Download Chapter 7: Images

Chapter 7: Images
Haruki Murakami, “UFO in Kushiro”
1. Komura’s wife writes that living with him is like living with “a chunk of air.”
What literary device is used here? What senses does Murakami appeal to? What is
the significance of this image?
2. The earthquake and its associated images appear at several points in the story.
Locate at least two moments when Komura thinks about the earthquakes. What
images are used to describe the earthquake? How do these images relate to the
story’s themes?
3. What do we know about the box that Komura brings Keiko? What does it look
like? What is the broader significance of Shimao’s joke that the box contained the
“something” inside of Komura?
Jonathan Safran Foer, “The Very Rigid Search”
1. What images does the author use to describe Lvov? What American city does the
narrator compare Lvov to?
2. Why does the narrator describe Jonathan Foer as the “hero?” Is Foer a hero in the
traditional sense? If not, how is Foer a hero?
3. How does the narrator describe Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr.? What is her significance?
William Blake, “London” and William Wordsworth “London, 1802”
Compare and contrast the two different images of London presented in these
poems. How does each poet describe London? What different senses do they
appeal to? Does each poet use simile or metaphor? How are they similar? How
are they different?
William Wordsworth, [I wandered lonely as a cloud], Emily Dickinson [There’s a
certain Slant of light], Robert Frost “Birches,” and e.e. cummings “in Just”
Consider how each of these poets draws on imagery from the natural world to
communicate broader messages about the human condition. Wordsworth views
himself as a cloud, Dickinson uses a “slant of light” to describe enlightenment,
Frost considers the importance of balancing work and play, and cummings
comments on the hopefulness of spring. In what ways do these poems all address
the anthology’s theme of “Home and Away”?
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro,” Maya Angelou, “Harlem Hopscotch,”
Mary Oliver, “Ghosts” and Derek Walcott, “Dry Season”
Find places in each of these poems when the speaker invokes the sense of touch to
communicate a broader idea. Consult line 2 of Pound, Angelou’s description of
feet, Oliver’s description of the golden eagle and the rain, and Walcott’s
description of skin. What techniques do the poets use (simile, metaphor, for
example)?
Susan Glaspell, “Trifles”
1. What are some of the “trifles” that the women notice as they discuss Mrs.
Wright’s guilt or innocence?
2. What is the significance of the quilt?
3. How do the women interpret the dead canary?