12-17-21

Last month, after finishing Animal Farm with G3, I decided to do a unit on short stories. It was something different, and in doing a series of short stories, I’d be able to introduce him to more authors than if I stuck to longer works. I included my two favorites: “The Circular Ruins” by Jorge Borges and “How Much Land Does A Man Need,” by Leo Tolstoy. Kati’s favorite short story (it’s not often that Kati introduces me to literature but sometimes the world can be a strange and convoluted place) is “The Feeling of Power,” by Isaac Asimov, so I felt compelled to add it to the curriculum. Extra points for cross-curricula material, and Asimov’s story is about math, hence Kati’s interest. G3 had been wanting to read “Chickamauga,” by Ambrose Bierce, and since students are always most compliant when they get their way, I gave in. Besides, I’d never read anything by Bierce so I thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my own knowledge. Yes, teachers can on occasion learn something from their students. And I should add that I found this story fascinating enough that I look forward to reading more Bierce in the future. Finally, I asked friends to recommend stories and I got many great suggestions. I settled on a “Circle In The Fire,” by Flannery O’Conner because I didn’t want to read only male authors. Plus, having never read her before, I seized on this second opportunity to learn something new. Also, I added “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez because he is the master of Magic Realism, a genre I wanted my son to be familiar with.

These stories were not easy for an eleven year old. We read most of them together so that I could ensure my son understood what was happening. But in reading them together we could also pull apart the writing and discuss the ways in which the writers constructed their stories. We talked about what the authors did well, the themes (which always tripped me up in school), and what specifically made the prose so powerful. 

When we completed the unit, I asked my son to chose three of the stories — the two he liked best and the one he liked least — and analyze what these authors did well. What specifically made their writing good? For those of you who were in my graduate writing program this should sound familiar. Every semester, I grumbled about having to do two close readings. Each close reading involved reading a book and dissecting a particular aspect of the author’s craft. I then had to turn in a 1000 word essay about my findings. Oh I hated it. But I also recognized the value of what I was doing. It showed me how to be a more active reader, how to engage more with the text. And yes, I am a better writer because of it.

So, after all those times G3 has accused me of giving him graduate level assignments — which is so unfair and mean considering he is only in 6th grade — I suppose I proved him correct. However, while it might have been a higher level assignment, I was not blind to the fact that it was a new sort of task for G3 and I did not expect his analysis to be as in depth as it would be for someone older. What I most wanted him to focus on — the skill I wanted him to develop— was extracting excerpts from a story to back up an argument and provide evidence for whatever statements he made.

It was not easy — for either of us. G3 really struggled with writing this paper. He rebelled and fought me every day he worked on it. But he did it, once again proving that while my expectations might be high, they are not impossible. I admit, there are times he pushes me to my limit and tries my patience. Last week, I even tried to hand in my resignation, but Kati refused to accept it. But when the screaming subsides and G3 realizes there’s nowhere to go but forward, he continues to amaze me. 

Here’s his latest:

Reflecting on My Writing

Just like with anything, you will become better at a subject or an activity by doing it a lot. The same is true for writing. Due to having written at least 30 papers for homeschool, I know I have gotten better by writing day after day. But another way to get better at writing is by reading. If you read different genres and authors and look at the authors’ writing styles then you will improve as a writer. At this point, I think you know this essay will be about how to get better at writing by reading, but you don’t know the short stories and authors I will talk about. I will first talk about my two favorite short stories that I read this year (I read a lot of them): “Chickamauga” written by Ambrose Bierce and “The Feeling of Power”written by Issac Asimov. Then, I will talk about my least favorite story “The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The main reason I chose these stories is because the authors know what they’re doing and they do it well. Their stories also stick with me.

In “Chickamauga,” there are a lot of well written descriptions. I am a description snob. I love them. The reason I fall for descriptions is because they enhance the story to a point where you feel like you are in the story and have a vivid picture of the surroundings. Over time, I have been working to get to a place were it comes naturally to me. One of Bierce’s descriptions I liked was on page 21:

“In the path that he was following, sat, bolt upright, with ears erect and paws suspended before it, a rabbit! With a startled cry the child turned and fled, he knew not in what direction, calling with inarticulate cries for his mother, weeping, stumbling, his tender skin cruelly torn by brambles, his little heart beating hard with terror— breathless, blind with tears—lost in the forest!”

I like this description because Beirce shows the emotions of a little boy trapped in the forest. 

Another example of Beirce’s talent is his ability to show who war can destroy and corrupt. In the beginning of the story, the boy loves war. He thinks it is some great fun adventure. The boy likes to play war with a stick as a sword. One example of his love of war is on page 20, “Finding a place where some bowlders in the bed of the stream lay but a step or a leap apart, he made his way across and fell again upon the rear-guard of his imaginary foe, putting all to his sword.” The reason this shows why the boy loves war is because it demonstrates how the boy pretends he fights and wins against imaginary enemies. 

In first part of the story, Bierce has this child (like I said before) think war is an awesome cool adventure. Bierce wonderfully goes from this child loving war and thinking it is fun to quickly having the child’s life turned upside down by it. This example appears on pages 25-26:

“The greater part of the forehead was torn away, and from the jagged hole the brain protruded, overflowing the temple, a frothy mass of gray, crowned with clusters of crimson bubbles— the work of a shell. The child moved his little hands, making wild, uncertain gestures. He uttered a series of inarticulate and indescribable cries—something between the chattering of an ape and the gobbling of a turkey—a startling, soulless, unholy sound, the language of a devil. The child was a deaf mute.Then he stood motionless, with quivering lips, looking down upon the wreck.” 

The boy now sees that war and has burnt down his house, killed his parents, and left him with nothing.

Another story I enjoyed that can help me with my own writing, is “The Feeling of Power”by Isaac Asimov. I hate writing dialogue and I need to improve it in my writing so since Asimov does it well, I can look at him to improve my writing. One example I really liked is on page 3:

“Explain, Aub,” said Shuman.

“Yes, Programmer. Well, gentlemen, I write down seventeen and just underneath it I write twenty-three. Next I say to myself: seven times three—“

The congressman interrupted smoothly, “Now, Aub, the problem is seventeen times twenty-three.”

“Yes. I know,” said the little Technician earnestly, “but I start by saying seven times three because that’s the way it works. Now seven times three is twenty-one.”

“And how do you know that?” asked the congressman.

“I just remember it. It’s always twenty-one on the computer. I’ve checked it any number of times.”

“That doesn’t mean it always will be though, does it?” said the congressman.

Maybe not,” stammered Aub. “I’m not a mathematician. But I always get the right answers, you see.”

The reason I liked this is because Asimov used a real tone that a shy person may have. He also uses words like earnestly and not genuine which is a lot more common. This type of writing enhances the story because it sounds as if you were eavesdropping on a conversation. 

Asimov, along with being good with dialogue, is also good with showing society’s weaknesses and how they value the wrong things. At the end of the story, the government realized that computers in missiles are too expensive to blow up. So, they start making a piloted missile because humans are cheap and have better instincts. This shows humanity values money more than human life. Asimov also shows people are lazy and have completely forgotten to do simple calculations because they have begun to rely on computers so much. One example is on page 1-2:

“How much is nine times seven?”

Aub hesitated a moment. His pale eyes glimmered with a feeble anxiety. “Sixty-three,” he said.

Congressman Brant lifted his eyebrows. “Is that right?” 

“Check it for yourself, Congressman.”

“The congressman took out his pocket computer, nudged the milled edges twice, looked at its face as it lay there in the palm of his hand, and put it back. He said, “Is this the gift you brought us here to demonstrate. An illusionist?”

This shows that a simple calculation (6 x 7 which we all know) has been forgotten in this futuristic and lazy world. But in this world the people who can do these calculations aren’t considered smart. The ones who can operate computers are the smart ones, which is really messed up.

After talking about my two favorite stories that I read this year, I will now talk about my least favorite story “The Very Old Man With Enormous wings,”written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate the story, it just wasn’t my favorite. And even though I didn’t love the story, I can still take something Marquez does well and add it to my own writing. Not unlike Bierce, Marquez has well written descriptions that make you believe the unbelievable. Marquez writes magic realism. The challenge with that is you have to make stupid things like an angel in the real world sound realistic. He does this be adding tiny details that make the silly ideas appear real. My favorite example of this is on page 3:

“He was dressed like a ragpicker. There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition  of  drenched great-grandfather took away any sense of grandeur he might have had. His huge buzzard wings, dirty and half plucked, were forever entangled in the mud.”

The reason that I like this example is because it shows, a poor old man who is an angel. You always think of an angel as some divine creature. If Marquez showed a divine creature the reader would think it is stupid. But he instead showed a dirty old creature with a few teeth and half plucked wings. These little details make the idea of this angel realistic. 

After writing this essay, I hope that I will become a better writer. Now I am reading H. P. Lovecraft and I hope I get better with writing descriptions and writing horror from him. In the next story I write, I want to see if I can add more dialogue in it.