WW8 revised

Guilt

In Jed Chamber’s “Guilt,” contrast, imagery, and figurative language helps support the poem’s universal life lesson. “Guilt” is about a young boy, fishing for the very first time. The boy cannot make up his mind whether he thinks he is prepared to fish or not, but once he makes a successful first catch his mind has been made up for sure. In “Guilt,” feeling bad about doing something is better than not trying it at all.

Jed Chamber uses contrast to change the boy’s perspective about fishing throughout the poem. In the beginning of the story, the child seems excited to go fishing. “We would fish, and we would enjoy it,” (1-2) which is what was going through his mind at first. “Then came the reluctant waiting,” (19) is an important key phrase because it switches the mood of the story. Ironically, right after the waiting, the boy feels a sharp tug and gets all excited again. When he finally reels in the fish, we, the readers, can tell the mood has completely changed again. “As it lay there, staining the dock crimson, you killed it,” (28-30) is a great example that the young boy changes his mind again about fishing because of the way the quote is worded. Last but not least, to prove the child does not like fishing at the current time, the adult he is fishing with says “Just a fish, you claimed. But when it was cooked for our dinner I tasted guilt,” (31-35). These quotes prove the young boy is confused whether he is comfortable fishing or not.

The use of imagery in “Guilt” also illustrates the boy acts enthusiastic about fishing, only at first. The use of imagery is used twice, and is specifically about fishing related words. For example, “At the pier we baited our hooks - slipped barbs into rancid shrimp. The shining silver pierced one side and emerged, glistening on the other. Then we cast,” (6-11). The young boy gives us the most specific details of everything he is noticing because he is very excited. Later on in the story after the reluctant waiting, we receive another wave of information about what he is seeing and what’s going on. “I felt a sharp tug and I saw it - the blue-white streak cut through the brine like harnessed lightning. A mackerel. The monofilament stretched taut. Slowly I reeled it in,” (22-27) is another great example of how excited the child was at first. The way Chambers uses contrast and imagery shows the readers the child cannot make up his mind about fishing.

In “Guilt,” Jed Chambers throws in some figurative language to show the young boy is still growing up and understanding the way of life. The perspective we have on the boy shows us he is unprepared for what he is about to experience. For example, “Mine landed close - too close perhaps - to the solitary black cormorant who clumsily flapped away and screamed at me in its foreign tongue,” (14-18). This quote is a personification because ducks don’t scream, they quack. Another example is, “But when it was cooked for our dinner I tasted guilt,” (32-35). The boy did not literally taste guilt because that is impossible and a metaphor. Chambers tosses in the metaphor and personification to tell the readers that the child is too young to understand fishing is a food source and a game played by millions  and millions of people.

The young boy in “Guilt” feels bad for killing his first catch, but at least he tried instead of not doing anything at all. Jed Chambers uses contrast, imagery, and figurative language to explain the theme of “Guilt.” Contrast and imagery is used to show the boy switches back and forth about his attitude towards fishing. Figurative language is thrown into the poem to show us he might not be ready to fish yet because he is still a boy. Taking risks is never a bad idea, even if it takes a long period of time to make up your mind about whether it can be done or not.


I chose this piece to revise because I only had two things I had to correct and I knew exactly what they were. I added a comma after my introductory phrase, and one more in a compound sentence. Not much has changed except for two punctuation marks in two different sentences.