Amidst the section in Chapter Three titled “The Major Dramatic Question,” I found a particularly interesting bit about deus ex machina, or an act of God that magically resolves the major conflict of the story. It goes on to say how dissatisfying these kinds of endings can be for the readers. I would stand to … [Read more…]
The structure of this story was very unique and interesting in the way that it rotated between three main states. The first of these states was the present, when the main character is meeting and inevitably living with the daughter that she gave up for adoption. The next is the past, where the character was … [Read more…]
The first thing that really stood out to me in this chapter was the discussion of a character’s desire. Typically, when you read a story, the main character has this grand goal to travel the world, or score the winning touchdown, or get the girl, but no one ever really seems to talk about how … [Read more…]
As I was reading, the first time I was really hit by something was when the narrator, or the current husband, switched from referring to the blind man as the blind man and instead called him by his real name, Robert. I realized almost instantly that this was because that, up until that point on … [Read more…]
I find the structure of the chapter really quite interesting, with the author going on this quest to discover why people are so inclined to write fiction, all the while explaining many different aspects of fiction in general, but also delving into the beginnings of fiction, and giving ideas for how to start a piece … [Read more…]
I found switching genres from an academic paper to a podcast to be quite enjoyable. Typically, I write my essays in a very buttoned-up and formal manner as I was taught to in high school. This assignment allowed me to loosen up and become more relaxed in how I was discussing the subject matter. It … [Read more…]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yXLWNaUQeZbqusgwfmZtD6dABrVLd0L4/view?usp=sharing
In Lalami’s article, “What Does it Take to Assimilate?” she opens by breaking down a conversation that the had with a, in my opinion very racist, man from Los Angeles on an airplane. He is the first in this article to mention the word “assimilate.” She then goes on to question the meaning of the … [Read more…]
In the beginning of the Preface for The New Civil Rights, Yoshino states that “to cover is to tone down a disfavored identity to fit into mainstream.” Personally, I strongly agree with Kenji Yoshino’s definition of covering. It is certainly a dilution of a certain trait, habit, hobby, or action, or a sort of a … [Read more…]
To “modulate your outsider identity” is to adjust the way you express yourself to others in order to be better enveloped into or understood by a group, an idea that Yoshino describes very well in his works, “the Pressure to Cover.” In “The Pressure to Cover,” Yoshino describes his experiences of being told by a … [Read more…]
