Virgin Suicides 4

Passage:



"Lux's brief unions were clandestine. They sprouted in the dead time of study halls, bloomed on the way to the drinking fountain, and were consumated in the hot box above the auditorium, amid uncomfortable theatrical lights and cables...That Lux consented to meet them in the dells and thickets of our school grounds only showed too well her disequilibrium."



- This passage is important to the work as a whole because it shows how the sisters react to the death of Cecilia. This passage, and the ones surrounding it, show Lux making decisions without thinking about their emotional or physical consequences. This allows the readers to infer that Lux, too, sees no value in life. We already know that she is going to die, and in this passage, we see the beginning of the end of her life.

- The author uses nature imagery to depict the stages of Lux's relationships and her life. The juxtaposition of "sprouted" and "dead time" help to create the idea that Lux's life is beginning to wither away - right when she is at the height of her youth. Also, by placing the scenes in the auditorium ( with its lights, cables, and man-made technology) next to the lines described through nature, Eugenides shows how unnatural Lux's behavior is, and how destructive it is to her life. This idea is then restated in the last sentence with the use of "disequilibrium".

Virgin Suicides 3

Passage:

Page 65

" He drove to school alone, an hour earlier than his late-sleeping, bysed-in daughters. Entering the main door, past the suit of armor (our athletic teams were called the Knights), he went straight into his classroom where the nine planets of our solar system hung from perforated ceiling panels (sixty-six holes in each square, according to Joe Hill Conley, who counted them during class). Nearly invisible white strings attached the planets to a track. Each day they roated and revolved, the whole cosmos controlled by Mr. Lisbon, who consulted an anstronomy chart and turned a crank next to the pencil sharpener. Beneath the planets hung black-and-white triangles, oranges helices, blue cones, and detachable noses. On his desk Mr. Lisbon displayed a Soma cube, solved for all of time in a ribbon of scotch tape. Beside the blackboard a wire clamp helf five sticks of chalk so that he could draw sheet music for his male singing group. He had been a teacher so long he had a sink in his room."


-This passage is significant because it shows how Mr. Lisbon is searching for a way to control his life. He leaves his home and his daughters behind to escape to a classroom where he is "God". He moves the planets, has his own sink, and can keep his Soma cube "solved for all of time". This situation shows how lost he feels at home and how he feels he has failed as a father/ authority figure in his house. Cecilia's death and the girls behavior is something that he feels he can not ever understand. This allows the girls to drift farther away from everyone and leads us to think about their suicides that have yet to happen.

-Eugenides uses syntax to show how out of touch Mr. Lisbon's character is with reality. By placing the specific details of life surrounding Mr. Lisbon in parentheses within the sentence describing his ways of escaping life, it makes his inability to deal with reality stand out even more. Eugenides constantly includes these specific details throughout the novel in order to show how unnatural the suicides are. The repitition of time-based ideas/ phrases also helps contribute to the idea that death and time are out of Mr. Lisbon's control. "Each day", he controls the planets, his cube is solved "for all of time" and he has been a teacher for "so long". These ideas of time all relate back to the fact that time on earth is limited, Cecilia's time is over, and Mr. Lisbon has no idea how much time he has left with his other daughters.

Virgin Suicides 2

Passage:

"And then Mr. Lisbon replied: 'They'll grow out. Fingernails keep growing. She can't bite them now, dear.'

Our own knowledge of Cecilia kept growing after her death, too, with the same unnatural persistence. Though she had spoken only rarely and had had no real friends, everybody possessed his own vivd memories of Cecilia."

-This passage allows you to understand Cecilia's character and connect more with her. This passage and the rest of the paragraph show how Cecilia is more alive to those around her after she is dead. It takes her death to get them all to really take interest in their moments with her. The fact that her parents are wondering about her nails when she threw herself out a window, and the fact that the boys never payed this much attention to her when she was alive, allows the reader to see why she was so unhappy with her life. 

-In this passage, again, the author places death next to a casual issue such as nail biting. Eugenides then carries this disturbing idea about her nails continuing to grow over to the next paragraph about the boys' knowledge of Cecilia. The way which their knowledge of Cecilia continues to grow after she is dead also mirrors the way the readers are learning about Cecilia through her death/absence.  This forces the reader to realize the significance of the suicides and encourages him to look harder for the meaning and connections within them. 

Virgin Suicides 1

Passage:

Page 30
"Halfway up the staircase to the second floor her steps made no more noise, but it was only thirty seconds later that we heard the wet sound of her body falling onto the fence that ran alongside the house. First came the sound of wind, a rushing we decided later must have been caused by her wedding dress filling with air. This was brief. A human body falls fast. The main thing was just that: the fact of a person taking on completely physical properties, falling at the speed of a rock. It didn't matter if her brain continued to flash on the way down, or if she regretted what she'd done, or if she had time to focus on the fence spikes shooting toward her.....God' ".

-This passage is important to the book as a whole because it shows how the people around the sisters come to view these situations and death in general. Something that happened so quickly and horribly is viewed by the kids as something to discuss and analyze. It is also important because before we are able to understand any of the other sisters, the youngest has killed herself after already attempting to do so once before. It causes the reader to really wonder what the underlying conflicts will be for the other girls if Cecilia wanted so badly to end her life.

-The main device that shows through in this passage, but that is also apparent throughout the whole book, is the tone used by the author. The person narrating speaks so matter-of-factly about the horrific event of a 13 yr old throwing herself out of a window. It seems as if even though he is talking about something so gruesome and sad, it does not phase him. The author also juxtaposes the image of Cecilia on the fence next to the idea of listening to the beautiful music of an orchestra. This, when combined with the tone used, causes the reader to realize the truth of the situation while also creating an eerie mood. The ideas of death are talked about so frequently and often placed next to images of beauty, that it makes the reader realize how much these deaths come to infiltrate the life of this family and everything around them.

Heights 7

Passage:

"I wanted something to happen which might have the effect of freeing both Wuthering Heights and the Grange of Mr. Heathcliff quietly; leaving us as we had been prior to his advent. His visits were continual nightmares to me; and, I suspected, to my master also. His abode at the Heights was an oppression past explaining. I felt that God had forsaken the stray sheep there to its own wicked wanderings, and an evil beast prowled between it and the fold, waiting his time to spring and destroy"

-This passage is significant because it sums up the effect that Heathcliff's presence has on everyone else. Though Nelly only mentions Heathcliff himself and Edgar, she leads the reader to think about Cathy and Miss Linton as well (through them). Previously, Heathcliff was unwanted because of his lack of significance. This passage shows how everything is now changed - Heathcliff is unwanted because he has this strong power over everyone.

-Bronte uses many devices to make this passage stand out to the reader and encourage them to find the significance within it. As a whole, it seems to be foreshadowing some ominous event. Twice in this chapter before this passage (which ends the chapter), Nelly speaks of Healthcliff as an omen. The use of "evil beast" and "waiting his time to spring and destroy" paired with the nightmare motif, helps to build up this idea that something horrible is about to happen. We are already aware of Cathy's death, and this connection of Heathcliff to this awful event makes it seem as though he is someway connected to it.

Heights 6

Passage:



"This is nothing," cried she: "I was only going to say that heaven did nto seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. Ive no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in tehre had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldnt have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him:and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine aer the same; and Linston's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."


-This passage is significant because it is where the novel's biggest conflict reaches a high point. Catherine is finally admitting her love for Heathcliff, but at the same time, she is promising that it can never be known to him. Heathcliff's unknown presence to her makes this even more of an issue because he now knows that everything he has dreamed about can not happen. This leads to Heathcliff running away and Cathy realizing how much he truly does mean to her. This passage is also ironic in a way because Cathy won't marry Healthcliff because of how "low" he is - but now Heathcliff has more money that he knows what to do with, but no Cathy. This, and the fact that Cathy realizes how unalike she and Linton are, help to create ideas and themes about love that are carried throughout the book.

-Bronte uses many devices to make this passage stand out, and to emphasize its significance. She uses a dream again to show something about Cathy. This caused me, as the reader, to go back to the beginning of the book when the man had the dream about her. Bronte seems to use dreams to show the underlying desires of the characters - Cathy in particular. When Cathy chooses to marry Linton, in her dream she is unhappy in heaven - somewhere you are supposed to go to for eternal happiness - like marriage. She also uses things from nature and the heavens to show her differences from Linton. Linton is obviously the moonbeam- the moon is beautiful and stays on the same,steady cycle. Cathy is the lightning - also beautiful and awe-inspiring, but at the same time can cause destruction. Also, by comparing her like fire, Bronte shows how Cathy is to Heathcliff - she can burn him, but in the end he needs her to live (warmth,comfort,survival, food).

Heights 5

Passage:

"Doubtless Catherine marked the difference between her friends , as one came in and the other went out. The contrast resembled what you seein exchanging bleak, hilly, coal country for a beautiful fertile valley; and his voice and greeting were as opposite as his aspect. He had a sweet, low manner or speaking, and pronouced his words as you do: that's less gruff than we talk here, and softer."

This passage shows how Catherine views the two people closest to her. Earlier in the chapter, Nelly informs the reader that Cathy began to "adopt a double character". This passage further supports the idea that Catherine has two opposite parts of her life that she holds seperate from one another. It is clear from this passage that she has slowly forgotten the joy once brought to her from the part of her life that was Heathcliff. It seems as though when she is with Linton (the "beautiful fertile valley"), she attempts to hide any part of her that may not fit in with him. It seems as though she can never truly let herself out when she is around him ( until a few paragraphs later when she hits him). This fact that she always leaves a part of her with Heathcliff ( her true passionate side) leads us readers to hope she will return to him.

The words " as one came in and the other went out" represent more than the character's movement throughout the room - they are showing how Cathy is replacing Heathcliff with Linton. The next few lines continue to compare the two, using words that depict Heathcliff as dark and empty - which is clearly how Cathy views him. She sees Linton as someone who will provide her with wealth and stabilty ("fertile valley") and enjoys feeling as if she can be a part of what he is. She does not think that by being with Heathcliff, she will benefit in any way or gain anything - and these feelings are shown by his being compared to a "bleak, hilly coal country". Coal, however, is something that, while it is dirty, is necessary for energy and survival - maybe this is how Bronte hints at Catherine's attachment to him.

Heights 4

Passage:

"Afterwards, they dried and combed her beautiful hair, and gave her a pair of enourmous slippers, and wheeled her to the fire; and I left her , as merry as she could be, dividing her food between the little dog and Skulker, whose nose she pinched as he hate; and kindling a spark of spirit in the vacant blue eyes of the Lintons - a dim reflection from the her own enchanting face. I saw they were full of stupid admiration; she is so immensley superior to them - to everybody on earth, is she not, Nelly?"

This passage is significant to the work as a whole because it shows Healthcliff's love for Cathy. This is the first time that his character voices his admiration for her. It shows how Cathy is so important to him - because she is the only one who treats him nicely. Even though Healthcliff is hated by Hindley and seen as a gypsy by all other characters, Cathy's love for him allows his character to see good in the world.

In this passage, Bronte uses a lot of words that relate to light when she refers to Catherine (fire, spark, kindling, reflection). The passage is being spoken by Healthcliff, which shows how he sees Catherine as the only light in his world. When his character is described now that he is alone, it is very dark, solemn and depressing. Throughout the entire novel so far, Catherine has been created a symbol of light and hope in Healthcliff's life. The use of the semicolon to connect all the sentences about Catherine together show how as he is describing the event, Heathcliff can not think about anything but Cathy - all of his thoughts of her are drawn together, just as she draws him in with her light.

Heights 3

Passage:
"she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph's religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most - showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination."

-This passage is significant because it sets up the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. This chapter is when the reader is able to see how their relationship originated and developed, and this passage seems to capture all of that. It also is very important in characterizing both of them. We are able to see Catherine's mischevious side and Heathlcliff's soft side - which seems to come out around Catherine. This passage is also important because we know that the relationship between these two is the main issue in the novel and therefore this may represent what is to come.

-This passage has a lot of words in it that oppose each other to create juxtaposition. It sets happy against scolding, religious against ridiclue, pretended against real, and insolence against kindness. This is important to the passage because it causes the reader to become aware of these extreme opposites that seem to reflect the characters and their emotions (Previously, it was seen that Healthcliff can be both cold and compassionate). The syntax also places Catherine's wants and desires before Heathcliff's - and the use of the word "power" alludes to the power that she continues to hold over him.

Heights 2

Passage:

He got onto the bed, and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears. "Come in!come in!" he sobbed. "Cathy, do come. Oh, do - once more! Oh! my heart's darling! hear me this time, Catherine, at last!"

The spectre showed a spectre's ordinary caprice: it gave no sign of being, but the snow and wind whirled wildly through, even reaching my station, and blowing out the light.



-I think this passage is significant because it shows the depth of Heathcliff's character and the reason why he is so cold. This passage shows the reader that Healthcliff has a conflict to solve within himself - one that he has been battling for quite a while. This also introduces Catherine as another main part of the plot.

-The language used in this passage is all very strong and passionate. When I read them, I felt all of the emotion that was built up inside of the character come out with each world. The use of the word "uncontrollable" plays a large roll in showing the importance of this passage, and of Catherine to the story. Until now, besides being a little angry, Healthcliff always seemed to have control over everything. The lines about the spectre show how the nature and weather in Wuthering Heights represent the storm that is occuring within Heathcliff, and how this issue places a dark cloud over everyone involved.

Heights 1

Passage:

"Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Helthcliff's dwelling.
'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the
atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather"

-I chose this passage because it introduces the most important aspect of the book- where it got its title. This sets up how the reader first views where the story is going to take place. It is signifcant to the book because the first idea created about the setting is how future events will be seen and interpreted.

-The passage foreshadows what might happen or become the central conflict within the book. The "atmospheric tumult" and "stormy weather" may represent issues that will come about between the main character and Mr. Heathcliff. Also, the diction and syntax of the first sentence make Wuthering Heights more a possesion of Mr. Heathliff, rather than a place where he lives. This creates an idea that there may be something that will come between this, or change this.

Hamlet 5

Passage:

Act 3 Scene 1 Line 64 - 98
Hamlet:

"To be or not to be - that is the question:
Wheather 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...
...be all my sins remembered."

- I chose this passage because it is the one that everyone knows from the play - and therefore must hold some significance. In this passage, Hamlet is pondering the ideas of life and death. This is important because what he is living for at the moment, is to ensure the death of his father is avenged. This passage connects all of Hamlet's conflicts and issues ( his father, the king, Opelia) into one idea.

-The diction within the passage seems to glorify the idea of death over that of living. All words associated with living - pangs, insolence, spurns- are harsh and have hard sounds. At line 86, Hamlet's focus seems to shift to death. The words used here are not harsh, but dark. They reflect the idea that death is the unknown, and therefore may, or may not be, better than life. The syntax and setup of the passage as a whole, with the ideas of life and death set against each other, represent the conflict within Hamlet himself. He does not know what he is living for any more, but is haunted by the idea of death because of his father.

Hamlet 4

Hamlet:

"O vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! this is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear [father] murdered,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell...
...The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

-I chose this passage because it further develops the main conflict in the play. Hamlet is finally making a plan to find out the truth about his father's death. It is also important because the lines within it, and before it, show a lot about Hamlet's character. He continues to be consumed by his father's death, when clearly he has other issues he could be dealing with (such as his love for Ophelia).

-Shakespeare uses a lot of devices within this passage to tie the entire scene together. The scene starts with King Claudius trying to use other people to find the truth beneath Hamlet's distress. This passage then ends with Hamlet deciding to do the very same thing to find out the truth about Claudius. This passage connects these two events, and makes the reader aware of this recurring idea of finding "truth" in a dishonest manner. Also, the diction - the use of words such as promted, struck, proclaimed, play, power, assume, abuses- creates an idea of things being controlled, or maniplulated for a larger cause. The diction creates suspense and reflects the desires and actions fo the characters within the scene.

Hamlet 3

Polonius:
Come, go with me. I will go seek the King.
This is the very ecstasy of love,
Whose violent property fordoes itself
And leads the will to desperate undertakings..

...This must be known, which being kept close, might
move
More grief to hide than hate to utter love.

-This passage is important to the play as a whole, because it is the first time that other characters can see that there is something wrong with Hamlet. While they figure that his behavior is due to his own internal conflicts, they fail to see that their own king is the reason for his grief. It also shows how quickly the characters have replaced the old King Hamlet with King Claudius, because they don't even consider the fact that Hamlet's father is dead as a reason for his distress.

-The passage is somewhat ironic, in that Polonius is going to the King to discuss how "the ecstasy of love, whose violent property" can lead "to desperate undertakings". The King himself, however, is a victim of this himself, having killed Hamlet's father in order to be with his wife. This passage could also refer to the murder where Polonius says "I am sorry that with better heed and judgement I had not coted (observed) him". Polonius is the councillor to King Claudius, and this line makes the reader aware of the irony created by his bringing this issue to the King's attention without having observed that the King is guilty of it himself.

Hamlet - Two

Ghost:
"I am thy father's spirit,
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night
And for the day confined to dast in fires
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their
spheres,
Thy knotted and comined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand an end,
Like quills upon the fearful porpentine....
List, list, O list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love-


I chose this passage because it introduces another important aspect of the plot, and is the beginning of a very significant scene. Since the ghost first entered the play, a feeling of suspense was created. In this scene, Shakespeare is finally allowing the reader to be informed of the ghost's significance. The line " I could a tale..." serves to set up the rest of the play. The language, similies, and references to nature/life ("two eyes, like stars", "eternal blazon") make the reader aware of the importance of the secret that must be discovered. In this way, the passage builds up to the discovery of the king's murder - which is the central issue of the play.

Hamlet - One

Key Passage:

Hamlet: ...And yet, within a month,
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears - why she (even she)
(O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer!), married with my
uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
Ere yet the sald of most unrigheous tears
had left the flushing in her galled eye,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good.
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.

Importance:

I chose this passage because I feel that it introduces the main problem in the play. Shakespeare uses allusions to create certain ideas about the characters introduced. This passage clearly shows that Hamlet dissaproves of the situation, and feels that his uncle is insufficient as a king and is nothing like his father. The line toward the end of the passage serves to foreshadow the issues that will come due to this situation. This line adds to the idea of an ominous occurance first brought up by Horatio when they saw the ghost.