Please post your blog response to the story here. You can feel free to respond in any substantive way you choose (that means going beyond superficiality: likes, dislikes, summary, et cetera; none of that will be acceptable or given credit), but some starting points to consider are the structure of the story, the way in which it uses vignettes, connective threads between vignettes, the effect and themes of the story, the language and craft, et cetera.
Anything less than 250 words will not receive credit.
Posts are to be done before midnight on Tuesday 9/5 so that you have time to respond to one of your peers' posts before class. Responses to peers' posts should at least be a few sentences and engage in some sort of dialogue--do more than just agree, or disagree!
I found the stories to be rather odd and sometimes grim. If all I have to do is kiss an amputated limb to get married, I am trying way too hard to find a relationship. I feel like this story is just a narrative of all the hard or depressing times in the speaker’s life. All of his vignettes start out with a backstory of how the speaker met the character(s) he will be talking about. Sometimes the speaker is re-telling the story that someone else told him. All of his vignettes kind of follow a coming of age story where the speaker or the person the speaker is talking about has grown into a more rounded person because of their experiences, or they die, which could be considered coming of age because through the narrative, they have grown as a person. Also, I feel like most of the women in these vignettes are portrayed as easy, weak, or liars and the men try to take advantage of these women. For example, in Orphan, Tom Ellis’ wife is twenty-two years old and they married shortly after her husband had died in a car crash. In this instance, Tom’s wife is shown as someone who has become totally dependent on her husband in order to live. Also, she seems to have bad luck with her husbands dying from unnatural causes. Also, in Widow, William’s wife is easy and a liar because she tells William she is studying to become a Real Estate Agent when she is actually a sex worker. However, this begs the question, is she a bad person for fabricating a different life so her inmate husband can die proud?
ReplyDelete-Kyle Post
I did notice that the women in the vignettes are portrayed as weaker. There had even been a line in which the narrator referred to Elaine and Francesca as “our women” which obviously declares some sort of ownership. The supposed “weakness” of women is even more thoroughly illustrated when Miller Thomas completely destroys one of the paintings in his home and his wife does absolutely nothing to stop him. Considering that they are both married, one would assume that the painting would belong to both of them rather than only to Thomas.
DeleteI agree with you on the tone that the story sets of being grim and depressing. However, I am curious as to what makes you think the reasoning behind Mrs. Mason's (William's wife) lies were to be sure that her husband could die proud. I don't think I personally understand the motivation behind her fabricated stories.
Delete-Courtney Swarthout
I find that interesting that you pointed out that the women are portrayed as weaker because initially I thought that they were relatively strong because in "Farewell" Jenny/Ginny calls Whit to settle the beef and close the chapter on her life on her terms. However, going back and rereading, I see where you are coming from with women getting sidelined by Whit's narrative. Along with Gabrielle's bit about Miller's wife doing nothing to stop throwing the expensive painting in the fire, I totally see how you came up with that.
DeleteI also noticed that the women were portrayed in the story as weak and the men in the stories seem to see them as possessions. The author uses the words "our women" showing that women are objects. However one woman, Mrs. Mason, seems to contradict this in that she lies to her husband and is the money maker while he rots in jail.
DeleteFrom the very beginning, it was obvious that the story would be set up in vignette style, where the author is describing different memories from his life, and as the story carried on, I noticed vivid, sensory detail and different sentence structures. The vignettes for the most part seem to be in some sort of chronological order, and the subtitles within the story help separate events and provide structure. Just as a vignette should, each story part could stand on its own. When looking at the story beyond just its structure, there are a couple of reoccurring themes and subjects, such as death, disorders and disabilities, and that of art and painting. When I say disorders and disabilities, I am specifically referring to the amputated leg first introduced in the story, to eventually some mentions of schizophrenia and “handicapped adults.” Overall, the story has a depressing tone to it, which these reoccurring themes help establish, but I also get the feeling that the speaker is having an epiphany. The constant acknowledgement of silence reiterates this idea, because the silence is followed by pondering thought, such as the silence that is finally broken after years when the speaker was on the phone with one of his dying ex-wives. God and afterlife, and heaven or hell are contemplated on in many occasions throughout the story. The author speaks of the difference between “repentance and regret,” which demonstrates a level of personal reflection on his own life decisions and relationships with others. Comments about the truth and things said that were false help solidify the idea of the speaker’s personal reflection.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Swarthout
I noticed the same things when it came to the vivid details describing the author's memories. I also agree with the common theme of death and darkness that you found through the vignettes. I think that these recurring themes help to add to the depth of the story as a whole and give a further insight into the author himself and the story he is trying to tell.
DeleteMadison Neylan
Now that I read your thoughts, it almost seems that the theme of these vignettes as whole is “repentance and regret.” In many of these stories the tone is very depressing and narrator often talks about someone he thought he would always be but isn’t. This goes for many of the other characters as well. For example, the narrator’s ex-wife calling hoping to forgive him with the regret of not fixing that before she passed away. Tony Fido’s suicide also demonstrated this. He told people very little about himself because I think he was embarrassed. He hid his life so much that the people at his funeral barely knew who he was. Even the narrator acts as though he still wishes he could be living in New York still making commercials, instead of making brochures. There are many more examples of this as well. I really think that many of these vignettes are based solely off of regret or things the characters could change about their lives.
DeleteIt was interesting to see how Johnson was able to relate each vignette to each other. Johnson opt to use transitioning topics that seemingly do not correlate—amputees to burning art to receiving a reward etcetera—but further explanation creates a cohesive piece (from silence to regret to death to memorial to self-reflection) that explores the fragility of life as well as showing the importance of finding connections within a fleeting time.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I found interesting was how Johnson was able to craft the “snapshots” to make it seem that the reader will have an idea as to where the story is going only to curve it at the end. In other words, the ending is unexpected, of which is what I have interpreted as a metaphor for life, the shifted outcomes are synonymous with how each day has a degree of uncertainty. (Form follows content?)
Johnson has a strange sense of humor and vulgarity with how the events play out. In “Silences,” his friend that lost his leg in Afghanistan got a girl to kiss his leg only to marry her months down the line. In “Farewell,” he mentioned a sign that read “Sky and Celery” only for it to be actually “Sky and Cyclery.” In “Orphan,” Whit awkwardly says how he doesn’t want to know how Tony died despite Rebecca mentioning the cause of death prior. In “Casanova,” Whit runs into whom he thought was someone he knew previously only to find out that the man is actually his son and the man he knew has been dead for a few years—only for Whit to end the conversation with “tell your dad hello.” Johnson’s usage of awkward and unpleasant situations makes the interactions ironically more real because it’s more realistic to have unfortunate situations than a perfect one.
Anne I agree with you in that Johnson did a good job of relating each vignette to each other, I believe that the central theme of death and depression connected each of them, even without the use of transitions. Also I didn't quite catch the humor that you mentioned when I read the story, but after you mentioned it I too feel as if it was well executed and gave more to the story.
DeleteI see your point with this idea that each day comes with a sense of uncertainty. With each new retelling, I felt as if I knew and understood where Whit was taking us only to be completely thrown off. He also seems to end each vignette with this sense of "okay, that was it?" His endings are almost abrupt in a way. This is especially present in the final story where Whit kind of just trails off and then it just ends; its like you said, how time is fleeting. I interpreted this finale as a metaphor for life as well seeing it as possibly Whit's own death, because he ends it with this action that he seems to repeat over and over again; possibly it could be interpreted as may be him wandering into the afterlife.
DeleteThroughout the short story author, Denis Johnson describes, what seems to be, the dark and difficult life of Whit. The story of Whit's life is made up of a series of vignettes. Personally, as I began to read the story I had a hard time understanding it because of the author jumping from vignette to vignette, but as the story develops further the vignettes prove to be useful to connect the life of Whit. I also found it interesting how the author waited so long before revealing to the audience the name of the person this whole story was about. I believe it to be that in the last vignette the author reveals Whit's name. I think that the author made the story like this because he wanted the audience to create in their own minds who this character really is. In addition I liked how each vignette had a title, it gave the audience an idea of what was to come. Even though there is really no transition from one vignette to the next, it makes the story more interesting. It showed how Whit had a negative outlook on life and he was a very cold and grim person, it almost seemed as if he was depressed. Him being depressed began apparent in all his stories about death. Death I feel was the big connection throughout all the vignettes. Although this story had a thee and all the vignettes were connected through the central theme of death and depression, I am still not a huge fan of this work. The true meaning of Whit and his life experiences came across vague to me and I feel that there is a lot of various interpretations that can be made from this story, without knowing which one is actually true.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Mahadai
Alyssa,
DeleteI agree that I had a hard time understanding all the vignettes at first because there was so much going on. It was also interesting how we did not find out who the story was about until the last page was kinda cool because we did get to create our own image first.
In my reply to Kyle, I mentioned that I noticed that belittlement of women within the short story. I’m not entirely sure if it is intentional or if it isn’t, but it’s interesting none the less. Continuing on, in regards to the author’s writing style, it had been apparent that the story would contain vignettes after reading both “Silences” and “Accomplices”. The author’s style of writing however, somehow managed to refrain from making the story seem redundant although the themes were recurring. The narrator’s life also managed to be a bit more relatable than some of the stories I’ve read; the narrator has friends in which he isn’t necessarily close too and works at a job where he isn’t entirely pleased with both his progress and all of the people there. The narrator demonstrates self-awareness and often reflects on his current wellbeing. He often analyzes an issue in his life and tries at least a little, to do something about it. An example being his art gazing at Balboa Park. Within the vignettes the narrator is usually having a drink and attempting to either hide his true feelings, indicating again his level of self-awareness and indicating that he genuinely is unhappy and attempting to perfect his “guise”. Overall, the story Is rather depressing but it’s also understandable. Seeing as how it’s not completely unusual. The story is reminiscent of a bildungsroman in sense. The narrator is describing his experiences and going on to exemplify the way in which he learned or grew from said experiences. The vignettes aren’t random clusters of life events, but rather a series of events whose correlation is unarguable.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion most of the stories composed of odd scenarios like Deidre kissing Chris's leg and the prisoner meeting his wife while on death row. Many of the stories shared consistent themes of death, art, love, and lying about oneself and to others. I feel as though the speaker really takes the reader through some valuable relationships and events in his life. These vignettes are overall depressing because the speaker introduces a character and either he or his friend find a connection with another character and they soon disappear from their lives for no reason or they perish. Whit lives a pretty somber life and he cannot even say he is fully happy with his marriage. It is not until the end that we learn Whit’s name and we see him display the slightest bit of happiness in New York City. I think the most happiness he showed was in the bathroom when he ran into Marshall Zane and there was a tone of enthusiasm when said his name. Another time, the reader sees happiness is when he gets to share his accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteAt first, it was hard for me to keep up with all the characters that were introduced, but as soon as I caught on I actually enjoyed the vignettes. One of the reasons I enjoyed these vignettes was because of the sensory details and imagery that was used throughout the stories. It made it more interesting to read. Johnson also created a interesting storyline with different elements like hiding behind masks, and infidelity.
Lindsey Gillman
I don't think his entire life was that depressing. Most of the depressing scenarios in the story were from stories that were told to him by others. I agree that most of the enjoyment I got from reading these vignettes came for the sensory details and imagery used by the writer.
Delete-Deontre Youmans
Maybe his happiness was not just centered on New York City, perhaps he was happy about being able to relive his younger years. New York City allowed him to go back in time in a way, to see an old friend (though we find out that he is actually the son) and talk about what he did in the past.
DeleteI agree with Deontre that his life wasn't that depressing, instead he seems to be reminiscing something from the past or I'm just reaching at this point ha
I really enjoyed the reading. I found each vignette to be entertaining and progressive to the overall story. The structure of the entire story seemed to jump around a bit with each vignette, but still somewhat follows, chronologically, with the progression of the writer’s life. Through reading the story I did learn that a vignette doesn’t necessarily have to be from your own point of view. In “Widow”, and “Orphan”, the stories were told to writer from that person’s point of view, then told the reader. In terms of mood, the stories follow a dark and grim type of theme. In almost every story there is someone who has died or is dying, bringing up the topic of death consistently throughout the story. The writer breaks the grim tone with the inclusion of comedic relief. In “Farwell”, the writer receives a phone call from his ex-girlfriend where she tells him that she is dying. He moves away from this depressing moment, telling the reader that he wasn’t sure if he was speaking with his first wife, Ginny, or his second wife, Jenny. That, and the kissing of the amputated leg lightened the mood of the narrative. I also found it very interesting and impressive how the writer managed to relate all the vignettes to one another. There’d be a small detail in the first vignette which became the one of the main topics in the next. Also, each vignette was extremely detailed. In “Memorial”, the writer vividly describes the notebook full of recipes to the reader.
ReplyDelete-Deontre Youmans
I agree with you, the story as a whole had a very dark and grim mood as we traversed into the mind of Whit. There were many instances of dark comedic relief that served to give insight on how Whit truly perceives life. All in all, great summary!
DeleteWow, I never really thought of how not all the vignettes were his own stories. Thank you for bringing that up. I also agree with how detailed each short story was. There really wasn't much time to a lot of them, just a lot of detail that helped the themes.
DeleteThis story was laid out in a vignette style from start to beginning. It follows the life of Whit, jumping from story to story as he recollects past relationships and his troubled relationships with people around him and his life events as a whole. In one vignette he remembers how he committed crimes against his wife, while in another we are transported to the war zones of Afghanistan. Despite the constant shifting in locations as we delve into the memory of Whit, one thing is omnipresent throughout the stories. This would be the sheer level of imagery that is present within the miniature stories. One such use of this imagery is when the author talks about the landmine blowing off the leg of Chris Case and the eerie silence that he heard as his leg was taken away in an instant. The loss both swift, unavoidable, and unchangeable alludes to the losses that Whit goes through as his life progresses. Each vignette is related through each other through this topic of loss. Another story of loss is present in "Accomplices" when the painting that was fought so hard over, is eventually burned away and lost forever. In "Casanova" loss is also present with the loss of his friend who has been dead for three years, without Whit's knowledge. The real moral of this short story is the reflection upon Whitman's own life as he recollects upon all that he has lost. His relationship with his son, his wives, all of them gone as he slowly approaches older age. The vignettes give snapshots into his earlier life experiences and then at the end we see how old he truly is (63), and how these memories of the past truly haunt him. The ending is a very somber one, and essentially culminates the individual stories in the vignettes. All in all, whit is very aloof to the world around him and to the people that he is met, indicating that the true loss that he has suffered was his connection with his feelings and reality.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most intriguing about Denis Johnson’s short story, “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden”, was that as the reader we get to know the narrator and his companions on an extremely intimate level, yet it is only at the very end that Johnson decides to formally introduce the narrator to his audience. In a way withholding this vital information, in my opinion, creates a deeper connection between the character and the reader: we don’t know his name, yet we know every little thing there is about Whitman, the narrator, and his friends. As readers, we learn of their fatal flaws that seem to be a recurring and overarching theme throughout each anecdote. Each vignette contains a “gift” or a trait of the characters mentioned that then ends up being brought up again and again within each new story and each new character. For instance, in “Silence” Chris introduces his peers, as well as the readers, to consider the “loud” silences in life. Johnson then continuously refers back to this initial silence throughout each of his vignettes. The silence that Whitman was introduced to at this time has seemed to follow him throughout his life contributing to the vignettes as if it too were its own omnipresent character. A theme that seemed to appear often as well was this idea of death and destruction. Death, like Silence, follows Whitman throughout his life, gradually becoming more and more noticeable and destructive in his life. The first of this can be seen in “Accomplice” when Miller Thomas destroys the painting beginning this path of destruction leaving everyone with a sense of helplessness. The story as a whole seems to mimic life itself: it slowly progresses and with each new story comes a new life lesson until ultimately you reach the end.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Santos
It was very interesting to figure out how all the vignettes kind of related to one another. Some related to more than one, some just had a single detailed that connected it to another, and some just shared an idea in common. The connections that stood out most to me seem kind of weird, too. I noticed Elaine, his wife, but also his robe, his quiet neighborhood, things connecting him to his job, and silence. Silence is also the title of the first vignette.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to share how I feel about this piece. I honestly really enjoyed it. It was somewhat morbid, but it also made me laugh. The way it was written, the phrasing, the sentence variety all made it kind of funny. Not like he was trying to be funny, but that's just the storyteller's personality. It's impressive he was able to write a story like that.
I feel like the overall impression I received was that this character is really complacent in life. He’s dealt with some sad stuff and he’s experienced happy things, but he’s complacent. The last vignette really gives me that impression as he talks about how his wife and his children aren’t anything special, or how his financials just “worked out”. He talks about his collection of folktales right at the end and I feel like him talking about his memory and having more things to remember than he’s going to have to look forward to is a way to tell us, “This is my life”.
When we first talked about vignettes in class I had absolutely no idea what they looked like. This example really helped and I really enjoyed it. It showed me a whole new form of storytelling that I had never even seen before.
I didn't see the minute details connecting the stories together until I read your post and went back to re-read the story. I was thinking that most of the story was unrelated and random and only connected by a single thing like death, or art, or a certain detail.
Delete-Kasey Mentzer
The vignette structure of the story is easily identifiable with each italicized heading. The story itself is like a category of the author's life and each heading is a sub-category or memory. The vignettes sometimes seem completely unrelated, such as the first, in which the author is at what looks to be a dinner party, and the second, where the man of the house lights his painting on fire because it is his property. I feel as though there is no bigger picture, just random memories composed into a single story. The sentence structure seems choppy. The way the author jumps from one thought to the next is abrupt. Also, there's not a lot of detail given in some sentences while in other's it looks to be half the vignette. Due to the inconsistency of the sentence structure, I can't seem to get an understanding of each vignette before the author moves onto the next one. There is a recurring motif throughout the story; a dark, depressing tone in each passage. Along with the repetitive depressing tone, there are several symbols or things that seem to come up more often than not such as, arguably, the most prominent art. I don't understand the author's repetitive use of art. The art in each little story is seemingly unrelated to a compared sub-category. Death or hints to dying can be seem in several of the vignettes: the author's first wife 'Ginny' is about to die in the fourth mini chapter, the fifth vignette refers to a murderer on death-row, the "Orphan" vignette talks about Tony Fido taking his life, etc. There are many instances of death throughout the passage and I think it's a foreshadowing. I think the author is trying to reinforce the knowledge that everybody dies at some point. Death is unexpected and you shouldn't wait until the last chance to repent for you never know when it will be your time to go. In the beginning of the third vignette, the author is struck by deep and profound thoughts and feelings of regret. I think the author mentioned this sadness of regrets to reinforce the fact that you never know when you're going to die and life is short so don't waste it.
ReplyDelete-Kasey Mentzer
I think your comment on the piece represents how the Author is showing the viewpoint of an old man. Regrets and the sorrow of the disruption of art. Random stories seems to be the general trend and would that be what we expect from an old man? It think this reaches into the mind and thought patterns of older individuals.
DeleteWhen I first started reading this story, I was a bit confused. I realized pretty soon that it was made up of several vignettes but it took a while to determine how they were all connected. Whit takes you on a journey through different memories that stand out in his life. I think that the stories that he chose all hold a role in shaping who he is as a person. Each vignette was told in a different way and some were more profound than others. The ones that stuck out the most to me were when he couldn’t figure out which ex wife he was talking to on the phone that told him she was dying, and when he interviewed the man who was to be put to death the next day. These two stories seem like they had the most impact on Whit and they way he told them stood out to me more than the rest of the stories. With his ex wives, even though he wasn’t sure which one he was speaking to, he was still emotional about it and still felt a deep pain from it. I think he also felt strong feelings when he realized that he was the last new person that the murderer he was interviewing would ever meet. As I stated earlier, as the vignettes went on, it became more clear what exactly they meant to Whit and when he described more about himself as a person and not just his memories in the last vignette, it was very interesting to see how they all came together to form this one person.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see how the vignettes tied together, and I enjoyed the fact that they were sectioned off an each entitled differently because it made it easier to read. Each vignette tells stories about his life from how his leg was blown off, to his wife, paintings, and art. He gets very personal within his stories and talks about religion and beliefs. He says how God is his biggest influence. In a lot of the vignettes, he seems to have a sad or discouraged attitude.I agree with Kasey's post how the sentence structure was a little choppy. I also felt that some sentences were highly detailed while others were very vague. It was inconsistent throughout the stories.
ReplyDeleteI found the stories very odd and disturbing. I found it very weird when Chris took off his prosthesis and told Deirdre to kiss it. The stories seem focused around male dominance because they called the women "our women," and say how "man is art." I really enjoyed the last couple of stories based in New York. During the story "Casanova," he says how he didn't think he would enjoy himself ones he returned to New York, and he says that he didn't really fit in there. He says he tried to make himself go away. These intimate details about his life prove how strong his vignettes are.
I now feel like I have a better grasp and understanding of what my vignette should look like for the assignment. Although these vignettes were very deep and some odd, they were very good examples of how it should be written.
-Brooke Koster
I agree with Brooke. The fact that all of the vignettes were connected in some way gave the literally piece an overall flow. They may be short stories of different people in different times, but, there is at least one piece that makes everything flow smoothly. I can also understand why they can be seen as "odd and disturbing". However, when you realize what is in between the lines, it makes them look like passionate literary pieces.
Delete-Victoria Dumornay
I spent most of this reading attempting to connect the pieces into a bigger story, which proved to be very difficult. The only relationship I ended up finding was that most pieces were surrounding the idea of death or were about a time in the author’s life that he experienced with a person who is now dead. Most of the vignettes are stories previously told to the author and are very depressing. The vignettes follow a chronological order following the author through some of the major parts of his life and his realizations that come with his coming of age.
ReplyDeleteI did not love the work but it wasn’t a bad piece of literature to read. It switched subjects so much that it kept me entertained for just long enough before moving to the next vinaigrette. However, this varying of subjects that jumped from amputees to art, prison cases, and award ceremonies, often left me confused or wondering more. I found it interesting that the vignette could be the author telling a story that was first told by someone else. It is a good way to capture the original story tellers’ personality and feelings towards the subject. I think that by telling the story this way my knowledge of the other characters is greater than it would have been any other way. The thing I most enjoyed about the vignettes was the use of detail in each small work. There was always an insane amount of detail making the stories entertaining and interesting.
I noticed throughout these vignettes that many of them connected within each other, whether it was character similarities, themes, settings, and even events. Personally, I think the narrator wrote about more of his depressing or unsatisfied times. Many parts of the story gave me the impression that he was almost lost as a person. The narrator always found himself up at night, exploring museums, or taking walks, all to give himself time to reevaluate things or give him new perspectives. He brought up great detail when introducing the characters in the vignette. Everytime he brought up a new character, he gave a thorough background on the person they were and also demonstrated how they impacted his life. For some reason, I assume that the narrator never really cared for any women too much. It seemed as though many of his male “friends” were not really his friends. The relationship between the friends usually felt to be one sided and more than once the other person initiated the friendship, not the narrator. I felt that order in which he explained each vignette was efficient for the reader to understand. The way he described the setting throughout the vignette as well as past settings such as old homes made it easier for me to understand the different scenes throughout the stories. During each vignette, I found at least a few sentences that really caught my attention. Although I feel as if some of these people didn’t have a huge impact on his life, I do feel like he was able to learn something from them and take something away from the situation.
ReplyDeleteI Alaina, I found your statement about the narrator's friendships being one-sided to be very accurate, however it is something I did not pick up on at first. I feel like this is becoming more of an issue in today's society with the rise of social media where a person can have hundreds of "friends". While I am not sure when these vignettes were written, it does seem like the author is trying to point out how your life could be if do not have strong friendships with actual people.
Delete-Kyle Post
The vignette series “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden” by Denis Johnson goes into very deep details about the personal lives of my different characters. Some of the scenes show the characters at a very intense and vulnerable moments in their lives. One example of this is the first vignette in the excerpt. This is where a woman kisses a man’s war wound, which happens to be an amputation wound. She bursts into tears, causes a lot of tension in the scene. Another vignette that showed details of a specific character’s personal life is the one called “Farewell”. This one is about a man that bought a new phone and receives a call from his first wife, Ginny. She reveals that she is dying, and that she wants to make amends with him before she dies. They talk for a while, which had been the first time that they had talked in over forty years. This all really makes the main character rethink certain parts of his life, such as his current marriage. One trait about the overall book that really caught my eye was the overall structure. He made every story short and brief. However, the style and vocabulary he used in his work really made it just as impactful as a long chapter in any detailed book. The use of vignettes in this literary piece gave the reader an opportunity to make his work truly “short, but sweet”. The fact that this author used this unique combination of structure and style caused the writing to become true eye-catcher.
ReplyDelete-Victoria Dumornay
This story appeals to the vignette style by appropriating memories into different sections. Whether it involves silence, or idea of art, as well as the idea of love, Denis Johnson re envisions specific moments within his life that seemed to come back as vivid to him. As stated in the last vignette he now lives his life through memories of the past as he can no longer look towards the future. I feel as if each vignette portrays little to no importance as individual pieces. Although as they come together as a piece of a whole it can characterize the person who narrates it as they become windows into the narrator's character. His remembrance of silence through the destruction of art and the realization of the amputees loss to me shows the characterization of his sorrow at the destruction of things. I also feel that when reading a short text made in the form of a vignette it is beneficial to compare the first and last vignettes. Within the first vignette there seems to be a lot of talk about other couples. Especially with how they interact with each other and what they remember about each other. Even to the point where he is amazed with how one couple formed through a push for a woman to kiss an amputees stub.
ReplyDeleteTransitioning into the last vignette the narrator seems to change his mindset as he looks upon his own marriage and realizes it is not perfect in its entirety. Moments where he has remembered is now lost to his wife and things that would have previously been to the liking of his wife now resorts within their children.