Catharine
Mr. Salsich
11, March 2009


Unlighted Lamps:What this title means to me


When you read a book, some titles send you on a search of what it means to you. The story Unlighted Lamps by Sherwood Anderson made me search to find what the title meant to me. When I thought about the title, and how it had to do with Mary and her father, a lot of things came to me. One of those things was that Mary and her dad could of felt that they didn’t have a very good life. Just like a lamp when it doesn’t have a very good life it isn’t lit. I have experienced, something very similar to Mary and her father. Mary and her father weren’t very close, when he was alive, and that happened to me with one of my relatives. My great uncle, Uncle Frank, died this past summer. Just like Mary’s father, my great uncle died from a health problem. Also similar to Mary, I wished that I had gotten to know him more. If he were like my grandfather, who is his brother, he would have been very funny and fun to be around. I know that thinking about this that I missed out on something that I could have easily fixed myself, just like Mary. Thinking back to the title of this book, I thought of another reason why this story has this title. Mary and her father maybe couldn’t express themselves, and the author could have used unlighted lamps as an expression, referring to Mary and her father. Or the author could have written the two characters as not loving their lives, and not living there lives to fullest. After reading this story, I learned a lot about book titles, and how they really are important in a story. I noticed how they could unlock lots of hidden things in the story, but also in you’re life