Katie Zimmerman , Himaja Ampolu, Eric Sette, Claudia Scully, and Anna Hayes
English IV A
Group Thesis: The black walnut tree symbolizes the author’s struggle to balance sentimental and monetary values.
Where Am I?: Ohio (blue fields of Ohio, fathers’ backyard) what season? → Fall (“leaves getting heavier…”) inside, surroundings→ dark, emptiness, farm work, toil, mortgage, orchid, trees, poverty, cellar
Who Am I?
From point of view of the daughter who is speaking with the mother. Tired, drained, stressed, threatened, survivors, courageous, trying to problem solve, sentimental, doubtful, shameful
The mother is present in thoughts and in interactions/conversations, and the hard work of the father is also inferred.
What do I want? Keep the possession of the Walnut tree, even though they are not able to afford it.She gives a complete argument for why they should keep the tree, then does the opposite and keeps the tree. Shows us with irony? how is the Character showing us what they want? Details? (this should get you into imagery, metaphor, conceits, metrics and other aspects of poetic language. At this point you are ready to ask again, “What is this poem about?")
Impression
The Impression we are trying to convey is the internal conflict or struggle that the mother and daughter are faced with. They are faced with the dilemma of having to pay the mortgage. The poem reminded us of the great depression, a time when many people struggled with money. The setting is in Ohio, which is stated in the poem (Fresh and generous Ohio).The debate between the practicality of selling the tree (trying in a difficult time to be wise) and the nostalgia of the meaning behind it (something brighter than money) eventually comes to an end when eventually, the nostalgia of the tree, and their roots in the land, proves to be more important than paying off the mortgage.
Costumes and Props:
The purpose of the costuming with the mother and daughter in older more rugged clothing is to convey their financial position as well as the time period we are setting it in (The Great Depression). The tree is costumed in a tree shirt and jeans to represent the branches and roots. The lighting changes from darkness to dimmed to bright to dimmed to represent the mood of the poem. The darkness to represent struggle and their dilemma, dimmed to represent their transition period, when the mother and daughter are deciding, bright to represent the choice to keep it, but darkness to end the poem because of the financial struggle they still have to face.
Himaja→ Mom
Anna→ Daughter
Claudia→ Extraneous characters
Katie → The Black Walnut Tree
Eric → Stage Crew
Words and Phrases
In our presentation, we focused on the structure, theme, and word choice of the poem. We selected specific words or phrases that best supported the purpose. We emphasized the repetition of ‘the black walnut tree’ and the ‘mortgage’ at the beginning and end of the poem in order to demonstrate the book-end structure of the poem. This purposeful structuring of the phrase ‘the black walnut tree’ reinforces it as a symbol of their father’s hard work. Furthermore, this repetition follows the archetype of a narrative: the rising action, “we could sell the black walnut tree” (2-3) consists of the discussion about the tree; the climax focuses on the speaker’s realization that they ought to also work hard because of their ancestor’s hard work, by including flashbacks to fond memories such as, “my fathers out of Bohemia filling the blue fields of fresh and generous Ohio” (22-24). ; the poem concludes with the falling action with the repetition of the phrase the black walnut tree and the mortgage. This narrative structure supports the meaning of the poem as a whole because it shows the progression of the speaker’s decision regarding the black walnut tree.
Therefore, we attempted to mimic this narrative structure through the placement of the actors. the mother and the daughter will be center stage at the beginning of the presentation, sitting around a table. Next, the actors playing the trees, lumberman, and father will gradually enter the stage in the background and help the audience visualize the memories and thoughts of the speakers. As we reach the climax of the poem, we will turn on the lights, which will be a visual representation of “but something brighter than money moves in our blood-an edge sharp and quick as a trowel that wants us to dig and sow” (16-19). However, the lights will go back off as the speakers fail to reach a decision “so we talk, but we don’t do anything” (20-21). Finally, the presentation will end with the speakers sitting alone in the dark, in the “emptiness we’d made in our own and our father’s backyard” (28-29).
Furthermore, we emphasized the words sharp and quick. This consonance in lines 18, helps convey a feeling of decisiveness and certainty. These words stick out because they are in stark contrast to the previous indecision of the speakers. This emphasis supports the meaning of the poem as a whole because it shows how the speaker realizes that they should act and work hard, however they fail to do so and crawl back into the emptiness of the laziness.
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