En der vil rette min stil?

One of the most important qualities a human has, is the quality to forgive each other. But it is not easy to forgive someone who has caused you a lot of pain, especially when if you lack of attempt to place yourself in another person’s situation. If one of your loved ones has committed a crime, you can’t let it go that easily, even though you really love and care about the person. That is what has happened to Myrna. She can’t really forgive her son even though she loves him very much.
Myrna is Kenny’s mother and when we meet her in this short story she has very mixed and confusing feelings towards her son. She doesn’t know how to feel when she meets her son after a couple of years of imprisonment. In the beginning a part of her feels kind of happy inside, but throughout the story it changes because she is confused and doesn’t know what to think and how to handle the whole situation. Even though a part of her is happy to see Kenny, she wants him to leave after all. “She was glad he hadn’t been maimed or murdered in prison. At least he looked whole and healthy of body.” – line 10-11. This quote shows that she still cares about her son and loves him inside and she is glad that he is looking well and healthy. If she didn’t love him, she wouldn’t care about how he looked.
It is obvious that Myrna feels awkward about her son coming home from prison. She keeps on thinking that Kenny has not raped anyone and it was the newspaper that made the whole story up. She stands in a dilemma because she doesn’t know whether to throw him out from the house or to forgive him. It is a hard situation for her because her son comes back because of despair. She has moved to another house, where she never mentioned anything concerning her past or Kenny in the neighbourhood. She moved from the old place because she wanted to start a new life and forget all about her past. Suddenly when Kenny comes back of the imprisonment, he makes disorder in her new life. There are no room for him in her new life. It comes clearly forth in the situation, where she tries to give him a broad hint that he just can’t walk in and become a part of her life again. “This place ain’t got as much room as the old place”, she told him... – line 89.
Myrna thinks of all the excuses and explanations she has to give her neighbours because she has not told anything about her son. “Her neighbours would want to know where he’d been all this time and why. Fear and disgust would creep into their faces and voices.” – line 156-158. Myrna is the kind of woman who cares about what other people think about her. I think the reason for this is that her husband used to beat her up when Kenny was a little boy. It seems like she used to hide this from other people and her friends and that means that she couldn’t go out with them or see them if she had bruises. This often leads to loneliness because of the loss of the friend-circle. In the quote above, she tells about how her neighbours will react on Kenny’s situation, and this makes it clear that her old friends left her because they feared her and her family. I think that Myrna was all alone with Kenny and her violent husband and finally she moved away from her husband with Kenny to wipe the slate clean. When Kenny had committed rape on the young girl, Crystal Roberts, Myrna moved away once again to make a fresh start and she tried to get a good friend-circle in the new neighbourhood. If they find out that he had raped a girl they would keep her at a distance and leave her in the end. She has to be supported by her friends because she hasn’t got anyone else to share her thoughts and feelings with.
On the other hand she still loves Kenny. This is obvious when we read the following quote. “...she hadn’t stopped loving him. But her love didn’t need his company. It survived only on memories of him that were more than four years old.” – line 146-149. Myrna prays that things could be like they used to be four years earlier or she even wishes that Kenny was not born, but her requests can’t be fulfilled. Kenny and Myrna have to make a fresh start even though it is very difficult weather they decide to do it together or alone.
If we see it from Kenny’s point of view it is very difficult for him to start a new life. He doesn’t fell like he gets any support, acceptance or love from his mother. He is left all alone even though he is very sorry. “He would only say that he knew he’d done wrong.” – line 56. By this quotation we can see that he is actually very sorry and he know he has done something wrong. Kenny had a very though childhood; he grew up in a poor environment with a violent father, Buddy, who beat his wife in front of Kenny. This has probably influenced Kenny throughout his youth. The relationship between his father and mother has affected the way Kenny treats women because he has not seen any husbands treat their wives with respect, passion and love. Instead he has learned to take out his frustration and anger with violent acts against women.
If I knew Kenny I wouldn’t even think of him committing any kind of crime. It seems like he is a very decent kind of boy. Myrna describes him as bright, funny and very intelligent. He seems to me as a very caring son and he just wants his mother’s forgiveness. He is aware of his crime, he has learnt from it and now wants to forget it and put it behind him. An example for the assertion that he wants his mother’s forgiveness is when he brings her breakfast in bed, as he used to do when he was a little innocent boy.
Myrna thinks that it is her fault that Kenny raped a girl. It is clearly by reading this quotation, “...she’d finally found the courage to leave Buddy and raise their son alone. What had she really known about raising a child? Still other boys from far worse circumstances had managed to grow up and not do the kind of harm Kenny had done.” – line 44-48. She thinks she has done something wrong in Kenny’s upbringing and blames herself for that, especially by saying: what had she really known about raising a child? Maybe she thinks that it was wrong of her to leave her husband and raise Kenny alone, she thinks there should have been a man to help her raise Kenny, now she could share the shame and sorrow, which Kenny had caused, with him.

Myrna turns to religion when she can’t find answers to her own questions. She started doing charity works when she stopped visiting Kenny. For some time she was satisfied with Father Giles, the local priest’s advice, because it makes her able to forgive. According to Father Giles, everything is God’s will and he thinks that she should put everything in His hands. But when she faces Kenny after years of only written contact her Christianity fails. She can’t forgive Kenny and according to Christian faith, she is supposed to forgive him and to give him another chance to get something good out of his life.
In the end Myrna leaves Kenny. I can think of two reasons for that. Maybe she hopes that God will help Kenny in his future life or maybe she has finally realised that God has not made it easier for Myrna to forgive her son. She has not been able to live with her son and the thought of his crime and she probably never will.
When she leaves Kenny she finally gets some peace and assurance into her life again. Maybe she will forgive Kenny one day, but until the day of forgiveness she has to live by herself and think over the whole situation. She has to keep Kenny and his life on a distance until she finds the point, where she can forgive him.

The title of this short story is Spilled Salt and it is mentioned a couple of time through the story. Spilled salt could be a metaphor for the sorrow and the many tears that Myrna has wept during her son’s imprisonment and also the hard time in the future. “Tears slid down her face and salted her drink.” – line 99-100. This quote from the text proves that she is weeping because of the pain Kenny has caused her and this pain salts her life. Metaphorically speaking you could say that the salt makes her life less liveable. The spilled salt in the kitchen is a symbol telling me that Kenny is making disorder in her life by coming back after the rape on Crystal Roberts.
One of the most important qualities a human has, is the quality to forgive each other. But it is not easy to forgive someone who has caused you a lot of pain, especially when if you lack of attempt to place yourself in another person’s situation. If one of your loved ones has committed a crime, you can’t let it go that easily, even though you really love and care about the person. That is what has happened to Myrna. She can’t really forgive her son even though she loves him very much.
Myrna is Kenny’s mother and when we meet her in this short story she has very mixed and confusing feelings towards her son. She doesn’t know how to feel when she meets her son after a couple of years of imprisonment. In the beginning a part of her feels kind of happy inside, but throughout the story it changes because she is confused and doesn’t know what to think and how to handle the whole situation. Even though a part of her is happy to see Kenny, she wants him to leave after all. “She was glad he hadn’t been maimed or murdered in prison. At least he looked whole and healthy of body.” – line 10-11. This quote shows that she still cares about her son and loves him inside and she is glad that he is looking well and healthy. If she didn’t love him, she wouldn’t care about how he looked.
It is obvious that Myrna feels awkward about her son coming home from prison. She keeps on thinking that Kenny has not raped anyone and it was the newspaper that made the whole story up. She stands in a dilemma because she doesn’t know whether to throw him out from the house or to forgive him. It is a hard situation for her because her son comes back because of despair. She has moved to another house, where she never mentioned anything concerning her past or Kenny in the neighbourhood. She moved from the old place because she wanted to start a new life and forget all about her past. Suddenly when Kenny comes back of the imprisonment, he makes disorder in her new life. There are no room for him in her new life. It comes clearly forth in the situation, where she tries to give him a broad hint that he just can’t walk in and become a part of her life again. “This place ain’t got as much room as the old place”, she told him... – line 89.
Myrna thinks of all the excuses and explanations she has to give her neighbours because she has not told anything about her son. “Her neighbours would want to know where he’d been all this time and why. Fear and disgust would creep into their faces and voices.” – line 156-158. Myrna is the kind of woman who cares about what other people think about her. I think the reason for this is that her husband used to beat her up when Kenny was a little boy. It seems like she used to hide this from other people and her friends and that means that she couldn’t go out with them or see them if she had bruises. This often leads to loneliness because of the loss of the friend-circle. In the quote above, she tells about how her neighbours will react on Kenny’s situation, and this makes it clear that her old friends left her because they feared her and her family. I think that Myrna was all alone with Kenny and her violent husband and finally she moved away from her husband with Kenny to wipe the slate clean. When Kenny had committed rape on the young girl, Crystal Roberts, Myrna moved away once again to make a fresh start and she tried to get a good friend-circle in the new neighbourhood. If they find out that he had raped a girl they would keep her at a distance and leave her in the end. She has to be supported by her friends because she hasn’t got anyone else to share her thoughts and feelings with.
On the other hand she still loves Kenny. This is obvious when we read the following quote. “...she hadn’t stopped loving him. But her love didn’t need his company. It survived only on memories of him that were more than four years old.” – line 146-149. Myrna prays that things could be like they used to be four years earlier or she even wishes that Kenny was not born, but her requests can’t be fulfilled. Kenny and Myrna have to make a fresh start even though it is very difficult weather they decide to do it together or alone.
If we see it from Kenny’s point of view it is very difficult for him to start a new life. He doesn’t fell like he gets any support, acceptance or love from his mother. He is left all alone even though he is very sorry. “He would only say that he knew he’d done wrong.” – line 56. By this quotation we can see that he is actually very sorry and he know he has done something wrong. Kenny had a very though childhood; he grew up in a poor environment with a violent father, Buddy, who beat his wife in front of Kenny. This has probably influenced Kenny throughout his youth. The relationship between his father and mother has affected the way Kenny treats women because he has not seen any husbands treat their wives with respect, passion and love. Instead he has learned to take out his frustration and anger with violent acts against women.
If I knew Kenny I wouldn’t even think of him committing any kind of crime. It seems like he is a very decent kind of boy. Myrna describes him as bright, funny and very intelligent. He seems to me as a very caring son and he just wants his mother’s forgiveness. He is aware of his crime, he has learnt from it and now wants to forget it and put it behind him. An example for the assertion that he wants his mother’s forgiveness is when he brings her breakfast in bed, as he used to do when he was a little innocent boy.
Myrna thinks that it is her fault that Kenny raped a girl. It is clearly by reading this quotation, “...she’d finally found the courage to leave Buddy and raise their son alone. What had she really known about raising a child? Still other boys from far worse circumstances had managed to grow up and not do the kind of harm Kenny had done.” – line 44-48. She thinks she has done something wrong in Kenny’s upbringing and blames herself for that, especially by saying: what had she really known about raising a child? Maybe she thinks that it was wrong of her to leave her husband and raise Kenny alone, she thinks there should have been a man to help her raise Kenny, now she could share the shame and sorrow, which Kenny had caused, with him.

Myrna turns to religion when she can’t find answers to her own questions. She started doing charity works when she stopped visiting Kenny. For some time she was satisfied with Father Giles, the local priest’s advice, because it makes her able to forgive. According to Father Giles, everything is God’s will and he thinks that she should put everything in His hands. But when she faces Kenny after years of only written contact her Christianity fails. She can’t forgive Kenny and according to Christian faith, she is supposed to forgive him and to give him another chance to get something good out of his life.
In the end Myrna leaves Kenny. I can think of two reasons for that. Maybe she hopes that God will help Kenny in his future life or maybe she has finally realised that God has not made it easier for Myrna to forgive her son. She has not been able to live with her son and the thought of his crime and she probably never will.
When she leaves Kenny she finally gets some peace and assurance into her life again. Maybe she will forgive Kenny one day, but until the day of forgiveness she has to live by herself and think over the whole situation. She has to keep Kenny and his life on a distance until she finds the point, where she can forgive him.

The title of this short story is Spilled Salt and it is mentioned a couple of time through the story. Spilled salt could be a metaphor for the sorrow and the many tears that Myrna has wept during her son’s imprisonment and also the hard time in the future. “Tears slid down her face and salted her drink.” – line 99-100. This quote from the text proves that she is weeping because of the pain Kenny has caused her and this pain salts her life. Metaphorically speaking you could say that the salt makes her life less liveable. The spilled salt in the kitchen is a symbol telling me that Kenny is making disorder in her life by coming back after the rape on Crystal Roberts.




Kommentarer

Du skriver godt. Jeg har rettet nogle små fejl. Nedenunder har jeg skrevet nogle af fejlende ned. De fleste af dine fejl er stavefejl. Du har en god grammatik.


Her er nogle fejl du har begået:
’Even though’ har du flere gange skrevet I et ord, det er to ord
‘healthy’ har du flere gange skrevet uden ‘h’, det staves med.
Realised har du stavet med z i stedet for s
Liveable har du skrevet livable.
Committed har du skrevet med et m og en gang med et t
Weather har du skrevet uden a
Neighbours har du skrevet uden u
Beat er uregelmæssigt!!! Du skrev beated
In front har du skrevet som et ord.

tusind tak ska du ha. Har lige nogle spørgsmål!

weather betyder da vejr når man staver det sådan. det skal jo være wether eller hvad?
realised betyder løs eller hvad det nu er.. ka ikk lige finde ordet for det, men realized er da at indse?

Realise er britisk engelsk, realize er amerikansk.

Weather betyder ganske rigtigt vejr. Whether betyder hvorvidt.

Jeg har ikke læst opgaven, så jeg er ikke klar over, hvilken en du skal bruge.