Focus on this sentence to understand his point.

Actually, Bruni is arguing against this "career" and "financial security" type of discussion. Reread this crucial paragraph to see how he establishes his argument.

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Was it really that long ago?

This point is very true.

Is that how she spells her name?

You can test your annotations on this home page if you'd like.

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Why not separate those words?

what kind of term is "girlchild"?

Hey look at me!

What does this repetition communicate? Why would the speaker not leave this sole woodchuck alone? What is the purpose of the killing?

As if the woodchucks are part of the speaker's thought about their actions, as if those actions were illegal. What do we make of these final two lines?

Wow! Either the speaker is pure evil or recognizes that her/his actions are irrational and killing animals that do not deserve such a murderous fate (like the victims of the Nazis). Has the speaker changed from the beginning of the poem?

What do we make of this image? Why humped-up?

Again, personify woodchuck as if he is rational about what he is doing.

These actions even haunt the speaker's unconscious mind. Why? What does this suggest?

So is the speaker a murderer at heart ("inside me") or is s/he acting, as on a "stage." Is the speaker changing her/his mind about the killing?

And now the speaker kills a baby. What do we make of the progression of the killed woodchucks, from "he" to "mother" to "baby"?

Not only a female woodchuck, but a mother, as the speaker recognizes. What do we think about a speaker killing a mother and representing it so graphically?

Roses normally have a pleasant connotation. If the woodchuck dies there (grave suggestion), then he serves to help roses grow. This image juxtaposes death with beauty.

First time the gender of the woodchuck is mentioned.

Why add such a graphic visual?

Why use this verb and not others (shot, killed, etc.)?

Compare this face to the bullets' noses three lines prior. What do we make of this comparison?

"Pieties" has a religious connotation, as if the speaker is placing her/his actions within a spiritual norm of behavior.

Again, this sounds like justification/rationalization rather than mere statement. This event is not "survival." If the speaker has money for poison, weapons, cigarettes, and booze, then the family is not starving.

Why personify the bullets?

Why add "I said"? Clearly the speaker is addressing someone, but whom? It also seems like justifying her/his actions or the "thrilling" feeling of shooting the woodchuck.

Speaker is trying to make a case, but it is hyperbole, as if they are starving and the woodchucks are the only cause.

why "righteously"? Before moving on to the next line, I expected something else to cause the "thrilling." The enjambment causes this disconnection.

"Worse" and "course" are near/slant rhymes, which thwart readers' expectations, especially after the clear rhymes in stanza 1. How do the rhymes challenge neat expectations and why?

Notice the rhyme scheme--how does the measured rhyme compare to or contrast with the theme of the poem?

Speaker seems to be trying to justify actions by personifying the carrots, where are getting "beheaded."

Animal equals human behavior.

All poisons, but ones we kill ourselves with. Why make this connection?

basement suggests a house, so the speaker acknowledges it is a legitimate home.

both the "case" and the blocked holes are airtight.

Like a courtroom--what does this personification suggestion? What is the speaker's point about woodchucks and why connect it to a criminal case?

First word suggests the death penalty, which sets the tone in the poem.

Test post: Highlight a word, phrase or sentence you would like to comment on, click the "annotate" button, type your comment/question, and click "Post to Public."

What is he saying here?

Where is the blue book?

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How does the employer's tent compare to his own sleeping quarters?

How does the employer's tent compare to his own sleeping quarters?

What does this association suggest?

What does this association suggest?

What is the effect of merging past with future?

What is the effect of merging past with future?

What is she creating?

What is she creating?

How else does the employer view Alibhai?

How else does the employer view Alibhai?

What is the difference between the "reflections" and the "catalogue"?

What is the difference between the "reflections" and the "catalogue"?

Why not "his" or "her"?

Why not "his" or "her"?

Why does his eyesight and reading ability matter? Note other moments when Alibhai makes notes.

Why does his eyesight and reading ability matter? Note other moments when Alibhai makes notes.

What does this information communicate about the employer?

What does this information communicate about the employer?

How do Mary's accounts differ from the sentences above? Why put this information in brackets?

How do Mary's accounts differ from the sentences above? Why put this information in brackets?

Where might you find such simple, descriptive sentences? Why describe Apul Apul this way?

Where might you find such simple, descriptive sentences? Why describe Apul Apul this way?

How does religion figure into this tale?

Where do we see "design" in the tale? What does she think of design?

Compare the sister to the narrator. What are the similarities and differences?

Why put her in a nursery?

Explore the paper, especially as it connects to her own mind.

What does the garden suggest? What is a garden? What is it differentiated from outside the house?

What do we learn about medicine in this tale?

How does she define the "norm"?

What does the progression of adjectives in this paragraph connote?

How do we account for the narrator's mindset throughout the tale? Is there a cause?

Where do we see "design" in the tale? What does she think of design?

Compare the sister to the narrator. What are the similarities and differences?

Why put her in a nursery?

Explore the paper, especially as it connects to her own mind.

What does the garden suggest? What is a garden? What is it differentiated from outside the house?

What do we learn about medicine in this tale?

How does she define the "norm"?

What does the progression of adjectives in this paragraph connote?

How do we account for the narrator's mindset throughout the tale? Is there a cause?

Make sure you can identify the thesis (his central argument) and the evidence he uses (facts and figures, stories, personal experience, research, etc.) to support his claim.

What is the definition of this word and how does it relate to the point he is making her?

Make sure you can identify the thesis (his central argument) and the evidence he uses (facts and figures, stories, personal experience, research, etc.) to support his claim.

Test, test

An annotation is when . . .

What is an annotation?

This is a test annotation.

What kind of a statement?

Here is a sample annotation.

Here is a sample annotation.

This term suggests "straight-a-way" but also the straight/direct/common/accepted path. That is, if you demur (delay, wait, dwell upon) from the majority, you are destined to be chained.

Notice there is no punctuation, which means the reader must move, without hesitation, to the next line. Also, "'Tis the Majority" relates to line 3 (as in, the "Majority" is equated with "Sense" because a double dash ("--the starkest Madness--") suggests a part of a sentence that is not necessary. However, "'Tis the Majority" ALSO begins the next line "In this . . ., which shifts the emphasis of the first four lines, where Madness=Sense, to the final four, where conformity allows one to prevail as "sane."

This line inverts line 1. Notice the different tones of the adjectives--"divinest" (god-like, perfect) and "starkest" (jarring, harsh). Thus, the "norm" is to view Sense "divinely" but Madness "starkly" (as it relates to sense).

Disembodied "Eye" is creepy but also emphasizes the importance of sight/insight about madness and sense. The "Eye" is the grammatical subject--the thing doing the "discerning"--of these lines. This seems like the "Eye" of judgment that can distinguish appearance from internal reality.

Why a dash and not a comma or period? It seems to speed up the transition to the next line, which gives the poem a more "rushed" feel--as if the "Eye" is moving between Sense and Madness.

Discerning as positive (can see what is and what is not good or true) or negative (judgmental)? Given the tone of the rest of the poem, "discerning" seems to be positive because it can judge "madness" to actually be sensible.

This term suggests "straight-a-way" but also the straight/direct/common/accepted path. That is, if you demur (delay, wait, dwell upon) from the majority, you are destined to be chained.

Notice there is no punctuation, which means the reader must move, without hesitation, to the next line. Also, "'Tis the Majority" relates to line 3 (as in, the "Majority" is equated with "Sense" because a double dash ("--the starkest Madness--") suggests a part of a sentence that is not necessary. However, "'Tis the Majority" ALSO begins the next line "In this . . ., which shifts the emphasis of the first four lines, where Madness=Sense, to the final four, where conformity allows one to prevail as "sane."

This line inverts line 1. Notice the different tones of the adjectives--"divinest" (god-like, perfect) and "starkest" (jarring, harsh). Thus, the "norm" is to view Sense "divinely" but Madness "starkly" (as it relates to sense).

Disembodied "Eye" is creepy but also emphasizes the importance of sight/insight about madness and sense. The "Eye" is the grammatical subject--the thing doing the "discerning"--of these lines. This seems like the "Eye" of judgment that can distinguish appearance from internal reality.

Why a dash and not a comma or period? It seems to speed up the transition to the next line, which gives the poem a more "rushed" feel--as if the "Eye" is moving between Sense and Madness.

Discerning as positive (can see what is and what is not good or true) or negative (judgmental)? Given the tone of the rest of the poem, "discerning" seems to be positive because it can judge "madness" to actually be sensible.

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Also check the "lexicon" on edickinson.org for "Biscayan."

Time is going backwards: moves from wife to woman to girl.

having higher authority

She has matured into more than just what one would define as wife

In heaven, they feel people on Earth can't see their worth.

soft, and innocent being a girl

Czar= higher power

Woman> wife she is neglecting the social norm

There's so many other things a woman can be, but people still just see her as someone's wife and nothing else.

It's safer to be a "Woman" than just "wife"

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Also, "call" is much different than "my name is." Thus, his name might not be even Ishmael. Why begin with such uncertainty? As I read into the novel, this uncertainty seems to match his own uncertainty about who he is and why he does certain things. Is this command the most control he has in the novel? Since the novel is a reflection on the past, his certainty and power comes from hindsight and experience. Thus, the command and the uncertainty about his name underscores his authority over the tale, at least for a while.

Why Ishmael? The footnote tells us the biblical Ishmael was an outcast and wonderer, which matches the narrator well, as we see in the first chapter alone. This biblical allusion also seems to move us from a simple story to a much grander tale. Considering Melville could have called this character any name--"call me Bob" doesn't have the same ring, though--we can assume that the author knew the name would resonate for his readers, especially as his portrayal of Christianity during the first fourth of the novel showcases his knowledge of the Bible.

Why "call"? This sounds like a command, like one from a superior to a subordinate. Who is he talking to? Is this for the reader or another character? The rest of the novel is in first person, so why this 2nd-person beginning?

sane/chain=perfect rhyme, normal (vs. lines 2 & 4)

the Majority does NOT have a discerning eye. Discerning=a specialist, someone possessing beyond-normal knowledge.

prevail over time.

Dickinson lexicon: completely or suddenly.

"Majority" is pivot in the poem. It begins as the object of the statement that ends with the word, but from line 4 forward, "Majority" becomes the subject of the poem--as in, "Majority/in this, as all, prevail."

by the majority

OED: linger or dwell upon something.

I or God comparison--capitalized.

god-like

Eye/Majority is slant rhyme, abnormal.

Syntax omits the "is" (from line 1) when addressing sense vs. madness here.

notice the "is" is replaced with a dash in line 3. Move from standard syntax to clipped, irregular syntax

What makes Czar and Woman safer? Are they safer than wife?

What does "other" refer to? Before or after wife?

Why in quotation marks? What does it suggest?

Why odd? What does this term suggest?

She writes "safer" because . . .

Why safer? What does "woman" suggest about safety?

I think it's odd because . . .

Why Czar? Why not "president" or "boss"? Why is it capitalized? Czar suggests some type of monarch. I need to look up the 19th-century meaning in the OED.

Is "wife" an essential part of her or a position forced upon her?

Congratulations

Why safer?

Does czar equate with woman? Why?

What does "that" refer to? Is it a prior state or wife?

What is the significance of yellow? Does it suggest the leaves in the fall?

This is sage advice.

Now 2017, I'm afraid.