Anthony Mahfood

March 21, 2011

Dr Juniper Ellis

Understanding Literature

Facing the Truth

This Monday was the second time I went to the Higher Achievement after school program where I mentor children in six and seventh grade. The first week I went there I spent the first hour helping them with homework and getting acquainted with the students. The next two hours I spent in a group session with another mentor teaching them about Japan and reading stories about life in Japan. It was interesting to see what they thought about life in Japan before and after we were done with the discussion. Much of their previous knowledge was completely incorrect. The second time I went was yesterday and I found it to be a lot more rewarding as I was able to teach a few student how to find the area of circle, squaring, and the volume of cubes. After that I went to my group for mentoring. This week I was assigned the three students I will be mentoring for the next 5 weeks. They are all great children with great spirits. However, TJ has a bad work ethic, but the other two children, Devon and Evan, both work really hard and are very smart. I really enjoyed working with the children and I am excited to go back next week. I found that encouraging them with candy or small treats helps motivate them to do their work.

In Emily Dickson’s poems all come together through the theme of facing the truth. I found this in all of Dickson’s poems: “Tell all the truth but tell it slant”, “Success is Counted Sweetest”, “I heard a Fly buzz when I died,” “Because I could not stop for Death”.

In the poem “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” Dickson states there is “success in circuit lies.” This forms an image of an unending circle, never ending each lie fueling the other. She implies that we cannot handle the truth and it is better given to us in small doses so we can slowly understand what is happening. In another poem Success is Counted Sweetness she shows that in life people always want what they cant have which is another fact of life that people often find hard to believe. People are greedy by nature and she points this out many times even through the title it is clear what she is trying to say.

The poem “I heard a Fly buzz when I died” shows how the woman dies she tries not to face the truth and instead of thinking about her death she thinks about the fly buzz. In the last poem “Because I could not stop for death,” she is saying that if you don’t stop and face reality it will eventually catch up with you.

In Hemingway’s short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” we once again see when someone is afraid to face the truth and they are scared so they run away. Just like in Dickson last poem reality always catches up to you and Francis get shot by his wife because he is being a coward.

This theme is very true to life and I feel like it relates to my community service because many of those children don’t want to face the facts that they can actually do something with there life. They feel that they have grown up in a lower class home and it will always be like that but I truly believe that a lot of them have potential if they just put in they effort they will succeed because they have talent.