Annotate as you read “The Comet” and post a photo in Moodle of a page with your annotations.
Writing in Black ink and highlighting in yellow are from the initial Moodle post. Writing in blue ink and highlighting in orange are the expansion to the Moodle post.
Below I have typed out my annotations to make them more readable. The left column contains my initial annotations while the right column contains the expansions to my annotations.
“the poor, little burdens he bore.”
Sense of connection between them? Slight moment of understanding.
“she beat back the thought – but it looked, – it persisted in looking like -“
It looks likes the man she is with? That makes this (“inert; dead”) description interesting.
“What was that whirring? Surely – no – was it the click of a receiver?”
The tone here is frantic. The click on the other end might’ve not happened at all but given their circumstances she heard what she wanted to hear.
“It was as if she had heard the last flicker of creation, and the evil was silence.”
Moment of realization? It is finally hitting her that they may be the only people left on earth.
“- with a man alien in blood and culture -“
Under this assumption because up until this point not much effort has been made for either character to try and get to know one another.
“Who knew what awful thoughts -“
Again, she is merely making assumptions based [on] what she believes to be true about the man with her.
“with bleeding finger, until it swung wide.”
She had someone to keep her company but because of this idea that she has that the man is so different from her she desperately wants to separate herself from him and labels herself as alone, possibly as the only human left on earth.
“looked at him timidly; but he said nothing as he handed her into the car.”
Realized she would rather be with someone she believes to not be like her, someone she believes to be a danger to her well-being than to be completely “alone.”
“leaving the world of wealth and prosperity for the world of poverty and work.”
Leaving her world for one that is unknown to her but probably very well known to him.
Or what she assumes is bothering him. Most of what she thinks of Jim are <– from assumptions that she makes based on what she was raised to think about Black people.
“grim switchboard flashed its metallic face in cryptic, sphinxlike immobility.”
Personification of the switchboard.
“she called in low tones…she cried, full-voiced…she cried in clear, distinct, loud tones:”
This part demonstrates the progression in her desperation to find other people who are alive. She does not want it to just be her and Jim. (Contributes <– to this).
“until her voice rose almost to a shriek,”
Her desperation again.
<–this upsets her
“Hope lay dead within her.” <–Personification of hope, emphasis on how hopeless she is.
<– Also, she is working under the ideas she was raised to believe about Black people and that they are supposedly different from White people.
The assumption being made here is that he will sexually assault her, because that is what she was <–raised to believe about Black men.
Does not want to accept the fact that it is just her and Jim left. Acceptance of this fact possibly means <– the acceptance of a similarity between her and Jim.
“She whirled and flew back, whimpering like a child,”
Helpless like a child?
“Not that…No – not that!” <– Referring to sexual assault.
“here it was hideous.”
The contrast of the things such as death and violence in her world versus his. In her world it seems to always be covered up while in his world it is out in the open.
Sources
Du Bois, W.E.B. “The Comet.” Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil, Harcourt Brace, San Diego, CA, 1920, pp. 54–61.
