Close Reading 1/11/14

"She daydreamed as she read and therefore she missed the transformation between the 'universal stare' of the sun in Marseilles and the atmosphere of the prison in the same town. Suddenly she discovered she was in the prison" (234).

Shortly after Homer left, Melony became very upset. She thinks back to the promise that Homer made her, saying he would never leave if she did not leave either. And so she picks up the book she stole from Candy and begins to read it. As she does, she sees that she is indeed stuck where she is. She feels stuck in what seems like a prison. The word prison invokes a lot of different things. A prison is normally seen as a depressing place, a place where people are unable to escape. Those 4 by 6 cells that people are locked in, the inability to go as you please. Prisons are never mentioned as a positive thing. They are used to show negativity and loneliness. The author uses a prison to show how Melony is truly feeling.

Melony feels that she is stuck permanently in St. Cloud's with no one near her that she cares about. The only person that it seems that she truly cared about left her and she thinks that he will never come back for her. She is in love with Homer and she knows that he does not like her like that back. And so she feels trapped in the one place that Homer was able to escape from. She feels as though she is inside of that 4 by 6 cells with no way of escaping. She is not sure what she is going to do stuck in St. Cloud's.

And so this quote also foreshadows what Melony plans on doing next. Melony is not going to stay in St. Cloud's where she feels trapped. She is not going to want to stay in a place where she is not sure that she belongs and has no idea what she is going to do with her life. So this passage sort of leads the reader to believe that Melony is going to find a way to escape St. Cloud's, the prison in which she feels permanently trapped in at the current moment.

The passage also lets it be known that as she daydreams, she is slowly coming up with a plan on what she is going to do. The reader can also see how this foreshadows to her trying to go and finding Homer. Since she is in love with him, she is going to try and find him. Melony plans on breaking out of the prison she feels trapped in to go and see what she can find. She does not want to be stuck where she is for the rest of her life.  And so this passage shows how Melony plans on breaking out of St. Cloud's and going to see what is out there for her and find out where Homer is so she can either convince him to come back and stay with him where he decides to go.

Close Reading 1/4/14

“I work here, inexactly, and I am inexactly one of them” (199).

When Wally and Candy come to the orphanage, Homer is the first one to realize what it is they are looking for. He can tell that they are not there to adopt a child, but instead their to get rid of one. Candy is hoping to be able to get an abortion there, to rid herself of the problem that she has. When they see Homer, because of his age, they are not exactly sure whether he is an orphan or whether he is a doctor of some sort, ready there to help them. When they ask Homer, he is not really sure where he fits in either. Homer tells them that in a way he works there as an assistant in the hospital, not as a fully trained doctor, and in another way, he still lives there as an orphan, not yet adopted, and most likely never going to be adopted. The way that Homer answers the question sort of shows that he is not sure where he fits in, and what his purpose in the orphanage actually is.

The way that Irving shows that Homer is unsure is by italicizing the fact that he is inexactly sure of who he is. It is Homer questioning his identity in a way that shows how uncertain he is of his own self and his place in the orphanage. Homer has ever only known what is inside the orphanage, and the town of St. Cloud's. He has no idea what is outside of the small area he knows, and so when he sees Candy and Wally come with a fancy car, he is more enamored by their appearance, than he most likely realizes and then he also comes to think that he is not sure of where he truly belongs.

This idea of not knowing where it is a person truly belongs is a theme of the novel. Coming to understand yourself and where it is you are of most help is part of Homer's journey outside of the orphanage. The novel is a quest of understanding who you are, and where you belong. In this small sentence, Homer is beginning to realize that he has yet to discover that the place he truly does belong is in St. Cloud's at the orphanage, because he has never left and he has not idea what is beyond the orphanage. So when he leaves, he does it to find out where it is he could potentially fit in, where he is most valued in the world. By using the word inexactly, it shows Homer's uncertainty. The diction that the author chose to describe Homer's feelings, the word inexactly, helps to make this part of the theme of the book. It is the word inexactly that ties all of Homer's feelings together, even in a way that Homer does not even at this point understand himself.