The Story of Carol - Essay Example

Reading responses Why Can’t Carol Carol Sleep? Matt Thompson and Katherine Basbaum expertly use narration style to cover and convey central ideas about sleep and the effects that can accrue to an individual who does not sleep enough. They elucidate the sad moments that Carol goes through due to working for long hours while devoting only a little of her time to sleep. Carol is a perfect representation of millions of Americans who do not sleep enough due to engagement with other routine activities in their daily life. The Centre for Disease Control indicates that sleep deprivation has driven many Americans to delirium since it results to death of brain cells. The authors candidly and sympathetically narrate the story of carol using simple but touching words that often makes the readers to long for more while sympathizing with carol. Thought provoking questions are used to intellectually and psychologically engage the readers and make them dig deeper into the story. For instance, “what do you think carol did next?” (pg. 265). Through the narration, the effects and benefits of sleep candidly stand out. The manner in which the story is presented is interesting and appealing due to the use of simple vocabularies that still convey a heavy and/or significant meaning. What They Don’t Tell You About Hurricanes Due to environmental degradation and the consequential global warming, hurricanes have been prevalent causing loss of millions of innocent lives and undue suffering such as that witnessed in Indonesia during Katrina the deadliest and most disparaging hurricane. Philip Gerard steadily and merrily presents startling facts. He takes a scientific viewpoint to add flavor to the story while leaving no stone unturned. He uses a scientific register to indicate the many things that people do not know about hurricanes. He however manages maintain a calm mood throughout the story while using comic to deconstruct any seemingly provocative statements unlike Matt Thompson who engages the reader by means of mindboggling questions. The author has the society’s interests at heart and condemns governments’ failure to protect innocent civilians. The Woman Who Slept With One Eye Open Judith Ortiz indicates that she grew up in a strange place between two distinct cultures and languages. She narrates her fairy tale that she acquired from listening to stories. Her macho is evidently a result of her decision to stand by herself and defy all social norms. The contemporary society perceives women who commit deadly crimes as an outcast. On the other hand, women believe that they can perform better than men in any field as indicated by Maria Sabida who defies the social expectations. However, she fails to make the story lively. Her narration is quite intense; an intensity that is heightened by her weird choice of words. The story hardly provokes any meaningful thoughts and the readers’ engagement with the material hardly develops. Her vocabularies are seemingly obsolete (comadre, higos de suenos) and the current generation can hardly derive the intended meaning of the story. She overly uses quiescent narration and recollection. The Woman Who Was Left At The Alter In this tale, Judith excellently uses a simple poem that vividly conveys the meaning. With effective utilization of consonance and assonance, the poem is interesting and easy to comprehend. It is about how people fail themselves and blame it on others. This has been a common scenario in the contemporary society where governments fail to deliver effectively and unduly blames it on international communities or organizations. Judith brings out comic and implied irony through the narration. These keeps readers interested and closely engaged with the interesting text. Readers learn that taking responsibility is worthy than engaging in useless denunciation games. The beautiful city of Tirzah Harrison Candelaria describes the city of Tirzah, his dwelling place, where everything seems to perfectly normal despite his father’s demise. The author cleverly uses different characters, both human and nonhuman, to add the flavor of the narration. The use of first person narration, where the author constantly uses the pronoun “I” makes it possible to present scenes as they occur and deepen the understanding of the story. Additionally, the author utilizes the conversational style where the characters regularly engage in exchanges. Through the conversations, the feelings and emotions of the characters lucidly appear and readers comprehend why the characters act in a particular manner. Additionally, the use of conversational style makes the story to appear realistic and seemingly comprehensible. The human characters are also made to converse with the animals as though the animals could speak and express themselves. “You dirty rat!.. ..Did you kill that poor bird?” (pg. 198). This implied personification ultimately makes the story fascinating and attention grabbing. Moreover, the writer gives the animals names that make them appear more humane. For instance, the mallard duck is named Hercules, a name that is common in the world of history and literature. Additionally, imagery and symbolism are extensively employed in the story to convey a deeper meaning and comprehension of the prevailing activities. Six Seconds Paula Speck’s story closely relates to the 9/11 terrorism attack on the U.S twin tower. Reading the story immediately provokes in me the startling effects of terrorism and the shocking scenes that I witnessed during the attack. Slack states that the law grants special status to an individual’s last moments. Does this imply that the law should be twisted to suit the special interests and/or needs of an individual? Certainly, Slack shows he twisted the law to save the lives of two airline passengers in their last six seconds. His story indicates how a Pan Am jet clipped a tree seconds after taking off and the judicial actions and verdicts that followed. Slack uses vivid description to create a clear image of the activities that occurred. He reinforces this by using rhetorical questions that further engages the readers in the text. Additionally, his diction is quite easy and amusing while still delivering the message as intended; without any dilution. He expressly expresses his emotions but leaves upon the readers to draw conclusions from the narration. This is merely intended to make the readers think of a possible dominant theme and connected facts. Rough Air Jakiela Lori unambiguously uses the first person narration to portray a picture of the environment surrounding her. The use of words such as ‘Guinness, girls with grey Mohawks, and dyed-biker black’ communicates it all. The author uses simple vocabularies and a low intonation that keeps the mood of the story seemingly gloomy. Outrageously, her communication skills appear to be wanting. She openly expresses her negative feelings and emotions using harsh statements such as ‘I hated her”, “You are a mess” (pg. 198). She also uses symbolic names such as ‘Jesus’ to make the story more fascinating and make it easy for people to associate it with real life events. Son Of Mr. Greens Dinty Moore uses short but interesting sentences to convey the message of the story of the meditation of fathers. The author vividly gives details about various characters in an interesting manner that apparently draws a picture of the characters. Additionally, a few statements of their remarkable speeches are given and a reader gets quite some interesting moments in trying to figure out the meaning of the various lines. Moreover, the author engages readers by asking a series of questions that need to be retorted in a bid to assess the readers’ comprehension of the importance of fathers, and relevant topics such as religion, natural selection and inheritance, vasectomy, xenogeneic associations, and chromosomes. Although at times the vocabulary and diction gets too scientific, it plays an important role of holding the reader’s attention and keeping them interested as they continue to explore and understand the world of science and the society in general. Through reading the story, one gets to understand the important social and administrative structures and gain a clear understanding of why the society is structured in vertical manner. Additionally, the role of fathers as well as the role of individuals is apparently explicated using simple but catchy words that leave the reader satisfied in a position to make solid decisions regarding life in general. A comparison between responsible and irresponsible fathers is made. It is a great masterpiece as it enlightens the readers about relevant contemporary issues that surround the current society amid the technological advancement and perceived civilization. Responses that i liked and those that i did not like From the responses, among the responses that I responded positively are “The Woman Who Was Left At The Alter,” “The beautiful city of Tirzah,” and “The beautiful city of Tirzah.” However, the reading “The Woman Who Was Left At The Alter” received an undesirable feedback due to my dislike of the author’s writing techniques. Apparently, I seem to respond positively to readings that are more realistic and though fictions, they appear like realities. Additionally, my positive responses to the readings is due to the fact that they discuss issues that I can easily relate to and understand. These are essentially the issues and/or matters that are prevalent in the contemporary society and keep on affecting everyday life. The writers’ writing styles also affected my response to the readings. My preference is on writers who use easy but interesting language that engages the reader intellectually, emotionally, and mentally. Such authors produce masterpieces that are fascinating and communicative in the sense that the readers get the intended message and the implied sense of comic. The use of antique vocabularies seems to turn me off and consequently a negative response is produced. Additionally, my positive responses to the readings were due to the writers’ exclusive ability to cover the various themes while maintain a nonchalant disposition and hiding their humiliation with the devastating activities that unveil in the stories. In addition, topics that allowed or challenged an individual to conduct further research in agreement or disagreement to what the authors presupposes and/or suggests. Such stories provide an exclusive opportunity to explore a certain topic while relating it to numerous studies, judgments, and deductions. Moreover, positive responses are found in all the readings that do not draw conclusions or unveil the dilemma, but leaves upon the reader to draw their own unique conclusions from the readings. This adds essence by guaranteeing that the reader thinks of what prevailed next or caused a certain event. Readings that incorporated innumerable literary devices were interesting and received positive response. Such devices include rhetorical questions, allusion, imagery, symbolism, flashback, and vivid description. Combination of such devices makes the stories more interesting and portrays with author’s prowess in literature and consequently their acquaintance with the subject discussed. The literary devices also aggravate feelings, emotions, and keep the reader interested in the story while mounting message delivery and acquisition and/or comprehension. The reading that received a negative response was due to the author’s inability to enthusiastically involve readers. The choice of words was also wrong, and I could hardly derive any meaning from the story. Judith’s writing skills are considerable poor and in need of improvement. Although she covers a topic that could relatively be interesting and charming, she fails to bring it out and hugely frustrated my expectations. She could have received a positive response if she used my entertaining sentences that do not only convey the authenticity, but also the sense of hilarity. As illuminated above, the writer’s choice of words and literary devices explicitly plays a great role in determining readers understanding of the masterpiece and their consequent response. Therefore, writers must ensure that they cleverly select literary devices that will suit the needs of the readers and deliver the intended message. The world of literature is fast growing. Any person wishing to prosper in this field must have the necessary skills and knowledge that will help them meet the needs, expectations, and preferences of the audience. Work cited Price, Richard, and Anne Hudson-Price. “Word on the street.” The Best American Essays 2002. Ed. Stephen Jay Gould. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. 267-275. Print. Read More