This story takes place in the Annapolis valley, Nova Scotia. It is May 12, Douglas Bent Jr.'s birthday, and he is in deep thought about the days of the past, and what has become of life now. He is also trying to remember how old he is. Searching through his antic-crowded attic, he finds his birth certificate. The date of birth reads May 12, 1989, which makes him fifty years old. He then realizes that there is another date on his certificate, an expiry date. It reads May 12, 1949.
I was surprized to find out that he was only fifty. The way the story described him made him sound so old. For instance, 'he has outlived all his friends, all his relatives,' and 'Douglas's gnarled fingers idly...' makes it sound like he is ageing. It also made me think about how wasteful people can be when it comes to the earths natural resources, Douglas thinks of how agriculture used to be, and how it is destroyed at the time that it is. Base on how our world is today, i think this is a posibility in the future.
The part I liked best of the story would have to be the twist at the ending. When Douglas discovers that there is an expiry date on his birth certificate, that reads the very day it is and then there is a knock at the door. It leaves you in this suspician of wondering whats going to happen next. This story was mainly based on resources. How things are today, and what they may become of. Like if plastic will be in every day use in the future, or if we'll still have all the fossil fuels we do now. I think the author chose the title of this story to be 'No renuwal' because once we've used up what we have on this earth, we wont be able to get it back.
3 comments:
Nice summary. Effective use of quotes to support what you had to say about Douglas' age. Your connection is strong, and you have touched on author's craft when you discussed the relevance of the story's title. However, the task I assigned was to discuss conflict(s) in the story. To name the type of conflict, "man vs. self" for example, and to give specific examples of this conflict in the text. Can you do this for me?
Overall, this was a very strong entry.
Thank-you.
I think that this story is mainly man vs. environment, because he is upset about what has become of the world and its resources. Another conflict involved would be man vs self. He can't remember how old he is, and it is a complication he faces.
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