Virgin Suicides pg 123

"They could sense Mrs. Lisborn watching them, and even though they were close enough to feel the Lisborn girls' breath and to smell the first perfume they had ever been allowed to wear, the boys tries not to stick the girls or even to touch them. They gently lifted the material from the girls' chests and hung white Flowers over their hearts. Whichever Lisborn girl a boy pinned became his date. When they finished, they said good night to Mrs. Lisborn and led the girls outside to the Cadillac, holding the empty corsage over the girls heads to protect their hair from the drizzle."


The author uses the appeal of the senses to the reader. Everyone knows that someone shouldn't be able to feel someone watching them, we all know too well that familiar feeling. It gives the reader something to connect with. The diction used when describing the girls is very soft and sweet. Everyone wants to take care of them, they are still being treated as angelic in a way. After everything they have already been through this just adds to their treatment. An example of this is the last sentence when the boys hold the containers to protect their hair. They don't want anything to ever ruin them. Another thing that the author used is the symbols that he has created. The guys gently move the material from the girls chests to put on the white flowers. White represents life and hope and the heart is located at the chest. Also white flowers are normally used at funerals to show hope the ones that have just left us. This could be a foreshadow as to that the girls hearts will stop working and they will have those types of flowers all around them. In short; they will die. The author also does a great job with characterizing the girls. Since the boys don't really know what girl they want to choose, the reader can infer that they all act quite similar to each other. Besides Lux, they all seem to act the same. They are the only ones that truly understand each other and that characterizes them as quiet and also a little weird. This is why no one understands why they killed themselves except for themselves.

Virgin Suicides pg 61

" As he did, however, the ghost turned, and he saw that it was only Bonnie, wrapped in a bedsheet. "Dont worry," she said, quietly. "They took the fence out."

I feel that the way he described her and the way he thought of her as a ghost was foreshadowing what she will become. I think it showed that she will kill herself and become a ghost just like Cecilia did. I also think it characterizes Bonnie because she is described as being wrapped in a bedsheet. When I heard that I thought of a kid dressed up for halloween in a white sheet. I think that shows how immature they all are because they dont seem to be morning over this death at all, or they are all doing it in a weird way. Overall I think that these lines have a very strong meaning behind them because they show the foreshadowing that Bonnie will eventually kill herslef, maybe not in the same fashion as Cecilia, but she will die and become a ghost.

Virgin suicides pg 39

"Only the family filed past the coffin. First the girls walked past, each dazed and expressionless, and, later, people said we should have known by their faces. It was like they were giving her a wink." pg 39

The author uses alliteration in the first sentence to connect the family to the coffin. He could have used the word but instead he used file to connect them to a different type of movement past the coffin. The diction in this sounds very insightful and he seems to know everything about them. It gives you a better understanding of what is happening and you actually feel like you were there. It is very bluntly foreshadowing that the other girls will die within the corse of this story.

Thw virgin suicides

"Tt was thrilling to know that the lisborn girls knew our names, that their delicate vocal cords had pronounced their syllables, and that they meant something in their lives." pg 24

This quote uses soft diction to describe these girls. It creates a tone of almost they are untouchable. You can imagine them as almost angels of some sort with the soft diction or even royalty that these boys are so lucky to meet them. In the book this quote helps to characterize these girls as outsiders. Nobody really knew them except for their family. They were untouchable because no one knew them. They were angels that can only be seen but never touched or talked to. It also creates irony because why would an angel want to kill itself?

Dracula Pg 185

"And you are right. There will be pain for us all;but it will not be all pain, not will this pain be the last. We and you too- you most of all, my dear boy-will have to pass through the bitter water before we reach the sweet. But we must be brave of heart and unselfish, and do our duty, and all will be well!"

In this the author uses contradiction going back and forth between how much pain this will cause. It confuses the reader into not know what to truly think about the situation. Also he uses repetition of the word pain to emphasize how all these men are feeling about what they have just done (killing Lucy's undead body.) The syntax of this paragraph breaks everything up. It makes you stop in awkward places so that you can analyze and understand what he is truly trying to tell you. Also he uses a metaphor. water can't be bitter, but he is using it to say that you have to go through the bad times before you can get to the good times. Also using this diction such as bitter and sweet gives two opposites which can represent good and evil; what they are up against.

Dracula pg 87

"The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that it was with difficulty that even strong men kept their feet, or clung with grim clasp to the iron stanchions."


"The wind roared like thunder" is a simile. This also reflects that spooky and dark mood of the story. It helps to create that effect and also relate it to a sound that we can relate to. Also the wind is a symbol for what is to come almost like Nature is in Frankenstein. It foreshadows what happens next. As the wind is getting rougher in this scene you can tell that the next few scenes will not be the happiest. Things will begin to go wrong as the wind gets rougher. Also the imagery used to show how rough the wind was. You can see the men holding on for dear life to understand the conditions that they were in. This also helps to add to the hopeless mood of the story.




I didnt know if there was a blog this vacation....and if there was I totally forgot about it so I'm making it up even if it doesnt count I still wanted to do it. :)

dreacula pg 46

"It had been so forcibly driven against the jamb that part of the woodwork was splintered. I could see that the bolt of the lock had not been shot, but the door is fastened from the inside. I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise." pg 46

The author uses imagery to convey that dark mood. Using diction like forcibly driven helps to create the image of rough harsh movements to lock the door. He wants him to stay in there, or to keep others out. Using this diction helps to create that tone of fear that the narrator is feeling. By reading this you can understand the terror that he is feeling; being trapped and no way out. The syntax also helps to convey this because it is long run on sentences. This helps for the reader to understand that he is thinking nonstop in his head. He just keeps on thinking of more things to add into the sentence. When this happens it gives that sense of fear that the narrator is experiencing.

Dracula pg 41

"To the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged mountain fastness, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in the cracks and crevices and crannies of the stone."

First the author uses alliteration by using the harsh sound of the c in "cracks and crevices and crannies..." This use of alliteration using the c sound helps to create that spooky, kind of scary atmosphere. Next the author uses imagery. He is describing everything that he is able to see outside, and by using vivid diction to display this, you can get a great image of that Jonathan Harker is looking at through his window. Everything looks so free to him, and there is so much room for him to go explore, compared to being trapped in a small room alone. The syntactical order that the author has placed everything in, using many commas and just making the sentence run on and on reflects the way the character is feeling. He just keeps on seeing all these things outside of his window that he wants, and he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to escape.

Dracula pg 37

"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things other than buissness in your letters. It will doubtless please your friends to know that you are well, and that you look foward to getting home to them. Is it not so?" As he spoke he handed me three sheets of note-paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinest foreign post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red under-lip, I understood as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for he would be able to read it."


The author uses imadry to set the dark mood of this passage. He makes sure to perfectly descrive the cainine teeth so that you can see count Dracula smiling at you with them. And the use of the vivid diction helps to enhance the imadry. "Red under-lip" is used to enhance the image of blood by using red to describe it instead of pink. This passage also helps the dark mysterious mood keep going because the author keeps coming to conclusions about Count Dracula. The more he realizes, the scarier it becomes. The diction is very vivid and harsh using alot of harsh sounding letters like p's and t's. This helps to create that harsh and scary tone.

Dracula pg 31

"but I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit.
The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!"

The author's tone of this piece is very frantic. He is in a state of panick by what he has just discovered. The author uses the repition of doors to create the image of having all these ways out, yet none of them will let you. It gives you that feeling of hope but there is no way out. Also by using the semi colon it connects the previous part of the sentence to it. He has explored as much as there is, and all there seems to be are doors that are locked. There is no way out of this castle. When he says that the castle is a veritable prison, he is shocked. He would have never guessed that he would be locked in there. He is more shocked that he let himself get into this position. The way the author uses the grammer helps to convey the feeling of panick that the character is in. The punctuation gives real meaning to what he is saying and gives the feeling to the reader.

Dracula pg 23

" I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt;I fear;I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me!"


This quote is about describing how he feels being in Dracula's house. First the author uses a metaphor by saying that he is in a sea of wonder. He really is not in a sea but with everything he is seeing and feeling, he is overwhelmed with feelings. Next the author uses parallelism with "I doubt; I fear. " This connects the two feelings together. You can tell by the diction that the author uses that Jonathan Harker is scared for his life because everything he has seen so far is unlike anything he is used to. The tone of this is very spooky. It is like you are in a scary movie or a haunted house. It gives this because you can tell the fear that he has for his life.


I would also like to say that I am alittle late on this. My computer spazed out on me last night and it wouldnt send it when I had it all typed in.

On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning

"Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beauitful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened." ( page 70)

The first thing I noticed was that it started off with the "Once Upon A Time." This is a tactic used by an author to set a happy fairytale tone to the story. I also felt that since this was set up to be like a fairytale, the author used very simple syntax and diction. Everything was so simple, because many times fairytales are meant for children, so the tone and set up was set up for a child to read the story. He did describe many things, but repeated the same adjectives over and over. This repetition was trying to get the point across that they were ordinary people who were lonely. Later on we find out that they stay lonely. It also uses repetition by repeating the 100% perfect. The author is trying to point out that this is the perfect match. It corresponds with the miracle part because these types of things only happen once in a life time. The last thing that he used was parallelism. When talking about the boy and girl, the author uses the same adjectives in the same order to describe them. This shows us that they are identical to each other, once more enhancing the fact that they are 100% right for each other.

The Kangaroo Communique

Once again. I see I'm talking about myself too much. But all things considered, its unavoidable. I mean, I don't even know one solitary thing about you. I've got your address and your name, and that's it. Your age, income bracket, the shape of your nose, whether you're slender or overweight, married or not-what do I know? Not that any of that really matters. It's almost better this way. If at all possible, I prefer to keep things simple, very simple-on the metaphysical level, if you will.


I thought that this post was very interesting. It is talking in the first person, yet the author is bringing the reader into the story. This could also be considered second person. He is talking directly to us, to bring us into the story and get the reader more interested in what is happening. I also found the syntax to be very short and to the point sentences like you were doing this or this. He likes to keep things simple ironic, since everything that he is writing is very confusing, and unconventional. The author used paralleism. It was either one thing or another in the sentences.

The Kangaroo Communigue

" Maybe that strikes you as odd. You ask yourself why should looking at kangaroos make me want to send you a letter? And just what is the connection between these kangaroos and me? Well, you can stop thinking those thoughts right now. Makes no nevermind. Kangaroos are kangaroos, you are you."I found this passage extremely confusing. The diction is very simple, yet it doesnt make sense. "Makes no nevermind. Kangaroos are kangaroos, you are you." This makes no sense, yet the diction itself is very simple. I also found the tone of this to be very mysetrious. He keep on asking you questions, to make you think. The author wanted you to get involved in the text, so that you could read through it. I feel that by asking questions, the author was able to get the reader involved in the text. I dont really know what he wanted us to get out of the kangaroos, but it got me interested in the text. This one paragraph sets you up for what you will soon find out in the coming story.

The second bakery attack 2

Along now, I leaned over the edge of my boat and looked down to the bottom of the sea. The volcano was gone. The waters calm surface reflected the blue of the sky. Little waves-like silk pajamas fluttering in a breeze-lapped against the side of the boat.
I stretched out in the bottom of the boat and closed my eyes, waiting for the rising tide to carry me where I belonged.


I think that this represents the narrators feelings. This story that he was telling was actually trying to tell him that he needed to get rid of the curse. The volcano symbolized this curse or story that had been building up in him and he needed to get it out. Once he got it out and "tried to undo it" it went away and everything finally fell into place. It was like he was able to finally live the life he always wanted to. I took the last line as though he was saying he is going to wait for whatever comes his way, and it will just bring him to where he is really supposed to belong. He isn't going to worry anymore because things seem to just work out. It seems that everything will be better for them though with how happy it ended with the blue skies and calm, soft waves.

The Second Bakery Attack

"While she hunted for more fragments of food, I leaned over the edge of my boat and looked down at the peak underwater volcano. The clarity of the ocean water all around the boat gave me an unsettled feeling, as if a hollow had opened somewhere behind my solar plexus-a hermetically sealed cavern that had neither entrance nor exit. Something about this weird sense of absence-this sense of the existential reality of nonexistence-resembled the paralyzing fear you might feel when you climb to the very top of a high steeple. This connection between hunger and acrophobia was a new discovery for me." (Page 39)

First of all I had to look up acrophobia which is a pathological fear of heights. Next I realized that the author was using an allusion to relate his message to you. Overall he is trying to get you to realize how hungry he is, but he is using it by telling a story. He relates it to being sea sick, because when you are over-hungry you feel sick to your stomach. This diction is also in a childish way. The author is telling a story to get his point across, and many times that is what children do when they are trying to tell something. The narrator and his wife don't work, and are struggling for food, and they are both acting like children. They feel that they shouldn't have to work, they should just get whatever they want. This view is often taken by children with how they want everything.

The narrator looks into the ocean and sees a volcano. This symbolizes his life, because he says that there is neither an entrance nor an exit. In his life, there is no way for people to get in or out, and they are just stuck. He can't seem to fix his life, even if he wanted to because he is set in his ways. He feels as if he is too far away from ever fixing it. That relates to the acrophobia, because he is too high, or too far away from fixing things.

The Wind up Bird and Tuesday's women part 2

" Once a day the wind-up bird has to come and wind the springs of this world. Alone in this fun house, only I grow old, a pale softball of death swelling inside me. yet even as I sleep somewhere between Saturn and Uranus, wind-up birds everywhere are busy at work fulfilling their appointed rounds."

I believe that this one paragraph sums up the man's life. Throughout the story, this "wind-up bird" has been coming in and out right on its schedule because it is a kuku clock. The author using this as a symbol for human life. People go about their life like they can't do anything else but their job. They continue on the path that they have always had and don't like to change it. People are just waiting for the day they die. Many people go through life alone and have nothing better to do with their life. I also feel that this was showing the characters real feelings into his own life. The whole time he talked about how he doesn't have this job because he quit and how he is fine with that, but the sentence about alone in this fun house and growing old alone all represent how he truly feels. He feels as though he is all alone in this house to go roam and there is nothing better that he could do with his life. The diction in this paragraph is much different then in the rest of the story. It is full of metaphors that represent how he truly feels. The rest of the diction is normally just short to the point sentences, but this is intended to have a meaning behind it. The tone of this paragraph is very dark and heavy with a lot of emotion in it, compared to the rest of the story which is all very light and care free. He doesn't really care what he does, but in this paragraph it is as if he is reflecting on his own life and coming to a realization about it. He also feels like he doesn't belong. We can tell this by his comparison with Saturn and Uranus. He is making a comparison to space because that can also be compared to aliens. In the end, he is alone and has nothing really to live for. He will do the same old thing everyday, and everyone he cares about is upset with him. His life is going no where just like the wind-up birds.

The wind-up bird and tuesday's women

I'm in the kitchen cooking spaghetti when the woman calls. Another moment until the spaghetti is done; there I am, whistling the prelude to Rossini's La Gazza Ladra along with the FM radio. Perfect spaghetti-cooking music.
I hear the telephone ring but tell myself, Ignore it. Let the spaghetti finish cooking. It's almost done, and besides, Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra are coming to a crescendo. Still, on second thought, I figure I might as well turn down the flame and head into the living room, cooking chopsticks in hand, to pick up the receiver. It might be a friend, it occurs to me, possibly with word of a new job.

This section of the book The elephant vanishes by Haruki Murakami, is part of a short story. It is the opening section of "The wind-up bird and Tuesday's women." The author starts off with describing his surroundings in the kitchen. This diction brings you into the story. It makes you feel like you are cooking spaghetti right along with him. The author also adds a lot of mystery to the story. We are only in the first two paragraphs and you could have 20 questions. He keeps on adding stories along, to keep you interested in whats happening. In the second paragraph it gives you the question of who is calling him. You can also tell that he has no job at the moment.

I think this passage is important because it is the start off of the book. It leads you into so many mysteries, that you want to continue to read to see what happens though them. The author uses this as a way to get you interested in the story line.