What is a short story?

After this semester, this class has really changed the way I view storytelling and defining what a short story actually is. We have looked at many different types of storytelling through different mediums which they are told. We studied story telling through regular short stories such as children’s stories (Fantastic Mr. Fox and Fairy Tales), and we also looked beyond the normal “short story.” We looked at story telling through short shorts, poems, comic strips, art work, sculptures, long stories, short video clips, documentaries and just recently TV episodes. Story telling is everywhere and short stories are told in dozens of ways. What actually makes a short story a short story though, and how it is defined, is tricky.

The definition of a short story is “a story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.” This statement is of course true, and is what many people do think of when asked. But after taking this class and looking at short stories in such detail, I believe it is much more complex than that. This definition makes someone think that a short story is a fairy tale or children’s story, well to me at least, but not all short stories are fairy tales, or children’s books. Artwork, poems, videos, documentaries, etc, all can present plot lines and develop a theme therefore creating a short story. You can find short stories in almost any piece of writing or art if you really look.

In the beginning of the semester we looked at Fantastic Mr. Fox as well as fairy tales. These stories of course illustrate short stories with their plot lines, archetype characters, antagonists trying to get at the protagonist, etc. Everything one thinks of when we think of “short story.” When this was presented to us in the beginning of the semester I thought that pieces like this were the only ones classified as short stories.

We then went into a bit more depth when looking at Aimee Bender and Rick Bass’ writing. These authors both wrote short stories as well but a little harder to follow. These stories really made you think and get a deeper meaning of what was going on. Both stories had to do with lovers in difficult relationships and created a short story for the reader. Next, we looked at Lydia Davis’ short short poems, and Carson McCuller’s writing. These stories also required in depth reading, analysis, and a lot of thinking, but I enjoyed them. Personally, I really liked “The Fish Tank” and “The Other”. Although these stories did not present us clear characters or a setting, we are shown a story and there is a purpose as well as a theme to each piece.

Next, we looked at Junot Diaz and Lorrie Moore’s stories. These authors also had a different style of writing. Their stories were written by the narrator writing to the narrator, as if the narrator had experienced it before hand and was giving the narrator advice. As well as the other mentioned authors, these authors presented short stories, but not in such a cliché way. Their style of writing may be a little different but still write compelling pieces that can be defined as short stories.

Moving from writing to artwork, we looked at a lot of pieces from multiple different artists. While analyzing and close reading these pieces of artwork, we looked for aspects of short stories we previously depicted in the other pieces. Such as setting, tone, characters, plot lines, theme etc. Although the story may be a bit more difficult to see or understand pieces of art are most likely representing a story and sending a message to the audience. This being said artwork is definitely a form of telling short stories.

One of the last forms of storytelling we looked at were documentaries and TV episodes. The documentary we looked at “Being Elmo” told the story of his life in a factual way with interviews and real life scenarios he went through. I would not consider this a short story. This is a documentary of his life and how he grew up to pursue his dream; this does not present a plot line or characters like the other short stories we looked at. The TV episodes we have recently been looking at in class are also other forms of short stories. Similar to the other pieces of work, they contain characters, plot lines, themes, etc; all factors of short stories.

I have definitely realized throughout this semester that there are many ways one can identify a short story. I would agree with the previously mentioned definition. A short story is a developed piece that is trying to get a message across, it is just significantly shorter than a novel or book. Although a short story is short, that does not mean it lacks depth or meaning though. Some of the shortest stories we read this semester had the deepest hidden meanings and were the most complex. On the other hand, some of the longer stories we read were drawn out and meaningless. Overall, short stories can be found in multiple forms and are not just limited to the well-known fairy tales or children’s stories.

Being Elmo

 

After watching the documentary Being Elmo I saw a lot of differences between storytelling in this documentary and storytelling in other forms such as other movies, short stories and art. In the documentary Being Elmo, Kevin Clash tells his story of being the voice of Elmo and a brief autobiography of his life steps to get to the place he is at.

In documentaries, they tell stories with interviews, dramatization of things that took place, old photographs and video clips, and often have a narrator. After watching Being Elmo, I realized that this documentary included all of these things. The person that the documentary is about, Kevin Clash, is one of the main sources of information and main part of this documentary. He comments on his personal experiences, how they affected him, his opinions and insight, his dreams, his talent, etc. There is nothing better than hearing the information straight from the source. In some documentaries, they are about people who have died so you cannot interview them personally about their life, which is a little more difficult. Being Elmo also included interviews from Kevin’s parents, family, co-workers, friends, employers, etc. These interviews also help the viewer get insight to the person’s life from a different view and you get to hear their opinion of them. Another thing this documentary had was pictures and video clips of from when Kevin was growing up, establishing his puppeteer career. This helped show the growth of his career and life, and the different things he went through to achieve his dream. Dramatizations of scenarios in his life were also put in, for example when he first met Jim Henson, they showed a staging of the scene to show the audience what the scenario probably looked like and how it felt for him to be there. The documentary was narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, which helped keep a nice flow to the film. All of these aspects put together put together a great documentary that I really enjoyed watching. Personally, it was really interesting to see the ins and outs of puppeteers and how the put on shows.

When comparing this documentary to other storytelling forms we have studied this semester, I saw a lot of differences. When comparing it to another feature film, other films do not use interviews and flashback pictures to tell the story; they have characters and plot lines. Short stories also tell stories through plot lines, characters, and theme. The strategies are a lot different in short stories, regular movies, and documentaries and it was interesting to see the difference when watching Being Elmo.

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Knock 

           The blinding sun reflected off of her face as Emily Osment pulled the creamy-white curtains to a close. It was the first day of January, a new year. A clean slate, she thought to herself as she pulled her golden locks into a messy pony tail and sighed—time to clean up. As she struggled to get out of bed, she opens her bedroom door and looks around her apartment. The house was trashed, the celebration of New Years the night before turned out to be a success. All of the guests arrived, there was plenty of food and drinks for everyone, and the colorful decorations looked absolutely elegant, complimenting her large, modern New York City abode.

But no matter how the party turned out, how much fun the guests had, how much she tried to take her mind off of Joseph, it seemed impossible. She wished things with him would go back to normal. It had been just a couple of weeks since the split, although, she felt like it had been months; long and agonizing days, picking at her slowly and painfully.

She wiped the sleep off of her eyes as she walked past the living room and into the kitchen. Carefully, she put on a pot of coffee and grabbed a sponge. After wiping down the counters, the almost-silver granite glittered in perfection. Finishing off the kitchen she threw the red plastic cups in the garbage filling it to the top and swept the remaining crumbs of junk food off the floor.

The living room was worse, red cups covered the floor, some still sitting on the furniture half filled with liquid. Bowls of snacks in various spots around the room, some spilled over making even more of a mess. Torn down streamers and popped balloons cornered her favorite room of the house, layering the extent with distress. Emily let out a large sigh, shutting her eyes and holding her head in hopes to take away the ache. “Everything’s a mess without you,” She whispered to herself, referring to not only her trashed house, but her twisted and broken heart.

Emily continues to clean, slowly but surely recognizing the rug and uncovered furniture. She almost enjoys the silence and being alone. Suddenly, she hears a faint knock at her door across her apartment. Confused as to who it could possibly be, she questions if she should even bother to answer; probably a friend of a friend coming to search her apartment for a misplaced clutch or phone they lost the night before. She continues to clean; hoping whoever it is will just go away. Then, another knock, “Emily?” she heard as she looks up from her broom and toward the door. The voice is familiar and warm; masculine and seems concerned. She slowly leans the broom against her couch, now curious as to who is at her home. The door peeks open, the person behind it becoming impatient, he lets himself in. Emily looks down at the hand on her doorknob as he turns it to enter and without question, realizes who it is.

Sweet Texas Angel

For the last story to read, I picked Sweet Texas Angel. Sweet Texas Angel is about Kay, a student who abandons nursing school to become a household helper. Every Saturday, she visits her very sick mother who has lost her memory and takes care of her as well. Kay feels extreme pressure with so much on her plate. Along with taking care of several people, Kay has one night stands and builds a sexual relationship with the father of the family she is taking care of, Lee. Lee is a married business man, but this does not stop him, or Kay. Lee shows no remorse in his adultery with Kay. He shows full interest in her while leaving his wedding ring on, not feeling any guilt. Kay has an abortion before meeting Lee but this also does not seem to alter her views on being with Lee or hold her back. As a reader, I saw Kay as a character yearning for attention, whether it was from the wrong person or not. Kay knew how wrong it was to sleep with Lee and how much it would destroy and hurt the family, but did it anyway.

I believe McGlynn touches upon many themes in this story. First, he observes sacrifice. Kay sacrificing her nursing career as well as aborting her baby. This story also ties in a lot of religion which I believe connects to sacrifice, as well as sin and fate. The theme of religion creates many questions for me as a reader whether or not to connect “everything happens for a reason” to this story or were these things obstacles for Kay. For example, Kay “sins” with her relationship to Lee. But, she did not plan on dropping out of nursing school, but because she did it led her to Lee. Was leading her to Lee fate, or was it a sin for her to avoid? Was God testing her?  

McGlynn leaves his readers with a lot of questions, which is thought-provoking, but then again frustrating. We as readers all interpret the story differently from what we have experienced in our own lives. Personally, these stories are very long and drawn out and I do not really like how the author leaves us questioning and almost creating our own story.

Remember Love

Jody Lisberger’s collection of stories “Remember Love” was extremely interesting and captivating to me. The stories we were assigned to read and discussed in class so far have been really different from other things we have read so far. I enjoy these stories because they are about situations that people in life do experience such as divorce, friendships, relationships etc. Jody puts realistic and mature thoughts into her writing.

All of the stories unite in a way of complicated truths behind the stories that might not be seen normally but through Lisberger’s writing she brings them to the surface. For example, “The Bush Beating” focuses mainly on a rape that occurred in the meadow but throughout the story we infer that the father has had sexual motives toward his son as well as maybe being gay himself. She presents a problem to us and then as a reader we find out other background information about the characters and reasons why maybe the initial situation happened in the first place.

Personally, I really enjoy how each story has twists and different plot lines linked together into one. As a reader, this made me more excited to keep reading and find out what would happen next and what aspect would link to another. For example, in “In The Mercy Of Water” Kate is struggling with seeing her crush flirt with her friend. Something most of us as readers can relate to, jealousy. You would think the friend would then apologize and not talk to the boy anymore but we learn her friend is struggling with her sexual orientation as well as parental issues, nothing to do with Kate’s crush. But, all of these problems stem from an innocent jump and end up connecting to one another and going full circle in the end. This is what I find intriguing about Lisberger's writing.

Something I found to be challenging as a reader with this collection are the deep topics she does bring up. I find them exciting to read and they definitely keep my attention but some topics can be difficult to read. The rape, divorce and touchy subjects are hard to read due to the great detail she puts into her writing when describing the setting and scene. As well as the fact that a lot of the things she talks about are situations that people have experienced in their own lives. Maybe not personally going through a divorce, or experiencing a rape but something similar like witnessing parents struggle with their relationship for example.

Jody Lisberger: "Crucible", "Bush Beating" and "The Mercy of Water"

Jody Lisberger, the author of “Remember Love”, was born is Stamford, Connecticut in the 1950s. She grew up in Ithaca, New York. Initially, Lisberger studied anthropology at Smith College in 1975 , then got her MA in English at Boston College, followed by receiving her Ph.D. in English from Boston University. In 1997, Lisberger started a MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. Lisberger has taught full time at Holy Cross, Tufts University, Harvard University, and Brown University. She has taught literature, drama, feminist theory, fiction and creative nonfiction. She currently teaches Women Studies here at the University of Rhode Island. What we as a class are looking at right now is her prize winning fiction “Remember Love”.

I just read the three stories “Crucible”, “Bush Beating” and “The Mercy of Water.” I personally enjoyed all three, mainly “Crucible”. Lisberger’s writing is extremely detailed and descriptive. As cliché as it sounds, you do not want to put the book down because she keeps you wondering what will happen next. She is heavy on creating a picture and analyzing the characters situations and thoughts. She creates suspense in the story by linking separate stories all together into one. Doing so, this makes the stories very complex and interesting, as the reader relates the different aspects to one another.

For example, in “Crucible” the story is about a Mom and Dad watching their daughter in her high school play. Although the entire stories setting is at the play, throughout the story you learn a lot about the parents relationship with one another as well as the mother’s analyzing the play as it relates to her own situation. Their daughter, Julia, plays an adulteress in her school play, Abby. As Sheila, Julia’s mom, watches the play she cannot believe her eyes as Julia is caressing another actor’s face as well as indulging in the plot. “Please let it drop and shield these two. My daughter doesn’t know these things. She’s acting. It’s a play. You’re supposed to act.” (page 14) Sheila then begins to connect the play to her current relationship status with her husband, Tom. She herself was cheating with a man checking their house of radon in the air. Seeing the play made her think of her mistakes and how her future with her husband will play out.

A scene that really added suspense to the story and was interesting to me was when Sheila goes to look for Julia after the play. She goes to find her to congratulate her on how well she did and she is not with the rest of the actors. Sheila is pointed toward a doorway, and is hesitant to go in. Thinking she is in there with her fellow actor that she had intimate scene with in the play. She ponders on this for a while and Lisberger creates great suspense for the reader as to what could be behind that door. We soon learn that Julia is doing nothing but innocently getting dressed, (page 21-23). Although we are built up with uncertainty and doubt in Julia as a “whore” of a character, the scene ends with her doing nothing wrong. I really enjoy Lisberger’s style of writing and her detail to the characters thoughts.

Maus and The Fun Home

I just read the two stories “Maus” and “The Fun Home”. Both stories are written as comics, sequential drawings that have word bubbles to express the characters voices to tell the stories. The first story was about a father and son having a conversation about the flashbacks the father had about his time as a prisoner of war. This story had a lot of Jewish slang in it that made the tone of the story stand out. You could tell the father had broken English, some of his sentences did not make sense and he often snuck in random Jewish words. Also, all of the characters names in this story were Jewish; for example Vladek, Mala, Anja. The characters reference the Jewish tradition Bar Mitzfah’s (blocks on pg 61) and the Jewish event Parsha’s Truma (blocks on pg 59). These depth of the culture in this story works well with the images because it helps to set the mood and get you into the time period from when the father was flashing back too. Ultimately, the tone in this story is that of an older man telling a story with an accent as well as broken language giving the listener a different sense of the story. For example, when an old Spanish woman is telling you a story you get the thick culture tone behind her voice and the story seems to have a different mood too it.

Next the second story “The Fun Home” was about just the opposite, a not fun home. The story is told by a girl, Allison, who is mainly writing about her and her father’s relationship. She begins by explaining a time when she was doing airplane with him and in the story you quickly realize the type of relationship they have and what kind of father he is. You can see how uninterested he is to be playing with his daughter. Quickly, he tells her to go get a vacuum to vacuum the rug, and to get a tool for him to fix something. This immediately sets the mood for the story to an emotionless and uncomfortable plot. Soon, we learn that her father is not so much a family man but a perfectionist that wants to make his life seem as perfect as possible, perfect house, perfect family. Throughout the story we learn that Allison’s father beats his children, as well as has sex with her brothers and in the end, kills himself. But during the story he still goes to church, is a school teacher, and keeps his house in good shape, trying to appear as “perfect” as possible. I believe the pictures worked well with this story as well as the first one. The images of the Dad show how mean and unconnected he his. He never seems to make eye contact with the other characters, always has a mean face on, etc. A block that stuck out to me was on page 17 where the family is taking a picture to show how perfect they are yet no one is smiling or interacting with one another showing no emotions. This was interesting to me.

This story is different than the first story “Maus” due to the way it is written. It does not have a lot of dialogue, mainly it is written as a story and the text is above each picture, where in “Maus” the story is told through the characters dialogue with few narration texts. These stories definitely were different due to the way they were written. Although they were both well written and did a good job of setting the mood and describing settings and characters, having the picture with the word was also interesting as a reader. I don’t often read comic strip stories but I enjoyed these two stories.

Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois

The first artist I looked at was, Frida Kahlo a Mexican painter. She was married to another Mexican painter, Diego Rivera. She was born in Coyocacan in 1907, one of four daughters. Her work has been greatly celebrated in Mexico, as well as in American. Frida suffered health problems all her life. She was a survivor of polio and also seriously injured in a car accident, these experiences and memories to show through in her art. Most of Frida’s art is self portraits. She stated “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also stated, "I was born a bitch. I was born a painter.” Frida was also a bisexual and unable to have children. Her marriage suffered due to infidelities and the pressure to try and get pregnant.   

 

As we can see, Frida had some rough times in her life, physically and mentally, and her artwork tells a story of that. She is best known for her self portraits and remembered for the pain and passion in her art work. Her work shows hurt and suffering from the times in her life where she was in misery. Her artwork is unlike anyone else’s and is a reflection of her life, almost a biography through her pieces. She tells a story in each piece with her vibrant colors and intensity.
 For example, this painting “Without Hope” from 1945 is extremely intense and bold with color. The colors are very vibrant and alive, but the meaning behind the painting is almost the opposite. To me, this tells a story by showing Frida on bed rest from when she was very sick and showing how she was feeling, her emotions. Helpless, as if her life was being sucked out of her, obviously she is crying and looks drained. 

Secondly, I looked at the artist Louise Bourgeois. Louise is from Paris, born in 1911. She studied at many schools there and later immigrated to the United States in 1938 to pursue her studies with artwork. She is greatly recognized in the 20th century for her work with sculpture art. Her main theme in her work his her childhood. She uses rubber, wood, bronze and stone to execute her sculptural work. A famous line stated by Louise is “My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its mystery, and it has never lost its drama.” This statement explains the use of male and female bodies and the connection to innocence and sexuality in her pieces.

An example of her work that I looked at was "Arch of Hysteria" from 1993. This piece is a sculpture of what looks to be a male in almost a back bend. The thing about this piece is that the sculpture does not have a head. The person almost looks paralyzed or immobile. Louise balances the definition of the word "hysteria" in the title with the masculinity of the sculpture with the emotional state of men and women and how they connect.

Response to Midnight In Paris

 

Woody Allen’s film Midnight In Paris takes you back in time to the thriving 20’s in Paris. The main character, Gil, who is played by Owen Wilson, is a struggling American writer. Gil lived in Paris once before and very much regrets leaving; he is a romantic who enjoys walking the streets of Paris in the rain. His fiancée, Inez, who is played by Rachel McAdams, is more so the opposite. She is a more logical thinker, not so imaginative and outside the box. She does not long for this cushy lifestyle of literature and passion in Paris; instead she wants to live in Malibu.

While Gil, Inez and her parents are visiting Paris, Inez goes out dancing one night and Gil decides to walk home alone. Gil gets lost, but stumbles upon time portal that brings him back to the 1920s each night at midnight. The 1920s is what Gil views as the “Golden Age”, the picture-perfect time period to live in. While Gil is visiting the 1920s, he meets some remarkable people. He meets Zelda and Scott Fitsgerald, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker as well as Ernest Hemingway. Gil could not be more amazed at his experiences. Hemingway agrees to show Gil's up-and-coming novel to Gertrude Stein to look over.

The following night, Gil attempts to show Inez this remarkable gateway to the 1920s but while they wait she becomes annoyed and impatient, thinking he is going crazy and that nothing was going to happen. Inez takes a taxi home and Gil waits, and as the clock strikes midnight, he travels back in time again.

For the next couple nights, Gil spends his time in the beautiful past time of Paris. He meets many more historical writers and artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, just to name a few. His late night wanderings make his fiancée suspicious, as well as her father. Inez’s father hires a detective to follow Gil each night to see what he is up too; however, this plan does not work out too well. The detective ends up “going missing”, in other words, going back in time along with Gil, except to a further back time period.

In the end, Gil retrieves his edited novel from Gertrude Stein, and based on her edits, Gil believes his fiancée is cheating on him. He confronts Inez, in the present, and she admits to these accusations. Gil, not to heartbroken over it, ends up cutting things off with Inez and moves to Paris.  

Overall, while visiting, Gil begins to sort out his unhappiness with his job, his life and his fiancé. However, after talking to people in that era, he begins to realize that almost everyone wishes to live in a different time that they themselves have pictured to be perfect and better than their present. I really enjoyed this movie! It was beautifully done. The scenes of Paris were gorgeous and the way the artists connected with the readings and research we have been doing in class was very interesting. Also, I liked the modern twist it had with the romantic story line, as well as the actors.

Ernest Hemingway: Dialogue

After reading the stories of Ernest Hemingway I have a good idea of his style of writing as an author. These stories are memoirs written by Hemingway from the 1900s. His writing style is very unique. While reading, many different characteristics of his style stuck out to me. His short sentences, descriptive nature while explaining characters, setting and plot, as well as his use of dialogue throughout his pieces.

Hemingway’s style of writing is direct. His sentences are short, but I like how he gets to the point. The dialogue is also written this way. When Hemingway does decide to use dialogue in his pieces, which does not seem too often to me, the messages are short and specific. This allows the reader to have to find other ways to connect to the characters rather than connect with them through their words. Though the dialogue itself is short, Hemingway writes long detailed paragraphs about the plot, setting and what is happening to balance out the short excerpts of dialogue. I really like this technique because it really paints a picture in the readers mind and allows you to enjoy the story. Also, this pushes the reader to learn about the characters in other ways rather than through the dialogue. Hemingway is very focused on giving the reader an essence of the situation rather than have them focusing on the things the characters are saying to one another.

I believe you do not need to have quotation marks in a story or book in order to describe a conversation someone is having. I enjoyed the descriptive ways Hemingway showed the reader different characters personalities and characteristics without dialogue but some people may believe the only way to understand a character is to actually have them speak. I consider this because generally, dialogue is used to give life and personality to characters and without it, readers may get the idea that the characters are emotionless or dry. But Hemingway uses his description of plot and the characters to show the reader those characteristics in different ways, which I personally enjoy.

Responses to 3 Pieces from The Ocean State Review

1.       Response to “George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill”

I know leaving the grill was the right thing. Knowing it’s there with mother gives me a sense of security, a sense of solidity. I had to take it out of our pile to take home three times before she gave in a let us keep it there. Both of us so stubborn to get our way, but why? Why so much tension and pressure behind this grill. Just knowing it is in that cabinet, where it always has been and where it always should be gives me a sense of warmth and happiness.

 

2.        Response to “Fickle” and “Nuance”

 Interminable

Are you here to help or to hurt? H asks It with no response. H’s confused whether ignore It or to acknowledge It. The mystery the confusion all muddled into one. Why are you with me? Why are you here? Never an answer or a solution, just a ride that never ends.

 

3.       Response to “Sour Birth”

Dear Poem,

What did you mean when saying “Just a sour birth”. How can a birth be sour and why would you change the context of something so simple into something bizarre. A sour birth? Please respond.

 

While reading these pieces in The Ocean State Review I was really intrigued and I got lost in a lot of the poems and stories. They were very mind altering and made you really think about hidden meanings. I loved it. The ones I chose were “George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill” by Halina Duraj, “Fickle” and “Nuance” by Jim Elledge and “Sour Birth” by Pierre Joris.

“George Foreman Grill, George Foreman Grill”is about a couple that is going to visit the girlfriend’s mother’s house. The couple cooks on the mother’s George Foreman grill and it, of course, has significance in this piece. The way I interpreted the grill’s importance to the girlfriend was that it almost stood for a common variable in her life. Something that would not change, something that would always be there. I believe she got upset with the fact that the mother was pushing for her to bring the grill home with her was because she thought that so much was changing, that if she took the grill home more and more things that she once knew to be true would change as well. I decided to respond to this piece as if the girlfriend did not take the grill home what would have happened. I changed the scenario and rewrote the ending. I believed she would have less anxiety if she had just kept the grill at her mother’s house and not stressed about it so much. It would have involved less alteration in her life and made her feel more stable.

“Fickle” and “Nuance” were both short poems but had a lot of depth. To me, the poems were about a man seeing a spirit. I believe he was confused as what the spirits purpose was, and what to do about it. Whether It was something that was ultimately going to hurt him, or to help him. I got this impression from when he states “H’s pissed that The Unseen keeps Itself hidden from him when he needs It most” almost as if H looks to It for guidance and direction yet does not receive any. For my response, I wrote an addition to this poem sequence. Writing as if I was the author, continuing the story of H and H is questioning The Unseen’s purpose.

Lastly I chose, "Sour Birth". This poem was extremely brilliant to me. It made me connect with the saying, everything happens for a reason. Although this poem is short, it had so much to say. I liked how it personified the poem, as if it had an opinion as to what it wanted the line “Just as our birth” to say. This connects to so many scenarios of peoples mistakes turning into something to ultimately benefit them or detriment them. I believe everything happens for a reason and this poem just showed an example of that. For my response I wrote a note to the poem, asking it why it changed the context of the poem, and what it meant by it. If only the poem could answer my question…

 

 

Junot Diaz and Lorrie Moore: Voice

The two stories "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)” by Junot Diaz, and “How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)” by Lorrie Moore both were written from the narrator talking to the narrator. While reading these stories, I got the sense as if the author was writing to themselves from the future.

The first story "How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)” is pretty much about what the title describes, how to effectively go about setting up a date with a girl of a certain race. This story goes through different circumstances on the date from who will drop her off, what to do if she is late, and if she will put out at the end of the date and how to deal with these circumstances based on their ethnicity.

The way the other is speaking is as if it is from experience, as if he has done this before and know what is to come. This is why I believe he is writing to himself. Also, the author’s voice has got some slang to it. This gives the reader an idea of where the narrator is from by giving his voice some personality. For example, he uses some Spanish slang as well as improper English such as “ain’t”.

In the second story “How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)” is written out year by year, but backwards. This made it interesting yet confusing because as the reader you know what is happening but not what happened, that is until you read what happened… if that makes sense. This story was intriguing due to that style of writing. This story was also written in a way as if the author was writing from her own experience. She was almost telling herself what she did during those years, what happened, and how it affects her.

The story was extremely sad. It mentioned the death of her father and mother as well as her going through three abortions. You can tell by her tone of voice she gets more and more sad during the years not knowing why her life is turning out the way it is. She sleeps with random men, cuts all of her hair off “short as a boy”, and watches her mom suffer being sick and has to take care of her. This story does not mention many positive things that happened throughout the years.

These stories definitely connected when it comes to the author’s voices. They both spoke from a place of experience and from a place of knowing what to do next and what was going to happen. I enjoyed this style of writing especially with the way Moore added in the backtracking aspect. As the reader you had to really pay attention and put the pieces together throughout the reading.

1,000 Word Modern Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time in the year 2012 lived a young girl named Bella Cruise. Bella Cruise was shy and timid, yet romantic and a daydreamer. Bella laughed at her friends joke as the bell rang. She ran off to her next class, physics… her favorite class. Honestly, Bella hated physics, what she liked rather was who she sat next to, Jeff Andrews, the most handsome popular boy in eleventh grade. Although Bella was a freshman, she had her heart set on Jeff. Jeff had sexy brown hair, caramel skin, light eyes… perfection in Bella’s. Bella had her mind set on her dream boy but knew he would never even look at her twice. He was muscular and confident, while she was bashful and quiet. But a girl can dream right?

         She walked into the classroom and sat at her desk. Jeff came in her eyes glued to him as if he was moving in slow motion as he walked to his seat jerking his head to flip his hair like skaters do. Jeff sat behind her today and as Bella focused on Jeff she did not realize a geeky kid with duct tape holding his glasses together taking the seat next to her. She had never seen him before but was upset he took Jeff’s seat. She hurried up to the desk and asked the teacher, Mr. Brennan, why the nerdy kid was sitting next to her. Mr. Brennan smiled and replied, "That's Howie, and he’s new here. I expect you to be kind to him Bella, make him feel welcome." Poor guy, his name was Howie.

         Although Bella was shy, she was always kind. Ever since her mother past, she promised herself she was always try her hardest to be the nicest and kindest she could be. Of course, that was back when Bella was seven and in second grade. Almost anyone would have broken their promise by now... but not Bella, she loved her mother too much. And Bella loved her Grandma, her mother's mother. Grandma was old and wrinkly, she was thin and dying. Bella loved her dad as well. Bella’s dad owned a local diner and he never seemed to have time for Bella ever since her mom died. Grandma said that was because Bella reminded him too much of her mother and he didn't want to be reminded of her.

         One person Bella did not like, was her stepmother to be. Bella hated her stepmother to be.  The marriage was planned for two days. In two days, Bella would have a “stepmother,” Heather. Heather also had two daughters, Crystal and Ruby. Her stepsisters to be looked like girl versions of Jeff Andrews. All three were equally as mean and coldhearted.

         Math that day was hard for Bella, since she couldn't daze out staring at Jeff by accident, since she would have to twist around in her chair, which would be way too obvious. Instead she held her phone under the table the whole class checking Twitter and Facebook.

         School was almost over for the day, when a voice came over the intercom: "Attention, students. This is your principal, Mr. J. I would like to announce the dance next Friday night. Just a week away. The dance's theme this year is fairy tales so, when you get a date for the dance, choose a fairy tale to dress up as. Have fun!" The bell rang almost cutting off the end of the announcement and the whole school flooded with anxious teenagers trying to get out.

         Bella texted her best friend Carly, “Fairy tales? Sounds fun. Who r u going with?"

Bella’s phone vibrated within seconds after sending the text, "Yeah, it duz sound fun. Ummmm, I don't have a date yet."

Bella replies, “Come on, Carly of course u do! U had one last week, remember? U wuldn't tell me who it wuz!”

         “Fine, I'll tell u. Michael Dawson.”

         “Ooooh! Ur so lucky! Did u guys decide on costumes?

         “Yeah, we're gunna b Riding Hood and the Wolf”

         “Jealous”

         “ Wen someone asks u, who will u want to go as?”

         “ U mean if someone asks? Cinderella and the prince, of course.”

         “Really?”

         “Yup.”

         Bella’s phone vibrated again but it wasn’t another text from Carly, her father was calling.

          "Bella, come down for dinner!"

         Bella ran downstairs to her dad and smiled at him. "Hey, dad, what's up? What's for dinner?"

         "I'm going to order pizza. What kind do you want?"

         "Pepperoni, please.”

         When the pizza came, Bella’s dad opened a soda and they ate in silence until the doorbell rang. Both confused, Bella went to the door and it was a pizza man with two more pizzas, one with mushrooms and one with pineapple.

         "Um… we already got our pizza.” asked a puzzled Bella.

         "Dad, why'd you get these? You know I hate mushrooms and pineapple on pizza!"

         “I didn’t get them, must be a mistake.”

         Bella began to explain to the pizza man that these pizzas must be a mistake as a red car pulled into the drive way. "Ah! Heather!" exclaimed Bella’s father. "The pizzas must have been for her daughters, they love pineapple and mushroom!" Bella rolled her eyes, put the pizzas on the table, put on her best fake smile, and went out to see her soon to be new family members. Crystal came lively up on the porch and gave Bella a huge hug, a fake forced hug at that.

         They all sat down, drinking soda, eating pizza. Bella was forced to eat mushrooms because her father and Heather ate the rest of her pepperoni. Later in the night, Bella was sent to her room to do her homework while Crystal and Ruby were allowed to watch TV.

         A couple of days passed and Bella’s father had got married. Her father was in such a honeymoon phase that he could not recognize that his new wife had quickly isolated Bella treating her like crap. Bella had become a servant in the house and was expected to cater to all of Heather and her daughter’s needs.

         One day at school Bella was sitting at her desk in math exhausted from her life at home. She laid her head on the desk and felt a nudge in her back.

         “Tired?” questioned a voice.

         Bella with her hair draped over her face turned around to see what Howie wanted. To her surprise, Jeff was sitting next to her.

         “Um, no, just um resting…” Bella said flustered as she ran her fingers through her hair to make herself look presentable.

         “Haha” he laughed as he watched her troubled. “Well I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me.”

         “Yes of course!” she said with such excitement. “Well I mean I could” she said after realizing her excitement sounded a little too desperate.

         They talked and as Bella wished, they decided to go as Prince and Cinderella.

Crystal and Ruby desperately tried to find dates, but couldn't. They decided they would go by themselves in old dresses they found in the attic. In between chores and school, Bella had no time to make or find or buy a Cinderella gown. The night of the dance came and Bella helped Crystal and Ruby into their costumes and they took off in their car.

         After they left, Bella just wasn’t up for the dance anymore. She had no dress and was so exhausted. Bella heard a knock at the door, her Grandma appeared on the front door step asked Bella why she wasn’t at the dance. Bella reminded her that she had no costume, quickly bursting into tears. But Grandma cheered her up by presenting her with a soft satin, periwinkle gown. The top was strapless and the whole gown was covered with sparkling beads. Underneath the skirt were about twelve skirts made of tulle. It was beautiful, just like a Cinderella gown should look like. She pulled her hair up and she slipped plastic shoes onto her feet. She arrived at the ball and linked eyes with Jeff.

         They had a grand time at the dance. Crystal and Ruby kept giving Bella dirty looks. At midnight, Jeff told Bella he had had a crush on her for so long and was too shy to admit it. He expressed how beautiful he thought she looked and how happy he was to be with her that night. Then, Jeff asked Bella to be his girlfriend.  Shocked, Bella stared as he admitted he had always liked her. Not sure what to do, Bella fled the dance. As she ran out, Grandma was in the parking lot. As she jumped in the car, a plastic shoe fell out the door. Not having time to let Bella grab it, Grandma sped out of the lot.

         At school the next day, Jeff asked Bella what happened at the dance, and if she would go out with him. She said yes and he looked down at his shoes because he was so embarrassed and so glad. He noticed Bella had mismatching shoes on, one was a sneaker and one was the plastic shoe. He ran to his locker and came back to trade the sneaker for the second plastic one.

`They lived happily ever after.

Comparison of Fantastic Mr. Fox Film and Story

After reading the story and watching the film of Fantastic Mr. Fox I see many differences. I believe the movie was geared toward a more mature audience. It involved a lot of humor and funny moments that adults would understand more than children. I caught myself laughing many times during this movie. The film has a modern twist to it making it very relatable and made me as the viewer find humor in the way the animals acted so similar to humans. I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it.

On to the comparison, the story and film were of course similar because they are they “same” story, but the mood, style, plot and even story line differed. The characters were all the same, from the mean farmers, to Mr. Fox and his wife, and the other animal friends that come along. The mood of the story is more of an innocent, happy, victory of the animals feel. The mood of the film is more humorous, witty, suspenseful feel. I enjoyed both in their different ways.

In the beginning of the story Mr. Fox is living on a hill under a tree with his four children. He goes out to fetch dinner one night and the three mean farmers shoot at him and catch his tail. He survives but soon realizes the farmers are digging toward his underground home trying to kill him. In the beginning of the movie Mr. Fox lives in a hole with his wife and son. He is unhappy with the way that he is living and feels “poor”. Mr. Fox is a newspaper man and is determined to move into a tree to feel less poor. The Badger who is a lawyer warns “Foxy” that moving into this tree is not a good idea due to the danger it would put him and his family in because it is located near Boggis, Bunce and Bean’s farms.

In the middle of the story, Mr. Fox is digging and digging to get away from the farmers. The farmers realize they are not going to reach Mr. Fox by digging so they get mechanical diggers to dig faster. As they are digging they are getting very tired and helpless. Mr. Fox must think of a new idea to save him and his family. In the middle of the movie, Foxy’s nephew arrives to his new home. They get settled in but Foxy is still not satisfied and decides to go out and do “one last job” and steal from the farmers, and he has Opossum as his sidekick. After visiting all three farms, the farmers realize what Foxy is up to and wait outside his house for him and shoot at him but only catch his tail. The famers begin to dig out Foxy’s home and so the fox family digs in the opposite direction to run from the farmers. The farmers go to extreme measures to catch Foxy. They assemble their workforces around his home with guns, they use machinery and also bomb his hole.

In the end of the story, Mr. Fox thinks of a new plan to dig to the three different farms and enter from underneath. This way he can steal the farmers produce without them seeing him and without being in danger. Mr. Fox digs with his sons. He ultimately creates numerous underground trails which allows all of the underground animals to access the food and be able to survive underground without having to go above ground in danger. In the end of the movie, Foxy thinks of an idea to save himself as well as all the underground animals. He decides to dig to the three farms and steal their produce, same as in the story. Unlike in the story, Foxy digs with a huge group of animals underground. They end up succeeding and getting enough food for all of the animals. They assemble a feast underground and meanwhile, the farmers have put a hose down the whole and flood their feast with cider. Before they were all flushed into the sewer, Foxy’s son Ash and nephew Kristopherson go out on their own mission to steal back Foxy’s tail. When Foxy is in the sewer, he decides to surrender himself, white flag and all, in order to allow his friends to live again and stop hiding. The farmers end up kidnapping Foxy’s nephew for ransom and then there is a meeting for exchange for the nephew and Foxy.

The ending of the movie is much more detailed and the main difference between the movie and the story. Ultimately, Foxy and all of the animals live happily underground in the sewer and also find their way underground a trap door leading to the nearest grocery store. Overall, the movie was much more modern, detailed, funny and fresh. There were many twists and detailed scenes that made the movie enjoyable. Also something I really liked were how developed the characters were and how they each had their own personalities. Every animal had a job, Ash was kind of weird and different while Kristopherson was intelligent and almost like the “perfect” kid. This made the characters personable, relatable and more significant in the movie.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Story)

Fantastic Mr. Fox begins by introducing the three mean farmers of the town. There is farmer Boggis, farmer Bunce and farmer Bean. Farmer Bunce owns a duck and goose farm, Boggis owns a chicken farm, and Bean brews cider. All the farmers are extremely nasty and not well liked in town. Each farmer takes great pride in their farm and their worst enemy is the fox that comes and steals their produce from them; this fox being Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox lives in a hill with his wife and four small foxes. Every night his wife tells Mr. Fox what she would like for dinner, and to provide for his family, Mr. Fox goes out to one of the farms owned by Bunce, Boggis and Bean to retrieve dinner. Although this is a tricky task seeing as how the farmers all want to kill Mr. Fox, he is very clever and knows how to not get caught. He places himself in certain areas so that the wind blows toward him and he can smell the farmers if they are near. This has become a tradition with Mr. Fox and the farmers have had enough and are going to do whatever they can to catch him!

One day, the farmers went to Mr. Fox’s house and waited for him to crawl out of the hole to kill him. Mr. Fox again outsmarted the farmers by realizing they were waiting for him to kill him. Although they clipped his tail, they did not kill Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox went back into his home and waited with his family for the farmers to leave. The farmers were getting impatient waiting for Mr. Fox to leave so they began to dig into Mr. Fox’s home. The fox family began to dig in the opposite direction to escape from the farmers. After about an hour they thought they were far enough and safe, but the farmers did not stop. After a couple of days of being down in the tunnel, they were getting hungry and the farmers were not budging so Mr. Fox had to think of a new plan. While Mr. Fox thought of a new plan, the farmes got mechanical diggers to dig faster deep into Mr. Fox’s tunnel. They were determined to catch Mr. Fox. “‘Did you hear that, Mr. Fox!” yelled Bean, bending low and shouting down the hole. ‘It’s not over yet, Mr. Fox! We’re not going home till we’ve strung you up dead as a dingbat!’” (p. 22)

Mr. Fox thought of an idea but did not share it with his family in case it did not work he did not want them to be disappointed. Mrs. Fox had become ill from lack of food and from digging so Mr. Fox and his four kids left her behind as they went out to pursue Mr. Fox’s new plan. They dug and dug and finally reached a wood floor board. Mr. Fox lifted it up and celebrated because his plan had worked. “’I’ve done it!’ he yelled. ’I’ve done it first time! I’ve done it! I’ve done it!’ He pulled himself up through the gap in the floor and started prancing and dancing with joy.” (p. 30) He made it to Boggie’s Chicken House Number One. He grabbed some chickens and had one of his children run them back to his wife as he was on to his next undertaking.

He again, dug and dug and along the way ran into an upset Mr. Badger. Mr. Badger explained that all of the underground animals had to hide underground and were starving all due to Mr. Fox. “’I know it’s your fault!’ said Badger furiously. ‘And the farmers are not going to give up till they’ve got you. Unfortunatley that means us as well. It means everyone on the hill.’” (p. 38) Mr. Fox filled Mr. Badger in on his news about the chickens and asked him to help finish off the mission. Mr. Badger joined and in no time they arrived at their second stop, Bunce’s duck and geese farm. They grabbed ducks, geese, carrots and bacon without leaving a trace and went on to their last stop, Bean’s Cider Cellar.

When they arrived to Bean’s Cider Cellar, they were not the first ones there. Rat was there, upset that Mr. Fox and Mr. Badger had arrived. “’Go away!’ shreiked Rat. ‘Go on, beat it! This is my private pitch!’” (p. 48) They of course went in instead, grabbed some cider and were so excited to return to their families and friends for the great feast.

At the feast, Mr. Fox announced that now that they had these underground ways to get food, there was no reason for anyone to go above ground anymore. He explained “’We will make,’ said Mr. Fox, ‘a little underground villiage, with streets and houses on each side – separate houses for Badgers and Moles and Rabbits and Weasels and Foxes. And every day I will go shopping for you all. And every day we weill eat like kings.” (p. 60) As they enjoyed their meal, the farmers still waited and waited and “as far as I know, they are still waiting.” (p. 62)

Overall this story  revolves around a witty, clever fox who outsmarts three farmers and ends up benefiting all of the animals that live underground by creating tunnels that take them directly to the farmers produce and none of the underground animals will ever have to live in fear above ground again. I really liked the way this story was written. I loved the imigary and how although it was a short story it was broken down into chapters. I overall really enjoyed reading this and I am excited to see how the film differs from the story. 

Lydia Davis & Carson McCullers

The stories by Lydia Davis and Carson McCullers were all very interesting yet odd.  There were three stories by Lydia Davis, “The Fish Tank”, “The Center of the Story”, and “The Other”. “The Fish Tank” and “The Other” were short and captivating. “The Center of the Story” was longer but more confusing to follow. Carson McCullers’ story “Correspondence” was a little more straight forward as far as author’s language goes, but the story behind it was odd and somewhat disturbing.

 

First, “The Fish Tank” was probably my favorite of the three out of Lydia Davis’. It was very short and the authors writing painted a clear picture of what was happening in your head. He or she was staring into the fish bowl, analyzing the fish as they swam. The narrator imagines eating the fish and how “fresh” they would taste, but as she is thinking this, she recognizes her shadow in the tank referring to herself as their “predator.” I believe the word “predator” showed the reader that she felt bad and not want to eat the fish anymore realizing she would be the one to end their innocent lives in the fish tank.

Next, “The Center of the Story” was extremely confusing to me. I read it multiple times to try and comprehend it better. The story is about a woman who is trying to write a story but cannot seem to determine what should be the “center.” She has many different thoughts going into this story ranging from a hurricane, to a sick man, to her study of the bible, etc. I believe her problem was that none of her thoughts that she wanted to put into her story really related to one another so that is why she could not determine the “center.” Throughout the story she flips back and forth on what she believes to be the most important point to be the center. The last paragraph of the story helped me to understand the concept a little better and wrapped up her thoughts. She was searching for the “center” or the purpose of her story, yet nothing she was talking about really had a center itself. The hurricane never struck, the man was sick but never died, and she had a religious interest but no faith.

The story “The Other” reminded me of two sisters. One sister does something to purposely annoy the other, and the other puts it back the way she wants it. The sister continues to do it knowing it is going to annoy the other. The sister talks about it to her friends and finds it very funny and entertaining and the other sister hears, of course not thinking it is funny. That is what I got out of that story.

 Lastly, “The Correspondence” was a longer story about a girl named Henrietta or Henky for short. Henky is an unpopular girl in school searching for a pen pal to befriend from South Africa. The story starts off normally, Henky writing a letter introducing herself and how excited she is to exchange letters with her pen pal Manoel. As the story goes on, we see that Manoel never answers and Henky gets very upset. She continues to write letters describing her disappointment. This made me feel bad for both characters, for Henky because she was so excited about the thought of a pen pal but also for Manoel because Henky was writing to him as if it was his responsibility to answer. Manoel probably had a language barrier or was frightened from all of the aggression in the letters.