I love swimming and would spend all my summer afternoons in the ocean or a swimming pool nearby. It is not because I found myself doing that because I have this inner drive and passion for it. I always look forward to my next swimming sessions, and I get this urge to jump into any pool of water I see near me. Just like Didion writes to find out what she is thinking about, looking at, and the meanings of what she sees, I also swim because I want to see whether I am a better swimmer than I was yesterday. Nothing excites me more than breaking my swimming records.
I may not be one of the best swimmers out there, but one thing I know, I was curved specifically for this sport. It brings out the best out of me especially when I am entangled in my imagination, competing with fish to reach the target in record time. Every time I am half way through, I just remember my goal and off I go and nothing can stop me from doing what I know how to do best, beat every set record.
If I was to win a medal at the Olympics, then I have won hundreds of them only in my silent world of imaginations. I spend much of my time reminiscing of the day I will see myself an accomplished swimmer. I will know that my effort will have been crowned and so will be ready to call it a day, but until then, I am still swimming, I will swim to the moon and back, because I know that will make me very happy.
Question 2
Jay Wright begins "A Month in the Country" with the statement: "I needed to see myself again" (line 1) but unfortunately he does not see himself again. The poem reflects a lost sense of personality that is influenced by what is going on around the persona. That is the reason the persona is not sure of what awaits him. The persona seems to be confused by what is going on around him and does not seem settled, and that is why he is lying “uneasily in the drone of silence (line 30-31).
The persona seems weary and tired of the heat in Harlem, and the closeness also makes him uncomfortable (line 36). At the mention of Harlem, sad memories of slavery and black segregation comes to mind, because that was the ghetto that was home to poor black Americans. The disappointed faces are perhaps a reflection of the problems the people in Harlem were undergoing. Even after moving from there to New Hampshire, the situation is still the same because the persona still walks by “the poor, red shacks, the idle saws (line40- 41), nothing seems to have changed.
The situation in New York and New England is just the same, as a black man the persona is still faced with the same challenges. His blackness betrays him, as he feels the weight of ill-treatment and poor living conditions. The situation does not change much. The persona is judged depending on the color of his skin, whether in New York or New Hampshire, he does not see himself again, but rather see his blackness in the context of whiteness because everyone treats him with contempt.
References
Didion, J. Why I write. PDF File
Wright, J. A Month in the Country. PDF File
