1.a) Our gut reaction to Winter Oak is that it had a lot of meaning, but was dull and tedious. Some words and phrases we used to relate our thoughts on the story are as follows:
- Boring.
- Monotonous.
- No real conflict.
- No feeling.
- No real plot.
- Didn’t invoke a strong reaction.
- There was a definite lesson to be learned.
1.b) Yuri Nagibin used different devices to evoke various reactions in us, some of these were:
The dialogue; it was concise yet boring but realistic for example, when Anna Vasilyevna was trying to teach the children their nouns. "A noun is a part of speech that denotes an object. In grammar an…" (Nagibin 59). Much of this dialogue is unnecessary; we the reader understands what goes on in the classroom, and two pages are not needed to establish nouns. Also, through dialogue Anna proved to be a snob. "’Good morning Anna Vasilyevna!’ Frolov raised his fur hat above his solid, close-cropped head. ‘what are you doing! Put it back on it’s freezing!’ Frolov probably wanted to pull his fur over his eyes himself…" (Nagibin 58). Anna feels as though she is high and mighty, and will not even acknowledge Frolov’s attempt of respect towards her. There were very powerful images present in the forest, such as the gigantic winter oak. The image of Savushkin standing in front of the Winter Oak, in utter awe of its splendor and Anna Vasilyevna realizing the beauty of the winter oak appeals to the sight, because it is easy to picture in our minds. stood an oak as enormous and magnificent as a cathedral. The trees seemed to part respectfully to allow their older companion to spread out in full force. Its lower branches stretched out in a tent over the clearing. The snow had filled the deep crevices of the bark, and the trunk, which was so wide that it would have taken three men to get their arms around it, looked as if it were shot through with silver thread. It had hardly shed any of its foliage which had dried up during the fall; the oak was covered with snow-capped leaves to the very top. (Nagibin 65)
We experienced an unexpected plot twist when the stern Anna Vasilyevna went into the forest, and understood Savushkin’s point of view about the winter oak, and why he was late everyday. "’My God!’ Anna Vasilyevna thought painfully.
While Snow Falling on Cedars has a well-rounded cast of characters, demands strong emotional reactions, and radiates the importance of racial equality and fairness, it is not these elements alone that make this tale stand far out from other similar stories. It is through Guterson’s powerful and detailed imagery and settings that this story really comes to life. The words, the way he uses them to create amazing scenes and scenarios in this story, makes visualizing them an effortless and enjoyable task. Streets are given names and surroundings, buildings are given color and history, fields and trees are given height and depth, objects are given textures and smells, and even the weather is given a purpose in the...
The big tree loomed bigger and closer, and as they bore down on it he thought: ‘It’s waiting for us, it seems to know.’ But suddenly his wife’s face, with its monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal, and he made an instinctive movement to brush it aside. The sled swerved in response, but he righted it again and drove down on the black projecting mass. There was a last instant when the air shot past him like millions of fiery wires, and then elm…’Oh, Matt, I thought we’d fetched it,’ he moaned; and far off, up the hill, he heard the sorrel whinny and thought: ‘I ought to be getting him his feed… (Wharton,
Cheng, Ah. The King of Trees. Trans. Bonnie S. McDougall. New York: New Directions, 2010. Print.
It captures the emotions left in the hearts of these characters. In the novel, Gurov’s imagery differentiates between young romance and the connections of lasting love. One of the main sceneries of the story takes place in the beautiful resort town of Yalta. According to Chekhov’s novel, Yalta is described as “The water was a warm, tender purple, the moonlight lay on its surface in a golden strip” (2). Yalta is an exciting place for new, colorful, and youth romance to begin. Another part of the novel’s setting are the confined homes of both Anna and Gurov. Where gray haunts their homes in their monotonous days away from each other. Chekhov mentions, “He sat up in bed, covered by the cheap gray quilt, which reminded him of a hospital blanket, and in his vexation he fell to taunting himself” (10). The reoccurrence of the gray description of the homes of Gurov and Anna while they are in despair when away from each other, with the colorful images of Yalta and the emotions of happiness when they are together, show how the separation in setting is important to the emotions of the characters. At the resort with Anna, Gurov’s day are full of passion, excitement and a carefree lifestyle similar to the youth of society. While away from her, Gurov savors the precious instants of her company. “Anna Sergeyevna did not come to him in his dreams, she accompanied him everywhere, like his shadow, following him
He packed a bag a set off to Anna 's city in hopes to find her. As he searched high and low he found where she lived and was desperate to be with her again, but did not knock on the door due to the fear of her husband may answer the door. He craved to see her another time so, and after camping out in front of her house for endless hours the door opened and out comes an older lady walking Anna’s tongue. Though he wanted to call the dog to him, he refrained because he would not want to explain how he knew the canine to the madam. After reading the newspaper he saw that there was a show going on that night, he went because he knew Anna loved the theater. Once he got there he searched for his beloved Anna and finally found her, but she was with her floosy husband. He watched her down and waited for the right moment to approach her. So he did just that once her husband left, after greeting her her face turned pale and was in shock because she could not believe Dmitri was in front of her in this theater. After running away and him going after her, she stopped and told him to go him and if he did she would see him again. So that’s exactly what he
Trees, some of them a few thousand years old, have majestically stood on the face of the earth and have silently witnessed the evolution of human civilization. These trees are the living alibis of our pasts, magnificent markers of history. With their unusual shapes, enchanting legends and historical significance, some of these trees have become more than just giant trunks. Listing below ten such trees whose wooden hearts have amazing stories to tell!
3. Chapter 1, page 5, #3: “Moving through the soaked, coarse grass I began to examine each one closely, and finally identified the tree I was looking for by means of certain small scars rising along its trunk, and by a limb extending over the river, and another thinner limb growing near it.
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was born a year before the emancipation of serfism in Russia took place. Although he was the grandson of a serf, Chekhov was able to attend the medical school at the University of Moscow and become a physician. Chekhov started writing in order to support his family economically, becoming a master in drama and short stories. His literature is characterized by the use of colloquial language which could be understood even by the less educated and recently liberated serfs. Social change is the main theme in ‘The Cherry Orchard’, a four-act play written in 1904. In this play the different characters portray how changes in Russia after the emancipation of 1861 were taking place and although the play is set several years after this, it is clearly seen how the play develops around this event. For peasants, the liberation of 1861 brought different consequences. Not all of them took advantage of their freedom, and for some, their lives were the same after being liberated. In this play, these differences can clearly be seen. A main character of this play is Yermolai Lopahkin. Being son and grandson of serfs, represents the young class of peasants who got advantage of the emancipation and achieved economic success. Also, we have minor characters that represent other side of liberated serfs, who did not have Lopakhin’s opportunities to success after emancipation.
Cheng, Ah. The King of Trees. Trans: Bonnie S. McDougall. New York,NY: New Directions, 2010. Print.
It had called her to come and gaze at a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously" (10). Gazing across the garden, Janie "was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers. [she longed] to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom!...
In 1996, Arctic Timber Engineered Woods Division, a highly mature business unit, faced a market downturn and began losing millions of dollars each month. Before becoming the President of the Engineered Woods Division, Bjorn Gustavsson had already determined that the company could not sustain its commodity business and was not aligned with the new direction devised by Peter Hammarskjöld, the CEO of Arctic Timber. According to Gustavsson, in order to prosper in a more challenging market environment, developing a specialty business was the only viable approach. The goal was to shift 50% of its commodity business into undetermined specialty by 2000. However, the Division had shifted only 10% of its business to specialty products by 1997.
captive by a sheath of frost, as were the glacial branches that scraped at my windows, begging to get in. It is indeed the coldest year I can remember, with winds like barbs that caught and pulled at my skin. People ceaselessly searched for warmth, but my family found that this year, the warmth was searching for us.
“They had passed autumn afternoons when they were nine years old in the hollowed-out base of a cedar tree, where they sprawled on the ground looking out at the rain as it pummeled the sword ferns and ivy. At school they were stran...
The sunless sky covered the woods over the treetops which created a canopy over my head. The crimson and auburn foliage was a magnificent sight, as this was the season known as Fall. There was a gentle breeze, creating the single sound of rustling leaves. The leaves appeared as though they were dying to fall out of the tree and join their companions on the forest floor. Together with pine needles and other flora the leaves formed a thick springy carpet for me to walk upon.
On the edge of a small wood, an ancient tree sat hunched over, the gnarled, old king of a once vast domain that had long ago been turned to pasture. The great, gray knees gripped the hard earth with a solidity of purpose that made it difficult to determine just where the tree began and the soil ended, so strong was the union of the ancient bark and grainy sustenance. Many years had those roots known—years when the dry sands had shriveled the outer branches under a parched sun, years when the waters had risen up, drowning those same sands in the tears of unceasing time.