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!