Disillusionment At Ten Oclock

Disillusionment at Ten O’clock
The way that the author creates the hoe-hum feeling that most of society is, through the repetition of the plainness of the poem, begins with “The houses are haunted by white night-gowns." The first thing I thought was ghosts, but in this sense it is just referring to the whiteness of the gowns. In general, ghosts are not considered to be happy beings, forced to remain on earth because they could not accomplish the things that needed to be done. The eternity of this painful situation matches nicely to the author's attitude of the lack of difference in the world. The fact that all of the houses occupants are wearing the same garb shows us the conformity of society. The fact that it is all white shows us not only conformity, but boringness, and the fear of standing out. “None are green, or purple with green rings, or green with yellow rings, or yellow with blue rings. None of them are strange, with socks of lace and beaded ceintures." This repetition shows that there are so many different possibilities, but not a single one is taking place. The listing really exhausts any possibility for difference, and implies the absurdity that there are "only white nightgowns". Also interesting is the author's use of the word strange. Usually the word strange is used in a negative way, the implications of this poem show it as positive, which is not usually what people think, adding to the persuasiveness of the poem. However this is where the contrast, the “outsiders” comes in. Noting that it's only "here and there", meaning there are only a few of these "outcasts", contrasting to the ghosts that are in “all” of the houses. The regular people are not dreaming of "baboons and periwinkles", but the sailor, the representative of anyone living a non-conformist lifestyle, is dreaming of catching tigers in red weather. The sailor’s dreams include color, contrasting again to the colorlessness of the "ghosts". It is also implied that the sailor is happy,