Commentary Outline

Passage W

Intro
-Thesis: John Reed uses imagery, tone, and diction to show the horrors of war.

Imagery
-John Reed's use of gruesome imagery shows how horrible war can be.
-"bandaged around the head"
-"arms in slings"
-"groaning heaps of arms and legs"

Diction
-John Reed's diction shows how terrible war can be.
-Use of words with negative connotations
-gash
-smoke
-sullenly
-suspiciously

Tone
-John Reed's development of a sombre tone also contributes to the horrors of war.
-tone developed through the imagery and diction

Conclusion

Paper 2 Questions

#1
May 2001, Question B: Say what the titles of some individual works you have studied indicated to you at the outset. In what was were your first impressions reinforced or altered as you read and explored each work?

Translation: What did you think abouts the books after just reading the titles? How did your first impressions change?

I'm not really sure what element of fiction this is addressing, though maybe forshadowing seeing as it asks about what you thought would happen later in the book.

I would use As I Lay Dying, and, The Metamorphosis because those titles kind of gave me a certain idea about the book, whereas The Bluest Eye for example didn't really give me an idea where the book was headed.

#2
May 2003, Question B: To what extent would you agree that plot should be valued more highly than style in the novel and short story? In your answer you should refer to two or three novels or short stories you have studied.

Translation: Which is more important, Plot or Style?

Obviously the elements of fiction dealt with here would be plot and style.

I would use As I Lay Dying, and The Metamorphosis, because I think those had the most intersting styles.

Renard Roux

In Red Fox, Atwood uses the motif of hunger in order to show that there is no such thing as "virtuous poverty."

In the fifth stanza, this is especially obvious. The speaker says, "Hunger corrupts, and absolute hunger corrupts absolutely," implying that none, not even the most virtuous of us, would remain virtuous in the face of death. The speaker goes on to say, "Of course there are mothers, squeezing their breasts dry, pawning their bodies, shedding teeth for their children." This is seemingly contradictory to what the speaker says previously, after all, what is more virtuous than a mother doing every last thing she can in order to feed her starving children? However, the speaker goes on to say, " Or that's our fond belief. But remember-Hansel and Gretel were dumped in the forest because their parents were starving." This clearly shows that there is no such thing as "virtuous poverty." Even though parents want to protect and provide for their children, there's a point where it is no longer possible, and they have to let the children fend for themselves.

Whether the fact that "absolute hunger corrupts absolutely," or that "Hansel and Gretel were dumped in the woods because their parents were starving," the motif of hunger in Red Fox shows that there is no such thing as "virtuous poverty."

Bullets Don't Take Bribes, They Shoot S***

In From the Frontier of Writing, Seamus Heaney develops a conceit in order to show the pressures and dificulties of writing. Heaney develops this conceit through the comparison of writing and the process of writing with images like guns and troops.
There are many ways to interpret exactly what part of the writing process Heaney is writing about, but personally, I think that he is writing about the process of trying to be published. In the sixth stanza Heaney writes "the marksman training down out of the sun upon you like a hawk." I took this as the marksmen being an editor of sorts, just waiting to dive out of the sky and rip your work to shreds. I imagine that this would be a very stressful and difficult time for a writer, having to stand in front of this person who is almost just about playing god with the piece that you've undoubtedly spent quite a while on. And even after you've made it past the editor, you're not out of the woods yet, you still have to walk past "armor-plated vehicles" and "the posted soldiers". These images again show the pressures of trying to be published because even once you've gotten published, the publisher's eyes are still on you, just waiting for your next piece so that they can rip that apart as well.

The Sun Rising

The Sun Rising by John Donne is filled with many images, especially images of power. Donne uses these images to show that the power of love is even greater than the power of the sun. He does this by comparing these images of power to the love shared between the speaker and his lover. Donne writes "To warm the world, that done in warming us." This shows how the speaker views love, because if the sun's job is to warm the earth, its work is finished as long as he and his lover are warm.

Another way that Donne shows the power of love is through the tone of the poem. Almost immediately, there is a distinct, scolding tone towards the sun. The speaker has just been woken up, and scolds the sun, calling it the chider of "late schoolboys, and sour prentices." As the poem moves on, the speaker's tone changes to a more dismissive tone, as if to tell the sun to go on and leave them alone because their love is much more important than the sun.