OK about my assignment I was complaining about earlier. We are to read these short stories and then explain how we felt about them and judge how the writer used the elements (like showing us not telling us and developing the characters) in the story and if we would use them in our own paper. Please look at my answer and see if you would put it differently....I would witness more but the assignment really does not give me much leeway to do so like I have in many of the other classes I have had. Let me know what ya think guys Assignment 2 1) The first one I read was No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston. This one did not float my boat, I tried getting into it because of what the story was all about. I mean the pain, secrecy, sorrow, shame, and obvious elephant in the room everyone is ignoring element of many homes can be very heart wrenching and I love to read them but the descriptive language she was using fell flat with me and quite frankly was weird. Though I agree, it could have been a cultural difference that I was not quite getting. I did not like reading some of the nasty sounding stuff in it such as how the father would throw his private parts on the dining room table. I deleted it from my computer as soon as I was done because it is not something I would read again and I definitely would not use any of the elements except maybe…maybe… a little bit of her character development. 2) The second one I tried to read was A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. This was the most disgusting piece of trash I have ever laid eyes on. It was completely offensive to me in not only the use of foul language in almost every sentence but it took my God’s name in vain over and over. I have no idea why this would be on anyone’s reading list. My spirit inside me was grieved that people are being required to read this stuff and that it would be allowed in a college level English composition class. One does NOT have to be vulgar to describe things even completely uneducated people can do so without lowering themselves to this level. I wrote the following as just a fly by the pants thing in about 10 minutes and I am not a writer…no it is not “angry” but one CAN do so with anger too. ~A Moment in Time at the Patterson House~ It was a quiet, hot, and humid day in the Ozarks, one of those days where all of Gods creatures desire to be in some type of watering hole, and with the age of knowledge granted to humankind by a loving God, man, the pinnacle of all His creation, goes indoors where there is air conditioning. On this beautiful lazy day a loving mother takes a break from her work and goes to the store. She decides to go to Family Video hoping to surprise the real Spiderman that she birthed with the Amazing Spiderman 2 movie that just came out on video. (YES! SCORE!) As she pulls into the garage the door to the house slowly opens and there, silhouetted against the dark background of the hallway, stands Spidey, mask and all....he comes toward the drivers side door to tell his beautiful mom how much he loves her and missed her the whole 15 minutes she was gone..... Slowly, but ever so intently, his mother slides the DVD (SCORE!) into the masked superheros hands...he takes...he looks...he reads... A scream shatters the quietness; this was no ordinary scream! This is one that stirred up fear in the hearts of every person living or driving through the area. Cars stopped, people stood still, and the air did not move...yet the scream went on. Then in a triumphant stand, mommas little Spidey screams at the top of his lungs: THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2!!!!! ....ITS HERE!!.... ITS HERE!! Now all that can be heard in the Patterson home is laughing and giggling, car crashes and sirens, buildings destroyed, and the joy...that is the loudest of all.............. That is what it is all about, bringing joy to those we love.... It is a good day in the Patterson home. 3) Ahhh, now finally something that is actually worth reading! The housewife, Virginia Hamilton, that wrote Keeping House in Borneo has a real command on the English language and descriptive writing. I probably never would have chosen to read it but glad I did. She definitely used the “Show don’t tell” element well: the way she wrote absolutely made me feel like I was actually there swatting insects in the night air. I think the part I loved imagining in my mind’s eye the most was the following: “There are other flying things which come with the night, bringing fairyland on their wings. I don’t know the names of the many moths. I only know that I could sit for hours near a white wall with low light shining on it, watching silver and gold lace on tiny white-satin wings, lime and brick-red shades on five-inch wings with trailing spiraled ends. These dainty things are lovelier than jewels themselves. Their glistening and iridescence, their soft mat qualities hold more beautiful combinations of color and intricacy of pattern than a designer of fine silks or jewelry could dream.” (excerpt from the book) Wow, now that is the way one uses language to describe something! It almost makes me forget all the creepy crawlies, reptiles, and aggravating mosquitoes she has crawling all over my house right now. Her “Use of Image” was fantastic. When this is done well the person reading it feels like they are there and when being told the story they walk away feeling like it was a memory of their very own. Her “character” was made real to me and the “emotion” of disgust and utterly wanting out she felt as she batted bugs, turned out the lights, and jumped into bed under the netting to finally get away from it all but still having to deal with the noise all night long was one I felt right along with her. It helped that we have these horrible cicadas here in Missouri …and I despise them! I hope to be as descriptive as she and try to come close to how well she wrote.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 04:55:19 +0000
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