Journal #13

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

The object that symbolizes George Gray’s life was the furled sail. He had so many opportunities but he shrunk away from all of them. He is recounting his life and wishes that he would have taken the chances that life gave to him. He is unhappy an dissatisfied with his life. The image on his tombstone of the boat in the harbor, would normally represent a life that finally has come to an end. However, in Gerorge’s life it represents how he lived his life. He was so afraid of the bad in life that he shut himself so far away that he even missed the good.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interepret the last line of the poem?

Lucinda live a full life. She experienced the good and the bad unlike Gerogre Grey. She accepted the negatives but she did not let them define her. She had a positive outlook on life. George was so afraid of messing up in his life that he never participated in it. Her last line of “It takes life to love Life” shows that you need to be an active participant in you life to experiences all the good that life can give to us. The last line bacically uses the word life with two differenet meanings. The first life is referring to energy and emotion, while the second life is referring to actually living. Another way to look at the last line is, It takes an active participation and energy to love and enjoy the time that we have on this earth.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

Realism is the attempt to depict and show the average normal day life. It focuses on the normal, boring, average life of a person. Both of the epitaphs are example of realism. The stories of the two characters are normal. There is no idealizing there experiences, they just shared what there lives were like. In Lucinda’s life she lived a full life by accepting everything that came her way, where as in Geroge’s life he hid from life and ultimately died unhappy.