Darkness. It’s so cold. The moonlight, the only light helping Morpeth traverse the steep cliff under his feet. This wasn’t normal for him; Morpeth was used to sitting in meadows, hunting Earthbirds. It was a tragic event that had pulled him here;
Two months ago, Angel-Croft Village was raided by bandits. Morpeth had seen them ride down the long path that led to his village. There were so many of them. They came in a blur. Swords and daggers drawn. Morpeth had left his parents that day, without saying goodbye, and now he would never have the chance. He ran towards the village. He could smell the horrible scent of burning thatch. As he got closer he could see flickers of fire, crackling behind the trees. Suddenly he stopped; the Bandits had already left with what little loot they could get. Morpeth could hear no sound. No noise. No talking, no crying, no screaming. Nothing. He ran, as fast as he could, towards Angel-Croft. Through the village, past houses, a few with broken windows, but nothing worse. The villagers were quiet, unhurt, yet shocked. The closer he got to his house, the more the emotions on the faces of those around him changed. From confused, to sorrow and pitiful masks of emotion. Morpeth didn’t even know what was so saddening, but even the thought that something could be wrong, made his eyes redden. And then he saw. The house on fire, a retching smell, the reason for the sadness. It was his house; his home. He walked slowly, crying, a desperate sound that he had not heard before rising from his chest. Then, he saw. Blood, spreading across the grass. A body, from which the blood poured. It was his Father. Dead.
“My Mother....Where’s my mother?”
“She’s....She’s inside the house” replied the Village Elder, Gornrid...
... middle of paper ...
...ded his mind ‘Why did I come here?’, ‘What have I done?’, ‘I’m sorry, mother, I’m sorry!’
“What for, Morpeth?”
“What, who said that?” cried Morpeth, his eyes frantically trying to focus through his tears
“Morpeth, my dear Morpeth. I am here” came the reply.
“Mo...Mother?”
“Yes, Dear. I am here”
“Wh...Where is Father?”
“He is gone, my dear, sweet Morpeth”
“Mother...I...I love you.”
“I love you too, my son, as does your Father”
Morpeth stayed inside the Vault, for as long as he could. He stayed to talk to his mother, to talk about all he had seen, and all he wanted to see. He talked about his life, and she hers. They talked and talked, until the Sun rose over the mountain plains, and covered the land far beyond. Until it was time for him to go. He knew that upon leaving the Vault, his mother would be gone forever, but this time, he got to say goodbye.
Finally, the awful silence radiated throughout the land. Everyone knew by then, if not before, that any chance for a reprieve was impossible. The young men would die, and the village would be saved. Only the sound of the loud, heavy truck starting its engine gave thought that perhaps this would not be the last carnage, the last sacrifice to this village, or the neighboring villages. Perhaps the big, lumbering truck would forever hold the watchful eyes of those evil enough to order the massacre of innocence.
In Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone, Beah’s imagery represents the struggle and misery of the Sierra Leone people are going through with the rebels invading. To begin, after Beah spends two days straight walking he arrives at a village that has already been condemned by the rebels. In the village Beah sees dead bodies everywhere, which fills his mind with the gruesome ways of death the men and woman suffered through: “I had seen heads cut off by machetes; smashed by cement bricks, and rivers filled with so much blood that the water ceased flowing… my body twitched with fear”(49). During this event Beah could not get these gruesome images out of his mind. Beah tries closing his eyes trying to hide away his vision to help the thoughts leave.
I had been in the village for all but a week when I realized there was something... wrong. There seemed to be an underlying atmosphere of fear and animosity. Of course, with my wide-eyed, innocent thinking at the time, I assumed the presence of Satan had damaged the townspeople 's trust of one another. Again, I blissfully accepted this, and I was wrong.
The night was tempestuous and my emotions were subtle, like the flame upon a torch. They blew out at the same time that my sense of tranquility dispersed, as if the winds had simply come and gone. The shrill scream of a young girl ricocheted off the walls and for a few brief seconds, it was the only sound that I could hear. It was then that the waves of turmoil commenced to crash upon me. It seemed as though every last one of my senses were succumbed to disperse from my reach completely. As everything blurred, I could just barely make out the slam of a door from somewhere alongside me and soon, the only thing that was left in its place was an ominous silence.
I woke up at John Morris’ house, on his coach. As I knocked a flyaway hair out of my face I noticed my face was wet, with tears, and then it all hit me at once that my Dad and Mrs. Borden were dead. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I heard John Morris ask if I was alright, but that seemed like a completely different world, I responded with a meek okay, so Mr. Morris wouldn’t see me like this. That didn’t work though, I saw his tall shadowy figure ducking under the door frame with tea. As Mr. Morris sat down and put the tea on the coffee table in front of us, I turned my head and quickly wiped the tears from my eyes in hopes he wouldn’t see.
He turned his head toward me and peered at me through swollen eyes. “I begged her not to go with him,” he said quietly. “Do you hear me, I begged her!”
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
The child’s game had ended. After I nearly ran Kurtz over, we stood facing each other. He was unsteady on his feet, swaying like the trees that surrounded us. What stood before me was a ghost. Each layer of him had been carved away by the jungle, until nothing remained. Despite this, his strength still exceeded that of my own. With the tribal fires burning so close, one shout from him would unleash his natives on me. But in that same realization, I felt my own strength kindle inside me. I could just as easily muffle his command and overtake him. The scene flashed past my eyes as though I was remembering not imagining. The stick that lay two feet from me was beating down on the ghost, as my bloodied hand strangled his cries. My mind abruptly reeled backwards as I realized what unspeakable dark thoughts I had let in. Kurtz seemed to understand where my mind had wandered; it was as though the jungle’s wind has whispered my internal struggles to him. His face twisted into a smile. He seemed to gloat and enjoy standing by to watch my soul begin to destroy itself.
It was a village on a hill, all joyous and fun where there was a meadow full of blossomed flowers. The folks there walked with humble smiles and greeted everyone they passed. The smell of baked bread and ginger took over the market. At the playing grounds the children ran around, flipped and did tricks. Mama would sing and Alice would hum. Papa went to work but was always home just in time to grab John for dinner. But Alice’s friend by the port soon fell ill, almost like weeds of a garden that takes over, all around her went unwell. Grave yards soon became over populated and overwhelmed with corpse.
Finally the sun was going down slower and slower and everyone was think to themselves what is happening. “A few cold drops fell on their noses and their checks and their mouths . The sun faded behind a stir of mist. A wind blew cold around them¨ (4). It was raining again and people were crying and becoming sad about themselves and didn't know what to do. Then here it came BAM!. It came back the thunderstorms,tornadoes, and the huge hurricane. THe class went and find a doorway that made them go underground so they don't die from these places.”They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily”(4). Everyone was very disappointed what they did to Morgot and how they treated her as she was just being herself and never spoke up for herself. “Behind the closet door was only silence. They unclosed the door,even slowly, and let Morgot out¨(4). Finally, they stood there in sadness and didn't know what to do but say sorry. Morgot was silence the whole time and scared and didn't know what to do in her life while she was living on
I was alert sitting by the window facing the oak tree, the same oak tree where I had left trinkets “like Indian pennies, chewing gum, soap dolls, a rusty medal, a broken watch and a chain for Scout and Jem to find.” The pagent was over and I was expecting to see Scout and Jem by the tree anytime. I heard them running, Scout was having some problems as she was caged in her dress. I was startled to hear another set of unfamiliar, heavy footsteps as if someone was following Scout and Jem. I then heard the scuffling and kicking sound and Scout’s plea for help. I bolted out of the house, focused on reaching the kids in time. I noticed Scout was on the ground, trying to wiggle out of her dress, she seemed bruised. Jem was trying to free himself from the man, he was hurt and screaming. The man was relentless as he pounded him with one blow after another. Jem was hurt, his arm was dangling as if broken. Seeing, the man raise his hand with a shiny object in his hand, I bumped into him with all my strength. The man lost his balance, his foot hit the root of the tree and the knife fell from his hand as he hit the ground with a loud thump and a ear shattering
The hikers never knew the two indigenous people, except for what they wore that night, what booze they drank, and what side they slept on. And those simple details were just enough to make the dead bodies Human: capable of joking, singing, fighting, and eating. So the sudden termination of these lives confused the hikers, for they weren’t sure what they should feel about the death of two strangers. The hikers stared and stared at the bodies, perhaps feeling sadness for the friends, parents, and lovers of these men, but feeling only emptiness for the men themselves. They were just two more anonymous faces, frozen in their final dreams and nothing more than dead.
Furthermore, understanding the fact of how the villagers in that village practiced and participated in such a barbaric ritual and archaic event were not accepted by people. In addition, people who read the story commented that the modest people of the Midwest are superstitious and backward. Here, Jackson conveyed successfully with her subtle writing style that something is about to happen. She also used a third person point of view when writing this short story. The third person point of view permitted the author to keep the outcome of the story an exposure. This therefore led to the reader to consider everything is well but actually there is something wrong somewhere. Furthermore, what could be seen from the story is people were different compared to present, there is a huge difference in cultural practices. Therefore the actions of the story go in the opposite direction of people’s opinion in the present in terms of value of life, violence and the development of respect in a family.
Pa had always been a strong man, a man that our family could depend on. However, in five minutes, the tractor was able to reduce Pa to nothing. Never before had I seen my father break down with hopelessness. Seeing him there without a plan made me feel as though we were alone in a desert with nowhere to turn. But the tractor, the arrogant tractor, took my small life and shattered it into million pieces, and left it on the ground in front of me. What few memories I had in that house flashed before me as I watch them knocked to the ground. My home, the house where I was born, the house where I learned to walk, and the house my father had built with his own craftsmanship was so quickly destroyed, returning to the dust from which it came. But what do I care? I was merely a child in a large, dusty, lonely
But most of all, he cried for himself. He cried for the life he had lost, the life he could’ve had. The life he had wanted to have. He screamed and cried until he couldn’t anymore.