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pulled over in short hills, Nj, 8:00 a.m. by ross gay

Pulled over in Short Hills,Nj, 8:00 A.m.

The Poem

It’s the shivering. When rage grows

hot as an army of red ants and forces

the mind to quiet the body, the quakes

emerge, sometimes just the knees,

but, at worst, through the hips, chest, neck

until, like a virus, slipping inside the lungs

and pulse, every ounce of strength tapped

to squeeze words from my taut lips,

his eyes scanning my car’s insides, my eyes,

my license, and as I answer the questions

3, 4, 5 times, my jaw tight as a vice,

his hand massaging the gun butt, I

imagine things I don’t want to

and inside beg this to end

before the shiver catches my

hands, and he sees,

and something happens.

Theme

by Saniya Nazeer

Theme

Overall, the message of the story is the raising awareness of the racial injustice. The author explains every single small action when the police arrives to the person. The tense feeling is for the reader to understand specifically how the injustice feels. Through the description in the poem the message is clearly displayed about the police with no exact reason, catching the person. In conclusion the main message is to display racial injustices occurring.

In additon, the author himself, Ross Gay is African American.

Poetic Devices

by Jordan Marston and Vergiel Ariaga

Many different Poetic Devices are used in the poem to get the overall idea and theme of the story across. Two main aspects being the use of figurative language (like metaphors, simlies and imagery ) and the use of Diction

Poetic Devices

Figurative Language by Joran Marston

Figurative Language

The use of figurative language in the poem helps to set the over mood and tone of the poem. In this case using imagery to show the reader exactly what the narrator sees which in this story is an infuriated officer glaring at him with his hand on his gun. The author also uses metaphors to compare things going on with the reader to other things that are typically seen as dangerous or harmful, such as a virus, or red ants.

Examples of Figurative language

“like a virus, slipping inside the lungs

and pulse, every ounce of strength tapped to squeeze words from my taut lips,”

The use of metaphors in these lines help to to show the anxiety of the narrator being spread throughout his body, making him too nervous to even speak as he sees the officer stare at him.

Examples

“I answer the questions

3, 4, 5 times, my jaw tight as a vice,

his hand massaging the gun butt”

This is imagery because you could see the really descriptive language to imagine the police officer holding the gun in his holster, while the person was just in the car, really nervous

Diction by Vergiel Ariaga

Diction

Utilizing the use of diction in a poem can help with how the overall poem is put together. For example, if the diction is used poorly, the poem wouldn't be strong, and seem uninteresting. In this poem, diction is portrayed by using strong vocabulary to show emotion, and feeling. Also, diction could help make other devices like figurative language easier to be used.

Examples of Diction

  • “every ounce of strength tapped

to squeeze words from my taut lips”

The use of the expression “taut lips” In this quote is describing how when he was being questioned talking with the police officer, it was hard for the person to say anything because he was afraid of saying something the cop didn’t like.

Examples

“ his eyes scanning my car’s insides,

my eyes, my license.”

The use of words like “scanning” add on to the character of the officer, rather than the a more gentle choice of words like looking around or peaking, the author made the choice to use more intense vocabulary to describe the officer’s actions

Structure (Jiya Arora)

Structure

- Only one stanza

-A breif poem

-*WE DON'T KNOW THE ENDING OF THE POEM OR WHAT HAPPENS,*

-The lines seem to break off at random

-This could be because the author wants the reader to pause there when reading aloud

- The lines get shorter towards the end of the poem

- This demonstrates how nervous the main character becoming because his thoughts are getting faster and faster and progressively worse.

Allusion (Jiya Arora)

Allusions

Allusions to controversy today:

- Police Brutality

- The main character could potentially be nervous because of the fact that the policeman has a gun on him, and there is no way the driver can defend himself.

- Criminals

-If the main character in fact did do something wrong, the reason he is so nervous could be because he doesn't want to get caught in the crime.

- Anxiety

-The main character could just be nervous because he is an anxious person in general.

Things to remember:

- We don't know if the main character is innocent, guilty, or hiding something!

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