In "The Rainbow" D.H. Lawrence offers a comparison of men and women that leads to the realization that men are valued for their knowledge. By employing the devices of repetition, alliteration, and consonance D.H. Lawrence contrast between women and men, through this separation the reader realizes her position.
D.H. Lawrence through useful repetition is able to highlight the contrast between men and women, offering a characterization and beginning the readers understanding of the situation of the woman. On line one, "Enough for the men," is contrasted to line 15, "But the woman wanted." Through this repetition of syntax a contrast is established; women are dissatisfied with their situation and men are content. Again repetition pervades the piece, this time on lines 20-21, "Active scope of man, the magic land to her," is leveled with the woman's strive to, "Enlarge their own scope and range and freedom" (line26-27). In this it can be dissertation that scope can be defined as a lifestyle or outlook. Once again the stark contrast between man and the woman's scope characterizes the woman as less well off than the man, Thus, through purposeful repetition of both sentence structure and word usage, Lawrence is able to inherently establish women are in a worse situation than men due to gender inequality.
This inequality is again quantified when Lawrence characterizes women on line 48, by characterizing women as they stand next to their husbands Lawrence is able to establish am utter and complete control of the inferiority felt by women. As previously stated on line 48, women are said to be, " Dark and dry and small besides her husband." The alliteration in "dark and dry" allows the reader to concentrate on the shrewd nature of women rather than the largeness of man. Through the established pathos, the reader pities the women and dislikes the man, offering the woman's perspective.
To express the confusion and frustration of women Lawrence uses the paradoxical metaphor of a man and bull to offer the perspective of women. He writes, "Any man is little beside a bull, and yet he is stronger than the bull," (line 59-60). The metaphor is established in saying a man literally "is little and frail," however the paradox arises in the statement that the man is weak and strong. This, as confusing to the reader as to the women, Lawrence writes causes a question to arise.
Lawrence uses this question as a rhetorical one, capitalizing on the frustration felt by women and ultimately offers and answer, highlighting (through the use of consonance) why men are not the most powerful beings. On lines 60-61 Lawrence asks, "What was it?' In doing so he sets himself up to answer. By using consonance in the "o" he outlines what doesn't make men strong, "It was not money nor power nor position." In doing so he allowed a question of causation to arise, to which the women answers, "Knowledge," (line66).
This response resonates throughout the passage. As Lawrence sets up the woman as insignificant and longing through the characterization in his literary devices Lawrence is able to capture her situation, one of anger and questioning. As a product of this he uses knowledge as the answer to the question, the source of women's anger and utterly affirms the characterization through the piece.
Part II
I partially agree with Harsha's assessment of my piece, I believe rather than a six, a seven or eight would be more appropriate. My essay was given lower marks because my partner believe my interpretation was faulty and some of my evidence unclear, however after classroom discussion I realized my interpretation was correct as well as choice of quotation. This leads my thesis to be more wholesome and my conclusion more consistent. My partner based my grade off the interpretation of the poem and control of language. I believe I can improve upon my control of the language, for this is keeping me from the eight essay area. This can be corrected if I use less simplistic terms and clearly state my evidence, essentially alter my clarity. Overall I believe that my essay grader chose my score more for my control and style and less for my content.
In our class discussion I realized that my essay was missing a few content concerned areas as well. I found the most striking part of the passage to be the repetition of the word knowledge. In this we discussed how the juxtaposition of his beliefs and the woman's beliefs. This juxtaposition is the complexity of the piece and I realize how important to pick up on this aspect.
Furthermore I understand how important an author's background is. Without a proper understanding of D.H. Lawrence and his idea of blood knowledge one would simply miss out on the complexity in his piece. This is especially relevant to me because I did just that.
I all so came to realize the importance of a great introduction. A good introduction, according to the chapter in five steps to a five can earn you higher marks on the AP test. I realize that in my writing this aspect was missing. In the future I will do my best to better convey my Idea and conjecture about the passage in my beginning paragraphs rather than the concluding ones.
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