The Namesake

Comment on the following quote:  “For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of lifelong pregnancy—a perpetual wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts” (49).

This metaphore serves as a comparison between foreigners and pregnancy. This metaphore definitely highlights some of the downsides to both of these things and suggests how they are similar. There are constant burdens that are similar between the two from the constant emotional roller coasters. Hormones start fluxuaiting dramatically while pregnant causing drastic mood swings, while foreigners are stressed from the distance of home, they may be frustrated wit cultural and language differences as well. Constant unwanted attention also occurs in both situations. For example, people feel obligated to touch pregnant woman's stomach and ask all sorts of personal questions. Talk about a major invasion of personal space and privacy... Foreigners also are asked multiple questions since people find them interesting. They think that is a valid reason to ask personal questions as well. Physical fatigue from  stress, emotionally as well as physically, is definitely a factor as well in both pregnancy and foreigners. For these reasons, I think that this metaphore is a valid comparison.  

My favorite song

Stop This Train by John Mayer

No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but...
I just can't sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go
One generation's length away
From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun
Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change the place you're in
Don't think I couldn't ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly we'll never stop this train

See once in a while when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.

Singing stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take this speed it's moving in
I know I can't
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

The Rhythm of "Stop This Train" is really mellow, like most of John Mayer's songs. His gentle mainstream guitar playing always adds to the overall tone of his songs because majority of them seem to be mixed with some of the blues. This song is about embracing the life you live by loving every moment.The way John Mayer plays starts out really relaxing and gentle, then once he realizes in the song that he "doesn't want to start the train" the song gets alittle more upbeat showing his excitment for life. This song is one of my favorites simply because of the rhythm. If I've had a stressful day this song never fails to relax me and is able to put me in a more positive mood. Pretty much all of John Mayer's songs are able to do this because of the fact that he follows more of an acoustic, mellow tone throughout majority of his songs. It's also the best bedtime music! So relaxing! He plays the kind of music that you'd listen to while you cuddle up next to the fire on a rainy day.

Embrace by Billy Collins

You know the parlor trick.

Wrap your arms around your own body

and from the back it looks like

someone is embracing you,

her hands grasping your shirt,

her fingernails teasing your neck.

From the front it is another story.

You never looked so alone,

your crossed elbows and a screwy grin.

You could be waiting for a tailor

to fit you for a straightjacket,

one that would hold you really tight.

The imagery through the denotations in this poem is what helps the reader to fully understand it's connotative meaning. The words "embracing" and "grasping" prove their lust for connection with another individual. This contrasts with the word "alone" used in the second stanza which proves their lonliness. "Screwy grin" and "straightjacket" are the words which automatically rise some sort of suspision. The fact that these words are used only two lines away from eachother is significant because it shows the individual's possibly insanity.

When I first read the poem, It didn't occur to me right away that the individual is crazy. I just thought they might be lonely and crave attention. But after taking a closer look, I noticed things I didn't before. The word "parlor"  is significant because it is a room in a monastery or the like where the inhabitants may converse with visitors or with each other. This shows a sense of isolation since visitors are required. Then when analyzing the poem further I realized the second line essentially describes what needs to be done while in a straight jacket- "wrap your arms around your own body". In all, the individual can be in some sort of mental instability which is one of the only reasons why people are put in straight jackets. The individual thus is craving the loving care and affection of another because they feel isolated and alone.

Fluffy Black Curly Hair

Fluffy black curly hair

With brown eyes filled with joy

Sun bathes without a care

And always with a toy

Loving, cute, and cuddily

And always sits for her treats

She'll always be my buddy

And always be by my seat

Her ears twitch back with excitment

When she hears someone at the door

Always barking with incitement

Although I couldn't ask for more

Pepper is the perfect dog you see

Pepper will always be there for me

Sending a Poem

Trying to find a poem to send to my aunt was more difficult that I thought. While reading the different poems, it was hard to find just the right words to express how I felt. It reminded me alot of searching for a card for a special occasion. Whether it be a birthday, Christmas, or Valentines Day, searching for a card can be just as difficult because sometimes certain poems don't express the same words as to how one feels towards a person.
I sent alittle note along with the email telling her why I chose that certain poem and she really enjoyed it. She said she teared up alittle while reading it because the words "touched her heart" as she said.

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie has to be my favorite piece we have read so far. The creative symbolism through the characters was very well crafted and meaningful. Laura has to be my favorite character in the play because she is so thoughtful, caring, and is always trying her best to keep her mom and brother as happy as they can be. If anyone in the house seemed upset with each other she would beg and plead until someone would say “sorry” (1010) so everyone could “start speaking” (1010) to each other again. Laura’s physical disability forces her to believe she’s “crippled” (1004) which seems to be the overall culprit of her low self esteem and shy demeanor. Her shyness is shown through the play by her lack of lines in comparison to the other characters. Also, most of the symbolism in the play is revolved around Laura’s character. For example, Laura’s glass collection represents her personality because it is so fragile and delicate just like her feelings. The glass unicorn, which was Laura’s favorite, symbolized her as a person. Laura and her unicorn glass figurine mirror each other because unicorns are a mystical creatures which are said to be “extinct in the modern world” (1041) while Laura is shy and keeps to herself which causes her to be “surprisingly different from [everyone] else” (1042). However, while Jim and Laura were dancing the unicorn’s horn fell off causing it to become just like “all the other horses” (1042) at the same moment that Laura started gaining her confidence.

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

                Throughout Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the creative usage of the wallpaper is a symbol which reflects the narrator’s feelings and image of herself. At first the narrator refers to the wallpaper in their summer house as “almost revolting” (267) and “unclean” (267) because the pattern and color were so eccentric. However, after she begins examining the wallpaper more thoroughly she notices the paper’s “sub pattern in a different shade […] [which] you can only see […] in certain lights” (269) which eventually contributes to her sleepless nights. Her attempt to master the wallpapers design becomes a fixation as she is suffering depression, nervousness, and anxiety from her controlling and manipulative husband.

                While reading this story I began thinking that the wallpaper represented the narrator and the problems she’s facing. For example, after her husband once again belittles her she refers to the wallpaper as “torturing” (273). The fact that the wallpaper “changes as the light changes” (273) signifies instability which mirrors her moods as well as her relationship with her husband. The overall meaning of the wallpaper is exemplified when the narrator introduces her vision of the “woman behind shak[ing]” (273) the paper. The fact that the woman is behind the paper shaking it gives the reader the image of a prison which reflects upon the narrator’s feelings of the house itself and her relationship with her husband. The fact that the narrator then mentions that there “ are a great many women behind” (275) the paper forces the reader to ask how many woman in real life are really being abused by their husbands or boyfriends in a non direct way. The narrator further “wonders if [the women] all come out of the wallpaper” (278) as she did which hints that she’s escaping her husband’s indirect abuse.

                Overall, I really enjoyed reading this story because the symbolism was used in such a creative way. At first this story was difficult to grasp, but after reading it over again everything started to make more sense.