Thursday, April 17, 2014
Men at Night and Emily Free's Slipping Into Reality
The pacing of both "Men at Night" and "Slipping into Reality" seem very similar to me. In Huddle's essay, the story starts with an event that ends in slight confusion, and during the run back the story starts to become chaotic and a little scary, before there is a sudden peace that settles at the end. In Emily's essay, there is also an event that has slightly confusing results, and then her essay becomes disjointed and confusing before coming back to calm reality. One thing that Emily could learn from Huddle's essay, is that Huddle's seemed to allow some personal thoughts but mainly stated facts, especially during the chaos and then calm. Emily could work on her essay so that perhaps there was a little less personal thought when things become chaotic, or at least to state those thoughts as fact. It appears to keep the essay fast paced and chaotic without being unintelligible.
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I agree that the essays were fast paced. However, I don't know if I would classify Emily's as having too much personal reflection. In some sense she was just detailing the events around her as they were taking place in her mind. I think that is what makes the piece wonderful is that she is able to make the reader feel like that is reality. I think "Men at Night" was able to do the same thing. It painted such a picture of the jump and the unit, that I felt very connected to what was going on.
ReplyDeleteAfter doing a second and third reread of Slipping into Reality I definitely agree with you and retract my statement! I think the topic and pace of the piece just threw me off so much at first that I was scrambling to find something wrong with it, but I'd agree now that Emily's writing would have to be personally reflective because that's what it's all about--her and her mind.
DeleteIt's already been said, but I too shall say it: Emily essentially has to use those personal thoughts to drive the piece. To the outside observer, it may appear that nothing is exactly wrong (this seems noticeable in the doctor's (?) decision that there was nothing he could do to help her. It's only once we get inside of her head that we realize the true, horrific nature of the issue.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I totally agree with the above comment in that it threw me off completely. To be completely honest, I didn't know what was going on until I heard her read it out loud (I had completely overlooked the existence of the last page).