Essay of the Short Story 'Crossing'.

The majority of this story happened in the past which is what makes it memory-like. The setting of this story changes as time progresses; he travels from state to state, car to car. The only thing that remains constant is the weather. Weather is used throughout the story and plays a significant role in making this a memory. He mentions rains throughout the story; “I rose up sopping wet from sleeping under the pouring rain”(pg 3) “The downpour raked the asphalt and gurgled in the ruts”(pg 3) “Then, in the dark, I didn’t see the storm gathering”(pg 5) “.....just as it began to rain”(pg 5) “the family….splashed along through the rain”(pg 6). He even compares blood to rain, “human blood flew around the car and rained down on my head”(pg 6). This weather could be seen literally as rain or as insight as to what the narrator is feeling. Rain often depicts emotion as dreary, sad, and depressing. This weather in the story helps to set the mood and show what the character is feeling inside.

Many people die at railroad crossings usually because they don't remember what they are told or just don't care. One thing that most people do is not slow down, slowing down is probably the most important thing to do at a railroad crossing because most of the time he train is going faster. Also, another big reason is because they go out at night and think that a train is not coming because they don't see a light, but that's not the case because the trains light could've gone out and he only has a horn so he blows the horn late then SPLAT. Another thing is when a car breaks down in the middle of a railroad crossing it pretty smart to get out and get out of the way of the train. The not so smart way is too try and push the car off or actually

This story contains an almost equal balance of good and evil, though it also raises questions of what is truly good. It blurs the line between good and selfish or thoughtless. Characters’ actions sometimes appear impure, but in the long run, are good.

The rain is the key of the story making everything feel sad, nervous and curious. The author tries to create as horrific a setting as possible. In the quote, “March rain drilling his jacket and drilling his body and washing away the blood that poured from his open wound.” makes me feel spooked. I can imagine a person lying on his side with blood spilling out, washing away by the rain creating a red puddle. For example, if Andy was lying in a field of grasses, with no clouds, clear blue sky and the sun brightly shining, I will would not feel as frightened reading the story. The rain was also a good thing as it helped Andy remember the good moments in his life, in the lines, “The rain was soothing somehow”, “Rain is sweet, I'm Andy” these lines tell me Andy is realising he’s dying that’s when he remembers the time he danced in the rain with Laura. He wants to forget about the gang ‘Royal’ but only think of Laura in the last few moments before dying. In these moments time seems slow and painful because the rhythm of the rain, there Andy’s having regrets about joining the gang who cost him his life. He thinks about how young he was and the life he wanted to live in the future. His whole face and body are hot but it’s cooled by the raindrops symbolising how much Andy loves the rain and thinks it’s soothing thing washing away his blood and accepting he’s dying

The setting is portrayed as if it is a paradise, especially compared to other settings in the book where it is more bitter and intimidating. Furthermore, Steinbeck deliberately chooses to set the scene during the season of spring. The reader knows this as the willows are described as ‘fresh and green’ and that the leaves carried ‘the debris of the winter’s flooding’. The spring season symbolises rebirth and renewal, and therefore suggests George and Lennie’s new beginning when they arrive at the area. Steinbeck also adds to the idea of change later on when George and Lennie are introduced. In conclusion, Steinbeck uses descriptive language to emphasise the tranquility of the setting so the reader recognises the impact that humanity has on nature. Later on in the novel, the reader senses the shift of atmosphere in the introduction of George and Lennie, as well as during their time in the bunkhouse.

The author uses setting to enhance the class difference between the boy and the girl’s family by using the contrast of the weather. The story takes place in winter, the setting of the weather is at a pertinent time to show the divergence. People either stay inside the houses or are outside under zero degrees. “The snow crunched beneath his feet, and icy air bit at his face.” The boy is outside the house, alone, in the icy-cold weather facing the hush weather by himself. On the contrary, the mother and the girl are inside the warm house, securely. The author does not give any source of the ornament inside the house. However, the contrast of two variety of locations of two groups of people shows the boy is isolated and the class difference between the girl and himself. The boy is a lower class and the mother and the girl are at middle class. This leads to the conflicts of the story.

2) In the first five paragraph of the story, the rain symbolized sorrow. It was foreshowing the beginning of the downfall of the relationship between the narrator and Peter. The fact that it even rained in Cambridge where Peter’s wife stayed, shows how even those far away still felt the sorrow caused by their relationship.

The speaker refers to the night as his acquaintance. This implies that the speaker has a lot of experience with the night, but has not become friends with it. Thus, because even the night, which has been alongside the speaker in comparison to anything or anyone else, is not a companion to the speaker, the idea of loneliness is enhanced. In addition, “rain” (2) is used to symbolize the speaker’s feelings of gloom and grief, because there is continuous pouring of the rain, which is unlikely to stop. In line 3, “city light” is used to convey the emotional distance between the speaker and society. Although the speaker has walked extensively, he has not yet interacted with anyone – thus distancing himself even further from society. Moreover, the moon, in lines 11 to 12, is used as a metaphor of the speaker’s feelings. The speaker feels extremely distant from society that he feels “unearthly.” The idea of isolation and loneliness in this poem is used as the theme of the poem; and the use of the setting and metaphors underscores the idea that the speaker feels abandoned from society.

This immediately changes when the description of the rain evokes the mood of sadness in the reader. To portray a sense of melancholy which is felt when it is raining, the author uses parallel constructions as a stylistic device: "The rain dripped from the palm trees. The water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain ". It is noticeable that the nouns rain, pools, and sea belong to one central theme - water. This stylistic device is utilized by the author to create the atmosphere of inevitability. People cannot hide from the rain. Water is everywhere: it is on the ground, it deluges from the sky as though the world is weeping. Complication don’t begin until the American woman sees the cat in the rain.

A world of entrapment is represented through the simile, “Clutter on the highway like abacus beads”, portraying a scene of heavy traffic. The clutter of cars exemplifies a mood of conformity, with all the cars cluttered as if trapped in a routine, “At 4’oclock …”. This visual image of peak hour traffic on a highway also incorporates the road as a metaphor to represent the journey of life. Foulcher captures a mood of fear “No one dares to overtake” suggesting that no one wants to take a risk and do anything out of the ordinary highlighting the sense of conformity. Through personification, “… the cars slump into dusk” represents the dejected mood. Visceral imagery is created through the harsh verbs, “slap”, “pound” to introduce that an accident has clearly occurred. Summer Rain uses intelligent imagery and sound techniques to convey powerful comments about the world. For example: Sibilance, “Sunlight Scrawls and “Shadows slap”, aggressively presents an overpowering world where nature is obstructed by pollution. As he diverts his attention to the “sub division houses”, he observes an interior world of suburbia where “steam

The Road is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel. The background of this novel takes place in America after an unknown disaster, which almost wipes away human civilization. On the vast wasteland, a father and a son with a cart start their journey to the South. The main story is about their adventures on the road. They observe the fall of civilization, through ruins of cities scattering all over the horizon and the fall of humanity, even as robbers and cannibals are threatening them all the time. During the journey, they search for food, water and all equipments that could help them overcoming the future path. The father gets sick that he believes he would not accomplish this path at the end, so his only hope is keeping his son safe to the destination. The son is young and inexperienced to understand what is surrounding them that he keeps a childish mind for everything, and he loves his father as his only support. On the road, the father usually talks with his son. The topic is variety of life, death, hope and their future. They share their thinking and confusions in the conversation to encourage each other. This blood bind connects them all the way through their journey and defends them from being fallen and dead. But when the time flows away, they are facing starvation, loneliness and death that shake their faith for survive.

The title of the story is “Crossing”, which is written in extended time –what make seem like an unfinished conclusion. That the ending is not closed, and that they are standing between life and death, and that what’s happen next is up to the reader to find out. The title indicates that the father and son are crossing something, and in this story it is a river, which can be interpreted as a portal from life to death, that they are standing in

‘Crossing’ is a short story written by Mark Slouka. It’s about a father, who’s going on a field trip with his son. The father has just been divorced and hasn’t been happy for a long time, but the nostalgia about the trip, which he also went on with his own father, and having to spend time with his son, makes him feel happy.

Building trust takes time as they say trust isn’t something that is given; trust is something that is earned. And trust isn’t earned overnight either, but then nobody said it would be easy. And when you think about it, nothing worth having comes easy. This is what the father is forced to realize in the short story “Crossing” from 2009 written by Mark Slouka. In this story about a father and son-bonding trip, themes such as trust and love play an important role, when you as the father find yourself in a situation where one wrong move can lead to your downfall.

"They snatched him from my arms... He was just a kid…" These two lines are excepts' from The Crossing. The Crossing is a novel by Samar Yazbek and published in 2015. This book recounts the various crossings Ms. Yazbek undertook to see for herself how her homeland has come under attack during the Syrian war, and to learn more of the various groups, with her ultimate goal being to aid the woman still living in these sullen areas. Within this novel we are introduced to the shelter stories of various individuals from which the above two quoted sentences were taken. Through these stories of the innocent women who have seen and been harmed by the raging Syrian war, we can empathize with their situations. Stories that had never made mainstream media until now, we see just how dire the situation was and