1. Lady, are you rich?
They huddled inside the storm door - two children in ragged outgrown coats.
"Any old papers, lady?"
I was busy. I wanted to say no - until I looked down at their feet. Thin little sandals, sopped with sleet. "Come in and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa." There was no conversation. Their soggy sandals left marks upon the hearthstone.
Cocoa and toast with jam to fortify against the chill outside. I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget...
The silence in the front room struck through to me. I looked in.
The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in flat voice, "Lady... are you rich?"
"Am I rich? Mercy, no!" I looked at my shabby slipcovers.
The girl put her cup back in its saucer - carefully. "Your cups match your saucers." Her voice was old with a hunger that was not of the stomach.
They left then, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn't said thank you. They didn't need to. They had done more than that. Plain blue pottery cups and saucers. But they matched. I tested the potatoes and stirred the gravy. Potatoes and brown gravy - a roof over our heads - my man with a good steady job - these things matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and tidied the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my hearth. I let them be. I want them there in case I ever forget again how very rich I am.
Marion Doolan, Chicken soup for the soul, p.54.
They huddled inside the storm door - two children in ragged outgrown coats.
"Any old papers, lady?"
I was busy. I wanted to say no - until I looked down at their feet. Thin little sandals, sopped with sleet. "Come in and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa." There was no conversation. Their soggy sandals left marks upon the hearthstone.
Cocoa and toast with jam to fortify against the chill outside. I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget...
The silence in the front room struck through to me. I looked in.
The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in flat voice, "Lady... are you rich?"
"Am I rich? Mercy, no!" I looked at my shabby slipcovers.
The girl put her cup back in its saucer - carefully. "Your cups match your saucers." Her voice was old with a hunger that was not of the stomach.
They left then, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn't said thank you. They didn't need to. They had done more than that. Plain blue pottery cups and saucers. But they matched. I tested the potatoes and stirred the gravy. Potatoes and brown gravy - a roof over our heads - my man with a good steady job - these things matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and tidied the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my hearth. I let them be. I want them there in case I ever forget again how very rich I am.
Marion Doolan, Chicken soup for the soul, p.54.
Rhetorical devices:
Metaphor:
- Which belonged to the lady (The matched cups and saucers, potatoes and brown gravy, a roof over heads, a man with a good steady job): a happy and comfortable life
- Which belonged to 2 children (ragged outgrown coats, thin little sandals): a poor life
Message:
If you look at what you haven’t got, you will see that you got nothing. If you look at what you have got, you’ll see that you have enough.
2. Polltution:
2. Polltution:
source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/
Rhetorical devices:
Irony: shophistry: the company just paint everything in green to protect the environment but its factories still pollute the air.
Message: There are a lot of companies hide their fault of polluting the enviroment by many ways of justification.
3. The sailor:
The boat of the boatman Madhu is moored at the wharf of Rajgunj.
It is uselessly laden with jute, and has been lying there idle for ever so long.If he would only lend me his boat, I should man her with a hundred oars, and hoist sails, five or six or seven.
I should never steer her to stupid markets. I should sail the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
But, mother, you won't weep for me in a corner.
I am not going into the forest like Ramachandra to come back only after fourteen years.
I shall become the prince of the story, and fill my boat with whatever I like.
I shall take my friend Ashu with me. We shall sail merrily across the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
We shall set sail in the early morning light.
When at noontide you are bathing at the pond, we shall be in the land of a strange king.
We shall pass the ford of Tirpurni, and leave behind us the desert of Tepântar.
When we come back it will be getting dark, and I shall tell you of all that we have seen.
I shall cross the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rhetorical devices:
- Repetition: I, I should…, We shall…, I shall…
- Metaphor: sail: life, joy of life, adventure
sea, rivers, forests, fairylands, noontide: challenge and secret, interesting things in life
Message: Do not stay, your life will be useless. Make use of time, go out and explore the world out side because it is full of joy and lessons.
I really like your item 2. The picture is very interesting. It tells the fact that companies always claim that they are environment-friendly and say all good things that we should protect the environment but what they do is eliminate all polluted things to the Earth.
ReplyDeleteYour item 1 is really meaningful story. It teachs us that: We should satisfy with all the things we are having.
ReplyDeletein fact, I like the poem most, because the author is my favorite writer:D
ReplyDelete_I would love your first item.It makes me think of my present life. however, I think you give a brief message like:"satisfying the life which includes things belonging to you makes you happy". it's enough.
ReplyDelete_Your second is also interesting and I think no message is more exact than yours.
Hi, I 've found your entry interesting and got some ideas about it.
ReplyDeleteIn item 1, it is really a simple but meaningful story. About the message, however, I think of another one which is a little bit different. In my opinion, it should be: try to find satisfied with what we have got and appreciate them because we are always truly luckier than someone else and luckier than we'll ever know.
In item 2, I agree with you. In addition, I think the meaning of this picture is also to criticise many companies of pretending to look down on environmental problems they cause and to ignore them. Companies might be trying to look the other way.
In item 3, after having read the poem, the most impressive mark to me is the very strong desire of the youth to explore the big world outside. Thank you for the message from this poem because I'm not very good at 'understanding' poetry anyway.
your story is really meaningful. All of us should appreciate what we have and satisfy with them. Don't be too greedy!
ReplyDeletethank you for your short story. It leaves in my mind much feeling. In fact, I was impressed by your picture. It is really irony, you know. By the way, I think in your short story there is another rhetorical device. It is epithet because the authors have "ragged outgrown coats, soggy sandals, pottery cups, brown gravy, steady job". In item 3: the author also uses allusion by some well-known places like Rajgunj,Ramachandra, Tirpurni, Tepântar, ... to provoke in the readers' mind of interesting things around the world.
ReplyDelete