House Lights, Week 4, Post A

VOCAB
Platonic (135)- relating to a philosophy of Plato

Paltry (167)- ridiculously small, yet insulting

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
“…began tapping out a soft-shoe, airy as an angel food cake, on the wet granite” (141). This is an example of a simile because it compares the light tapping of John’s foot to the lightness of an angel food cake. The simile allows the reader to imagine exactly how the shoe tapping sounded.

“She looked old. Her crepey neck, her blue-veined ankles. Her lips were pressed together hard, radiating vertical lines” (143). This is imagery because it appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, the reader is able to envision how Margaret appears to Beatrice as she lays on the bed. The tightly pressed lips also appeal to the sense of touch, because it is easy to imagine how tightly clenched her jaw was at this point. (I looked up crepey, but it’s not actually a word- so I’m not sure what the author meant it to be, or if it’s invented?)

“Her voice was the softest thing in the world, like warm milk, or new grass, or baby hair” (155). This is both a simile and figurative language! This is a simile because the author compares the mother’s voice to the unlikely texture of milk, grass and hair. It’s somewhat ironic that she compares the softness of her mother’s voice to the softness of material items. However, since the voice is being compared to physical objects, it also appeals to the sense of touch (Can’t you just feel the velvet of a glass of milk on your lips?)

QUOTE
“What Ezra said worried me beyond the scope of him and me – the whole idea of injury not requiring intent” (160-161). Beatrice begins to realize that she injured Ezra without meaning to, but this has a greater significance than just the relationship between Beatrice and Ezra. Beatrice felt she was continually hurt by her parents when they kept information hidden from her, but not she begins to realize that they didn’t mean to cause her any pain.

THEME
A theme in the novel is to appreciate the differences in the people around you, because everyone contributes certain strengths! Beatrice starts to recognize the individuality in each of the actors she works with and values each person more.