Heart of Darkness 3

Unlike Achebe's argument, Conrad's Heart of Darkness is not a "thoroughgoing racist" piece, as shown through the ambiguous nature of the descriptions Conrad uses.  Achebe first argues that the piece is racist by claiming that Africa is an antithesis of civilized Europe, Conrad is implying that Africans are savages.  However, Conrad also refers to Africa as an undiscovered Europe.  If viewed as an earlier version of Europe as opposed to a contrasting point of European culture, Conrad is simply implying that Africa will soon become developed like his homeland and that Europe had only been developed by the mere chance of someone landing on European soil instead of African soil.  Achebe also argues that Conrad's referring to African people as "a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling" is blatantly racist since the people are being identified as parts of their body and no more (Achebe 3).  However, one could argue that these are features that emphasize the humanity in the African people by pinpointing the similarities that they share with Europeans by referring to their various body parts.  Lastly, one could argue that Conrad's continuously referring to "the white of their eyeballs" is explicitly showing the contrast between black and white as seen on the faces of African people (Achebe 4).  However, by showing that black people essentially have the same starkly white eyes as white people, Conrad is emphasizing the similarities between the two groups, especially with eyes, which are known as the windows to the soul.  Most of Conrad's seemingly racist statements could truly be his subtle way of emphasizing the humanity of the African people.

AP Poetry Practice Essay

In both Piano and The Days Gone By, the authors create a warm and nostalgic feeling towards their childhoods through the imagery and tone of the poems.
By discussing warm moments in time, from both the present and the past, the author of Piano portrays the security and happy innocence of his childhood.  Before discussing his own childhood, the poet describes a present day scene of lighthearted joy that reminds him of the past.  He describes "a child sitting under the piano... and pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings" (Piano 3-4)  The child being underneath the piano, as opposed to sitting next to his mother, creates a sense of innocence as the child is almost unaware of his surroundings and the beauty of being able to see the inner workings of the instrument or his mother's graceful fingers.  In addition, his mother is smiling while she sings, which shows the happiness that surrounds being a child.  In addition to the clear happiness in smiling, music itself provides an overwhelming sense of feeling, usually positive, and the ability to lose oneself in emotion, similar to the previously mentioned innocence.  This visual brings the poet back to his childhood, as he wishes he could go back in time to those amazing moments.  He describes his own childhood memories as "hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide" (Piano 8).  Using the word "hymns" instead of "songs" provide a sense of comfort because hymns are often associated with religion.  By referring to the parlour as "cosy" instead of  "comfortable," there is a stronger association with love and family, similar to using "home" instead of  "house."  The author of Piano further expresses his emotion towards his childhood by saying that he "weep[s] like a child for the past" (Piano 12).  In addition to showing his love for his childhood, this statement portrays the freedom for children to openly express their emotions, which the author also desires.  Through both the descriptions of the past and present, the author of Piano expresses his nostalgia towards his childhood and the comfort and warmth it provided.
Similarly, the author of The Days Gone By expresses his admiration towards his childhood.  Several times, the poet uses the phrase "O the days gone by!" (The Days Gone By 1).  Had the author used the same statement without the initial interjection or the final punctuation mark, the statement would not have the same impact.  By including these two features, and repeating the exclamation multiple times, the author is able to portray the emotion and excitement he has about the days that have passed.  In addition, the author uses a rhyming pattern of couplets, which portrays a jovial, innocent, childlike tone to the poem, allowing the reader to understand the author's happiness about the subject.  In the first stanza, the poet focuses on imagery of beautiful aspects of nature in a meadow, portraying the beauty of childhood.  For example, he discusses that "the bloom was on the clover, and the blue was in the sky," which is an image filled with beauty and vibrancy (The Days Gone By 5).  In the second stanza, the poet focuses more on the innocence that childhood involves, using descriptive words such as "tangled" and "tripped" to describe aspects of nature, though not with a negative connotation, but to add to nature's beauty (The Days Gone By 8).  In the final stanza, similar to in Piano, the author uses the imagery of music to portray the beauty and happiness of his childhood.  He also reminisces over the belief in magic that he had as a child, stating that there was a "simple. soul-reposing, glad belief in everything," which reinforces how the innocence he had as a child made his childhood happy and beautiful (The Days Gone By 16).  He calls his childhood "a story, holding neither sob nor sigh," in that it was a simpler time where he was happier (The Days Gone By 17).
Overall, both authors use imagery to portray the beauty and innocence of their childhoods and how the past was a happier, more jovial time.

The Telephone by Maya Angelou

In The Telephone, Maya Angelou personifies a telephone to portray the loneliness that the lack of phone calls causes the speaker of the poem to feel.  The speaker of the poem refers to the telephone as "a strict and spinstered aunt."  That image in itself, often viewed as an old woman, sitting alone, surrounded by cats and an endless supply of knitting projects, evokes a feeling of loneliness and desperation.  Then, the speaker of the poem expresses how this spinster ignores her as the spinster is busy interfering in the lives of others: "busy with the hemming of strangers' overlong affairs of the darning of [her] neighbors' worn-out dreams."  Through this metaphor, one can infer that others are constantly on the telephone, building the foundation of their social lives.  But for the speaker of the poem, however, the telephone "sits silent," as she gets no telephone calls.  Unlike the other people around her, the speaker of the poem lacks the companions and social life to receive many calls from friends, lovers, and family, which she finds distressing.  The speaker of the poem ends the piece with "Ring.  Damn you!"  This statement, though incredibly simple, shows the disappointment and anger that the speaker feels from her lack of telephone calls.  Instead of ending the poem with a period, she uses an exclamation point, which shows how strongly she feels about the subject and how truly upset she is.

A Broken Appointment by Thomas Hardy

The speaker in the poem addresses the idea of love and how that concept relates to loyalty.  The speaker of the poem is forgotten by the woman that he loves.  She does not come to meet him like he thought she would.  He takes this as a sign that she does not truly love him, especially not how he thought she did: "You love not me."  He jumps to this conclusion because "love alone can lend you [the] loyalty" needed to fulfill a promise, such as meeting him.  Needless to say, the speaker is heartbroken.  He is especially confused since this decision of hers is not congruent with her past behaviors in which she "came to soothe a time-torn man."  He finishes this statement with the idea that she does not love him, which implies that this time-torn man is, in fact, himself.  The speaker is arguing that love is not the only thing that brings about the loyalty to have her meet him.  If that is the case, then why did she not come this time?  Maybe the woman once loved the speaker of the poem.  Maybe there were extenuating circumstances that caused the woman not to come.  The poet probably leaves the answer to this question unknown to show the uncertainty in human emotion.  We, as a society, never truly know other people's thoughts and motives.  Unless people express how they feel, we will never truly understand.  Human nature is incredibly ambiguous, especially regarding love.

35/10 by Sharon Olds

In this poem, Sharon Olds contemplates the ideas of getting older and approaching death.  It is when the speaker of the poem is brushing her daughter's hair that she herself notices her hair becoming gray with age.  Although she could view this as a positive aspect of her life, since with age comes wisdom and knowledge, the speaker takes this as a sign of her numbered days and mortality.  Instead of viewing aging as the growth and maturing of her mind and soul, she views it as a decay of her body, especially through comparison to her young daughter: "As my skin shows its dry pitting, she opens like a moist precise flower on the tip of a cactus."  The speaker describes her aging as dangerous and unmanageable, like a pit.  She describes her daughter's aging and maturing as beautiful and natural, like a flower.  Although, the flower is surrounded by the dangerous spikes of a cactus, possibly showing how this beautiful maturing will inevitably become something bad and dangerous: the decay of body and soul.  In the end, the speaker of the poem views aging in a selfish manner, claiming that growing old and eventually dying is simply a means of replacing mother with daughter, old with new.

God, A Poem by James Fenton

Through his lighthearted manner, James Fenton discusses the serious concept and belief in God, and all that He provides to the average person.  He initially blames God for commonplace, unpleasant events, such as "a drawing-pin caught in your sock."  After listing a few humorously unpleasant events, Fenton claims that these unpleasant events are "all that you'll get from th'Almighty," and that the afterlife is not any more pleasant than that.  He then goes on to claim that God does not care about major catastrophes, such as the Flood, nor is he responsible for amazing phenomenon, such as Salvation.  In this poem, God claims to be "a crude existential malpractice."  God then uses the same unpleasant events to describe the speaker, saying that he also will be no better in the afterlife or be seen better after he has died.  Fenton describes the common struggle we, as a society, have with religion and grappling with the idea of an existing higher power, in which the extent that God sees, is responsible for, and cares about is questionable.  In this way, this poem is very relatable to the common person.  Fenton expresses a belief that God is truly responsible for very little, yet can determine each individual's outcome.  This idea goes along with the belief of an unjust, unmerciful higher power.  In addition, Fenton also expresses the idea that God is not fully aware of every person on the planet, that we, as individuals, are truly insignificant.