Assignment 3

"Take this matter of mourning, and take it against a contemporary background. How, against a contemporary background, do you mourn an octogenarian father, nearly blind, his heart enlarged, his lungs filling with fluid, who creeps, stumbles, gives off the odors, the moldiness or gassiness of old men."

Since this sentence uses connectors it would be considered asyndetic. His use of sarcasm is what helps to connect his view points on death in contemporary times. He asks the reader in the most exaggerated way, are you desensitized toward death by old age when more glamorized ways to die is the forefront of what everyone wants to see.

"Thanksgiving turkey was stuffed with hashish. This was much enjoyed. That was practically the last feast at which Pop, who also relished risk or defiance, was present."

Bellow also moves quickly from asyndetic to polysyndetic pretty swifty. This sentence justifies itself by not creating any space for opinion about the food, how it was enjoyed, and the importance of the dinner to "Pop" and exaggerates that he isn't a person whos is hard to satisfy.

"In and out of the hospital, he dwindled, his mind wandered, he couldn’t even concentrate enough to complain, except in exceptional moments on the Sundays Woody regularly devoted to him."

This is a clear example of parataxis and a moving action. Bellow describes his mind as well as his body is moving in a downward flux. The connecting sentences makes it a moving actions making it appear as if time wasn't a factor and these events were quickly happening. It makes it appear monotonous but still an important motion.