" they would be kept in the air 15 indefinitely. While Kenneth mixed the yolk with the warm shades of ground pigment, he remembered the critic telling him to keep things on the picture plane flat, two-dimensional, and he smiled as the apple became spherical under his brush" (Urquhart).

Through vivid imagery of the yolks "warm shades" and the apples "spherical" appearance, Urquhart highlights Kenneth's deep emotional connection with the piece. The warm yolks remind him of the critics he is to overcome, and the spherical apple embodies his defiance and artistic nature. It is through his art that Kenneth expresses himself, and provides a medium to embody the significance of his work and underlying meaning.

By personifying the mural as something capable of whispering to itself, Urquhart conveys Kenneth’s view of the mural not as an object, but as a living thing. This reflects Kenneth’s deep attachment to the work and suggests that, like an artist, the mural holds its own story and voice.

Quote: "...each time he broke the shell, he thought of the critic’s head, the smooth baldness of the top of it. Humpty-30 Dumpty, he thought, this wall, and the wall of cultural fashion that could keep you out, for a while, until the great fall."

Analysis: In this quote, Kenneth imagines "the critics head" while cracking eggs, comparing this to "Humpty Dumpty". He also references the "wall of cultural fashion". This metaphor connects the action of painting and breaking eggs to create the pigment to his frustration with elitist artist institutions. The critics "smooth baldness" evokes ridicule and vulnerability and the reference to "the great fall" suggests that the cultural barrier/wall that was keeping Kenneth excluded is collapsing. Through this language, Urquhart is able to convey Kenneth's complex feelings and inner struggles between defiance, bitterness, and hope as he confronts cultural focuses considered within art legitimacy while working on his mural.

"Each time he broke the shell, he thought of the critic’s head, the smooth baldness of the top of it. Humpty-Dumpty, he thought, this wall, and the wall of cultural fashion that could keep you out, for a while, until the great fall. By now he knew that fashion always fell, it failed and fell. He was happy to be free of it."

Kenneth alludes to the popular nursey rhyme Humpty-Dumpty, comparing it to an art critic who disliked his egg-yolk-paint technique. In doing so Kenneth conveys how the critic will "fall," that his ideas won't stay around for long, that soon he won't be relevant to common culture, but with his special art medium, Kenneth will be able to withstand that fall. Kenneth has already freed himself from the shackles of being on trend and in the public conciousness, and he's now freeing himself from his own insecurities and thoughts over how others view his art.

While Kenneth is thinking about the critical reception of his work, he ponders the popular fable "Humpty Dumpty" and how he has the potential to be like Dumpty. In the fable, Dumpty fell off the wall, cracking his shell, never able to fully recover. Kenneth feels that if his work is not critically accepted, he thought he will fall off the wall and not be able to climb back. Falling off in this context is poor reception to his work and not coming back is being blacklisted from the industry. Also, for Kenneth, cracking would be all the negative emotions he feels after the poor reception, as Urquhart mentioned that Kenneth put 3 months and many hours into the project. Through the use of Humpty Dumpty, Urquhart develops a deeper understanding of Kenneth's feelings before publicly displaying his art project.

E: "...when the mural had begun to live its own independent life in the presence of an audience"

A: By claiming that the mural will begin to "live its own independent life" Urquhart suggests that Kenneth belives that his art will go on to connect with a wider audience and that when they encounter it his art will take on new meanings in the same way a person takes on new meanings and understandings of themselves as they grow older and encounter more in life.

"Humpty-Dumpty, he thought, this wall, and the wall of cultural fashion that could keep you out, for a while, until the great fall."

The allusion to Humpty-Dumpty reminds him of a critic he worked with in the past, and how he didn't like the technique Kenneth was using. He is reminded of this man every time he cracks an egg, as a form of defiance and a way to let his own opinion shine through. He then goes on to say that the wall always falls, going on to show a perspective where he questions whether the public will well receive his work or if it will just fade into oblivion in no time.

Urquhart, the author establishes a sense of irony between the narrator's desire to pursue his own artistic endeavors despite the critic's advice. This irony is further developed by the narrator's contemplation over how his work would be viewed, and yet the narrator was still happy as he received "pleasure...in the making of it." This irony highlights the true artistic desire of the narrator, as he did not seek fame or glory, he simply desired to express his artwork in the manner he wanted and was authentic to himself and his artwork.

"This was the last exposure and it would make the mural look incredibly small, like a two-inch-long piece of ribbon with an unreadable pattern on it."

Urquhart talks about how this large mural he has poured his soul into looks so tiny and unimportant in this picture. Which foreshadows later, as he is concerned people will just pass it by without caring, just as they would simply ignore a small two inch ribbon "with an unreadable pattern". Urquhart uses this simile to illustrate how he may view his mural is different to how it could be interpreted by others, as even by a camera it appears different.

"For months now there had been noise, the 60 workmen’s power tools and, in the odd moments when those were silent, the roar of the planes arriving and departing at the old, soon-to-be abandoned terminal."

This quote illustrates a fact about Kenneth's working area; There is a lot of noise. This noise, along with the droves of people that Kenneth sees daily is crucial in influencing his creative process and his art as his conscience thoughts regarding how people view his piece and if they would be "struck by it" motivate him to make it the best that it can be.