When the World Began
1. “A place of jubilation and of mourning, horrible and beautiful.”, “A place of incredible happenings, splendours and revelations, despairs like multitudinous pits of isolated hell.” The tone established by the opening paragraph is melancholy.
2. According to Lawrence small towns are described as bizarre and agonizingly repressive or cruel at times. She agrees that there are times where small towns are like this but they are never boring. There are some small towns that could fit that description but not the one I live in currently. The people are friendly and you can make your own fun.
3. The author did not like that in small towns girls can be very mean behind each others backs. She also did not like how the recently deceased seemed to cast a gloom over a town.
4. No I don’t, at least not now that I am living in Radisson. Radisson is a growing place, the people are nice, homes are cheaper and it is close to Saskatchewan’s biggest urban centre. It is a quiet and happy village. It is possible to stay in Radisson and still have many opportunities available to you. If I was still in Caroline I would not feel the same way. People were not as nice and it seemed like there was little opportunity for you to move on with your life by staying there.
5. The evidence I have that Lawrence thinks that Canadians are too modest comes from a couple sentences in one paragraph midway through her essay. “Why on earth did generations of Canadians pretend to believe this country dull? We knew perfectly well it wasn’t.” and “If our upsurge of so-called nationalism seems odd or irrelevant to outsiders, and even to some of our own people (what’s all the fuss about?), they might try to understand that for so many years we valued ourselves insufficiently...” The United States exudes so much national pride and power that all that we do seems insubstantial in comparison. It is harder to shout something to the world if someone beside you is shouting louder. It is intimidating as we feel we have to match their amount of pride in order to have our own.
6. I think what she means is that we have such a vast land deprived of people that we are almost like pioneers when we build a life for ourselves outside of urban areas. However, we are “phony” because it is actually not that difficult. She is reminding herself that though we might look gruff or have that stereotype we are just like any other western society.
7. I feel that “You are where you are from - no matter how much you fight it.” is an accurate assumption that can be made about the theme of this essay. Throughout the essay she debates with herself over the statements she has tried to convince herself as true. She realizes that prairie living had its ups and downs but no matter what she remembers of it, it shaped her current worldview.
1. “A place of jubilation and of mourning, horrible and beautiful.”, “A place of incredible happenings, splendours and revelations, despairs like multitudinous pits of isolated hell.” The tone established by the opening paragraph is melancholy.
2. According to Lawrence small towns are described as bizarre and agonizingly repressive or cruel at times. She agrees that there are times where small towns are like this but they are never boring. There are some small towns that could fit that description but not the one I live in currently. The people are friendly and you can make your own fun.
3. The author did not like that in small towns girls can be very mean behind each others backs. She also did not like how the recently deceased seemed to cast a gloom over a town.
4. No I don’t, at least not now that I am living in Radisson. Radisson is a growing place, the people are nice, homes are cheaper and it is close to Saskatchewan’s biggest urban centre. It is a quiet and happy village. It is possible to stay in Radisson and still have many opportunities available to you. If I was still in Caroline I would not feel the same way. People were not as nice and it seemed like there was little opportunity for you to move on with your life by staying there.
5. The evidence I have that Lawrence thinks that Canadians are too modest comes from a couple sentences in one paragraph midway through her essay. “Why on earth did generations of Canadians pretend to believe this country dull? We knew perfectly well it wasn’t.” and “If our upsurge of so-called nationalism seems odd or irrelevant to outsiders, and even to some of our own people (what’s all the fuss about?), they might try to understand that for so many years we valued ourselves insufficiently...” The United States exudes so much national pride and power that all that we do seems insubstantial in comparison. It is harder to shout something to the world if someone beside you is shouting louder. It is intimidating as we feel we have to match their amount of pride in order to have our own.
6. I think what she means is that we have such a vast land deprived of people that we are almost like pioneers when we build a life for ourselves outside of urban areas. However, we are “phony” because it is actually not that difficult. She is reminding herself that though we might look gruff or have that stereotype we are just like any other western society.
7. I feel that “You are where you are from - no matter how much you fight it.” is an accurate assumption that can be made about the theme of this essay. Throughout the essay she debates with herself over the statements she has tried to convince herself as true. She realizes that prairie living had its ups and downs but no matter what she remembers of it, it shaped her current worldview.
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