Sunday, January 26, 2020
Static Analysis of Uncertain Structures
Static Analysis of Uncertain Structures Static Analysis of Uncertain Structures Using Interval Eigenvalue Decomposition 1Mehdi Modares and 2Robert L. Mullen 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Tufts University Medford, MA, 02155 2Department of Civil Engineering Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH, 44106 Abstract: Static analysis is an essential procedure to design a structure. Using static analysis, the structures response to the applied external forces is obtained. This response includes internal forces/moments and internal stresses that is used in the design process. However, the mechanical characteristics of the structure possess uncertainties which alter the structures response. One method to quantify the presence of these uncertainties is interval or unknown-but-bounded variables. In this work a new method is developed to obtain the bounds on structures static response using interval eigenvalue decomposition of the stiffness matrix. The bounds of eigenvalues are obtained using monotonic behavior of eigenvalues for a symmetric matrix subjected to non-negative definite perturbations. Moreover, the bounds of eigenvectors are obtained using perturbation of invariant subspaces for symmetric matrices. Comparisons with other interval finite element solution methods are presented. Using this method, it has shown that obtaining the bound on static response of an uncertain structure does not require a combinatorial or Monte-Carlo simulation procedure. Keywords: Statics, Analysis, Interval, Uncertainty  © 2008 by authors. Printed in USA. REC 2008 Modares and Mullen In design of structures, the performance of the structure must be guaranteed over its lifetime. Moreover, static analysis is a fundamental procedure for designing reliable structure that are subjected to static or quasi-static forces induced by various loading conditions and patterns. However, in current procedures for static analysis of structural systems, the existence of uncertainty in either mechanical properties of the system or the characteristics of forcing function is generally not considered. These uncertainties can be attributed to physical imperfections, modeling inaccuracies and system complexities. Although, in a design process, uncertainty is accounted for by a combination of load amplification and strength reduction factors that are based on probabilistic models of historic data, consideration of the effects of uncertainty has been removed from current static analysis of structural systems. In this work, a new method is developed to perform static analysis of a structural system in the presence of uncertainty in the systems mechanical properties as well as uncertainty in the magnitude of loads. The presence of these uncertainties is quantified using interval or unknownbut-bounded variables. This method obtains the bounds on structures static response using interval eigenvalue decomposition of the stiffness matrix. The bounds of eigenvalues are obtained using the concept of monotonic behavior of eigenvalues for a symmetric matrix subjected to non-negative definite perturbations. Furthermore, the bounds of eigenvectors are obtained using perturbation of invariant subspaces for symmetric matrices. Using this method, it has shown that obtaining the bound on static response of an uncertain structure does not require a combinatorial or MonteCarlo simulation procedure. The equation of equilibrium for a multiple degree of freedom structure is defined as a linear system of equations as:  [K]{U}={P}          (1) where, [K]is the stiffness matrix, {U}is the vector of unknown nodal displacements, and {P} is the vector of nodal forces. The solution to this system of equation is:  {U} = [K]−1{P}          (2) The concept of interval numbers has been originally applied in the error analysis associated with digital computing. Quantification of the uncertainties introduced by truncation of real numbers in numerical methods was the primary application of interval methods (Moore 1966). A real interval is a closed set defined by extreme values as (Figure 1): ~l ,zu ] ={z∈â„Å"| zl ≠¤ z ≠¤ zu} (3)  Z = [z ~ x = [a,b] Figure 1. An interval variable. In this work, the symbol (~) represents an interval quantity. One interpretation of an interval number is a random variable whose probability density function is unknown but non-zero only in the range of interval. Another interpretation of an interval number includes intervals of confidence for ÃŽ ±-cuts of fuzzy sets. The interval representation transforms the point values in the deterministic system to inclusive set values in the system with bounded uncertainty. Considering the presence of interval uncertainty in stiffness and force properties, the system of equilibrium equations, Eq.(1), is modified as an interval system of equilibrium equation as: ~~  [K]{U}={P}          (4) ~ where, [K]is the interval stiffness matrix, {U}is the vector of unknown nodal displacements, and {P} is the vector of interval nodal forces. In development of interval stiffness matrix, the physical and mathematical characteristics of the stiffness matrix must be preserves. This system of interval equations is mainly solved using computationally iterative procedures (Muhanna et al 2007) and (Neumaier and Pownuk 2007). The present method proposes a computationally efficient procedure with nearly sharp results using interval eigenvalue decomposition of stiffness matrix. While the external force can also have uncertainties, in this work only problems with interval stiffness properties are addressed. However, for functional independent variations for both stiffness matrix and external force vector, the extension of the proposed work is straightforward. 3.1. DETERMINISTIC EIGENVALUE DECOMPOSITION The deterministic symmetric stiffness matrix can be decomposed using matrix eigenvalue decomposition as:  [K] = [ÃŽ ¦][Λ][ÃŽ ¦]T          (5) where, [ÃŽ ¦] is the matrix of eigenvectors, and [Λ] is the diagonal matrix of eigenvalues. Equivalently, N  [K] =∑Î »i{à †¢i}{à †¢i}T          (6) i=1 where, the values of ÃŽ »i is the eigenvalues and the vectors{à †¢i}are their corresponding eigenvectors. Therefore, the eigenvalue decomposition of the inverse of the stiffness matrix is: equivalently, [K]−1 =[ÃŽ ¦][Λ]−1[ÃŽ ¦]T          (7) −N 1T [K] 1 =∑ {à †¢i}{à †¢i}         (8) i=1 ÃŽ »i Substituting Eq.(8) in the solution for the deterministic linear system of equation, Eq.(2), the solution for response is shown as:  {U}= ( N 1 {à †¢i}{à †¢i}T ){P}          (9) 3.2. INTERVAL EIGENVALUE DECOMPOSITION Similarly, the solution to interval system of equilibrium equations, Eq.(4), is:  {U~}= (∑N ~1 {à †¢~ }{à †¢~i}T ){P}          (10) i i=1 ÃŽ »i ~~ } are their where, the values of ÃŽ »i is the interval eigenvalues and, the vectors {à †¢i corresponding interval eigenvectors that are to be determined. 4.1. BACKGROUND The research in interval eigenvalue problem began to emerge as its applicability in science and engineering was realized. Hollot and Bartlett (1987) studied the spectra of eigenvalues of an interval matrix family which are found to depend on the spectrum of its extreme sets. Dief (1991) presented a method for computing interval eigenvalues of an interval matrix based on an assumption of invariance properties of eigenvectors. In structural dynamics, Modares and Mullen (2004) have introduced a method for the solution of the interval eigenvalue problem which determines the exact bounds of the natural frequencies of a system using Interval Finite Element formulation. 4.2. DEFINITION The eigenvalue problems for matrices containing interval values are known as the interval ~ ~ nn ) and [A] is a member of the eigenvalue problems. If [A] is an interval real matrix (A∈â„Å" ~ interval matrix ([A]∈[A]) , the interval eigenvalue problem is shown as: ~ 4.2.1. Solution for Eigenvalues The solution of interest to the real interval eigenvalue problem for bounds on each eigenvalue is ~ defined as an inclusive set of real values (ÃŽ ») such that for any member of the interval matrix, the eigenvalue solution to the problem is a member of the solution set. Therefore, the solution to the interval eigenvalue problem for each eigenvalue can be mathematically expressed as: ~l ,ÃŽ »u ]|∀[A]∈[A~]: ([A]−Î »[I]){x} = 0}              (12)  {ÃŽ »Ã¢Ë†Ë†ÃŽ »= [ÃŽ » 4.2.2. Solution for Eigenvectors: The solution of interest to the real interval eigenvalue problem for bounds on each eigenvector is defined as an inclusive set of real values of vector {~x} such that for any member of the interval matrix, the eigenvector solution to the problem is a member of the solution set. Thus, the solution to the interval eigenvalue problem for each eigenvector is: 4.3. INTERVAL STIFFNESS MATRIX The systems global stiffness can be viewed as a summation of the element contributions to the global stiffness matrix: n i=1 where [ Li ] is the element Boolean connectivity matrix and [Ki ] is the element stiffness matrix in the global coordinate system. Considering the presence of uncertainty in the stiffness properties, the non-deterministic element elastic stiffness matrix is expressed as: ~ in which, [li ,ui ] is an interval number that pre-multiplies the deterministic element stiffness matrix. This procedure preserves the physical and mathematical characteristics of the stiffness matrix. Therefore, the systems global stiffness matrix in the presence of any uncertainty is the linear summation of the contributions of non-deterministic interval element stiffness matrices: ,ui ])[Li ][Ki ][Li ] =∑ i=1i=1 in which, [Ki ] is the deterministic element elastic stiffness contribution to the global stiffness matrix. 4.4. INTERVAL EIGENVALUE PROBLEM FOR STATICS The interval eigenvalue problem for a structure with stiffness properties expressed as interval values is:  [K~]{à †¢~} = (ÃŽ »~){à †¢~} (17) Substituting Eq.(16) in Eq.(17): ]){à †¢} = (ÃŽ »){à †¢ i=1 This interval eigenvalue problem can be transformed to a pseudo-deterministic eigenvalue problem subjected to a matrix perturbation. Introducing the central and radial (perturbation) stiffness matrices as: i 1 [K~R ] =∑i=n1 (ÃŽ µi )(ui 2−li )[Ki ]  ,   Î µi =[−1,1]             (20) Using Eqs. (19,20), the non-deterministic interval eigenpair problem, Eq.(18), becomes: Hence, the determination of bounds on eigenvalues and bounds on eigenvectors of a stiffness matrix in the presence of uncertainty is mathematically interpreted as an eigenvalue problem on a ~ central stiffness matrix ([KC ]) that is subjected to a radial perturbation stiffness matrix ([KR ]). This perturbation is in fact, a linear summation of non-negative definite deterministic element stiffness contribution matrices that are scaled with bounded real numbers(ÃŽ µi ) . 5. Solution 5.1. BOUNDS ON EIGENVALUES The following concepts must be considered in order to bound the non-deterministic interval eigenvalue problem, Eq.(21). The classical linear eigenpair problem for a symmetric matrix is: with the solution of real eigenvalues (ÃŽ »1 ≠¤ÃŽ »2 ≠¤ ≠¤ÃŽ »n ) and corresponding eigenvectors ( x1, x2,, xn ). This equation can be transformed into a ratio of quadratics known as the Rayleigh quotient:  R(x) =                     (23) The Rayleigh quotient for a symmetric matrix is bounded between the smallest and the largest eigenvalues (Bellman 1960 and Strang 1976).  (24) Thus, the first eigenvalue (ÃŽ »1) can be obtained by performing an unconstrained minimization on the scalar-valued function of Rayleigh quotient: ( (25) x∈ For finding the next eigenvalues, the concept of maximin characterization can be used. This concept obtains the kth eigenvalue by imposing (k-1) constraints on the minimization of the Rayleigh quotient (Bellman 1960 and Strang 1976): ÃŽ »k = max[minR(x)]  (subject to constrains(xT zi = 0),i =1,k −1,k ≠¥ 2 ) (26) 5.1.1. Bounding the Eigenvalues for Statics Using the concepts of minimum and maximin characterizations of eigenvalues for symmetric matrices, the solution to the interval eigenvalue problem for the eigenvalues of a system with uncertainty in the stiffness characteristics (Eq.(21)) for the first eigenvalue can be shown as: n x∈Rn{x}T {x} for the next eigenvalues: ~{x}T [K~]{x}{x}T ([K ]+[K~ ]){x} 5.1.2. Deterministic Eigenvalue Problems for Bounding Eigenvalues in Statics Substituting and expanding the right-hand side terms of Eqs. (27,28): ~T [K ]{x}~ui (li +u{x} (29) Since the matrix [Ki ] is non-negative definite, the term () is non-negative. Therefore, using the monotonic behavior of eigenvalues for symmetric matrices, the upper bounds on the eigenvalues in Eqs.(19,20) are obtained by considering maximum values of interval coefficients of uncertainty (ÃŽ µ~i = [−1,1]), ((ÃŽ µi )max = 1), for all elements in the radial perturbation matrix. Similarly, the lower bounds on the eigenvalues are obtained by considering minimum values of those coefficients, ((ÃŽ µi )min =−1) , for all elements in the radial perturbation matrix. Also, it can be observed that any other element stiffness selected from the interval set will yield eigenvalues between the upper and lower bounds. This imonotonic behavior of eigenvalues can also be used for parameterization purposes. Using these concepts, the deterministic eigenvalue problems corresponding to the maximum and minimum eigenvalues are obtained (Modares and Mullen 2004) as: n n 5.2. BOUNDS ON EIGENVECTORS 5.2.1. Invariant Subspace The subspace Ç is defined to be an invariant subspace of matrix [A] if:  AÇ⊂Ç (32) Equivalently, if Ç is an invariant subspace of [A]nn and also, columns of [X1]nm form a basis forÇ, then there is a unique matrix [L1]mm such that: The matrix [L1 ] is the representation of [A] on Ç with respect to the basis [X1] and the eigenvalues of [L1] are a subset of eigenvalues of [A]. Therefore, for the invariant subspace, ({v},ÃŽ ») is an eigenpair of [L1] if and only if ({[X1]{v}},ÃŽ ») is an eigenpair of [A]. 5.2.2. Theorem of Invariant Subspaces For a real symmetric matrix [A], considering the subspace Ç with the linearly independent columns of [X1] forming a basis for Ç and the linearly independent columns of [X2] spanning the complementary subspace Ç⊥ , then, Ç is an invariant subspace of [A] iff: Therefore, invoking this condition and postulating the definition of invariant subspaces, the symmetric matrix [A] can be reduced to a diagonalized form using a unitary similarity transformation as:  [X1X2]T [A][X1X2] = à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¡[X1]TT[[AA][][XX11]] à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ £[X2] where [Li ] =[Xi ]T [A][Xi ], i =1,2. 5.2.3. Simple Invariant Subspace [X1]T [A][X2]à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¤ à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¡[L1] [X2]T [A][X2]à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¥Ãƒ ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¦= à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ £[0] [0] à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¤ [L2]à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¥Ãƒ ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ ¦ (35) An invariant subspace is simple if the eigenvalues of its representation [L1] are distinct from other eigenvalues of [A]. Thus, using the reduced form of [A] with respect to the unitary matrix [[X1][X2]], Ç is a simple invariant subspace if the eigenvalues of [L1] and [L2] are distinct: 5.2.4. Perturbed Eigenvector Considering the column spaces of [X1] and [X2] to span two complementary simple invariant subspaces, the perturbed orthogonal subspaces are defined as:  [Xˆ1] =[X1]+[X 2 ][P] (37)  [Xˆ2 ] =[X 2]−[X1][P]T (38) in which [P] is a matrix to be determined. Thus, each perturbed subspace is defined as a summation of the exact subspace and the contribution of the complementary subspace. Considering a symmetric perturbation[E] , the perturbed matrix is defined as: Applying the theorem of invariant subspaces for perturbed matrix and perturbed subspaces, and linearizing due to a small perturbation compared to the unperturbed matrix, Eq.(34) is rewritten as: This perturbation problem is an equation for unknown [P] in the form of a Sylvesters equation in which, the uniqueness of the solution is guaranteed by the existence of simple perturbed invariant subspaces. Finally, specializing the result for one eigenvector and solving the above equation, the perturbed eigenvector is (Stewart and Sun 1990):  {xˆ1} = {x1}+[X 2 ](ÃŽ »1[I]−[L2 ])−1[X 2 ]T [E]{x1} 5.2.5 Bounding Eigenvectors for Statics For the perturbed eigenvalue problem for statics, Eq.(21), the error matrix is: (41) ~nu [E] = [KR ] = (∑(ÃŽ µi )( i − li )[Ki ]) (42) i=12 Using the error matrix in eigenvector perturbation equation for the first eigenvector, Eq.(33) the perturbed eigenvector is: in which, {à †¢1}is the first eigenvector, (ÃŽ »1) is the first eigenvalue, [ÃŽ ¦2 ] is the matrix of remaining eigenvectors and [Λ2 ] is the diagonal matrix of remaining eigenvalues obtained from the deterministic eigenvalue problem. Eq.(30,31 and 43) is used to calculate the bounds on interval eigenvalues and interval eigenvectors in the response equation, Eq.(9). In order to attain sharper results, the functional dependency of intervals in direct interval multiplications in Eq.(9) is considered. Also, input intervals are subdivided and the union of responses of subset results is obtained. 6. Numerical Example Problem The bounds on the static response for a 2-D statically indeterminate truss with interval uncertainty present in the modulus of elasticity of each element are determined (Figure 2). The crosssectional area A, the length for horizontal and vertical members L , the Youngs moduli E for all ~ elements are E = ([0.99,1.01])E . Figure 2. The structure of 2-D truss The problem is solved using the method presented in this work. The functional dependency of intervals in the response equation is considered. A hundred-segment subdivision of input intervals is performed and the union of responses is obtained. For comparison, an exact combinatorial analysis has performed which considers lower and upper values of uncertainty for each element i.e. solving (2n = 210 =1024 ) deterministic problems. The static analysis results obtained by the present method and the brute force combination solution for the vertical displacement of the top nodes in are summarized Table (1). Lower Bound Present Method Lower Bound Combination Method Upper Bound Combination Method Upper Bound Present Method Error % U à ¢Ã… ½Ã¢â‚¬ º PL à ¢Ã… ½Ã… ¾ à ¢Ã… ½Ã…“à ¢Ã… ½Ã… ¸ à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ AE à ¢Ã… ½Ã‚ -1.6265 -1.6244 -1.5859 -1.5838 % 0.12 Table1. Bounds on Vertical Displacement of Top Nodes The results show that the proposed robust method yields nearly sharp results in a computationally efficient manner as well as preserving the systems physics. 4.Conclusions A finite-element based method for static analysis of structural systems with interval uncertainty in mechanical properties is presented. This method proposes an interval eigenvalue decomposition of stiffness matrix. By obtaining the exact bounds on the eigenvalues and nearly sharp bounds on the eigenvectors, the proposed method is capable to obtain the nearly sharp bounds on the structures static response. Some conservative overestimation in response occurs that can be attributed to the linearization in formation of bounds of eigenvectors and also, the functional dependency of intervals in the dynamic response formulation. This method is computationally feasible and it shows that the bounds on the static response can be obtained without combinatorial or Monte-Carlo simulation procedures. This computational efficiency of the proposed method makes it attractive to introduce uncertainty into structural static analysis and design. While this methodology is shown for structural systems, its extension to various mechanics problems is straightforward. References Bellman, R. Introduction to Matrix Analysis, McGraw-Hill, New York 1960. Dief, A., Advanced Matrix theory for Scientists and Engineers, pp.262-281. Abacus Press 1991. Hollot, C. and A. Bartlett. On the eigenvalues of interval matrices, Technical Report, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 1987. Modares, M. and R. L. Mullen. Free Vibration of Structures with Interval Uncertainty. 9th ASCE Specialty Conference on Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability 2004. Moore, R. E. Interval Analysis. Prentice Hall, Englewood, NJ 1966. Muhanna, R. L. and R. L. Mullen. Uncertainty in Mechanics Problems-Interval-Based Approach. Journal of Engineering Mechanics June-2001, pp.557-566 2001. Muhanna, R. L., Zhang H. and R. L. Mullen. Interval Finite Element as a Basis for Generalized Models of Uncertainty in Engineering Mechanics, Reliable Computing, Vol. 13, pp. 173-194, 2007. Neumaier, A. Interval Methods for Systems of Equations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. Neumaier, A. and A. Pownuk. Linear Systems with Large Uncertainties, with Applications to Truss Structures, Reliable Computing, Vol. 13, pp. 149-172, 2007. Strang, G. Linear Algebra and its Applications, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976. Stewart, G.W. and J. Sun. Matrix perturbation theory, Chapter 5. Academic Press, Boston, MA 1990.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Black House Chapter Twenty-nine
29 â€Å"YOU GUYS READY?†Dale asks. â€Å"Aw, man, I don't know,†Doc says. This isn't the fifth time he's said it, maybe not even the fifteenth. He's pale, almost hyperventilating. The four of them are in a Winnebago kind of a rolling green room that has been set up on the edge of La Follette Park. Nearby is the podium on which they'll stand (always assuming Doc can keep his legs under him) and deliver their carefully crafted answers. On the slope running down to the broad river are gathered nearly four hundred newspeople, plus camera crews from six American networks and God knows how many foreign stations. The gentlemen of the press aren't in the world's best mood, because the prime space in front of the podium has been reserved for a representative sampling (drawn by lottery) of French Landing's residents. This was Dale's one ironclad demand for the press conference. The idea for the press conference itself came from Jack Sawyer. â€Å"Mellow out, Doc,†Beezer says. He looks bigger than ever in his gray linen slacks and open-collared white shirt almost like a bear in a tuxedo. He has even made an effort to comb his acres of hair. â€Å"And if you really think you're going to do one of the Three P's piss, puke, or pass out stay here.†â€Å"Nah,†Doc says miserably. â€Å"In for a penny, in for a fuckin' pound. If we're gonna give it a try, let's give it a try.†Dale, resplendent in his dress uniform, looks at Jack. The latter is if anything more resplendent in his gray summerweight suit and dark blue silk tie. A matching blue handkerchief pokes from the breast pocket of his coat. â€Å"You sure this is the right thing?†Jack is completely sure. It's not a matter of refusing to allow Sarah Gilbertson's Color Posse to steal the limelight; it's a matter of making certain that his old friend is in an unassailable position. He can do this by telling a very simple story, which the three other men will back up. Ty will do the same, Jack is confident. The story is this: Jack's other old friend, the late Henry Leyden, figured out the Fisherman's identity from the 911 tape. This tape was supplied by Dale, his nephew. The Fisherman killed Henry, but not before the heroic Mr. Leyden had mortally wounded him and passed his name to the police. ( Jack's other interest in this press conference, understood perfectly and supported completely by Dale, is to make sure Henry gets the credit he deserves.) An examination of French Landing property records and plats uncovered the fact that Charles Burnside owned a house on Highway 35, not far out of town. Dale deputized Jack and two widebodies who just happened to be in th e vicinity (that would be Messrs. Amberson and St. Pierre), and they went on out there. â€Å"From that point on,†Jack told his friends repeatedly in the days leading up to the press conference, â€Å"it's vital that you remember the three little words that lead to most acquittals in criminal trials. And what are those words?††? ®I can't remember,' †Dale said. Jack nodded. â€Å"Right. If you don't have a story to remember, the bastards can never trip you up. There was something in the air inside that place â€Å" â€Å"No lie,†Beezer rumbled, and grimaced. †and it messed us up. What we do remember is this:Ty Marshall was in the backyard, handcuffed to the clothesline whirligig.†Before Beezer St. Pierre and Jack Sawyer slipped through the police barricades and vaporized Black House with plastic explosive, one reporter got out there and took numerous pictures. We know which reporter it was, of course; Wendell Green has finally realized his dreams of fame and fortune. â€Å"And Burnside was dead at his feet,†Beezer said. â€Å"Right. With the key to the handcuffs in his pocket. Dale, you found that and released the boy. There were a few other kids in the backyard, but as to how many â€Å" â€Å"We don't remember,†Doc said. â€Å"As to their sexes â€Å" â€Å"A few boys, a few girls,†Dale said. â€Å"We don't remember exactly how many of each.†â€Å"And as for Ty, how he was taken, what happened to him â€Å" â€Å"He said he didn't remember,†Dale said, smiling. â€Å"We left. We think we called to the other kids â€Å" â€Å"But don't exactly remember †the Beez chips in. â€Å"Right, and in any case they seemed safe enough where they were for the time being. It was when we were putting Ty into the cruiser that we saw them all streaming out.†â€Å"And called the Wisconsin State Police for backup,†Dale said. â€Å"I do remember that.†â€Å"Of course you do,†Jack said benevolently. â€Å"But we have no idea how that darn place got blasted all to hell, and we don't know who did it.†â€Å"Some people,†Jack said, â€Å"are all too eager to take justice into their own hands.†â€Å"Lucky they didn't blow their heads clean off,†said Dale. â€Å"All right,†Jack tells them now. They're standing at the door. Doc has produced half a joint, and four quick, deep tokes have calmed him visibly. â€Å"Just remember why we're doing this. The message is that we were there first, we found Ty, we saw only a few other children, we deemed their situation secure due to the death of Charles Burnside, also known as Carl Bierstone, the South Side Monster, and the Fisherman. The message is that Dale behaved properly that we all did and he then handed the investigation off to the FBI and WSP, who are now holding the baby. Babies, I guess in this case. The message is that French Landing is okay again. Last but far from least, the message is that Henry Leyden's the real star. The heroic blind man who I.D.'d Charles Burnside and broke the Fisherman case, mortally wounding the monster and losing his own life in the process.†â€Å"Amen,†Dale says. â€Å"Sweet old Uncle Henry.†Beyond the door of the Winnebago, he can hear the surflike rumble of hundreds of people. Maybe even a thousand. He thinks, This is what rock acts hear before they hit the stage. A lump suddenly rises in his throat and he does his best to gulp it back down. He reckons that if he keeps thinking of Uncle Henry he will be okay. â€Å"Anything else,†Jack says, â€Å"questions that get too specific â€Å" â€Å"We can't remember,†Beezer says. â€Å"Because the air was bad,†Doc agrees. â€Å"Smelled like ether or chloro or something like that.†Jack surveys them, nods, smiles. This will be a happy occasion, on the whole, he thinks. A love feast. Certainly the idea that he might be dying in a few minutes has not occurred to him. â€Å"Okay,†he says, â€Å"let's go out there and do it. We're politicians this afternoon, politicians at a press conference, and it's the politicians who stay on message who get elected.†He opens the RV's door. The rumble of the crowd deepens in anticipation. They cross to the jury-rigged platform this way: Beezer, Dale, Jack, and the good Doctor. They move in a warm white nova glare of exploding flashbulbs and 10-k TV lights. Jack has no idea why they need such things the day is bright and warm, a Coulee Country charmer but it seems they do. That they always do. Voices cry, â€Å"Over here!†repeatedly. There are also thrown questions, which they ignore. When it comes time to answer questions they will as best they can but for now they are simply stunned by the crowd. The noise begins with the two hundred or so French Landing residents sitting on folding chairs in a roped-off area directly in front of the podium. They rise to their feet, some clapping, others waving clenched fists in the air like winning boxers. The press picks it up from them, and as our four friends mount the steps to the podium, the roar becomes a thunder. We are with them, up on the platform with them, and God, we see so many faces we know looking up at us. There's Morris Rosen, who slipped Henry the Dirtysperm CD on our first day in town. Behind him is a contingent from the now defunct Maxton Elder Care: the lovely Alice Weathers is surrounded by Elmer Jesperson, Ada Meyerhoff (in a wheelchair), Flora Flostad, and the Boettcher brothers, Hermie and Tom Tom. Tansy Freneau, looking a bit spaced out but no longer outright insane, is standing next to Lester Moon, who has his arm around her. Arnold â€Å"Flashlight†Hrabowski, Tom Lund, Bobby Dulac, and the other members of Dale's department are up on their feet, dancing around and cheering crazily. Look, over there that's Enid Purvis, the neighbor who called Fred at work on the day Judy finally high-sided it. There's Rebecca Vilas, looking almost nunnish in a high-collared dress (but cry no tears for her, Argentina; Becky has stashed away quite a nice bundle, thank you very much). Butch Yerxa is with her. At the back of the crowd, lurking shamefully but unable to stay away from the triumph of their friends, are William Strassner and Hubert Cantinaro, better known to us as Kaiser Bill and Sonny. Look there! Herb Roeper, who cuts Jack's hair, standing beside Buck Evitz, who delivers his mail. So many others we know, and to whom we must say good-bye under less than happy circumstances. In the front row, Wendell Green is hopping around like a hen on a hot griddle (God knows how he got into the roped-off area, being from La Riviere instead of French Landing, but he's there), taking pictures. Twice he bum ps into Elvena Morton, Henry's housekeeper. The third time he does it, she bats him a damned good one on top of the head. Wendell hardly seems to notice. His head has taken worse shots during the course of the Fisherman investigation. And off to one side, we see someone else we may or may not recognize. An elderly, dark-skinned gentleman wearing shades. He looks a little bit like an old blues singer. He also looks a little bit like a movie actor named Woody Strode. The applause thunders and thunders. Folks cheer. Hats are thrown in the air and sail on the summer breeze. Their welcome becomes a kind of miracle in itself, an affirmation, perhaps even an acceptance of the children, who are widely supposed to have been held in some bizarre sexual bondage linked to the Internet. (Isn't all that weird stuff somehow linked to the Internet?) And of course they applaud because the nightmare is over. The boogeyman died in his own backyard, died at the foot of a prosaic, now vaporized aluminum clothes whirligig, and they are safe again. Oh how the cheers ring in these few last moments of Jack Sawyer's life on planet Earth! Birds are startled up from the bank of the river and go squawking and veering into the sky, seeking quieter environs. On the river itself, a freighter responds to the cheers or perhaps joins in by blasting its air horn over and over. Other boats get the idea and add to the cacophony. Without thinking about what he's doing, Jack takes Doc's right hand in his left, Dale's left hand in his right. Dale takes Beezer's hand, and the Sawyer Gang raises their arms together, facing the crowd. Which, of course, goes nuts. If not for what is going to happen next, it would be the picture of the decade, perhaps of the century. They stand there in triumph, living symbols of victory with their linked hands in the sky, the crowd cheering, the videocams rolling, the Nikons flashing, and that is when the woman in the third row begins to make her move. This is someone else we know, but it takes us a second or two to recognize her, because she has had nothing at all to do with the case we have been following. She's just been . . . sort of lurking around. The two hundred seats up front have been awarded by random drawing from the French Landing voter rolls, the lucky lottery winners notified by Debbi Anderson, Pam Stevens, and Dit Jesperson. This woman was No. 199. Several people shrink from her as she passes them, although in their happy frenzy they are hardly aware of doing it; this pale woman with clumps of straw-colored hair sticking to her cheeks smells of sweat and sleeplessnes s and vodka. She's got a little purse. The little purse is open. She's reaching into it. And we who have lived through the second half of the twentieth century and have through the miracle of TV witnessed a dozen assassinations and near assassinations know exactly what she is reaching for. We want to scream a warning to the four men standing with their linked hands raised to the sky, but all we can do is watch. Only the black man with the sunglasses sees what's happening. He turns and starts to move, aware that she has probably beaten him, that he is probably going to be too late. No, Speedy Parker thinks. It can't end like this, it can't. â€Å"Jack, get down!†he shouts, but no one hears him over the clapping, the cheering, the wild hurrahs. The crowd seems to block him on purpose, surging back and forth in front of him no matter which way he moves. For a moment Wendell Green, still bobbing around like a man in the throes of an epileptic seizure, is in the assassin's path. Then she heaves him aside with the strength of a madwoman. Why not? She is a madwoman. â€Å"Folks †Dale's got his mouth practically on the microphone, and the P.A. horns mounted to the nearby trees whine with feedback. He's still holding up Jack's hand on his left and Beezer's on his right. There's a small, dazed smile on his face. â€Å"Thank you, folks, we sure do appreciate the support, but if you could just quiet down . . .†That's when Jack sees her. It's been a long time, years, but he recognizes her at once. He should; she spat in his face one day as he left the Los Angeles courthouse. Spat at him and called him a railroading bastard. She's lost fifty pounds since then, Jack thinks. Maybe more. Then he sees the hand in the purse, and even before it comes back out, he knows what's happening here. The worst is that he can do nothing about it. Doc and Dale have his hands in a death grip. He drags in a deep breath and shouts as he has been taught to do in just such a situation as this â€Å"Gun!†and Dale Gilbertson nods as if to say, Yes it is, it is fun. Behind her, pushing through the clapping, cheering crowd, he sees Speedy Parker, but unless Speedy's got a particularly good magic trick up his sleeve He doesn't. Speedy Parker, known in the Territories as Parkus, is just fighting his way into the aisle when the woman standing below the platform brings out her gun. It's an ugly little thing, a bulldog .32 with its handle wrapped in black kitchen tape, and Jack has just half a second to think that maybe it will blow up in her hand. â€Å"Gun!†Jack shouts again, and it's Doc Amberson who hears him and sees the snarling woman crouched just below them. â€Å"Ohfuck,†Doc says. â€Å"Wanda, no!†Jack cries. Doc has let go of his left hand (Dale has still got his right one hoisted high in the summer air) and Jack holds it out to her like a traffic cop. Wanda Kinderling's first bullet goes right through the palm, mushrooms slightly, begins to tumble, and punches into the hollow of Jack's left shoulder. Wanda speaks to him. There's too much noise for Jack to hear her, but he knows what she's saying, just the same: Here you go, you railroading son of a bitch Thorny says hello. She empties the remaining five bullets into Jack Sawyer's chest and throat. No one hears the insignificant popping sounds made by Wanda's bulldog .32, not over all that clapping and cheering, but Wendell Green has got his camera tilted up, and when the detective jerks backward, our favorite reporter's finger punches the Nikon's shutter-release button in simple reflex. It snaps off eight shots. The third is the picture, the one that will eventually become as well known as the photo of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima and that of Lee Harvey Oswald clutching his belly in the parking garage of the Dallas police station. In Wendell's photo, Jack Sawyer looks calmly down toward the shooter (who is just a blur at the very bottom of the frame). The expression on his face might be one of forgiveness. Daylight is clearly visible through the hole in the palm of his outstretched hand. Droplets of blood, as red as rubies, hang frozen in the air beside his throat, which has been torn open. The cheering and the applause stop as if amputated. There is a moment of awful, uncomprehending silence. Jack Sawyer, shot twice in the lungs and once in the heart, as well as in the hand and the throat, stands where he is, gazing at the hole below his spread fingers and above his wrist. Wanda Kinderling peers up at him with her dingy teeth bared. Speedy Parker is looking at Jack with an expression of naked horror that his wraparound sunglasses cannot conceal. To his left, up on one of four media towers surrounding the platform, a young cameraman faints and falls to the ground. Then, suddenly, the freeze-frame that Wendell has captured without even knowing it bursts open and everything is in motion. Wanda Kinderling screams â€Å"See you in hell, Hollywood†several people will later verify this and then puts the muzzle of her .32 to her temple. Her look of vicious satisfaction gives way to a more typical one of dazed incomprehension when the twitch of her finger produces nothing but a dry click. The bulldog .32 is empty. A moment later she is pretty much obliterated broken neck, broken left shoulder, four broken ribs as Doc stage-dives onto her and drives her to the ground. His left shoe strikes the side of Wendell Green's head, but this time Wendell sustains no more than a bloody ear. Well, he was due to catch a break, wasn't he? On the platform, Jack Sawyer looks unbelievingly at Dale, tries to speak, and cannot. He staggers, remains upright a moment longer, then collapses. Dale's face has gone from bemused delight to utter shock and dismay in a heartbeat. He seizes the microphone and screams, â€Å"HE'S SHOT! WE NEED A DOCTOR!†The P.A. horns shriek with more feedback. No doctor comes forward. Many in the crowd panic and begin to run. The panic spreads. Beezer is down on one knee, turning Jack over. Jack looks up at him, still trying to speak. Blood pours from the corners of his mouth. â€Å"Ah fuck, it's bad, Dale, it's really bad,†Beezer cries, and then he is knocked sprawling. One wouldn't expect that the scrawny old black man who's vaulted up onto the stage could knock around a bruiser like Beezer, but this is no ordinary old man. As we well know. There is a thin but perfectly visible envelope of white light surrounding him. Beezer sees it. His eyes widen. The crowd, meanwhile, flees to the four points of the compass. Panic infects some of the ladies and gentlemen of the press, as well. Not Wen-dell Green; he holds his ground like a hero, snapping pictures until his Nikon is as empty as Wanda Kinderling's gun. He snaps the black man as he stands with Jack Sawyer in his arms; snaps Dale Gilbertson putting a hand on the black man's shoulder; snaps the black man turning and speaking to Dale. When Wendell later asks French Landing's chief of police what the old fellow said, Dale tells him he doesn't remember besides, in all that pandemonium, he could hardly make it out, anyway. All bullshit, of course, but we may be sure that if Jack Sawyer had heard Dale's response, he would have been proud. When in doubt, tell 'em you can't remember. Wendell's last picture shows Dale and Beezer watching with identical dazed expressions as the old fellow mounts the steps to the Winnebago with Jack Sawyer still in his arms. Wendell has no idea how such an old party can carry such a big man Sawyer is six-two and must go a hundred and ninety at least but he supposes it's the same sort of deal that allows a distraught mother to lift up the car or truck beneath which her kid is pinned. And it doesn't matter. It's small beans compared to what happens next. Because when a group of men led by Dale, Beez, and Doc burst into the Winnebago (Wendell is at the rear of this group), they find nothing but a single overturned chair and several splashes of Jack Sawyer's blood in the kitchenette where Jack gave his little gang their final instructions. The trail of blood leads toward the rear, where there's a foldout bed and a toilet cubicle. And there the drops and splashes simply stop. Jack and the old man who carried him in here have vanished. Doc and Beezer are babbling, almost in hysterics. They bounce between questions of where Jack might have gone to distraught recollections of the final few moments on the platform before the shooting started. They can't seem to let that go, and Dale has an idea it will be quite a while before he can let go of it himself. He realizes now that Jack saw the woman coming, that he was trying to get his hand free of Dale's so he could respond. Dale thinks it may be time to quite the chief's job after all, find some other line of work. Not right now, though. Right now he wants to get Beezer and Doc away from the Color Posse, get them calmed down. He has something to tell them that may help with that. Tom Lund and Bobby Dulac join him, and the three of them escort Beez and Doc away from the Winnebago, where Special Agent Redding and WSP Detective Black are already establishing a CIP (crime investigation perimeter). Once they're behind the platform, Dale looks into the stunned faces of the two burly bikers. â€Å"Listen to me,†Dale says. â€Å"I should have stepped in front of him,†Doc says. â€Å"I saw her coming, why didn't I step in front â€Å" â€Å"Shut up and listen!†Doc shuts up. Tom and Bobby are also listening, their eyes wide. â€Å"That black man said something to me.†â€Å"What?†Beezer asks. â€Å"He said, ? ®Let me take him there may still be a chance.' â€Å" Doc, who has treated his share of gunshot wounds, gives a forlorn little chuckle. â€Å"And you believed him?†â€Å"Not then, not exactly,†Dale says. â€Å"But when we went in there and the place was empty â€Å" â€Å"No back door, either,†Beezer adds. Doc's skepticism has faded a little. â€Å"You really think . . . ?†â€Å"I do,†Dale Gilbertson says, and wipes his eyes. â€Å"I have to hope. And you guys have to help me.†â€Å"All right,†Beezer says. â€Å"Then we will.†And we think that here we must leave them for good, standing under a blue summer sky close to the Father of Waters, standing beside a platform with blood on the boards. Soon life will catch them up again and pull them back into its furious current, but for a few moments they are together, joined in hope for our mutual friend. Let us leave them so, shall we? Let us leave them hoping. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE TERRITORIES . . . ONCE UPON A TIME (as all the best old stories used to begin when we all lived in the forest and nobody lived anywhere else), a scarred Captain of the Outer Guards named Farren led a frightened little boy named Jack Sawyer through the Queen's Pavilion. That small boy did not see the Queen's court, however; no, he was taken through a maze of corridors behind the scenes, secret and seldom-visited places where spiders spun in the high corners and the warm drafts were heavy with the smells of cooking from the kitchen. Finally, Farren placed his hands in the boy's armpits and lifted him up. There's a panel in front of you now, he whispered do you remember? I think you were there. I think we both were, although we were younger then, weren't we? Slide it to the left. Jack did as he was bidden, and found himself peeking into the Queen's chamber; the room in which almost everyone expected her to die . . . just as Jack expected his mother to die in her room at the Alhambra Inn and Gardens in New Hampshire. It was a bright, airy room filled with bustling nurses who had assumed a busy and purposeful manner because they had no real idea of how to help their patient. The boy looked through the peephole into this room, at a woman he at first thought was his own mother somehow magically transported to this place, and we looked with him, none of us guessing that years later, grown to a man, Jack Sawyer would be lying in the same bed where he first saw his mother's Twinner. Parkus, who has brought him from French Landing to the Inner Baronies, now stands at the panel through which Jack, hoisted by Captain Farren, once looked. Beside him is Sophie of Canna, now known in the Territories as both the Young Queen and Sophie the Good. There are no nurses in the sleeping chamber today; Jack lies silent beneath a slowly turning fan. Where he is not wrapped in bandages, his skin is pale. His closed eyelids are hazed with a delicate purple bruise-blush. The rise and fall of the fine linen sheet drawn up to his chin can hardly be seen . . . but it's there. He breathes. For now, at least, he lives. Speaking quietly, Sophie says, â€Å"If he'd never touched the Talisman â€Å" â€Å"If he'd never touched the Talisman, actually held it in his arms, he would have been dead there on that platform before I could even get close to him,†Parkus says. â€Å"But of course, if not for the Talisman, he never would have been there in the first place.†â€Å"What chance has he?†She looks at him. Somewhere, in another world, Judy Marshall has already begun to subside back into her ordinary suburban life. There will be no such life for her Twinner, however hard times have come again in this part of the universe and her eyes gleam with an imperious, regal light. â€Å"Tell me the truth, sir; I would not have a lie.†â€Å"Nor would I give you one, my lady,†he tells her. â€Å"I believe that, thanks to the residual protection of the Talisman, he will recover. You'll be sitting next to him one morning or evening and his eyes will open. Not today, and probably not this week, but soon.†â€Å"And as for returning to his world? The world of his friends?†Parkus has brought her to this place because the spirit of the boy Jack was still lingers, ghostly and child-sweet. He was here before the road of trials opened ahead of him, and in some ways hardened him. He was here with his innocence still intact. What has surprised him about Jack as a grown man and touched him in a way Parkus never expected to be touched again is how much of that innocence still remained in the man the boy has become. That too is the Talisman's doing, of course. â€Å"Parkus? Your mind wanders.†â€Å"Not far, my lady; not far. You ask if he may return to his world after being mortally wounded three, perhaps even four times after being heart-pierced, in fact. I brought him here because all the magic that has touched and changed his life is stronger here; for good or ill, the Territories have been Jack Sawyer's wellspring since he was a child. And it worked. He lives. But he will wake different. He'll be like . . .†Parkus pauses, thinking hard. Sophie waits quietly beside him. Distantly, from the kitchen, comes the bellow of a cook lacing into one of the ‘prentices. â€Å"There are animals that live in the sea, breathing with gills,†Parkus says at last. â€Å"And over time's long course, some of them develop lungs. Such creatures can live both under the water and on the land. Yes?†â€Å"So I was taught as a girl,†Sophie agrees patiently. â€Å"But some of these latter creatures lose their gills and can live only on the land. Jack Sawyer is that sort of creature now, I think. You or I could dive into the water and swim beneath the surface for a little while, and he may be able to go back and visit his own world for short periods . . . in time, of course. But if either you or I were to try living beneath the water â€Å" â€Å"We'd drown.†â€Å"Indeed we would. And if Jack were to try living in his own world again, returning to his little house in Norway Valley, for instance, his wounds would return in a space of days or weeks. Perhaps in different forms his death certificate might specify heart failure, for instance but it would be Wanda Kinderling's bullet that killed him, all the same. Wanda Kinderling's heart shot.†Parkus bares his teeth. â€Å"Hateful woman! I believe the abbalah was aware of her no more than I was, but look at the damage she's caused!†Sophie ignores this. She is looking at the silent, sleeping man in the other room. â€Å"Condemned to live in such a pleasant land as this . . .†She turns to him. â€Å"It is a pleasant land, isn't it, sirrah? Still a pleasant land, in spite of all?†Parkus smiles and bows. Around his neck, a shark's tooth swings at the end of a fine gold necklace. â€Å"Indeed it is.†She nods briskly. â€Å"So living here might not be so terrible.†He says nothing. After a moment or two, her assumed briskness departs, and her shoulders sag. â€Å"I'd hate it,†she says in a small voice. â€Å"To be barred from my own world except for occasional brief visits . . . paroles . . . to have to leave at the first cough or twinge in my chest . . . I'd hate it.†Parkus shrugs. â€Å"He'll have to accept what is. Like it or not, his gills are gone. He's a creature of the Territories now. And God the Carpenter knows there's work for him over here. The business of the Tower is moving toward its climax. I believe Jack Sawyer may have a part to play in that, although I can't say for sure. In any case, when he heals, he won't want for work. He's a coppiceman, and there's always work for such.†She looks through the slit in the wall, her lovely face troubled. â€Å"You must help him, dear,†Parkus says. â€Å"I love him,†she says, speaking very low. â€Å"And he loves you. But what's coming will be difficult.†â€Å"Why must that be, Parkus? Why must life always demand so much and give so little?†He draws her into his arms and she goes willingly, her face pressed against his chest. In the dark behind the chamber in which Jack Sawyer sleeps, Parkus answers her question with a single word: Ka. Epilogue SHE SITS BY his bed on the first night of Full-Earth Moon, ten days after her conversation with Parkus in the secret passageway. Outside the pavilion, she can hear children singing â€Å"The Green Corn A-Dayo.†On her lap is a scrap of embroidery. It is summer, still summer, and the air is sweet with summer's mystery. And in this billowing room where his mother's Twinner once lay, Jack Sawyer opens his eyes. Sophie lays aside her embroidery, leans forward, and puts her lips soft against the shell of his ear. â€Å"Welcome back,†she says. â€Å"My heart, my life, and my love: welcome back.†April 14, 2001
Friday, January 10, 2020
Literary Devices Essay
A form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. Alliteration The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word, such as the repetition of b sounds in Keats’s â€Å"beaded bubbles winking at the brim†(â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale†) or Coleridge’s â€Å"Five miles meandering in a mazy motion (â€Å"Kubla Khan†). A common use for alliteration is emphasis. It occurs in everyday speech in such phrases as â€Å"tittle-tattle,†â€Å"bag and baggage,†â€Å"bed and board,†â€Å"primrose path,†and â€Å"through thick and thin†and in sayings like â€Å"look before you leap.†Some literary critics call the repetition of any sounds alliteration. However, there are specialized terms for other sound-repetitions. Consonance repeats consonants, but not the vowels, as in horror-hearer. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, please-niece-ski-tree. Allusion A brief reference to a person, event, place, or phrase. The writer assumes readers will recognize the reference. For instance, most of us would know the difference between one being as reliable as George Washington or as reliable as Benedict Arnold. Allusions that are commonplace for readers in one era may require footnotes for readers in a later time. Ambiguity (1) A statement that has two or more possible meanings; (2) a statement whose meaning is unclear. Depending on the circumstances, ambiguity can be negative, leading to confusion or even disaster (the ambiguous wording of a general’s note led to the deadly charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War). On the other hand, writers often use it to achieve special effects, for instance, to reflect the complexity of an issue or to indicate the difficulty, perhaps the impossibility, of determining truth. Many of Hamlet’s statements to the King, to Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, and to other characters are deliberately ambiguous, to hide his real purpose from them. Analogy The comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. The key is to ascertain the relationship between the first so you can choose the correct second pair. Part to whole, opposites and results of are types of relationships you should find. Anecdote Short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. Anthropomorphism Used with God or gods. The act of attributing human forms or qualities to entities that are not human. Specifically, anthropomorphism is the describing of gods or goddesses in human forms and possessing human characteristics such as jealousy, hatred, or love. Mythologies of ancient peoples were almost entirely concerned with anthropomorphic gods. The Greek gods such as Zeus and Apollo often were depicted in anthropomorphic forms. The avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu possessed human forms and qualities. Antihero A protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. He or she may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely pathetic. Often what antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all, is that the world isolates them in an existence devoid of God and absolute values. Yossarian from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is an example of an antihero. Aphorism A brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement of a principle or precept given in pointed words. Example: * Hippocrates: Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experimenting dangerous, reasoning difficult. * Alexander Pope: Some praise at morning what they blame at night. * Ralph Waldo Emerson: Imitation is suicide * Benjamin Franklin: Lost time is never found again. Apostrophe A direct address to a person, thing, or abstraction, such as â€Å"O Western Wind,†or â€Å"Ah, Sorrow, you consume us.†Apostrophes are generally capitalized. Archetype A term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. In literature, characters, images, and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences, regardless of when or where they live, are considered archetypes. Common literary archetypes include stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the underworld, and ascents to heaven. See also mythological criticism. Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds, please-niece-ski-tree. Cadence The melodic pattern just before the end of a sentence or phrase – for instance an interrogation or an exhortation. More generally, the natural rhythm of language depending on the position of stressed and unstressed syllables. Cadence is a major component of individual writers’ styles. A cadence group is a coherent group of words spoken as a single rhythmic unit, such as a prepositional phrase, â€Å"of parting day†or a noun phrase, â€Å"our inalienable rights.†Catharsis Meaning â€Å"purgation,†catharsis describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy. In his Poetics, Aristotle discusses the importance of catharsis. The audience faces the misfortunes of the protagonist, which elicit pity and compassion. Simultaneously, the audience also confronts the failure of the protagonist, thus receiving a frightening reminder of human limitations and frailties. Ultimately, however, both of these emotions are purged because the tragic protagonist’s suffering is an affirmation of human values rather than a despairing denial of them. See also tragedy. Clichà © An idea or expression that has become tired and trite from overuse, its freshness and clarity having worn off. Clichà ©s often anesthetize readers, and are usually a sign of weak writing. Colloquial Refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang. Connotation The emotions, values, or images associated with a word. The intensity of emotions or the power of the values and images associated with a word varies. Words connected with religion, politics and sex tend to have the strongest feelings and images associated with them.†¨ For most people, the word mother calls up very strong positive feelings and associations – loving, self-sacrificing, always there for you, understanding, etc.; the denotative meaning, on the other hand, is simply â€Å"a female animal who has borne one or more children.†Of course connotative meanings do not necessarily reflect reality; for instance, if someone said, â€Å"His mother is not very motherly,†you would immediately understand the difference between motherly (connotation) and mother (denotation). Consonance Repeats consonants, but not the vowels, as in horror-hearer Deism An intellectual religious movement en vogue through the late seventeenth century up to the late eighteenth century concerned with rational rather than faith-based approaches to religion and understanding God. The movement is often associated with the Enlightenment movement, Neoclassicism, and Free Masonry. In general, Deists prided themselves on free-thinking and logic and tended to reject any specific dogma, so it is difficult to define the beliefs of an individual Deist without referring to generalities. Deists were heavily influenced by John Locke’s mechanistic philosophy and Newtonian physics, seeing the universe as a place ruled rationally by cause and effect. They tended to see God as an impersonal but intelligent force, a first cause that created the universe and set it in motion, who then allowed life and matter to proceed on its own without further need for divine intervention. The logic is that, if God is infallible, omniscient and omnipotent, logically he would pre- establish his design in the world in such a way that he would not need to tinker constantly with it or adjust it through supernatural intervention. Deistic writings often refer to the Deity using metaphors of the architect, the watchmaker, the mason, or some other skilled worker who measures out the universe with geometric and mechanical precision. Thus, a common Deist metaphor compares the universe to a perfectly designed watch or clock – a construct created with complex gears and moving parts, then wound up, and finally released to operate on its own without any more effort on the creator’s part. Denotation The literal meaning of a word; there are no emotions, values, or images associated with denotative meaning. Scientific and mathematical language carries few, if any emotional or connotative meanings. Dialect The language of a particular district, class, or group of persons. The term dialect encompasses the sounds, spelling, grammar, and diction employed by a specific people as distinguished from other persons either geographically or socially. Dialect is a major technique of characterization that reveals the social or geographic status of a character. Diction A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to help create meaning. Formal diction consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone. Middle diction maintains correct language usage, but is less elevated than formal diction; it reflects the way most educated people speak. Informal diction represents the plain language of everyday use, and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words. Poetic diction refers to the way poets sometimes employ an elevated diction that deviates significantly from the common speech and writing of their time, choosing words for their supposedly inherent poetic qualities. Since the eighteenth century, however, poets have been incorporating all kinds of diction in their work and so there is no longer an automatic distinction between the language of a poet and the language of everyday speech Enjambment A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line – usually applied to poetic formats. Euphemism Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one. For instance, saying â€Å"Grandfather has gone to a better place†is a euphemism for â€Å"Grandfather has died.†The idea is to put something bad, disturbing, or embarrassing in an inoffensive or neutral light. Frequently, words referring directly to death, unpopular politics, blasphemy, crime, and sexual or excremental activities are replaced by euphemisms. Farce A farce is a form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations. Traits of farce include (1) physical bustle such as slapstick, (2) sexual misunderstandings and mix-ups, and (3) broad verbal humor such as puns. Many literary critics (especially in the Victorian period) have tended to view farce as inferior to â€Å"high comedy†that involves brilliant dialogue. Many of Shakespeare’s early works, such as The Taming of the Shrew, are considered farces. Flashback Action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time which is necessary to better understanding. Foil A secondary character who contrasts with a major character; in Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras, whose fathers have been killed, are foils for Hamlet. Foreshadowing Where the author drops subtle hints about the plot development to come later in the story. Hyperbole Exaggeration, often extravagant; it may be used for serious or for comic effect. Idiom In its loosest sense, the word idiom is often used as a synonym for dialect or idiolect. In its more scholarly and narrow sense, an idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language. For instance, the English expression, â€Å"She has a bee in her bonnet,†meaning â€Å"she is obsessed,†cannot be literally translated into another language word for word. It is a non-literal idiomatic expression, akin to â€Å"She is green with envy.†In the same way, the Spanish phrase, â€Å"Me gustan los arboles,†is usually translated as, â€Å"I like the trees,†but if we were to pull the phrase apart and read it word for word, it would make no sense in analytical English (i.e., â€Å"To me pleases the trees†). Imagery Language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. Each of these types of imagery has a specific name: * Olfactory imagery stimulates the sense of smell. * Tactile imagery stimulates the sense of touch. * Visual imagery stimulates the sense of sight. * Auditory imagery stimulates the sense of hearing. * Gustatory imagery stimulates the sense of taste. * Kinesthesia is imagery that recreates a feeling of physical action or natural bodily function (like a pulse, a heartbeat, or breathing). * Synaesthesia is imagery that involves the use of one sense to evoke another (Ex: loud color; warm gesture). Irony The discrepancy (incongruity) between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, what is meant or said and what others understand. Sometimes irony is classified into types: in situational irony, expectations aroused by a situation are reversed; in cosmic irony or the irony of fate, misfortune is the result of fate, chance or God; in dramatic irony, the audience knows more than the characters in the play, so that words and action have additional meaning for the audience; Socractic irony is named after Socrates’ teaching method, whereby he assumes ignorance and openness to opposing points of view which turn out to be (he shows them to be) foolish. Metaphor A comparison of two dissimilar things, which does not use â€Å"like†or â€Å"as,†Metonymy Substituting a word for another word closely associated with it. Queen Elizabeth controlled the crown for years. The crown = the monarchy He has always loved the stage. The stage = the theater He will follow the cross. The cross = Christianity Motif (1) A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work. (2) A dominant theme or central idea. Mood The emotional attitude the author takes towards the subject. Narrator The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice. With a first-person narrator, the I in the story presents the point of view of only one character. The reader is restricted to the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of that single character. First-person narrators can play either a major or a minor role in the story they are telling. An unreliable narrator reveals an interpretation of events that is somehow different from the author’s own interpretation of those events. Often, the unreliable narrator’s perception of plot, characters, and setting becomes the actual subject of the story. Narrators can be unreliable for a number of reasons: they might lack self-knowledge, they might be inexperienced, or they might even be insane. Naive narrators are usually characterized by youthful innocence, such as Mark Twain’s Huck Finn or J. D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield. An omniscient narrator is an all-knowing narrator who i s not a character in the story and who can move from place to place and pass back and forth through time, slipping into and out of characters as no human being possibly could in real life. Omniscient narrators can report the thoughts and feelings of the characters, as well as their words and actions. The narrator of The Scarlet Letter is an omniscient narrator. Editorial omniscience refers to an intrusion by the narrator in order to evaluate a character for a reader, as when the narrator of The Scarlet Letter describes Hester’s relationship to the Puritan community. Narration that allows the characters’ actions and thoughts to speak for themselves is called neutral omniscience. Most modern writers use neutral omniscience so that readers can reach their own conclusions. Limited omniscience occurs when an author restricts a narrator to the single perspective of either a major or minor character. The way people, places, and events appear to that character is the way they appear to the reader. Sometimes a limited omniscient narrator can see into more than one character, particularly in a work that focuses on two characters alternately from one chapter to the next. Short stories, however, are frequently limited to a single character’s point of view. Onomatopoeia A word whose sounds seem to duplicate the sounds they describe–hiss, buzz, bang, murmur, meow, growl. Oxymoron A statement with two parts that seem contradictory; examples: sad joy, a wise fool, the sound of silence, or Hamlet’s saying, â€Å"I must be cruel only to be kind.†Parable A story or short narrative designed to allegorically reveal some religious principle, moral lesson, psychological reality, or general truth. Rather than using abstract discussion, a parable always teaches by comparison with real or literal occurrences, especially everyday occurrences a wide number of people can relate to. Well known examples of parables include those found in the Gospels, such as â€Å"The Prodigal Son†and â€Å"The Good Samaritan.†Paradox A statement whose two parts seem contradictory yet make sense with more thought. Christ used paradox in his teaching: â€Å"They have ears but hear not.†Or in ordinary conversation, we might use a paradox, â€Å"Deep down he’s really very shallow.†Paradox attracts the reader’s or the listener’s attention and gives emphasis. Parody A parody imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work in order to make fun of those same features. The humorist achieves parody by exaggerating certain traits common to the work, much as a caricaturist creates a humorous depiction of a person by magnifying and calling attention to the person’s most noticeable features. The term parody is often used synonymously with the more general term spoof, which makes fun of the general traits of a genre rather than one particular work or author. Often the subject matter of a parody is comically inappropriate, such as using the elaborate, formal diction of an epic to describe something trivial like washing socks or cleaning a dusty attic. Persona A mask for the author to speak through. In literature, a persona is a speaker created by a writer to tell a story or to speak in a poem. A persona is not a character in a story or narrative, nor does a persona necessarily directly reflect the author’s personal voice. A persona is a separate self, created by and distinct from the author, through which he or she speaks. Personification Treating abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings, e.g., â€Å"nature wept†or â€Å"the wind whispered many truths to me.†Point of view Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told. What we know and how we feel about the events in a work are shaped by the author’s choice of point of view. The teller of the story, the narrator, inevitably affects our understanding of the characters’ actions by filtering what is told through his or her own perspective. The various points of view that writers draw upon can be grouped into two broad categories: (1) the third-person narrator uses he, she, or they to tell the story and does not participate in the action; and (2) the first-person narrator uses I and is a major or minor participant in the action. In addition, a second-person narrator, you, is also possible, but is rarely used because of the awkwardness of thrusting the reader into the story, as in â€Å"You are minding your own business on a park bench when a drunk steps out and demands your lunch bag.†An objective point of view employs a third-person narrator who does not see into the mind of any character. From this detached and impersonal perspective, the narrator reports action and dialogue without telling us directly what the characters think and feel. Since no analysis or interpretation is provided by the narrator, this point of view places a premium on dialogue, actions and details to reveal character to the reader. Pun The usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. It consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. It can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are often considered to be cheesy. * A hangover is the wrath of grapes. * Without geometry, life is pointless. * Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red. Repetition The return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect in any form of literature. Repetition is an effective literary device that may bring comfort, suggest order, or add special meaning to a piece of literature. Satire A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. Simile A comparison of two dissimilar things using â€Å"like†or â€Å"as†Stereotype A simplified and/or standardized conception or image with specific meaning, often held in common by members of a group. A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion or image. Stereotypes can range from those that are wildly inaccurate and negative to those that are more than a little bit true and may even shed positive light upon the group of individuals. They are typically generalizations based on minimal or limited knowledge about a group to which the person doing the stereotyping does not belong. Style Manner of expression; how a speaker or writer says what he says. Suspense The feeling of uncertainty and interest about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience’s perceptions in a dramatic work. Symbolism When an author uses an object or idea to suggest more than its literal meaning. A person, place, or event stands for something other than it is, usually something broader or deeper than it is. Symbols In general terms, anything that stands for something else. Obvious examples are flags, which symbolize a nation; the cross is a symbol for Christianity; Uncle Sam a symbol for the United States. In literature, a symbol is expected to have significance. Keats starts his ode with a real nightingale, but quickly it becomes a symbol, standing for a life of pure, unmixed joy; then before the end of the poem it becomes only a bird again. Synecdoche When one uses a part to represent the whole. â€Å"Lend me your ears.†(give me your attention) Syntax The way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together Theme (1) The abstract concept explored in a literary work; (2) frequently recurring ideas, such as enjoy life while you can; (3) repetition of a meaningful element in a work, such as references to sight, vision and blindness in Oedipus Rex. Sometimes the theme is also called the motif. Themes in Hamlet include the nature of filial duty and the dilemma of the idealist in a non-ideal situation. A theme in Keats’s â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale†is the difficulty of correlating the ideal and the real. Tone The writer’s attitude toward the material and/or readers. Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc. Tragedy A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death. Tragedies recount an individual’s downfall; they usually begin high and end low. Shakespeare is known for his tragedies, including Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet. The revenge tragedy is a well-established type of drama that can be traced back to Greek and Roman plays, particularly through the Roman playwright Seneca (c. 3 b.c.–a.d. 63). Revenge tragedies basically consist of a murder that has to be avenged by a relative of the victim. Typically, the victim’s ghost appears to demand revenge and, invariably, madness of some sort is worked into subsequent events, which ultimately end in the deaths of the murderer, the avenger and a number of other characters. Shakespeare’s Hamlet subscribes to the basic ingredients of revenge tragedy . It also transcends these conventions because Hamlet contemplates revenge, suicide and the meaning of life itself. The tragic irony is found in tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus ironically ends up hunting himself. A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death. Tragic irony is a form of dramatic irony found in tragedies such as Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus ironically ends up hunting himself.. Tragic flaw An error or defect in the tragic hero that leads to his downfall, such as greed, pride, or ambition. This flaw may be a result of bad character, bad judgment, an inherited weakness, or any other defect of character. Tragicomedy A type of drama that combines certain elements of tragedy and comedy. The play’s plot tends to be serious, leading to a terrible catastrophe, until an unexpected turn of events leads to a reversal of circumstance, and the story ends happily. Tragicomedy often employs a romantic, fast-moving plot dealing with love, jealousy, disguises, treachery, intrigue, and surprises, all moving toward a melodramatic resolution. Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a tragicomedy. Understatement (also known as litotes and meiosis) Casual or light treatment of the subject, it has two effects: (1) shows that the author does not take a subject seriously, (2) calls upon the moral indignation of the reader because the subject does not seem to be taken seriously. * Example: â€Å"I’m really glad that you have come to visit,†said the spider to the fly. Verisimilitude Something that has the appearance of being true or real. Vernacular The everyday or common language of a geographic area or the native language of commoners in a country as opposed to a prestigious dead language maintained artificially in schools or in literary texts. Latin, for instance, has not been a vernacular language for about 1250 years. Sanskrit has not been a vernacular language in India for more than 2000 years. However, Latin in medieval Europe and Sanskrit in ancient India were considered much more suitable for art, scholarship, poetry, and religious texts than the common tongue of everyday people even though (or perhaps because) only a small percentage of the learned could read the older languages.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
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