[continued from previous message]   
      
   start with the garden and work your way into the house.  That's just a   
   little constructive criticism, and not a personal attack.   
      
   >> In this stanza, Little George is forced to spend his summers   
   >> working in the garden -- while enviously watching the neighborhood   
   >> children.  Because Little George describes their games as "mis   
   >   
   > You seem to have "frozen up", HarryLiar. That's not a big deal, of   
   > course; I realize that responding to a long post takes time: one often   
   > gets interrupted, even in mid-sentence. I mentioned it only because you   
   > and "Dr." NastyGoon have pointed to it, when I did it, as evidence that   
   > I suffered from not just psychological but various neurological   
   > diseases.   
      
   In this case it's a problem related to my having to access NovaBBS on my   
   laptop.   
      
   No offense to RetroGuy intended, but because my NovaBBS account is only   
   accessible from my laptop (and not on my PC), I am forced to type on   
   keyboard where touching certain areas of the mousepad with the lower   
   portion of my hands can set off commands that delete large chunks of   
   texts, reposition my cursor, etc.  In this instance, I appear to have   
   unintentionally highlighted and deleted a passage while typing the word   
   "is."   
      
   I was drawing attention to Little George's description of the games as   
   "mysterious" and his admission that he "never knew" what these mysteries   
   were.  Since the games forever remained cloaked in mystery, it is   
   obvious that Little George was employed in chores all day long.  He had   
   no free time to play with the other children (in which case their games   
   would no longer be mysteries to him).   
      
      
   >> How autobiographical is your poem?  Let's see.   
   >>   
   >> In the poem "Little George" states that the house came in a box, and   
   >> that he helped his father assemble it,  You had said that in real life,   
   >> your house came in a box, and that you helped your father assemble it.   
   >>   
   >> Little George tells how he was made to use the back door, had to take   
   >> off his shoes (and things), and wait for permission to enter.  In real   
   >> life, you had to use the back door, and remove your shoes before   
   >> entering as well.  I don't recall whether you also had to wait for   
   >> permission.   
   >   
   > True; in real life, the entire family removed their shoes on entering   
   > the house, and that's a reason we used the back door (because it had a   
   > landing where the shoes could be left. If I were writing an   
   > autobiography, I'd mention it that way; but because I'm imagining a   
   > fictional speaker's memories, I omitted that detail. As for needing to   
   > have permission to enter; I recall a few times when I was chased back   
   > outside, but it wasn't an everyday thing. Once again, I was not   
   > recounting events as I remembered them, but events as how I'd imagine my   
   > speaker remembering them.   
      
   I don't see where that matters much, George.  It casts the incident in a   
   slightly better light... but only slightly.   
      
   I was allowed to enter and exit through the front and back doors at   
   will. I could even run in the front door, race through the living room   
   and kitchen and exit by the back door if I felt like it -- and I never   
   had to take off, or put on, my shoes before doing so.   
      
   From my perspective, that atmosphere sounds restrictive and   
   repressive... but at least the restrictions didn't apply to Little   
   George alone.   
      
      
   >> You have also stated that the house in the poem is laid out exactly your   
   >> real life childhood house, and that you have intentionally chosen to   
   >> take the reader through this house room by room.  You have also said   
   >> that you intentionally chose to present each room along with a   
   >> description of a (possibly abusive) memory associated with it.   
   >   
   > Yes I did. I gave you the latter description in the very post you're   
   > replying to. Since you've buried it, it may be a good idea to move it up   
   > here:   
      
   Since we both remember it, I see no point in doing so, but whatever   
   makes you feel more comfortable.   
      
      
   >>> S1 - the speaker revisits the house (after getting permission from   
   >>> someone unspecified).   
   >>> S2 - the speaker remembers his father building the house.   
   >>> S3 - the speaker enters the back door, and remembers having to always   
   >>> have had to use that door.   
   >>> S4 - the speaker goes into the kitchen, and recalls having to wash   
   >>> dishes.   
   >>> S5 - the speaker looks out the kitchen window at the garden, and recalls   
   >>> having to work in it when he'd rather be playing.   
   >>> S6 - the speaker goes into the living room, and recalls not being   
   >>> allowed to sit  wherever he chose.   
   >>> S7 - the speaker thinks about his bedroom (but does not go there) and   
   >>> remembers being sent there to be alone after dinner until bedtime.   
   >>> S8 - the speaker continues to think about his bedroom, and remembers   
   >>> having an  early bedtime and being subject to corporal punishment.   
   >>> S9 - the speaker wishes he could burn the house down.   
   >   
   >> The first room in Little George's house is the kitchen.  Little George   
   >> associates this room with having to wash dishes, while looking out the   
   >> window and wishing that he was some other place.  In real life, you were   
   >> also made to wash dishes.  This is not uncommon.  Most children 50 years   
   >> ago were given chores to perform.  I had chores to do as well.  The   
   >> difference is that I was paid a weekly allowance for doing them, and had   
   >> the option of quitting my "job" at my discretion.   
   >   
   > Unlike you, I did not receive an allowance, and I was not able to walk   
   > away and leave the dishes dirty when I wanted to do something else.   
   > Unlike both you and Bob, I washed dishes twice a day with my sister (and   
   > later with one of my step-nieces). That last is another detail I changed   
   > for dramatic effect.   
      
   Again, that strikes me as having lived in a repressive and restrictive   
   atmosphere.  It also gives me the impression that your parents treated   
   you and you sister (and step-nieces) as little slaves.   
      
      
   >> In spite of your claim that you were taking the reader on a tour of   
   >> Little George's house (which has the same floorplan as your real life   
   >> childhood home), the narrative jumps from the kitchen to the garden.   
   >> I'm guessing that the garden stanza originally came before the kitchen   
   >> one, but that you later rearranged the stanzas to present the supposed   
   >> "abuses" in order of severity (as you have recently stated).  Little   
   >> George spends his summers working in the garden, all the while envious   
   >> of the neighborhood children who are free to play at their will.  The   
   >> fact that Little George calls their games "mysterious" and laments that   
   >> he "never knew" them implies both that he had to spend the entire day   
   >> doing chores and that he was not allowed to join the other children in   
   >> their games.   
   >   
   > It sounds like you're repeating yourself;   
      
   Since this is a long and rambling post, I felt it best to reiterate my   
   points for focus.   
      
   > but maybe it's worth making   
   > the same points in return. I wasn't *always* working in the garden,   
   > while my friends were always working - though that's how it seemed   
   > sometimes when I was working and they were playing - so that's how I had   
   > Bob remember it.   
   >   
   >> Was George Dance also forced to work in the garden all day/denied the   
   >> fun of playing with the other children?  I don't know.  I'm guessing   
   >> that he was, because many children had gardens that they tended every   
   >> day.  I certainly did.  I would spend an hour or so tending my garden   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)