Response Question for 9/27

In the poem "Mirrors" by Sylvia Plath, the poem describes different objects that show reflections as does a mirror. She gives these objects human descriptions and adds life to the actual object which works great for figures of speech. The first example I found was "I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions." This is the first two lines of the poem. As one can see mirrors are not silver and cannot have preconceptions. Mirrors do have a silver look, but in no way can they have preconceptions. This is a human emotion and is considered a "figure of speech". Another example that I found was "Whatever I see I swallow immediately." This is another human action that cannot be done by a mirror, a mirror can figuratively swallow an emotion or reflection but not physically.

The poem goes on to give examples of objects that give reflections that actually act as mirrors. This in a whole is figuratively speaking because even though the real objects (a lake) act as reflections, they are still not mirrors. An example of this is "I see her back, and reflect is faithfully." A lake cannot reflect "faithfully" in no way, shape or form can they do this. Yes a lake is nature and can show more than a mirror can because of the beauty. But a lake can't give faith. There are many examples in this poem, one more is "Now I am a lake. A women bends over me." This describes the fact that reflections can change from lakes to mirrors to a lot of other things in nature and our life.

Response Question #3

I read the short story titled "The Flowers" by Alice Walker. A thesis that I was think of was, Myop lacks the aspect of reality in the story through the shelter that she receives through her family, she is conditioned to a life that will give her hope until she meets her reality in the end of the story. The environment doesn't help her either, considering the time the story takes place with racism and ugly things happening to innocent people. One quote to consider is when it states "Around an overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung another piece. Frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled-barely there-but spinning restlessly in the breeze. Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over." This quote is so powerful when talking about the rope that laid there. She realizes what was done to this corpse and realizes what kind of time she lives in. This is so gruesome for a child to experience, especially one who was sheltered for so long.

Another quote from the story to consider is "When she pushed back the leaves and layers of earth and debris Myop saw that he'd had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken, long finger, and very big bones." This quote leads up to the previous quote, when she discovers this corpse it's such a gruesome image to even imagine a human being put through this pain before they were to die. The parents shelter tries to avoid this kind of punishment to a child but at the same time she needs to see it to know her own reality before it's too late.

A last quote to consider is "She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-tata-ta of accompaniment." This shows before both quotes above on how her innocence shines, this girl was not ready for this kind of reality to hit her, and when it does hit her, it hits her hard! She almost seems to go numb at the very end of the story when it states "And the summer was over." But was summer really over? Or was her summer over?