Eng 125 Discussions
W2d1
The short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry is written in the third-person omniscient point of view and this is mostly consistent throughout the story. What makes this omniscient is because you do know how Jim feels when he comes home from work even though he is not mentioned much. The only other change is in the last paragraph when O. Henry changes to the first person as he is talking directly to the audience and comparing how wise these two are about being unselfish in their gift giving, like the magi. I found that when reading the story such descriptive words were used, it was easy to visualize the apartment and the surroundings. The theme is love and what lengths one would go through for that loved one to be happy. Della and Jim loved each other so much that they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and sell their prized possessions. Della had her long hair cut off to buy Jim a chain for his pocket watch; Jim sold his pocket watch to buy hair combs for Della. They both made great sacrifices in order to have enough money to purchase what they each thought the other person would like.
W2d2
The story, “Used to Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys, has only three symbolism's, but these symbolism's are what leads you to the theme of the story. My thought about the theme was a spiritual journey this woman took upon her death. I had to read the story a few times in order to realize what the symbols and theme were and images were portrayed in this story and what they came to mean. The first symbol is about the crossing over the river; I imagined it as meaning in death we cross over to the other side, like the woman in the story was stepping on the rocks to cross over the river. The glassy looking sky is discussed in the story which made me think of the word reflection. When you look at a piece of glass, you can see your reflection; this made me think about how one might reflect over their life, you might ask yourself what would I have done differently,
The short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry is written in the third-person omniscient point of view and this is mostly consistent throughout the story. What makes this omniscient is because you do know how Jim feels when he comes home from work even though he is not mentioned much. The only other change is in the last paragraph when O. Henry changes to the first person as he is talking directly to the audience and comparing how wise these two are about being unselfish in their gift giving, like the magi. I found that when reading the story such descriptive words were used, it was easy to visualize the apartment and the surroundings. The theme is love and what lengths one would go through for that loved one to be happy. Della and Jim loved each other so much that they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and sell their prized possessions. Della had her long hair cut off to buy Jim a chain for his pocket watch; Jim sold his pocket watch to buy hair combs for Della. They both made great sacrifices in order to have enough money to purchase what they each thought the other person would like.
W2d2
The story, “Used to Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys, has only three symbolism's, but these symbolism's are what leads you to the theme of the story. My thought about the theme was a spiritual journey this woman took upon her death. I had to read the story a few times in order to realize what the symbols and theme were and images were portrayed in this story and what they came to mean. The first symbol is about the crossing over the river; I imagined it as meaning in death we cross over to the other side, like the woman in the story was stepping on the rocks to cross over the river. The glassy looking sky is discussed in the story which made me think of the word reflection. When you look at a piece of glass, you can see your reflection; this made me think about how one might reflect over their life, you might ask yourself what would I have done differently,