Back to home, finally

By Celia Thursday, January 31, 2019

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I went from Singapore to Guangzhou today. I have thought about all the things going on in Guangzhou for 2 months, and now, I am finally here, in my room, with my old books and old clothes around me. The essence of homeness...

Also, on the plane I finished my English essay (if I go to school I should be doing the essay for 90 minutes. I didn't, so I did it on the plane.)

Literature Essay (flash draft)


Childhood is the happiest times to most of the people. Children are imaginative and creative and enjoy in their amicable mini world. They are innocent, away from reality and turmoil. However, childhood seems to end so quickly. The main character in the short story “Superman and Paula Brown’s Snowsuit” by Sylvia Plath is a young girl who steps out from her childhood and begins to experience the real world. A possible theme in this story is that childhood fades when children start to accept reality. This is supported by the use of symbolism, inner thinking and tone.

Symbols are used to show the opposition between childhood and growing up. Superman and Snowsuit are the most critical symbols. The young girl in the story is very fond of Superman. It is the symbol of peace, an imagination that stands a large part of the girl’s childhood. However, all of these beautiful things snap into half when Paula buys a new snowsuit and slip into the oil slick. It gives the girl a concept of things she has never experienced in this world, ugly but real. A mini war also started with the snowsuit as the fuse. At this point, childhood fades and never goes back to the girl.

The pain of the fading childhood can be explored in the author’s crafts. Different length of phrases is used to show the feeling of the young girl. When Paula fall onto the oil slick, children begin to turn to the girl and say in short phrases: “You, you pushed me.”, “You did it, you pushed her,” and “yes, you did, we saw you.” Also, while the girl is walking back to home from her friends, “I started walking past them, walking home, determined not to run, but when I had left them behind me”, short phrases are used again. These sentences form a rhythm beating, building up tension and suggest the fear inside the girl. She is too worried and afraid to think anything reasonable, so she just plainly walks, and walks, back to home. There are also lots of dialogue of the conversation between the child and her family. The girl tries to explain what happened to Paula to her family, but no one really believe her: “I told you what happened, and I can’t make it any different. Not even for you I can’t make it any different.” The quote is full of bitter and desperate. The fade of childhood.

The process of accepting the reality is showed by tone. Lots of description of light are used to create tone. At first when the girl is still dreaming of superman, the light she sees outside the windows are “flashing red and green” and “rise and set in the sky like shooting stars”. These are colorful, delightful imaginations of the girl. On the other hand, after she has experience so many things, on her bed she sees “black shadow creeping up the underside of the world like a flood tide.” All of her imaginations are washed away, never coming back. The only thing left is the infinite darkness in the world to be accepted. A sad and stifling tone is created.

Childhood is the happiest times in people’s life, but as people start to accept the reality and step towards the real world in pain, childhood fades forever. The girl in the story is forced to step away from her childhood by the reality, and we are left saddened when she is framed and sink into the infinite darkness. The story reflects a fact in the society, and reminds us to cherish our happy times.