Homework 2

Paragraph #1 
Imagery:
"Mistress couldn't keep a smile off of her face."

• When I read this I pictured Mistress, smiling and happy, the construction of her dream house being built, I imagine her being so happy that nothing would be able to make her upset. 

"Stupid Sorrow gaping with pleasure; the smithy laughing; Florence mindless as fen in wind"

• Sorrow, in this line is is described as being "gaping with pleasure", again this picture of happiness is visualized, Toni Morrison really wanted the reader to be able to visualize the happiness of everyone on the farm as the new house was being put up.

"... but when he decided to kill the trees and replace them with a profane monument to himself, he was cheerful every waking moment:

• The mood of the paragraph changes when Morrison uses the work "kill" a sinister tone is being used, and how she describes it. Like, taking the lives of these trees only to create a monument to yourself, as if he was doing something evil, and not right. I imagine a clear cut forest, with an imposing house that has huge iron gates while reading this line.   

Literary Devices:

"Florence mindless as Fern in wind"

• Because Florence is being compared to a Fern here, it is a simile. 

"Not with the birth of his doomed sons.."  

• Foreshadowing is being used here, although we already know that his sons had died, this is also hinting at the fact that they will.

"... replacing them with a profane monument of himself"

• This is an ironic moment. Because we know that Sir dies, him building this monument for himself will end up being a bad idea, he wont be able to enjoy it.

Values:

"...not even with an especially successful business arrangement"

• In this line, Lina was talking about what made Sir happy, and this shows how business was important to people of this time, how it helped with social standings and class.

"...but when he decided to kill the trees and replace them with a profane monument to himself, he was cheerful every waking moment."

• Showing people that you had power and money also seemed like something important to the people of this time period. By putting this house, or monument up of himself Sir was proclaiming that he had enough money to sustain this building project, it showed that he had power and was a high class citizen. It was important for people of that time, to show that he was powerful and rich.

Characterization:

"Stupid Sorrow gaping with pleasure"

• With the word stupid being used, it kind of shows how the other slaves, and people in general viewed Sorrow. How they thought she was stupid and of no value. 

"...replace them with a profane monument to himself, he was cheerful every waking moment."

• Again this sentence is important to this book, it shows hoe Sir was power hungry and wanted to leave his mark when he was gone, he wanted to be imposing and powerful, even when he was long gone. 

Language/word choice:

"Not with the both of his doomed sons.."

• When Toni Morrison used the word doomed, there is a feeling that something inevitable is going to happen, like it can't be stopped. This word setts the mood for what is to come later in the paragraph. 

"...he was cheerful every waking moment"

• With the word waking, it makes it out to be like that Sir was happy every singles moment of the day, there was never a time where he was never not happy. Also, it kind of shows how obsessive he was with getting this house built and ready. 

 "...but when he decided to kill the trees and replace them with a profane monument to himself.."

• The word profane means unholy, so when that word is used in this sentence Lina, who is narrating is trying to show that she thought that this self monument was something that she thought was obscene.  

Paragraph #2

Imagery:

"They let their hogs browse the ocean shore turning it into dunes of sand where nothing green can ever grow again"

• This shows how destructive the Europeans were to the native land. I imagine a green pasture turning into fallow land that was unusable to anyone.

Literary Devices:

"They would come with languages that sounded like dog bark"

• This is another example of a simile, how the language is compared to a dog bark"

Values:

"...childish hunger for animal fur"

• This showed how the new people that came from Europe valued fur, and found it as something very important to their society.

Characterization:

"They would forever fence land, ship whole trees to faraway lands..."

• Through Lina's point of view, she found the Europeans childish, not caring about what may happen later, only thinking about the here and now.

Language/Word choice:

 "...childish hunger for animal fur"

• Again there is the word childish being used. This word shows how, like children, the Europeans did not think before they acted, and killed off land and animals because of it.