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.