ING 1107 Textual Analysis I

1. Identify and explain the underlined figures of speech from the given extracts. (5 pts. each- 55 pts.)
 
from “A Meditation upon a Broomstick” Jonathan Swift
It is now at best but the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth,
and the root in the air. It is now handled by every dirty wench, condemned to do her drudgery, and
by a capricious kind of fate destined to (a) make other things clean and be nasty itself. At length,
worn to the stumps in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out of doors or condemned to its
last use of kindling a fire. When I beheld this, I sighed and said within myself, surely (b) mortal man is
a broomstick: nature sent him into the world strong and lusty, in a thriving condition, wearing his
own hair on his head, the proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, until the axe of intemperance
has lopped off his green boughs and left him a withered trunk; he then flies to art, and puts on a
periwig, valuing himself upon an unnatural bundle of hairs, all covered with powder, that never grew
on his head. But now should this our broomstick pretend to enter the scene, proud of those birchen
spoils it never bore, and all covered with dust, though  (c) the sweepings of the finest lady's chamber,
we should be apt to ridicule and despise its vanity, partial judges that we are of our own excellencies
and other men's defaults.
(a) ..................................................................................................................................................
(b) ..................................................................................................................................................
(c) ..................................................................................................................................................
 
from “A Modest Proposal” Jonathan Swift
            I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquintances in London, that (d) a
young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food,
whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee
or a ragout.
(d) ..................................................................................................................................................
 
from “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a (e) feverish
triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly (f)like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her
sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.
Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little
travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of
the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing
cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of (g) the joy that kills. 
(e) ..................................................................................................................................................
(f) ..................................................................................................................................................
(g)..................................................................................................................................................
 
from “The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen” Graham Greene
Darling, you don't listen, do you? My publisher. He said he hadn't read a first novel in the last ten
years which showed (h) such powers of observation."
"That's wonderful," he said sadly, "wonderful."
"Only he wants me to change the title,"
"Yes?'
"He doesn't like (i) The Ever-Rolling Stream. He wants to call it The Chelsea Set."
(i) ...................................................................................................................................................
 
(h) ..................................................................................................................................................
from “A Family Supper” Kazuo Ishiguro
            I laughed. He went on contemplating his battleship. Then he looked up. “I hadn’t meant to tell
you this, but perhaps it’s best that I do. It’s my belief that your mother’s death was no accident. She
had many worries. And some disappointments.”
            We both gazed at (j) the plastic battleship.
            “Surely,” I said eventually, “my mother didn’t expect me to live here for ever.”
            “Obviously you don’t see. You don’t see how it is for some parents. Not only must they lose
their children, they must lose them to things they don’t understand.”
(j) ...................................................................................................................................................
 
Earth (John Hall Wheelock)                                   
"A planet doesn’t explode of itself," said drily   
The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air.           
"That they were able to do it is proof that (k) highly
Intelligent beings must have been living there."
(k) ..................................................................................................................................................
 
2. Elaborate on Lord of the Flies focusing on the symbolism used in the novel. (25 pts.)
 
3. Read and analyze the following story. (20 pts.)
The Fisherman
The sun was barely above the horizon when the fisherman untied his boat and set himself free of dry
land. Each wave he crossed, heading out to sea, marked a greater distance between him and
everything to do with him. With every crest, he was a little further away from is house. His house, no
longer his home. Yes, it had walls and furniture and pictures, but it had no spirit. The photos, the
tables and the chairs existed without reason, without source; like the faded perfume of his wife which
still lingered in the air long after she had gone.
The old spluttering engine took him ten miles away from the port, and as he shut it off the land from
which he’d come was hardly visible. Now he only felt at home on the sea. The sea’s smell carried his
memories, its openness formed his walls, his pictures were made from the light which danced over
the waves.
He cast his two lines off either side and sat back. The sea was calm and the early morning sun, still
only low in the sky, meandered towards him over the mottled water. The sea was where he could
think. Not that he was a thinking man, the fisherman, not in a philosophical or critical way. Really he
was a rememberer. The fisherman never thought to the future, never worried financially or planned
carefully. He thought back. He remembered.
And on the sea, free from conditions of time and place, his memories could fill his whole vision.
Without another person around he had a whole world to himself.
Him, his lines, and his memories.