Hannah's English Blog

A word that I absolutely hate is "quench." Just hearing the word said out loud by other people, me saying it myself or just seeing the way its spelled makes me uncomfortable. I think the first time I ever even knew it was a word was reading it on a package of Big League Chew. The word itself doesn't even sound like it should mean what it actually means (to relieve your thirst). "Quench" seems like a word that would mean that you're thirsty and NEED water not that you DON'T need water anymore. My family knows that I hate this word and uses it whenever they can just because I don't like it, which is to be expected I guess. Not very many words annoy me but this one drives me insane.

When Dante writes about his trip into hell with Virgil, he talks about the gate and the sign that says to "abandon hope." He seems confused about this sign which surprises me. After learning about his past life, Dante was apparently a devout Catholic. The way he writes Inferno  is from the point of view of himself, but doesn't know much about religion and has to travel through hell and purgatory in order to reach the "top of the mountain," or heaven. It seems like Dante wrote this book so that he could educate or convince others to live their life to serve God. By describing the circles of hell and how tortured each sinner lives, Dante is in turn scaring others into belief. Even though he means to convert their faith, he does it in a way that seems unholy. Can people really believe in God truly if they are only doing it in fear of what will happen if they don't?

 A motif that I have noticed across all of the novels we have read so far ( A Thousand Splendid Suns, Annie John, Interpreter of Maladies ) is loss. Though shown in different ways, they all affect the characters in a personal way and change who they are as a person as well as how they view the world. Mariam becomes even more submissive and quiet after her mother kills herself, losing the only person who truly cared about her. Laila loses her whole family, but instead grows stronger from her experience. Annie John "loses" her mother similar to Mariam. After he mother becomes more strict on her as Annie grown up, Annie grows angry and short-tempered. She feels that she has no one to rely on in her world anymore. This seems to be self centered to me, as her mother still obviously loved her and cared about her, even if she is growing up. In Interpreter of maladies, every short story shows examples of loss. One example is in "A Temporary Matter" when their relationship f...

There are many times in Interpreter of Maladies where Lahiri vividly describes several different foods in different stories. They either have a positive or negative connotation depending on the characters in the story. In "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," Mr. Pirzada always brings Lilia candy. The candy is beautifully wrapped, and she keeps it in a box from her grandmother that she never uses. This candy represents hope, as Lilia eats one and prays that Pirzada's family is safe, and throws the rest away once he meets with them again. The vivid imagery Lilia describes the candy she receives demonstrates the type of symbol the candy is representing.  Depending on the the mood of the short story, the food will also be described in a similar tone. On the other hand, "Interpreter of Maladies" shows Mrs. Das buying puffed rice for herself without sharing any with her own children. Lahiri describes Mrs. Das with a negative tone, describing her disinterest with her famil...

In the novel "Annie John", a common motif of the nature of family is found throughout the novel, but represented in many different ways. In the beginning of the novel, Annie talks about her family in an adoring manner, most specifically her mother. She respects her father and feels as if she can always rely on him. She is fully supported by both of her parents and they feel great pride in her achievements in school. In turn, they show her their love by caring for her every need. Annie is inseperable from her mother, and most of the beginning of the book is told by Annie describing her mother and how beautiful she is. She looks up to her mother as her role model and wants to be just like her. However, as the story progresses it is seen that the relationships within the family are changed. Annie gets older, and her mother becomes harsher and stricter on her. Their relationship becomes distant and Annie starts to feel hatred for her mother, even having dreams about killing her....