Horses of the Night Notes Essay

Vanessa was 6 years old, and Shallow Creek was a very cold environment o†No leaves grew†¦breath of seals and polar bears snuffled out steamily and turned to ice† – IMAGERY †¢Chris was fifteen when Vanessa met him †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦let him stay at the Brick House.† ïÆ'Ÿ significance? †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦high low-sweeping spruce trees shutting out the sun with their dusky out-fanned branches.† (pg 283) – IMAGERY †¢Ã¢â‚¬ At last the front screen door was hurled open and Grandfather Connor strode into the house, followed by a tall lanky boy.† (page 283) – IMAGERY †¢Chris’s physical appearance – â€Å"Grey eyes were slightly slanted, and his hair the colour of couchgrass at the end of summer when it has been bleached to a light yellow by the sun.† (pg 284) †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦warmly but shyly.† – irony/oxymoron †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦,looking as granite as a statue in the cemetery.† – SIMILIE †¢Ã¢â‚¬ He’d been lucky to get it, if you ask me anything, Wilf’s family hasn’t got two cents to rub together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pg 285) – grandparents are extremely judgemental of Chris’s family, shows that Chris isn’t the same â€Å"social† class as them †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦curled into the bay window like a black giant seashell.† – SIMILE †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ just as though he had not heard a word my grandfather was saying.† – shows that Chris had high tolerance †¢Ã¢â‚¬ He simply appeared to be absent.† ïÆ'Ÿ significant? †¢Ã¢â‚¬ The trees were still growing, and the leaves were firmly and greenly on them. The branches has been coaxed into formations of towers and high-up nests where you could look out and see for a hundred miles or more.† – IMAGERY †¢The lake was full of fantasy creatures – water monsters, creatures with necks like snakes, rooster’s comb, hard leather tough. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Two riding horses† & â€Å"He missed the horses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ïÆ'   any significance/reference to title of story †¢Story takes place during The Great Depression †¢Vanessa was nine when Chris left Manawaka, mentions Brick House again †¢Ã¢â‚¬ he was not at Shallow Creek. He has not gone abck†¦ northbound train at the first stop after manawaka, cashed his ticker and thumbed a life with a truck to Winnepeg† – shows Chris’s ambition †¢Aunt Edna – unemployed because insurance company cut down staff, moved back to Manawaka †¢Vanessa’s brother, Roderick was born the year Grandmother Connor died o†The strangeness , the unbelievability, of both these events took up all of me.† page 291 †¢When Vanessa was eleven, Chirs returned to Manawaka oChris’s appearance did not change – â€Å"the same knife-boned face with no flesh to speak of† †¢Chris was a travelling salesman who sold vacuums – tried to sell Vanessa’s mother a vacuum, but failed (they couldn’t afford one) †¢Chris then sells magazines, and said he would earn $100 in a month if every sixth person subscribed †¢Chris then produces wool products (socks) with an old-fashioned sewing machine oThinks he hit jackpot – |I think this thing could be quite a gold mine.† †¢Vanessa’s father dies †¢Chris is unemployed again because there were no jobs on the market †¢Ã¢â‚¬ The grass that shone like green wavering light while the horses flew in the splendour of their pride.† ïÆ'   significant? †¢Ã¢â‚¬ He looked different, not only thinner†¦ face and neck were tanned red-brown†¦ wearing denims, farm pants, and a blue plaid shirt.† – Chris became a farmer †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ËœThe limousine’s over here.’ It was a wagon and two horses† – IRONY †¢ â€Å"Youngsters swam in and out of the house like shoals of nameless fishes.† – SIMILE †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ hardly see the food for the iridescent-winged blue-black bodies squirming all over it.† – IMAGERY †¢ â€Å"The lake was not lonely or unthreatened†¦ I looked at the grey reaches of it and held threatened. It was like a view of God which I had held since my father’s death.† page 296 †¢ â€Å"‘How much brighter the stars are when you’re completely away from any houses?’ †¦ ‘I guess most people don’t give them much thought at all, except maybe to say – very pretty – or like that †¦ They’re gigantic†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – page 297 †¢Chris was 21 and was sent to the army – â€Å"Chris left Shallow Creek some months after the war began.† (page 299) †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ my mother heard from Aunt Tess. Chris had been sent home from England, discharged from the Army because of a mental breakdown. He was now in the provincial mental hospital.† p.299 osignificant because Chris loses his mind †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Animation gone from his face.† †¢Ã¢â‚¬ All his life’s choices had been grown narrower and narrower† †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Only to be a turmoil which appalled him and which he dreaded†¦Ã¢â‚¬  †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Useless strokes of fantasy against a depression that was both the world’s and his own† ïÆ'   SIGNIFICANT †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Slowly, slowly, horses of the night-† – TITLE †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Night must move like this for him †¦ land he journeyed through was inhabited by terrors, the old monster-kings of the lake, or whether he had discovered at last a way for himself to make the necessary dream perpetual† ïÆ'   SIGNIFICANT *** ________________________________________ Vocab – detested, sweltering, cameo, equanimity, simpleton, bludgeoning, wisecrack, malevolent, chivvying, illicitly, jubilant, spiel, overshoes, pronouncements, subterraneon oracle, utterances, engrossed, torrent, fortnight, pallid-eyed, monosyllabic, saurian, perpetual View as multi-pages