talking about gassing the little woodchucks. It shows the hatred she had toward the woodchucks rather clearly. It goes on with her talking about the “humane” methods she had use to drive the woodchucks away but did not work -- “Next morning they turned up again”(Kumin 15). This was probably the trigger that made her begins her monstrous actions. …show more content…
Given to the numerous methods she has already used, fused with her angers of no being able to drive them out, made her come to a decision of “eliminating” the woodchucks. What was surprising was that she wasn’t sympathetic with the death of woodchucks, rather, she felt amused and thrilled -- “......righteously thrilling to the feel of the .22, the bullets’ neat noses” (Kumin 15). If she had thought her actions were one bit cruel, she wouldn’t have used this kind of words that make one form an image of her enjoying her actions in their
The moment of change in the narrator’s personality occurs when the time it takes to kill the woodchucks diminishes and less moral preparation is needed. Before the first kill, the narrator bolsters herself with “Darwinian pieties” allowing justification for survival of the fittest. The Nazis used similar rationale for exterminating those less genetically fit. After convincing herself of these new morals, she starts to kill the woodchucks : “Now drew a bead on the little woodchucks face” (17). … “Ten minutes later I dropped the mother” (19). … “O one-two-three/ the murderer inside me rose up hard” (22-23). At first, the narrator needs time to recover and grieve for the “little woodchuck” she kills. Ultimately, she is able to kill a group within seconds, feels little, if any, compassion for them and takes on the mindset of a killer. The reader can easily imagine the Nazis breaching the same moral barrier when murdering the Jews.
The feeling of fear and sadness is further portrayed by the crying of the village women, ". . . a woman's anguish pierced the still, early morning, followed by yet a duet of wails, and then a full chorus of cries." Clearly, these w...
The first three lines of the poem were, “Much Madness is divinest Sense- To a discerning Eye- Much sense- the starkest Madness.” These lines are saying that because she is mad or insane she is godly but, if you are trying to make sense of things then you can easily be driven to madness. That is like what happened in the story. These people lived their life normally everyday. They never expected anything to go wrong, which is why when it went wrong things were so much worse. They never had mayhem in their life so, they didn’t know how to respond. They lost all sense and, they formed a mob mentality. Their fear pushed them to do unreasonable things.
The poem commences with a debate between the mother and daughter about what they should do with the black walnut tree. Lines 1-15 are written in straightforward, easy to comprehend language. In these lines the speaker addresses why they should sell the tree. The two women give reasons by stating that the tree is growing weak, and given the tree’s proximity to the house, a storm will cause it to collapse into their house and pose a threat to their lives. In addition, the speaker claims that “roots in the cellar drains,” meaning the roots of the tree are getting bigger and spreading into the foundation of the house, thereby producing another danger to the well-being of the family. Moreover, the tree is getting older (“the leaves are getting heavier”), and the walnuts produced by the tree are becoming to gather. The tone of the mother and daughter shows their need for money but also a reluctance to selling the tree; they are desperately in need of money, but they don’t seem to be in favor of selling the tree. Although the reasons provided by the family are credible, they are not wholehearted. This is because the women “talk slowly…...
War is often thought about as something that hardens a soldier. It makes a person stronger emotionally because they are taught not show it and deal with it internally. People say that death in war is easier to handle because it is for the right reasons and a person can distance themselves from the pain of losing someone. However, there is always a point when the pain becomes too real and it is hard to maintain that distance. In doing so, the story disputes the idea that witnessing a traumatic event causes a numbing or blockage of feelings. Rat Kiley’s progression of sentiment began with an initial concern for the buffalo, transforming into an irate killing of the animal, and then ending with an ultimate acceptance of death. These outward displays of feeling suggested that witnessing the death of a close friend caused him to become emotionally involved in the war.
In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker clearly identifies that some woodchucks are annoying her. To solve this problem, the speaker uses gas as a way to eliminate the pests quickly and painlessly much like the Nazis tried to eradicate the Jews from their presence. Gassing the woodchucks is an easy way to remove the pests because using gas does not involve looking at the victims as they are put to death. This is also why the Nazis used the gassing methods to kill the Jews. After time this method was not as widely used due to the resilience of the woodchucks and Jews. Thus, this led the killers to use more ruthless techniques.
Peter Taylor's The Old Forest. Critics have continuously characterized Peter Taylor’s work, as a social critique of the South and how it shows “the effects of cultural inheritance on its people” (Bryant 66). In his story, “The Old Forest,” Taylor examines the regional history and social structures that shaped his own past and how breaking the architecture that has existed for generations is not easily accomplished. Although it takes place in 1937, with progressive girls and college students filling the city of Memphis with intellectualism and open sexuality, the social constructions of the past, most specifically the descendants of plantation owners and rich socialites, are not easily forgotten. Lines have been drawn between those residing in the progressive city and Nat Ramsey’s community of debutantes and patriarchal dominance.
At the beginning, she presents herself as if she is conflicted as to whether or not she yearns to kill the woodchucks by the means of a gun. As she handles the .22 gun, Kumin experiences the thrill of the "bullets neat noses," holding an item that causes harm to others. During this moment, she discovers how exhilarating it is to work with a gun considering it is unlikely that she has ever utilized one before this moment. Toward the conclusion, Kumin wishes
Regarding the stereotypical power humans have over smaller beings, the speaker practices moral judgment: she cannot harm the defenseless creature. In the first line she states this, committing to her discernment, “No, helpless thing, I cannot harm thee now”(1). This refers to the human responsibility, having a conscious mind that leads to better judgment. Curiously, she holds and inspects the caterpillar, as it pleads for protection in a silent yet demonstrative manner(13-14). The speaker chooses not to be violent but compassionately willing to care for this animal as she “swears perdition to thy race”(14). The speakers ethical code is not entirely pure however, as she has previously “swept them from the tree/And crushed whole families beneath my foot” at some point in the past(19-20). The then seemingly positive enforcement of the moral implications turns darker as the dialogue of the caterpillar begins, “So the storm Of horrid war, o'erwhelming cities, fields.. And urges, by no soft relenting s stopped, The work of death and carnage”(20-35). As seen, the poem applies ethics to change the readers perspective in order to practice
There are so many distractions in our world today that take our minds from the real world to a virtual one. Richard Louv is one of the many people who admit this. Louv is the author of Last Child in the Woods. In this essay, he outlines the media distractions that turn our minds to a virtual reality. This is especially evident in children. Louv, in his essay, points out that children have so many things to distract them as they don’t have a developed enough mind to truly appreciate nature. In this essay, Louv relates many life experiences to describe the distractions of our world. Louv uses reference Elaine Brooks in this essay. Brooks warns, “True, our experience of natural landscape often occurs within an automobile looking
My assigned poem is entitled A Poison Tree, by William Blake. The poem begins as such: angry with an enemy, the speaker stealthily plots the perfect revenge. He completely hides his motives as his plan grows and matures into an item of lust for the foe. Unable to contain his desires, the foe, under the cover of night seeks the item. The next morning the speaker finds his foe vulnerable and anticipating his arrival.
This began when he compared her clay and his secret thoughts to his fingers. He was implying that he was changing her with his secret thoughts. These secret thoughts can be assumed to be abuse by the way he describes her saying his fingers “set the lips, and sagge the cheeks, And drooped the eyes with sorrow” (Masters). Someone with a black eye can be described as having a drooping eye. With this in mind, and the later statement that it was a “face she hated And a face I feared to see” it can be assumed that he was abusing her until she hated to see herself. When he says that it was a face he feared to see, he means that he is resentful of what he had done and she was a constant reminder. This is shown by the final two lines of the poem which state “And then she died and haunted me, And hunted me for life” (Masters). What he had done to her had haunted him after her death and he believed that she was seeking revenge, as is shown through the use of the word “hunting”.
The main event is the death of the child, which has happened previously to the beginning of the poem. This event foreshadows the death of the marriage which will happen after the poem. The husband and wife go through the grief process in many different ways. The wife believes that her husband does not understand her or the grief in which she feels. Online 10, she shouts at him, “You couldn't care!...
...stic. The mood turns mournful after the brutal executions, “When it was all over, the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable.” A very emotional scene occurs later in chapter when the animals gather around Clover on the knoll, “As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and torture were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion.”
...poem. This poem could have multiple meaning behind it, but it is apparent that she was not happy about the way the animal was treated by previous fisherman or woman.