What Is The Blood In An Egg
Plot Points:
Travis suggests they can come here when they have sex the first time. Travis tries to get Nomi to take off the hood that she has been wearing the whole time but she refuses.
After the episode at her uncle's house, Nomi believes that her mother goes into a period of grieving. She goes for long walks at night. She stops speaking. The kids at school ask Nomi if her mother is crazy.
When Nomi goes to visit Travis at the Museum she discovers him sharing a joint and laughing behind a sod hut with Adeline.
Reflection:
Blood is brought up as a motif in these scenes, whether it be as simple as a Nomi accidentally hurting herself to blood being in an egg. The blood in the egg symbolizes an impurity, a faulty egg. These eggs can be humans …show more content…
as well, and the blood represents the faults in the humans. The tenses in these chapters are rapidly changing, showing where Nomi’s mind is going at this moment. Changing from one thought to the next as the use of drugs increase as well as the negative influence coming from Travis. Not only that, the events of the present day were extremely hazardous as well. I feel like this is the point where she feels that she is starting to loose control. Her day starts out bad and gets worse as it progresses. The perfect idea of family that she always cherished was now slowly breaking apart. Also in this chapter Nomi cuts her hair. Actually, she takes a razor and cuts her bangs off. This act of self-mutilation is the first intentional act she has committed. By cutting her hair in such as drastic way, she shows outwardly that something is wrong. She tries to cover up her hair, as she has tried to cover up her pain from being abandoned by her mother and sister. The reader gets the feeling that she has cut her hair partly in retaliation because Travis has told her that he is going to leave East Village and move to Montreal. Although he probably doesn't intend it as such, Nomi sees this as another person who plans to abandon her in her pain and inability to work up the courage to set herself free from the restraints of East Village.
Plot Points:
Nomi's mother is excommunicated from the church. Nomi is not able to talk to her mother about the excommunication. She only had a dim memory of her mother sitting on her bed the night before smiling at her.
Ray tells Nomi not to be surprised if things in town are different. Their living room furniture is gone. Ray tells Nomi he likes the empty spaces. Nomi promises not to leave her father.
Nomi had asked her father why her mother didn't take Nomi with her when she left. Ray writes back to her that it was because she was sleeping. Nomi likes to believe that Trudie knew that Ray needed Nomi more than she did.
Reflection:
East Village is a snapshot into a 1950’s town.
The gender roles are pretty much solidified in this town. The women can work but they are shunned by the other women in the community. The men are the ideal bread winners, their job is to work and earn money for their family. Nomi questions these roles in many different ways. First off, she rebels from religion, then she starts smoking and staying out late, something that was seen as an insult to their family by others. As the story progressed, Nomi started to actually break free, but not before she entered the dark realm of drugs and sex. She wanted to have that ideal family life but after her mom and sister left, she didn't know where she belonged. Those roles that were put on her specifically because of her gender had no meaning to her whatsoever. Nomi describes her mother's attitude as one of grief. She may be grieving because she misses her daughter. She may be grieving as a result of the point to which her brother has pushed Tash by the way he has presented religion. Trudie is also stressed by her younger daughter's reaction to Tash leaving. Nomi not only misses her sister but is convinced that her sister is going to burn in hell. This was the worst possible though that could come to her, she wanted her sister to be happy. This is where the reader reaches a crossroads. Some could feel sympathetic towards Nomi while others could feel different. It depends on the perspective of the reader and their personal religious
views.
Plot Points:
Trudie cooks a birthday dinner for Ray. She describes it as simple but elegant. After supper and cake, they take the television outside and watch a Detroit baseball game. She writes back that she wants to be a model of courage and dignity.
Nomi wakes up laying on her own couch but it is in The Golden Comb's trailer. The Comb tells her that he bought the couch off her father a couple of days ago. He offers to keep the French horn in exchange for drugs.
Ray lets Nomi practice her driving. She doesn't want to go home, so she just keeps driving around and around the same roads.
Reflection:
In chapter 4 of this book, there was a scene which Nomi mentions doing the laundry. At first, I didn't think too much of it. I now realize that every little story in this novel has a purpose. The laundry scene in chapter 4, where the drama originally starts, foreshadowed this event. The mysteries surrounding Trudie's disappearance become more confusing when Nomi finds letters from her teacher to her mother when she puts laundry away in her mother's drawers. The reader also senses this new feeling of closure from Nomi. Closure is something that has been an underlying motif throughout the book. Nomi had no opportunity to talk to her about her feelings about this punishment because she never saw her mother again. Nomi still clings to the belief that her mother and father were deeply in love and that she left town because she didn't want to make him choose between her and the church. Not only that, the desperate need to have someone for herself is clear as well. It is in this section of the novel that Travis and Nomi's relationship falls apart. After she finally sleeps with him, she does not hear from him again. She tries to get in touch with Travis but his parents will not tell her where he is. She goes to try to visit Travis at his house. He is not at home and Travis' mom tries to make her feel better about the waning relationship between the two of them.
Plot Points:
Travis and Nomi use a horse razor to cut each other's hair. Later, Nomi shaves her head and finds her old fish hook scar. Mr. Quiring confronts Nomi about her makeup and jewelry, which is against school policy.
Nomi remembers a time when she was nine and became aware of her own existence. She realizes that she was alive and that because she was alive she could also die.
She tells him that she needs a story with a triggering point, a climax and a conclusion.
Reflection:
Most of this section has a pastoral sense to it. Nomi recollects times from her past where she was once in that big happy family she always wanted. This is where the frame narrative comes into play but the story brought in by the narrative is pastoral. he story that Nomi remembers is a time when her family took a boat to have a picnic on an island when Nomi was a small child. During the time they are on the island, the boat on which they had traveled floats away. They anticipate the idea that they may be stranded on the island alone with excitement, looking forward to some time away from the other members of their community. Nomi remembers that all of them almost feel disappointed when the boat reappears and they are able to return home. This says a lot not only about Nomi and her family but of the people in the village as well. They all want to get out some how, most crave that freedom but are afraid to step out of their comfort zone for it. East Village is something that they have all gotten accustomed to and they don't know any different. Just that scene of being in solitude even for a little while, is evidence to just how much the people need to be with themselves as opposed to being with people who tell them how to be themselves.
Plot Points:
Ray is not strong enough to live without faith, and also not strong enough to take down the system of the Mennonite church.
Nomi has seen letters in which Mr. Quiring has called her mother his sad, sweet Trudie. He threatens to tell Trudie's brother that she has been having adulterous relationships with various men. Nomi believes that this is his way of trying to get Trudie to take him back as a lover.
Nomi likes the idea best that her mother left because she wanted to spare Ray the pain of having to choose between him and the church.
Reflection:
In these last two chapters, Nomi finally puts the remaining pieces of her story together. Apparently Trudie and Mr. Quiring have been having some sort of affair. Along with Trudie's passport, Nomi also finds letters to Trudie from Mr. Quiring in her drawers. In one of the letters that Nomi shares in the novel, in the end Trudie is excommunicated. It is also during these chapters that Nomi is left by the remaining two people who are important to her. She finds out for sure that Travis is messing around on her when she discovers his truck parked outside of a local hotel. Finally, Nomi's father leaves her. Instead of being an act of abandonment, however, Nomi's father leaves so that Nomi will have a chance at a better life. He has finally learned that his insistence on staying in East Village has caused his family to be split up. I wonder what would have happened if Ray decidied to take his family away from this town, would Trudie have stayed? Would Tash have stayed? Having those female influencers in her life would have surely changed her story. Ultimately, the story started off with the mention of faith and religion and ends on that note as well. Nomi’s father talks to her about her fear of the coming day, and tells her the flip side of her dread is faith. Nomi believes her father is trying to give her inner conflict a triggering point. This triggering point could be both a triggering point for her story as well as for the rest of her life. Toews didn’t explicitly state and left it open to interpretation.
Travis suggests they can come here when they have sex the first time. Travis tries to get Nomi to take off the hood that she has been wearing the whole time but she refuses.
After the episode at her uncle's house, Nomi believes that her mother goes into a period of grieving. She goes for long walks at night. She stops speaking. The kids at school ask Nomi if her mother is crazy.
When Nomi goes to visit Travis at the Museum she discovers him sharing a joint and laughing behind a sod hut with Adeline.
Reflection:
Blood is brought up as a motif in these scenes, whether it be as simple as a Nomi accidentally hurting herself to blood being in an egg. The blood in the egg symbolizes an impurity, a faulty egg. These eggs can be humans …show more content…
as well, and the blood represents the faults in the humans. The tenses in these chapters are rapidly changing, showing where Nomi’s mind is going at this moment. Changing from one thought to the next as the use of drugs increase as well as the negative influence coming from Travis. Not only that, the events of the present day were extremely hazardous as well. I feel like this is the point where she feels that she is starting to loose control. Her day starts out bad and gets worse as it progresses. The perfect idea of family that she always cherished was now slowly breaking apart. Also in this chapter Nomi cuts her hair. Actually, she takes a razor and cuts her bangs off. This act of self-mutilation is the first intentional act she has committed. By cutting her hair in such as drastic way, she shows outwardly that something is wrong. She tries to cover up her hair, as she has tried to cover up her pain from being abandoned by her mother and sister. The reader gets the feeling that she has cut her hair partly in retaliation because Travis has told her that he is going to leave East Village and move to Montreal. Although he probably doesn't intend it as such, Nomi sees this as another person who plans to abandon her in her pain and inability to work up the courage to set herself free from the restraints of East Village.
Plot Points:
Nomi's mother is excommunicated from the church. Nomi is not able to talk to her mother about the excommunication. She only had a dim memory of her mother sitting on her bed the night before smiling at her.
Ray tells Nomi not to be surprised if things in town are different. Their living room furniture is gone. Ray tells Nomi he likes the empty spaces. Nomi promises not to leave her father.
Nomi had asked her father why her mother didn't take Nomi with her when she left. Ray writes back to her that it was because she was sleeping. Nomi likes to believe that Trudie knew that Ray needed Nomi more than she did.
Reflection:
East Village is a snapshot into a 1950’s town.
The gender roles are pretty much solidified in this town. The women can work but they are shunned by the other women in the community. The men are the ideal bread winners, their job is to work and earn money for their family. Nomi questions these roles in many different ways. First off, she rebels from religion, then she starts smoking and staying out late, something that was seen as an insult to their family by others. As the story progressed, Nomi started to actually break free, but not before she entered the dark realm of drugs and sex. She wanted to have that ideal family life but after her mom and sister left, she didn't know where she belonged. Those roles that were put on her specifically because of her gender had no meaning to her whatsoever. Nomi describes her mother's attitude as one of grief. She may be grieving because she misses her daughter. She may be grieving as a result of the point to which her brother has pushed Tash by the way he has presented religion. Trudie is also stressed by her younger daughter's reaction to Tash leaving. Nomi not only misses her sister but is convinced that her sister is going to burn in hell. This was the worst possible though that could come to her, she wanted her sister to be happy. This is where the reader reaches a crossroads. Some could feel sympathetic towards Nomi while others could feel different. It depends on the perspective of the reader and their personal religious
views.
Plot Points:
Trudie cooks a birthday dinner for Ray. She describes it as simple but elegant. After supper and cake, they take the television outside and watch a Detroit baseball game. She writes back that she wants to be a model of courage and dignity.
Nomi wakes up laying on her own couch but it is in The Golden Comb's trailer. The Comb tells her that he bought the couch off her father a couple of days ago. He offers to keep the French horn in exchange for drugs.
Ray lets Nomi practice her driving. She doesn't want to go home, so she just keeps driving around and around the same roads.
Reflection:
In chapter 4 of this book, there was a scene which Nomi mentions doing the laundry. At first, I didn't think too much of it. I now realize that every little story in this novel has a purpose. The laundry scene in chapter 4, where the drama originally starts, foreshadowed this event. The mysteries surrounding Trudie's disappearance become more confusing when Nomi finds letters from her teacher to her mother when she puts laundry away in her mother's drawers. The reader also senses this new feeling of closure from Nomi. Closure is something that has been an underlying motif throughout the book. Nomi had no opportunity to talk to her about her feelings about this punishment because she never saw her mother again. Nomi still clings to the belief that her mother and father were deeply in love and that she left town because she didn't want to make him choose between her and the church. Not only that, the desperate need to have someone for herself is clear as well. It is in this section of the novel that Travis and Nomi's relationship falls apart. After she finally sleeps with him, she does not hear from him again. She tries to get in touch with Travis but his parents will not tell her where he is. She goes to try to visit Travis at his house. He is not at home and Travis' mom tries to make her feel better about the waning relationship between the two of them.
Plot Points:
Travis and Nomi use a horse razor to cut each other's hair. Later, Nomi shaves her head and finds her old fish hook scar. Mr. Quiring confronts Nomi about her makeup and jewelry, which is against school policy.
Nomi remembers a time when she was nine and became aware of her own existence. She realizes that she was alive and that because she was alive she could also die.
She tells him that she needs a story with a triggering point, a climax and a conclusion.
Reflection:
Most of this section has a pastoral sense to it. Nomi recollects times from her past where she was once in that big happy family she always wanted. This is where the frame narrative comes into play but the story brought in by the narrative is pastoral. he story that Nomi remembers is a time when her family took a boat to have a picnic on an island when Nomi was a small child. During the time they are on the island, the boat on which they had traveled floats away. They anticipate the idea that they may be stranded on the island alone with excitement, looking forward to some time away from the other members of their community. Nomi remembers that all of them almost feel disappointed when the boat reappears and they are able to return home. This says a lot not only about Nomi and her family but of the people in the village as well. They all want to get out some how, most crave that freedom but are afraid to step out of their comfort zone for it. East Village is something that they have all gotten accustomed to and they don't know any different. Just that scene of being in solitude even for a little while, is evidence to just how much the people need to be with themselves as opposed to being with people who tell them how to be themselves.
Plot Points:
Ray is not strong enough to live without faith, and also not strong enough to take down the system of the Mennonite church.
Nomi has seen letters in which Mr. Quiring has called her mother his sad, sweet Trudie. He threatens to tell Trudie's brother that she has been having adulterous relationships with various men. Nomi believes that this is his way of trying to get Trudie to take him back as a lover.
Nomi likes the idea best that her mother left because she wanted to spare Ray the pain of having to choose between him and the church.
Reflection:
In these last two chapters, Nomi finally puts the remaining pieces of her story together. Apparently Trudie and Mr. Quiring have been having some sort of affair. Along with Trudie's passport, Nomi also finds letters to Trudie from Mr. Quiring in her drawers. In one of the letters that Nomi shares in the novel, in the end Trudie is excommunicated. It is also during these chapters that Nomi is left by the remaining two people who are important to her. She finds out for sure that Travis is messing around on her when she discovers his truck parked outside of a local hotel. Finally, Nomi's father leaves her. Instead of being an act of abandonment, however, Nomi's father leaves so that Nomi will have a chance at a better life. He has finally learned that his insistence on staying in East Village has caused his family to be split up. I wonder what would have happened if Ray decidied to take his family away from this town, would Trudie have stayed? Would Tash have stayed? Having those female influencers in her life would have surely changed her story. Ultimately, the story started off with the mention of faith and religion and ends on that note as well. Nomi’s father talks to her about her fear of the coming day, and tells her the flip side of her dread is faith. Nomi believes her father is trying to give her inner conflict a triggering point. This triggering point could be both a triggering point for her story as well as for the rest of her life. Toews didn’t explicitly state and left it open to interpretation.