Journal Six from Maddie

Part One: The two poems that I feel are most different from each other are "Reunion" by John Cheever and "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. In Cheever's story, we get full sensory details of an event that was over in an hour and a half. In Kincaid's story, we are seeing glimpses of her life over a continuous time span. A large difference between these two stories comes from the construct of "Girl". The story reads more like a list, composed of rules that are being said by a character we never meet. Also in this story, there are a few sentences that seem to be unreported dialogue, coming in the form of questions. "Reunion", however, is formatted much differently in that it uses reported dialogue and relies heavily on on the dialogue happening between the two main characters. A final difference between these two stories is the way the author reveals setting. In John Cheever's story, we are immediately told where the story was taking place. after the first two sentences, we know a father and son are meeting in Grand Central Station in New York to get lunch. In Jamaica Kincaid's story, we get clues throughout that suggest a setting. Some of these clues, such as benna music, doukona pudding, and many others, let us know that the narrator of the story is from a culture different from our own.
Both of these stories are told in the same first person point of view. For "Reunion", we see everything from the point of view of the son. We get his thoughts a feelings as he tells the story of the last time he saw his father. In "Girl", there are two lines that suggest that it is also written in first person. The unseen character is giving the narrator guidelines and the narrator responds to only two of them. These responses are italicized in the passage. The narrator says "but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school." The use of "I" is evidence for a first person point of view.

Part Two: 1) My personal favorite was "Bottle Caps" by Stuart Dybek. I thought the story had a charming tone, except for the climax of the story when the narrator found his brother stealing his bottle caps. I also enjoyed the resolution that followed the climax when the narrator found out why his brother was stealing them, which gave it an amiable ending. 2) I interpreted this story exactly as it was read. I pictured two young boys finding a way to pass their time in the summer. The narrator had the hobby of collecting bottle caps, something he is very proud of. And the younger brother enjoyed burying insects in a self-made graveyard. It gave me the impression that it took place many years ago since I never heard of kids today collecting items out of the trash or creating things in the dirt. 3) The writer does a great job of using sensory details to make the reader feel what the narrator was experiencing, "The coffee cans stashed in the basement began to smell- a metallic, fermenting malt." The writer also uses the perfect amount of dialogue. There are only two lines but the writer could have added more or less. But with only two lines, it was enough to capture the moment of what was happening for these boys, but not too much that the story relied on it. 4) In this story, the most important word the writer chose to use was "hoarded". Up until the very end, that one word captures everything the narrator is doing with these bottle caps. They were so important to him and he held onto them so much, that they became beautiful to him. When we hear the word "hoard", we give it a dirty connotation. In reality, the word "hoard" isn't a negative term, it means a supply that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation or future use. While many assume that hoarding means living in filth, the narrator of this story thinks what he has done is beautiful. 5) The most important sentence in this story happens to be the very last one, "I've been using them as tombstones," he said, "in my insect graveyard." I love that the story ends here, because it didn't have to. The entire story, we are given the impression that these bottle caps mean a great deal to the author. Even though he has more than he can count, and so many he doesn't notice when some went missing, he still refuses to get rid of any of them. When the younger brother tells him he has found a new purpose for them, it leaves us with the impression that maybe the narrator will appreciate the usefulness his bottle caps serve and accept it, rather than stashing them away in coffee cans in the basement.