Explain why Tayo blames himself for the six year drought:
The Reason Tayo blames himself for the drought is because he believes that "he had prayed the rain away". "The corporal fell, jerking the ends of the blanket from his hands, and he felt Rocky's foot brush past his own leg. He slid to his knees, trying to find the ends of the blanket again, and he started repeating 'Goddamn, goddamn!'; [...] He damned the rain until the words were a chant, and he sang it while he crawled through the mud [...] He wanted the words to make a cloudless blue sky, pale with a summer sun pressing across wide and empty horizons. [...] and all the time he could hear his own voice praying against the rain". That is the quote, which is rather long, from the book that explains why Tayo fell to his knees to pray to rain away. The bad experience in the jungle drove him into the hatred for that rain. Another quote from the book that can further explain Tayo's hatered for the rain is when it says: "Tayo hated this unending rain as if it were the jungle green rain and not the miles of marching or the Japanese grenade that was killing Rocky. He would blame the rain". With that bad memory, it's no wonder why he wanted the rain to stop.
Carefully re-read the pages that involve the old medicine man, Ku’oosh, p. 31-34. Explain the significance of how Ku’oosh speaks, chooses words, and of his point about the fragility of the world:
There is a great significance in the way that Ku'oosh speaks and chooses words in this passage. It says in the reading that "He spoke softly, using the old dialect full of sentences that were involuted with explanations of their own orgins, as if nothing the old man said were his own but all had been said before and he was only there to repeat it". Ku'oosh also makes a point about the fragility of the world. There is a great deal of significance in the way that Ku'oosh explains this point because it says that he had to explain every word that he used, or as it says in the book: "It took a long time to explain the fragility and intricacy because no word exists alone, and the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a story about why it must be said that certain way".
I really enjoyed your descriptions of the medicine man. You have good examples of the way that he spoke, as well as the length it took him to explain each word. Way to be very specific!
ReplyDeleteI really like your explanations of both questions. I think that you might have used too many quotes in the first instead of explaining more about it but the quotes were a good way to understand why he blamed himself.
ReplyDeleteYou find great evidence from the text to answer both questions, but you don't explain the significance enough. A more in depth analysis would have complimented your great evidence from the text.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your responses. . . but, and I hate to make your list of comments redundant, a little more of your own words would have strengthened this blog entry. You have great textual evidence, you just need to provide a little more personal input.
ReplyDeleteBoth explanations to both questions are very good. Though, I do feel you over-use the examples from the text. Good job, though, overall.
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