1. What are the sources of humor in this story? Does the humor arise from observation of life or from distortion of life? What elements of the story seem to you funniest?The sources of humor are somewhat dry but at the same time give off great mental images. Alcohol seems to be the father's downfall when in reality it is his pride that gets him. He is proud to have information others do not and he is proud to be especially good at something. The bad thing about is pride is that when he is particularly happy about something he decides to celebrate with alcohol. Then he is mad at himself for giving in to that temptation, so he drinks to "reprimand" himself in a way. Then he drinks to forget about his previous drinking. That part is pretty amusing as well. The humor arises from the observation of life because he observes how great he is then he is upset that he gave into such temptation. The funniest part of the story is when the young boy is walking home with his dad and there is a sort of role reversal. Larry is being loud and obnoxious to everyone on the way home and his father is being whiny and embarrassed like his son usually is. It seems that when the kid becomes the adult, the adult reverts to a childlike state. Then another part that is humorous is when the mom praises Larry for being drunk because he was her "brave little man" and he was his dad's "guardian angel" (page 352) because he prevented his father from getting drunk which allowed him to go to work the next day.
Posted in
drunk,
Frank O'Connor,
humor,
irony,
The Drunkard
There are very few topics that I enjoy discussing more in history than wars, and Vietnam is one that I truly appreciate. I realize I wasn't alive during this time, but sometimes I kind of wish that I could have experienced the emotions that America experienced during this war. This entire poem is chock full of IRONY...which come on, who doesn't love a good ironic poem and/or story? The soldier who is in the "far country" is writing letters to his parents, namely his mother, and telling them random tidbits of information like how it rains often and how beautiful the sunsets are. The mother, being as all mothers are, senses that there is something more to his superficial answers than what he is letting on. She claims to want to know the truth and for her son to not "hold back." Finally, in the 7th stanza, he does not hold back and says:So the next time he worte, the young man said,
"Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm
on women and children."Talk about hitting his parents with some truth! When he sends this letter, his DAD writes back and tells him not to say such horrible things because it upset his mother. Well, mother of son fighting for his country, do not ask questions you do not want to know the answers to!The poem is ironic because the whole time he is shielding his family from what he is actually experiencing even though they claim to want to know what is actually going on. When he finally opens up and tells them the horrors he is experiencing, they are afraid and scold him! People really should not ask questions unless they are prepared to know the answers, no matter how gruesome or macabre. This definitely represents America well during the time period. Americans did not know what the war was about...heck...soldiers didn't even know what the war was about!! They were merely doing their duties. The irony helps to emphasize how America was so oblivious to what was going on, and yet when they asked questions, they were upset to find out the answers.
Posted in
APO 96226,
irony,
Larry Rottman,
Vietnam
This poem kind of hits home for me and probably every other girl who has felt pressure to conform to what society dictates. This girl in the poem is described as "usual" in the first line of the first stanza. The first stanza shows how naive and innocent the girl was as a young child until she went to school and met her other girl classmates. Honestly, I think girls are much more vicious than boys are, so this made perfect sense to me that the girl in the poem was innocent and happy with how she looked until she went to school and people told her of her imperfections.This is definitely a shot at society. "She went to and fro apologizingEveryone saw a fat nose on thick legs." Isn't it ridiculous the emphasis that society puts on being "perfect?" I mean, WHAT IS PERFECTION and who gets the right to decide that? Girls seem to have such a terrible time with the pressure of perfection in nearly every aspect, but especially outside appearance. It becomes quite ironic as the poem goes on because the last stanza states:"Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.Consummation at last.To every woman a happy ending"Personally, I don't think death necessarily equals a happy ending. It's ironic that she finally got her wish while literally laying on her deathbed: to be pretty and to have people notice her. It is difficult for me to tell though whether or not she killed herself or if she had some sort of plastic surgery that went wrong. Either way...I think this is a desparate cry to a society that values appearance rather than intelligence and inner beauty.
Posted in
Barbie Doll,
innocent,
irony,
Marge Piercy,
naive,
perfection
"Pink Dog" by Elizabeth Bishop seems very political and ironic. This tells a story of a "shaved dog," which represents an individual in society who tried living his or her life by the standards of society and then decided to break away from that norm. The speaker is speaking to the dog in apostrophe and trying to "persuade" the dog in a way to conform to society standards. The Carnival represents society as a whole-- a place full of fakeness and bright colors trying to cover up normal boring discrepancies. "They say that Carnival's degenerating--radios, Americans, or something,have ruined it completely. They're just talking."This line really stuck out to me. It calls out America for its superficiality since this poem seems to have been written about Rio de Janeiro, a city in Brazil. It's pretty annoying to look at American media sometimes and see what superficial and unimportant issues that are in the headlines. Yet, Americans feed on the drama, the gossip, and the superficial. Wonderful place we live in, isn't it? I kind of wish we could all just step back and see how stupid the things we worry about are. But... you know... I'll probably still worry about the same stupid things. I'm glad Elizabeth Bishop could call us all out though. We need a little reality check at times.
Posted in
apostrophe,
Elizabeth Bishop,
irony,
Pink Dog,
political
