ESSAY CEMETERY

Francis is grateful to Wilson the hunter, Wilson acts jolly, and Margaret is upset because of the way Francis handled an incident with a lion. After a brief conversation, Margaret leaves, upset. In fact, Wilson thinks he is a coward. Wilson tries to insult Francis so that the couple won't want to spend time with him but Francis admits to his cowardice and regains some of Wilson's sympathy. Margaret comes back composed and says she wants to join the men buffalo hunting the following day. Margaret and Francis are fighting, and having marital troubles and Wilson is well aware and annoyed. Wilson thinks Margaret is cruel and terrible. In the afternoon Wilson and Francis go off alone. Francis shoots an old impala and Wilson assures him it's a worthwhile shot. Lying in bed, Francis feels ashamed. He recalls what happened. The previous night he had heard the lion roaring from afar and was afraid. Francis suggested shooting it at breakfast. He feels miserably challenged by...

Themes ·        Advertising and commercial culture ·        Marital trouble ·        Discrepancy between people's opinions of themselves and others' opinions of them ·         Female typology - obnoxious provocative woman ·        Margaret makes fun of the men ·        The known and the unknown (about people) ·        Shallow reasons for marital continuity ·         Outlook on femininity: crying is appropriate for women but being tough is not Style and devices ·         Staccatto writing - "he did not know" "he knew it" ·        Shifting focalization People and Places ·        Robert Wilson ·        Franci...

Themes ·        Fire damage ·        Life in nature ·        Nature goes on even after the fire “Seney was burned, the country was burned over and changed, but it did not matter. It could not all be burned.” ·        Nature allegories- trout, grasshoppers ·        Nature brings pleasure “The road climbed steadily. It was hard work walking up-hill. His muscles ached and the day was hot, but Nick felt happy. He felt he had left everything behind, the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs. It was all back of him.” ·        Interaction with nature is easy and taken for granted “As he smoked his legs stretched out in front of him, he noticed a grasshopper walk along the ground and up onto his woolen sock.” ·        Pack on his back “Stil...

Part I The train stops in Wisconsin, in Seney, a town that burned down, and lets Nick off with his pack. Nick surveys the countryside, reflecting on what was there once. Nick watches the fish in the river, and particularly enjoys watching the trout as they cling onto the river bottom or swim upstream. He slings his too-heavy pack on his back and starts a hard climb uphill, but he feels happy and unburdened. He looks into the distance, where far off he can see unburned countryside. He stops and smokes a cigarette and notices that all the grasshoppers are black from living in the soot. He crosses the fire line into living forest. At any time he could go to the river but he wants to hit it as far upstream as possible. He reaches a pine grove where there is no underbrush and sleeps there in the afternoon. Afterwards he heads towards the river and makes camp there, leveling the ground to sleep on and making pegs for a tent. He sets up the tent with cheesecloth to keep mosquitoe...