A Stones Throw VS Once Upon A Time

These two poems both deal with hypocrisy and a sense of self-reflection as the poets make their characters have to look within themselves to find truth and honesty. The phrase A Stones Throw can refer to the physical action of throwing a stone or you can throw stones verbally at a person (because sometimes words hurt . !ither way both can hurt and destroy a person physically or emotionally.. A stones throw is a story from the bible ("ohn #$% & %% . The 'harisees caught this woman in the act of committing the sin of fornication and are about to punish her by stoning her. These acts of punishment were only done to the women caught in such business. These men in the poem have fun by roughing her up( to them) they think that having mens hands on her body isnt new to her so they dont really care about how she felt. *ut then this man steps in and ruins their fun( writing in the dust and makes them look within themselves. +nce ,pon A Time is usually how a fairytale is started( -airytales are associated with children who are innocent and unlike adults dont have a problem showing their emotions.there is mainly only black and white in their world( never really grey. The phrase can also be associated with dreams or wished as the poet has this wish to be like a child again( not afraid to show his emotions +nce ,pon A Time follows this man relating to his son about the facades that people portray in the presence of others. /e e0plains that there were easier times when people were real and could live peacefully with neighbours but now they 1ust put on a show to please each other( mouthing platitudes. /e wishes to learn to laugh and smile and be real again and so turns to his son( who is a part of him to help him.

Hypocrisy
A Stones Throw These men are accusing this woman of committing a crime and to serve

1ustice they themselves are about to commit another crime( the crime of murder. (2ine %3 They think theyre better than this woman( 1ustifying their actions as being virtuous (righteous . 4n their mind theyve already formed a 1udgment about this woman( even though this is the first time they caught her but we can guess that this isnt the first time theyd committed this crime of murder (line 5 They often are and line %% And not the first time . They look past the fact that theyre also sinning and feel it their right to serve this 1ustice (line 67-63 . And they try to 1ustify their actions of roughing her up by saying shes felt mens hands greedy over her body( comparing the bruises they left to love bites compared to the hail of kisses of stones. There is also a sense of how un1ust society was back then. Theyd caught this woman in the act but only the woman was condemned( the man was made to go free and some of her accusers may have even been guilty of the same crime. This suggests the double standard of society back then where women had fewer rights and men had all the power. Once Upon A Time /ypocrisy in this poem is shown in the social behavior of the adults. !0amples of this is shown in stan8a % they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes but now they only laugh with their teeth while ice-block-cold eyes search behind my shadow. 9hen you laugh with your eyes and hearts show that you share a persons happiness. This line is saying that people rarely do this anymore and they learned to hide this by portraying different faces. Stan8a : & 3$ This man has given into societys ways because to show a sign of emotion is weakness and an invitation to be taken advantage of. So hes learnt to hide his feelings and wear many faces and laugh with his teeth and shake hands without hearts and say things with double meanings behind them like goodbye when he really means good-riddance. /e is mouthing platitudes and isnt happy with what hes become.

Self-reflection
A Stones Throw "esus writes in the dust and makes the men look upon themselves. ;th stan8a line 7#$ S<uatting on the ground.her level( writing something in

the dust( something we couldnt read until /e turned his eyes on us( her eyes on us) our eyes upon ourselves. "esus speaks to the woman and s<uats on the ground. her level( like he was putting himself in her place( and we know hes looked past her sin and sees the good in her. /e turns his eyes on the men and tells them( =4f any of you is without sin( let him be the first to throw a stone at her.> /er eyes on us( the woman began to see that they were 1ust as guilty. +ur eyes upon ourselves( they looked in themselves and saw that they were not any better than her whod sinned because theyd also sinned( therefore they werent in any position to 1udge. So with this newfound truth they left one by one. Once Upon A Time This person doesnt like what they see when they look in the mirror. They arent proud of what theyve become and wishes to change( this is seen in the beginning of stan8a ; with the con1unction *ut. /e looks within himself( wishing to be a child again( to unlearn the nasty traits of society because all he sees when he looks in the mirror are snake fangs for teeth when he smiles. /e turns to his son( who is a part of him and asks him to teach him to smile. *oth poems deal with an aspect of social hypocrisy. 4n A Stones Throw it is where the men are about to commit a crime to 1ustify another and they only condemn the woman and in +nce ,pon A Time it is where the adults show different faces. The difference in the poems is the lessons learnt$ The men in A Stones Throw have learnt( against their own wishes( not to 1udge. *ut they will soon forget this lesson and go back to their games soon enough 9e walked away( still holding stones that we may throw another day given the urge. 9hile in +nce ,pon A Time this man wants to learn the lesson and change his ways. /e wants to learn this lesson but these men dont really care( once they have their fun giving 1ustice.

Moods/Tones
The mood in the beginning of the A Stones Throw is of glee. These men are e0cited that they caught this woman (Stan8a % . They found something of sport in her fear when they roughed her up) it added to their fun. To

them this was 1ustice and it was sweet -or 1ustice must be done specially when it tastes so good. *ut their fun is short lived and the tone changes to sarcasm when they speak about this guru( 'reacher( ?od-merchant( ?od-knows-what who gives them a bit of insight and makes them feel a sense of guilt. +nce ,pon A Time has a somber emotional tone. The poet e0presses his grief at the hypocritical ways of the society) the way they laugh with only their teeth and shake hands without hearts. /e also e0presses his grief about letting himself fall into their insincerities( So 4 have learned( too( to wear many faces like dresses. And his tone turns almost wishful( again with the con1unction *ut in stan8a ;( where he wishes to be like a child again and asks his son to show him to laugh and smile again. A Stones Throw sends the simple message$ @ont 1udge because no one is without sin) no one is perfect. +nce ,pon A Times message is that Society needs to change their ways.