1. New thing I learned:
I missed the reference to the grandmother. I read it over and thought that it was an insignificant detail, and did not stop to reflect on the comparison to the box man. Yet now I see how his content and solitude can be paralleled to that of a grandmother.
2. I wished we had talked more about the women and their unchosen solitude, in contrast to the box man's chosen solitude. Although I see the obvious difference (chosen vs. unchosen solitude), I am sure that we could have dug deeper into their loneliness.
3. I wished I had brought up the contrast between the diction used to describe the box man and then the women that serves to show how willing and content the box man is, as opposed to the women who are unhappy in their solitude. For example, his "good fortune," and the way he "unselfconsciously" stood is very different to the description of the lonely woman as she breaks her crackers into "salty splinters" and carries herself with a "vacancy of expression."
I also missed the detail about the grandmother; I also thought it was irrelevant. I agree that we could have elaborated on chosen vs. unchosen solitude on a deeper level, because you can tell by the Box Man's actions he is content to be alone, and the way the woman draws out eating her soup reveals her loneliness. The diction you mention in number three is also extremely important in distinguishing the difference between the women's and the Box Man's attitude towards desolation.
ReplyDeleteI also did not notice the significance of the grandmother reference, but it is another important example of solitude. I agree with your belated wish to talk about the contrasting examples, as it is there where we could have discussed how the author presented meaning in more detail. Good third observation, and I appreciate your quotations which lend credence to your observations. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the difference between diction describing the Box Man and the women is distinct. Besides the comment on the Box Man's legs, the diction describing his homelessness has positive connotation. The women have the opposite; all the descriptions have a hopeless negative connotation.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree with you on how we should have talked about the "chosen" vs "unchosen" solitude, if we had more time we probably could've analyzed that more.
ReplyDeleteYour second point...I never thought of it that way before. I wonder if it really wasn't coincidence...but that it might not be.
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