Preview

Analysis of the Text “the Time-Sweepers” by Ursula Wills-Jones

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
348 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of the Text “the Time-Sweepers” by Ursula Wills-Jones
Analysis of the text “The Time-Sweepers”
By Ursula Wills-Jones
The following short story is about time-sweepers and lost time. They are people who sweep up all the time that is lost or wasted. They are invisible, but sometimes they can be noticed. They carry a broom, a mop and a big dustpun. The time-sweepers are hard-working. They work every day and are never sick. The lost and wasted time is packed and recycled. But not every type of time can be recycled, the most poisoned time is buried in a tank underneath a disused army base. The rest of the time can be sold to the people who need it or distributed to good causes or emergency situations.
The full text is built on the conflict between people who waste time and people who sweep up all the time that is lost and wasted. Ursula Wills-Jones idealizes the time-sweepers and ridicules people. The author uses the stylistic device of climax in order to describe different types of time wasting: the man who has waited so long to propose to his girlfriend; the woman who has spent thirty-five loathed years in an estate agents, dreaming of opening a florists.
The author refers to the stylistic device of hyperbole in order to laugh at the people who waste time: the time-sweeper will pass straight by the desk of the woman who is reading a holiday catalogue under the desk, poring over photos of tropical beaches. They will pass by the next desk, where a man is enjoyably wondering what his mother-in-law looks like naked, and stop by the desk of the young man who is counting every minute, and loathing the hours. The author creates a constant presence of time sweepers. The reader feels that they are everywhere: in the railway station, in the office, at your desk. The time-sweepers are hard-working; they don’t like to rest because there is so mush wasted time after holidays: it takes them around three weeks to resume normal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The poem 'As I Walked Out One Evening' consists of three separate speakers: the lovers, the clocks and the narrator. Each speaker represents a different measure and attitude towards time. The lover’s song paints time to be conquerable and ignorable – no more than a passing annoyance that they are outside of. The soliloquy of the clocks demonstrates time as a product of society, there to keep its subjects in line, and ultimately a ruling force. Finally, the narrator speaks of love as being outside of both of these things. Time is a constant flow than brings change and opportunity, and any claim to deny or control it is an illusion.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Time’s versatile affect on life is seen through the use of successive contrasts such as “quench and ripen” and “kiss and kill”. The anticipation of the future is personified in the line “Tomorrow begs him, breathless for his lack” referring to those who cannot wait for another day, presumably in excitement. Yet the oxymoron “beauty dead” reminds us of the decomposing effects of time and that life must ultimately end no matter how much we wish it would stop to prevent beauty and youth from fading.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle, the main character, Meg, takes part in an interstellar journey with her loved ones to find her long-lost father. With many characters at stake, the friendship and even love between them bonded them in this grueling voyage. Later in the story, the protagonists are faced with great evil from The Black Thing and IT. However, the previously mentioned bonds held them together. Furthermore, the friendships gave rise to forgiveness, securing the relationships even after one has done a terrible…

    • 90 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whatever an individual chooses to do with their time whether they use it productively or waste it, the time they used to do said activities they cannot regain that time. The novel acknowledges this symbol in a many instances. One of these is “there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company”. This quote explains that whenever the party goers heard the sound of the clock they were reminded that they were trapped in the abbey, not helping anyone or doing anything productive. Often in real life people will use their times in ways that they wished they did was more productive and time often holds a shadow on a person’s life.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, an American man and a young woman must face the challenge of having to make a life altering decision, in a limited amount of time. Hemingway uses a very short timeline to tell his story, he makes time relevant in the story’s setting, and also in his written dialogue. This short story demonstrates that although time can sometimes be forgotten, it can surely be of the essence.…

    • 1952 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin gives us a very interesting look at how an hour can be such a long time. This story is filled with irony. Every time that you think that you have the plot figured out, Chopin tosses in another twist that throws our minds for a loop. As I read this story the first time I thought how strange, but as I read it again and again I started pick up bits and pieces of what the author was trying to convey.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the story of an Hour of time, Chopin gives new meaning to the age-old saying, ‘Till death do us part.’ If not by his death, then she would achieve freedom through her own death. Unsatisfied with the era’s fate for women, she couldn’t bear the idea of facing life in her husband’s shadow once she had gotten a small taste of new consciousness. Through the creation of Mrs. Mallard’s dual characters, Chopin emphasizes that one would go to any length to attain what they…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem written by Robert Herrick called “ To the Virgins to make sure of time” has the theme of Carpe Diem in its connotation. The author tries to persuade the reader to live life to fullest and not to waste time in things that are not important. Robert talks about the concept of time and uses nature to get his point across. In the contrary to the poem “ Song” written by Sir John Suckling. First of all, the poem starts of by expressing that time is and will pass by.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Singing Silence

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sacrificing conventional lives is one of the ways for people to obtain a more fulfilled life. In the short story “ The Singing Silence”, the author Eva-Lis Wuorio tells us a life story of the main character Vicente. Vicente is a person that doesn’t have life stability but has achieved a fulfilled life. First, he worked as a porter on a quay, at which he set himself a goal: to be a successful porter. Secondly, he accidentally made a serious mistake, for which he determined to make up for the loss. Thirdly, Vicente tried to learn a completely new activity in his 60s, which turned out to be another goal to attain. Finally, he realized his dreams dramatically. Through this story, Eva-Lis Wuorio intends for the reader to appreciate that individuals may become more fulfilled if we sacrifice conventional lives because we will always have a new struggling aim resulting in our active participation in our jobs, confidence about the amending for our mistakes, courage to face challenges and the understanding of real life meaning. .…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Out of time” portrays memorable ideas to the audience through its theme. Slessor points out that time is an unstoppable element and it has an effect on everything, regardless of it being living or dead. ‘I saw time flowing like a hundred yachts’. This quote illustrates that time is unstoppable. Slessor shows the dominancy of time in relation with the number of yachts (a hundred). Therefore the quote has a simile in it to show the value of time. ‘Eager to quench and ripen, kiss or kill’. The following quote shows the inevitability of time and that it has major effects on everything in the world. The quote suggests a major impact on everything with the words ‘quench’, ‘ripen’ and ‘kill’. These words are very strong and intense, showing the authority that time has. The poetic technique has time personified as an unstoppable person that performs their duties, thus portraying the concept of memorable ideas to the audience.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cave Of Time Analysis

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The book I chose to analyze is Choose your own adventure: The Cave of Time, which was the first book of the choose your own adventure series. On its own, the book stands as a rebel among normal books, presenting itself as an interactive book, where one must discontinuously read to harvest all the possible endings. On a personal level, the book's significance emerges as I delve into the past. Growing up in poor neighborhood in Venezuela, not many books were available to me, and thus reading for fun was never a consideration until I moved to Canada at eight years of age and my quality of education increased.…

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: ""The Story of an Hour"" "The Story of an Hour" N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.…

    • 792 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Synthesis Essay

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    People should savor the experience at hand rather then consume material things. In Mark A. Burch’s story “The Technology of Simplicity” and Gilles Pinette’s poem “A Bedtime Story”, both of the protagonists of the passages, Mark and George Longarrow, are represented as examples of the individuals who would rather savor the experience then consume material things.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ""The Story of an Hour"" "The Story of an Hour" N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. .…

    • 2349 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    i. Social ecologist Peter F. Drucker once said, “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” Never is this truer than when describing the importance of time management skills for people.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics