English106-01-03 Introductory Composition

Online Citation Guides
Ten Steps to Writing an Essay ~ follow these ten steps to writing an essay from the American University in Cairo; includes in-depth explanations of the steps, on-line practice sessions, and technology tips

http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/research.htm

Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format ~ a guide to using MLA style citations from the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University; includes guides and many examples

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Great Blue Heron: Terry starts out by describing a heron at the edge of the lake.. in it's own solitude but peaceful at the same time. I feel like she is describing herself through the heron, it knows how to protect itself, it has weathered the changes well, through the highwater and all the hard times, it has stayed home in the refuge.

Refuge is not a place outside myself. Like the lone heron who walks the shores of Great Salt Lake, i am adapting as the world is adapting (267)

I think by now, towards the end of the story, Terry has learned to accept death and seek refuge. She has lived through the death of her mother and both of her grandmothers. Terry, in a sense, can see her own life in her mother's. Just like the rest of the women in her family, she more than likely will face the same fate of breast cancer. Terry already has a small tumor in her chest that is potentially cancerous. In another 15 to 20 years, Terry will be her mother. She will face the same death as the other women in her family. But Terry has accepted this fact.

When Terry says, “With mother I buried my innocence. With Mimi I will bury my haven,” (273), it reveals a lot of things to us. One thing that it reveals to us is that with her grandma, she felt as is she could confide in her and share all her secrets. With her mom, she kept her innocence. So it is as if she wanted her mother to know only the good things about her, and her grandmother knew everything, the good and the bad about her. She tells us, “Mimi and I shared a clandestine vision of things” (273).

The lake levels in the chapter Great Blue Heron is the same as that in the chapter Snowy Egrets (4207.05). The style of writing is also similar in the two chapters. In the first paragraph Terry says: “A heron stands on the edge of the lake, solitary and serene. The wind shinnied up her back, raising a few feathers, but her focus remains steady.”(Page 266). This is referring to Terry’s grandmother. Terry is now facing Mimi’s death. It seems as though she has learned a lot from her previous experiences.

People think of Death as the very end of life. Terry gets scared by that, because she fears to lose all the love and great emotions that she had with her mother and all other things she loves. Overall she cares about her mother, her grandmother, the Bird refuge and the Great Salt Lake. In the book we can see how Terry loses her fear step by step.

The quote that is shown by Williams on page 273 shows how those who have passed affected Williams’ life. When dealing with her mother’s illness, Williams did not know how handle her mother’s condition. In dealing with her mother, she shows vulnerability, sadness, and resentment towards those who do not have to experience what she has to. These feelings are things that she has not experienced before in her life. I think that because she has not experienced them before, her mother’s illness has taken that innocence from her.

“With mother I buried my innocence. With Mimi I will bury my haven.” This quote struck me as a very strong quote with heartfelt meaning. This simple, two sentence quote can reveal many different feelings and attitudes. Innocence can be defined as the lack of knowledge or understanding. This is what Terry lost when her mother died. She had never experienced the loss of someone she loved so dearly. She had the unfailing connection that can only be felt between a mother and a daughter. The death of her mother was the loss of innocence in never having dealt with death.

When Terry's mother died, that was her first tangible glimpse of death. She hadn't truly experienced the power and emotion that comes with losing a close family member. Once Terry's mother died, she became a veteran of death so to speak, no longer possessing her innocence. When she writes how losing Mimi will mean "burying her haven," Terry lets on to the fact that when her mother died, Mimi became her haven to help recover from her mother's death. Mimi was the closest thing to a mother figure she had and after that was gone she had nothing left to fill that void.

Great Blue Heron (266-270)

Williams sees the heron. How can she be like the heron? She realizes that she always seems to want to be a bird when she is human (266). Terry is adapting and trying to find a way to move on. She is still searching for her refuge, and is adapting to her life now without her mother (and soon to be without her grandmother).