By Gregory Ruda, Barb’s Seniors Yoga Studio Class of ’65

The following was recorded through elaborate secret video cameras set up in a typical high school english class.

Mr. Fepper: Okay class, today we’re going to analyze the novela A Rue, a Sunset, and Loss by David (pronounced Daveed) Hopkins.   You all read the first chapter?

Class: Mmmhmmm.

Mr. Fepper: What did we think of the first paragraph?  Let’s start with “ And Edwardo Cranberry opened the door with his right hand”.

Roxanne: I thought that when the protagonist, Edwardo, opened the door with his right hand, as opposed to his left hand, that it was clear propaganda for the Republican Party.

Margo: Yes, yes it was clearly a stab by Hopkins at society and its conservative tendencies.  I also saw a key theme in the next sentence ‘He walked in, and dropped his backpack off on his bed.’  Obvious loss of innocence being shown here.

Matt: Loss of innocence?  I thought it was more appearance versus reality.  The backpack appearing to be a part of society, but in fact really is a hermit-esque item long shunned by percieved social norms.

Rodney: Maybe he just dropped his backpack off on his bed and that is all there was to it….

Mr. Fepper: Excuse me?!

Rodney: I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.

Mr. Fepper: Carry on Matthew.

Matthew: And in the next line “And Edwardo ate the warm cornbread muffin, and it was good.”  I really felt like we saw the transformation of Edwardo that’s taken part in this first portion of Hopkin’s novela.  At first Hopkins shows us an immature youth who doesn’t understand the world, and then fast forward and we have this mature man who is clearly ready for adulthood.

Stacy: Yes.  I felt that too.  (Her head nods up and down).

Mr. Fepper: Yes a great point Matthew.  That was a key part of the story that Hopkins tried to underline.  An important word there is warm, as it underlines basically the most important theme of the book… in all of literature possibly…

Rodney: You got all that from a warm cornbread muffin?

Mr. Fepper: Rodney do not condescend my literary prowess and me!

Rodney: I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again.

Jessica: And then two paragraphs later, the line, “And Rodney had to ride his bike to school, as he missed his bus”.  I feel like Hopkins clearly uses this to show us the quintessential downfall of Edwardo Cranberry.

Margo: And also the line when Edwardo’s physics teacher says,’’ Random Lab Partners, Edwardo and Kristen”.  I feel like by the diction in the lab teacher’s voice, Hopkins highlights the insight the teacher has on the star-crossed tragedy that will be Edwardo and Kristen’s three-day text relationship.

Matt: Yes at this moment of the book it really hit me like…  Like I didn’t really love the way Hopkins opened the book, but I feel like right here it was just like: Wow this book really just got serious.

Mr. Fepper: Yes A Rue, A Sunset, and Loss is known for this dramatic shift in tone and mood.  The climax begins when he rides his bike to school.  There are a lot of symbols and motifs brilliantly layered in the two sentences we’ve just read.

Rodney: I…. What?

Stacy: Rodney just because you can’t think on the level that we can doesn’t mean you have to take it out on us.

Rodney: Do you think you may be reading in to it a little too much?

Matt: (scratches his chin) I feel like if anything I’m reading too little into it.

Rodney: Alright… maybe it’s just me.

Mr. Fepper: And what do you think of this line “And the warm sunset blossomed unto the dying horizon, leaving a trail of pipe-corn peppermint stars drizzling an eerie glow of nostalgia unto the forsaken home of young Edwardo.  And at that point he realized his goals were meaningless, and he would depart to the gloomy fortress he had once called his own.  But in those glorious last few seconds of love, he would begin to search for his true calling on what is known as Cranberry Lane, amid a rue, a sunset, and of course loss.’  What do you guys think?

Rodney: Well… I think at this point of the book we can see the point of realization Edwardo Cranberry has made in his life of his ambitions.

Mr. Fepper: No… no Rodney that’s a bit of a stretch….