The Day Zimmer Lost Religion by Paul Zimmer
In "The Day Zimmer Lost Religion" by Paul Zimmer the poet reflects how in losing religion he has found faith in Christ. He recounts how religion taught him to fear Christ as a young boy which influenced him to challenge religion and eventually find faith in Christ. As a child, he expected to be punished, but the punishment never comes and now as a man he realizes he is ready to accept Christ as he has found faith in Christ and in return his religion.
In the first stanza the poet describes the beginning of his rebellion towards religion and his faith as he recalls "The first Sunday I missed mass on purpose" (1). The poet felt guilty about missing mass for the first time and "waited all day for Christ to climb down / Like a wiry flyweight from the cross and / Club me on my irreverent teeth…" (2-4). "Wiry flyweight" is a simile used to describe the speed and agility that he expected to be struck. The poets uses another simile (like a red-hot thurible) to describe his punishment as he expects Christ "to wade into / My blasphemous gut and drop me like a / Red hot thurible…" (4-6). The outcome of his sacrilege is clear as he anticipated the devil "…roaring in / Reserved seats until he got the hiccups" (6-7). He believed the devil to be eagerly waiting the outcome to claim his soul.
The second stanza is a remembrance of religion during his childhood as he remembers "It was a long cold way from the old days" (8). As an adult he has now come "A long way from the dirty wind that blew / The soot like venial sins across the schoolyard" (11-12). Here I believe he is using a metaphor (dirty wind) to illustrate the evils in life that he describes using a simile (like venial sins). The evils being the religion as it was taught to him. During his childhood, "God reigned as a threatening, / One-eyed triangle high in the fleecy sky" (13-14). Again, a metaphor (one-eyed triangle) is used to describe the fear he had as a child in the reign of the Holy Trinity as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The last stanza of the poem repeats that he "waited all day for Christ to climb down / Like a playground bully, the cuts and mice / Upon his face agleam, and pound me / Till me irreligious tongue hung out" (16-19).
In the book, Apostles of Disunion, author Charles B. Dew opens the first chapter with a question the Immigration and Naturalization service has on an exam they administer to prospective new American citizens: “The Civil War was fought over what important issue”(4). Dew respond by noting that “according to the INS, you are correct if you offer either of the following answers: ‘slavery or states’ rights’” (4). Although this book provides more evidence and documentation that slavery was the cause of the Civil War, there are a few places where states’ rights are specifically noted. In presenting the findings of his extensive research, Dew provides compelling documentation that would allow the reader to conclude that slavery was indeed the cause for both secession and the Civil War.
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
“Maybe it was / because the only time / I hit a baseball / it smashed the neon cross / on the church across / the street” (1-6). The readers are clearly presented with a scene of a boy playing baseball and accidentally breaking a church cross. The boy then explores and toys with the possible divine consequences for accidentally breaking a cross with a baseball. “Maybe it was the demon-stoked / rotisseries of purgatory / where we would roast / hundreds of years / for the smallest of sins” (11-15). Here the poet effectively uses imagery to show the reader how a child’s imagination may perceive hell. This may also show the impressionability of the Church on a freethinking child and how the combination can be profound on a young boy with internal conflicts. This can also apply to children’s fantasies and their carefree attitudes which allows them to blend what mindsets they were forced into with that of their
Janie sets out on a quest to make sense of inner questions. She does not sit back and
The late first lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it." Mrs. Roosevelt means that although one person may feel alone through the hardships one faces, one has millions beside oneself who can relate to and understand what one may feel. Zora Neale Hurston shows that even though Janie's family and spouses continue to be abusive and harsh toward Janie, their hate and control left her stronger than before, preparing her for the next challenges thrown at her. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the deaths' of close relatives and family positively affect Janie because she tends to become more educated and wiser with each death she overcomes in the obstacles she calls her life.
From the beginning of society, men and women have always been looked at as having different positions in life. Even in the modern advanced world we live in today, there are still many people who believe men and women should be looked at differently. In the work field, on average women are paid amounts lower than men who may be doing the exact same thing. Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston brings about controversy on a mans roles. Janie Crawford relationships with Logan, Joe and Tea Cake each bring out the mens feelings on masculine roles in marital life.
Gender inequality has been a major issue for many centuries now. Societies insist in assigning males and females to different roles in life. The traditional stereotypes and norms for how a male and female should present themselves to the world have not changed much over time. But individuals are more than just their gender and should have the right to act and be treated the way they want. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Still even more evidence of these mixed feelings is illustrated in the third stanza. "This love dance, a kind of blood rite between father and son, shows suppressed terror combined with awe-inspired dependency" (Balakian 62). "The hand that held my wrist/was battered on one knuckle;/ At every step you missed/ My right ear scraped a buckle"(Roethke 668). The speaker's father's hand being "battered on one knuckle" is indicative of a man who...
The diction surrounding this alteration enhances the change in attitude from self-loath to outer-disgust, such as in lines 8 through 13, which read, “The sky/ was dramatic with great straggling V’s/ of geese streaming south, mare’s tails above them./ Their trumpeting made us look up and around./ The course sloped into salt marshes,/ and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.” No longer does he use nature as symbolism of himself; instead he spills blame upon it and deters it from himself. The diction in the lines detailing the new birds he witnesses places nature once more outside of his correlation, as lines 14 through 18 read, “As if out of the Bible/ or science fiction,/ a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots/ like iron filings, which a magnet/ underneath the paper
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
Today, it has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African American literature and women's literature. TIME included the novel in its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923. One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, to John Hurston, a carpenter and Baptist preacher, and Lucy Potts Hurston a former schoolteacher. Hurston was the fifth of eight children. While she was still a toddler her family moved to Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black incorporated town in the United States, where John Hurston served several terms as mayor. In 1917, Hurston enrolled in Morgan Academy in Baltimore where she completed her high school education. Three years later, she enrolled at Howard University and began her writing career. She took classes there intermittently for several years and eventually earned an associate degree. The university’s literary magazine published her first story in 1921.
The last stanza is about mature faith. Zimmer repeats that he "waited all day for Christ to climb down . . . and pound me / Till me irreligious tongue hung out" (16-19). Zimmer seems to feel that Christ is obligated to punish and that in fact He even enjoys it. Zimmer never mentions a God of love; is this why he feels there must be more to religion than what he knows now? In the last two lines, Zimmer tells us, "But of course He never came, knowing that / I was grown up and ready for Him now" (20-21).
...to others and bringing others to devote their lives to God as well. And so, in the third stanza the spinning wheel is completely dropped out of the poem which makes sense, for once a machine's work is complete, there is no longer a need for that machine. In essence, he's saying that his life was just a machine for serving and creating hearts devoted to God. Now that this purpose is complete, it is time for him to pass on. But he asks one thing of the Lord. Though his earthly body and life may pass away, he wishes for his eternal soul, for all that truly makes up who he is to be clothed with the virtues the Lord has instilled in him. This is so that his "apparel shall display before [God]" that he is "clothed in holy robes for glory." In other words, he has done his best, followed the Lord all his life, and now he is ready to be taken to his eternal reward in Heaven.
The third stanza is a second and different refrain. This refrain occurs every other stanza. It acts as a divider between the stanzas dealing with a specific character. In the fourth stanza, Father McKenzie is introduced to the reader. He is conveyed as a materialistic man whose life has no meaning. Line fourteen literally tells the reader that no one will hear his sermon. The Father has no point to his life if he reaches no one through his sermons. Father McKenzie is “darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there,'; which implies he is ashamed. He tries to hide not only the fact that he cannot afford new socks, but he is also hiding his self just as Eleanor did.
Stanza three explains what life was like at the farm he lived on, as the previous stanzas have. Line twenty describes the landscape and how beautiful it is. It describes it as Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air,” (20). Lines twenty one through twenty three use more imagery to describe the landscape. They use words such as “lovely and watery” (21) to show how pleasant it was to gaze upon the land. The word “And” is also repeated in the beginning of each of these lines which creates suspense. They also show repetition by repeating words such as “green” and it brings up the starry night again. Line twenty four talks about owls and how they are starting to come out. The day is starting to end and there is still beauty in everything. Now night has begun and all the things that made the day happy and carefree are starting to disappear. Lines twenty five through twenty seven use imagery to show that the moon is appearing and the horses and everything else is disappearing into the night. This begins to show that the youth the speaker is experiencing is starting to