Dance in the Full Moon

O, the Frailty of Memory

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

1_13

Sparkle --
anyone know a metaphor on how a girls eyes sparkle (not using like or as)
thanks ;]

of course a metaphor doesn't use like or as...only simile's do that.
Why do people always feel the need to make eyes sparkle in literature?
Her eyes were the moonlight shining off the still lake.

Her eyes don't sparkle.
He isn't handsome, and she isn't beautiful.
They date.
Tara isn't someone who you'd look at twice. Rory looks dumpy even when he wears a suit. They have conversations about transmissions and trestles and turnips and the tictoc tictoc tictoc of a grandfather clock. Boring. There's no fire, no passion, no excitement where they're headed. Just a long, slow, winding stair to eternity. Tara looks at Rory with a purely utilitarian eye: a future husband, perhaps. Maybe just a boyfriend. Definitely just a man. Rory doesn't think about Tara after he goes back to his house. Video games? Most definitely. Tara? Boring.
He gets his hair cut. He looks worse.
Tara starts listening to country. Rory hates it, but she doesn't care enough to change. Rory forgets to care.
A year later, on their anniversary, Rory tells her that he's moving to Washington. She stares blankly at him. He starts again. "I'm moving to" She interrupts "I heard you. When do you leave?" Tears? Decidedly not.
Rory breaks up with her over the phone, on the plane to Washington. Like an afterthought - I forgot to break up with you, so here it is - you're free now. Tara stops listening to country.

Tara finds someone new - he winks at her in the movie theater. They talk. People throw popcorn. They run out, he's laughing. Danny is perfect. He's like that guy, in that movie. The one you can never name, but you know it was good. You should watch that movie again. Danny smells like lemons and laughs loud and hard. He shows up randomly with gifts. He freaks out when she's acting funny. He's sensitive and caring and handsome and loving.
Her eyes don't sparkle.

7 comments:

  1. Well, it seems redundant to comment here, but I'm doing it anyway. Why, you ask? Because I really don't want to do homework.

    I really love the way you put this together, and I like the depth added by the simple words, "Her eyes don't sparkle."

    Our illustrious boss would rightly say that it wraps back to the beginning at the end, and that is cool. (I know, I know, she'd say it better with more technical terms.)

    What do you need the metaphor for? It helps to have context.

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  2. About which metaphor are you talking? The sparkly eyes? I need the metaphor because without it, it is a sappy, horrible story about how a girl found true love. With it, it forces you to think.

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  3. Is it wrong to beat a metaphor until it dies?

    I think you should just leave it the way it is.

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  4. But what do Danny's eyes do?
    I'd try to help you with the eye-sparkle metaphor but I'm awful at those...or maybe I'm just awful at metaphors.

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  5. Danny's eyes . . . I don't have any idea what they do. They might sparkle . . .
    I'm guessing that Danny's eyes are exactly what you'd want them to be. He is, after all, perfect.

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  6. I don't understand why this is supposed to be sad...

    Sparkling eyes isn't something that can be physically seen, or even perceived by a third party. It's a reflection of the way (in this case) Danny feels about Tara. As far as he's concerned she might as well have disco balls implanted into her eye sockets.

    We don't think something is beautiful because of the lighting, or the perfect shape and position of every line and curve. We think it's beautiful because of the emotion it inspires within us. Our excitement and joy in this beautiful treasure we've found unveils that sparkle. Not because we created it ourselves, but because we had the right eyes to see it.

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  7. Hm. I like that idea that "she might as well have disco balls in her eye sockets." That's a new way of looking at it. This is the piece I have written that has created the most interpretations, which officially makes it literature.

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