Module 3 & Module 4 Questions

Module 3

Because I could not stop for death -Emily Dickinson(Prompt 4)

Death is the personification in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for death.” In this poem, Emily tells her journey from life to the afterlife. In the first stanza, the poet says that she is a swamp, and she doesn’t have time for death. That is why she tells death, to stop for her so she can complete her unfinished work. The concept of carriage is related to the vehicle that one departs from one world to another. Carriage uses it as a metaphor, and she wants to enjoy this journey from life to the afterlife slowly. For her, life is a journey in a carriage that slowly moves ahead and while keeping everything beyond. She quickly flashback her past before she leaves this world. The first thing that she saw is in school. It was break time, and children were playing in the playground, then they crossed the field of grain. In the next line, Emily tells about the setting sun; this denotes that after a busy and active role, one has to leave as the sun goes/ set after a whole day shine.

Additionally, in the next stanza, she asks a fundamental question that we passed the time or time passed us. Like is that sunset she passed away or evening passed her away. And in continuation, she tells her dress that is a kind of gown and tippet. Both pieces of her clothing seem very thin and delicate, and she was shivering due to chilled dew drops. This shows the coldness of death. Then her carriage takes her to her final destination, and that is her eternal place. This new house was her grave, and she explains it as “swelling of the ground.” In the final stanza, she tells that her grave is the eternal place for her. And it seems that centuries have been passed, but she is still there. It also appears that just a single day passed when horses were pulling her carriage towards her eternity. And it seems this is her right destination for which she passed life for death.

Module 4

Blindness in our culture (Prompt -5)

Blindness perceives as a weakness or deficiency in our culture. However, the inability to recognize the feelings of others symbolizes blindness. In Cathedral, Carver presented blindness in two ways. The first one is physical blindness in which one cannot see physically, and it is related to the defect of eyes or cones. And the other kind of blindness is emotional blindness. In emotional blindness, one cannot perceive or feel other’s feelings and don’t know how to live a happy life. Cathedral is an inspiration from a biblical story in which Jesus heals a blind man and this same spiritual connection presented in this story.

In the opening paragraph of this story presents the general attitude of people toward blindness. The narrator has some prejudice towards the blind man. However, Carver presented blind man just physically blind but emotionally very sensitive, who can judge people’s feelings without seeing them. In contrast, the narrator was emotionally blind, who can see everything but cannot perceive people’s emotions.

When the blind man asks the narrator to explain to him, what is Cathedral? The narrator failed to tell him because he was not a religious man and away from spirituality as well as he was unaware of the importance of Cathedral for enlightenment. Carver used blindness as symbolism to transform a careless depressive human towards spirituality and diversity. The concept of blindness changes as the story develops, and the concept of blindness transformed from despair and darkness to enlightenment and hope. This is how the Cathedral resents the symbolism of blindness in our culture and society.