ROAR (journals): January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Paul went to his father's job to bring him lunch and the other workers told him to go give it to him at the Rub Room. It was Paul's first time in there and the working conditions were so harsh that he said his dad looked like a slave in a horrifying movie.
Paul is alone and he wants to write. Rosanna and her assets is what first pops up into his head.
Uncle Adelard has come to speak to Paul about the mysterious picture. Uncle Adelard tells Paul that it was a he disappeared in the picture and it was a prank. Paul was a bit disappointed and confused. Suddenly, Adelard disappears and when Paul blinks again, Adelard is back!
Paul is disappearing!
Uncle Adelard is teaching Paul how to fade when nobody is home. He tells Paul that he will feel very tired after he fades.

When will he start liking a girl his age?
Will Paul even talk to another girl knowing that Rosanna could come back any time?
What will Paul's father do when he finds out about Adelard?
Is teaching Paul how to fade a good idea?

"The workers sat on the stool like gnomes over the whirling wheels, holding the combs against the wheels to smooth away the rough spots" (64). Simile.
"The room roared with the sound of the machinery while the foul smell of the mud soiled the air" (64). Personification.
"The rain fell steadily, mistily, splashing softly like small fountains in the yard below, running off into rivulets toward the gutter" (70). Simile.
"Vomit rose in my throat, my heart pounding so dangerously that I backed away instinctively, my cheeks hot and pulsing" (85). Imagery.
"Glancing out the small, dusty window, I saw the moon hanging remotely in the sky" (85). Personification.

Paul can't get over Rosanna and to his surprise Uncle Adelard isback and revealing his secret!

The protagonist, Paul, has had problem with LaBatt and he is very scared of him. LaBatt has been his all time bully.
He wonders why LaBatt bullys him and he says this is another mystery he need to solve. He loves mysteries!
During this time, 14 is the legal age to start working in shops.
"Women never wore high heels in Frenchtown on weekday afternoons" (39) but his aunt Rosanna was one who did and he admired her beauty. He even follows her!
One day when he was following her, she went to Rudolphe Toubert's house who was "the closest thing to a gangster" (41). Paul was very jealous. "My love for her forgave everything and anything" (47).
Paul told Aunt Rossana that he was in love with her and she told him that couldn't be possible because she was too old and was his aunt. After, they talked about her life and she told him that she left town because she was pregant. To Paul's surprise the baby was Rudolphe's.
Rosanna and Paul are close and eventhough she left she wrote him a letter.

"Omer LaBatt always appeared before me this way, like a phantom, without warning, out of nowhere" (33). Simile.
"I spotted her one day hurrying along Seventh Street in bright red high-heeled sandals with straps that wrapped around her ankles like thin fingers caressing her flesh" (39). Simile.
"Carried on the sumer air, the whistles created a strange kind of harmony, harsh and out of tune yet blending together, like the cries of all the workers down the hallways of the years, protesting the long hours,the blistering heat, the aches and the pains, the frustrations and the loses" (54). Allusion. Simile. Imagery.

Paul says he's in love and that he knows all about love eventhough he's only 13.

The family has a mystery photograph and they don't like to talk about it.
According to the stories told, there is an empty spot on the photograph where the protagonist's uncle should be.
His father is watching news about Hitler and the young boy only cares about finding out the mystery of the picture.
The protagonist looks up to his uncle Adelard because he did things out of the ordinary in town and he wants to be just like that.
The photograph isn't the only mystery, there are rumors of strange happenings in a pond near by.
Paul went to the pond with Pete at eleven! They see cars approaching and they have niggers and Jews that they are going to kill. Sounds like Paul's and Pete's life are at risk. The killers were the Ku Klux Klan.

"Others spoke of the mystery in hushed tones, with raised eyebrows as if even the mere mention of the picture would bring them terrible consequence" (4). Imagery.
"But in my heart I was brave and courageous like the cowboys in the Saturday afternoon serials at the Plymouth Theater" (5). Simile.
"Her face was a beacon shining in my mind, a glowing light that led me with sweet caresses into sleep, deep and dark, and because of her, utterly beautiful" (14). Imagery.