Marley and Me, Week 5, Post A

VOCAB
Irascible (210)- irritable, easily provoked to anger

Baser (236)- morally low

APPEALS
“From a distance you could not see the frogs at all, just the crazy lady with the diaper bag hanging from her neck, crawling around like she had started the morning off with a little too much moonshine” (213). This is a logical appeal because the reader can imagine exactly how ridiculous the family must have appeared at the airport. Also, this is a comic appeal because of the crazy events happening (anyone standing nearby would have chuckled).

“His hairballs rolled across the wood floors like tumbleweed on a windblown plain” (240). This is a logical appeal, it flat out says that Marley’s fur was rolling across the floor. However, this appeal also is a simile, so the imagery conjured up is more vivid.

“We have an emergency with Marley” (251). This is definitely an emotional appeal because it provokes a sense of panic within the reader. The reader also feels sympathy towards John because of the uncertainty of Marley’s life.

QUOTE
“I could almost taste the finiteness of life and thus its preciousness. We take it for granted, but it is fragile, precarious, uncertain, able to cease at any instant without notice” (260). This quote explains how much John has thought about life in general after Marley’s close call with death. Neighbors of his have been killed, but Marley’s near death experience is the closest death that has occurred to John (not counting his childhood dog, Shaun). John realizes how short life is and that everyone moment should be lived to its fullest potential because it may be the last.

THEME
A theme which reoccurs throughout the novel is that life is a gift that doesn’t last long. Marley’s long dog life of 13 years is small in comparison to the average human’s life and the time John spends with Marley allows him to realize the joys in life that should always be cherished and how little time we have here on earth.