I thought the short stories we read in class were pretty interesting. I had never read any of them so everything was new to me. In order to write about fiction, I had to take a close look at the text and find a theme. I decided to write my essay on “Nurse Cora.” This short story has a lot of information about the characters through symbolism and shifts in points of view. I had to first figure out why there were shifting views and what this added to the story. I also had to take a close look at all the events and symbols to bring out meaning. The hardest thing about writing about fiction is finding the theme of the story, since it isn’t explicitly stated within the text. I had to research the author to find the cultural context of the work and find a deeper understanding of the material. I can say that it wasn’t easy to gather all the information together and make meaning out of it. It took time and research to find and gain deeper understanding.
Writing my own fiction was easier to do after writing about it. I knew that I had to use imagery and develop a character in order to give the reader a visual of the story. The more description in the story, the more the reader is immersed in it. I tried to provide as much description in my short story. I decided to use “In what circumstance would you..” I thought this was fun because the person who reads was reading the story without knowing what to expect in the end. The situations and the events being described only lead the reader to believe one thing and they might be surprised with the real outcome of the story. It was easier to write fiction rather than writing about it. I didn’t have to worry about looking for a theme, breaking down the story to find meaning through symbols and point of view.
I think the format of the fiction assignment was good. I liked the fact that first we really had to analyze it in order to write about fiction and then we can have fun by writing our own. I would definitely do this in my classroom. I think the students would appreciate each other’s creative minds when reading their short stories.
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Hi Evelyn!
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I think you make a very good point about the research that goes into analyzing a piece of fiction. Even though there were critics that argued at looking outside of the text, sometimes it is necessary to. After all, many times stories have themes that revolve a specific place or event. For example, for my exit interview I received a piece by William Carlos Williams that was partially autobiographical. In the story, a girl is believed to be sick with diphtheria, but she denies it. Well, after doing some research, I discovered that in between 1920 and 1930 there were between 12,000 to 15,000 deaths due to diphtheria. So if I hadn’t done the research, I wouldn’t have realized that diphtheria was a real and present threat during the time the story was actually written.
I also agree that writing fiction is fun since there isn’t much research involved. Sure you could do the research if you want, but it is still possible to create a good story without it. Because of this, I think that writing fiction is a good assignment that a class would enjoy.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteReading your post, I was thinking about how hard it must be for students to grasp with these complex texts. I mean, even if you, as a person who knows a lot about the English subject matter, has a hard time finding the theme, then it would be quite difficult for a student. Some of the students may even view it as an impossible task. But this is where we come in, as teachers. We need to show the students that, yes, this stuff may be difficult to grasp at first, but that there are ways to make it easier.
Writing the fiction for me was also easier, although it was not as easy as I had previously thought. I am more into writing poetry, so it is a bit more difficult for me to make things that are longer make sense and appear fluid throughout.
Cheers,
Kevin
I definitely agree with you about how students would benefit from reading others work. I think peer reviews and editing really helps. It's fun to see how others interpret a story.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was easier to write creatively than to write about another story. I kept second guessing myself when I was analyzing the story I wrote on! ha.