Write an essay (250-300 words) based on ONE
of the following questions:
- Compare the portrayal of the parent-child relationship in any two poems in our week 8’s readings, focusing especially on the poems’ tones and themes.
- What words in Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” suggest the son’s feelings toward his father and his home? What words indicate that his attitudes have changed since the time depicted in the poem? Write an essay in which you compare the speaker’s feelings, as a youth and then later as a man, about his father and his home.
- Kelly Cherry’s “Alzheimer’s” uses contrasts—especially before and after—to characterize the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. What evidence does the poem provide about what the man used to be like? What specific changes have come about? How does the setting of the poem suggest some of those changes?
- Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Green Chile” uses different chiles to symbolize different generations’ attitudes toward Mexican culture. What different qualities do the red and green chiles have? Which words in the poem help personify the chiles? How fully do these words reflect the differences between the speaker and the grandmother?
47 comments:
中文三 黃鈺婷 410201045
Question 4
Q: What different qualities do the red and green chiles have?
The speaker described that he like red chile aside eggs and potatoes as his breakfast, which reveals the speaker’s mixture culture background. The red chile needs to be dried before using. So the speaker depicted the red chile as old men that talking with haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping tongues in the wind.
Conversely, his aged, wrinkle-handed grandmother prefers the ultra-hot immature green chile which is spicy than red chile. The different qualities of red and green chiles respectively represent American style and traditional Mexican style, one is where he living and the other is his ancestral home.
Q: Which words in the poem help personify the chiles?
The speaker says that "Red chile ristras decorate his door," showing that the red-colored versions are used frequently as decorations, then he talks of the red chile’s “historical grandeur”, being like “haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping tongues of old men, licking the breeze”. By using these personification, we can see that he is likening the red chiles to worldly-wise elder that tells intriguing story of their livid past.
However, chile is like"A well-dressed gentleman at the door." in his grandmother's home. The green chile stands for “voluptuous, masculine” images to the speaker, because it tastes more spicy than the red chile. And he also describe the taut bearing of green chile as a tiger's flanks in mid-leap which shows youth and passion.
Q: How fully do these words reflect the differences between the speaker and the grandmother?
The two different chiles respectively represent traditional Mexican style and American style. To the speaker, red chile is no so spicy as green chile that he don’t have to drink a tall glass of cold water when eating them. And it is also not merely a food for him because the red chile is unlike the fresh green chile since We have to dry them before using. So the scene of red chile hanging from eaves usually inspired him with nostalgia.
As for his grandmother, she prefers the green chile. The green color usually stands for young, immature and vigorous images. In the second stanza, the speaker described that his grandmother handling the green chile in such a voluptuous way. For his grandmother, it is also not just a kind of food. It is more like a lover that she has a sexual relation with it. Comparing with the red chile that given a haggard, yellowing, crisp feeling, the description of the green one is more concrete and lively because the older generation as his grandmother has a deep cultural connection with it.
JOSIE 410402011
Question 1
I have chosen Those Winter Sundays and My Father’s Song because both are told from the child’s perspective about the relationships they had with their fathers. In Hayden’s poem, it was narrated by an adult who was reminiscing the days when his father labored and toiled for the family. His dad subtly devoted himself to serving the family and providing them with silent love. However, the speaker wasn’t impressed or grateful for any of his father’s sacrifices. Instead, he adapted an “indifferent” attitude when confronting his father. He showed no trace of appreciation. The relationship seemed very strained and it was as if the speaker took measures to avoid direct contact with his father. It wasn’t until the last two lines did emotional conflict come to rise. The speaker’s realization of hardship was in reflecting on how he was ignorant to the fact that love could be expressed through such simple actions. There was a sense of guilt, regret and woefulness in the last line. Now that he was an adult, it was his turn to wordlessly carry the burden of his family and not expect anything in return. The relationship certainly wasn’t harmonious between the father and son, yet the son did face the music in the end and I believe he would strive to make amends. On the other hand, My Father’s Song was told in a much lighter and peaceful tone. There was no distance between the father and son in this poem. Instead, they crouched close together in the sand and observed Mother Nature’s wonders at work. The speaker kicked it off with “I miss my father tonight”, immediately putting forth his longing for his father and the love he had missed so dearly. This was a huge contrast to Hayden’s poem which didn’t express any evident love for the father. The simple image of the father and son bonding over a burrow of mice that Ortiz painted had significant values. The theme was the father’s deliverance of the message of respect for the earth and its living creatures to his son. The wisdom of the soil and the father’s song of life were passed down to son who held the lessons close to heart. Both poems contain no dialogue and are delivered through actions or recounting of the past. However, the tones and themes differed greatly. The bitter remorse and the calm gentleness of the respective speakers conveyed their messages about father’s love.
410102060 陳俊承
The author states that the old man suffering from Alzheimer used to be a very successful
and professional businessman according to the author’s description of the old man. But now,
the old man is just a ‘crazy’ man back from the hospital, trying to figure out who the old, white-haired is. Actually the old woman ‘was’ his life time partner; however, he already lost his memories, so he barely recognized who the old woman standing in the doorway of his house is. Be that as it may, the old man still remembers the exact memories of his childhood. This is a typical syndrome of Alzheimer. Some Alzheimer patients can recall perfectly the long-term memories buried in their mind, and some cannot recall what happened a few minutes ago. So, the author employs this young, and old contrast to emphasize on how Alzheimer affect people’s minds.
410301022 中文二 俞亭安
Question2
The hue of "Those winter Sundays" is dim, the word "winter" in the title indicates the estranged relationship between the speaker and the father, just like winter which is lack of vitality and frigid. In the second stanza, the speaker mentions "the chronic angers", this might suggest that the family's atmosphere has been tense for a long time, and this situation makes the speaker nearly break down, further more, the word "indifferently" in the third stanza also shows the speaker's attitude toward the father.
As time goes by, the speaker grows up to be an adult, and when he looks back on his childhood, maybe puberty, he realizes how careful his father treats the family and child. The last line in the first stanza, the speaker says "No one ever thanked him", I think it suggests the mental changing of the speaker, he starts to have the awareness that :Maybe I should be thankful to my father! And in the last two lines, the speaker asks himself: "What did I know, what did I know, of love's austere and lonely offices?" the speaker stuck in an emotional conflict, and he recognizes the love of father is silent and devoted. I think we can divide the speaker's tone into two parts, one is the state of childhood (puberty) and the other is the adulthood, just like other teenagers who fear their fathers, even hate their families, and have done many ungrateful things. When the speaker becomes a maturer adult, maybe a parent, in a father's position, and starts to recall how indifferent he treated his father when he was young. Feeling regret and guilt, he knows that his father is devoted, selfless, and asks for no return.
410102060 陳俊承 new edition
The author states that the old man suffering from Alzheimer used to be a very successful, and professional businessman according to the author’s description of the old man. But now, the old man is just a ‘crazy’ man back from the hospital, trying to figure out who the old, white-haired woman standing in the doorway of his house is. Actually the old woman ‘was’ his life time partner; however, he already lost his memories, so he barely recognized who the old woman standing in the doorway of his house is. His wife is totally a complete stranger to him. Be that as it may, the old man still remembers the exact memories of his childhood. This is a typical syndrome of Alzheimer. Some Alzheimer patients can recall perfectly the long-term memories buried in their mind, and some cannot recall what happened a few minutes ago. So, the author employs this young, and old contrast to emphasize on how Alzheimer affect people’s minds. Moreover, the author also vividly describes the before and after that how Alzheimer transforms a competent businessman into a crazy old man. It is pretty ironically that the old man even can not recognize his wife who has spent the most of time with him. Sorrowfully, this poem proves that everyone will be defeated by the disease eventually no matter how smart you are, you will be a crazy man or woman when the moment you are diagnosed as Alzheimer by your brain doctor.
410402021 曾雅勤
2
At his tender age, the speaker took his father’s love and caring for granted. The conduct and the attitude he held toward his dad, for instance, “speaking indifferently to him”, getting up slowly and reluctantly, never thanking for his father’s devotion, indicates the apathy and tension between a father and a son. The most apparent words which show the son’s antipathy toward the “cold” house is “fearing the chronic angers of that house.” He uses the word “angers” suggesting that the atmosphere in the family, especially between the one who always showed his affection by actions not by words and the one who was hitting the puberty (therefore, he was more sensitive and sort of cynical). Things became worse when the communication didn’t work or not even have one; without communication, both sides couldn’t nicely understand each other, which drove a wedge between them by degrees. It seemed that no matter what the father did, the sons would never be satisfied. The transition from a teenager to a man is the turning point. The speaker regretted over his innocence of ignoring the one who drove the cold out and polished his good shoes. Also, the love of a father is illustrated when the comparison between “good shoes” and “the cracked hands” was drown, which implies that the dad worked diligently to give his child the best he had. Not until the speaker grew up did he notice how much his father had done for him, and his emotions turned from anger, hatred to remorse; the words “what did I know” emphasize his pain and grief.
410001005 中文五 黃美嘉
Q2
The son’s emotions toward the house and his father change by time. Those changes we can find it in the lines. Some words indicate images and feelings, like the “blueblack cold” in second line of first stanza, not just present the weather but the image of his father. With the words used here, we can tell that the poet shows the son and his father got a cold relationship by the visual and temporal images. The words in last line of first stanza “No one ever thanked him.” present this family’s distant relationship. Through the words “splintering, breaking” in first line of second stanza, we can feel the cold become more concrete. The “slowly” in the third line of this stanza tell us there is no happiness and expectation when the son hears the call from his father. Poet uses “fearing”, “chronic angers” in last line of same stanza portrays the son’s feeling toward the home is unpleasant, even hope to escape. Then, the “indifferently” in first line of last stanza, directly describes the son’s attitude. After the most straightly word present the son’s attitude toward his father, next line turns to opposite tone immediately. The gap between these two lines is just like the gap between the different ages of the son. The last line “love’s austere and lonely offices” let us know the son’s realization of his father’s love, his guilt and regret for he did not understand it at all. Last two lines turn the other lines from fiddling details about regular family life in his memory to strong, obvious proofs of father’s love.
410402037 陳瑀訢
Question one: Eden and Mother of the Groom
"Eden" shows the relationship between the mother and her child. That is an universal topic of discussion, but the author uses the reference from Bible which makes the poem special.
The mother is always in the complex emotion. She wants to be an all powerful mother which is the same as her naive child believes. She is willing to do anything for her child. Practically, "I am powerless," said the speaker. She admits that her kid needs to leave the Eden garden--the mother--someday. Moreover, she tries to persuade herself to get ready for the end of her child's innocent. For instance, "the tall angel with the flaming sword who scares you when he rises suddenly behind the gates of sunset." The imagery of the sunset is the end of the child's childhood(sticky to his mom).
"Mother of the Groom" is about a sadness mother who is unwilling to accept the true that her son is growing up. In her son's marriage, she even has crazy thougts--she loses her son and another woman replaces her. She feels sorrowful and a little bit begrudging. There are three caracters in this poem: her(the mother), daughter(in law), and he(her son, but not straightly mentioned).
Themes: The two mothers have to face the fact that her child is growing up, or to say that her child will grow up. And these two poems describe the mothers' ideas. One(Mother of the Groom) is through the situation description, and the other(Eden) refers to the Bible, as well as her own soliloquy.
Tones: "Mother of the groom" speaks of the incident which happened to in the past became memories between thr mother and the son. All become the reason why she feels sad to let her son go. We can almost read tone is sad in reality. Then, "Eden" is about a tender mother whose love to her child is countless. And the tone is seemed to be relaxed and a little cheerful.
林立 410402023
Question 3
The title “Alzheimer’s” is showing the state of the man now. And the author described him as a “crazy old man” who just came back from hospital, and he was not in calm. His mind was rattling like suitcase, means his sickness and confusion. His hand held a book which he would forget what it’s content every time after he read it. And “Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar” it showed that the old man’s conflict in his mind, he still remember something when came back to his garden. And he also remembered the sunshine and rain fall in his memories. When he walked in the walkway between the front room and the garage at the very house described in the poem, he knew it, also the car he used to drive, and the house he lived. He also remembered himself as a younger man who loves music and also was a well dressed gentleman. But then it said “There is no time for that now, No time for music.” It showed that the old man was struggling about his memories again. And here come the most despaired part of this poem, He struggled because he saw the white-haired woman standing in front of the door and welcoming him in, but he didn’t know who she is. He didn’t remember his wife. This part appeals the ugliest part of Alzheimer. It tears down every pieces memory of this old man. He might be remember the thing he had, but he couldn’t remember the one he love.
410402019 英美一 王致雅
Q2
The title“Those Winter Sundays” is like the speaker’s uttering with a sigh to recall the memory, and the word “winter” illustrates the unpleasant and cold relationship between the speaker and his father just like the frozen winter . As a youth, the speaker took his father’s devotion for granted and didn’t notice his father’s silent love behind those unspoken behaviors. The poem shifted a bit at the final line of second stanza that using ”chronic anger” to demonstrate the unharmonious atmosphere around the house which have been last for a long time. Perhaps the invisible conflict amount the family members were caused by financial problem according to the blue collar father still had to work on Sunday that supposed to be the day for rest. The speaker acted like the icy weather to his father through “speaking indifferently” in the third stanza. The word “indifferently” reinforced the tense situation between father and son, yet later it became an irreparably grieving response. In the final of the poem, the speaker grew up and looked back on the past. Not until he had became an adult or even a father had he realized the fatherly love and duties he used to receive by his father. The speaker’s father whose actions spoke louder than words was liked those previous generation parents never and did know how to express their love by words to children. Therefore, the speaker’s repetition “what do I know, what did I know” emphasized the maybe too late recognition to understand the love hidden behind the polished good shoes, warm room, and morning call. It also presented the deep regret toward his father who seemed not around anymore.
410402005 李玄晴
Q2
“Those Winter Days” describes a son recalls the relationship with his father. The speaker uses “winter” also means their relationship is cold. Although the weather is cold and it is a Sunday, a day of rest, his father still got up early to work with that cracked hand and lighted the fires to warm the room for their family. But” No one ever thanked him” tells the readers that loneliness about his father, the lonely figure of his father, and reveals the speaker’s regret. The house’s atmosphere is always not so harmony, “fearing the chronic angers of that house” not only represents atmosphere of the house, but also indicates the relationship of the house is not so good. These angers are chronic, it means they have been for a long while. The speaker uses “offices” suggests that his father thought his work are all of services and duties. His father devoted himself to invest their family with no return and silent love, but he gained from nothing, instead speaking indifferent without gratitude, a cold attitude. As times goes by, the speaker finally understands his father’s expression of silent love. Passage of time is important and fantastic to change a person’s mind. When he was a youth, he had distance from his father because they had cold relationship. He gradually acknowledges how those trivial things—driving out the cold and polishing shoes— are so warm when he becomes an adult. In the last sentence, we can see his sorrow, regret, and guilty to his father.
410402051 卓韋馨
Q1
I choose” Those Winter Sundays’ and ‘My Father’s Song” to be compared because they are all talking about a relationship between son and father. Let’s talk about “Those Winter Sundays” first, and it’s very touching, it shows father’s firm love to the family that is not expecting any reward with short sentence but I think it’s a sad poem that regretful feeling appeal in the end of the poem. The relationship and atmosphere in home is not harmony, no one thanked father, but he still being a contributor to try to warm this home up, to work every single day. And we can see the speaker’s tone has changed in the end. The time passing and the son grew up, he has different opinion to his father’s contribution, he regret and feel guilty. And in this poem Sundays mean that no matter holiday or ordinary day, father always contribute to his son. Cracked hand means rough labor, contribute to the family. Fire, on the one hand it takes contrast to the blueblack cold, on the other it represent livelihood and vitality. Compare to this poem and “ My Father’s Song”, they have different tone and atmosphere. In Heaney’s description, we can feel the joy of live and everything is new, bright and fresh. And the tone is grateful and yearning. The father didn’t let the mice dead, he very gently pick those pink animals into son’s hand. And the theme of this poem is about the existent concept of the universe that all things should be equal treated, we have to respect the being that different from you.
410201050 中文三 陳姵汝
Question 2
In the whole poem, we can indicate the adult speaker recalled the memories about his father and their father-son relationship at his youth. In fact, the title” Those Winter Sundays” meant their father-son relationship was cold. In the first stanza, “blublack’’, “labor’’, ‘’cracked hands’’ all told us his father was not a white-collar worker; he was not rich, so he needed to be hard-working to earn money. Because the father was always busy at work everyday, even on EVERY Sundays, he didn’t have much time getting along with his son (the speaker). They didn’t have any connection. They just liked two strangers living in the same house. Although his father was busy, he still did everything for his family, like banked fires blaze in winters, or polished the speaker’s shoes as well. However, “nobody thanked him”, the speaker took for granted for all his father’s love and devotion. As we know, everyone must need family love, concern, and support, especially the teenagers. But the speaker did not understand how his father loved him with his silent ways. In the second stanza, “Fearing the chronic angers of that house’’ showed how the speaker disliked the atmosphere at home; he “thought” there were not any warmth in the house. And the third stanza, “Speaking indifferently to him’’ delivered how the speaker ignored his father. The father-son relationship was terrible. Finally, when the speaker grew up to be a man, he started to realize his father’s unspoken love and sacrifices for the family. And he said “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely office?’’ This sentence conveyed his regret and guilt. He felt regretful for all the misunderstanding and hatred for his father at his youth.
410402027 胡心瀞
Q3
According to the poem, the man who got the Alzheimer’s disease used to be strong. He was willing to build the walkway between the front room to the garage. In addition, the man liked to plant the flowers in the backyard such as rhododendron. Now, he couldn’t take care of those flowers so that they grew so much and needed to fight for space. Therefore, those flowers all clawed to the mortar. When the man was young and wore a tweed hat, he loved music so much. He can’t play the fiddle anymore because his mind got confused. After the man got the Alzheimer’s disease, his mind was in a state of confusion. From the poem, the poet stated that after the man came back from the hospital the man’s mind was just like the suitcase swinging from his hand. Nevertheless, the man only brought shaving cream, a piggy bank and a book he pretended to read. The man no longer remembers what he just read so that he couldn’t understand the context of the book. However, the man remembered so many things about himself. Those things were all about the memories when he was young. He remembered his house, his car, his love for music and the habit to plant flowers, but the only one important thing he didn’t remember was that the old and white-haired woman standing in the doorway. The woman was his wife. The one who accompanies him for more than half of his life, but he couldn’t remember her. It was so desperate to the family who have an Alzheimer’s disease patient. That was a really sad ending.
410402001 英美一 張家慈
Question 2
This poem by Robert Hayden is an adult looking back on his childhoods and recalling his severe, not good at expressing but loving father as the title “Those Winter Sundays.” The first stanza in the poem,” No one ever thanked him.” The speaker was ungrateful what his father did for him and even spoke indifferently to his father when he came downstairs after his father had risen so early and warmed the rooms, and even polished his shoes as well but his father still loving the son with no return and giving with no complaint and no regret. However, the plot shift in this poem is evident through the last two lines when the author asks himself the question in the last stanza in the poem,” What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” The speaker expresses his regret in the poem. The words of “love’s austere and lonely offices” show that when the speaker looks back upon his childhood, he realizes his father altruistic love as he was a child. He recalls how his father spent his time on the trivialities, such as getting up early, making banked fire blaze and polishing his son’s shoes as well. He berates himself for not recognizing his father's sacrificial actions and love towards him. So he replaces unconcern with love and appreciation to his father. Though this poem, we can learn the author’s regret and appreciation, we should treat nice to our parents and appreciate that what they did for us anything always.
林玥颖410402061
1. choose Those Winter Sundays and My Father's Song
both of these two poem are stand in the viw of "son" and describe the relationship between themselves and their's father. But the tone and the themes are completely different, the tone is bitter and full of guilt in Robert' s poem but is much cozier in Simon's. Robert look back his chilhood, reminisc his father"banked fires blaze" with "cracked" and "ached" hand, we can see that his father got up early even on sundy -- which means relax day for most people. The first two stanza focus on father' suffering and poet' s ignorance over the simple love, "no one thanked to him" and the poet even “speaking indifferently to him”, but the father still serve his family day by day without asking for any appreciation or reward. The emotion for his father changed in the last stanza, "what did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices". As the poet growing up gradually, he finally discovered his father's scilent love and devotion to the family, which he might never realized or admitted in tender age. In Those Winter Sundays, the author used tried to avoid communicating with his father, but the situation oppositely in the other poem, "My Father's Song". The poem kick it off with the word "miss", the poet express his longing to see his father. We can found that the atmosphere between authr and his father are harmonious, once they planted corn together, the father pointed out a nest of mice and left the small creatures for his son to touch gently. The author cotinue the poem by remembering the moment in which his his father passed on to him the reverence for thr earth and for lving creatures. These two poem are different between tone and theme, but simblable in the love to their father.
410402013 Mark 張瑋城
The color, texture, appearance are all the different qualities between chiles. The red chile is being described like “haggard, yellowing, crisp.” The texture seems to be rough and dry. And the appearance that chiles swinging in the wind is as if talking in the wind. The red chile is personified as an old man. Baca pictures the red chiles are like “the rasping tongues of old man, licking the breeze.” Oppositely, the texture the green chiles have is being depicted having the “glossed sides.” The green chile, in the contrast, is something juicy and hot. The green chiles are like “voluptuous, masculine, well-dressed gentleman.” From grandma's view, the green chiles are mouth-watering like sexually alluring youths. We can also see the differences between the speaker and grandmother. The speaker prefers the red chiles better. The speaker is likening the red chiles to wise elders, who evokes the past and speaks with historical grandeur. In this poem, the red chile stands for the Americanize Mexican style. The grandson prefers it for his meal, but the grandma doesn’t. She loves the green chiles’ youth and passion. The green chile stands for the old Mexican style. The green chile is like a lover grandmother loves in the poem. But to make the spicy tortillas for his little prince, grandmother must do “her sacrifice.” Somehow the ordinary tortillas have been transformed into a glorious meal. The grandmother is giving all her passion to the grandson. Paradoxically, the grandson at first considered the green chiles are too hot, burning his mouth, he still ate all the food to please his grandma. This becomes to be the sacrifice to the grandson. Love is sacrifice; the speaker and grandmother all do the sacrifice to convey their love. The poem ends with the picture of “trucks stuffed with gunny-sacks of green chile.” We can get the food-is-love ritual will relive in any Mexican family forever.
410275040 陳湘妮
Those Winter Sundays is about the relationship between speaker and his father. The speaker shows different attitude to his father and his home as time goes by. They are anger and regret when the speaker is a youth and a man respectively.
In second stanza, he is a youth at that time. The speaker wakes in chronic angers of his house. It indicates that the speaker is full of hatred to his home. Moreover, in third stanza, the speaker shows the feeling of his father. He speaks indifferently to his father. Although, his father does many efforts to the home and the speaker. The speaker doesn't thank him; instead, he hates and ignores his home and his father.
In last two lines, the speaker changes his feeling of his home and his father. He thinks in his father's perspective. Then, he knows that his father is unable to articulate his love to him. He also knows that what his father did for his home is lonely duties . When time goes by, the speaker becomes a man. He finally understands his father and his home. Therefore, he feels regretful. All his feelings to his father and his home are misunderstanding.
Time can change a person. It happens on the speaker in Those Winter Sundays. He is full of hostility to his father and his home when he is a youth. However, he regrets to what he did when he becomes a man. Because of the passing time, the speaker changes his attitude. Even so, it may be too late.
Q2 410402003李糧羽
In the beginning, the speaker’s attitude toward his father is indifferent, and it can know from the second line,” the blueblack cold “shows a contrast with fire, it also refer that his father is a manual labor , so no one wants to appreciate that. The feelings of the house refer to line 9 “the chronic angers”, and it means the house is always full of the angry atmosphere. These negative feelings are all because he was just a child then, and he doesn’t know how his father hard-working is. The speaker’s father wouldn’t convey his love to his children, so he reflects his love to his conducts. Therefore, the speaker doesn’t know it and even takes those things which his father does to him for granted. With the time passing, the speaker becomes a man, and maybe at that times, he knows how hard to live in this society, hard to keep subsistence to a home. So he understands the suffering of his father, and knows his father’s love from his father’s daily behavior. He finally knows that his father’s love is routine love. And routine love is regarded as his father’s duty, in the line 13” lonely offices” means duty, so his father’s love is no return. In the same line, the speaker repeats twice“ What did I know” of love’s austere and lonely offices, the speaker means when he was a child, he knew nothing, so he treated his father indifferently.
In the end, the speaker’s attitude becomes guilty rather than angry, it reveals the speaker’s feeling is regret and repentant.
410102073 游佳洵 英美四
Q1
I choose Eden and Those Winter Sundays. These two poems have different aspects. The narrator of the first poem is a mother, and the second one is spoken by a grown-up child. The narrator of Eden mourns about the time she and her children is decreasing. Eden is like a paradise to the child, and it is also a shelter for the innocent kid. However, the child cannot stay in Eden forever. He needs to grow up, which means he will one day leave his mother’s protection. The tone of the poem is full of pity because the mother does not want her child to grow up. She also mentions she is “powerless”, and she cannot stop the “serpent” sliding in the grass. In other words, the mother cannot obstruct the child to gain new knowledge and face the dangerous things he never experienced before.
The second one is called Those Winter Sundays. Unlike the first poem, the speaker of this poem is a grown-up children who looks back his childhood. The poem describes how the narrator’s father treats him when he was little. Although the father’s job is just a blue color job, he still gives his child everything. Unfortunately, his child did not recognize the “love” his father gave him when he was a little boy. The “winter” Sundays shows the relationship between father and son was not good. The father’s love was simple and implicit, but selfless and warm. The child finally understands it when he grows up. The tone is sad and is full of regret.
These two poems are spoken in different aspect, one is from a mother and one is from a child. They look different at surface but they have potential similarity, which is love. These two poems’ tone both have sadness feeling, but the original reason for the sad tone is because of “love”. Mother loves the child; father loves son. Although these two poems are so different, they are both based on a nucleus idea: LOVE.
410402025 蘇薇雅
I want to answer to Q3.
What evidence does the poem provide about what the man used to be like?
In the poem, it stated what the man used to be is a man who doing everything all had the purpose.Included the setting of house, plant and car. Moreover. He also was willing to improve his property.Also, he had had the sense of apathy about gardening and good at it, too. what's more, a people who value the function of tools.Last, his live might interest life with music. To sum up, these details all showed that his personality in the past.
What specific changes have come about?
First, he didn't know who he is. His confusion filled in his heart. Second, in the past, he loved music. However, it's not pleasure to him now. Instead of the happiness he used to have, the complex emotion stirred in his mind. No more affection, no more music. The melody became a string of irritating sound. Third, different from the person who cautiously had planned his life, his thought became very disordered and scattered -he didn't recognize the identity of the woman.
How does the setting of the poem suggest some of those changes?
To begin with, he forgot his identification. Because of the Alzheimer, his memory just like the giant mess. Then, the writer used various ways to describe his condition. Like, he easily to forget the story he had read. His mind tends to jump to another aspect, we can find this from line 8 to line 9. different from the garden-bright- he took care of, his emotion was very negative. Although he remembered something about what he used to be, he still couldn't just live as that-he can fiddle never.More sorrowful is, he can't recognize his family who loved him.
410402017 陳怡君
Q 3.
Concise word “Alzheimer’s” immediately guides the readers to the point of the poem. This disease indeed puts a serious impact on the man who was healthy and rational previously. He raised the whole family that we can get from some details. He built the walkway between the front room and the garage, planted rhododendron. However, all things had disappeared when he became a victim of Alzheimer’s disease. In the beginning, when he came back from the hospital, he was confused and his emotion didn’t remain steady. He remembered sun shining, rain falling and plants blooming, which were normal from his life. He remembered himself and recalled his younger era. He used to wear a tweed hat, which presented a professional possession and authoritative status. It could contrast to “a suitcase swinging from his hand which contains shaving cream, a piggy bank”, and especially “His clothes” in the sixth line. “His clothes” indicated that he was not glorious and splendid like before. His brilliant past had gone. Also, he remembered music, which played a vital role in his life. However, it came up with peculiar screeching of strings, the luxurious fiddling with emotion, and odd noise. He forgot how to manipulate the instrument which was once his familiar and favorite event. The most frustrating was the last part. When he returned home, he couldn’t remember the white-haired woman, who was his beloved one and his significant companion in his life. How awful this situation was that he couldn’t remember the intimate one who was associated with his daily life. It is a tragic happening when someone’s family member suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
410402043 陳姿妤
Q2
After reading Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays, there are many changes about the author’s thoughts and attitude toward his father.
When the author was little, he took his father’s contribution for granted. In stanza one, he mentioned that no one even thanked him in his house. He used to fear the chronic angers of that house in his youth and speak indifferent to his father. The relationship between the author and his father was cold when he was a child.
When he grew up, he felt regretful that he treated his father so unfriendly. In the second stanza, he said his father would call him to get up. In the last stanza, his father drove out of the cold and polished the author’s good shoes. The author also said “what did I know” twice. In my point of view, I think that he used these words to show his regrets which he repay for his father’s devotion for the family and indicate that he would treat his father much better than he was young.
Yvonne 410402047
Question 3
There are few lines in this poem relate to the man’s past. From line 15 to line 20 is describing the man’s past; “He remember himself, A younger man, in a tweet hat, a man who loved Music.” We can analyze from this sentence that he used to be an energetic young man, and we can also find out in the previous part that the man use to drive, used to build things by his own, used to……remember himself.
Then unfortunately, he became an Alzheimer patient. Everything has changed, he started to forget things, especially the people, the things that are very close to him, he turned into a “crazy old man” who was dysfunctional and he couldn’t even remember his own wife. He can’t even really read a book by his own, just like the sentence mentioned in line 5”A book he sometimes pretends to read.” And we can see from line 23 to 25”Other things have become more urgent. Other matters are now of greater import, have more Consequence, must be attended to” that the man was in a little panic, it’s like an actor standing on the stage, the audience are waiting for his performance but he can’t remember any line from his script.
I think this poem can really catch readers heart, Kelly Cherry didn’t use any of the words of dysfunctional, disease, Alzheimer, she didn’t even use the word “forget” in this poem, though the main symptom of Alzheimer is forgetting things, but we can clearly notice the changes of the man.
410201006 中文三 曾政源
Question2
The poem “Those Winter Sundays”by Robert Hayden portray that a father dedicate himself to his family and he didn't say anything. The narrator is his son.There are some words that “cold” “ached” “chronic anger”show the son‘s feeling or emotion toward his father and his home. In then,he saw everything his father did, but he didn't appreciate for his father. In chilly winter, he made the room warm that symbolized his love, but no one thank him in first standza,line five.The chronic anger represent more hoter in the house.It seem consume the energy and love of his father by time.His father would older and older and the narrator would be an adult.The contribution of his father is impossible to go on.
Afterward,when the son grew up,he felt regretful. The word“indifferently”show the narrator think he is wrong that he ignored his father. In first standza line one,"Sundays too"means his father do those thing EVERY sundays,and he never complain.In third standza, his father had driven out the cold and polished the son‘s shoes.He said “what did I know?what did I know?”He emphasize it and said twice time.Presently,maybe,the narrator is an adult or a father,maybe the narrator is author.He can feel the sense when he played a same role. He was thankful and regretful for his father.In the third standza last line,"love's austere and lonely office?"finally,the narrator realize his father's love is selfless,great and no reward.Even if he is austere and poor,he also dedicate for family.Youth Went past,the narrator understand and feel his father's love.
410401006 華文一 雷從漢
Q3
‘’ Those Winter Sundays ‘’ tells a son’s changing attitude to his father, which was ignored when the son was young but later respected and loved when he was a man. In the poem, “ blueblack cold ” not only suggests the weather in winter but also connotes the speaker’s feeling toward his father was cold-hearted and indifferent when he was young. In the second stanza, the speaker rises and dresses slowly after he wakes up because of “ fearing the chronic angers of that house ”. Through this narration, speaker and his family were in a hostile atmosphere when he was young as well. Especially, “ chronic ” shows that speaker’s strange and indifferent feeling to his home was not done immediately but accumulated from day to day. Speaker’s childhood was in a tension both between his father and his family. However, in the last stanza, the speaker says ” What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices? ”. Speaker’s self-inquired asking presents ignorance on his father’s love when he was young. Only when he had grown up then he knew that his father’s hard working and silence acts are special expression of father’s love. Regretful and repentant, the speaker finally understand that love do not rely on what his father had said but on what he had done. Polishing speaker’s shoes and working in winter holidays, speaker’s father tough a lesson to the speaker of silence love and duty with return. Since the speaker finally understand and be grateful to his father’s love, he had admitted his foolishness and ignorance. Although there only left unending silence, his father’s love and lesson were alone with him as well.
410402049 蕭芊曼
i would like to answer question 2.
“Those winter Sundays” is a poem describes a man felt regret for taking his father’s devotion for granted. “Winter” symbolizes the bad relationship between the speaker and his father. And in Sundays his father still has to work shows that his father is a labor. “The blueblack cold” enhances our image of cold and his father toil.
The speaker rose and dressed slowly and spoke indifferently to his father when he was a boy tell us that how inpatient he treat his father in that time. “ No one ever thanked him” means he even never thanked his father or he thanked him but never told him. The weather was “cold” while his father made the house become “warm” telling that only his father felt the cold because his father’s great care and attentive care to him. “Driven out the cold” and “polished my good shoes “compares with “indifferent” emphasizes the “father’s” image. In the last two sentences of the poem is the transition. The timeline comes to the time after speaker grow up and become a father. “What did I know” is the speaker’s regret as he look back. And he said it twice shows that he finally could realized his father’s love as he grow up and understood father’s love is silent-don’t ask for reciprocation. “Love's austere and lonely offices” means that being a father has many responsibility and fathers usually are silent. They work hard devote for their family without saying or asking anything in the return.
英美一 410402015 巫芷玲 Miley
Q1. Eden vs. Mother of the Groom
There is something in common in these two poems. They both indicate a mother’s sorrow. They don’t want their sons to grow up and leave, but they have to realize that it is an unchangeable fact. In Eden, the mother is the speaker, and the tone is helpless. She compares herself to God, her son to Adam, and their situation to Eden. Even if she wants to protect him forever, but someday he needs to step outside of the Garden of Eden, after all. Besides, the verse “when he rises suddenly behind the gates of sunset” in the last paragraph, in my opinion, the sunset indicates that the mother also will “leave” someday. She maybe can give him a band aid when he get injured, or change the batteries for his out-of-charge toy, but she is not all-powerful after all and couldn’t be always by his side. In Mother of the Groom, the tone is reminiscent. The mother recalls the days when her son was a baby and the glistening back when she was bathing him. She is kind of jealous of her son’s wife because the wife will replace her and get all his attention.
The difference between the two poems is that the situations are kind of different. In Eden, the son is still a childish little boy in an age of not knowing what death is when he saw a dead squirrel. However, in Mother of the Groom, the mother is on the occasion of his son’s wedding which means that he is about to leave and have his own family.
英美三 410202072 吳婉君
Q2."Those Winter Sundays"
In “Those Winter Sundays”, the speaker uses the word “blueblack” which is the colour refers to being cold and silent, and the word “cold” which is opposite to warm, to describe his father’s clothes. Thus, I suggest that, in the son’s feelings, his father is not a considerate but a quiet and indifferent one. In the third line, the word “cracked” may suggest that the texture of his father’s hands is hard, which may refers that in the son’s eyes, the father’s heart is hard and uneasy to be moved. Such not only hard but also “ached” hands, may be scary in a little boy’s eyes. And the horrible feeling increases the boy’s heart’s distance to his father. And then the line “…banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him” may suggest that, besides the far distance between the boy’s and the father’s heart, there is not much love between the boy’s father and mother or his mother doesn't live with them. Thus, the home may be colder in the boy’s heart. In the line 9, the boy’s fear is showed straightforward in the words “fearing the chronic angers”. The boy complaint about such a hard and cold father. Thus, he speaks indifferently to his father, without any cares or warmth.
Then, the third stanza is about the change of the son’s attitude when he becomes a man, and his regret about treating his father indifferently. The line 11 and 12, “who had driven out the cold/ and polished my good shoes as well”, it suggests the changes of the son’s attitude. That is because the speaker’s focus turns from the cold and the angers of the home and his father to how much his father has done to him. And the feelings of regret in the son’s heart shows strongly in the repetition of “what did I know” in the 13 line. The repetition implies the grief in the son’s heart since he finally understands that the love of his father is so austere and hidden in many little things.
410402039 陳雋哲
Q2
In the beginning of the poem, a word ‘’too’’ describe the father’s image. I think ‘’winter’’ present the cold relationship between the author and his father. "Sunday" is the weekend, the rest of the day, and the text referred to "working day" form another group of controls. The third and fourth two sentences of the poem the only one pair of his father's appearance description: "chapped hands," "all day due to labor under the sun and wind and always ached. In first stanza, he said that no one ever thank him. The author also took his father’s contribution for granted when he was a little boy. "Thanks," the word seems to be superfluous. In second stanza, the forth sentence” fearing the chronic angers of that house,” showed that the author don’t like the atmosphere at home. At the end of the poem can be said to be an emotional turning point. The author became a man and he felt regretful that he treated his father unfriendly. I think he said twice “What did I know” to mean when he was young and knew nothing, and want to repay for his father’s contribution to the family. He felt regretful and guilty rather than angry in the end.
410402007 林旻萱 英美一
Q2
The first stanza frankly shows no one ever comprehended or cared about the father by telling that “no one ever thanked him”. In stanza two, “cold”, “splintering” and “breaking” are words that sound not too encouraging which is just like the son’s feeling toward his father. And the most obvious verse is “fearing the chronic angers of that house” which implies the atmosphere of the house is already in a tense situation for a long time. “Speaking indifferently to him” also shows the desolate relationship between the son and his father. In the last stanza, “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” is a self dialogue after he’s grown, blaming himself of knowing nothing when he was young; indicating the speaker finally admits his ignorance over his father’s love. View from scratch, when the speaker is young, he feels stressful and unharmonious toward his father, and to him staying at home is just "as cold as winter". Not until he grows up and looks back his childhood as a father his own does he notice what had had his father done for him and realize his father’s inarticulate and austere love. His epiphany is full of regret and apology.
410402029 王鈺雅
Q1
I decide to compare with Eden and Those Winter Sundays. In Eden, we can see those words such as freshly, minted and unashamed in Eden. So Eden represents that the child originally is such as innocent, pure and honest just like Adam. Sadly the mother need to face the truth that her son never like before. The tone are helpless, mixed feelings because mother can't change the fact that her child grow up. The child never regard his mother like superman as before. In Eden, the author use many words to indicate mother just like a God. Sadly, the ending just like the story of The Fall of Man. The sunset in the end of Eden represents the end of innocence of child. In Compare with Eden, Those Winter Sundays' tone is regretful. Why the author so regretful? Some sentences in this article appears the relationship in the house is bad. It’s not too hard to imagine what his father's life. “My father got up early”; “put his clothes with cracked hands” I see the life is difficult enough. What is even worse, no one ever thanked him. When the author grown up, he understand his father's love. He can deeply understand the simple love of his father. The two poems have same relationship between parent and child. The point of view is different, the Eden is a mother watching her son, the Those Winter Sundays is a son recalls the relationship with his father. The big similarity is both of the two poems talking about love.
610302607 蕭峻閎
Q3: Kelly Cherry’s “Alzheimer’s” uses contrasts—especially before and after—to characterize the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The speaker uses her father suffering from Alzheimer's to let all of children cherish the relationship between children and parents. The speaker describes deeply what her father’s change. In the article, I will divide the article into two parts to discuss. the first part, I will analyze what the old man was. The other part, I will find more evidences to prove the damage and changes brought by Alzheimer’s.
The first part, we can get some cues to guess what the old man’s life was. I find three sentence to present it. In line four, it mentions that the old man pretend to read the book. We can guess he used to love to read the books, but now he didn’t know why he hold the book. In line sixteen, it mentions that he built the walkway between the front room and the garage and planted the rhododendron in back. He also like to drive the car because that can remind him who you are. He loved music and wore the tweed hat. Those are what he really was.
The other part, when he suffers from Alzheimer's, he has a lots strange behavior such pretending to read and the mind rattling like the suitcase. He is unstable and disturbed to his future life. This feeling makes him oppressive. People get the Alzheimer's. He recognizes he will lose his memories one day. They are afraid of forgetting their friends, children, parents even their wives. The last part, I want to share what my feeling is. Reading the final lines, it touches me so much. It describes the old man’s white-haired wife is standing in the doorway to welcome him in. we don’t know if the old man remember his wife. This was vary heartbroken. This poet makes me remember the first lady, Nancy, passed away recently. She accompanied with her husband, Reagan, was a former U.S.A president and suffered from Alzheimer's. Even if their families suffers from Alzheimer's, they are still with Alzheimer's patients.
610288204 多元所 崔珮芸
We can find the clues that the son’s feelings toward his father and his home from the title, “Those Winter Sundays”. “Winter”, this word means cold and. It symbolizes the relationship of the son and his father is distant. “Sundays”,the word expresses a “routine” of father’s daily life. There are three stanzas in this poem. The order of these stanzas is following the time of growing up. As time goes by, the son admits his ignorance to his father’s love when he was young. He is full of guilty and regretful after he becomes a man. There is some evidence as following:
In the stanza 1, the speaker use “father” instead of “dad or daddy”. It obviously presents the distant relationship between the son and the father. In the line 2-3, “the blueblack cold” and “cracked hands” symbolizes the devotion of the hardworking father. We also know the father has to work on “Sundays”, so he doesn’t have enough time to accompany his son.
In the stanza 2, “the cold splintering, breaking” is contrast to “the rooms were warm, he’d call”. The reader can feel that the father’s love is a bright light to his son. The love of father breaks the cold atmosphere between the son and father.
In the last stanza, From this two lines, “What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?”. It means when the son gradually grows up, he already realizes the dutiful and unselfish love of his father. However, his regret for his misunderstanding of his father's life is not easy to release to himself.
410402035 陳泰鈞
Q3:
In the middle of the poem, we can see the man was energetic and talented. For instance, he used to build walkway between the front room and the garage, and he liked planting in the yard, besides, he loved music even played the violin. After the man got Alzheimer, he no longer had time and energy to do his interests, planting flowers and playing the violin….The author use the sentence” Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar” to demonstrate the man had not taken care of the plants for a long time. In addition, the man had bad mental condition. In the beginning of the poem, the author use the word “crazy” to describe the man who just back from the hospital, his mind is not calm and steady, instead, is rattling like the suitcase that swinging from his hand. Moreover, the author use the sentence” the book he sometimes “pretends” to read” to indicate the syndrome of Alzheimer that the man is unable to read a book anymore because he cannot memorize the content. Although he remembers his house, the walkway he built, the rhododendron he planted, the car he used to drive…. But, very sadly, he is unable to recognize the old, white-haired woman, his beloved, who are welcoming him in. It is very desperate and painful in the end of the poem, and that is an actual fact that Alzheimer patients will probably forgot their families one day, no matter how hard their families take care of them.
410402031 英美一 楊子玉
Q3
From sentence 18 to 20, we can see that the man used to be healthy and strong enough to plant rhododendron in his backyard, and he enjoyed playing violin. However, after being ravaged by Alzheimer’s, the man could not read any words though he holds a book pretending to read. What’s worse, he couldn’t even recognize his wife who standing at the door. His daughter felt frustrated and angry when his father became irrational. It was like being tricked or betrayed by your close friend. One day ago, you two are close, but few days later he doesn’t recognize you and becomes a stranger. In the end of the poem, the daughter shift her anger to despair when she found out that his father tried to remember his mother but in vain. The last few sentences of the poem is choppy, just like the man’s memory. And the indicate pauses suggests that the man’s mind pauses a few times while thinking. The setting also reflects the man’s mind. For example, “ Roses and columbine slug it out for space, claw the mortar.” means that the man’s mind was in conflict and confusion. Alzheimer and the man’s rational was fighting against each other to take up the man’s mind, just like roses and columbine fight for space. “Sun hardens the house, reifies it.” suggests that the man’s memory was vague and he tried to reified it in his mind.
410202073 英美三 吳晟華
Q2
In the speaker’s youth, he had a hard relationship with his father. Like the speaker confesses in the last stanza, “What did I know…” the speaker did not know about the “lonely” love of his father – a traditional father who expressed his love through “real act”.(or simply too shy to express by words.)
Without sharing the feeling straight to his son, the son pictured his father as a scary and angry man, and the house they lived in thus drew cold and blue black, which eventually caused the “indifferent” conversation between them.
In the last stanza, the author uses “austere”, which I think is very clever, since that is indeed a word that young boy cannot understand, and therefore did not thank the father for what he did.
The clues that the speaker grown to know about his father’s love can be found in several parts. First of all, “Sundays too... labor in the weekday…” shows that the father could have rested in winter Sundays, but instead he got up early in order to keep his son from being cold. Secondly, the father polished his “good” shoes so that the speaker could dress nicely to go to church.
To sum up, the father sacrificed his time and strength only to make sure that his son would have the best he could offer. As the speaker grown up, he realizes his father’s love and regret that he didn’t thank him by then.
410402033 英美一 蘇宣
Q4
Two different chiles represent two different values. Grandma's love of green chile symbolizes the New Mexican culture, and instead, the red chile which is author's favorite represents the American culture of the young. The author uses food to explain the cultural estrangement between the two.
In stanza 1,The speaker says that "Red chile ristras decorate his door," showing that the red-colored versions are used frequently as decorations, then he talks of the red chile's "historical grandeur", being like "haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping tongues of old men, licking the breeze". By using these personification, we can see that he is likening the red chiles to worldly-wise elder that tells intriguing story of their livid past. However, the chile is like"A well-dressed gentleman at the door." in his grandmother's home. In stanza 2, The green chile stands for "voluptuous, masculine”"images to the author, because it tastes more spicy than the red chile. All stanza 2 talk about the love feeling of author's grandma. There, author is like a observer to look the process between both.
It tells us that is not only estrangement between author and his grandma but also difference between the New Mexican culture and American culture. The green chile to author's grandma symbolize the traditional culture and her memory in Mexico.
410302063英美二 許華
In Jimmy Santiago Baca's ''Green Chile'', red chile and green chile have different qualities. Describing red chilies, the poet uses words such as ''historical'', ''gently'',and ''haggard'' in the first stanza. Through the depiction, red chilies symbolize American style, and they are not as spicy as green chilies.
Green chilies are the poet's grandmother's favorites, contrary to the fact that the poet prefer red ones.Green chilies are much spicier than red ones. In the second stanza, the author depicts green chilies with words just like ''voluptuous,masculine'',''mysterious passion''etc. Thus, besides the green chilies are spicier, they are even passionate and muscular.
In first stanza of the poem, the poet personifies the red chilies as toungues of old man-''I can hear them talking in the wind, haggard, yellowing, crisp, rasping tongues of old men, licking the breeze.''And In second stanza, Green chilies are depicted as ''a well-dressed gentleman at the door'', implying a sexual attraction as well.
The difference of the speaker's and his grandma's preferences convey the generation gap between the speaker's grandma and him. Green chilies, which the grandma prefers, symbolize the passionate and alluring traditional style, while red chilies, the speaker's favor, symbolize the smooth and gentle American style.
410302025 張端容
Question 2
According to the title of this poem “Those Winter Sunday” can reflect the relation between the son and the father was as cold as the winter’s cold. In this poem, the son thought the house he lived was not sweet and full of love at all. “ Fearing the chronic angers of that house “(line 9) shows that he was afraid of his father, and hard to get along with. This situation turned out that the son “Speaking indifferently to him” (line 10) because he felt no connection between he and his father, and totally don't know what role did his father played in his family. But his father never stopped working even was the church day—the day of rest, his father never gets to sleep in. After the son grew up, he remembered that his father was the person who woke up so early everyday to work, and sacrificed all his time to contribute and maintenance the whole family. His father was also the person who driven out the cold in the splintering and breaking winter (line 11) because all he cared was his beloved family and wanted to protect the whole family being safe and warm. The last thing that influenced the son most was his father even polished his shoes for him in the early winter morning (line12), he finally realized whatever his father did were because he love him so much. But we can see from line 13 “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” the son was really regret about not understood what his father’s love when he was young.
410302022 羅紹邕
Q3
From line 18 to 22 we can tell that the old man used to be healthy enough to plant rhododendron and passionate in music. However, after he got Alzheimer’s disease, he becomes weaker than he used to be, especially in the mind. He isn’t able to think straight anymore. This can be seen from line 2 to 6, author similes the old man’s mind as suitcase, which contains the tools he used to utilize in his young age. The shaving cream, a piggy bank, indicates his former successful career. “The book he sometimes pretends to read” indicates the lost ability of his reading skill. Although he lost the ability, he still wants to stay cool like in his old days. He remember that the house is his, so as the boss of the house, he have to take care of it. For the sudden, he saw a woman, an old white-haired woman stand in the doorway, welcoming him back home. That’s weird for the old man, because he don’t remember that there’s an old woman lived with him before, he had a pretty wife but not an old woman! That’s really sad when I read this part; the description not only shows the syndrome of Alzheimer’s disease, but also portraits the innocence of the old man: he forgets his wife completely, and he’s maybe going to get rid of her in the next moment. It’s a very sad poem to me.
410185071幼教四 許馨文
Q1: In Heart of Darkness, what does Kurtz represent to Marlow? Why does Marlow want to meet Kurtz? What does Marlow learn from his meeting with Kurtz?
I think that Kurtz represents many kinds of characteristics to Marlow. First, Kurtz represents the dark side of humanity. In the novel, he shows businessmen’s greed and commercial mentality. In addition, his handwritten postscript: “Exterminate all the brutes!” also shows arrogant manner. Apparently, he has no respect for the colony. Second, he represents his desire for power and wealth. He wants to rule over those primitive people. Third, Kurtz represents his disloyalty to his fiancée, because he already has a black mistress. However, this innocent fiancée still infatuatedly waits Kurtz to come back. Fourth, Kurtz also represents he is a man who lacks of restraint. Almost every character in this novel has restraint to prevent him/her from doing something wrong, but Kurtz loses himself because he can’t control his longing for power and profits.
In my opinion, Marlow wants to meet Kurtz because of curiosity. It seems that everybody adores Kurtz very much, but Kurtz is just like a secret for Marlow. For this reason, Marlow wants to meet Kurtz and knows more about Kurtz. Besides, Marlow is obsessed with voices, so he wants to meet Kurtz for hearing his voice and talking with him. Unfortunately, Kurtz dies soon after they meet each other, so Marlow has no much time to hear Kurtz’s voice.
Marlow could reflect himself from his meeting with Kurtz, and he understands that there is always darkness in everybody’s heart. (Nobody is completely wonderful.) Then, Marlow also knows “restraint” is very important thing for people. When I read the novel, I could know Marlow is saved because he could control himself. However, Kurtz becomes depraved because he lacks of restraint. Last, I think Marlow understand “Some things are better left unknown.”, so he lies to Kurtz’s fiancée and concealed Kurtz’s real behavior.
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