Reflection: Walden

Sadie Ries
Period 6
10-8-07
Walden
When reading “Walden”, I was extremely fascinated by Henry David Thoreau’s use of different types imagery throughout the story. From the beginning to the end of the story Thoreau uses metaphors, similes, and personification to describe life, events and places.
Imagery is first revealed in the beginning of the story, when Thoreau describes how most farmers give up on the land, thinking that they have already got the best of it. Through the use of a metaphor Thoreau states that the owners, who sell there land thinking they have gotten the best of it, often do not know “It for many years when a poet has put his farm in rhyme, the most remarkable kind of invisible fence, has fairly impounded on it, milked it, skimmed it, and got all the cream, and left the farmer only the skimmed milk” (375). This is a metaphor for the idea that the farmer only takes what he sees first, but not what was invisible now, but might soon be revealed. Again, imagery is revealed by the use of a simile to show how we [humans and Thoreau himself] live “meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes” (376). This simile stands for the fact that we are like animals because we work hard and fight, for a reason we do not always know. Finally, in the end of the story, personification is used when Thoreau states, “Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society, deposited at first in the alburnum of the green and living tree…”(379). In this quote life is being personified as having buried an egg, but in fact life cannot have an egg, let alone bury one.
These three quotes are examples of imagery being used in the forms of a metaphor, simile, and personification, to show how farmers thought, the way people lived, and life in generally.

Expository Essay: How To Make Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Syrup Brownies Premium Mix

Sadie Ries
Period 6
10/6/07
How To Make Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Syrup Brownies Premium Mix
In order to make the most delicious chocolate brownies in the world, fallow these simple steps. First, before you begin preheat the oven to 325° F. Then, while preheating the oven, prepare an 8´ 8-inch glass or metal baking pan by lightly greasing or spraying with non-stick cooking spray, for example PAM. To prepare the brownie batter, next pour brownie mix into a medium size pouring bowl. Then blend one egg (yoke only), ¼ cup of water and 1/3 cup of Vegetable Oil with the brownie mix in the mixing bowl. Stir until moistened (approximately 40 strokes).
Once preparation for the brownie batter is complete, spoon batter into the prepared 8´ 8-inch glass or metal baking pan, spreading batter evenly. After the oven has heated to 325°F , place baking pan into the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes. After successfully cooking remove pan and turn off the oven . Allow the brownies to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from baking pan. To remove, take the tray you are going the be placing the brownies on, flip the baking pan upside down to remove brownies onto the tray. Then, cut the brownies into 16, 2-inch brownies. Finally, eat and enjoy!!
Caution: Do not over bake. Fresh-baked brownies appear under baked but cool to doneness. Cool completely in pan before removing. Store in tightly covered container. If in high altitude, add 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour and an additional 2 tablespoons of water into brownie mix, when mixing.

The Devil and Tom Walker (Paragraph)

Sadie Ries
Period 6
10-2-07
The Devil and Tom Walker
Washington Irving, in “The Devil and Tom Walker“, uses the light hearted tone of the story to influence the characters by not allowing the reader to have much sympathy for them. For example, Tom, when think back on the Devil‘s actions, say that “He even felt something like gratitude towards the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him kindness” (242). This shows that there should be sympathy for Tom Walker because his wife was a cruel and mean women, but instead there is a lack of sympathy because the story does not give off the tone that there should be sympathy to Tom. This also shows that we should again have sympathy to Tom that he would feel gratitude towards the devil in the first place, because thanking the devil seems like a unhealthy thing to do; but the bleak tone does not portray enough emotion for the reader to feel sympathy. In addition, after Tom denies the land jobber his request for more time, the Devil takes Tom Walker away “Dashing down the streets, his white cap bobbing up and down, his morning gown fluttering in the wind, and his steed striking fire out of the pavement at every bound” (244). This shows that Tom Walker has been whisked away by the Devil, and usually no matter what circumstance the reader would tend to feel some sort of sorrow and sympathy for Tom. Instead, the stories tone, in lack of a sorrowful emotion, causes there to be a lack of sympathy towards Tom Walker and this unfortunate event. In conclusion, Washington Irving does not allow the reader to feel it necessary to portray any sympathetic emotion towards Tom Walker, due to the bleak, emotionless tone in “The Devil and Tom Walker”.

snowbound/the devil and tom walker

Sadie Ries
Period 6
9-30-07
The Devil and Tom Walker/Snowbound
When reading these two stores, The Devil and Tom Walker and Snowbound, I was fascinated by the use of imagery and the characteristics of the “Black Man”. In Snowbound, John Greenleaf Whittier does an exceptional job at setting the scene and creating the mode through the use of imagery.
The use of imagery is first seen in the begging of the story when the narrator describes the storms approach. The narrator uses words like “Rose cheerless over hills of gray”(267), “Its mute and ominous prophecy”(267), and finally “The hard, dull bitterness of the cold”(268), to show how the arrival of the storm already has a sad effect on the environment around it. Also, how the foretelling of the storm is that its going to be cold, dreary, and depressing. Again imagery is used to show the effect of the storm “With dazzling crystals: we had read are rare Aladdin‘s wondrous cave”(269). This shows the beauty that was left behind from the dark storm, relating to some good can come from the bad.
In The Devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving uses the characteristics of the “Black Man” to relate to the characteristics of the Devil. At first the “Black Man”, although he seems mysterious and eerie, shows a friendly fun characteristic to Tom Walker drawling him in. This resembles the Devil, who pretends to be something it’s not to drawl us in. Then again the “Black Man” resembles the devil when he tells Tom that he will become extremely wealthy if he does something for him. The Devil finds our weaknesses, Toms was money and values, are uses it to his advantage. Finally, in the end when Tom tries to escape the sin in fear of his fate in the afterlife, he is incapable to do so. These Events all show how the Devil finds are weaknesses and drawls us in, eventually getting us hooked and allows us no escape.