Close Reading

Close Reading "Twilight"

"...all very attractive, " I added, trying to be more complimentary. "You should see the doctor, " Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around. " We lapsed back into silence as we finished eating. He cleared the table while I startedon the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand --no dishwasher -- I went upstairs unwillingly to work on my math homework. I could feel a tradition in the making. That night it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted. The rest of the week was uneventful. I got used to the routine of my classes. By Friday Iwas able to recognize, if not name, almost all the students at school. In Gym, the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. I happily stayed out of their way. Edward Cullen didn't come back to school."

I chose a short passage from the book from the saga, "Twilight".

      This short excerpt from "Twilight", Stephanie Meyer describes a scene we all know very well. A parents and child eating some dinner together. Meyer uses her skills to create that image in the readers mind. She uses descriptive words to get the reader's brain to picture the actions, setting and character without fail. 

      Stephanie Meyer uses great imagery in this excerpt. She uses words that create an easily imaginable picture in my brain. "He cleared the table while I startedon the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand --no dishwasher -- I went upstairs unwillingly to work on my math homework." (Meyer)  In these lines, Stephanie Meyer describes the scene, not explaining, but showing the reader what her characters are doing. I can easily image a girl, finishing cleaning up from dinner and sitting at her desk struggling to do math homework, especially simple to connect to considering that happens to me about every night. Seeing this image makes the story easy to relate to and connect to different parts in the reader's life. This creates a deeper feeling between the reader, and the text.

      This excerpt uses details that add a small piece of information and detail to the story that add more to the story. When Meyer adds how in gym the kids know that she is a bad player and sometimes use her weakness as an advantage to them, it is a small piece of details.  The reader may at first seem unnecessary but later discover that this small addition of material about who Bella Swan is allows the reader to use that detail in the future. For example if later on in the story Meyer says that Bella had no chance for defending herself, after that the reader could think about how she knows that Bella is weak and would not be able to defend herself because she cannot even pass high school gym.

      Stephanie Meyer's writing and use of details and imagery make not only this small passage but allows the reader to connect themselves to the story and put themselves in the characters point of view. These are all reasons that make the writing better and easy to read and understand. 

Open Prompt

1983. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

     Many works of literature have villains that add to the plot. Villains can be used in the story to show or teach the protagonist a lesson. For example in Harry Potter the villain is Voldemort. Voldemort is used throughout each book and the novel as a whole to teach Harry lessons and make him face his greatest fears. 

     Voldemort is known as the constant evil throughout the story that Harry Potter had to defeat. His character is used as the focus of the story, that no matter what Harry's task is, Voldemort is behind it. More specifically, in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, when Harry is suspicious of Professor Quirrell and his actions and when he meets him to fight at the end of the book, it is actually Voldemort. Before he comes back for real in the fourth book, Voldemort is always lurking to try and kill Harry before Harry can kill him. It shapes the story completely around the fight between the two of them. 

      J. K. Rowling uses Voldemort to make the lessons that Harry and his friends learn through trying to defeat him more meaningful. The lessons they learn about friendship, honor, respect and fighting for what you believe in, while they struggle to end the fight with Voldemort, seem very real as you read the book and hope that they can defeat their villain. Voldemort's tricky way of coming back after the reader and Harry think that he has been defeated makes the books seem like they could go on forever and makes every battle they have with Voldemort that much more significant. 

    Villains can be key aspects in works of literature and make the work as a whole more note worthy. Voldemort truly enhances the meaning of friends and loyalty in Harry Potter. The lessons the characters learn because of Voldemort and villains in general, have much more impact because of the villains. 

     

Responses to Course Material

Response to Course Material

So far everything we have learned so far in this course has really made me think back to my favorite books I have had the opportunity to read in my life. Just being in class reminded me of when I was in second grade and I hated reading, I thought it was the absolute worst, now it is hard to picture not loving literature and that reminded me of what made me fall in love with books. Harry Potter, I have now read the entire series multiple times and each time I read it I discover different connects and meanings that the author uses to connect all the books together. It makes me think in class how we discuss style, motifs, and coming full circle. Now that I think about those concepts and the Harry Potter books I realize how often J.K. Rowling uses these techniques to make the books complicated and exciting. It also amazes me how authors all have different voices and styles that can make two similar books completely different because of the different authors. 

"Me Talk Pretty One Day"

"Me Talk Pretty One Day" Analysis

It is easy to enjoy and appreciate David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day”. Critiquing the  essay by applying the rules in The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing was rewarding. The book made understanding Sedaris wrote his essay and picking out familiar things within the essay quite simple.       

       Many technique used by Sedaris are discussed in Harvey’s, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. In “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, Sedaris’s problem and journey from being intimidated and afraid to speak French and of the language gets resolved at the end of the story when we see him speak with a newfound confidence he did not have at the beginning of the essay. This relates to what Harvey discussed in his book about a method known as coming full circle, or “closing the circle” (Harvey 83). This method of finishing an essay or story with coming full circle allows the reader to link aspects of the writing from the beginning with new details discovered at the end.

       David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty One Day” is fun to read because he gets straight to the point and is quick to get rid of what he finds to be extra words. He writes in a style that is not as common in most writing. His description of his anxious feelings towards his professor provides comedic relief for the reader. His very frank style of writing could be considered a “pompous style” (Harvey 4).

 By reading The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing and comparing the style and techniques we learned from that with "Me Talk Pretty One Day" it made critiquing and discovering the writing style of David Sedaris easier to do and appreciate.