LIFE AND LITERATURE

                                                                   EYES OF BLUE DOG                                                                         GABREIL GARCIA The basic plot of ''Eyes of a Blue Dog'' follows the relationship between a man and a woman, but the setting is not at all what might be expected. The relationship takes place solely in the dream world; both people meet and interact while dreaming, never able to connect in their waking lives. The phrase that forms the title, ''eyes of a blue dog'', is their mutually agreed upon signal to recognize each other while awake and living their separate lives. This aspect of the story fits the description of magical realism, as dreaming is an almost universal experience, and therefore a realistic setting. However, lucid dreaming, or knowing that one is dreaming while in the dream world, is rather unusual. The man and woman in ''Eyes of a Blue Dog'' discuss in their dream

                                  WORD POWER: CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION  Connotations and Denotations The denotation of a word or phrase is its direct meaning. Another way to think of it is as the associations that a word usually elicits for most speakers of a language, as distinguished from those elicited for any individual speaker because of personal experience. A Connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that the same word means literally. The direct meaning is its denotation. The connotation of a word or phrase is the associated or secondary meaning. It is the idea that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal meaning. In other words, the connotation of a word is an idea or feeling suggested by a particular word though it is not the direct meaning. It can be something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described. A connotation is often described as either positive or negative, with regards to