Close Reading Paragraph (Assessment 1)

I wanted to use the pronouns based on narrorator vs settlers for the bird seller in bird dreaming baobab, but I'm not sure what that "reveals about the story/poem's broader themes". So, I will write about the specificity of numbers in the I is never alone instead.

I realized that I didn't really want to write about the specificity of numbers, because that felt too obvious after talking about it in class. I noticed that the word "Siriak" appears in differing intensities throughout the text, and decided to visualize it with a rolling average: https://github.com/Exr0nRandomProjects/exr0n20eng201retA1analysis

The frequency of self reference is directly correlated with idleness, suggesting that identity and reflection are in opposition.

+Trough at beginning of paragraph 5 is when lands on the island, shipwrecked. Peak halfway through paragraph 6 is when he catches and teaches the parrots. Trough at paragraph 8 is when "he struggled to remember that he also existed outside himself"+ < That was the old graph, with stats before instead of around.

Half way through paragraph 2: Siriak realizes his companions are dead and takes over the ship Spike at 6: Siriak captures parrots Dip at end of 7: parrots call for Siriak (although he does nothing himself) Spike at beginning of 9: "and so the weeks and months flew by"

In Marcel Marien's The I Is Never Alone, local frequency of references to Siriak are directly correlated with idleness and reflection; this reveals the interdependency between internal reflection and external perception.

References to Siriak can be quantitatively analyzed by counting the number of references in the surrounding words up to a radius away for each word in the text. Using a radius of 30 words would result in a graph as follows: [[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Exr0nRandomProjects/exr0n20eng201retA1analysis/master/chart.png]]

This chart visually spotlights the change in self-reference (TODO WC) as the text progresses. The spikes and troughs in the chart align with moments of reflection and action in the story. For instance, the chart shows a spike at the beginning of paragraph six–the first time "he truly understood the depth of his solitude to which he was condemned". Although Siriak is reflecting upon his own situation where there should be no need to distinguish between himself and others, over twelve percent of the nearby words refer to Siriak in second or third person–from distinctly outside Siriak's inner mind and first person solitude.

The antithesis further reinforces the entanglement of outer pronouns and inner reflection: in the final third of paragraph seven, the parrots of the isle begin to repeat Siriak's name. "As one might guess, the outcome was everything Siriak might have hoped for, if not foreseen." Although the Siriak's scheming cognition shows through, the author deliberately minimizes the use of pronouns: Marien picks up the pace of description–fewer words per action means pronouns can be carried further and still flow–and uses complex, multi-phrase sentences–the short, tacked on clauses removes the need for more Siriak-referential pronouns.

Similarly, a spike in pronouns is observed at the end of paragraph eight, where Siriak has an explicit identity crisis; and a dip in the middle of paragraph nine, where Siriak turns to the physical outer world and scatters mirrors about the island. This parity between external pronouns and internal reflection shows that Siriak's identity is primarily perceived through the lens of external pronouns, highlighting the coupled nature of reflection and perception.