Supposed to be rough, but not too rough.

The paragraphs aren't in the right order... my rough drafts always get like that. It's like putting together a puzzle. Haha. I keep writing paragraphs and then erasing them later when I don't like them and only keeping the ones I like. So, I have to make fillers. Anyway, I'm just apologizing for how choppy it sounds. It'll get better, I promise!





As I’ve gone through this last part of the quarter reading stories, I’ve found myself associating myself with nearly every one. It’s not that each story feels like it is pulled from my own life experiences. There just always seems to be a certain part that feels familiar. This is the case with most of the stories, with the exception of one. The resemblance of Jackson Jackson in Sherman Alexie’s What You Pawn I Will Redeem to my father is absolutely uncanny. I felt the resemblance from the very first paragraph all the way through to the last.
Because of being able to see my father in the character of Jackson Squared, I think that this story impacted me in a way that it did not impact others. I was more invested in the story because the character felt so close to me. When a person can see something familiar to them in a story, be it a character, an experience, or even just a phrase, a person becomes invested in a story. I believe that this is a main goal for writers. It’s common sense to think that people will want to read what they’re interested in.
I associated my father with the character of Jackson Jackson. I looked, as was suggested, in the introduction for topics to discuss. It said the following about character; “When you feel something about a character, be it like, dislike, fear, distrust, or sympathy, you are responding to characterization. We read stories and interpret them in ways that are not so different from how we read and interpret our everyday lives. … a character is not just a character, but a reflection of nonliteral ideas as well.”
Just the tone of Sherman Alexie’s story would have been enough to keep me interested. That and the way that it was written. Jackson talks of many somewhat ‘heavy’ things in a very nonchalant way. I was drawn in, like I said above, from the very first paragraph. My father is, technically, homeless. He doesn’t live on the street as Jackson does, but he floats from place to place, staying with friends or relatives. He doesn’t have a real mailing address or a real phone number. He does have a bank account and that has always amazed me to no end. But, I digress. My father has always talked about fairly ‘heavy’ things in an amazingly off-the-shoulder kind of way. I can associate with this because I do it, too.
The language in What You Pawn I Will Redeem was very demanding. This story demanded to be paid attention to. This was a very strong story. It was written in a very specific way and had a very strong main character. However, there were also some very subtle things that were just as attention-grabbing as big stuff. There were some sentences that just made me marvel at this man’s skill. For example, at the beginning of the fourth paragraph Jackson says, “Probably none of this interests you.” That sentence is ludicrous. This story starts off very well and it only seems likes it’s going to get more interesting. Then, this sentence is thrown in.
Jackson also says that Indians are great storytellers and liars and mythmakers. I laughed out loud when I read this! My father makes things up like it’s his job. My brother does the very same thing – learned from my father, of course.

Paper Topic

So, I'm not really sure about the criteria for this paper, so I'm assuming it's to be an original topic. I've given a lot of thought to what exactly I want to do with this because, well, the list of topics on which I could write is near endless.

As I've gone through the quarter reading poems and short stories, I've found myself associated myself, my family, my experiences, etc. with many of them.

I've been thinking of writing my essay on the many (sometimes uncanny) similarities between some of my experiences and those found in the poems and short stories.
For example, the main character in Sherman Alexie's story 'What You Pawn I Will Redeem' is practically my father; The mother in 'The Girl' bearing a certain resemblance to my own mother. There are more similarities in other texts.

I'm not sure if this is a satisfactory essay topic or not, but I'm sure the purpose of our posting them here is to root out those that may be sub par.
It just seems that every time we read a poem or story I can find some way to associate it with my own life, which, I believe, is the purpose of poems and stories. People tend to be much more interested in things in which they can see themselves.

I want to write my essay on that!

Just to Clear Things Up...

Hey, my post order is ALL messed up where I missed some posts and had to make up.
So, today's post is right below Greasy Lake - Metaphors.
Just in case you guys would just take a glance and assume I didn't do it.
I did! I swear! It's there!

Greasy Lake - Metaphors

Greasy Lake was an interesting story and full of metaphors. The whole thing is just rather ironic. These 'bad' nineteen-year-olds are putting SO much effort into looking like they don't care. I made a connection between them and people here. Yeah, yeah, they're just looking to get drunk and high and it's like Athens and all that. Yeah. But, a lot of people here seem to try to look like they don't care. You know the look. Sloppy ponytail, sweatshirt, sweatpants, and of course, Uggs. It's doubtful, but maybe, MAYBE, when that look first happened somebody just really didn't give a shit. But, now it's turned into a trend. It's pretty cool to pretend that you don't care how you look but in reality everyone is paying so close attention to the detail of looking sloppy that they couldn't care more. ANYWAY... Onward to metaphors!!

The lake itself is a metaphor for life that used to be simpler, I guess. When we get older we lose our innocence. Our cleanliness, if I may. Yes, our MORAL cleanliness. It is mentioned that the lake used to be clean, clear, nice, and pretty. But, as the years go by everything loses its' cleanness and clearness. Everything and everyone gets murky and dirty and corrupt, it seems.
When he drops his keys it's brilliant! They're at a LAKE. He's says the first mistake (dropping the keys) opens the FLOODwall. He SPILLS his keys rather than drops them. Finally, he describes the night/darkness as a PUDDLE. Props, T.C. Boyle. Seriously.

I also love how all these guys are so 'bad'. He says he's with a couple of 'bad' characters. I mean, come on, one of them goes to CORNELL and the other wants to become a painter, or something of the like. Yeah, they sound like really scary guys. He, the narrator, when talking about the tire iron, even mentions the fact that he hasn't been in a fight since 6TH GRADE. They are truly scary. I wouldn't mess with them for my life.

Lastly, when they get caught trying to rape the girl they all run away. The narrator says that he is 'already ankle-deep in muck and tepid water and still going strong'. Why, yes you are. Not only is he actually, literally, ankle deep in muck, he's in a shit ton of trouble. He's done several things that are pretty terrible and he knows that it's not getting any better.

This story was great!! I greatly enjoyed it. It was both terrible and hilarious but, the combination was wonderful.

How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes) - Experimental Stategy

I've been pretty excited to read this one since I saw the title in the Table of Contents. Stories about mothers always intrigue me because I have a... I'll say interesting... relationship with my mother. Though the story wasn't what I expected it to be, all-in-all it didn't disappoint.

The way she wrote it - backwards - was pretty brilliant. It provided an intrigue to the story that wouldn't have been quite there if she'd written it NOT backwards. For instance, when she says that she is pregnant again it makes us wonder when she was pregnant before. She goes on to say that she is pregnant again - again. We wonder throughout how old the speaker is. She gets continually younger as the story goes on, but as we had no given age to start with, we have no idea how young she is getting until she begins to speak of early childhood.

We wonder what is going on with the mother and what has happened to her. We watch the mother get younger along with her daughter and we are eventually enlightened. Sometimes there are many things that go on in a year. Other times there isn't much. For instance, in 1970 she is pregnant again and gets her hair cut short. These are the things that were noteworthy in that year. In 1954 she only shoplifts a cashmere sweater. In 1956 she only tells her mother about the books she reading in college. Some years are so unworthy of note, apparently, that they are just skipped entirely.

I enjoyed the story immensely. The way it was written, for me, really made the entire story.

The Girl

I really can't say how much I enjoyed this. It was unbelievably real. I have journal entries that look almost like this. You know, high school journals in which all you do is bitch about your mother.
I'm not saying that her 'not happy' memories of her mother are arbitrary in any way. I just feel that many people can relate to what the author is recalling about her mother. Everyone gets the whole do this, do that, or this and this will happen to you. Stand up straight and chew with your mouth closed or no one will like you.
My mother, however, never told me that she thought I was becoming a slut, I mean not really. I'm not saying that my situation is exactly the same.

It's dated, though. I mean, what a mother taught her daughter when this was written is going to be drastically different from what mothers teach their daughters now. While I DO still think that one can relate to it, it really is very different from what is taught now. For example, we don't still go to bakers for bread - not really, and we definitely don't create our own abortion medications.
It's a mother teaching her daughter things that she felt were important. Things that maybe she has found to be important. Our mothers do the same things, however different the lessons may be.

Blog Assignment #2

The Flea
John Donne

The Flea sounds to me like a man trying to seduce his lover, or someone he would like to be his lover. It seems that the speaker is showing a flea to this woman and describing it to her. I was a little unclear on the word ‘maidenhead’, so I looked it up. Maidenhead, it turns out, is an archaic word for hymen. So, the woman he is trying to seduce is a virgin. It appears that she wants to keep it that way, for it seems that he has been trying to seduce her for quite a while. He says, effectively, that the flea gets to enjoy her blood inside it before he even woos her and that he (the flea) swells with her blood inside him. This poem is made up of very sexual images. Sorry to state the obvious. All in all, this man is trying to bang a virgin. But, they’re not married. She doesn’t want to because of the shame she’ll feel, the sin that will be committed, how her parents will react, etc. He is using a flea as a metaphor of the two lovers consummating their relationship. He tries to get her to believe that with him it will cause no shame, no sin, nor loss of maidenhead.

I don’t like the speaker very much.

Blog Assignment #1

Simile
God's Grandeur
G.M.H.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.

Repetition
God's Grandeur
G.M.H.
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

Alliteration
Digging
S. Heaney
Gravelly ground (l. 4)
Tall tops (l. 12)
Squelch and slap (l. 25)
Curt cuts (l. 26)

Imagery
Digging
S. Heaney
The imagery in this poem is very definite and refreshing. It makes me feel like I'm watching his father dig with him.

Clean rasping sound
Course boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
the inside knee was levered firmly
buried the bright edge
loving their cool hardness
corked sloppily with paper
cold smell of potato mould

Those are some of the things that stood out to me.
There are more, but you should get the idea.

-Rvr

Hey, Hi, Hello!

Hi, I'm River!
This is my first post.
Bye!

-Rvr