9
January
2009
This poem was very upsetting and shows the reader how miserable life really was for the residents of Spoon River. When a mother and child die during birth it is a sad bitter thing that can leave many people scared. However Elizabeth views it differently, she is in fact relieved that her child did not live as she cannot imagine all the terrible things life has to offer. If you are dead and you cannot look back on the life you led and cannot say at the very least that it was worth it, then there indeed is something wrong with the town you grew up in and called home.
Abel Melveny has a similar story as he compares his life to one of his work tools that was never used.
“I saw myself as a good machine
That Life had never used.” pg. 78
The American Dream talks about reaching out for something, having some form of goal to obtain that you are always striving for. In the other books from this year, many of the characters failed just as the people in Spoon River had. The difference is that many people in Spoon River did not even try to reach that goal or did not notice there was a goal to be reached. Even if Tom Buchanan realizes his life was pathetic and that he was not a very good person, he still can look back and realize that he accomplished something. It is unfair to yourself to say that your life was never used.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
7
January
2009
George Grey
“…To put meaning to one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid…” pg. 30
George speaks of life without meaning and how although it is inevitable, it is also impossible to live through. He recalls different instances of his life where he was faced with a new emotion or a challenge and how he coward away from them. Yet all the while he was thinking about the meaning of his life. This was George’s problem. He thought too much about what he should do and what was coming ahead that he missed all the events in the present.
His metaphor of life and a boat is this. Destiny is not a set path in your future, but like the waves will set you on different courses and on different adventures. If you are on a boat in the middle of the sea you have no choice but to accept your surroundings and make the best of it. However in life you have the chance to walk blind eyed through them, and this is what George believed he did.
On George’s grave stone is a picture of a boat in a harbor. However he recognizes that this is not where he has ended up but that is the story of life itself. Perhaps if he was still living he would have accepted life the way it was and would have “rolled with the punches” destiny flew his way. George is telling the reader to not believe there is a set path in life and thus seize the opportunity if it arises.
This connects with the other books read in class in them, the characters are doing what George is saying. Ahab goes after the whale and Ishmael goes out to sea to have a change in life. Gatsby goes after the girl. Janie becomes a strong women as she follows her heart to different men and life styles. Even in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ben does not let his odd life bring him down but instead he goes out and succeeds. All these characters live life in the moment rather than worrying about what is coming ahead. With this mindset, they all go after their American dream and fight for what they want rather than sit back and expect something to happen to them.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
5
January
2009
In many of the stories we have read, a character reaches their goal and it is then taken away, or it is never reached. Several of the poems in Spoon River Anthology follow this same idea. Doc Meyers recalls his life as blessed.
“I was good-hearted, easy Doctor Meyers
I was healthy, happy, in a comfortable fortune,
Blest with a congenial mate, my children raised,
All wedded, doing well in the world.” pg 12
However one night Minerva came into the Doctors office with a problem that Doc Meyers could not solve. From this point on the town forgot about how good a man Doc Meyers had been an instead began writing things and talking about his hand in killing Minerva. This persecution drove Meyers to phenomena and ultimately his death.
Similarly to Janie, Doc Meyers was only trying to live his life the way it had fallen and to both of them, it had worked out quite well. Janie was living comfortably with the man she loved and Doc Meyers had a respected job and position in the town as well as a loving family. However after a series of events the comfort had to come to an end as Janie was forced to kill Tea Cake and Doc Meyers was forced into a sickness after being blamed for a death. For a little while Janie was being blamed for murdering Tea Cake however she got out of punishment when Tea Cake’s condition was learned. Only in Minerva’s testimony do we hear the real side of the story that could have saved his job and therefore his life.
Posted: Connections, Spoon River Anthology
