The Hour of the Star and The Bone People Essays

The Hour of the Star and The Bone People Essays The Hour of the Star and The Bone People Essay The Hour of the Star and The Bone People Essay Essay Topic: Literature Every human has, at one point in his/her life, been through a period of isolation, wherein he is either rejected by or rejects society. This theme of isolation is now and then explored in the world of fiction and has always been a topic that has been looked upon with interest. Isolation of a person means seclusion or solitude, which is, lack of contact with other people. 1 There are two types of isolation, it being deliberate or unintentional. People may seek physical seclusion to remove distractions and make it easier to concentrate, reflect, or meditate. On the other hand, some people are unaware of the isolation they are in, as in; it is enforced upon them by society. The authors Clarice Lispector and Keri Hulme portray an unusual amount of isolation, both deliberate and unintentional, in the characters of their books The Hour of the Star and The Bone People. In The Bone People, Kerewin chooses to be in isolation while on the other hand, in The Hour of the Star, Macabea plunges into seclusion because of societal constraint. Both the authors use various means to present this issue, such as the use of symbols such as mirrors and imagery of vampires. Mirrors are used as symbols in both books to portray the seclusion of the characters. They are a reflection of one self, and therefore give rise to self-awareness. In The Hour of the Star, Macabea is constantly confronted by society, and her refute to this is a form of isolation in the company of a mirror. When she receives a warning from her boss: the girl [Macabea] went to the lavatory where she could be alone, for she felt quite shaken. she examines herself in the mirror and reflects upon herself so young and yet so tarnished (Lispector, 24). The mirror symbolises how the external world would view her tarnished and insignificant. This perception of the external world translates into reality, and she shuns herself from the outside world. Rodrigo, the creator of Macabea, symbolises the external world, and he imposes this dark and tarnished image of her on her. Another interpretation is that, the mirror, being dark and tarnished, represents society, and thus society is dark and tarnished. The purity within Macabea might not be able to withstand the impurity in the external world, and so she naturally requires to place herself in solitude. Another instance is when she does not turn up for work under the pretext of having a tooth extracted. The next day, when her roommates leave for work she [Macabea] could enjoy at long last the greatest privilege of all: solitude (Lispector, 41). This is the one time in the book when she really expresses herself, as she waltzes around the room with reckless abandon (Lispector, 41). She then resorts to the mirror to confront herself. Normally disgusted by her own image, she feels elation now on confronting herself in front of the mirror, something she has never felt before. To confront herself was a pleasure that she had never before experienced Even looking at herself in the mirror was no longer quite so alarming (Lispector, 41). Thus, it is inferred from this that her happiness or depression in a state of solitude is subjective to the context, as in, the events that precede this state of isolation. It is these events that force her into seclusion in the first place. Similarly, in The Bone People too, the portrayal of solitude is exemplified by the usage of mirrors as symbolic of self-awareness. Kerewin has a strong desire to be isolated, and this is shown through various means. She [Kerewin] opens a bottle of champagne, and sets the mirror by the candle. She can see her face in it, a candlelit ovoid, with gouges for eyes, shadowmouthed (Hulme, 275). It is the perfect setting for discovering oneself, and she seems to love it. She keeps talking to herself reminiscing over past events and actions. At one point, she says, I used to get afraid that Id look up into the mirror and see nothing there (Hulme, 275). This is very similar to Macabea, as in she too feels that she casts no reflection in the mirror, and that her existence has vanished. Kerewin has an akin attitude to life, and indulges in exploring herself to use image and living light as pointers to the self beyond self (Hulme, 275). She cannot do this in the presence of other human life. She resorts to isolation in her reclusive tower to achieve this. Her isolation has probably caused her fears of people taking from her what she does not want to give love, attention, and maybe her time too. Imagery of Vampires is also used in both books to portray isolation. Vampires are mythological or folkloric creatures believed to be the reanimated corpses of human beings who subsist on human or animal blood. They cannot stand daylight and live in isolation in their coffins throughout the day, and only emerge at night to feed on animal or human blood. In The Hour of the Star, Macabea is compared to being a vampire the vampire casts no reflection in the mirror. She [Macabea] reckoned that it might not be such a bad thing being a vampire (Lispector, 25). As previously said, the dark and tarnished mirror scarcely reflected any image (Lispector, 24). This made her consider losing her existence, and therefore being a vampire. The daylight represents society; night time, solitude. Macabea finds it difficult or maybe even impossible to converge with the society, but then she finds personal satisfaction being on her own: alone. Thus, this image of vampirism signifies isolation forced upon Macabea due to external factors. In The Bone People too, there is the repetitive use of vampire imagery. But it different to The Hour of the Star as in, it does not compare the protagonist Kerewin, but Simon and Joe to be vampires. Kerewin says, Sucking me [Kerewin] dry, it feels like. Emotional vampires, slurping all the juice from my home, thats what (Hulme, 278). She relates Joe and Simon to be as such because they were intruding into her ordered privacy. The word emotional vampires is used to convey her powerlessness against them, as they can not only harm her physically, but also emotionally. Harm is interpreted as taking some belonging away from one. In that sense, her personal satisfaction in being isolated from society is being harmed, and her life is becoming meaningless or being sucked dry. She is attacked by vampires, in the sense, that they are sucking her desire for isolation away from her. The two novels are very similar in terms of the portrayal of isolation in the main characters. While deliberate isolation is evident in Kerewins character throughout the story, it is quite the opposite for Macabea. She resorts to solitude because of societal pressures. And this is well portrayed by Lispector and Hulme by the use of the mirror symbol and vampire imagery. The mirror is a reflection of oneself, and self-evaluation takes place when confronted by it, both in The Hour of the Star and The Bone People. It is a means of getting away from the external world and spending time with oneself; rediscovering oneself. The imagery of vampires is also used to great effect. While in The Hour of the Star, it is used in the context of the protagonist considering herself to be a recluse from society, in The Bone People, Kerewin feels attacked by the vampires, Joe and Simon, and they present themselves as an obstacle to her drive to isolation. Therefore, symbolic imagery is used widely to depict isolation as a characteristic of the respective main characters in The Hour of the Star and The Bone People as well as bringing out the characters gradual attainment of awareness with respect to the isolation and ephemeral sense of their individual existences.

Definition and Examples of Hyperbaton in Rhetoric

Definition and Examples of Hyperbaton in Rhetoric Hyperbaton is a  figure of speech that uses disruption or inversion of customary word order to produce a distinctive effect. The term may also refer to a figure in which language takes a sudden turn- usually an interruption. Plural: hyperbata. Adjective: hyperbatonic. Also known as anastrophe, transcensio, transgressio, and tresspasser. Hyperbaton is often used to create emphasis. Brendan McGuigan notes that hyperbaton can tweak the normal order of a sentence to make certain parts stand out or to make the entire sentence jump off the page (Rhetorical Devices, 2007).The grammatical term for hyperbaton is inversion. Etymology From the Greek, passed over, transposed Examples Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man.(Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart)From Cocoon forth a ButterflyAs Lady from her DoorEmerged- a summer afternoon- Repairing everywhere.(Emily Dickinson, From Cocoon forth a Butterfly)Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.(Escalus in William Shakespeares Measure for Measure, Act II, scene one)And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made(W. B. Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree)pity this busy monster manunkind not(e.e. cummings)One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day.(Aristotle) Types of Hyperbaton One of the most common ways to use hyperbaton is to put an adjective after the noun it modifies, rather than before it. While this might be a normal word order in languages like French, in English it tends to give an air of mystery to a sentence: The forest burned with a fire unquenchable- unquenchable except by the helicopter that finally arrived.Hyperbaton can also put the verb all the way at the end of the sentence, rather than between the subject and the object. So rather than, She wouldnt, for any reason whatsoever, be married to that smelly, foul, unlikable man, you could write, She wouldnt, for any reason whatsoever, to that smelly, foul, unlikable man be married.Not the force hyperbaton carries with it.​(Brendan McGuigan, Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Prestwick House, 2007) Effects of Hyperbaton Most theorists . . . have been content to return to the definition of hyperbaton as an inversion which expresses a violent movement of the soul (Littre).Hyperbaton may well be considered to result from inversion because it is possible to recast the sentence so as to integrate the added segment. But the effect characteristic of hyperbaton derives rather from the kind of spontaneity which imposes the addition of some truth, obvious or private, to a syntactic construction apparently already closed. Hyperbaton always consists in an adjacent assertion . . . . This appears all the more clearly when the grammatical link seems loosest, as in the case of and preceded by a comma. Ex: The arms of the morning are beautiful, and the sea (Saint-Jean Perse, quoted by Daniel Delas, Poà ©tique-pratique, p. 44).​(Bernard Marie Dupriez and Albert W. Halsall, A Dictionary of Literary Devices. University of Toronto Press, 1991) The Lighter Side of Hyperbaton Maddie Hayes: Well, let me remind you Mr. Addison, that one case does not a detective make.David Addison: Well, let me remind you Ms. Hayes, that I hate it when you talk backwards.(Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis in Moonlighting, 1985) Pronunciation: high PER ba tun