Dystopian Journal #2

The significant passage is located on page 132 and follows onto page 133 ( "He hated Pope more and more[...] And suddenly there were more words".) This passage happens right after the beating of Linda and John due to Linda sleeping with other men in the reservation. The passage was written to show Johns rage for Pope when he is with his mother. He begins to acknowledge his anger for Pope only after first reading Shakespeare, this happens because he learns words to express what he feels instead of not being able to show or explain them before reading them. As the words flow he begins to lose control of his emotions and shows significance of emotions that reside in the book.

Characterization:
This passage stood out more than others because of its high emotional state when hatred is involved and discovered in the book. It shows how John comes to an uncontrollable and confused with anger when thinking of Pope. “He hated pope more and more. [...] His heart seemed to have disappeared and left a hole. He was empty, and cold, and rather sick, and giddy. He leaned against the wall to steady himself. Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous...."(132-133). The more we look at this the more we see John's character due to his emotions. John beforehand had not experienced anything like this. He did not know of anger and hatred. He only discovered this after reading Shakespeare and learning new words that he could describe his hatred with. Because of the words learned his hatred could grow stronger and become more uncontrolled as it grew because he could finally express them in some manner instead of suppressing them or not being able to show them in any manner. John is seen as a very emotionally controlled person because of this passage, which could prove to other points in the book as to why he takes certain actions to certain events. such as at the end of the book when he kills himself, or when he reacts to things differently than others in the "other place" in comparison to his own emotions.

Simile:
When John is expressing his anger for Pope he describes Popes hair as a black snake tying to strangle Linda. “One of the plaits of his long hair lying across her throat, like a black snake trying to strangle her"(132). John shows his anger as a black snake which can be seen as vicious or dangerous to his mother. By doing this John is able to make his hatred for Pope more clearly and in full understanding as to what is going on. This is significant because it also shows a great example of how emotions are tied into the book through descriptions as well.