1.) "Ducks on a Pond."
2.) Living with regret and blaming people for what went wrong or different in your life is no way to go about living. One has to let go of the past, forgive, and look forward to new things. Pride is nothing in comparison to living and doing what is right and good.
3.) page 258: the last full paragraph
4.) This paragraph is full of statements reflecting a regretful and blaming tone. "Although polio didn't cripple me, it did its damage" is one of these sentences. There is an implied meaning behind the words in this sentence as well. I think the damage is supposed to portray not only physical damage, but also emotional, mental, and spiritual damage. Also, the way the paragraph begins with the narrator saying, "But I knew better" was an important choice of diction and punctuation. The sentence was brief and very to the point, which showed how strongly the narrator felt and how he absolutely thought that he knew what he was doing.
5.) This passage does not have much rhyme, rhythm, or alliteration. It is a story and not a poem, so it does not really follow a certain flow, but the sentence where it says "his speed, his agility, his athletic grace" does show some repetition that I think was purposeful on the author's part. I think it was to emphasize how the narrator is constantly comparing himself to his father.
6.) These different aspects of the passage, like the diction used, the implied meanings, and the way certain sentences are constructed all relate somehow to the main ideas of the story. They all can be analyzed in a way that brings me back to the themes of pride not being enough, regret, and blame encompassing one's life. Although, this passage actually contradicts those themes in many ways, but I think this paragraph was supposed to do this to show that the narrator has not come to terms with or has not fully accepted the themes of this story; at least not yet.
Thesis:
Through the use of contradiction and the way that Mark Sibley-Jones, in "Ducks on a Pond," constructs the sentences and allows the readers to get inside the narrator's head to discover his own feelings in this passage, the underlying theme encompassing the idea of sacrificing pride, regret, and blame in order to find forgiveness and happiness is revealed, which is a vital and often overlooked concept of life.
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2 comments:
Melanie, this is a very good start. You have chosen a very good passage for analysis and both your preliminary thesis and introduction show that you are on the right track. However, although it is clear from your intro and thesis that you are going to do a close reading of a section of this story, the first part your thesis is still too general: “Through the use of contradiction and the way that Mark Sibley-Jones, in "Ducks on a Pond," constructs the sentences and allows the readers to… “ Rather it should clearly indicate that you are talking about the passage - something like “ at this point of the story…” or “in this passage….”
I used the same story "Ducks on a Pond," I used the passage where Baxter has his flashback about his dream. I like your message you got from your poem. I agree with the message you got but think its one of the messages in the story.
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