晒论文

An Structuralism Analysis of E.B. White' Moving

E. B. White in full of Elwyn Brooks White, is a famous contemporary American writer, who is good at essay writing. Since 1927, E. B. White became a writer and contributing editor of The New Yorker Magazine, and during his time in The New Yorker Magazine, he wrote so many excellent essays. Among those articles, Moving is a short but significant one, and this essay attempts to analyse Moving by the way of Structuralism.

Method

Structuralism analysis is a new way of literature analysis, which is led by Roland Bathes and other sructrualists. In this paper, the object is short, so it is worth trying this method.

Discussion

GOADED BY restlessness and the delusion of greener pastures, we vacated an apartment where we had lived a long time.

This sentence uses "delusion" and "a long time"to imply the unforgettable feelings of the old apartment, although the future might be better(greener pasture), it is uncertain.

Four ape men, appearing in the steamy dawn, rolled up the mattresses, collapsed the beds, and with catlike tread removed all our effects, and our ineffects, to the inquisitive street and there wedged them into a red-devil horseless van.

The words "inquisitive street", "steamy dawn" indicates that the author was reluctant to move in such time. The words "rolled up", "collapsed", "catlike tread" shows how rude the movers (ape men) were. The adjective "catlike" emphasizes the completeness of the erase, such tread "removed all our effects, and our ineffects". The last phrase "a red-devil horseless van" is an extremely rare expression. In American English, a common expression is "horseless carriage", and this is known as a kind of car, but E.B White modifies it here. The adjective "red-devil" also highlights the unwillingness of author's.

They stripped the place clean, to the eye.

The movers not only removed the real things, but also erase the memories of author's

But as we sat on an empty fruit crate in the living-room, staring at the beloved walls with their unbleached rectangles where the pictures and mirrors had been, staring at the radiators whose first winter whisperings we will not hear this year, we knew that not even the stalwart movers could wrench loose something that was still there, invisible and ineradicable; we knew that people must inevitably leave something of themselves behind----something besides the mere residue of dust and bent paper clips and fallen coat hangers.

When people put things like paintings or posts on some surface for a long time, they will certainly leave obcious trace, no matter if the paitnings or posts are removed. Here "unbleached rectangles" is a very vivid description. The author also puts some nice memories here, such as the radiators, first winter whisperings, and these objects indicate that the author and his family have a clear memory of the past, from such aspect, it is self-evident that the author's family are reluctant to leave their old house.

We felt we should post a warning to the new tenants that there was something in the walls, musky and pervasive, as when a skunk vacates a nest under a summer cottage.

Skunk is a common mammal in North America, and has a special habitation. Within two months after birth the young skunks begin to explore outside the nest on their own, but they stay nearby. Skunks are omnivorous; they feed on grubs, insects, small rodents, carrion, fruits and vegetables. They are active all the seasons, but dormant in the cold period. In summer, they clean their nests and even vacate them, but still leave something.

There is sponginess about plaster, absorbing love.

The sponge absorbs liquid like water with its holes, the author uses this to compare with the house absorbing love, which is a vague metaphor.

Not even a repaint job can quite rid a place of the people who once lived there.

The author emphasizes the stability of life again, but he uses another indirect way.

Possessions breed like mice.

Mice can reproduce very very quickly, so do the possessions when people habit in a place for a long time.

A man forgets what a raft of irrelevant junk he has collected about him till he tries to move it.

Men always highlight the accumulation, but neglect the abandonment.

We found ourselves one afternoon smothered at the bottom of a pile of ghastly miscellany: envelopes engraved with the wrong address, snapshots that had never been pasted up, a mahogany chip belonging to a broken chair, some high-school examination papers, a can of ski wax, several programs of the Millrose games, a sneaker for the left foot, a build-it-yourself airplane that had never been built, some samples of curtain material, a catcher’s mitt, and a red-and-silver ashtray made from the head of a piston.

The envelopes, the snapshots, the chip, the papers, the can, the programs, the sneakers, the airplane, the samples, the mitt, the ashtray are small and broken, but they are full of emotions that belong to author's family.

These objects suddenly seemed to be the possessor, ourselves the possessed.

An hour later we were wandering dully in the streets seeking lodging in a hotel and passed a little old fellow with all his worldly goods slung on his back in a burlap sack.

The appearance of that old fellow is an iron, by contrast, it demonstrates the huge amount of author's family and the over-elaboration of author's family.

In his face was written a strange peace.

The author's family are filled with sadness, sorrowfulness, but to the contrast, the peace is on the old fellow's face, it is apparent how the contrast is.

Conclusion

In this essay, E.B. White embroiders the experience of his own moving, and uses a lot characters to describe the process, by contrast, he conveys the idea of an old fellow in a very concise way. From the number of the characters, E.B. White implies the contrast, which is the contrast of the process of moving, the attitude toward the life, and the wisdom of life. From such contrasts, E.B. White reveals his wilingness to a plain life.