Journal #13

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

The object that represents him is the boat waiting to sail. This represents him because he is so afraid to try things at life that he is like a boat that has been docked but will never go out into open waters anymore. He doesn’t want to take the chance that something bad would happen to him so he stays at home doing the same things he’s done his whole life without excitement or meaning in his life just like the boat that will never sail again.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interepret the last line of the poem?

Her life is different than George’s because she has had so many years of excitement and doing what she loved that she felt fulfilled when her time came to pass. Instead of never doing anything new she would try everything she could because she knew that life was short and she wanted to make the best of the time she had. I interpret the last line of the poem to be advice. It says that “You have to live life to love life.” This is so true because if you don’t experience life to its true potential in full how can you love the life that you have lived. Without joy and love in your life you can not be in love with the life that you have lived like George in his poem.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

They are examples of realism because they both have to do with everyday life. They both are normal people who had normal lives just like the rest of us. The only thing that is different is that she enjoyed her life whereas he didn’t get to fully live his own. There is nothing extreme going on it’s just two people that have opposite opinions on how to live life going about their own lives. Both of them are realistic because that’s what life is.