The issue for a writer is how to close the gap, often yawning, between the writer's subject and the reader's experience. Give one example of how Richard Harding Davis creates reader admiration and/or sympathy for Rodriguez in his story. You should cite a specific image, description, etc., rather than make a general statement. Notice, too, how he leads us to feel quite the opposite about the Spaniards.
Please respond by 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb 17.
20 comments:
"It seems a petty thing to have been pleased with at such a time, but i confess to have felt a thrill of satisfaction when I saw, as the Cuban passed me, that he held a cigarette between his lips, not arrogantly, nor with bravado, but with the nonchalance of a man who meets his punishment fearlessly, and who will let his enemies see that they can kill but cannot frighten him."
This incredibly long sentence I think is one of the best (of many) examples of reader admiration and sympathy in Richard Harding Davis's story. Just before this sentence he had painted such a vivid image of what this young man looks like thats so likeable,and attractive and now he shows him in this honorable, and pretty bad ass way too. Davis's subtle descriptions that portray the Spaniards in an inferior way to the Cuban prisoner are really interesting too. He describes how the Cuban walked taller and more soldierly than the Spaniards, discrediting them in a way.
Richard Harding Davis' "The Death of Rodriguez" is all but an unabashed love letter to a man who the author views with the utmost regard; as a courageous, stoic, and, perhaps most of all, supremely-unlikely hero of sorts. Davis displays his admiration in a number of interesting, if perhaps somewhat predictable and manipulative of ways.
First off, note how the author basically portrays the Spaniards as hollow, heartless, emotionless, indifferent people. In regard to their reaction to Rodriguez's death, Davis writes, "...the figure still lay on the grass untouched, and no one seemed to remember that it had walked there of itself, or noticed that the cigarette still burned, a tiny ring of living fire, at the place where the figure had first stood." By characterizing the Spaniards as a class of people who are practically immune to the brutal horrors before them, Davis is able to evoke both empathy and sympathy toward Rodriguez's ordeal.
Perhaps even more significant, Davis portrays Rodriguez himself in a largely positive light, at one point even comparing him to a "statue" - a figure of strength to be looked up to. In describing the Rodriguez's walk to his death, Davis writes, "I saw that he led all the others, that the preists on either side of them were taking two steps to his one, and that they were tripping all over their gowns and stumbling over the hollows in their effort to keep pace with him as he walked, erect and soldierly, at a quick step in advance of them." Here, Davis not only praises Rodriguez for his unexpected courage and conviction in facing his morality, but essentially depicts the Spaniards as a bunch of clumsy baffoons who are decidely not stoic.
A very strong sense of sympathy for Rodriguez can be felt on page 74 where Davis describes the lack of empathy and sorrow for Rodriguez as he falls to his death: "It was difficult to believe that he meant to lie there, that it could be ended so without a word, that the man in the linen suit would not rise to his feet and continue to walk on over the hills, as he had apparently started to do, to his home; that there was not a mistake somewhere, or that at least someone would be sorry or say something or run to pick him up." Davis continues on with the feeling of sympathy as he describes the young teary eyed preist reading Rodriguez a last prayer.
The last few words of Davis' piece show admirtation for Rodriguez and his efforts to protect his country: "..with his motionless arms still tightly bound behind him, with the scapular twisted awry across his face, and the blood from his breast sinking into the soil he had tried to free."
In contrast the soilders were perfectly able to march on, some tripping over Rodriguez, giving him distant glances as though he were never lying there in the first place.
"I expected to find the man...stumbling and faltering on this cruel journey; but as he came nearer I saw that he led all the others, that the priests on either side of him were taking two steps to his one, and that they were tripping on their gowns and stumbling over the hollows in their efforts to keep pace with him as he walked." This phrase definately evokes admiration for the Cuban about to be executed. He is headed for his death bed, yet he is unafraid. He actually leads the group to his place of execution and his dignity remains because he does not have to be dragged to his horrible and final destination. Davis also says the Cuban "let his enimies see that they could kill but cannot frighten him." The Cuban is compared to Nathan Hale who's name has been affiliated with bravery and honor throughout American history.
On the other hand, Davis paints the Spaniard soldiers in a foolish light. "One young soldier caught his foot on a vine...and fell. He grew very red when his comrades giggled at him." This makes the Spaniards seem foolish, immature and frankly stupid. Soldiers don't trip over vines and giggle. Davis also mentions before the Cuban was executed that "the firing squad were so placed that when they fired they would shoot several of the soldiers stationed on the extreme end of the square.
Davis created a strong sense of admiration for Rodriguez when he said, "This man was alone, in sight of the hills he knew, with only enemies about him, with no source to draw on for strength but that which lay within himself." I think this sentence says a lot about the type of man he was. It makes the reader really feel for him. Davis makes you want to be on his side. He wasn't allowed to have anyone there for him, but it didn't matter. In the Cuban's mind, he was the only person he needed.
Davis led us to feel completely opposite towards the Spaniards. I loved the part where he described the mounted soldier pointing out that the firing squad was placed in a position where they would shoot several soldiers stationed on the ends of the square. He also mentions that he already observed this with some satisfaction. This was his way of showing what fools these men were. They set up an execution and can't even figure out where the men can and cannot stand. He proves these men to be the complete opposite of the brave Cuban.
I think that this whole story was beautiful. Throughout the story, Richard Harding Davis describes Rodriquez in a way that makes it hard to feel anything but admiration for not only his strength and courage, but just the way he carries himself. He didn't need to say what the man did or talk about his personality, family life, etc. He just needed to describe how he walked and the reader automatically knows what kind of a person Rodriquez is. I find it amazing that he could describe a stance and make you feel a connection with the character.
I think the ending line/paragraph was one of the most powerful for me. When he talks about the blood from his breast sinking into the soil he had tried to free, Rodriquez becomes a hero. He died for something he believed in and you could feel that even though it was not said.
Though this is a bit irrelevant, I think my favorite part of the story is when he thinks he is going to die and the man comes up and put his hands on his shoulder and tells him to move instead. Davis make you feel the tension and I felt like I was more nervous than the Cuban was, which I think equals amazing writing.
a couple of things about davis i'd like to point out (just in case we run out of time in class):
1. you'll notice he's highly descriptive. . . that's because he wrote in an era before photography (or the image) became prevalent in the media. . . he created word pictures because there weren't actual pictures for readers to look at
2) he also does some pretty interesting things with his descriptive details. go back and look at how he uses the mention of "light" throughout the piece. it's like a thread that runs through the narrative and pulls it together. and, of course, given the metaphorical associations of light, it also has a thematic, not merely structural, purpose.
3) there's a paragraph or two toward the end of the piece where davis seems to lose confidence that what he's writing, and the sacrifice that rodriquez has just made, means anything at all. . . see if you can identify the passage
4) the "scapular" is mentioned early and late -- why? to whom does he compare rodriguez by this allusion?
I am going to sort of move away from the original question in my response, as I was very interested in the ones recently posed by Professor Good…
2) Davis’s detailed descriptions of the light of day and artificial light created by man parallel his account of the end of the Cuban’s life. Just before the execution, Davis’s prose paints a picture of a bright moon lighting the dark evening landscape. Natural associations of light and dark imagery would suggest that even in his final, “darkest” hours, the Cuban remained radiant in the sense that he was not afraid of the impending darkness, the ultimate darkness, death. This point is only substantiated by descriptions throughout the story that we’ve been pointing out above, what with the Cuban remaining erect like a statue in the face of death, etc. It is also interesting to note that, the night before the execution, Davis described how fires built by sentries burned brightly into the night, and that Davis described the trees to appear to be white columns in the moonlight. This draws on images associated with “judgment day,” for one thing; columns are natural elements of a courthouse, guards are a symbol of authority, etc. The idea that the fire still burned during those dark hours is suggestive in the same way that the moon light is as well. However, Davis goes on to describe the moon as a white ball without radiance once the time of the execution of arrived, and the fires were stomped out. Light and thus brightness were muted during the Cuban’s final hours, and Davis often describes the morning as having a mist-like quality. Perhaps he was alluding to the unknown, the uncertainty of death. This only magnifies the comparisons he makes between the Cuban and a statue, standing strong in the face of uncertainty. After the Cuban has been executed and the body is being carted off, light suddenly intensifies again, with Davis describing the sun and a fierce red disk. This relates to the narrative at the end of the story which suggests that even in death, the Cuban’s devotion to his land and his beliefs never faltered, literally continuing to burn on like the cigarette. This brings me to the scapular…
4) Davis only mentions that the Cuban is wearing a scapular, a Christian necklace that serves as a symbol of devotion to a particular saint or what have you, twice in the story. Yet this detail is as revealing of his attitude and admiration of the Cuban as all of the descriptions discussed in the comments above. A scapular is literally a symbol of devotion, of faith; it does not matter what was written or depicted on the one the Cuban was wearing. The fact that he bore his beliefs in this way, wearing it outside of his shirt rather than hiding behind the linen in the face of those who were killing him for dissenting is practically screaming commentary regarding the man’s strength of will. And, similar to the significance of the reemergence of light after his death, the scapular is strewn across the man’s face as he lay dead, signifying that he did not budge his beliefs for anything.
3) (I skipped around) I believe the passages that are being referred to in this questions are the few in which he describes the nonchalance of those who witnessed the murder of this man that Davis finds noble. The descriptions of the soldiers either craning their necks or looking away from the body are indicative of his disgust, and his repetition of phrases like “no one cared” or “no one remembered” reveal a sense of desperation. The syntactical choices made by Davis throughout the piece – the choice to use long, clunky sentences filled with numerous but significant clauses set apart by commas – are also indicative of a kind of panic, a rushed sense of worry and tension.
“The officer who had held the cord that bound the Cuban’s arms behind him and passed across his breast, let it fall of the grass and drew his sword, and Rodriguez dropped the cigarette from his lips and bent and kissed the cross which the priest held up before him.”
Even in the final moment before Rodriguez’s execution he’s still treated like a captive prisoner, with his hands tied he’s unable to even hold the cross himself as he prays moments before his violent execution.
The sentence is loaded with imagery, if this were fleshed out on screen in a movie, I can see the different sort of angles and cuts, every cluster of words is a different shot.
The image of the officer letting go of the rope signifies the finiteness of the situation. There was no turning back now, as if Rodriguez were already dead and the ropes that confined him no longer needed to be tended to by the guard. I can the cord dropping from the officer’s hand, falling in slow motion and landing in the grass. Almost resonating to Rodriguez like, “This is it!” because in that moment he finally drops the cigarette from his lips.
Even though Rodriguez seems to face his execution fearlessly according to Davis’ description, Rodriguez becomes humble in the moments before his death. Finally, the cigarette, which seems to symbolize his non-chalant attitude about the execution, drops from his lips. He bends and kisses the cross before his execution by the volunteer firing squad.
“It seems a petty thing to have been pleased with at such a time, but I confess to have felt a thrill of satisfaction when I saw, as the Cuban passed me, that he held a great cigarette between his lips not arrogantly nor with bravado, but with the nonchalance of a man who meets his punishment fearlessly, and who will let his enemies see that they can kill but not frighten him.” This meticulously written sentence describes the simple act of a cigarette being held in Rodriguez’s lips, but gives the reader a deep look into look into his mind.
I was surprised with how connected I felt to Davis’s writing throughout his story. His word choice and composition led me to have a good understanding of the type of person Rodriguez was,and an admiration and sympathy for what he was about to endure. Throughout his work, Davis kept me closely connected to every mannerism and action that Rodriquez made, all of which articulated clear sentiments about his pride and strength during the last few moments of his life.
In most of his passages, Richard Harding Davis gives descriptions that add to the admiration and sympathy for Rodriguez. After using the cigarette as a representation of Rodriguez’s indifference, Davis also creates sympathy and admiration for Rodriguez in his last sentence/paragraph.
“But as I fell in at the rear of procession and looked back, the figure of the young Cuban, who was no longer a part of the world of Santa Clara, was asleep in the wet grass, with his motionless arms still tightly bound behind him, with the scapular twisted awry across his face, and the blood from his breast sinking into the soil he had tried to free.”
The mere fact that he was so young is upsetting, or the fact that he wasn’t a part of the world anymore, or the fact that he was dying on the very piece of earth he was trying to free. “The Death of Rodriguez” is a tale about a peculiar hero who was killed…executed.
Davis painted a picture that made Rodriguez more respectable than the Spaniards. I’m also going to assume that Rodriguez was a man of God after he kissed the cross. I think that he felt like he did the right thing and he knew that he didn’t deserve it.
Richard Harding Davis creates reader admiration for Rodriguez in his story by showing that he was never willing to give in, he stayed strong and powerful the entire time even though he was in a position where he was completely helpless and any other person would break down. This is shown when he says "The Cuban's arms were bound, as are those of the stature, and he stood firmly, with his weight resting on his heels like a soldier on parade, and with his face held up fearlessly, as is that of the statue."
Richard Harding Davis creates a ton of sympathy throughout the piece for Rodriguez. I was very sympathetic to the whole experience of being executed for defending your country, though I don't really know that struggle first hand. My quote was on page 75: "The figure still lay on the grass untouched, and no one seemed to remember that it had walked there of itself, or noticed that the cigarette still burned, a tiny ring of living fire, at the place where the figure had first stood. The figure was a thing of the past."
That is so profound to me, that the author, from his point of view, feels such sympathy as we maybe should, yet the others involved in the whole procession walked about like it was routine...which I suppose, it was. It's remarkable the emotion you feel while reading. And it makes you feel sorry for Rodriguez, and he seems more than just the average Spainard.
Also, I noticed what Professor Good posted about Davis's descriptions of light. One of the most profound that stuck out to me was the final description of the sun as a "fierce, red disk of heat". I don't know why, but I can sort of picture exactly what type of sun he's describing, when it's really bright when it first rises.
"It is difficult to believe that he meant to lie there, that it could be ended so without a word, that the man in the linen suit would not rise to his feet and continue to walk on over the hills, as he apparently had started to do, to his home; that there was not a mistake somewhere, or at least someone would be sorry or say something or run to pick him up" (74) shows some of empathetic glimpses by Davis, and there is another quote about behind alone, and "only about his enemies" that leaves a riveting feeling as a reader.
Even when Davis writes how he dropped the cigarette from his lips to kiss the priest's cross, I felt a little empathetic because his faith was obviously still there as the firing squad surrounded him. Did he deserve it? is what Davis reels in the reader's head as the story unfolds from him walking across the field, or his plank of death towards the squad and priests.
According to his report, it also seems like Davis wouldn't have minded if the Spaniards didn't reassemble and realign so nobody else was shot. There is incredible sympathy for this man, who displayed an immense amount of heroism that even Davis cannot accept.
Like it has been said already in the blog, Davis' writing is incredibly descriptive and drags the reader into the story. The fact that there was no photography probably influenced this, but even so, his description of everything including nature was exceptionally detailed.
His description of the fearless nature of Rodriguez right before his execution is what struck me the most. Even though it has been talked about several times here, it was probably the most favorite part of the reading for me. Like Samantha said originally, I liked how he illustrated Rodriguez the Cuban prisoner as the more powerful one. Not because of his stature, but because of his fearlessness.
Davis creates admiration and sympathy for Rodriguez by humanizing him. He created a picture that didn't just depict him as this radical rebel who bore arms against the government. He showed the courage the man had, even in just the way he walked towards his imminent death. "...I saw that he led the others, that the priests on either side of him were taking two steps to his one, and that they were tripping on their gowns and stumbling over the hollows in their efforts to keep pace with him as he walked, erect and soldierly, at a quick step in advance of him." That image of him facing his death with unwavering certainty gives the reader much admiration for who this man was and what he stood for. You also get sympathy for him from the simple imagery of his cigarette that he was smoking before he was executed burning a ring in the grass. Then the reader gets the imagery of the soldiers coming up to the body collect it with cigarettes in their mouths, much like Rodriguez when he was walking to his death. It shows he's every bit of human that those soldiers are.
I think there's plenty of times where Davis creates sympathy for Rodriguez. Hell, there's times when he uses the word "sympathy." I think though, my favorite sympathetic moment is the illustration of how Rodriguez dies, not only alone, but in vain.
Davis describes him as a statue, head high, arms strong, and then says that unfortunately, there won't be a statue despite his nobility, because he is just one of thirty captured men all dying on consecutive days.
Wow, this story was really powerful.
Davis doesn’t seem to conceal his admiration and sympathy from the readers. The most obvious case in which he shows it is when he compares Rodriguez to the statue of Nathan Hale. This would be powerful to American readers like me because he compares Rodriguez to someone who was important to our history, and thus portrays Rodriguez as a martyr. He incites sympathy and admiration also by describing Rodriguez’s posture throughout the story, which takes on even more significance when the officer stops the soldiers from firing, only to resume the execution moments later.
He makes readers feel the opposite about the Spaniards by describing their behavior before and after the execution. Some acted as though the execution was a disturbance that had woken them from bed. Some were too cowardly to speak out against the execution, which contrasts Rodriguez’s bravery and defiance in the face of a crowd of enemies. Davis showed the Spaniards lack of appreciation of how hard it must have been for Rodriguez to remain composed, leaving the reader to believe that they were emotionless and cruel.
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