Welding with Children Motif/Symbol Essay Example

“He just stared at me, and I saw that he had no idea of what late was. Glendine, his mama, probably lets him fall asleep in front of the set every night. I pictured him crumpled up on that smelly shag rug she keeps in front of the TV to catch the spills and crumbs” (2)
The Author uses very strong and suitable words in this passage. For example he uses the word crumpled to describe the little boy laying on the rug. He could have used curled up or bundled up. Those words would have a warm cozy feeling to them. But when the author uses crumpled, it sounds like trash because you crumple up trash. The author used this word because he is writing for the narrator, the grandpa, who has a negative feeling towards how his daughters take care of his grandchildren. He expresses through this word that the narrator feels that Glendine, the mother, doesn’t really care about her child and just lets him stay up watching tv. Since crumpled has somewhat of a negative connotation, this is a good word to be used to describe the narrators feelings toward how the mother raises her child.
Another word in the passage is shag. Once again this word has a negative connotation. The author could have used the word dirty but instead he used shag. Shag is defined as a carpet or rug with a long rough pile. The author uses this word to describe the rug, to once again symbolize how the mother raises her child. She lets him lay there all night on a shag rug and watch tv all night. When one hears the word shag they think of excessively long hair or dirty. Some people described the hippies as having shaggy hair. So to describe this rug as shag describes it as being dirty and long and rough. If you were to describe the rug as soft or cozy or plush, it would have a warm feeling meaning the mother raises her child well and there is a positive connotation towards