The Art of Drowning by Billy Collins

In Billy Collins's poem The Art of Drowning, he begins by negatively introducing the flashes of our lives one believes to see before they die. He declares that "while you drown," your life flashes before your eyes; however, he attributes panic or submergence to "startle" and commence this vision. Collins personifies "time" when he explains that it is panic which "startles time into such compression." Time, as a result of a sudden, unpredictable emotion, panic, is forced to hastily collect constituents of a person's life without being given much notice, and so "decades" must be crushed. The use of crushed connotes that these flashes are violently assembled to a dying person; furthermore, the construction of these last visions appear to be forced and irrelevant to one's life. Thus, our "desperate, final seconds" conclude in "vice," or wickedness. Collins subtly communicates already at the start of the poem that these last flashes of our lives are in fact not as brilliant as many "survivors" have indicated. Although these survivors also proclaim that the flashes are "bolts of truth," the only flash one will see "will probably be a fish." Collins rejects the possibility of these supernatural visions to exist by degrading them to be nothing more than a fish. One questions then how Collins perceives the human race. Does he believe that society construes theories so that people are less frightened by death? Or is he trying to eliminate a person's fear of the flashes they are supposed to receive before they pass?

Travels to the Light

As Janie desperately seeks for her "world to be made," Ree also dreams of fulfilling her aspirations. This picture illustrates how each character possess a dark, gloomy side, but at the same time they aspire to obtain a life of content and light. Within the picture, both Janie and Ree begin on the left, in darkness, and throughout the novel and their journeys; however, they always see illumination and brightness ahead of them. Their travels are driven in hope of reaching lightness, whether it to obtain contentedness or peace.

Essay Topic

"Nothing on the place nor in her grandma's house answered her. She searched as much of the world as she could...Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made" (Hurston 11).
"She'd never get away from her family as planned, off to the U.S. Army...She'd never have only her own concerns to tote. She'd never have her own concerns" (Woodrell 15).

Essay Topic: How do the living situations of Ree and Janie compare? How does this affect their feelings of fulfillment?

Winter's Bone (131-162): Teardrop's Tears

Woodrell continues to give insight to Teardrop's character in the next few chapters of Winter's Bone. After Teardrop picks up Ree from Hawkfall, he exposes a facet of his character that he typically masks from the world: his sentimentality. When Woodrell first introduces Teardrop, he focuses on Teardrop's scars and tattoos. The scars on Teardrop's face disallow him from forgetting about the past or the dangers of his family's business. More importantly, Woodrell notes the three tattooed teardrops on his face, which "folks" believed "told you everything you had to know about the man" (24). Although they believe his teardrops represent the three times he is sentenced to prison, one questions why he would choose teardrops to represent shameful deeds. However, after learning more about Teardrop, and although he tries to maintain an intimidating and unsympathetic disposition, one identifies that perhaps the purpose of his teardrops is to give insight to his unveiled, emotional self. In fact, Teardrop proves he does respect his family and blood even though he is originally unwilling to help Ree search for Jessup. He now comforts Ree by telling her that he will "help [her] some" and that she "owns [him] now" (140-141). Furthermore, he explains his unwillingness to help her originally because if he were to know who killed Jessup, he will not be able to restrain himself from killing the murderer. Teardrop exposes that he does care about Ree and Jessup, and he originally purposefully tries to stay away from conflicts to not cause more problems. Thus, one returns to Woodrell's introduction to Teardrop to question how his tattooed teardrops "told you everything you had to know about the man." Unlike most folks, Woodrell divulges that Teardrop's tears represent that despite his horrifying countenance, he has compassion and love within his soul.

Winter's Bone (81-109): Sources of Belief

In the next few chapters of Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone, Woodrell introduces a new character, April Dunahew who was Jessup's former girlfriend. Interestingly enough, Woodrell divulges much information about April through her living situation. He describes that when Ree took care of her while she was sick, she induces "smoking sage" to add a "churchy oomph." As a result, she "cleansed" the house "of lingering angers...that clung to old shadows" (90). Woodrell reveals that through April's religious conviction, she is capable of cleansing the house of "old shadows," and therefore "lingering angers." In order to become well again, April lets go of past irritations so that she may move on and once again progress and flourish. In the end, she does become well again; thus, Woodrell exposes that through April's religious conviction, she is allotted the necessary hope and optimism to help her rise above her present obstacles. Through faith, April is able to continue living. April's positivity and vivacity greatly contrasts Ree's home. When Woodrell first illustrates Ree's home, he emphasizes that the house's oldness disallows Ree and her family from letting go of the past. "The furniture...had been in use since Mom was a child" while "warped shadow-shapes lay all across the floor and walls and bulged in the corners" (7). In addition to the worn-out furniture from bygone years, Woodrell's depiction of the "warped shadow-shapes" makes the house's environment unsettling and uncomfortable. One questions whether it is the over-used furniture or the Dollys that cast these distorted and "warped" shadows. Furthermore, unlike April, the Dollys are stuck in the past. Their old furniture further fosters an uneasy atmosphere because in addition to evoking memories of Ree's mother's "good" days, it reminds them of their dead Aunt bernadette and dead Uncle Jack who both died tragically. Yet, it is Ree's lack of spiritual faith that provides her home with such a dreary environment. She, unlike April, discovers faith within nature, specifically among the "pine trees with low limbs." Ree claims that these trees "made a stronger vault for the spirit than pews and pulpits ever could," which directly reveals that she does not gain strength or belief through organized religion. After introducing April, one questions what role religion and faith play in the novel and how such a theme develops and influences the growth of each character.

Winter's Bone (20-81): Dreams

In our next reading of Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone, Woodrell begins to illustrate the theme of desire. Woodrell introduces a new character, Gail Lockrum, who is Ree's best friend and is confined to her current lifestyle and cannot attain her dreams. Woodrell writes that she "had been required by pregnancy to marry Floyd Langan," and at a young age, she must care for her child, Ned. Even before Gail gave birth to Ned, Woodrell explains that she and Ree grew close by spending "idle hours of each passing year happily swapping clothes and dreams" (31). Ree and Gail are capable of maintaing a friendship built upon "swapping" their dreams because they are both continuously unable to attain their dreams "each passing year." While Gail is forced to take care of Ned, although Ree does not have a child of her own, she is obliged to take care of her brothers, mom, and house. Sadly, Woodrell reveals that while both girls are so young, their liveliness and vivacity has already halted. Similarly to a person of an older age who must focus on their responsibilities, such as work, kids etc., both Gail and Ree bond well because they dream. Like Gail and Ree, Sonny and Harold share the same desire to dream. When Ree teaches them how to wash their mother's hair, they are distracted by the their favorite program that is shown on tv. Woodrell describes the show to possess a "smiley dog" who was "chasing adventure" while "wearing a suit of shining armor" (40). Their love for this program reveals that they are absorbed with the hope of also "chasing adventure." Interestingly enough, Woodrell also adds that the "smiley" dog wears a "suit of shining armor." So far, Woodrell has not included any characters by their "smiley" faces, which further exposes that the boys also aspire to be so happy that they can be described as smiley. One questions whether all the characters in Woodrell's novel escape their current dismal lives to finally obtain their dreams.