ESSAY CEMETERY

It is September. Eliot, eleven years old, is used to having adults look after him after school. This year he goes to Mrs. Sen's after school, because she cannot drive and watch him at his own house. During the first meeting between Eliot, his mother and the Sens, Mrs. Sen introduces herself and her husband, who teaches mathematics at the university. Their apartment seems like a transient residence, with plastic covering the some of the furniture. Eliot's mother asks the Sens questions. She is concerned with Mrs. Sen's inability to drive, and Mr. Sen predicts that she will have a license in December. Eliot rather enjoys Mrs. Sen's. Her apartment was warmer than his house. He learn to remove his shoes upon entering the apartment. He enjoys watching her prepare food, with special dishes and particular vegetables. She tells Eliot about Indian traditions. She feels isolated at home, compared to home, India, where the entire neighborhood was in tune to each other'

Themes and prominent elements ·        Jewish girl participating in Christian activities ·        Cultural immersion ·        Excessive, childish praising of god ·        Family disagreements over acculturation ·        Spunky little girl Style and devices ·        humor "In that case, don't be silly; I might very well be your teacher someday. Speak up, speak up."           "Yes," I shouted. "More like it," he said. "Now, Shirley, can you put a ribbon in your hair or a bobby pin? It's too messy."   "Yes!" I bawled." People and places ·        Mrs. Abramowitz ·        Mr. Bialik ·        Coney Island ·        Shirley ·        Mr. Hilton ·        Mrs. Jordan ·        Misha ·        Cramer ·        Miss Glace ·        Clara ·        Mr. Sauerfeld ·        Mrs. Kleig ·        Ira Pushkov ·        Jackie Saurfield ·        More kids' names Grace Paley

Shirley's is a very noisy neighborhood. Of all of the noisy elements there, her voice is the loudest, she says, and proudly. Her father too is loud. Her mother on the other hand is desperate for quiet. One morning, Shirley is called in to Mr. Hilton's classroom. He offers her the part of narrator of the school play, due to her extremely loud voice. Shirley accepts. The children take off thanksgiving decorations and put up Christmas ones. They learn carols. Her mother is indignant at all of the Christmas activities in which her Jewish neighbors are participating and about the immersion of her daughter in Christian culture. Her father disagrees, saying it's better than the tyrannical alternatives of other countries. Some parents brag about their children's parts in the play and some parents forbid their children to participate. In the meantime, Shirley is having a blast at the play. She is Mr. Hilton's assistant, shouting at children when Mr. Hilton is we

Themes ·        Storytelling ·        Linear traditional stories vs. non-traditional stories ·        Conservative themes vs unorthodox themes ·        Generation gap ·        Metaliterature ·        Story within story Style and devices ·        Humor ·        Story within story ·        Dialogue Keywords ·        Story ·        Tragedy ·        Junkie People and places ·        de Maupassant ·        Chekhov ·        Manhattan ·        Turgenev ·        Lower Manhattan ·        Coleridge ·        Leary ·        Antonioni ·        East Village Grace Paley

The narrator's father is sick. He asks his daughter to write him a simple story like Maupassant or Checkhov, with a linear plot. She doesn't like to but tries in order to please him. She writes a story, based in reality, about a young man who becomes a junkie and his mother who becomes a junkie to keep him company. After a while the boy is disgusted and leaves. The story is short and without details. Her father asks for more details. He is not happy with the story. He is upset that the woman in her story has a child out of wedlock. They discuss storytelling technique and what the author does when she has difficulty inventing an end for her stories. The author tries again. She injects more details into the story, more psychology and humor and causal connections. The mother in the story joins her son because she prefers to be with the young generation than her own. She ends her story with the son moving out, sober and the mother alone and unable to overcome the addiction

Themes and Characterization ·        Mrs. Hopewell's sayings ·        Acceptance of imperfection “Nothing is perfect.  This was one of Mrs. Hopewell’s favorite sayings.  Another was:  that is life!” ·        Relative truth/ acceptance and understanding “And still another, the most important, was:  well, other people have their opinions too” ·        Hulga's excessive pessimism vs. her mother's feigned optimism ·        Mrs. Hopewell's secret criticism of Hulga “There was nothing wrong with her face that a pleasant expression wouldn’t help.  Mrs. Hopewell said that people who looked on the bright side of things would be beautiful even if they were not.” ·        Educated women and scorn for them ·        Mrs. Hopewell's hypocrisy- feigns openmindedness but is harsh with her daughter ‘“Why!” she cried, “good country people are the salt of the earth!  Besides, we all have different ways of doing, it takes all kinds to make the world

Mrs. Hopewell is the focalizer mainly but this shifts sometime, slightly to Joy or to Mrs. Freeman. Every morning, Mrs. Freeman comes over to the Hopewells' to "carry on business". They speak of the Freeman daughters, Glynese and Carrramae, while Joy, Mrs. Hopewell's 32 year old artificial-legged daughter, is in the bathroom. Mrs. Freeman works for Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Hopewell is not ashamed because the Freemans are not trash. Mrs. Hopewell was told that Mrs. Freeman was extremely nosy, but she was the only applicant. So, Hopewell decided to hire the Freemans anyway as tenants and land workers and put her in charge so that her nosiness would be put to good use. Mrs. Freeman would never admit she was wrong. She thinks a lot of herself and expresses this notion frequently. She frequently intrudes on the Hopewells' privacy but Mrs. Hopewell keeps her because the Freemans are good country people and those are rare. She has had much experience with trash.

Themes and remarks ·         Efficiency, resourcefulness and self-reliance “In real life I am a large, big.boned woman with rough, man.working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls dur.ing the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog.” ·         Mother ashamed in the context of her daughter “One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.” ·         Admiration of