Dave always seems to be defending himself and Toph. "We are not spoiled and lazy." The collective pronoun 'we' suggests that Dave feels he has to speak for Toph. Also the fact that he uses the word and instead of or implies that people have preconceived ideas about the two of them.
Then again things could change quickly." The tone is very chatty, it seems like Dave is just talking about life in general, since his parents died all he has known is change.
"I cannot in my wildest fantasies see myself making it past fifty or fifty five." Dave isn't very optimistic since his parents died, he always thinks he is going to follow after them. Also the fact that the tone is so casual suggests that he has been through so much that the idea of death no longer worries him.
Thursday, 4 February 2016
How women are presented in AHWOSG
How women are presented in AHWOSG
Women are frequently presented as weak. "She can't hold it tight enough". Dave uses the pronoun 'she' instead of naming his mother, this suggests that in this moment his mother is irrelevant and Dave's sole focus is on the nosebleed. The contraction 'can't' is quite dysphemistic, Dave feels the need to point out her physical inabilities, not only is she ill but she can't even hold her nose properly. "So now I relieve her", the conjunction 'now' draws attention to the statement and put seven more emphasis on the pronoun 'I'. This quote could be foreshadowing, right now Dave is relieving her of holding her nose but soon he will relieve her of her duties as a parent and take over by looking after Toph.
Dave shows he has quite a dated, sexist view of women. "I want Toph to be her friend and make her happy" There is emphasis on 'I' which suggests that Dave sees this as a selfless, kind gesture. It also shows he is egocentric. "I want" demonstrates Dave's need to feel in control as he hasn’t had any control over the rest of his life. Dave wants Toph to feel secure, superior even by making this girl happy. Dave is extremely judgmental of women throughout the book. "Like a horse's tail", "sad dark eyes". Dave dehumanizes these women and is very shallow towards them. He judges others to deflect others judging him "people know, they look".
Dave sees women as objects. Throughout the book he gives positive and negative changes 'women are either ugly or attractive', Dave doesn’t seek personality and often categorizes women under typical stereotypes. "I expected flirting" The declarative 'I expected' suggests that Dave is always expecting this of other people like he feels he is owed after what happened to his parents. The use of short sentence suggests that his expectations were short lived. Dave's grammar also displays his immaturity towards the subject of women, "I'm gonna ask her out", Dave doesn't use proper grammar instead he uses an abbreviation almost as if he can't be bothered to say the sentence properly, which shows just how much he feels for this woman. "I was looking to score", this is in the lexical field of sex which links to the earlier quote of Dave being "virile". "I honestly thought", the adverb 'honestly' shows Eggers is looking back and judging himself for being so naïve. "But by and large they're ugly", use of adjective 'ugly' suggests he is being defensive, making himself superior by setting himself apart from the other.
Dave's view on women has changed slightly since his parents' death. "We didn’t really want to sleep there anyway, the way it smelled, like my father". Dave, ambiguously, implies that him and Kirsten used to have sex on his parents bed, now however they choose to go to the bathroom. "No, this is good I said, undressing her", although Dave wanting to have sex with Kirsten in his parents' bathroom straight after his father's death is slightly odd, it seems that now it is more of a comfort, a way for Dave to turn his emotions towards something else. At the open house, although Dave still has some shallow views of women, he seems to look for mother qualities in the women, which indicates that he is looking for someone to fill the whole that his mother left when she died. The fact that Dave doesn't find anyone "I am disheartened by the lack of possibility" suggests that subconsciously he knows nobody could ever replace his mother.
Women are frequently presented as weak. "She can't hold it tight enough". Dave uses the pronoun 'she' instead of naming his mother, this suggests that in this moment his mother is irrelevant and Dave's sole focus is on the nosebleed. The contraction 'can't' is quite dysphemistic, Dave feels the need to point out her physical inabilities, not only is she ill but she can't even hold her nose properly. "So now I relieve her", the conjunction 'now' draws attention to the statement and put seven more emphasis on the pronoun 'I'. This quote could be foreshadowing, right now Dave is relieving her of holding her nose but soon he will relieve her of her duties as a parent and take over by looking after Toph.
Dave shows he has quite a dated, sexist view of women. "I want Toph to be her friend and make her happy" There is emphasis on 'I' which suggests that Dave sees this as a selfless, kind gesture. It also shows he is egocentric. "I want" demonstrates Dave's need to feel in control as he hasn’t had any control over the rest of his life. Dave wants Toph to feel secure, superior even by making this girl happy. Dave is extremely judgmental of women throughout the book. "Like a horse's tail", "sad dark eyes". Dave dehumanizes these women and is very shallow towards them. He judges others to deflect others judging him "people know, they look".
Dave sees women as objects. Throughout the book he gives positive and negative changes 'women are either ugly or attractive', Dave doesn’t seek personality and often categorizes women under typical stereotypes. "I expected flirting" The declarative 'I expected' suggests that Dave is always expecting this of other people like he feels he is owed after what happened to his parents. The use of short sentence suggests that his expectations were short lived. Dave's grammar also displays his immaturity towards the subject of women, "I'm gonna ask her out", Dave doesn't use proper grammar instead he uses an abbreviation almost as if he can't be bothered to say the sentence properly, which shows just how much he feels for this woman. "I was looking to score", this is in the lexical field of sex which links to the earlier quote of Dave being "virile". "I honestly thought", the adverb 'honestly' shows Eggers is looking back and judging himself for being so naïve. "But by and large they're ugly", use of adjective 'ugly' suggests he is being defensive, making himself superior by setting himself apart from the other.
Dave's view on women has changed slightly since his parents' death. "We didn’t really want to sleep there anyway, the way it smelled, like my father". Dave, ambiguously, implies that him and Kirsten used to have sex on his parents bed, now however they choose to go to the bathroom. "No, this is good I said, undressing her", although Dave wanting to have sex with Kirsten in his parents' bathroom straight after his father's death is slightly odd, it seems that now it is more of a comfort, a way for Dave to turn his emotions towards something else. At the open house, although Dave still has some shallow views of women, he seems to look for mother qualities in the women, which indicates that he is looking for someone to fill the whole that his mother left when she died. The fact that Dave doesn't find anyone "I am disheartened by the lack of possibility" suggests that subconsciously he knows nobody could ever replace his mother.
presentation of the theme of home in AHWOSG
Presentation of the theme of home
Dave uses pathetic fallacy, "the house is a factory", to show the negativity surrounding his house. 'Factory' creates an image of pollution and monotony. It is the complete opposite of homely. 'The house' gives a sense of detachment.
Dave's idea of 'home' has changed since his parents' death. The use of the diagram "fig. 1" suggests that Dave thinks home is just a schema, it has no deeper meaning to him anymore. Before his parents died, Dave used to describe memories he shared in the 'family room', now however in his diagram it is just labelled 'living room'. Also Dave used the hate the idea of people looking into his home, "People know", "I have plans for them", but now chooses to show us the layout of his new house and what goes on inside.
Since the death of his parents, Dave has constantly moved from place to place, home is not a consistent thing in Dave's life. Home, for Dave, is not a safe haven at all. "He will try bad things on Toph". The pronoun 'he' is very ambiguous, Dave could subconsciously be talking about anyone. The adjective 'bad' is a very dysphemistic term which could be Dave's way of making himself feel better by using a less unpleasant word, or it could have just been used by Eggers to show how naïve and innocent Dave really is. 'Things' is also very ambiguous which again shows how young and naïve Dave is.
Even after Dave's mother dies, she still has an effect on his home environment. When Dave's mother was ill she couldn’t get up to check if he had cleaned up, "I had not cleaned up" and now in Dave and Toph's new home, Dave does not worry about his house being messy because his mother is not there to pull him up about it. This could have been foreshadowing, the 'twisted brown doodles' being the first sign of the mess Dave's life was about to become.
Dave uses pathetic fallacy, "the house is a factory", to show the negativity surrounding his house. 'Factory' creates an image of pollution and monotony. It is the complete opposite of homely. 'The house' gives a sense of detachment.
Dave's idea of 'home' has changed since his parents' death. The use of the diagram "fig. 1" suggests that Dave thinks home is just a schema, it has no deeper meaning to him anymore. Before his parents died, Dave used to describe memories he shared in the 'family room', now however in his diagram it is just labelled 'living room'. Also Dave used the hate the idea of people looking into his home, "People know", "I have plans for them", but now chooses to show us the layout of his new house and what goes on inside.
Since the death of his parents, Dave has constantly moved from place to place, home is not a consistent thing in Dave's life. Home, for Dave, is not a safe haven at all. "He will try bad things on Toph". The pronoun 'he' is very ambiguous, Dave could subconsciously be talking about anyone. The adjective 'bad' is a very dysphemistic term which could be Dave's way of making himself feel better by using a less unpleasant word, or it could have just been used by Eggers to show how naïve and innocent Dave really is. 'Things' is also very ambiguous which again shows how young and naïve Dave is.
Even after Dave's mother dies, she still has an effect on his home environment. When Dave's mother was ill she couldn’t get up to check if he had cleaned up, "I had not cleaned up" and now in Dave and Toph's new home, Dave does not worry about his house being messy because his mother is not there to pull him up about it. This could have been foreshadowing, the 'twisted brown doodles' being the first sign of the mess Dave's life was about to become.
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