Outside Reading - Week 7, Post A

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

VOCAB
caustic (156)-capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue
brooding (156)-preoccupied with depressing, morbid, or painful memories or thoughts
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. "...falling through layer after layer of illusion, like an Acton-comedy hero crashing through a dozen canvas awnings during his fall from a building" (200). This is a simile, Gilbert is comparing slipping out of meditation to falling from a building in a comic strip.
2. "At that moment of realization, that's when God let me go, let me slide through His fingers with this last compassionate, unspoken message..." (200). Gilbert is using a metaphor relating slipping out of meditation to God releasing his "grasp" on her; because God did not physically touch her with fingers, this is a metaphor.
3. "The place in which I was standing can't be described like an earthly location. It was neither dark nor light, neither big nor small. Nor was it a place, nor was I technically standing there, nor was I exactly 'I' anymore" (199). This is imagery describing the "indescribable" feeling of being in total bliss and completely balanced.
QUOTE
"Let's cross over" (331). This is the final sentence of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir. It is the English meaning for the Italian word Attraversiamo, Liz's favorite Italian word. She has found happiness and now is ready not just to cross the thresh hold of the boat she is on with her new lover, but she is ready to cross over to a new being, one that is self accepting and stable.
THEME
If I had to pick an overall theme for this book, I would say, You may feel like your identity is lost or missing, but once you find it, you'll realize that it was always somewhere deep inside of you.