"[...] colons introduce the part of a sentence that ememplifies, restates, elaborates, undermines, explains or balances the preceding part" (Truss 120).
This is useful information to know. Personally, I rarely ever use colons in my writing. Colons seem to be a niche breed of language these days; I only spot them in book or movie titles. Perhaps the colon will more respect in the future.
"Of course, if Hebrew or any of the other ancient languages had included punctuation[...]" (Truss 75).
My mind was blown away by this fact. I mean, how could anyone understand the text at all! It seems that the ancient civilizations were doing a basic form of stream of thought way before it became popular in literature.
"Only one significant task has been lifted from the apostrophe's workload in recent years: it no longer has to appear in the plurals of abbreviations ('MPs') or plural dates ('1980s')" (Truss 46).
Wait a minute, when did this happen! I think this statement deflates her arguement. If correct grammar is considered both objective and subjective, then why is Truss advocating grammarical accurary.
'MI DEER JO I OPE U R KRWITE WELL I OPE I SHAL SON B HABELL 4 2 TEEDUE U JO AN THEN WE SHORL B SO GLOOD AN WEN I M PRENGTD 2 JO WOT LARX AN BELEVE ME INF XN PIP' (Truss 18).
There you have it, not only was Charles Dickens an expert novelist, but he was also an AWESOME text messanger!
"The protagonist [...] is the main character in a work[...]. The events of the work center on him or her" (Hamilton 129).
It is common misconception that the hero of the story has to be the protagonist. Sometimes, the evil character can be the protagonist. In fact, some of the greatest movies and plays have protagonists that are downright malicious. Darth Vader is the first name that springs to my mind when I think of bad protagonist. While he was the antagonist in parts four through six, he commanded most the action (and wooden dialogue) of the prequel. In a way, his master, Obi-Wan, was the antagonist. Obi-Wan always impeded Vader progress towards attaining his goals. Another example is Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth drives the action of the play by slowly killing off his conteders to the throne. Can you think of any other examples of evil protagonists?
P.S. Why is Othello referenced so much in the Foster and Hamilton books?
"You ain't so smart. I been believing in nothing ever since I was born" (O'Connor 194).
Here in this quote, O'Connor soundly debukes the myth that only intellectuals cannot believe. All the only thing a person needs to not believe in God is a closed heart. Isn't it funny that a simple country boy had more unbelief than the the supposed hardcore atheist Hulga?
"Yet the supreme rationalist that he is, the Misfit cannot admit the need of a power beyond logic" (Desmond 130).
In O'Connor's story it seemed the Misfit had humanity figured out. He recogized humanity ultimate flaw, but chose not to submit to the solution. This is a classic case of intellectual laziness. If you're going to go through all the trouble of finding the answer, then you better be prepared to accept that answer. In a way, the misfit is the "sound and fury" of the story. By not being proactive about the solution, the Misfit proves himself to be the greatest fool in the story.
"No. No. It couldn't be any baby" ("Good Fortune" 78).
This just in, Flannery O'Connor can end a story without someone dying! I know, isn't it just absolutly shocking? The real twist in story is how Ruby reacts to knowledge of her pregenancy. She acts like she is slowly dying when she learns figures what is happening. she even wails and moans about her "good fortune." Talk about overreacting! Prehaps her lamentions are not centered on the child, but instead are centered her loss of freedom.
"The job may end up costing you more than it pays you" (Lemire 229).
You'll often the phrase: how much money will I get? Oddly enough, you rarely hear the question: will this job this job make me happy? It's sad, really. People often consider money to be the pathway to hapiness. Money, while it helps you pay the bills, is just goverment mandated paper. While some are successful in following this paper road to the end, many people are left broken (in more ways than one) as result of this shallow quest. Next time you're tempted to ask for the salary information, ask yourself one question: what is cost of hapiness for this job?
"[...] repetition of sounds, words, phrasing, or concepts is used in literary works to create unity and emphasis" (Hamilton 98).
The example for that the book used from Othello is good, but I have better one. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" uses repetition to masterful degree. The repetition of the phrase "never more" creates a sense of uneasiness permenates throughout the entire poem.
"Drug testing is another routine indignity. Civil libertarians see it as a violation of our Fourth Amendment freedom from 'unreasonable search' (Ehrenreich 209).
Actually, I side with the companies on this issue. I mean, a company has know if you are going to be depenable in a work enviroment. If you are a risk, then that might damage the company's profits. Secondly, drug testing is not an "unreasonable search." It is up to the person who is taking the job to go to the drug test.
"[...] there are no breaks at Jerry's" (Ehrenreich 30).
I find it horrible that some workers never get any breaks. Workers are not machines. Anyone who does work needs some time to disengage from it. Otherwise, the worker becomes too stressed out and cannot perform at their optimal level. As a result, the product the business is trying to sell suffers as well. In the end, it is a lose/lose situation.
