Skunk Hour Essay

Tom Walker sat at his bedside feeling rather melancholy for he had not much to do but be chided at by his notorious witch of a wife. They both lived in their humble abode of an apartment in the middle of a city but they had a sublime view that overlooked the scenery of the domicile's dumpsters. They lived poorly, just barely getting by to afford a couple gallons of gas. Tom grew a hatred for almost everyone around and had only a handful of “friends”, he believed that money was the most valuable and important thing in his life.

| Steven Herrick’s free verse novel explores this value of events that shape a persons identity and hence their sense of belonging in their world.  The cause of his alienation appears to be physical and psychological abuse from his father, lack of caring from his school and his run down neglected neighbourhood with its “deadbeat no hoper… downtrodden house in Longlands Rd, Nowheresville”.

In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, the setting is in Starkfield, Massachusetts, a small, stale, freezing town with people tending to gossip about everyone. Ethan has been faced with many difficulties; the death of his parents, his “sickly” wife Zenobia, and the arrival of Mattie Silver. The author uses Ethan’s personal and societal past events to show how one’s feeling of isolation can cause one to seek comfort in another being.

Essay Outline Alone: Being Disconnected Solitary confinement, isolation(Appositive), which disconnects a person from relationships with others has recently being condemned as inhumane in the treatment of criminals within the prison system. Such solitary confinement leads to disruptive thinking, an inability to have a clear flow of thoughts resulting in irreversible psychological effects in as little as fifteen days. This kind of isolation amounts to psychological torture and can lead to suicide as life loses all meaning. This essay will explore the idea of extreme loneliness and isolation in three pieces of writing, Night by Elie Wiesel, I Am Legend by Robert Matheson, and The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty. These authors explore the idea of

In the novel “ Break of Day” by Tony Palmer he depicts the themes of family, bravery and death. The story is about Murray, a boy who lived during the war time and his story that follows the themes of family, death and bravery. First talking about family, in addition talking about death and finally talking about bravery.

Anyone can relate to the feeling of being lonely at one point in their life. In result, when someone feels lonely it’s probably because they are not around friends or family, and just want to be able to have conversation. It also could mean someone wants to stray themselves away from the crowd because they want to be alone, that being said, everyone needs those silent moments to have for themselves. However, whichever situation it may be people still feel that “loneliness” every once in a while, and that’s what this poem is relaying.

Midnight Madness has secured $250,000 from the grant provided by the city, in addition to that we have secured an additional $209,556 from the Governors Crime Commission Grant. The Governor's Crime Commission Grant has a similar goal in decreasing state violence and has a vested interest in the success of this program.

In the reading “On a Typical Day,” it provides statistics on typical day for the U.S Customs and Border Protection officers. The reading states many statistics that come to a surprise to me. One, for example, would be that CBP seize about 7,910 pounds of drugs each day. In which means in a year over 2,887,150 pounds of drugs are seized from individuals attempting to smuggle over the border. I found this very shocking because I guess I never realized how many individuals do try to cross the border while attempting to smuggle in drugs. Another statistic that surprised me is that CBP intercepted 20 fraudulent documents, which means in a year 7,300 fraudulent documents are intercepted. I’m really surprised that the number is only 20 a day because

The Story of an Hour represents a single hour in Mrs. Louise Mallard’s life, in which a woman who has a weak heart due to emotional distress, experiences the momentary joy of freedom after hearing that her husband Brently Mallard had been killed in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard’s initial reaction, upon hearing of her husband’s death, is not far from what readers expected; she is deeply grief stricken, crying uncontrollably and wants to be left alone. However, during the hour she spent alone in her room, her state of mind changes dramatically. Sitting in the armchair motionless, she sees the blossoming

Loneliness is usually a common and unharmful feeling, however, when a child is isolated his whole life, loneliness can have a much more morbid effect. This theme, prevalent throughout Ron Rash’s short story, The Ascent, is demonstrated through Jared, a young boy who is neglected by his parents. In the story, Jared escapes his miserable home life to a plane wreck he discovers while roaming the wilderness. Through the use of detached imagery and the emotional characterization of Jared as self-isolating, Rash argues that escaping too far from reality can be very harmful to the stability of one’s emotional being.

Once joyful and passionate, Tom becomes a mere shadow of who he once was, completely shutting down with only his conscience to keep him company. Steinbeck describes him as “high and prim” (409) after Dessie’s funeral, demonstrating the extent to which he has removed himself from the world of the living. One would expect him to be hysterical after accidentally killing his sister, but his grief takes the form of dangerous dissociation and he is left unable to cope with the consequences of his well-intentioned actions. It is this dissociation that marks Tom’s transition from lively to brooding, his mental state deteriorating as he spends a short yet torturous time alone in his family’s ranch home. The suicide itself is scarcely described, leaving the reader only with the idea that Tom was a “gallant gentleman” (410). Steinbeck’s tacit explanation carries with it some irony, as most would consider running away from one’s problems neither gallant nor gentlemanly. Tom is so absorbed in his shortcomings that he sees fit to end his life as a means to end his suffering without regard to how suicide will affect his family and

Amy Lowell is an American imagist poet who uses descriptive language to create specific images in a readers mind. Set in the Victorian era (1800’s,) the dramatic monologue ‘Patterns’ explores the restrictions of unmarried women in society and the desire for freedom. My view of these issues is that of a feminist reader living in a democratic modern day society, where men and women live in a state of equality and have the right to express their opinions. A feminist reading focuses on the specific treatment of women. Through Lowell’s wondrous use of the poetic techniques, primarily visual imagery (symbolism, repetition, contrasts) and poetic voice (persona and tone,) a modern day feminist reader’s negative views of the restricted lifestyles

I engulf the feeble victim in seemingly unescapable loneliness, overtaking the joys of their heart and ensnaring them in a pit of desolate solitude. The sense of bleakness will overcome the senses and suck out all the bliss they hold close. Because it appears most of humanity rely on one another for comfort and joy, the unavoidable reality of being unaccompanied is enough to drive a man mad. I describe the sense of separation that strikes a soul, sucking out every ounce of remembrance and comfort the past attempts to bring. Yesterday will never return, just as tomorrow always comes; it’s inevitable. Once I reach you, it’s a struggle to get rid of this parasite that I am, called isolation. There comes a point where the victim will decide

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.

Here, the speaker admits his actions are wrong. Later in this paper, the fact that the speaker in Skunk Hour is lonely will become an important contrast to the character in The Armadillo.