Upon first reading I was struck by the detailed description of fugu, the deadly delicacy more commonly known as a pufferfish. At first I though that the description of how fugu poisoning occurs was excessive, but rarely does a writer provide irrelevant information, especially in a short story. Because the narrator’s mother died eating fugu, and because the narrator makes a particular point to describe how one dies by poisoning, the death symbolism associated with fish is very intense from the beginning and I immediately began to speculate that there would be a death over the course of the story. Although no death takes place during the narration, I do believe that the fish served during the family supper is fugu and that the characters will …show more content…
The atmosphere in the story is gloomy and strained. The family home is dimly lit, dreary, and almost completely empty. An example of this uncomfortable imagery is after the father says “you must be hungry” for the third time “one side of his face had fallen into shadow.” Shadows are often associated with evil and I believe that half of his face becoming dark suggests that he may have sinister motives. Outside of the house, the sun is setting and the world is also being plunged into darkness. When the narrator sees a ghost of an older woman wearing a white kimono he does not know until he sees the photograph that it is the ghost of his mother. This introduction of the supernatural into the story brings death even closer to the characters. One detail that I did not notice until my third reading was statement made by the father. “I have a little more time on my hands.” He laughed again, rather strangely. For a moment his face looked almost gentle. “A little more time.” I believe that the father is making this statement quite literally. If he is about to poison both himself and his two children, then he’s correct in stating that he only has “a little more time.” The strange gentleness with which this line is delivered is a deviation from the father’s typical stoic nature, and presents the possibility of a double meaning to his
Every story, every book, every legend, every belief and every poem have a reason and a background that creates them. Some might be based on historical events, some might be based on every culture´s beliefs, and some others might be based on personal experiences of the authors. When a person writes a literary piece, that person is looking for a way to express her opinion or her feelings about a certain situation. A good example is the poem “Southern Mansion” by Arna Bonptems. The main intention of “Southern Mansion” could have been to complain, or to stand against the discrimination and exploitation of black people throughout history. However, as one starts to read, to avoid thinking about unnatural beings wandering around the scene that is depicted is impossible. The poem “Southern Mansion” represents a vivid image of a typical ghost story which includes the traditional element of the haunted house. This image is recreated by the two prominent and contradictory elements constantly presented through the poem: sound and silence. The elements are used in two leading ways, each one separate to represent sound or silence, and together to represent sound and silence at the same time. The poem mixes the two elements in order to create the spooky environment.
The timeline carries on chronologically, the intense imagery exaggerated to allow the poem to mimic childlike mannerisms. This, subjectively, lets the reader experience the adventure through the young speaker’s eyes. The personification of “sunset”, (5) “shutters”, (8) “shadows”, (19) and “lamplights” (10) makes the world appear alive and allows nothing to be a passing detail, very akin to a child’s imagination. The sunset, alive as it may seem, ordinarily depicts a euphemism for death, similar to the image of the “shutters closing like the eyelids”
The girl's mother is associated with comfort and nurturing, embodied in a "honeyed edge of light." As she puts her daughter to bed, she doesn't shut the door, she "close[s] the door to." There are no harsh sounds, compared to the "buzz-saw whine" of the father, as the mother is portrayed in a gentle, positive figure in whom the girl finds solace. However, this "honeyed edge of li...
The father eating the raw human heart because “he understood that if his daughter [eats] this sandwich she would die” (p. 2) symbolizes his willingness to sacrifice his life for hers. It’s no coincidence that the blood transfusion between the father and daughter in the hospital occurs at the same time as this dream. The daughter’s reaction in his dream is also no coincidence. As soon as the father lets his guard down, “she [spins] into the room like a whirlwind, a tornado, howling, shaking everything around her and then [sinks] her nails into the crook of his right arm, breaking his skin” (p. 3). Her violent behavior warns of the dire consequences of attempting to manipulate death. The destructive imagery portrays the daughter’s life destroying the possibility of the father’s life, dooming him to death. At this point of the story, the father dies and is a ghost from here on out. When the father awakes in the evening, “He [reaches] the stairs unnoticed and [begins] descending the cold stone steps, like a ghost (p.4). The text indicates the father’s actions have all the attributes of a ghost. When a man approaches the father asking about what he is doing, the father replies, “I’m from the morgue” (p.4). What used to be a forbidden territory, he is now referring to as his home. Likewise, the father also adds “I came to life, and there was no one around” (p. 5) to their conversation. The father
The author uses imagery to show when and where the next part of the chapter is taking place to make the reader feel uneasy. The kid that has now awoken by the coldness and not the “footsteps”, which they heared get far away prior to awakening in the woods, then assess the situation. The kid then thinks “By the light of the moon I could see that they were everywhere. I looked at my other foot but was fine, and as a matter of fact so was the rest of me. I didn’t have another scratch on me and I wasn 't even that dirty” (Auerbach). The author makes the reader feel uneasy by making this take place at night which can be told by the moon. Another thing that makes the reader feel uneasy is when the author makes the kid be in the woods and besides them stepping on the thorn they are uninjured or even dirty. The way these sentence are made the reader can see this and feel the uneasiness even more than it already has. Also the fact that the reader knows that this is a kid makes it more uneasy. The imagery used by the author then makes the reader feel uneasy since where and when this is. By “seeing” what the kid sees, and knowing what has been going on in the beginning of this chapter makes this mysterious to where the reader feels
While reading the poem the reader can imply that the father provides for his wife and son, but deals with the stress of having to work hard in a bad way. He may do what it takes to make sure his family is stable, but while doing so he is getting drunk and beating his son. For example, in lines 1 and 2, “The whisky on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy” symbolizes how much the father was drinking. He was drinking so much, the scent was too much to take. Lines 7 and 8, “My mother’s countenance, Could not unfrown itself.” This helps the reader understand the mother’s perspective on things. She is unhappy seeing what is going on which is why she is frowning. Although she never says anything it can be implied that because of the fact that the mother never speaks up just shows how scared she could be of her drunk husband. Lines 9 and 10, “The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle”, with this line the reader is able to see using imagery that the father is a hard worker because as said above his knuckle was battered. The reader can also take this in a different direction by saying that his hand was battered from beating his child as well. Lastly, lines 13 and 14, “You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt” As well as the quote above this quote shows that the father was beating his child with his dirty hand from all the work the father has
The author begins the story with a strong statement, “I found myself in a Chinese funeral parlor because of a phone call I made to my cleaning lady” (Schmitt); it takes the reader right into the funeral parlor and draws the reader into the story: how she got to the funeral parlor and what she doing there was the question I had. She starts the story with some background about how she got to China. Then moves on to the funeral that was happening in her neighbors’ home. She describes how the family was grievously weeping as she was walking toward her apartment. She noticed what happened and wonder why they were weeping. “Do you know why the neighbors are very sad?” she asked her cleaning lady.
The first time I read it, I was unsure about the meaning and how the images interacted. However, I did not feel deterred by this. Rather, I was eager to go back and try to string things together. I think this was due to the fact that all of the images were very concrete and accessible, allowing for me as a reader to navigate them quite familiarly. You also have a mix of details the speaker knows or seems to be lacking (i.e. there was a wedding there once I do not know whose). Near the end, you provide a realization, writing “it was my parents there was a chocolate cake.” This realization is followed by a stanza that seems to describe the death and burial of the speaker’s dog. In turn, with a lot of the negative, even morbid, imagery you provide, the poem seems to represent a loss of innocence for the speaker. However, it did take a lot of thought for me to come to this conclusion, and I am still not truly confident in if this is meaning you intended. If I was very far off from perceiving the meaning, you may want to think about how your lines interact to provide
At the outset, an insightful reader needs to draft the general boundaries of allegory and symbolism in the story. To put it most simple, the problem of distinguishing between good and evil undergoes a discussion. It is not difficult to notice that the Grandmother stands for good and the Misfit for evil. But such a division would be a sweeping and superficial generalisation, for both the characters epitomize good and evil traits. Moral evaluation is a very complex process and it is not the human who is to decide on that. There are rather various degrees of goodness and evil, both interwoven, also in their religiousness. Th...
For those who know this, they may see this story in a literal way. Creating stories with fictional characters like Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel and many other imaginary creatures. This approach to the short story would cause one to see the little boy as a ghost after he dies. This would mean that the mother’s body is not responding to a traumatic event and having a mental confrontation with her own self. Instead, she is physically seeing the ghost of her deceased child and not only in her head. The Brothers show their side of fantasy almost immediately in this story by stating “THERE was once a mother..” This is a classical statement used in a broad range of fairy tales. Even when people create their own fairy tales, spoken or written, they often begin with the words “Once Upon A Time” which is similar to how this story is started. It brings creativity to the mind and makes one wonder how the story might continue on to be. This style of writing is a signature for the Grimm Brothers considering it is what they are most widely known for. This particular piece brings a part of reality that readers can relate to and turns it into a fairy tale and nightmare all in one. It describes one of a parent’s worst fears and ways they may actually react and
One of the first houses the pair enters during their journey is the father's childhood home. To the father, seeing his home brings back memories of what his life was like as a boy. This scene makes the father feel upset, as he knows his child will never get to experience a normal childhood like he did. The father reminisces on what life was like before the disaster. “On cold winter nights when the electricity was out in a storm we would sit at the fire here, me and my
The story “Once Upon A Time” examines the motives of the wife and the husband in such a way that they are both literally explained, yet also it needs to be allegorically inferred. All throughout the story, from the married couple, the in laws, the servants, and all other external characters, they all are dominated by fear. This fear is a result of the society with which the characters live. An example demonstrating the great fear that commands their life is when there is a noise in the night causing for the characters to believe that their worst fear is true:
“What’s the matter darling? “ asked her mother. Lily could say nothing, she felt paralysed there was nothing she could do. “WHAT’S THE MATTER?” asked her mother again, growing more and more anxious by the second. She slowly made her way to her daughter and peered into her husband’s study. There he was hanging, showing no signs of remorse towards his mourning wife and daughter. The mother quickly shielded her daughter’s eyes hoping it would make the horrible scene disappear and resurrect her dead husband from the underworld. There by the door of the study stood Lily and her mother weeping as if tomorrow would never come knocking on their doorstep ever again.
It was quarter till ten and the house was completely dark. Tory’s mind swam with the infinite possibilities of what terrors lay waiting in the bottom part of the house. She cried all the more and her brother and sisters watched from their doorways as she and Dad had their standoff in the hall.
...or them. She then asks him “will you leave me alone now?” (Line 179), meaning that he now has found the other ghosts. And therefore doesn’t need the company of the living anymore. The protagonist doesn’t need to hold on to his memory, because she knows he is safe and in good hands with the rest of the family. First when she knows her father is safe, she can get closure, and not only let go of him, but the entire family. The story ends with her saying: “I’ll se you then” (line 185) and her father replying: “you know where we are” (line 186), as if he reassures her that she will rejoin them when she dies.