Wayson Choy's Visit

“I feel that it’s essential in literature to discover what matters. I can’t say enough about the power of stories to give meaning to one’s life.”

Throughout his visit today, Wayson Choy spoke about paying attention to the “signs” in life and also about what matters in good writing. He also provided us with advice about life in general. By giving us examples of signs in his life, he showed us what type of signs we need to look for in our own lives. He spoke about “connecting points,” and how you must connect one event to another in order to recognize signs and coincidences. He gave us the example of how, when his father was sick, he went across the street from the hospital to get some Kleenex and other items from a store. He remembers the store as a shining light amidst a fog. He recognized this as a sign. After talking to the shop keeper and revealing his concerns about his dying father, the shop keeper told him that his father would be okay, and that he would not die. It turned out that the man from the shop was correct, and Wayson had correctly identified a sign that appeared to him in his life. He encouraged us to look out for these signs and symbols, mentioning that we may have already come across some, but have yet to “connect the points.”

With respect to writing well, and to becoming a successful author, Wayson also provided us with useful advice. He said that there are two things that cause people to want to read your work. He said that writing must have a narrative voice that comes through the writing. A good narrative voice is achieved when the reader forgets that they are reading, and are transported into the image that the author has created. Examples that he gave where this is true are “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Harry Potter.” The reader needs to be enchanted to continue reading, and there must always be a rhythm. Of course, the rhythm can easily be broken by the improper use of writing mechanics. Wayson refers to this as “the craft.” His reference to “the craft” lead him to discuss another important point concerning good writing which he called the “narrative drive.” The narrative drive is really a combination of different things of which one aspect is the movement of action, or the “plot”. Wayson describes this as “after the explosion what happened next.” However the more important part that he stressed was how “character development equals emotional development.” A “character is drama,” and characters that grow and change are enlightened. As well, he discussed the importance of having someone else read over your work. He spoke about how sometimes one event will result in another event, and the reader will not understand how they arrived there. He outlined how, when you are writing, you must “unpack” the details that you have left out, or left in your head. In storytelling, you are trying to recreate the image in your head and portray it to the reader. At the end of his visit, he urged us to, “write on!”

Wayson also gave us advice on life. He told us about three outlooks which, if followed and believed, should bring anyone success. The first thing he stressed was that every failure is a learning experience. We must learn from our failures in order to help us move forward. Our failures tell us what we need to accomplish or work on in order to become better at what we do. His other motto, which he described to us as a “life theme” of his, is to never give up and to always propel yourself forward. He demonstrates this through the example of how in his youth he contemplated committing suicide. What made him change his mind is the urge to “find out what happens next.” In giving up, you will never know how far you could have gone. This motto is relevant to any challenge presented to us in life. His last message is that when things are going well you should always remember to look back. This message requires people not to become too enamoured with their successes. By looking back and reflecting, one becomes more humble in future activities and learns not to rely totally on past achievements.

In conclusion, Wayson Choy’s visit was an enlightening experience which opened my eyes to the importance of paying attention to signs, to what really matters in good writing and to different outlooks on how to live one’s life.

Travel Writing, "In the Jungle"

In Annie Dillard's piece about the Ecuadorian jungle, the reader is taken on a journey with her, as she explains her experience there and entices us to join her. Her writing conforms well to the expected elements of the travel writing genre. She shares with us many personal experiences, some more pleasurable than others. "We were holding cool drinks and idly watching a hand-sized tarantula seize moths that came to the lone bulb on the generator shed beside us." She mentions how she interacted with the "village girls" and portrays their playfulness, noting that, "they were all braiding my hair, all five of them, all fifty fingers, all my hair, even my bangs. And then they took it apart and did it again, laughing, and teaching me Spanish nouns, and meeting my eyes and each other's with open delight."

 

As well as giving the reader her personal experiences, Dillard fills the piece with sensory details. Through her use of certain verbs and nouns, one can clearly picture the image that she is describing, "Green fireflies spattered lights across the air and illumined for seconds, now here, now there, the pale trunks of enormous, solitary trees. Beneath us the brown Napo River was rising, in all silence; it coiled up the sandy bank and tangled its foam in vines that trailed from the forest and roots that looped the shore." She is constantly reminding the reader of the atmosphere throughout the piece. The final element that Dillard combines into her travel writing is convincing the reader to make the journey. Her personal anecdotes provide a friendly, joyful, positive and intriguing atmosphere that could potentially cause the reader to take the trip. In conclusion, through the author's experiences, sensory details and positive descriptions of the destination, Dillard successfully captures all of the expected elements of her genre and, at least in my case, achieves the ultimate goal of convincing the reader to want to take the journey.

Effectiveness of titles in fiction

The title of a piece sets the tone for the reader. It should intrigue readers, and make them want to find out more. Four stories that we examined in class were "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," by J.D. Salinger, "Take all of Murphy," by Vincent Lam, "The Hanged Man," by Ian Rankin and "A Deep Hole," also by Ian Rankin. These stories have titles that are meant to reflect a certain tone in the story.

 Salinger's title is quite effective, as it appears somewhat ridiculous and makes you want to understand it. A "bananafish" is not a real type of fish and therefore it entices the reader to learn more by reading the story. In "Take all of Murphy" the title is both appropriate and effective. The title does not really make sense until part way into the story, when the group names their cadaver, "Murphy." At this point, the reader recognizes part of the reason for the title. The other reason is because at another point in the story, someone takes half of the cadaver's head. The title is also applicable to how the group wants to cut around "Murphy"'s tattoos. In a sense they are not "taking all" of Murphy, because they are leaving his tattoed symbols in tact. This makes the title satisfying and relevant because various parts of the story relate back to the title.

 In "The Hanged Man" the title was also effective and relevant. The only negative element is that the title gave away the ending of the story. Once the reader realizes that the psychic is in fact the killer's mother, it is also divulged that, "in her hand, she was holding a Tarot card. The hanged man." Therefore it is inevitable that there will be a death almost as soon as the reader begins reading the story. The final story, "A Deep Hole" has a title that I do not think is effective. There never is a "deep hole" of any importance within the story. The narrator cannot find a hole big enough to hide the body in, so he returns the body back to Daintry's garage. Even figuratively, there is not a "hole" in the narrator's life unless one considers the fact that he does not have a wife as a “hole”. I do not think that his single status qualifies as a “hole” in his life. Also, at the outset of the story, the narrator begins by saying, "I still dig up roads - sorry, highways." This statement causes the reader to immediately assume that the reason the piece is entitled, "A Deep Hole" is because of the narrator’s profession. This is not only untrue, but could cause the reader to be disinterested right from the beginning of the story. In conclusion, certain titles are very effective because they cause the reader to become intrigued and to want to read more of the story. Other titles are less effective because they do not provide sufficient mystery or encouragement to cause the reader to want to read more of the story.

On Writing, Sections -6- to -10-

Stephen King provides numerous suggestions with respect to writing fiction throughout sections 6-10 in his novel, On Writing. He begins with explaining the importance of description in a story. He states, "Description begins with visualization of what it is you want the reader to experience." I agree with this statement, and find it very useful to understand the boundaries of under-description and over-description. King classifies these boundaries, "Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Over-description buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to find a happy medium." Throughout the rest of this section, King shows examples of what he considers to be a good use of description, and what he does not. This demonstration makes it clear for the aspiring writer when they may have “gone overboard”, or when they may not have done nearly enough.

 Another area that King reviews is that of dialogue. The importance of dialogue is that, "It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters. What people say often conveys their character to others in ways of which they - the speakers - are completely unaware." He explains that, although one may be able to describe a character's situation in one sentence, it is often more effective when the reader can uncover this themselves through reading dialogue. It makes the character seem more real and closer to the reader. He uses the example of telling the readers that a character is not educated, and has never attended school, versus demonstrating this through his dialogue. The latter creates a much more realistic situation. I really found this tip to be useful, and hope to remind myself to write dialogue where possible in order to create a more realistic atmosphere. 

The last tip that I found quite helpful, was King's explanation of theme. Essentially, he says that theme is what occurs once you have finished writing and you "ask yourself, why you bothered - why you spent all that time, why it seemed so important." You will uncover what the theme is, once you have finished writing or "identifying the trees" and you reflect on what you've written, "step back and look at the forest." Doing so will reveal the true reason why you wrote your piece and in turn will reveal a theme of some sort. In conclusion, I was able to draw various helpful tips from King's sections on writing fiction. Reading his examples of how (and how not) to use different tools in writings broadened my perspective with respect to different ways of approaching story telling.

After the falls: Cathy's friendships

Cathy speaks of many different friendships throughout her memoir. Two friendships that greatly influenced her life were those of Fran "hit the dirt" Stephens and Laurie Coal. Fran Stephens had an impact on Cathy's life because, through their friendship, Cathy was exposed to things that she otherwise would not have been. Cathy already stayed her distance from males after the Donny Burns incident and this particular incident with Fran certainly did not help matters. Upon spying on Fran's older brother's "fraternity meeting", Cathy witnessed a horrible event where the entire fraternity invited over a girl, "Veronica Nebozenko" and all eight members, essentially raped her. This event was traumatic for obvious reasons and left Cathy horrified. Fran was also a part of Cathy's "Black Lawn Jockey" movement. Cathy found these antique lawn ornaments offensive, and with good reason. After sending letters to all the houses which displayed this ornament on their lawn, Cathy was disappointed with the result. Only two houses out of a total of thirty-nine houses removed their lawn jockeys. Cathy came up with a plan "B". This plan involved an event where the faces of the black lawn jockeys would be painted white. Cathy told Fran not to invite anyone else because it would not produce positive results. Fran ignored Cathy’s request and brought along "thugs" named "Jitters" and "Joe". As predicted by Cathy, the extra company got out of hand and started lighting lawns on fire. At this point Cathy declared to Fran, "If you know what's good for you, you will come with me now. I swear I will never speak to you again if you don't." Fran chose to stay with the thugs. Cathy realized that she "had come to the end of the line with Fran," and that they could, "never be friends again." This declaration demonstrates how Cathy did not approve of Fran's negative influence on her. Through ending her friendship with Fran, Cathy confirmed her independence.

Cathy meets Laurie Coal on her prize trip to New York after winning the essay contest. After the contest, Cathy thought that Laurie was a female and was unsurprised when they were assigned to room together for the trip. Cathy reflects on her first encounter with Laurie by saying, "I opened the door and was taken aback to see an amazingly handsome black man sitting up in the king-sized bed." Cathy gradually gets to know Laurie over the course of the trip and they become good friends. She says that, "Everything I liked, he liked. And when I was with him, time flew". After the trip, once Cathy returns to university in Ohio, Laurie visits her, saying he attends Ohio State on a football scholarship. They also spend a lot of time together there. However, Cathy never interrogates him on his life at Ohio State or how he makes his income. While working with the "Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee", she uncovers another part of Laurie's life, which she did not know about. This is unearthed when one day, someone working with the committee says to Laurie, "You think Splits don't tell me gots yourself a wife and kids at home." Upon learning this, Cathy forever loses interest in political affairs and loses her ability to place trust into others, especially men. This loss caused Cathy to reflect on her life and to become a stronger person. Perhaps this is partly how she was able to cope with her father's illness so well, as she had personally been a victim to things that could be considered far more emotionally damaging than her father’s illness. In conclusion, although Cathy had many friendships in her lifetime, there were some that had a greater influence on her than others. Fran's friendship influenced her decision making throughout adolescence, while Laurie's betrayal strengthened Cathy's ability to handle unfortunate situations.

After the Falls: Cathy's work life

Cathy is introduced to working life at a much younger age than would normally be expected. However, her experiences from these jobs help define her as a person. Three jobs in particular that had a large influence in her life were those at, "McClure Drugs", "The Dunk" and "New York State Welfare". Working for McClure Drugs is a defining moment in Cathy's life because it alters her childhood. As she was a very "active" child, a doctor suggested that she be given a job as a method of deploying her extra energy in a more positive direction. Instead of playing with other children her age, she would spend her time delivering prescriptions with Roy and working alongside her father. This can be seen as Cathy reflects on her life in Lewiston, as she says, "The problem was that I hadn't had real friends in the past, other than the occasional boy on my street with whom I would play outside. I had never had a friend to my house because I was never there. I had worked since I was four years old, and my closest friends were the employees in the drugstore, mostly Roy, the driver, and my father." She and her father would share "the same concerns about the store and consider how to make things run more smoothly." She was devoted to working to her fullest potential.

Cathy lands her job at "The Dunk" in a manner that seems typical of her eccentric personality. She and her mother and father had gone down to the city "to get a new blade for what her father referred to as his 'self-propelled'". They "were in the Puerto Rican part of the city and there were mostly warehouses and rundown bars." While she and her mother waited for her father, they came upon a doughnut shop where they decided to eat. While eating, they noticed that there was a job interview in progress for a waitress position. The final task was to figure out how to work the coffee machine in less than two minutes. Cathy, after watching the first potential waitress fail, immediately jumps in and does the job in "record time". She gets hired and begins working there a large portion of her teenage life. She describes "The Dunk" as "a soggy doughnut at the bottom under the intertwined concrete." Cathy learns a lot from other people through her work experience there. She takes her father's philosophy, "you can learn from everyone if you ask the right questions" and applies it to her everyday life. She asks questions of the customers who come from all over and turns her everyday work into a learning experience.

Another job that Cathy had was with "New York State Welfare". This job caused her to absorb two of life’s most valuable life lessons. She begins her work there as a summer job and admits to having no interest to become a social worker. It "took her a while to understand how the welfare system operated." She realized that when she "worked a full eight hours that she was upsetting not only her co-workers but also the clients." She describes how "Mr. Shoomack looked the other way when everyone in the office went home after lunch. And in return, they covered for him by never asking any question or imposing in any way." After Cathy realizes this, she begins returning home at noon with the rest of the employees. Her mother states to her, "This is a pattern." After Cathy explains everything to her mother, she only replies, "I'm surprised." Cathy learns a valuable life lesson as she realizes her mother's disappointment in how she was corrupted by the system so easily. "From then on, she decided, she would work a full eight hours every day". The other lesson she learns is through her carpool that she forms with two other girls who were working there. Cathy becomes livid with the way that one of the girls, Miriam, is treated by her father (who is a judge). After Cathy gets into an argument with him about his attitude towards parenting, she becomes inspired and transforms this rage into something positive. She notices in the newspaper that the "American Heritage Week would be running an essay contest." She enters the contest and tells the story of Miriam and ends up winning the contest. This leads to her involvement with Laurie Coal, a girl who tied Cathy for first place in the contest. In conclusion, because it was realized that when she worked, "she got into far less trouble" Cathy always spent a lot of time tied down to a job. Through each experience, she learned different lessons and her life was shaped accordingly. Working gave her new values and motives to help her continue her life always in a more positive direction.

After the Falls: The influence of popular culture

The influence of popular culture  can be seen through examples of fashion, music and political events. We see the influence of fashion at the beginning of the novel when Cathy declares, "I had to find those matching outfits that the popular blonde girls wore." She goes through the process of buying the "Ladybug blouses", "John Meyer of Norwich cable-knit sweaters with matching knee socks" and "London Fog raincoats in three variations of khaki." Although she admits that the exercise was "incredibly expensive", she reasons that it is simply, "the price of doing business." This need to be a part of the ever-changing fashion world is again evident much later in the novel when Cathy is packing to return to Ohio for her sophomore year. Cathy comments on her previous attire by saying, "I looked at my matching golf-club clothes, the hairpieces and shoes that I had spent on, and wondered who the girl was who'd worn them. By then I had switched to hip-hugger bell-bottom jeans, men's long undershirts and desert boots." This latter style was representative of the hippie era, and all of the political and social views that went along with it.

Another example of popular culture which had a great influence on people was music. We see how different parts of Cathy’s life are complimented by a particular era of music. Her escapades with Roy in the delivery car are represented by the "staccato blast of the Les McCann and Eddie Harris rendition." At her 8th grade slumber party, Cathy speaks of how they were "doing the twist to Chubby Checker's music". After getting into an argument with her father over Donny, Cathy escapes to the attic and listens to "Louis and Ella singing, ‘Cheek to Cheek’". Cathy and Leora (along with the majority of the population) are drawn into the rage surrounding the Beatles. The girls clear out their evening’s calendar  in order to watch them perform on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time in 1964. They "locked themselves into her parents' room and watched the Beatles singing, ‘She Loves You’". When Cathy resorts to having her father pick her up from the "Idle Hour", she recalls turning on the radio, listening to "Stand by Me" and "I've Got You, Babe," and being shocked that her father knows the words to "popular music”. Later, in university, Cathy's friend (Sarah) introduces her to an album called, "Cheap Thrills". Cathy recalls, "I listened to Janis Joplin wail with a voice that sounded like a freight train with a broken heart: ‘A Piece of My Heart,’ ‘Summertime’ and ‘Ball and Chain.’”

Political events also had a huge influence in Cathy's life, beginning with the emergence of John F. Kennedy as a political force. Cathy’s mother started volunteering to do the accounting for JFK’s local campaign office. "In her new role, she worked on that campaign day and night. She organized the late stages of the Buffalo Kennedy Campaign with military precision, dividing up volunteers and making sure every square inch of the city was covered." We can see how this election had a huge influence over the culture as, "everyone at school watched the Kennedy-Nixon debates with bated breath." When Kennedy won, her mother was honoured at a luncheon at the Statler Hilton for all the work she had done. This added to the importance that this election had in Cathy's life. Another political event that had a great influence on her life was the assassination of President Kennedy. At this point in her life, Cathy had been working at "The Dunk". They dragged a TV out of the back room so that everyone could watch the news coverage. People from all over stopped by to see what had happened. The reason this event had such an influence on her life was the effect it had on her mother. After this, her mother was crushed and never took an interest in any political events thereafter. "No matter how many times people called her to be involved in politics again, she politely declined. In fact, she had very little to do with anyone after that."

Another event that had an impact on Cathy's life was the assassination of Martin Luther King. At this point in Cathy's life, she was at university and on her way back to her dorm with Laurie. She describes the event as if it were happening in "slow motion". She was notified of what had happened when "the man who owned the photography studio near the corner came out and stood on the stoop of his establishment." She asked what was wrong and was informed, "Martin Luther King was assassinated". This was a particularly dramatic event for Cathy because at this point she was in a relationship with "Laurie", a black man. The killing caused Cathy to become increasingly involved in the civil rights movement.  She and Laurie became active members of the "Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee." 

During the summer before the Chicago Democratic National Convention, the Democratic Party was in disarray and needed to choose a candidate to oppose Richard Nixon in the November election. The University of Chicago was the site of significant protests when Cathy and Laurie went to visit Leora. Laurie and Cathy "went to hear Bobby Seale speak at Lincoln Park." It was surrounded by rows of cops and the National Guard. After this, they decided "to go down to Grant Park and see what was happening with the mules and the Poor People's March." Rennie Davis, the SDS spokesman, was scheduled to speak there. This had an influence on Cathy's life and her opinion of the culture because on their way to Grant Park, they "saw protesters stampeding toward them, screaming that police had charged and Davis had been beaten unconscious." People were beaten by the police and left in the street. At the time, Cathy did not realize that the "silent majority" did not agree with the students or with the liberal press. This event caused Cathy to take an active role in the November election, "On weekends Laurie and I traveled all around in his little VW Bug, registering blacks in West Virginia, preparing them for the November election." In conclusion, one can see how popular culture, specifically fashion, music and political events had a great influence on Cathy's life and the lives of those around her.