Metonymy+Group+Example

__ [|Out, Out By Robert Frost] (click link for entire text) __ The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood, Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it. And from there those that lifted eyes could count Five mountain ranges one behind the other Under the sunset far into Vermont. And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled, As it ran light, or had to bear a load. And nothing happened: day was all but done. Call it a day, I wish they might have said To please the boy by giving him the half hour That a boy counts so much when saved from work. His sister stood beside him in her apron To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw, As if it meant to prove saws know what supper meant, Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap - He must have given the hand. However it was, Neither refused the meeting. But the hand! The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all -** Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man's work, though a child at heart - He saw all was spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off - The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!" The doctor put him in the dark of ether. He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath. And then - the watcher at his pulse took a fright. No one believed. They listened to his heart. Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it. No more to build on there. And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
 * GROUP EXAMPLE OF METONYMY **
 * Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
 * So. The hand was gone already.**

It seems that Robert Frost had various purposes in writing his poem "Out, Out." It is evident that his main purpose was to emphasize the importance of having a childhood. The young boy in the poem obviously does not have a true childhood, as he is forced to work for a living. When Frost includes the line, "doing a man's work, though a child at heart," he further points out that for one, the boy lacks the skill that a grown man has, and two, isn't meant to be working. The theme of childhood is expertly woven throughout the poem, as Frost includes metonymic lines such as "half in appeal, but half as if to keep the life from spilling..." His use of metonymy serves the dual purpose of portraying the image of a child showing something off, and also to project the vivid image of "life" from spilling; life representing the literal blood. Frost brings up the idea that there is more to life than work, providing further support for his main purpose of the importance of childhood. In the poem, the boy loses his hand in a work related accident. Another instance of metonymy that Frost uses is in the line "the hand was gone." In this line, the hand represents many things, such as literally his flesh and bones. Another more figurative meaning of the hand is the boys ability to work and his sense of touch. This powerful use of metonymy serves the purpose of pointing out that the boys life becomes meaningless once he loses his hand. It becomes even more obvious that the boy feels his life is meaningless once his hand is amputated when he cries out "Don't let him cut my hand off.." Robert Frost has the boy die in his poem to emphasize how his life was meaningless without his work. The last lines of the poem provide clues for a deeper meaning of the poem. After the boy is pronounced dead, Frost states "No more to build on there. And they, since they/Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs." These simple lines are actually a horrifying revelation about society. It is clear that Frost is trying to say that society is taking away the childhoods of children by forcing work upon them. After the boy dies, no one cares anymore because there is nothing left to gain from him.
 * ANALYSIS OF THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE **