"The Fog" Carl Sandburg

In Sandburg's poem "The Fog," the author uses literary devices such as tone, personification and structure to depict the fog's essence. Throughout the poem, the fog is portrayed as an insouciant character who "sits looking/over harbor and city [...] and then moves on." This depiction is reflected through Sandburg's nonchalant tone. The human and animal attributes given to the fog represent its essence as well. The character's arrival "on little cat feet" suggest the fog is meticulous and easily unnoticed. The fog then "sits on silent haunches" as he looks "over harbor and city." This personification represents once again to the fog's carefree character.

Likewise, the poem's structure depicts the fog's casual manner. The poem is divided into a couplet and a quatrain where each stanza is a sentence. The couplet describes the fog's apparition: "The fog comes/on little cat feet." It is a very concise statement made up of one syllable words. The enjambment between the lines create a smooth sentence which may allude to the "little cat feet's" behavior. The plain structure of this couplet alludes to the fog's simpleness . The quatrain, although also concise, has more enjambed lines and therefore creates a sense of continuity. This enjambment represents the monotony of the fog's actions: "It sits looking/over harbor and city/on silent haunches/and then moves on." Despite the conciseness of both stanzas, the couplet mainly represents the fog's simpleness while the quatrain depicts the monotony of the fog as it "sits," "looks" and "moves on."

Through the use of tone, personification and structure, Sandburg is able to represent the fog's light-hearted character. The authors nonchalant tone, the personification of the fog and the poem's structure allude to the fog and emphasize on it's way of being.

Litetary Terms For Ap Exam

Aphorism

· Original thought , spoken, or written in a laconic and memorable form

· Sutra Literature of India

Bombast

· Pretentious inflated speech or writing

· Victorian writers where masters of the bombastic (ex. Democracy in America written by Alexix de Tocqueville)

Cadence

· A beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense

· Iambic pentameter

Dirge

· Song expressing mourning or grief, appropriate for a funeral

· Bye and Bye by Bob Dylan

Elegy

· Mournful melancholic poem, usually a funeral song that shows lament for the dead.

· Catullus Carmen 101- poem written by Catullus to his dead brother. It speaks of “mute ashes” which were the only remaining evidence of his brother’s body.

Doggerel

· Derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value

· Dr. Seuss

In medias res

· Narrative technique where a story begins either at midpoint or at the conclusion rather than at the beginning.

· The Odyssey, the war had been going on for seven years.

Plaint

· A poem or speech expressing sorrow

· A piteous plaint by Eugene Field

Subjunctive mood

· Verb mood typically used in a subordinate clause to express a wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred.

· Truth be told, Come what may, suffice to say, God save the Queen, I wish it were summer.

Morrison On Race

Race is like God. They were both created to generate a sense of security. In the interview with Charlie Rose, Morrison describes racial hierarchy as a "fantasy." She continues to affirm people permit race to exist because "it is safer to feel superior," and I totally agree. The only way to feel you're worth something is for there to be someone worse to compare to. It's kind of a logic issue: if there has to be light for there to be darkness, there has to be "inferior" for there to be "superior."

When Charlie Rose asks Morrison about Bacon's rebellion and it's importance, She describes it as "a kind of people's army that got together to overthrow the government." "The interesting thing," she says, "were the laws that were established after [...] because what they said was, any white can kill any black for any reason. So that poor whites, indentured whites, have a reason to have contempt and feel superior to the blacks." Racial division, Morrison adds, became "the theme of the states." In other words, race was created the moment when superiority became a skin color issue.

Morrison barely mentions Song of Salomon in the interview but the racial divison theme is present throughout her whole novel. In the beginning of the book, when the Dead family are out on their Sunday rides, Lena doubts whether black people could afford to have a summer house. Although the reasons why black people can't buy summer houses are economical, the fact that Lena believes no black can afford one implies that all blacks are poor, thus supporting the statement that blacks are inferior to whites. During the course of the novel, Guitar makes big deal about how Milkman, although a "negro," lives both the white and black life. The white life Guitar talks about consists of nice parties in Honore, a red haired girlfriend, and a house in Not Doctor Street. It is represented as the rich life, again implying that blacks are worst off just for being blacks.

But race is a two way street. White's who believe they're superior to blacks because of their skin color are racist. Blacks who hate whites for being white are racist as well. They're all fools, fighting for something that doesn't exist.

"Soft Fried Egg"

The anecdote I am about to tell and the topic I am going to discuss have one thing in common: Eggs.

Two eggs to be specific. One was fried, the other wasn't. You want to know why this egg never had the chance to turn it's dark-transparent slime into crispy white yolk surrounding? The answer is colors. You see, eggs tend to be very simple when it comes to colors. Ask anyone how many colors an egg has and they'll most likely say two. The reason why the un-fried egg ended up in the siphon is because it had one more color than it's supposed to.

Mom was at work and she had asked us to make dinner. Due to talent and time restrictions, I decided to make a basic tortilla española. Crack the first egg, crack the second egg, whoa. What the hell? Is that? No, no, no, no, no. There's an extra color in my egg! And that extra color is dark red. And red inside an egg can only mean one thing: blood. And blood can only mean: fetus. And fetus means that that egg I was just about to feed my sister and I was fertilized. More than that, it was in the process of becoming a chicken. I've kept a dead chicken inside an egg in my fridge for who knows how long. I refuse to eat eggs now. Eggs bother me.

There are actually a lot of reasons why eggs would bother someone, I've learned. Guitar for example, dislikes "soft fried eggs" because they look like white people. He actually has a thing against eggs in general because " a negro ain't never been no egg" (p.115). Actually, Guitar only hates eggs when a negro claims to be one. You might think this is absurd, but Guitar's got a point here: "Eggs is difficult, complicated. Fragile too. And white" (p.116). I find those very valid reasons for a "negro" not to be an egg. But there's something that doesn't make sense in all this Guitar. When Macon says he's a "soft fried egg" you get pissed off. But you've called him Milkman all your life, and as long as I know milk is white. So how come this doesn't bother you? I'll tell you why. You're not mad at Macon comparing himself to an egg. You used that to make a point you've been wanting to make for a very long time. Macon's not as poor as the rest of you "black folks." He's a wannabe white with that beach house and that ginger girlfriend. And while he's having the time of his life in that limbo between "Not Doctor Street" and "Southside," there are blacks being killed by whites. Milkman's ashamed of being black. That's why he said he was a "soft fried egg" and not a "crow" or a "baboon." He's one of those "racial Negroes," that's why you're mad at him. You more than anyone know it's not about milk or eggs. It's about what's going on in the real world. All people want are white things. "White eggs," "white tea bags," "white lifestyles." Bunch of racists huh?

Mock, Mock, Mock And A Little Bit Of Irony

I have to admit that until high school, I took literature for granted. I thought novels were just imagination on paper. As it turns out, they're much more than that. Throughout these years we've read some really dense texts which I truly believe (let's hope Mr. Durrance never reads this) are actually more complex than physics. At first, it was hard to grasp every significant detail the author threw at you. Mr. Tangen would show us something and I'd seriously doubt whether the author had really done it on purpose. As my bookshelf started growing, I realized I was making conclusions I wouldn't have made five years before.

If you had 8th grade Laura read Song of Salomon, and then asked her what her first impression of the novel was, she'd say something like: "I thought the book was cool because I had never read a book that began with a suicide."

I wouldn't say 8th grade Laura was wrong. It is a "cool" book after all. But her comment was definitely shallow. There's much more to this novel than just a suicide beginning. In her Foreword, Morrison states that the sentence "The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance agent promised to fly from Mercy to the other side of Lake Superior at 3:00" was "designed to mock a journalistic style." This sentence doesn't stand alone. Throughout her novel, this unlike-Austen female author implements irony in order to mock certain aspects of society.

An easy one to catch appears on page four, where the narrator is explaining the whole Doctor, Not Doctor Street fuss. The first colored doctor happened to live and die on "Mains Avenue." Due to this, the street acquired the common name of "Doctor Street." It wasn't long before people changed their address to "Doctor Street" and send mail to this same place. However, "the city legislators, whose concern for appropriate names and the maintenance of the city's landmarks was the principal part of their political life, saw to it that "Doctor Street" was never used in any official capacity." For all of you greedy politicians who focus mainly on insignificant details like street names and ignore real problems like starvation and violence, you're being laughed at. Thumbs up to that.

But don't worry, you're not alone. It wasn't long enough before Morrison picked a next victim: jobs and roles in society. In chapter one, the author lets us know Macon Dead owned and rented houses. However, she confesses he owned mostly "shacks" and only four "real houses." His "office", or what he thought of as his office, was and would always be remembered as "Sonny's Shop." Macon had painted the word "OFFICE" on the door but hadn't bothered to scrape the last owner's name off since "he couldn't scrape it off anybody's mind" (p. 17). I don't know how you feel about this, but to me, this sounds like an awful job. Nevertheless, Mr. Dead loved to show off that dreamy lifestyle wanted by so many other colored folks.

The last aspect I'm going to discuss, and probably the most recurrent, is family. Morrison mocks that happy family image which we're expected to follow through the greatly disturbed Dead family. I'd like to start off with Macon Jr. and his mom's fishy relationship. The story behind "Milkman" says it all. The second thing to highlight is the lack of love and excess of hate that exists in this family. Whenever Macon thought of his wife, his emotions were "coated with disgust" (p.16). He had wanted a son for fifteen years, but once he did, he felt bitter about it. Ruth and Macon's daughters, Magdalene and Corinthias didn't seem to have a healthy relationship with their mother. When Macon Jr. stopped his father from hitting his mom, his sisters looked at him with hatred. And even though it is more than obvious that this family is dysfunctional, they insist on taking rides on Sunday afternoons. They drive around, looking at lake houses, pretending everything between them is all right, showing others what they want to see: a family that spends "quality time" together.

The suicide was an innovating way to start the novel but Morrison's mocking abilities and overdose of irony were exceptional ways of causing a first impression.

In His Shoes

I had the strangest dream the other night. I was on a ship for one minute but then I wasn't. You know how weird dreams can be... Anyways, I can't really remember where I was or who I was with, all I can recall is that there were three pairs of shoes on the floor. I tried the closest pair on. As I was tying my right shoe, I looked up and realized I was in an unknown place. I did, however recognize a few faces. Where had I seen them, I began to wonder. That's when it hit me. I knew them from my History textbook! I stood up and everything seemed smaller than I imagined. I was Abraham Lincoln. "Are you all-right Mr. President?," I heard someone ask. I nodded and sat down. Instantly, something changed and I was no longer conscious of the soul change I had just experienced. It felt like I had been the sixteenth president of the United States all my life. I remember saying "fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," and actually believing it. I was aware of slavery and wanted to fight against it, but I knew that first, I had to get the Union back together. Then I don't remember exactly how it happened but for some reason I started trying another pair of shoes on. My beard was gone, but I was still tall. I was more built than before actually. "Those inferiors serve no purpose!" I heard myself saying. It is now that I realize how awful that makes me seem. But when I said it it seemed totally fine. I really did see myself as superior. I looked at all those natives and thanked God I had been born in Europe. Suddenly my body started rocking from one side to the other. I looked at my feet and had the third pair of shoes on. I was on that ship again, the one from the beginning. Some men were surrounding me and I was telling a story. I was talking about how misguided the task of civilizing natives is. I thought it was wrong not because it was unmoral, but because I found it useless. I never thought those savages could learn anything and therefore found it to be a hopeless project. I woke up with The Heart of Darkness resting on my chest. I began to think about the different existing perspectives on colonization and equality. Sounds like blog material, I thought.

Yes, We Live In Trees.

Sometimes people say stupid things. I never thought I would say this but it’s not their fault. I blame imperialism for their stupidity. Imperialism is the reason why people write Colombia with a “U” and ask if we live on rainforests. Once people are taught they are superior, it is hard for them to realize they are not the only ones who live in cities and eat McDonalds.

We see a similar thing happening in The Heart of Darkness, where Marlow compares his experience in Africa to traveling back to "prehistoric earth." For some time, he has to travel with cannibals. Surprised, he remarks: "And, after all, they did not eat each other before my face" (PDF). For your information Mr. Marlow, and all of you out there who think cannibals eat each other, they don't. If they did, then they wouldn't live in groups. Otherwise, they would always be in danger and it would just be stupid. People seem to live without thinking. Marlow thinks the native people in Africa are prehistoric because imperialism has taught him so. This is a statement he has never questioned. Thankfully, in The Heart of Darkness, the cannibals prove to remain calm and obedient in times of struggle while the pilgrims, on the other hand react violently. Through the ironic behavior of these two groups of humans, Conrad criticizes how hypocritical and poorly sustained imperialism ideas can be. How’s that for “prehistoric”?