Bright Star

#11

This whole new section of poems that we are studying is centered around figurative language. I found it very fitting that the first poem to study was a huge apostrophe. The speaker it directly addressing a star throughout the poem. He speaks of all the qualities he likes about being a star and how great it would be to be steadfast, but he doesn't want to be alone like the bright star. He wants to be steadfast only if he can have his lover forever or die at the peak of their love. I found his worry of being alone kind of ironic though. Everyone always says that stars are countless and there are millions of them. Why was this one star thought to be alone?

Will Somebody Listen?

" Sounds pretty wet," his father would've said, pausing briefly. "So what happened?" "You really want to hear this?" " Hey, I'm your father." Norman Bowker smiled. He looked out across the lake and imagined the feel of his tongue against the truth. "Well, this on time, this one night out by the river ... I wasn't very brave." (pg. 136)

In this story of the book, Tim O'Brien effectively uses an apostrophe. He uses it to emphasize that nobody would listen to Bowker once he came home from the war. Norman had so many stories to tell and when he came back, the war was over for everyone else too and nobody was interested in them. Norman had to make up his own conversations to his absent father because his father was at home watching television while his son circled a lake multiple times. This apostrophe shows extreme lonliness. Norman was desperate for a listener. How hard is it for someone to listen to a soldier who has put their life on the line for his country when he returns home? I guess a lot harder than I thought.