作业１１

作

Showing off (19—23)

The tense of paragraph nineteen was tangle, and it puzzles us.

Firstly, it is the present tense, as ‘Now, I don’t intend to defend myself……’ and then past tense, ‘I was showing off, I was bragging and I was not the slightest bit shy or self-restrained……’and last, the author uses past perfect tense, ‘ I had an overwhelming need to exult.’ Why? I asked myself. Why she do this such simple mistake? I was being lost.

Fortunately, Deng sir gave us the key to the question, which the author intended to explain that she used to be one of showoffs with owing an unusual success—her poems had been published. So that is the reason.

As the sometime, if you were carefully enough, you will find that there are three words studying with ‘G’, they are ‘golden’, ‘glowing’, ‘glorious’. And all of them are just standing for the most important thing to her—poems had been published, I guess. And what is more, the words of sound give us a strong alliteration.

Is the husband’s behavior accepted, and why he needs to dance when he is carrying the fried egg? Yes, it is. Maybe it is another showing off, though it is acceptable. He has fries an egg for his wife. He is very happy. He wants to share his happiness with his wife. Because he thought he is greatest man in the world, and that is his love and labor.

The author uses the word ‘exult’ many times in these paragraphs, does she have another purpose? I look it up in the dictionary. There are two meanings, one is ‘to rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant’, and another is ‘obsolete to leap upward, especially for joy.’ In this text, it just uses to express great pleasure or happiness, especially not someone else’s defend or failure.

The word ‘gorgeous’ is used three times, what is author’s intention? Repeating it three times and it is from the mouth of her mother for she deeply loves the baby. So we can not conclude it as a showing off, it is just a love expression.

In short, we should separate showing off from other good or acceptable behavior.