In the novel Mississippi Solo, the setting that Eddy creates can be considered another character. This is shown whenever he says, "As a child I feared this river and respected it more than I feared God. As an adult now I fear it even more... That old Veteran's Bridge seemed so weak and rickety. My imagination constructed a dilapidated and shaky span of old wooden slats, rotted and narrow and weak with no concrete support anywhere" (1). In this example, Eddy uses imagery to help develop the setting. He gives you a visual representation of the object, yet he mentions his feelings for it like he would with a human being. Also, the reader can make an inference about the way Eddy describes the bridge. He portrays it as very old, aged, and constructed of wood with no concrete supports. In todays society, bridges are very strong and not made of wood. A good era estimate would be in the mid 1900's, approximately the period of racism. Another great example is whenever Eddy states, "The sound of rapids is the same sound of water falling over those huge beaver dams that threaten my progress. I hate the dams but I fear the rapids even more" (26). In this prompt, Eddy uses the idea of personification. He is giving the beaver dam human characteristics of threatening his path. Again, he also develops feelings for this object, saying that he fears it. All of these traits make Eddy seem like he is talking about another character, yet he is still only talking about a beaver dam.
I am confused on your explanation, are you saying that the river or the bridge could be consider another person? My inference based on what I read so far on what you posted, seemed like you choose the bridge as the setting that could be consider as another character. But from what I read in the novel so far , the bridge you are talking about can’t be consider another character because eddy Harris was just describing how the bridge would look if Abraham Lincoln was to return to the spot where he had held an speech. So that bridge shouldn’t be consider as another cheater.
ReplyDelete@ nitsua5- Very well done. Great explanation. I see where Cassano7 would be confused because you do spend some time on the bridge, but I see why you did. Unfortunately, you confused yourself by discussing the bridge because it made you confused about the actual time period of this book. Rethink that based on everything else you've read. What technologies existed when this book was written? Since it is a memoir, check out the actual publication date. Etc.
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