Will Winter Ever End?
"Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with season" (Foster 184).
As I wake up today I notice that outside my window there is once again snow on the ground. We have a whole week were the temperature rises and the snow melts and we can walk outside with no coats. Then back to snowy winter today. My point is that everyone is influenced by the seasons. Whether you are like me and are ready for winter to be over and spring to be here, or you enjoy the snow and the crisp air, you are still influenced by the seasons.
I cant really stay away from how obvious Foster makes things sound, I am pretty sure that he does it on purpose, but as I read chapter 20 I thought: well no kidding.
However (again i am repeating myself...) I didnt think of this with respect to books that I read.
Each season has some common implications, and each season has personal implications. Maybe your birthday is in the winter, there is a special feeling associated with winter outside of the typical somber feeling. Or on that note, maybe winter can be seen as somber and gray and dull, but it can also be refreshing and clean. It goes the same with weather and the rain that we were talking about in class. Often the seasons include the weather thus seasons are on a slightly larger scale. Spring has rain, summer is hot, although these arent the only things that happen in the seasons they are often the first thing that comes to mind when we think of them.
My point is that I see how writers can really take advantage of seasons to help set the mood and tone. The idea that certain seasons hold certain characteristics can play a major influence on the characters in a story. Then, without even realizing it, the reader has been influenced by the seasons.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
Recent Comments
Julianne Banda on Will Winter Ever End?: I agree that the fact that sea
Alicia Campbell on Will Winter Ever End?: Until recently, I did not cons
Alicia Campbell on Will Winter Ever End?: Until recently, I did not cons
Until recently, I did not consider that authors make use of things such as color and season to the extent that they do. Maybe I just thought the use of these things were mundane and unimportant, since we experience such things everyday in the real world. While I was intoduced to this way of interpreting literature in high school, I am especially beginning to see that all of the details that may seem trivial are, in fact, important, and that the author includes them for a reason. The point that was brought up in class was especially helpful in making this realization: It takes a hell of a lot longer to write a work of literature than it does to read one.
I agree that the fact that seasons affect everyone is obvious, but like you I sometimes forget to apply this to the literature I read. After reading this chapter in Foster I realized I need to look at the season in relation to the plot and story at the time. I can be seen as odd for it to be warm and sunny during the winter if that is the setting for a book and the author could have put it in there t emphasize that there is a positive thing happening in the story or that a character is having a revelation n a way.