The Flicker

Other cabins I think. But day by day, the lights go out. Many hundreds when I was small, just a few dozen now. Our own light, a single worn bulb dangling on wires from the cracked ceiling mount, is still going strong. Even so, every so often it flickers. Goes dark for just the briefest moment. That’s enough for it to get in. We only survive because Father is so quick with the axe. It’s shaped differently every time, perhaps trying…

In his story, “Let Me Sleep”—English translation by Patrick Miles and Harvey Pitcher— Chekhov recounts the tale of a nursemaid, Varka, who is never allowed to sleep. She is either up all night with the child or working for the family during the day. This leads to delusions and a tragic end. Ironically, for such a dark story, it is punctuated with references to light throughout. These references to light and a green lamp in particular, signal not only tonal shifts within the story, but also the…

In the poem, “Player Piano”, John Updike demonstrates a lot of feeling and emotion of an unhuman piano. By having detailed imagery of sounds, figures of speech, and rhyme, he portrays the reader into the picture of a machine-like device that has its own natural music language. This 12-line poem recalls the life and achievements of a player piano. In the first and second line, there is a lot of assonance (the repetition of sound in a vowel) and consonance (reassurance of similar sound) that are…

community where anybody can chip in and help whenever they please. Some examples said in the Ted Talk, was the use of Flicker as a collaboration. When tagged were invented it created a more advanced search on what you want to find via the internet, this made you get a closer look on the searchers that were more relatable to what you wanted. This meant that what ever was posted on Flicker that was tagged with what you were looking for was readable to your broad search. An example not used in…

in the utter blackness, they were reminded of something they preferred not to think about: that someday the lights of the city might go out and never come back on” (4-5). Constantly experiencing blackouts, where lights flicker and die. Just like the flicker of an ember, the flicker of survival. Will Ember endure this struggling civilization or will the people like Lina and Doon resuscitate it and keep the spark of life illuminated? You can observe how Lina and Doon are seeking to be released…

My Englishenglish teacher once told me a story about her as a young child, she asked her dad to take her through a creepy maze because she begged him to. She was not ready, even though she thought she was. As she walked around a corner, there was a giant, mean growling werewolf jumping out of a cage. She just about peed her pants and cried. The employees felt bad for her so they turned on all of the lights, stopped being creepy, and escorted her and her father out of the maze. This was supposed…

Found within every man, woman, or child is a hidden shadow that only flickers and veils itself from the light. This darkness within can be overwhelming or a small part of that person, waiting to grow larger as circumstances befall that individual. Some may argue that darkness is not a trait born within an individual and they can believe that, but what is true is that the darkness someone might have is ultimately crafted by the situations they go through and how they perceive them. In the novel…

The lights flicker with a mysterious reason. In the story “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is a story about a street named Maple Street that the lights go out for no reason. Everyone on the street blame each other for it but that later discover that aliens have control of the lights and all electrical things. The plot is unrealistic in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” because the neighbors believe that aliens have control of the lights, everyone thinking that Les Goodman’s car…

author demonstrates gratitude and appreciation for what the coach does for his team by expressing that type of tone. Hirsch tells us how the coach “...challenged us to hammer him with forearms, / And devised elaborate, last-second pays - a flea / Flicker, a triple reverse - to save us from defeat” (L. 22). The author used this to describe the determined hard work the coach is putting in with his player to win future games. Hirsch shows his appreciation for the practice drill the coach put his…

Leonard Mead experiences a society revolving around technology shown on the quote “It was not unequal walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light flickers behind the windows” (Ray Bradbury Paragraph 2). The quote explains how society is silent and dead since society watches “the flickers of fireflies behind the window.” Another quote “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country.” (Ray Bradbury…