  Ŀ
ĳ!Attach This Header To Top of All Paper Submissions!       [TIA]
Eĳ
sSubject/Class Paper was submitted for  [english                ]
SSubject/Topic of paper (Please Be As Descriptive As Possible)   
a[AP English part 3 essay: Re: Shaw                             ]3 Letter
Y Year of AP Exam unknown                                      Abbrev.
 [                                                              ]for
S       Grade Level (For High School Students):      9 [ ] 11 [ ]Major
u                                                   10 [ ] 12 [X]Education
B                                       (for Ont., Canada) 13 [ ]Areas,
m       Year (For University/College Students)       1 [ ]  3 [ ]MARK one:
I                                                    2 [ ]  4 [ ]
s                                                           5 [ ]English
SSchool/University/College/Institution [St. Joseph's Collegiate ][ENG] [X]
iCity & State (Province) of Inst.      [Buffalo, NY             ]History
OName of Teacher/Prof. submitted to    [Mr. Zabawa              ][HST] [ ]
nGrade Received (If Received Yet)                           [92 ]Science
 Date Paper was submitted (mm/dd/yy)   [10/2/92                 ][SCI] [ ]
FName of Author (Real or Alias)        [The Saint               ]Health &
oHigh School Avg./College GPA of Author                 [95.6   ]Sports
RIf used, Textbook/Novel/Classic Translator/Editor and Version/  [HTH] [ ]
m Edition Info [                                                ] -
 Additional Comments [                                          ]The
 [                                                              ]Information
 Allies
   
Paper 3: Shaw                               Due date: 10/2/92

     The diction and detail which Shaw used in his letter
suggest that his attitude towards his mother's death was of
sad fascination. It can also be felt that he was reluctant to
remember her death as an occasion of extreme sorrow.

     Most of the diction used was not of an emotional nature
but pertained to an attitude of fascination, a phrase such as
"I went behind the scenes at the end of the service and saw
the real thing," is a statement of pure fascination.
However, a gentle mood of sadness was sustained throughout
the passage by the effects of phrases such as "the violet
coffin mysteriously passed out through it and vanished."
Although we later found out that the coffin had not yet
entered the furnace the word "vanished" created an air of
finality and we were reminded of the finality and solemnity
of death, as a result a mood of sadness was created.
Sometimes the diction fluctuated between a dismal tone and a
tone of interest and fascination creating again a mood of sad
fascination.  The tone change was quite profound in this
phrase where Shaw was describing the furnace, "No heat, no
noise. No roaring draught. No flame. No fuel. It looked cool,
clean, sunny. You would have walked in or put your hand in
without misgiving. Then the violet coffin moved again and
went in feet first. And behold! The feet burst miraculously
into streaming ribbons of garnet colored lovely flame."
Although the tone at the beginning was not truly depressing,
the short phrases that described the furnace as a place with
"no heat" and "no noise" caused the tone to become slightly
ominous and if a coffin with a dead body were pictured
burning in such a curious furnace the effect would be
slightly depressing.  However, the transition from sad to
fascination was smoothed by the words "cool, clean, sunny."
These words, having pleasant connotations, caused the tone to
slightly uplift in spirit.  Following this Shaw shifted into
fascination as he stated that the "coffin moved again." It is
notable that Shaw did not say that the coffin was "once again
moved," instead he said that it "moved again," as if on its
own. This statement was highly effective in creating a tone
of fascination because the impression that something
mysterious and remarkable occurred was made by those words.
The tone of fascination was sustained as Shaw described the
consumption of the coffin by flames as miraculous.









     Later in the passage Shaw's attitude seems to have
become slightly cheerful and merry as he imagined his mother
beside him. However, it was also interesting how Shaw shifted
from a mood of sad fascination to this reminiscent, cheerful
mood.  The transition was made when Shaw stated that the
"door fell; well they said that if...an hour and a half.  I
remembered the wasted little figure with the wonderful face,
and said, 'Too long' to myself- but off we went." The mood of
sad fascination was terminated when "the door fell."
Immediately following, Shaw stated some information in a very
'matter-of-fact' manner and then reminisced about his mother.
The "'Too long' to myself" was used as an expression of
sympathy towards his mother and the length of time she would
have to endure the furnace fire. Then he used a hyphen to
express an afterthought, "but off we went." This afterthought
commenced the cheerful mood because of the 'care-free' manner
in which it was stated. The juxtaposition of such a casual
statement next to a statement of sympathy for the most part
overwhelmed the gloom of sympathy and effectively created a
more comfortable atmosphere, and thus became a good point to
begin a cheerful mood.

     The cheerful mood began with the statement that the "end
was wildly funny." It seems that even though Shaw
acknowledged the graveness of his mother's death by the word
"end," he preferred to remember the end as a pleasant time
and so described what may not in reality have been truly
hilarious as "wildly funny." Next he commented that his
mother herself would have enjoyed the whole affair, and soon
he imagined his mother enjoying the final processing
alongside him. The part where his mother joined Shaw was a
mixture of comic images, which it seems Shaw preferred to
remember than funereal images, and reminiscence. Comic images
were introduced by such phrases as "Mama...leaning over
beside me, shaking with laughter," and Shaw indulged in
reminiscence by using such phrases as "Mama's dainty little
heap of ashes." The word "dainty" caused the remembrance of
Shaw's mother and became an effective tool for him to use in
reminiscing. Shaw also sustained a pleasant mood by
describing the workroom where the final processing of the
ashes was being done as a "roomy kitchen with a big cement
table," and the workers as "two cooks." By using this
language he framed what may have been a sombre situation into
a picture of coziness and pleasantness and so managed again
to avoid the admittance of a completely funereal atmosphere.
Before the concluding sentence, in the same high spirits,








Shaw took a jab at the grave and how it lost, again avoiding
unpleasant thoughts by considering that even in death they
beat the grave of its reward. Shaw ended the letter by saying
"goodnight, friends who understand about one's mother." By
this he meant that the way in which he remembered and
portrayed his mother's death was the correct one, and thus he
ended the letter confident that his description had done his
mother's death justice.

     The letter expressed Shaw's emotions effectively through
mood changes and the usage of appropriate diction and detail.
It also acted as a tablet on which he recorded his mother's
death exactly the way in which he wished to remember it.
