ZhiZhou Zhang.
(Neal)
RR1.
I love the details in this story.
In the first sentence of the first paragraph(I stand on a chair and wash the supper dishes),
although Clark doesn't directly tell the readers how old "I" am in the article, it is not hard to know
that "I" am a young child who is not tall enough to do the dishes standing up. In the following
sentence, my sister (a child younger than me) is drying the dishes. It seems that these two
sentences merely describe the actions of my sister and me. However, the readers can also
understand that these two little girls are not favored or cared for in this household because it is
unconscionable for two young children to do chores without a parent to help and watch over
them.
The later part of the first paragraph describes the view from the window during the day and
night. The "snow covered cornfield" indicates that the story takes place in winter but also further
confirms that my sister and "I" are not cared for or looked after by our family once again. (This
can also be seen from "I shiver..." in the previous sentence.) Because parents don't usually let two
kids that age do dishes in the winter.
On the other hand, the description of the view at night is more interesting. According to the
main character, the light refracted from the bulbs at night made the windows look like mirrors,
which is a detailed observation. I think the reason why the author describes such a scene is to
emphasize the loneliness of the girl. I can imagine a girl lacking parental love and companionship
sitting alone and bored by the window when reading this part. She watched the snow-covered
cornfield outside the window slowly turn to darken, and the bare bulbs in the room go on until
she could no longer see anything in the dark but her lonely shadow.
In addition, I think the description of the outside window view indicates a deeper meaning.
(Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.) I feel the view out the window symbolizes the outside world.
Therefore, "I" am so focused on the view out the window because I'm tired of being at home and
yearning for the outside world.
Clark's description of the father in the text is also fantastic. I was surprised that she didn't
tell the reader outright that the father was drunk. Instead, She used a lot of details, such as "He
jams his hands under his chin to keep himself from pitching forward into the mess on the table.".
My favorite one is, "He staggers backwards, bangs into the door leading to the upstairs, and
staggers back into the middle of the room again." These detail gave me a strong image of a
drunken father, although Clark even didn't mention the word "drunk" in the text.
When the father suddenly stood up, the descriptions of my sister and me were also
outstanding. Clark vividly described the nervousness and unease the children felt at that
moment. "I" only dared to look at him from the reflection in the window, my two sisters hugging
each other tighter and tighter, and Mary kept drying the same plate. These details show the
sense of oppression and fear that the father brings to the children.
Lastly, regarding the title of the essay "The Stovepipe Hole," I've been thinking about it for a
long time, but I don't particularly understand why Clark would use "The Stovepipe Hole" as a
title. One of my guesses is that there are two holes in the house, a big one leading to Sam's room
and a decorative one leading to my sister's and mine. Maybe these two holes represent the gap
between my siblings, "I" and our father. Or perhaps the two holes symbolize the mental and
physical damage our father has brought us? Because Clark says, "Dad hasn't filled in the two
holes yet."
What I admire most about Clark is that her writing is not straight storytelling. She is more
likely to be an artist who composes a picture with her words so that the reader can see the
background of the story, the setting, and the characters' state. She doesn't need to explain
anything in her writing; she just describes. She is not telling the story; she is trying to make the
reader travel through time and space to immerse into the story.
