Blog #3

As you approach the front door, you travel along a winding walkway surrounded by purple morning glories and red-orange tiger lilies. The bright flowers are accompanied by towering oak trees. Amongst the leaves and high branches the chickadees chirp a tune. Just beyond and out of sight around the side of the house are lilac bushes; their presence is known through their scent being carried on the summer breeze. The uneven wooden step greets you with creaks as you take your steps up to the porch. Knock, knock, knock on the bright red door. A few moments pass and suddenly you are greeted by smiles and warm hugs; home is where the heart is.  

Reading through travel narratives, especially Take in the State Fair, I feel that my ability to write with sensory detail has greatly improved. Sensory detail means my grandparents’ house is no longer just a small home with tons of flowers. It can now be described as what it really is – safe, secure, and loving. Surrounded by a beautiful garden in the summer, sensory detail can make it sound like the Garden of Eden. Sensory detail impacts the audience because it makes the reader feel like they are there experiencing it too. It is easy enough to say, “My grandparents’ house has many flowers by the entrance. It is pretty”. However, incorporating sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound make the reader much more interested and understanding of the place being described.

Blog #2

 

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Synopsis: In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life -- the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace, and, finally, wisdom.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse addresses learning outcome 1 by using dialogue to further reveal the audience and purpose of the novel. In the beginning, young Siddhartha is immediately intoxicated by Samanas’ ascetic lifestyle. This is a huge turning point in the book because it is here that he drops his worldly possessions and completely transforms his lifestyle. Hesse uses short and simple dialogue to further explicate a deeper meaning. When Siddhartha conflicts with his father Hesse does not have them yell and scream. He has them use powerful diction instead.

“You will grow tired, Siddhartha.”

“I will grow tired.”

“You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.”

“I will not fall asleep.”

“You will die, Siddhartha.”

“I will die.”

Here, Hesse structures a combination of elongated descriptions followed by short, choppy dialogue. Being this way, it emphasizes the importance of what the characters are really saying. For example, this shows the reader how relentless Siddhartha has become for what he really wants. Like Siddhartha, any reader would relate because there always come a time when a parent and their child don’t see eye to eye. Also, everyone has one part of their inner self that cannot be changed – their dreams. In this text, Siddhartha is attempting to start his. When he later confronts Gautama Buddha about finding enlightenment within his Self, Gautama replies “He who lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it.” This dialogue compliments the previous passage because even if your dreams seem to stray away, they will return; they are always a part of you. Using lots of dialogue to tell the story helps connect the audience to a Buddhist that they would normally never compare themselves to.

Blog #1 - Learning Outcome #1

Finding a New Tail for Winter is a movie review full of negative connotations that actively shows the writers opinions of the film. The author writes to their fellow adult audience and shows that the movie is just like any other children’s movie. Their purpose is to show that this movie is predictable, lacks a true plot, and will leave adult watchers bored and un-amused. The structure of this review makes the intended audience and purpose obvious. The piece starts off immediately by saying that the movie is not aimed towards those reading this article. They continually pound the movie throughout their writing by selecting diction such as “awfully wrong” and “manufactured drama”. They also use an oceanic metaphor to relate back to Dolphin Tale itself by saying “sizable dose of schmaltz with their fish milkshakes” and “larded”. The author continues their review by giving a brief synopsis of the movie. They use hyphens and semicolons to make the whole plot into two sentences. This is done so the reader understands the emphasis being presented that everything within the movie is typical, boring, and uninteresting. Describing the parallels between the dolphin and the injured war veteran is also proof to show how inauthentic the movie’s story really is. The review almost comes to a close when they offer one part of the movie the adults will like – footage of the dolphin’s real rescue and rehabilitation. This is strategically placed at the end of the review, like the footage is at the end of the movie, to further express the idea that the whole movie is near unbearable, and the only interesting part isn’t shown until the end. In the review’s conclusion, the general information such as running time, actors, and director is given. Structurally, Finding a New Tail for Winter fully helps demonstrate the writer’s original purpose to tell their adult audience that this children’s movie will feel like a waste of time to go see.