No Escape Analysis

On a date to tour the city, George tells Cocoa that “Most people are confined to ghettos by economic circumstances…. the young and talented confine themselves by choice” (Naylor 65). The city is an often cruel, unfair place where “there was little enough of [kindness]…to kill off in one shot” (Naylor 59). It is also sometimes an unfriendly place; the city has a kind of cold, informal aura about it. Take for example, the description Cocoa uses to describe the waitress service at the restaurant: “especially when the check came glued to the bottom of your dessert plate…watching a big greasy thumbprint spread slowly over the Thank You printed on the back” (Naylor 13). The unfriendliness is enough for a Southern girl like Cocoa to turn her back on the city and not give it a chance, as so many others had.

The concept of escape is illustrated in two works studied this year, explain in what ways and to what extent escape was portrayed. In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand a repressive society crushes individuality and as a result happiness. The main character, Equality, must escape his society to find his individuality and discover his most powerful tool, knowledge in order to be happy. Similarly, in the novel Uglies by Scott Westerfeld a society where beauty is placed above all, individuality and subsequently happiness is crushed. The main character Tally, must overcome her preconceived idea of beauty and unleash her greatest tool, knowledge to gain her happiness.

A paradox is used, with contrast for the words "insignificance" and "pray to Jesus", as Sandy feels meaningless yet is compelled for relief through a prayer. This is symbolic of Sandy's isolation, wanting comfort and understanding from a stagnant town. Thus, amplifying the town's static culture as Sandy struggles to assert her own identity. Moreover, this is asserted with Sandy's thoughts, "The very imagining of [infinity] was beautiful and frightening at once. " Juxtaposition is implemented between "beautiful" and "frightening", metaphorically alluding to the individualistic confinements of small town culture.

They find it difficult to fit in with the new environment. This is in correlation when ‘Tom moves from hometown to Coghill and finding it hard to cope’. Primitively, the young couple entrenches a negative attitude towards the village, evident in “When they first moved in, the young couple were ‘wary’ of the neighbourhood," which uncover their cautiousness towards the place and people and also showing that they are judgemental. Their negative attitude is fortified in the simile, “It made the newly-weds feel like sojourners in a foreign land”, the word ‘foreign’ has a derogatory nature because the couple feel like outsiders which coincidentally/fortuitously expose the couples fear of the neighbourhood, thus creating a physical barrier between them. As they live together longer, they experience the kind side of human nature, the neighbours helped fix the couple’s broken chicken pen and generously offered them free vegetables. Eventually, the couples “no longer walked with their eyes lowered. They felt superior and proud”—depict a sense of liberation as the couple no longer need to live with wariness, the emotive language ‘superior and proud’ delineate their reshaped positive attitude toward the

The city, Toronto in this case, presents a web of streets and geographical space that threatens to lock its citizens in a certain demarcated way of life and conduct. The four key characters in this narrative - Tuyen, Carla, Jackie, and Oku - each feel blocked in by the constrained locality that they have been born into and each attempts to escape it in his own way.: Tuyen by being an artist, Carla by being a courier; Oku by being a student and Jackie by working in a store. The first two not only attempt to escape by means of their profession using their profession to either flee the spaces and squares (by bike) or transcend it via imagination (by art) but they also adopt profession that go against societal expectations. These societal expectations were created by, and exist within the geographical space they live in. Toronto of the late 20th century had an internalized set of expectations for immigrants and its citizens. The parents of the characters succumbed to it. The protagonists, however, resolved to step out of their boundaries and most of them succeeded.

Also, ‘the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows’, this represents that the little hope in the bunk house only helps to further illuminate the darkness and harshness of society. In a setting, such as the ranch, where dreams are suppressed and suffocated, they take on a greater importance and significance to the mens lives, they rely on the dreams to get by.

Hemingway uses many instances of symbolism in this short story to coincide with the themes and feelings of the characters, such as the description of the scenery surrounding the train station. On one side of the station there is vegetation and fields of grain, while the other side is dry and barren (Short Stories for Students 159). The fact that the station divides these contrasts of environments is a symbol for the couple’s decision. The choice to have the abortion symbolizes sterility, which coincides with

and that he believes them. The poem also translates into how living in the city is toilsome and that the city is unrelenting. On the other hand it shows how the city can be prosperous and happy with the city’s disadvantages. in the second half of the poem it’s telling how nomatter what is wrong with the city, the people are still proud of who they are.

The atmosphere of this exposition is clearly foreboding: "the dark clouds, broken chimneys, unused street, solitary cat, and dead air" all prove ominous and reflect the sordid ruling mood. Failed culture and solitary of aimless women ("a cat moved itself in and out of railing") not knowing exactly what to do about their predicaments in which

Into this atmosphere of spiritual paralysis the boy bears, with blind hopes and romantic dreams, his encounter with first love. In the face of ugly, drab reality-"amid the curses of laborers," "jostled by drunken men and bargaining women"-he carries his aunt's parcels as she shops in the market place, imagining that he bears, not parcels, but a "chalice through a throng of foes." The "noises converged in a single sensation of life" and in a blending of Romantic and Christian symbols he transforms in his mind a perfectly ordinary girl into an enchanted princess: untouchable, promising, saintly. Setting in this scene depicts the harsh, dirty reality of life which the boy blindly ignores. The contrast between the real and the boy's dreams is ironically drawn and clearly foreshadows the boy's inability to keep the dream, to remain blind.

The woman and man caught in their passionate embrace are set above the wartime images. It seems that symbolically the man and woman are above the war, that their love transcends the tragedy and the tumult that surrounds them, if only because they are fighting their own romantic war. Below them is a burning city. The couple on the carriage fleeing the city looks to be the same couple that is staring into each other’s eyes. This further suggests that they were apart of the events in the war, but were still caught in the throws of their own love life. The girl that rushes from her

I appreciate that you mention how exit style can also be used constructively. From what I've read, voice style seems to be the preferred method of handling intimate conflict, or wanting to handle it, which is understandable as most conflicts can be resolved when we are open and willing to talk to one another. After reading yours and Kate's post I can also see the benefits of using other conflict styles depending on the situation, such as using exit if an emotional break is necessary, like you mention.

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.

Moreover, the speaker uses words that describe distance such as “far”(11) and “further”(3) that in this poem, perhaps referring to his relationships to the society. Even the first impression of the poem, the comical tone, now signifies the lightness meaninglessness of these connections without sincerity. This contrast between the two tones indicates how the speaker feels as if he is separated both physically and mentally from his surroundings like the society, his friends or even his family.

“No Regerts”. I’m sure most of you have seen pictures online of people proudly posing with their tattoos that read “No regerts”. And of course that’s kind of redundant because now they have a tattoo that they surely regret the spelling of. Regret. Something almost everyone has to live with on a daily basis. But what is regret? Regret is defined as “a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done.” Not having any regrets is something a lot of people pride themselves on. But is regret really that bad? You probably think I’m crazy for saying that, but the fact is, not being able to feel regret is a characteristic of a sociopath. So unless you want to be committed to a psych ward, you have to learn to live with the regret you have. The fear of regretting the decisions you make is so intense