Response to "Pantoum of the Great Depression" by Donald Justice, Donald Justice, Donald Justice

In the “Pantoum of the Great Depression” Donald Justice uses images, tone, and repetition in order to express the hardships experienced throughout the Great Depression. The speaker, most likely a member of the middleclass, talks about the life before the Great Depression. He begins discussing life’s normality by saying their “lives avoided tragedy” and although “there were storms and small catastrophes” there was “no need for the heroic.” The use of repetition in the early parts of this poem can entail that nothing unique happened to them or anything ever changed. The use of the plural personal pronoun we, implies that it was not only the speaker’s life that was filled with normality and without change but also fellow members of the middleclass. The first half of the poem’s sound is somewhat euphonious in that it possesses relaxed sounds that create a relaxed mood. This mood allows the audience to further believe that before the Great Depression occurred life was very calm and relaxed. The speaker brings about the Great Depression by saying “The Great Depression had entered our souls like fog.” This vivid image allows us to gain a feeling of how the Great Depression filled and covered their life; similar to how fog fills and covers the sky and ground. “And time went by, drawn by slow horses” is another image Justice uses to discuss the Great Depression. In this case he expresses the length and how long it took for the Great Depression to pass. During this part of the poem there is an increase in harsher sounds. With the use of “perhaps” and “private”, words that are cacophonous, can relate to the harsh times during the Great Depression. Finally, similar to the beginning of the poem the use of plural personal pronouns implies that the Great Depression’s hardships were experienced by many not just one

ID

ID's I carry

- Brown Student ID

- Alabama Driver's License

- GA

- Student ID

What do they reveal about me?

- Name, Date of Birth, Address, my height, eye color, hair color, weight, gender, intelligent (Brown Summer ID), I use public transportation.

"The Kid" page 117

He was a good kid, and a hard-working student, but intelligence was not his strong suit. The ironies went beyond him. In many ways he was like America itself, full of good intentions, always trying to aid those who should be allowed to fail freely and prosper independently, a pool of saliva running down his cheeks, slow of mind but always plodding along, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and effort. Unlike his country, he was drawn towards those who cared and took no actions of hate against those who chastised him.

Even now, twenty years later, I can see his mom tying his shoes as he prepares to head out for another day of school, another day of chastisement.

"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong"

The story "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" gives us a slight insight into storytelling. It shows that the actual war story that is being told may not be true and doesn't need to be. However, the theme of the story needs to be true and that the only way for you to be able to actually grasp and understand the full ideas and concepts of the theme is it must be told through a story in which you can imagine and picture what the author is trying to express, even if it is a lie or untrue war story.

Letter Assignment

Dear Parents,

Conscious of it or not, every day I carry around your expectations of me. Consisting of fulfilling a leadership role, and performing well inside of the classroom, and behaving well outside of the classroom, and abstaining from procrastination, and, finally, performing extracurricular activities to the best of my abilities, specifically never giving up, these expectations are carried with a sense of personal choice. They are also carried with the pressure that if I do not fulfill these expectations, or I fall short of them, disappointment would envelope you. It is a personal choice to carry this “load” because when I fulfill, or even surpass, these expectations I get a sense of self-accomplishment and the knowing that I have done something that you regard as tremendously important. Putting this “load” down, even for a second, in order to take a break from my school work, to allow myself to get mad if I messed up and as a result of getting mad, let my team down, or to ridicule someone for messing up, would change the person I am, a person who tries to always put Winston Churchill’s words “Never, never, never, ever quit” into actions, who provides an example for his younger brother and sister, and who tries to always be kind and courteous.

Sincerely,
Victor Query