Wu Tang:
The author is comparing his word play to military grade weaponry, implying that he can not just defeat, but obliterate, his opponent in a rap battle. When he mentions “bombing atomically,” he’s invoking Hiroshima, one of the most destructive acts of war in history. By claiming that he is a “battle-scarred Shogun,” he is implying that he has fought in many battles but has always performed impressively (Shoguns typically committed suicide if they lost, which he hasn’t.) We see a similar reference in “swingin’ swords like Shinobi,” a call to the video game ninja. Perhaps the most impressive reference is when the author says “Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define how I drop these mockeries,” which isn’t just effective in its use of assonance, but its acknowledgement that he, like many other great generals (Sun Tzu and Machiavelli being immediate examples), is also a worthy philosopher.
Litany for Survival:
The author is saying that her circumstances of birth have created a situation where no matter what she does or thinks, she is doomed. She shows this by mentioning that she is “standing on the constant edge of decision” meaning her life is a series of decisions that could make or break her, but since it’s constant, she never feels relief from a decision. The juxtaposition of ideas in the third stanza shows why the author feels like she is on or over that edge - “when we speak, we are afraid … but when we are silent, we are still afraid.” - and that there is no way to avoid the situations with which she’s faced. The author was “imprinted with fear” from birth, which indicates that this is a set of emotions passed down from their parents and perhaps even their parents. The final stanza “It is better to speak” seems to be a recognition to her fellow oppressed people that they must continue to make a decision, because it is better than standing still.
Of Mice and Men:
John Steinbeck juxtaposes a perfectly idyllic scenario in paragraph one with the effects the people in that scenario have on it, foreshadowing the inevitability of what happens to one of the major characters in the novel. Steinbeck’s water that is “so crisp a lizard makes a great skitter” shows how a person simply existing can ruin the beauty in an environment. Though the sycamores he describes seem to want to protect the nature with their “mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool,” they cannot undo the damage man does to himself and will always be “worn” down by those who “come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.” As peaceful and calm a place as the Salinas River is, the people it invites only use it up the same they are used and abused throughout the story.
The author is comparing his word play to military grade weaponry, implying that he can not just defeat, but obliterate, his opponent in a rap battle. When he mentions “bombing atomically,” he’s invoking Hiroshima, one of the most destructive acts of war in history. By claiming that he is a “battle-scarred Shogun,” he is implying that he has fought in many battles but has always performed impressively (Shoguns typically committed suicide if they lost, which he hasn’t.) We see a similar reference in “swingin’ swords like Shinobi,” a call to the video game ninja. Perhaps the most impressive reference is when the author says “Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define how I drop these mockeries,” which isn’t just effective in its use of assonance, but its acknowledgement that he, like many other great generals (Sun Tzu and Machiavelli being immediate examples), is also a worthy philosopher.
Litany for Survival:
The author is saying that her circumstances of birth have created a situation where no matter what she does or thinks, she is doomed. She shows this by mentioning that she is “standing on the constant edge of decision” meaning her life is a series of decisions that could make or break her, but since it’s constant, she never feels relief from a decision. The juxtaposition of ideas in the third stanza shows why the author feels like she is on or over that edge - “when we speak, we are afraid … but when we are silent, we are still afraid.” - and that there is no way to avoid the situations with which she’s faced. The author was “imprinted with fear” from birth, which indicates that this is a set of emotions passed down from their parents and perhaps even their parents. The final stanza “It is better to speak” seems to be a recognition to her fellow oppressed people that they must continue to make a decision, because it is better than standing still.
Of Mice and Men:
John Steinbeck juxtaposes a perfectly idyllic scenario in paragraph one with the effects the people in that scenario have on it, foreshadowing the inevitability of what happens to one of the major characters in the novel. Steinbeck’s water that is “so crisp a lizard makes a great skitter” shows how a person simply existing can ruin the beauty in an environment. Though the sycamores he describes seem to want to protect the nature with their “mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool,” they cannot undo the damage man does to himself and will always be “worn” down by those who “come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.” As peaceful and calm a place as the Salinas River is, the people it invites only use it up the same they are used and abused throughout the story.