Mr. Salsich
English 9
15 April 2009
The Figurative Connections:
An Essay on a Poem and How it Relates to a Short Story
How do you express yourself? Is it through singing, performing, speaking, painting [asyndeton]? Is it straightforward or somewhat evasive [FAST]? In “The Little Brother Poem,” Naomi Shihab Nye uses writing to express herself. James Baldwin has also chosen writing over the others, and his story has a lot in common with Nye’s.
In her poem, Nye uses figurative language to express the multiple themes. First, she uses many metaphors. She says, “You’re Wall Street and I’m the local fruit market” to express the differences between herself and her brother. Differences are a key part of this poem because they are one of the reasons that her brother ran away. Nye also uses imagery to express a theme of paying attention to the little things. She “poke[d] [her] finger through the rusted hole in the bottom [of the jug].” This act showed her remembrance of her brother and how the little things can cause the most sadness. Equally important is her use of figurative language to show the theme of forgiveness. In the first and last stanzas, she talks about going through her brother’s old things. She has to dump out the boxes, sort through them, and put them back into a shape that her brother will remember, so that if he ever finds it, he will know she cared and hopefully forgive her. Without figurative language, this poem loses much of its meaning.
In addition, “The Little Brother Poem” has a lot in common with James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” In both writings, pieces of the past come back to haunt the characters. For example, Isabel “still hears [the scream] sometimes in her dreams.” In Nye’s piece, she sees her brother’s car often, which reminds her of the past and how things could have been, making her regret past actions [participle phrase as a closer]. Moreover, both stories involve pain, but require the characters to move on. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Little Gracie dies, and they are dropped into a state of anguish [FAST]. In her poem, Nye hurts her brother and has to deal with “[his] eyes hard on [her] from under the bandages.” Lastly, both stories take their time with certain things. Sonny finally takes his time with a song and it becomes “beautiful because it wasn’t hurried.” In “The Little Brother Poem”, Nye starts “dumping out [...] whole drawer[s]” and slowly sifting through them, trying to make something beautiful out of them. These two masterpieces are built on many of the same themes and therefore have a lot in common.
On that note, many of these themes are not just part of two stories but of life as well [periodic sentence]. When a friend wrongs you, what do you do? You forgive them eventually, and there are many more examples for each of the themes listed above. Life is just made up of countless little themes that are rolled into one big world.
3 comments:
Timmy, I really liked your first fast word. It was very apt and gave a nice ring to that sentence.In your fourth sentence, I don't think you need the comma after "In ye's peice". Also,try varying your sentence length. I noticed you used a lot of short sentences, and maybe you can add onto a few to help enhance your essay. Good luck polishing!-Sarah=]
Dearest Timmy,
Glorious essay! Your concluding paragraph did a great job of summarizing your entire essay into four sentences. However, your introductory paragraph was a little confusing and didn't really give the gist of what your essay was going to be about. Maybe you could take some thoughts from the final paragraph and reword them into the introductory paragraph. Also, in the first body paragraph you say, "She says, 'You’re Wall Street and I’m the local fruit market' to express the differences between herself and her brother." This sentence is a bit confusing and could possibly be rephrased to make more sense. Have a joyous time polishing!
Timothy Gerald Fletcher O'Brien,
Tu ensayo es brilliante! I very much liked your asyndeton because it blended with the rest of the paragraph. In your first body paragraph you say "Equally important is her use of figurative language to announce the theme of forgiveness." I dont think announce is the right word here and I think you could probably find a better one. Also, you mention lots of examples from both pieces of writing in your second body paragraph, but you dont really say how they relate to eachother. After you make these few adjustments, the wonder that your essay hold will be comprable to that of Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory!
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