It may be the heroin that a down-and-out jazz pianist uses to face the terror of pouring his life into an inanimate instrument. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it.' The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories, as told by James Baldwin, detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their heads above water.
Language eng Summary "'There's no way not to suffer. United States - Social life and customs - 20th century - Fiction.GradeSaver, 23 November 2021 Web.Label Going to meet the man Title Going to meet the man Statement of responsibility James Baldwin Creator
AUDIO THE ROCKPILE JAMES BALDWIN HOW TO
Next Section Irony Previous Section Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format GradeSaver "Going to Meet the Man Metaphors and Similes". In "Come Out the Wilderness," Baldwin describes the malevolent quality taken on by Ruth's telephone: "And as the night faded from black to gray to daylight, the telephone began to seem another presence in the house, sitting not far from her like a great, malevolent black cat that might, at any moment, with one shrill cry, scatter her life like dismembered limbs all over this tiny room." The foreboding associations of black cats reflect Ruth's fear that her family may call any day and tell her that someone has died, thus forcing her to return to the South and leave New York behind for an unknown amount of time.
Telephone like a black cat (Simile) - "Come Out the Wilderness"
During the stretch of time he lived at Isabel's, he poured his entire being into learning the piano. And the sound didn’t make any sense to her, didn’t make any sense to any of them-naturally." The description of Sonny as merely "a sound" emphasizes the so-called "cloud" he existed in. Isabel finally confessed that it wasn’t like living with a person at all, it was like living with sound. The narrator of "Sonny's Blues" describes his brother's presence at Isabel's house while he was away in the army: "Well, I really don’t know how they stood it. Like living with sound (Simile) - "Sonny's Blues" When the narrator of "Sonny's Blues" meets his brother after he's released from jail, he says, "The seven years’ difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge." The narrator feels disconnected from his brother because their experiences have been so different in life, but he's hoping to invert this difference someday and make their different experiences tools to better understand one another. Age difference like a chasm (Simile) - "Sonny's Blues" Perhaps when drunk, Jamie yearns for the sense of purpose he felt when he was in the army, a purpose that he has lost now that he is back on what used to be his father's land, land that no longer belongs to him. Drunk, he became rigid, as though he imagined himself in the army again." This image goes against the typical perception of drunkenness loosening a person up. In "The Man Child," Baldwin describes Jamie's drunkenness through the eyes of Eric: "Eric had seen him much drunker. Rigid as a soldier (Simile) - "The Man Child" He writes, "The child stared at the man in fascination and terror-when a girl down home she had seen rabbits stand so paralyzed before the barking dog." The comparison both provides exposition regarding Elizabeth's rural, southern origins and emphasizes John's vulnerability and helplessness under Gabriel's thumb. Buy Study Guide John, like a rabbit facing a barking dog - "The Rockpile" (Metaphor)īaldwin describes Elizabeth's witness of John enduring Gabriel's interrogation.