Epiphany

Elaborate an epiphany / counter-epiphany, narrative perspectives held in juxtaposition between The Old Waiter / Old Customer in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and The Old Man in James Joyce’s “Araby” or Ellen Weatherall in Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall— a seeker’s perspective of swimming up the stream of consciousness, a desert-“monkish” perspective resonating with any biblical passage holding Light and Darkness in tension (as in John’s Gospel 1:5). Explain also how setting, in historical and anthropological context, is so crucial to understanding Hemingway’s characters as suspended between Light and Darkness.

Illuminate your comparison in juxtaposing with The Kinks’ “To the Bone”, Dr. John’s “Ice Age”, or Gogol Bordello’s “Where Universes Collide.”

Juxtaposing and elaborating in concrete and significant detail, explain how Led Zeppelin’s persona of “In the Light”, Dr. John’s persona of “My Children, My Angels”, the Vespers’ persona of “Sisters and Brothers”, The Rolling Stones’ persona of “Shine a Light” or “Loving Cup”, Paul McCartney’s persona of “Everybody Out There”, or John Lennon’s persona of “Instant Karma”—or any of various personas of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poetry (see anthology index) or Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” (K&G p. 716)—share epiphany in common with the Old Man’s and the Old waiter’s perspective as fused in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, or in contraposition with either Joyce’s Old Man or Porter’s Granny Weatherall . . . an exhortation to be the light that illuminates and redeems the abyss (John 1:5)—or, failing as such, becomes the Abyss.

This need not be any more than two or three paragraphs, no more than one to one and a half typewritten and double-spaced pages. Think of this as journaling.

Solution Preview

Epiphany can be defined differently in different disciplines. In religion it means the appearance or manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. However in literature which we are concerned of in this paper, epiphany means the realization or awareness that a character achieves after an event….

(348 Words)