Transitioning To Heaven

Throughout the entire story, there is death imagery. At the beginning, as the Grandmother gets ready to go on the trip, she dresses in a way that is foreshadowing of her own death. She says she dresses so that "anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (O’Connor)." While on the highway, they pass five or six graves fenced in on the side of the road indicative of the deaths of the six passengers in the car. Finally, as they see the Misfit's car, it is described as a hearse - a vehicle in which the dead are carried. These images all foreshadow the death of the grandmother and her

In section two the man is expressing that human life is to short and that no one can embrace and love in the grave. The second section is known as the antithesis and that is the reaction to his original ideas. The first word in the second section is ‘but’ which is a Volta and that means there’s a change in what the man is talking about. The tone gets darker and bleaker because he starts to use imagery of death which is a consequence of not acting on his impulses and his desires. Personification is used when the man says he always hears time’s winged chariot hurrying near which a personification of life is closing in on time. Hurrying is also is a verb. The man says ‘Deserts’ which is insinuating that his sex life is

The idea of death can be, and is an enormously disturbing, unknown issue in which many people can have many different opinions. To some individuals, the process of life can progress painstakingly slow, while for others life moves too fast. In the excerpt We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates, a innocent farm boy named Judd Mulvaney has an eye-opening encounter by a brook near his driveway. During this encounter, Judd faces a chain of feelings and emotions that lead to his change of opinion of the issues of life and death, and change as a character. This emblematic imagery of life and death, as well as jumpy, and retrospective tones benefit the development of Judd as an innocent child as he begins to change into a more conscious and aware adult.

For example, the first time death is symbolized in this story is when the family passes a graveyard. “They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it, like a small island. ‘Look at the graveyard!’ the grandmother said, pointing it out. ‘That was the old FAMILY burying grounds.’” (99). O’Connor purposely mentions the specific number of graves, one grave for each person in the car. She also mentions that it was a “family” burying ground. This symbolism foreshadows that the family will soon face death. When the family is driving through the town, the grandmother remembers the old plantation is called “Toombsboro”. This plantation’s name is brought up to remind the reader of death. Toombsboro sounds like the tomb, symbolizing the family will soon face their tombs. Another description that is given to symbolize the deaths is that of the Misfits car. “It was a big black battered hearse-like automobile” (103). A hearse is a vehicle designed to carry coffins for funerals. This description also foreshadows the death of the family before the Misfit arrives. Lastly, the “woods, tall and dark and deep” (105) represent the family’s death. The woods symbolize the unknown and fear we have for death, which is considered dark and deep. The Grandmother stood in front of the woods reminding us that death is always near and behind us. Just like the woods, death can be a scary thing

The dogs passing could be seen as a metaphor for the Beth leaving her husband on his own to provide for himself, to take care of any possessions she may have had, and to fight his depression alone. The main character is now having feelings of loneliness and depression. The first paragraph states that "inside is warm", and "outside is cold", This could be tied as symbolism of the fact that he is secluding himself from the world. When the dog passed away the main character said that "it's not my dog, but it's my responsibility", this can make the reader think of all of the other responsibilities that the main character was left with. There are definitely some parallels between the dog and Beth. They both end up being burdens on the main character and leaving behind more for him to deal with. After the dog passes away the main character says "the blood on the carpet of the car is out of sight, and I will pretend it isn’t there. And then there's the touch." The touch can be seen as how the dog emotionally affected him by passing away. The dog did bring sadness to the main characters life due to the memories the main character seemed to have when he interacted with the dog. "I watched my hand volunteer itself and run its finger through the nap of his head". The way this sentence is put together makes it sound as if his caring for the dog was an involuntary action.

In the book as in my personal life, there were two people with very similar environments yet their lives took completely different paths in the end. Their paths determined by the choices they made at different situations in their lives. Those choices explain who they have become and create the goals that they have set for themselves. The choices also opened up other opportunities that they each will have in their future. No matter what life may hand you always be careful with your decisions you make. Consider how this will affect me tomorrow, a week from now, or even a year from now and go with the one that leads to a better life for

This book doesn't just make you think about your life in a different way, it makes you think about writing in a different way. There's so many little things in the book that were symbolically important, Art on the first day of school and how she would be working on making a tree different, not just a tree. You began to realize the more Melinda learned and the more Melinda went through, the more she began to understand the tree, the roots, and the dying leaves. There's many things in this book that are symbolically that you might not notice unless you analyze it in your own way.

In the beginning of the poems life, the speaker describes the things he sees on his way to the elderly woman's house, to resemble the elderly woman's physical features. The road is described to be dried out like “an old snake shedding its skin” and is “speckled with ruts” to ultimately show us the way the speaker viewed the elderly woman's skin and to show us that while he was on his way to see the elderly woman, he

In the story,”Tall full-leaved trees grew here and there across the lawn.”(Creech 253) When Sal notices this, it’s greatness reveals. She can see the beauty and peace that her mother rests in, so Sal knows she’s at peace. This has importance in order for Sal to move on with her life. The story tells the reader, “I knew by myself, and for myself that she was never coming back…”(Creech 254) When Sal realizes that her mom never will come back, she can accept the fact and move on. The story says,”she isn’t actually gone at all, she’s singing in the trees.” (Creech 254) Sal accepts that she died, but also knows that her mom will connect with her through the trees. Now, Sal can move on with her mother’s spirit. In conclusion, when Sal sees her mother’s grave, she can eventually move on and accept. This setting has importance because she can move on from this trip’s

It also shows a shift from the present situation to a future one then back to the present. In the beginning of the poem the son is currently waiting for his father to tell him a story and has a sense of eagerness to him while the father has a sense of tiredness to him. This scene is depicted as the father being “in a room full of books in a world of stories,” (6-7) yet the father has difficult trying to come up with a story to tell despite how many are around home. The room that they are in is described as having books of stories inside of it and outside of the room is the whole world that is full of stories to tell. At this point the problem is that the father cannot think of a story to tell his son who asked him to tell him a new story which, according to the father, seems to be the beginning of the end. The father believes that since he is not able to tell stories as quickly and easily as he could before then one day soon, “the boy will give up on his father,” (8-9). These thoughts help to prepare and give background to the glimpse into the future when the boy is getting ready to leave his father by packing his clothes and having his keys ready to go. Since the father saw the day he would lose his son to manhood, once the day actually came the father seemed very upset at the boy but not for leaving but more so for the reasons that he is. The father yells at the son, “Are you a god...that I sit mute before you? Am I a god that I should never disappoint,” (16-18). It seems that the father and son have had an argument or disagreement and the son did not want to deal with all the problems that had grown to be too much for him so he chooses to not say anything to his father at all as he is getting ready to leave. The father calls him out on this and claims that he is imperfect and will disappoint

In the book When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip, Le Ly was just one of many peasants trying to survive during war time. Survival meant having to make some hard decisions; decisions that may make peasants go against their roots. However, as we see Le Ly do throughout the book, peasants do not completely abandon their family traditions. Le Ly was very close to her father and kept everything he taught her in mind while she made some difficult choices. "My father taught me to love god, my family, our traditions, and the people we could not see: our ancestors" (ix). With her father's help, she was able to honor her past, provide for her family's needs, and give her son a chance for a better future. If Le Ly was unable to

The Road portrays the journey of the father and son across a black and white world that is analogous to my experiences of the quest of survival in Afghanistan and the refugee camp in Pakistan. Where many have abandoned their beliefs and morals to survive the hellish situation. Those who survive with their beliefs and values still in intact are constantly challenged on a day-by-day basis. Their survival must be persevered to keep the fire burning, however small for their own children. There must be some goodness that remains for their children to carry into the next generations. They must always remain

The main theme of the poem however, is the sadness and misfortune that accompany us on our journey through life. The Wilson River Road, in which the events of the poem take place, is symbolic of the road of life that we all travel upon. The darkness and the setting of the poem point to the seclusion and indecision that we experience when dealing with life’s tragedies. Many people feel as confused as the narrator does when he was “stumbling back of the car” (5, 911) in his attempt to do the right thing. In his moment of decision, though, the only company the narrator had was the silent and unheeding world around him.

To start off the analysis, the setting of the entire poem is significant. Though the poem takes place in a house, the atmosphere the house is set in is also important. The month is September which is a month of fall which can be seen as a symbol for decline. It definitely insinuates that the poem is leading towards death. Line 1 has “September rain falls on the house” which gives the feeling of a dark and cold night with a storm on top of that. To further develop that, Bishop gives us the failing light in line 2 to also give us an idea of the grandmother’s struggle. Bishop uses the cyclical theme of changing seasons to show the unending nature of what is transpiring within the

The last literary devices portrayed in the poem are metaphors and similes. There are only a handful of each in the poem. The first metaphor was used in the second paragraph and compared the “woodland of gold” to the prime of youth. Later in the poem, the woodland is noted as being broken. However, this was during the later stages of life when that prime of youth has long fled the person. The second metaphor was used in the third paragraph, and described the “minutes of evening” to the closing door of life. The first and last simile was used in the last paragraph, as the fairground of life was described as being “tatty”, or worn and overused. This fairground is obviously the life of a person and it is