Homework within Homework

So you think you know English?

Chances are probably not as well as you think. I mean, I'm nowhere close to understanding English and I'm an English major. I'll blame it on high school, might as well throw out everything I learned about grammar during those years. Because once I got to this semester, and this class, I quickly found out there is a million and one ways to create a sentence.

One of the joys of being an English Major who currently takes 18 credit hours, 15 of which are English classes, is that you never stop reading. Ever. At any given time, I'm reading at least three books. So I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? As this class went on, it became easy to see these tropes, schemes, and motives laid out in front of me. Who knew there multiple benefits to taking Contemporary American Fiction? So all of these passages (with the exception of the song), are from something I've had to read for class. Homework within homework. It's probably the only multitasking I've ever done.

Spending all day analyzing books can get repetitive. I know what it says, I know what the words mean, but suddenly I was looking at how they said it. How the sentence was structured, were there any metaphors or tropes and now I can find tricolons in pretty much everything . This opens up entirely new ways of analyze a piece of writing, it gives you so much information to apply to the story or writer. Like the passage from Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix, I never would have thought about how Rowling has the owl enter the sentence before we even know there's an owl. How much the word whoosh gives to the sentence and how different it would be without it. It brings entirely new layers to a sentence I just read as an owl coming in the room. Now every sentence isn't like this, there is such a thing as a simple sentence, though I struggle to think of examples.

But, on the flip side, reading is easy but writing is hard. Trying to implement these styles and ideas into my own writing isn't easy. Even as I write this now, I'm criticizing my long sentences and limited word use. I'm not sure how to throw in a metaphor (if there was room for one). There's a few tricolons and an obnoxious use of commas but that's about it. Putting it into practice is easier said than done. In other words, I know how to use style, just still working on the actual writing with style part. So practicing writing with these techniques will certainly help me. Now I just need to make myself practice.

So do I know English? Not really. But after this semester, I've definitely learned there is much more out there than high school could ever teach me. It's also not as cut and paste as high school made it seem. There is so many ways to write something, so many options. And that you can actually start a sentence with the word "and"! I actually saw that in one of the books I read, The Road maybe? Amazing. In the end it's a matter of reading. You can find stylistic choices on your Chipotle bag, the buzzfeed article you're reading instead of working on this project, or the other homework you've been avoiding. There are so many options, and choices, and voices, and tropes. Polysyndeton, right there. Maybe I do know English!

Hallelujah by Panic! At The Disco

Before you start any homework, music is a requirement. Mostly to stay awake.

Now Playing:

Hallelujah by Panic! At The Disco

"Then the time for being sad is over

And you miss 'em like you miss no other

And being blue is better than being over it

No one wants you when you have no heart and

I'm sitting pretty in my brand new scars and

You'll never know if you don't ever try again"

Much of these lines consist of metaphors, particularly metaphors involving emotions. For example, being blue is a metaphor for being sad or depressed. The repetition of the emotions such as being sad, being blue, being over it, follows a sense of timeline as one processes said feelings. The next few lines jumps to explaining no one wants you when you have no heart, a metaphor for having no feelings or emotions. The phrase "sitting pretty" seems like a metaphor but in this usage it is more of pun when paired with "in my brand new scars," seeings as scars are considered to be ugly especially if new. It ends with an aphorism of "you'll never know if you don't ever try again," suggesting the writer speaks from previous knowledge.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I walk this lonely road, the only one that I have ever known...  

 

Now Reading:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

"The snow fell nor did it cease to fall. He woke all night and got up and coaxed the fire to life again. He'd unfolded the trap and propped one end of it up beneath the tree to try and reflect the heat from the fire. He looked at the boy's face sleeping in the orange light. The sunken cheeks streaked with black. He fought back the rage. Useless."

Considering that this story is about a very desolate barren landscape, it often reflects in the language characters use. As this passage progresses, it goes from longer sentences down to a single word. There is use of polysydeton in the second and third line, building on his actions as they occur. But it's nothing more than describing basic actions. Yet there is more put into describing action or setting, than the characters emotions. Ironic considering emotions are meant to be complex things, but they are described in the briefest of sentences. When it comes to the character's emotions, the sentences are short and very basic. It's as if the character has very little to say when it comes expressing emotions.  It also shows how little energy the character is able to put into his thoughts, other than the briefest words, it's all he can manage.

Fun Home By Alison Bechdel

Now Reading:

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

"My numbness, along with all the mealy-mouthed mourning, was making me irritable. What would happen if we spoke the truth?"

These are a quick few sentences from the main narration of the story (it's written as a graphic novel). Mealy-mouthed is another, more dramatic way to say afraid of speaking frankly or being straightforward. There is also the use of consonance with the phrase mealy-mouthed mourning...making me, that sudden use of M words. Mealy-mouthed is rather hard to read over, it trips you up within the sentence and given the feel of this quick aside, it's like the character is spitting out the words sound incredibly annoyed. Especially considering how frustrated she seems to be with the mourning process overall. The writer uses an erotema at the end, the rhetorical question of "What if we spoke the truth?" She's asking the reader to question what would really happen if they simply spoke the truth, rather than being mealy-mouthed. She's almost daring someone to say tell the truth at this point.

Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

Now Reading:

Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien 

Gandalf's Letter

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king"

The first line is a reversal of a line from The Merchant of Venice, "All that glitters is not gold'. By reversing this, the focus is now on gold rather than glitters, changing it to something along the line of not all gold is clearly gold. From there, the next three lines follow the same format, does not glitter, not all...are lost, does not wither, etc. The repetition makes it clear that does not is the emphasis.  The next lines emphasizes what "shall be", shall be woken, shall spring, renewed shall be, etc. The use of shall be also emphasizes that these things will happen, the writer is confident that these will occur. These are all things to come. The format also gives a sense these things will happen in such an order and that without one another, they cannot and will not occur. 

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

Now Reading:

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

"Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down - next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball - wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching - he stretch out his hand - a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Rememberall clutched in his fist."

This passage demonstrates the use of additive style to create a flurry of actions. Rather than just say Harry caught the ball at the last moment, we follow him through his steep dive. This sets up the imagery of him flattening down on his broom and shooting towards the ground. You can almost hear the kids screaming wondering if he's going to hit the ground. It's just one long sentence using asyndeton to create continuing actions that all flow rapidly together. When you finally reach the end of the sentence where's safely on the ground you get this sense of relief. There is no stop or break in this continuous dive he's in until he hits the ground and the sentence is entirely created to mimic that. You feel the building worry, the slight fear and then the complete relief when he makes it to the ground. This sentence effectively takes you on a roller coaster, or broom ride, with him.

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

 

Now Reading: 

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

"WHOOSH. With a clattering, a whirring of wings, and a soft fall of dust, a fourth owl came shooting out of the kitchen fireplace."

The passage begins with an onomatopoeia of whoosh, brings something flying into the room before the reader even knows what it is. Even the italics of whoosh imply a forward movement. From there, it uses similar onomatopoeias such as clattering, summing up a messy entrance, whirring of wings invokes a similar feeling as whoosh, except this time explains that it's the noise of wings. This works together to evokes the imagery of a bird flying in before the reader even gets to the word "owl". It becomes subordinating style as Rowling doesn't introduce the main clause of the owl coming out of the fireplace until the end. The owl enters before we even know there's an owl.

Wife-Wooing by John Updike

Now Reading:

Wife-Wooing by John Updike

"We eat meat, meat I wrested warm from the raw hands of the hamburger girl from the diner a mile away, a ferocious place, slick with grease, sleep with chrome; young predators snarling dirty jokes menaced me, old men reached for me with coffee-dark paws; I wielded my wallet and won my way back."

This passage works to elevate an ordinary trip to the diner into a battle against the wilderness. The physical footing of the story, setting up the scene sets us over the characters shoulder. The reader is  watching as he walks into this diner, between booths and bar stool as regular patrons glare and grimace at him. But the imagery changes that scene, the old men look more like grizzly bears with their "coffee-dark paws". "Young predators snarling" are no longer young men in booths but wolf like creatures watching their prey. It gives the reader the impression that the character is in danger with wild animals stalking his every move. This visual overload creates a quick, but vivid scene of a rather dull occurrence. It shows us the exaggeration the speaker feels by performing this task, as if he has done something great by fighting through these creatures for his hamburgers to provide for his family. This is how he sees it.

Wife-Wooing by John Updike (Again)

There was just so much in this story I had to pick another passage!

Now Reading:

Wife-Wooing by John Updike 

"In the morning, to my relief, you are ugly. Monday's wan breakfast light bleaches you blotchily, drains the goodness from your thickness, makes the bathrobe a limp stained tube flapping disconsolately, exposing sallow décolletage."

Within this, you are presented with a character tearing apart his partner in the morning light. This whole sentence is exemplifies tricolon with the three clauses, three words in each clause. The second sentence is an extension of the first, you are ugly and here's why. There's a stark contrast in how each sentence is constructed, while the first is sparse and simple, the second sentence is lengthy, our character taking his time to eloquently pick apart this person's appearance. Each clause has a different scheme in it, the first has the consonance of the B's; breakfast, bleaches, blotchily. There is also the use of an anthimeria with his use of "bleaches," the light is not literally bleaching her, rather making her appear washed out and blotchy. The second clause balances the two adjectives, goodness and thickness, the use of -ness which lets the phrase flow quickly as you read. The third clause turns the bathrobe into something more, "a limp stained tube". He conveys the shapeless form of what is likely an old, well-worn robe. All this creates a vivid imagery of this exhausted woman, who has just gotten up and is attempting to prepare for a long week without every describing what she's doing. By this description all being one sentence it gives the feel of the speaker examining his wife with a harsh eye, picking out her imperfects.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Time to start a new book!

Now Reading:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

"Excuse me, sir, but I may be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America. I have noticed that you were looking for something; more than looking, in fact you seemed to be on a mission, and since I am both a native of this city and a speaker of your language, I thought I might offer you my services."

Within this passage, we have our main character speaking to another, yet the reader only gets one side of the conversation. The second characters voice is omitted, instead giving the feeling that the main character is talking more to the actual reader, who stands in for the second character. It also gives the feel of stream of consciousness as if the speaker is simply talking out loud to himself, or a silent character. Either way, this allows the reader to place themselves into this character, to feel as if the speaker is talking to them. The speaker mentions, "Do not be frightened by my beard:" which seems like an odd thing to be afraid of. Considering he goes on to state "I am a lover of America." he appears to be reassuring that his beard does not change how he feels about America. Context after this tells us the speaker is a Pakistani man, explaining his beard stands as a metonymy for his overall look and culture. He is reassuring the second character he is not a terrorist or against America just because of how he looks but without stating those specific terms. He's making sure they understand he is a friend, an ally if needed. Our speaker is putting us at ease.

No Bullshit Social Media by Eric Deckers and Jason Falls

On to Chapter 2.... or 3 maybe? It's all blurred together.

Now Reading:

No Bullshit Social Media By Eric Deckers and Jason Falls

"Look out the window. Do you see your competitor peering in? Do you see the dozens of people chatting with their sales representatives in the streets right under your nose? Do you see the person walking up to your door only to be intercepted by a friendly passerby from your competition's support team?"

This passage works as an extended metaphor, building on the idea of a computer screen as an actual  window. Rather than literally looking out one's window and seeing this happening, this is what's happening online. In the same case it's what they are not seeing. "Do you see" is a bit of a challenging statement considering these moments are not happening. The repetition of this statement is also reinforcing that someone is clearly missing something. The competitors are not literally looking into your window, but they are keeping track of them through social media. So this is everything that one is overlooking by not having social media for their businesses.

Works Cited

Works Cited

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. 1st ed. New York: Mariner, 2007. Print
Deckers, Eric., Falls, Jason. No Bullshit Social Media. 1st ed. Que, 2011. Print

Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Orlando: Harcourt, 2007. Print. 

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. 1st ed. New York: Vintage International, 2006. Print
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic. 2003. Print
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1997. Print
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring: The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins, 2009. Print
Updike, John. Too Far To Go: The Maple Stories. Random House. 2012. Print

Urie, Brendon. "Hallelujah." Death of a Bachelor. Panic! At The Disco. April 20th 2015. Imad Royal, Jake Sinclair. CD.