Blog Assignment #3: Reading Description

This blog is going to be referring to Luis Alberto Urrea Across the Wire. Reading this work of literature the first thing that captures my attention comes from page 740 to 741 he states:

“Even in this wind and wet they joked and laughed. This feature of the Mexican personality is often the cause of much misunderstanding- that if Mexican are so cheerful, then they certainly couldn't be hungry or ill… Perhaps the women laughed because they were simply relieved to be getting food. Perhaps they were embarrassed-Mexicans are often shamed by accepting help of any kind… or maybe the poor don’t feel the compunction to play the humble and quite role we assign them in our mind.”

This phrase got my interest for the reason that he defended the underprivileged people. I felt like he was giving them a voice. It captured a sense of description the thought of several females smiling and giving the assumption of being happy is enough detail to be able to create a sense of an image. I can also get a sense of character from narrator it gives the impression of a strong minded individual.

Another phrase that attracted my attention is on page 753 to754

“Jesusita’s husband was held by the arms, and a sawed-off shotgun was notched under his nose and fired… the gunmen went after her. She was not fast – her legs were short, too short to carry her out of range. They shot her in the spine, knocking her facedown in the dirt. They must have taken their time reloading, because she managed to crawl a short distance, bleeding heavily. The shooter walked up to her, put the shotgun to the back of her head, and fired.”

To me this is very sentimental and emotional, it makes me shiver every time I read it. It is very descriptive I sense that it makes this scene more upsetting and cruel. There is noticeably no simile or metaphor. To me it was straighter just stating facts after facts.

Throughout this work of literature there are many phrases and sentences that grabbed my attention. The last phrase that got my attention is on page 750

“He grabbed her arm and pinched up a section of her skin. When he let it go, it stayed elevated, like clay, or a pinch of silly putty. A sign of severe dehydration”

He uses a well used metaphor and description. It does not really show a sense of character but it does tell the reader the condition Ms.Serrano was under.   

ENG 274 post #2 Author notes on assignment #1

 I decide to do the vignette in something that makes me happy every instance I think about the event. It also shows the funny and weird side of my family. The thought of everyone smiling made me want to write more than just a vignette it made me want to write an entire story. My inspiration came from seeing my brothers girlfriend and reminiscing the episode. In my revision I was planning to be more evocative and use a lot of imagery. I felt like the reader was unable to capture a sense of each character and each other differences. This was my first time writing a vignette, I consider a vignette harder than an essay to put in writing. The essay is very analytic but the hard part of the vignette is making the plot and finding the correct terms to describe a certain image.  I learned that a vignette is a short story that has no ending. I wrote my vignette on my laptop on Microsoft word, in my room, while eating cookie cream ice cream. While doing this work of literature I didn't have any reading in mind. My vignette is simple it though a reader would be confused or would need any extra information.

We sat all in a playful mood, joked around and poked each other’s nerves, the usual. All of a sudden the room changed everyone got serious and the air felt like iron steel. It felt like a funeral, me and my little brother staring at Maryann. As I look down at my feet all I hear is “Mom, Maryann is pregnant and we keeping the baby”. My mom quickly starts laughing, if I said the room felt like iron steel before during this time it felt like the material Captain America shield was made of.  As she laughs, she farts, that definitely broke the silence. We all started laughing; my mother started joking “That baby better not call me grandma! It should call me auntie; I’m too young to be a grandma”.