Friday, February 7, 2014
Theme Within the Poem: The Traveling Onion
In the poem The Traveling Onion, Naomi Shihab Nye uses multiple techniques such as imagery, diction, and quotations from other resources to express the theme, that we should never take anything for granted, even the smallest of things, as everyone and everything are important in one way or another. The use of the quotation at the beginning of the poem from the Better Living Cookbook expresses how far of a journey the onion has over come. It is almost ironic that something so small could have overcome such a large journey. Despite being small and a common everyday vegetable "in Egypt it was an object of worship" (Nye). This idea illustrates to the reader that everything is important, needed, and vital no matter the size or shape. Nye also uses words such as "miracle" and "honorable" ( Nye, 4, 17) to describe the onion. Such words are associated with positive connotation. Furthermore, the fact that the onion is described as a miracle and worshiped illustrates that it is relied upon and is needed by others. This portrays the idea that even small and common things are depended on by others and have a positive influence. However, Nye's description and image of the onion shifts from the beginning of the poem. She initially describes it as "a... miracle, crackly paper peeling on the drainboard, pearly layers in smooth agreement" (Nye 3-5). However, towards the end of the poem Nye uses words such as "forgotten" and "disappear" (Nye 3, 19) in association with the onion to illustrate to the reader that people are taking things for granted and forgetting to be thankful for what they have "now limp, now divided" (Nye 16). Although a simple poem, the theme and ideas within it are related and seen in today's society. Nye does a great job of portraying this idea using a variety of techniques within the poem and relationship with the onion.
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This was a well developed post with good evidence.That said, I'd like a concluding sentence summing up everything you have said which would further assist you in reinforcing the idea you are arguing. Also to connect each literary element to the theme would help clarify how you reached to your argument. Your example on specific diction for example would sound better if you would include some sort of transition towards the theme. It does not flow but is abrupt. If you would connect the evidence then the paragraph would flow better as well as be more clarified. Overall this post offers great interpretation.
ReplyDeleteMishal,
DeleteThank you for your feedback, it was very insightful. As I explained to Mary Kate,in my post I tried to incorporate as many literary techniques as possible, but in doing so did not connect them to the theme as well as I should have, which you noted. In the future, I would need to expand on each idea and/or cut some. I would also take Ms. Morgans advise and focus on one literary technique per paragraph which would allow me develop further analysis. I also realized it was abrupt as I was trying to incorporate so much, therefore, there was little room to include much more. Again the solution would be to cut down on the different techniques. Thanks again.
This is such an interesting and well- developed post, Julia! I completely agree with your idea of theme and I loved how you used a bunch of techniques to prove your understatement of theme. However, in my opinion she also uses repetition to convey her theme of the onion being "small" and "forgotten" (Nye); she uses the word "forgotten" multiple times to really show that everybody takes the onion for granted. On top of that, another idea you should consider is how Nye goes from saying "the onion", as it were something important, to only saying an "onion" as if it were nothing. In my blog post I explained my idea and if you agree you should take a look at it! Overall I really liked your analyzes of the poem and how you backed up your idea with lots of secondary evidence!
ReplyDeleteHey Kim,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment I'm glad you liked my post. I really appreciate your new ideas and find it really interesting that Nye started out by saying "the onion" and towards the end just left it as "onion." I never noticed this idea and it can be used as great evidence. Thanks!
Julia, this looks very good, but I'd like you to focus on one literary technique per paragraph; it will enable you to develop your analysis further.
ReplyDeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog post. It was very insightful. Your theme was very similar to mine in that we had the same ideas. Your ideas are very developed and your arguments are very well backed up with the many examples of quotes you provided for the reader. I agree with Mishal in that to improve you post you should connect the literary elements to the theme more clearly. Other that that, your post is very good, and I really enjoyed reading it.
Hey Mary Kate,
DeleteThank you for your comment and feedback. I took a look at your post too, and found are paragraphs were very similar which was really interesting. As for Mishal and her post I completely agree. In my post I tried to incorporate as many literary techniques as possible, but in doing so did not connect them to the theme as well as I should have. In the future, I would need to expand on each idea and/or cut some. I would also take Ms. Morgans advise and focus on one literary technique per paragraph which would allow me develop further analysis. Thanks again for the comment. :)
Julia,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good blog post! I completely agree with the theme you chose to discuss, and I had similar ideas within my own blog post. You did an excellent job analyzing this poem, and you went into great detail describing all the literary elements which you were able to pull out from the piece. Your use of quotes was very effective, and they helped to strengthen your argument. An idea to improve your post would be to maybe separate each different topic in a new paragraph, that would create a more organized piece of work. As well, you should consider linking all your thoughts and connecting them to the main theme. Overall though, this was a very informative post and I enjoyed gaining your insight and views of this poem. Nice work!
Hey Maya, thank you so much for your comment and I am really glad you like my post. As for your feedback I completely agree with you, I do need to separate each technique into a different paragraph as it was far to rushed. Thank you or pointing this out, as it will be valuable information within the future. :)
DeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post! It had a lot of ideas, and the embedded evidence was very smooth and fitting to your argument. I thought is was interesting how you related the phrase "now limp, now divided" to the idea that all small things get forgotten, not just the onion after it's been cooked. Towards the beginning of your post, you discuss the excerpt from the Better Homes and Gardens cook book talking about the origins of the onion. You stated, "It is almost ironic that something (the onion) so small could have overcome such a large journey". While I agree with you that the onion has come a long way, I believe that the journey is more than just physical. The history of the onion is important because it is an interesting, unusual tid-bit of information that makes the audience pause and appreciate the onion, even if it only for a second. The fact that something as simple as an onion has such an intriguing back story shows that miracles can be found even in the smallest of things if you just take a moment to think about them.
Jawa spoke about the importance of the onion's history in her post about theme. Here is the link to her blog if you would like to read further into that idea: http://jawathehutt.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-theme-in-naomi-shihab-nyes-poem.html
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ReplyDelete