ENG 1120 Lecture Notes - Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, Elegy
3 Jun 2018
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April 9th, 2018
Vocabulary
Taciturn (adjective)
From Latin taciturnus (unforthcoming)
Meaning: habitually silent, reserved, or uncommunicative; not inclined to conversation
Although we tried to engage him in conversation, the old man remained taciturn
Truculent (adjective)
Meaning: defiantly aggressive
Such truculent behavior does not bode well for the upcoming peace talks
Vociferous (adjective)
Meaning: given to shouting, clamorous, making noise
She was a vociferous opponent of the new legislation
Margaret Laurence
“Jericho’s Brick Battlements”
This is the final story in the story cycle. It ends with Vanessa as an adult visiting “the Brick
House” for the last time, paying tribute to her Grandfather Connor.
The ending picks up on the opening words of the first story: “I had not thought it would hurt me
to see it [the house] in other hands, but it did” brings us back to “that house in Manawaka is the
one which, more than any other, I carry with me” (1).
Thematically, the story returns to the dominant figure of the collection, Grandfather Connor,
whose death occurs in the story.
The story’s thematic focus on mourning and the debt that young people owe to their ancestors is
central to the collection as a whole.
The story is organized by the Old Testament (biblical) story alluded to in its title.
According to the Book of Joshua, the Battle of Jericho was the first battle of the Israelites in their
conquest of Canaan. (Canaan was a prosperous region in the area of what is now Lebanon,
Jordan, and Israel; Jericho was an important city surrounding by strong walls).
This story is about conflict in search of freedom, and its main images are the walls of Jericho and
the power of the trumpets.
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