Adrian Huerta

Professor Lago
Eng 1500-15
Essay 1 Revised Draft
Literature is one of the oldest forms of communication between two people. Literature
has no race, nationality, or sex. Literature has continued to exist through people who are able to
express their beliefs, anecdotes, and almost anything as long as it is within their writing
capabilities. The authors of these literature works would spread their ideas using literary devices
through direct and indirect ways. Over time, scholars began to analyze these pieces of work to
decipher the authors hidden messages. The study of literature has helped many professors teach
analytical and critical thinking to their students. Analyzing literature can further an individuals
knowledge through the intense process of trying to figure out the authors purpose.
Through the advancement of technology, analyzing literature became easier and faster
because the information was easily accessible. Within seconds of a search on Google, millions of
data can be accessed. Unfortunately, the advancement of technology has also had its fair share of
flaws. One of these flaws includes the long term effect it has left its users. Being able to access
almost any kind of information in seconds has caused people to become lazy and impatient.
Majority of users come from both the Generation Y and Generation X which dates back to ___.
The habitual use of technology has led users to solely rely on technology for all aspects of their
life. People are no longer picking up new books, or creating stories with friends. Instead they are
surfing the web, and interacting socially with peers. The advancement of technology in the
digital age has led to the decreased interest on literature and the increased interest in other forms
of literature such as the internet.
Daddy by Sylvia Plath, is a poem written in the 1960s. This poem goes in depth about a
female woman who is speaking to her father, whom she is trying to let go of his memory. Her
father was a German officer during World War II. She goes on to explain her mixed emotions
about how her neighbors were excited that her daddy had passed away. The author used many
different literary devices to enhance and give a vivid image of what the character was
experiencing when she learned who her father really was. In the first stanza, the narrator states,
In which I have lived like a foot for thirty years, poor and white, barely daring to breathe or
Achoo. (Plath). The author chose to use the foot as an example because the foot is the lightest
part of the human body. The foot is hidden under shoes and socks which is always worn to keep
out of sight like her family pride. The imagery described above can relate to how embarrassed
and ashamed she felt about her family background. This can give insight on who her father was
through his actions committed when he was alive.
Unfortunately, not all poems and lines are easily deciphered. Some authors tend to use
allusions to help get there point across. Allusions are the reference to something famous such as
Plath used in her poem Daddy multiple times. In stanza seven, the narrator states A Jew to
Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen, (Plath), which are all well known Jewish concentration camps
during World War II. In the thirteenth stanza, the daughter describes the model she created of her
father by stating A man in black with a Meinkampf look. (Plath). Unless a person was well
informed on World War II or on Hitler, the average person would never be able to understand
what Meinkampf means in the poem. Through the accessibility of the search engine Google,
we can now try to decipher what the author meant when she chose that allusion to represent her
thoughts. Through Google we can learn that Meinkampf was an autobiography written by
Adolf Hitler on his beliefs. By understanding what this word means, we can better understand
the poem through the narrators point of view. We can now understand that the daughter in the
poem compared her fathers model to Hitler, thus indicating that her father must have shared
similar characteristics. That can also explain why many of her neighbors were thrilled when her
father had passed away. A final example in which an allusion was used to better explain her
point was on stanza eight. In this particular stanza, the narrator states The Snows of the Tyrol,
the clear beer of Vienna are not very pure or true. (Plath). By utilizing Google, we can search
what the author meant by the beer and the snow and we can also search of a map image of the
nearby cities. Through this search we can better visualize how both cities surround Germany.
When the narrator describes how things are not true, she is really saying that there is more to
what seems normal. With this said, we can infer that she related this stanza to the mass killings
of Jews that occurred within Germany the concentration camps without German citizens ever
being aware of what was occurring.
Without the accessibility of search engines, analyzing poems or any piece of literature
would be difficult and enduring. However, many authors such as Naomi Shihab Nye believe that
the digital age has had a great impact in the decline of interest in literature. In Where Children
Live, Naomi writes about the process a child undertakes as he matures and grows older.
Throughout the poem, she begins to describe the stage a child reaches when he no longer plays
as one. The narrator states The heart never goes outside to find something to do. And the house
takes on a new face, dignified. No lost shoes blooming in the bushes. No chipped trucks in the
drive. (Nye). The narrator is giving the image that comes with children playing among each
other. The lost shoe in the bush symbolizes the games children would play that would lead up to
someone losing a shoe, or possibly the chipped trucks left behind in the drive way.
All these clich scenarios regarding children would be erased through time as the internet
takes over childrens childhoods. A mature child of Generation Z has now fallen victim to the
addictiveness of the internet. With so much information that the internet can store, majority of
kids leave their toys to become hooked on technology. The adventurous days that came with
being a kid are now slowly declining. This can be proven in Naomis poem when she states
Grown ups like swings, leafy plants, slow-motion back and forth. (Nye). The plant in this can
be referenced to a pendulum swing in which both move naturally in a slow motion back and
forth. This can also be referenced to the lives that children in newer generations are now
expected to live with the result of being raised in the digital age. No longer will they enjoy
roaming around outside with their friends on summer days. The adventures that were
experienced roaming around on summer days may help an individual gain something that could
not be taught through the internet. This particular thing is the experience that one lives through
which can be used to relate to the author when analyzing his works to better understand it.
Instead Generation X will spend their summer days home, chatting and playing games on the
internet with their best friends. Their lives will be like a pendulum swing, consisting of the same
rhythm, or pattern, time after time after time.