Sunday, November 1, 2009

What We Don't Tell the Children Prompt #1

Why does the poet italicize the words "primitive place" (16)?
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16 comments:

  1. Tsegu KahsayNovember 1, 2009 at 8:32 PM

    Words are italicized when we want them give another meaning than the direct meaning. So if the words "primitive place" was not italicized they might have meant a very antique place, but with the way they are might mean a place which is created inspiring primitive place which can be for example a primitive house.

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  2. chaperonesNovember 1, 2009 at 10:26 PM

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  3. chaperonesNovember 2, 2009 at 1:25 AM

    The word primitive place was italicized and used twice in the poem. In the first use of primitive place, he used it to indicate the negative view of the artist couple towards the neighborhood that was primitive place to others. In the second use, he used it when the artist couples were moving out the violent neighborhood to much better primitive place.
    My understanding of why the word primitive place was italicized in the poem is not from understanding the poem but by understanding who Jimmy Santiago Baca is. Baca had a hard life when he was young. He was abandoned by his parents and was incarcerated when he was thirteen and jailed when he was twenty-one for five years. As a child he never had a primitive place that is safe, warm and homey. So, when I look at his poem with the word primitive place italicized twice I think he is screaming out for long suffering of his childhood.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 2, 2009 at 9:01 AM

    The words “primitive place” were italicized in order to show the sarcasm in the narrators tone. Primitive is defined by dicitionary.com as, “Unaffected or little affected by civilizing influences; uncivilized; savage”. The first time primitive place is used in line 16, could easily be considered offensive towards the narrator. For the artist to come to his home and call in “primitive” or in other words uncivilized could be considered a form of disrespect. The second time the word “primitive” is used the narrator clearly describes how what the artist are actually looking for completely contradicts what the word primitive means.

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  5. JosephNovember 2, 2009 at 7:24 PM

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  6. JosephNovember 2, 2009 at 7:25 PM

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  7. JosephNovember 2, 2009 at 7:31 PM

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  8. JosephNovember 2, 2009 at 7:40 PM

    I think the word "primitive place" was italicized because the word implies the other meaning rather than or adding to the directional meaning. In this poem, the word "primitive place" was used twice and in the both the word meant the place was unaffected by civilizing influences like nature. However the word have opposite aspects in each time. In the first use the word had a negative meaning that was dim and savage place. However in the sencond use, the word had positive meaning that was the tranquil and peaceful place.

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  9. karen-zhongNovember 3, 2009 at 12:37 AM

    I think the words “primitive place” (16) implies another meaning. The couple was ecstatic about renting a new place, which they actually knew nothing about it; they only felt excited about this place, which they considered it was what they thought—it was primitive. However, after they lived there, the wife found that this new place complete different from what they thought before, it was not simple and pure, but intricate and maybe harmful for their son. They didn’t think it was what they wanted to live, and it was not match their standard of primitive place. So, the poet italicizes the words “primitive place” because it has the negative meaning and effect for the poetry.

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  10. raisinsklNovember 3, 2009 at 8:57 PM

    The poet italicizes “primitive place” because that is someone else’s interpretation (point of view) of a primitive place. The couple who are artists move to the poet’s area because they like the idea of living in a primitive place. Later on, they find out they don’t really want that kind of primitive, where two wild, black cats attack their Siamese cat. Therefore, they leave seeking for a different kind of primitive place, but the poet’s saying that when you want primitive you have to expect that life is going to actually be primitive, not someone’s romantic notion of what primitive means- rustic, old-fashioned quaint, etc.

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  11. Joey phanNovember 3, 2009 at 9:39 PM

    the poet italicizes "primitive place" to show the different meaning of the word "primitive" for the artist couple and for the people that actually living there. the couple moved to the poet's neighborhood with the expectation of a quiet and romantic place where they could express their artistic talent. it turned out to be the opposite. this place turned out to be full of violent and chaotic. that's why they decided to move away to find the "primitive place" that they actually looking for.

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  12. AllenNovember 4, 2009 at 3:19 PM

    The meaning they put on the word primitive place is because they are lived in a rural area where they is nothing but old things that show no life and no sense of a place to escapes that rustic boring life. A place where animal are not tame for human society, where things survived with their instinct, instead of a civilized manner.

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  13. dtwelve89November 5, 2009 at 8:55 PM

    The poet italicizes the words "primitive place" to put emphasis on the words so the we the readers will pay more attention to its meaning or meanings. What the poet really wants us to do is focus on the artist couple's definition of a primitive place. A defined primitive place is a location belonging to an early stage of technical development like a village. However, the artist couple uses this definition and applies it to the ghetto neighborhood. They are ultimately showing a sense of superiority that they believe they have over the neighborhood and the people that lives within it.

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  14. Ivory LeeNovember 6, 2009 at 9:30 AM

    1) The poet italicize the words “ primitive place” because this is the key word in the poem. On the one hand, the poet want to point out the “ primitive place” which is the place people wants to find out. Each time we get the theory from book, this is the resule with someone’s deeply thinking; To compare with the “primitive place” we need to find out the way and thinking by ourselves. The poet want to point out the most important thing which is people need to provides the deepest meaning without somone tells us the directily meaning.

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  15. Anya liuNovember 11, 2009 at 11:58 PM

    the reason why the poet italicize the words "primitive place" because it have opposite meaning in the beginning and the end of the poet. The first meaning for "primitive place" is a savage place by the view of Artist couple. the second meaning is the view of the poet's point , it is full of sarcasm by the Artist couple.

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  16. Isaac7600November 19, 2009 at 3:42 PM

    I believe that "primitive place" was italicized to point out what outsiders or other view the town. Specifically, since a couple of artists, give a sense of maybe being Anglos that come from an urban city to a small town with a population of Mexican-Americans.

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