Nicholas Cuppari
10/8/14
English 3 AP
Mr. Gotilla
Summary
Rhetorical Device
Impact
Sardine fishermen are spreading a net. They close it and make a large catch of fish.
”The look-out man will see some lakes of milk-color light on the sea’s night-purple” (Visual imagery)
“And purse the bottom of the net, then with great labor haul it in” (Metaphor) Net to lips.
This fills the reader in that the crew has seen a school of sardines. Also, it provides imagery for the beauty of the night and fish.
The act of fishing is natural. The closing of a net is likened to the closing of one’s lips.
The scene of the captured fish is beautiful, yet sad. The fish throw themselves from side to side on the net in despair as they know what is happening. The net becomes their world.
“I cannot tell you how beautiful the scene is, and a little terrible… they are caught, and wildly beat from one wall to the other of their closing destiny” (Metaphor) The net walls to their destiny
“The phosphorescent Water to a pool of flame… Floats and cordage of the net great sea-lions come up to watch” (Juxtaposition)
The fruitful catch, although pleasing to the eye, has something off about it. The fish know their fate and are thrown into mass panic.
The beautiful water turns to flames as the net slowly closes and seals the fish’ fate. The affair is so somber that even the regular predator of the sardines sighs at it.
The speaker is looking down from a mountain at a beautiful view, and inevitably thinks about the fish. The view is stunning, but still makes him think that man, with all his technological advancement, is much like a school of fish in a seine net. That through all this assistance, he has lost his ability to be self-sufficient and survive without help. The government can become that rope.
“Lately I was looking from a night mountain-top…
