Commentary #15

King writes this short novella not as much as to create a sense of fear, but more of a sense of suspense and realization. The main stylistic choice that is the backbone of this story is it’s point of view. It is in retrospective 1st person for most of the story, and it gives us a look not only into the same narrator’s view, but their past self too.

When looking at this point of view, we can see the author’s thought process. He questions the reality of things that happened. While there might not be an answer, he tries to find ways to come to terms with them, and this is shown through the style. There are a bunch of moments that are created that either are possible occurrences or are lived experiences. These images are so well created, that sometimes it might seem to be true, even though they might be dreams or thoughts. Here there is a blending of the “truth” of the fiction with things that didn’t happen. It brings the question about whether or not the narrator is reliable.

This novella is about the troubles that children face and must continue to live with. The narrator is looking back at his life in a point where things are so completely different, and notices things that connect to his own current life. The style creates an odd journey through his memory, which is laced with nostalgia and remorse, for the past and what could have been.

Commentary #14

Naked Lunch is a book that expresses the nonlinear-ness of our “realities.” One can express their thoughts, or create a fiction, easily by using a linear mode of writing and going through the events in chronological order. Burroughs, however, wants to take the audience on a trip through the haze of a drug affected mind. His style is non-linear, it is constant, and gives different literary devices to create a solid image.

In the first paragraph presented, we hear someone telling the story of another person who taught his “asshole” to talk. Here, there is already a personification of a body part. Then there is a somewhat disturbing image of it having hooks for teeth, which reminds me of a leech. It’s not a pleasant image, but it does have an impact. This is one of the different ways that Burroughs uses his writing to incite a response form the reader. Then we have more images that are funny to even this about. The anus is continuing to talk, and the owner of said anus is trying to stop it.

Next, there is a transition into a weird idea. The owner’s mouth starts to close up, as if his anus is becoming his new mouth. There are then images that give us the idea of how it happened, almost scientifically. The audience travels through the body seeing his mouth, seeing how the gelatinous tissue works. They then see the brain, is connections to the eyes, and its death.

The use of imagery and personification creates an odd world where the audience is shown disturbing images. His writing is even a little incorrect, with certain articles missing here and there, but that creates the personality for the speaker. When reading the rest of this book, there are more instances like this that make the reader question the real story. With those who aren’t too familiar with non-linear writing, there needs to be care when reading.

Commentary #13

In the passage of Venus in Furs, the narrator as an attention to detail that is very specific. We get an idea of Severin quickly with sentences about his personality, which then detract to other thoughts about technology and philosophy. In that sentence, it continues on the idea of clockwork (like a clock ticking, but I would imagine that they would be going back and forth). There is also a sense of being learned with the listing of these philosophers, as this book is on the morally questionable rack of it’s time. There could be a need to give the author and work credibility, but it gives the narrator character.

His descriptions are very visual as they seem to invoke of a moment. We can see the eyes move across the room to see all the objects. It is nothing like stream of consciousness, but it flows nicely as if we get to see what his eyes lay on. I also think that’s where the point of view comes in. We are given a lot of visual sensory images and it’s almost as if the audience is placed into the character. The long winding sentences are nice, but a few of them get me as a reader lost while reading them, thus I get turned off to the text. Luckily it gets balanced with the imagery.

Commentary #12

 

Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is a free verse poem that is filled with sensory images and small pieces of rhythm. While there is no actual rhythm or rhyme, the poem does flow with lyrically placed words. There is also this kind of double-ness within several lines of the poem. “…and know it and like it…, My respiration and inspiration,” are lines that have a sort of rhyme and repetition. It connects the two in a way like having them occur at once, his breathing, his living is his motivation. To do what? His art.

Going back to the images, there is concrete images that give a sense of realism within the poem. There are lines that show nature with leaves, rocks, shores, and streets and hills. These images are laid with other sensory details, usually having to do with scent, sound, and air. They might infer the way the feelings come and go, or how light and soft they are.

His long winding sentences give the poem a constant motion as the audience is moved from one image to the next, seeing how they all connect to explain the way Whitman sees his art.

Commentary #11

Mayne utilizes an academic tone to examine the work of Dorothy Arzner. While most approaches to maintain an academic sense in their works, this piece is a little more accessible than other reviewed works. Her choice of words make the information smooth and easy to read, while maintaining the seriousness and credibility of her work.

When she presents the information of two films, she skips from giving a full summary and focuses on the important aspects of the films that she will cover. In that aspect, we can see that she is already approaching the work in a concise manner, that doesn’t move the reader in circles but takes them directly to the information.

Now, I don’t mean that it is accessible to everyone, because there is jargon and other terms that are more specialized. However, knowing some basics as film theory and gender, will allow the reader to follow the work.

Commentary #10

I love the way the style of this excerpt shows the narrator’s personality when they were young. While I could say the words being used to portray the whole experience as a child is not childlike. There is a sort of awareness of how things work that makes it sound more like an adult-like process. It creates a nice contrast between the facts that these children were just “playing” but they were doing so in a serious manner. Words like interference and territoriality are concepts that children of that age might utilize, because they’re taught them, but they wouldn’t necessarily understand their wide meaning.

There is a vividness to how the setting is laid out. While there isn’t much detail as to how the house looks or his cousins’ characteristics, but it keeps the focus on the interactions between authority and the children. The sentences themselves are long and winding, but they don’t continue for too long and give many details.

Commentary#9

Fraterrigo frames her narrative of images of women through mainstream media by giving us the background of Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. She uses the main points of Friedan’s work in order to push the reader to think about the topic of the essay. While she doesn’t necessarily give her opinion of the perspective that is given by Friedan, she does give a sort of direct the way the reader sees the information.

The style isn’t too complicated, but is does sound of academia. While in the start of this intro, the information seems to be just matter-of-fact, but as it gets to the next paragraph, the reader feels that the Friedan did not present the whole picture. Fraterrigo is here to give a critique on the Feminine Mystique and offer more outside ideas that aren’t just mainstream media of the 50s and 60s. By using this style, it doesn’t necessarily say that Friedan is wrong, but tells the audience to look at more information and not to value the original text as “complete/comprehensive.”

Commentary #8

Focusing to guide writers on how to create a non-fiction essay, Bascom uses a lot of tools in order to give the reader a picture of what to do.  There is a lot of verbs that are active in a way that isn’t completely physical. When looking at what a writer has to do in order to take away the irrelevant material in their work, there is the words like deleting and chiseling away that makes these ideas more concrete. Imagery and choice of words really drive this guide in order to give the author’s thoughts on how to present experiences in ways that are valuable to the reader.

The language is accessible to most readers, and his use of first person makes the guide seem more interactive, in the sense that the author kind of addresses his readers in an informal way. The imagery and the point of view make this “inter-“ active because it gives different paths of information to get his point across.

Commentary #7

Again, Woolf here shows the audience her use of the stream of consciousness. There is a sort of smooth, if not quick, transition from each idea that comes from the character’s mind. As a reader of the full novel, there were times when this sort of technique made it difficult to understand the progression of the plot. Instead of a linear movement through time, the audience is muddles with the surges of thoughts from each character. However, it gives a more “comprehensive” look at the current moments that the character faces. Lily is painting while thinking about the differences between her and Mrs. Ramsay, and there is a sort of homosocial subtext going on within her mind. The audience gets another look at Mrs. Ramsay as a character and how she effects Lily.

The point of view is 3^rd person, but there isn’t much omniscience because the audience is only given the thoughts of the characters of the moment. The audience doesn’t see Carmichael’s ideas because they are entrenched in Lily’s mind and her doings. It focuses on the movement between characters, without letting others invade.

With the smoother transitions, Woolf has mastered her style in this book, compared to her earlier work.

Commentary Post #6

First off, the style of this piece, I believe, reflects almost perfectly the writing that is consistent within Pullman’s novel, The Golden Compass. The story is told in third person omniscient. Although one would think that the story would benefit from being in the eyes of Lyra, the protagonist, the story is able to reach out and show different views of the tale.

The writing is quite linear and easy to follow. The details made within the novel are clear and very enjoyable to see. Within the section, there are some terms that I would consider jargon, such as Dust and Alethiometer. While the style of the tale puts mainly into the world and hardly gives the reader any information until it is brought up within the novel. Here, this can either make the reader feel lost or make them fully immersed within the narrative.

The language itself is simple to read and I would give it a low medium range of difficulty. The sentences themselves are easy to read, but the way the author strings together descriptions and the plot shows his expertise.