Darkness Case

ASSIGNMENT #1

Whenever people are lying awake at night, most of them are mulling about their lives. Darkness has long associated with the symbols of pain, struggle, illusion and loneliness. The protagonist in Lying Awake of W.D.Snodgrass is sinking himself in his deep thoughts in the middle of the night. By having faith and choosing his own path, the protagonist portrays the poem by the Naturalistic Drama world visions.

First of all, the poem ends with a better ending; even the protagonist decides to do nothing but to "take things as they are." Comparing to all those petulant things that are blinded by the fanatical drive, the decision of the protagonist has saved him and gives him the least rough life that he wants. From what we can see in the poems, the protagonist is living in a room with "rusty edges of the screen," holes on the walls and an army of insect visits him every night. It indicates us that he does not have a high standard of living; in other words, he does not have much money. Perhaps this is why he stays up late as he tries to figure out a way to help his own poor life. Then, he realizes the moth, a small insect with even a worse life that could not sleep also while trying to hurl itself in the blank wall. More tragically, the moth is addicted to the flame which even "knocks off [its] wings" and let it "starve by morning." At this point, the protagonist realizes, it is his luck that he can resist some of the addictive things in life, which are always out there waiting for him with passion, with "insane, fire and gleam." He knows that once you are trapped in those irresistible things, such as alcohol, gambling or drugs, you could not step outside of them easily. You could still hope there is a place for you, where you can hide, but the addictive inside you have craved for their scents. Those "white coats" are images of doctors who help people rehabilitate from the wrong way and move you toward the right side, but they are not many of them. Most of people choose to be ignorant of others' problems like the protagonist, which makes he feels he gets some luck in his poor life. The decision of staying out of trouble at least makes he feels safe and ends up thinking better about his life.