Through changing the time of the alarm clock, Luo reveals his immaturity with this responsibility. He is the "master" of time, yet he manipulates it for his own benefit. Though it may seem insignificant, Luo's actions show how much he has mature throughout the novel. Luo seems to be oblivious of the gravity of the situation, and he instead tries to risk his livelihood to have fun. At the end of the ordeal, Luo not only lost touch with the time, he also lost touch with himself. As we can later see in the novel, Luo improves great strides when it comes to responsibility.
“Nonetheless, our home soon became the focal point of the village, thanks to another phoenix, a smaller version, miniature almost, and rather more earthbound, whose master was my friend Luo” (13).
“... In the end we had changed the position of the hands so many times that we had no idea what the time really was” (15).
This is a deeep metaphor, and the picture is very pertinent to the issue.
ReplyDeleteThis can be seen as connecting to the idea of coming of age since it reveals his immaturity. He is in charge of this one task, and manipulates it for his own benefit, showing his child-like ways. Does the alarm clock foreshadow any events that happen later on in the novel?
ReplyDeleteI would have liked to see how changing the time throw the whole village into disarray but other than that I really liked how you used the first quote to connect with your title.
ReplyDeleteWhat are some of the ways that Luo matured in his ability to handle responsibility?
ReplyDeleteI see a connection between this and the removal of the tooth; in that situation, though, Luo and the narrator take direct action against the headman. It's interesting how they start out with harmless pranks that are mostly for their benefit, but by the time they remove the headman's tooth they've suffered at the hands of the other villagers and read so much about people in better situations that they feel the desire to punish the headman directly.
The connection between Luo's immaturity and the alarm clock is clearly shown, portraying his carelessness by disorganizing the village through his manipulation of time. How do you think Luo would've grown up had he not possessed the alarm clock?
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