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September 09, 2005
Seems like the perfect person to eat a perfect orange
Before even starting to read the essay, the title alone, "Ode to an Orange", already lets readers know it is not your typical "Ode". Because, guess what?.... it's to an orange!
Woiwode creatively dives into extreme details in his descriptions of various orange experiences. As noted in the reading, he draws from all of the five senses, perhaps to help readers relate to and envision his discriptions more clearly and personally.
His 1940s white winter setting of North Dakota seems far from exciting, and the descriptions of the oranges make them seem as if they are from another world, one that contrasts greatly from his own. Even the colors, the bright oranges against the white, represent the brightness the "lovely spheres" bring into his life.
The oranges themselves were presented as almost having some super power from another world. They could enter the stingy, unpleasant grocery store by the boxfull and then instantly transform the atmosphere and mood of the place and all the people there. They "foretold the season more explicityly than any calander" and even physically burst the crates in which they arrive.
The statement that the narrator would do anything "in order to get one" suggests that, to him, getting an orange temporarily allowed him to escape his own world. An exotic world of bright colors, wonderful smells, and textures... far from the one that he resides in.
Posted by lcisthur at September 9, 2005 12:36 AM
Comments
I really liked your title "Seems like the perfect person to eat a perfect orange." I thought it was clever and very funny!
Posted by: Emmy at September 12, 2005 10:27 AM