What I've learned in "Intro to Fiction" So Far. . .

This class has really surprised me so far. I really had no idea what to expect, but it was a class that interested me by the title. I love reading fiction, so how could I not like the class, right? I figured It would be more like English classes in high school where we would read a book for a couple of weeks, write a paper about it and move on. I would have been fine with this, I mean, I did sign up for the class thinking that that's what I had gotten myself into. I can say that, although it's not what I expected, I really enjoy it. I like what we have done so far much more than I would have liked what I imagined us doing and I think what we do in class is a lot more productive. (And I can't even pretend that I'm not excited about not having to write a paper after everything we read--I'm a reader, not a writer.)

Reading a book and then writing about the themes or the writing style or the symbolism can be pointless if you don't know how to really read between the lines pull out the important factors in a story. This is something huge that I have learned in this course. If you are simply reading a story, like most of us would read a novel for pleasure, you're probably not reading deeply enough to really analyze a piece. This is something that would have been very nice to understand throughout those years of making up stuff to add to the papers in high school. This being the focus of the course has helped me grow as a reader which will help me not only in this class, but all of my classes to come and in all of my reading in general.

I also like the fact that we aren't just reading a few fiction novels this semester, we are reading short stories or excerpts from longer novels. Most of the stories we read are popular stories that I had heard of before the class, but never actually got the chance to read. So, now I can say that I've read popular stories like; Oliver Twist, Candide, Heart of Darkness, ect.

The Tell-Tale Heart: Close Reading

"No doubt I now grew very pale;—but I talked more 

fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound 

increased—and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick 

sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when 

enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath—and yet the officers 

heard it not. I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but 

the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, 

in a high key and with violent gesticulations, but the noise 

steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the 

floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by 

the observation of the men—but the noise steadily increased. 

Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore! I

swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it 

upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually 

increased. It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the 

men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they 

heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they 

suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of 

my horror!—this I thought, and this I think. But any thing 

was better than this agony! Any thing was more tolerable 

than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no 

longer! I felt that I must scream or die!—and now—again!—

hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!— "

(paragraph 17)

In the first sentence "very" is italicized which obviously is meant to emphasize the word; the narrator turned not just pale but very pale. Poe uses a lot of "--" to pause on thoughts; this shows that the narrator's thought's are kind of all over the place and he loses train of thought as he tells his story often. He starts talking about a sound he hears and goes into great detail about how this sound increases and gets to him, After the detail of this sound he hears he gasps and (pause). The sound is obviously getting to him as he says he starts to talk more quickly (pause) more vehemently (word choice: meaning very emotional). The noise is ever growing and he is becoming more and more paranoid; his thoughts seem  to be getting even harder to put together (pauses).

"Was it possible they heard not?" (Poe 730) showing us, as the reader that the man is mad. . . he is hearing something and it is very obvious that it is getting to him and these other men in the scene don't seem to hear a thing. Then, the man goes on to say that he thinks the men do hear this noise and they are just messing with him; that they knew of what he had done. "--they were making a mockery of my horror!--"(Poe 731) paranoia growing.

"I felt I must scream or die!-- and now-- again!-- hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!-- "(Poe 731) Again, many pauses showing he is having trouble forming full thoughts, also we see that he is not only crazy but seemingly going even more insane and about to completely break. ( At this point I am picturing him standing up, pacing, hands firm on his head like he is going to rip is hair out because these noises are making him so crazy).

The word "sound" is seen a lot throughout this paragraph, as well as the word "loud"/"louder". This makes me think that these words obviously have a very important meaning (otherwise Poe would not have used them so much). This paragraph describes the noises he is hearing in his head and how it eventually causes him to break, so the repetition of these words makes a lot of sense.


Works Cited:
Poe, Edgar A. "The Tell-Tale Heart".1843. The Story and It's Writer: An Introduction to Fiction. Ann Charters. Boston:
                         Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2011. 727-731. Print.

The Moths: Thoughts and Themes

"The Moths" by Helena Viramontes traces the path of a girl's journey into a woman, day to night and birth into death (and rebirth again). The story shows themes of female adolescence in a girl pained by her family who points out all of her flaws. It goes through the (verbal) abuse of this young girl and how it affects the three generations of woman.

Love and the power to heal is another theme. This is displayed through the grandmother's relationship with the pained granddaughter.

To be completely honest, my first thoughts on this story were. . . not good. I honestly found a lot of Viramontes' symbols odd and a bit creepy. After we talked about them in class I got a better understanding of why she used these symbols in her story (but I still think parts were really weird; ie. the moths and the bath scene).

After getting a better grip on why she used these odd symbols I got to focus more on the story and the themes I mentioned before. I got to thinking on my own life and I can really connect with this story. I'm not gonna go into much detail (I mean, this is the internet after all-I don't need the whole world to know my business). But, I have always looked to my Mawmaw for help. She's been a best friend to me for as long as I can remember- if my family had not had it's problems that it has I probably wouldn't be as close to her, I can't even imagine a life without that closeness; I really don' t know what I would do if I didn't have that relationship with her and I can see that in the granddaughter-grandmother relationship in "The Moths" as well.

Because of this overall I find "The Moths" to be an interesting story. The connections between my life and the main character's life almost outweigh the creepiness of the odd symbolism. I think it would be more effective if Viramontes had used "more normal" symbols because parts of her story were so distracting (to me, at least) that it almost took something away from the story.