There are no characters in this story and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters." - Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, 1969 The novels of Kurt Vonnegut, as well as the works of authors like Mailer, Salinger, and Arthur Miller, represent a period in American literature in which we find few heroes, lots of self-reflection, and passages like this one--in which the narrator appears and describes the writing process itself. This period is called the A)Postmodern. B)Realist. C)Romantic. D)Transcendentalist.

judy jones is an attractive woman who receives attention from many men throughout the story.   despite her beautiful appearance, she is superficial and callous.   she is an aggressive woman who goes after any man she desires but she is not happy.   she is fickle and is never satisfied.   her beauty is only skin deep.   dexter breaks down because he knows his dreams are unattainable.   he believes that wealth and physical beauty are what will make him happy.   he soon realizes that she has lost her attractive looks.   it is not all what he had planned.

1.   in sonnet 18, the speaker wants to describe the beauty of his love, but can’t find the words to do so. the speaker says “then in mid-utterance the lay was lost” when he tries to think of the words to describe his love’s beauty.   through his defeat of finding words to describe his love, he shows his love for her.

2.   instead of describing how perfect his love is or comparing her to other beautiful things, he says she is average and there is nothing special about her.   at the last 2 lines of the poem, the volta changes the poem by saying that even though his love is average in beauty, his love for her is special and unique. so instead of praising her throughout the whole poem, he contrasts her average characteristics with his special love for her.

3.   the beloved asked the speaker to describe how he feels about her. she begins to describe what she feels but "drop the torch" and says that she can't do it because the words "hid in me out of reach." the the speaker says "nay, let the silence of my womanhood command my woman-love to thy belief" and that her silence will have to be the answer to his question.