Dear all,
Which story did you find the most engaging? Give three detailed reasons, post your work and respond to one other student (constructively).
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
Which story did you find the most engaging? Give three detailed reasons, post your work and respond to one other student (constructively).
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
Personally I found the Rain Horse most engaging. I think this because I thought that the story was quite out of the ordinary and unique. It is not everyday that a man is chased by a wild horse and has to run for his life. He put a lot of action in the story which kept the reader interested because certain parts would not be very interesting without this action. The action almost but the reader on edge which I enjoyed in the short story. He keeps the readers attention by using a large colorful range of diction that is not commonly used in certain circumstances which makes it entertaining to read. And an additional reason I liked it is because of the comedy of the short story, it was quite amusing. I say comedy because this well established man is basically more concerned about not ruining his suit than his own life. He makes such a fuss about ruining his suit when he is being chased by this horse and I find that quite funny personally.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the 'Rain Horse' was very engaging because of its' high octane feel and the colourful range of diction, however I also found the story to be slightly off-putting and creepy - especially the ending which left me slightly chilled to the bone.
DeleteI agree that 'the rain horse' was engaging because it can be comedic at times even though most of the story is eerie and ceepy. The diction was definitely colourful since it is used to describe, create imagery, and also compares many things with another.
DeleteI found the 'Sandpiper' to be the most engaging. The way she has written the story is very powerful as she starts off by describing the beach before her life felt desolate and then ends the story by talking about the beach again but in a very different perspective. This is saddening for the readers because they are able to see the contrast between her two perspectives and how they can be heavily impacted by love. Throughout the story, she has flashbacks to a time where her life was nothing but glee and then she brings the readers back to the present time. This is very powerful as it allows the readers to sympathise for her since they are able to see the transition in her life. This affects the readers more emotionally as apposed to if she were to just describe her present life since they are able to see what she had lost and can never get back. It is also heartbreaking to read about her memories because the readers realise that all she can do is reminisce about them since she cannot relive them, no matter how much she yearns to. At the end of the story, she compares her relationship to a beach, which allows the readers to have an image in their head making it easier to understand how she feels. It is also sad because she speaks the truth, in the sense that tragic things do happen and time can really change things therefore some readers can relate to the feelings established in the story. I think the most saddening thing about the story is the fact that religion and cultural differences caught up with the couple and in the end; it was the reason her husband drifted away from her.
ReplyDeleteThe story that I found to be the most engaging was 'The Custody of the Pumpkin'. First of all the reason that I found this story to be so engaging was the fact that it was such a joy to read. The character of Lord Emsworth alone is entertaining enough, with his strange need to have his pumpkin win first prize and his overall entertaining and quirky personality, but the way the author mixes him with a host of other entertaining characters such as Angus McAllister really engages the reader into the story. Furthermore the many strange and hilarious things that Lord Emsworth does and says is engaging because it is entertaining for the audience to read due to the fact that they are laughing or chuckling throughout the whole story. The colourful similes used in 'The Custody of the Pumpkin' further engages the audience because of the strange and interesting imagery they inspire e.g. 'Unlike the male codfish, which, suddenly finding itself the parent of three million five hundred thousand little codfish'. Finally the way the narrator of the story describes even the most smallest of things with drama and seriousness is very engaging because it draws the audience into pointless objects within the story, it is also supremely humerus, e.g. 'Presently, the cow's audience appeal began to wane.' Overall I found 'The Custody of the Pumpkin' to be the most entertaining short story because of the way it made me smile the whole time I was reading it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Lord Emsworth's unusual obsession with the pumpkin was very funny and encouraged many of the readers' curiosity and interest. The similes and exaggeration, like you said, were one of the main factors which contributed to the comedy. I also think that the irony used by the author in the story, such as Lord Emsworth being happy of the fact that Freddie is leaving and is glad to have finally "rid" of his own son, made the story much more entertaining and unique.
DeleteI found 'Sandpiper' to be the most engaging to read, largely due to the fact that it was the story which I had the most emotional link with the author. The author created a very strong sense of emotional link between herself and the reader through the use of powerful diction since the start of the story and it really allowed me to connect and empathise with her as I was able to place myself in her shoes and feel her sadness. The second reason why I found it to be the most engaging was because she uses flashbacks to show contrast between her current situation with her family and the relationship with her husband back in England. This created an emotional journey for me to follow as I was able to relive, discover and understand how she and her husband fell in love with each other, and eventually fell out of love. The flashback made the empathetic link between the reader and the author more concrete and helped create the feeling of pathos. Finally, the author's passive tone throughout the story made me feel extremely sorry for her as I was able to feel her helplessness and her desire for wanting to do something but was unable to. This really reinforced the feeling of sadness within the reader and tied the whole story together.
ReplyDeleteI think the emotional connection between the author and the reader is what really makes a story so engaging. The author in the 'Sandpiper' has established this connection very well as you have managed to pick it up and follow her emotional journey. I think your point about how her passive tone helps reinforce her helplessness is very spot on. Through this, all the reader can do is sympathise for her and feel sad as they too are helpless.
DeleteI found the "my greatest ambition" the most engaging story. i really liked the way that the author conveyed himself and connected with the reader.
ReplyDeleteduring the story he adds brackets before adding statements and these brackets are usually thoughts that he has/had to himself or justifications he makes to the readers. This adds a very personal touch and continues this link that he has.
The way that the author describes his love for comic strips and all the adversity he faced makes the story also very engaging because many can relate. Its gripping the way that he compares his comic strip passion to the rest of his friends' who he calls 'dreamers' , as it really suggests how much he believed that this was the way forward in his life. Despite his father putting him down and the way art was regarded as a profession in his time it was very inspiring for the reader.
For the opposite reasons, the ending really was an eye-opener for both the reader and the author because when he receives that rejection its like he suddenly becomes self-aware and the two realities between the reader and author align. This awareness really impacted and brought the entire story together for me.
I also found my greatest ambition engaging because we want the boy to be the hero and prove his father wrong and for him to become a comic strip artist but I agree that the ending gives a powerful message even if it is one we don't want to hear.
DeleteI found "Sandpiper" to be the most engaging story because of the strong and emotive language that the author uses to describe how the character feels.
ReplyDeleteWhat made the story very moving was the feeling of regret that the narrator has because of the problems with her husband and how she wanted to leave with her daughter to the UK. Now, it is too late, and she is left stranded in a world where she does not belong and where she does not want to be, but is forced to stay because her daughter now belongs there in a way that the narrator, her mother, will never belong.
Another point is how it shows us how life choices shape and mould ones happiness. The narrator came to a foreign land and made her mind to spend her life with her partner in her youth when evrything made sense. Now her life and identity are shaped with this new life which she cannot adapt to. She is exiled from her European culture as well as the Egyptian culture.
The theme of a cross cultural crisis through marriage is the central theme throughout the entire short story. The language used helps connect with the reader in a more personal way helping to make it all the more engaging. We are placed in her shoes through this first person narrative and are able to feel her complete sadness and regret as she unravels her tale about her failing marriage. The constant uses of flashbacks show us her regret as she still is stuck in the past, or perhaps in a better time when everything for her, was stable. Through theses flashbacks we see the contrast of her life now and before, resulting in the deep sadness and regret we feel because of these contrasts and we sympathize her. I believe that the personal connection through emotions is what really made this story very engaging.
The story that I found to be most engaging was ‘My Greatest Ambition’ because as the main theme of the story is the disappointments life brings to adolescents and as a teenager myself I could relate to the main character, Lurie, easily. Also, the story is written in first person in voice of the young narrator (Lurie himself), and this makes more connection with the readers because it feels as if Lurie is personally telling a story to us. Lurie starts off and ends the story by describing that ‘he grew out of his dream to be a comic-strip artist’ which enables readers to have pity on him as throughout the story he conveys his passion and love towards comics despite having unsupportive parents that bring him down. Through the language he uses it is revealed that although he is mature for his age he’s still too young to be in adults’ society and this makes the story even more engaging as we’ve all been through that age and therefore can relate to Lurie’s experience.
ReplyDeleteI found the "The Son's veto" the most engaging. Firstly because of the description on the first we hear that she has barbaric hair as the reader we want to find out why a women with barbaric hair is in a posh London green. We then find out that she is disabled and is described as a poor thing tempting us to read on and find out why she is an invalid. We then find out that she loved another man named Sam but we know she married the vicar and we want to read on and find out why this is and the answer is sad but the story has a sombre feel and so this is not of a great surprise and there is a foreshadowing feel that she and Sam will be together so one reads on to find out. We then see that Sam and Sophy find each other and they want to be married and this is the happy ending that the reader wants and reads on to see if it happens
ReplyDeleteThe Rain Horse was in my opinion the most engaging. It is engaging because it starts quite peacefully about him and eventually the pace starts to quicken as he gets infuriated and frustrated. It is also interesting how that the horse that was chasing him was black with red eyes, this clearly was no ordinary horse as it is dark and creepy. The horse was also what kept me engaged as it did not do what normal horses do and was for some reason chasing after the person. The persons reactions are also what kept me engaged as it is rather amusing, even though rain was pouring on him and he had seen a black creepy horse he can somehow start observing his surroundings in nature although he was in a hurry to find shelter.
ReplyDeleteThis is Holly's response.
ReplyDeleteI found ‘The son’s Veto’ by Thomas Hardy is the most engaging and interesting short story as it offers the reader a very insightful critique of social classes in England during the nineteenth century where the story is set. The story begins with introducing Sophy as a servant to the vicar Reverend Twycott, already showing difference in social class. Twycott (who was recently widowed) realises and proposes to her, an offer which she accepts despite turning down the gardener. However Twycott feels that he has committed ‘social suicide’ by marrying a servant and then moves to a new ‘living’ in South London. This clearly shows that the difference in social class was great and that the lower class was disregarded by the upper class and this is a running issue throughout the plot.
Also the relationship between Sophy and her son Randolph is interesting as the son eventually adapts a superior and critical attitude towards his mother. Randolph is sent to a public school in preparation for either Oxford or Cambridge which makes him more educated. Her son treats her appallingly as he corrects her grammar with an “impatient fastidiousness that was almost harsh” almost as if he was embarrassed by her lack of English. Later in the story Sam proposes to Sophy again however her son forbids her to marry Sam as he believed that the shame of it would downgrade him in the eyes of his friends. Also after a second proposal Randolph forces his mother to kneel down and swear that she will never marry him and claims that he is doing this to honour the memory of his father. Showing that social classes and reputation was more important than relationships. This makes the audience feel sorry for Sophy allowing them to emphasise for her which makes the story interesting as it includes a lot of feeling.
Throughout the story the roles between Sophy (the mother) and Randolph (the son) are reversed as Randolph is the one telling Sophy what she can and cannot do. This also implies that the upper class has more power over the lower, more uneducated class again looking at the theme of social classes. As a result of this the feelings between Sam and Sophy is forbidden love which some readers can relate to which therefore makes it more emotional for them and therefore more engaging. Likewise the fact that the plot is developed and interesting due to the fact that it has a running theme and detailed characters also adds to the effect. Creating an engaging plot as it isn’t boring and dull; it also isn’t predictable for example the reader doesn’t expect Randolph to forbid Sophy from marrying Sam. Which encourages readers to continue reading to find out his reasons and to also unveil the ending of the story as many are curious as to if Sophy and Sam ever do marry.
I found "My Greatest Ambition" the most engaging short story for a multitude of reasons. Firstly because it is easy to interpret as it is written from a first person perspective and thus a recollection of true events. Even though you could analyses what he thinks and sees it is still very much a real event. Secondly because it is about someone when they were around our age thus we have an easier time understanding his thoughts and how he could be clueless in the offices of the magazine as many of us would have been equally misreading the signs. Thirdly because his thoughts of being more prepared for his future than his class mates and calling them dreamers while he is equally unprepared. This make the story more engaging because we have all believed that our goal was the most realistic while everyone's goals are equally logical. All these reasons make the story the most engaging as it is the one we could most relate too allowing us to get fully immersed in the story with out only focusing on the analytical side.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I found ‘My Greatest Ambition’ the most engaging out of all the stories. The author has written the story in such a way that it makes you feel empathy and deep sadness for Lurie. This in turn makes you relate to his struggles as he tries to accomplish his dream, which is to be a comic strip artist. With the help of ignorance, we could see Lurie’s passion and determination to achieve his dream, and this creates a personal connection to the readers. Furthermore, at some point of our life, we also thought that our dreams were the most realistic out of all the others. This was also the case with Lurie, he thought that his classmates’ dreams were unrealistic compared to his. With our lives focused on this, we were trying our best to achieve what we thought was possible that we completely formed our own reality. This made us vulnerable to disappointments much like to Lurie’s failure. This created a personal connection to the readers as all of us have experienced failure and disappointment. When he confesses at the end that he ‘outgrew’ his dream, we felt disappointment because we were expecting him to be different from the crowd. We wanted him to prove everyone wrong because deep inside, we are also trying to do the same thing. However, when he failed, we felt that personal connection that made us realize that we were afraid of failing too.
ReplyDeleteThis is Phoebe's.
ReplyDeleteThe story I found to be most engaging was the "Sandpiper" story, particularly because it is the story that I could relate most to, as well as it being the story that has a continuously strong emotional connection with the reader throughout. The story starts off with the narrator reflecting her views of the world while she was in love with her lover, and as it continues we see how the narrator has grown apart from her partner due to cultural differences and how she feels excluded from the life she is living, even from her own daughter, who is adapting perfectly fine to the Persian culture due to her mixed heritage.
The author uses a continuing theme of going to the beach throughout the story, it beginning as something that she once did simply to enjoy the beach, and throughout the story this idea of being at the beach morphs into a time of reflection for the narrator, and searching for answers that cannot be given to her. This creates a very powerful empathy for the narrator, largely because we can sense her regret and how she is now no longer in control of her life as she once was before she met her lover.
Furthermore, the transition of the narrator's life from her being in control of her own life to becoming an inferior social class that she cannot change without paining herself further creates a large sense of sympathy which is present throughout the story. This is created through the narrator's reflections of her travels while she was newly in love with her husband, how she found herself in so many exciting and even dangerous situations that she was able to be in due to her status of being a European business woman, which classed her as highly as men were in African culture. This enabled her to roam so freely while documenting her travels, something she hoped to write about when she returned back to her home country, a hope which is diminished when she settles with her husband and becomes an inferior role, no longer needed to carry her own weight or do anything independent like write about her travels. So, the notes become only memories, deemed useless due to the woman's loss of power over her own life, and this makes the reader feel extremely sympathetic for the narrator and strengthens the emotional link between narrator and reader.
Part 2 of Phoebe's.
DeleteThroughout the story we also see how the narrator's love for her husband drove her to manipulate every aspect of her life so that it was devoted to her lover, and how as a result of these actions, the woman is now trapped in a place where she feels useless and alienated, and she feels as though her life does not mean enough. An example of this is the narrator's recollection of a near-death experience, when all she could think about was her husband while she almost lost her life - a sign that she was completely and helplessly dedicated in her love to him at the time, even when faced with death. Also, there is a very powerful metaphor that the narrator uses to represent her love, which is her memory of her first mirage and what her lover said about it. (On page 375) "'It's hard to believe it isn't there when I can see it so clearly,' I complained." "... But if you want to go and put your hands in it and drink, then it isn't enough, surely?'" This quote is incredibly powerful, as the reader and the narrator realise that her love was a mirage and was never deep enough to withstand the culture differences, and her love wasn't enough for her to stay happy with her life in the foreign country. This realisation creates a deeper sadness between both reader and narrator as there is no hope of their love ever being enough for the woman to be happy.
Now although the story is monotonously calm, due to long sentences and countless recollections of the author's memories, this does not diminish the effectiveness of the story in being engaging. In fact, it fuels the reader to get to the end, in hopes that the woman will have found some kind of light in her child or some new found joy in the beach once more, because the reader wants to know if the woman is still unhappy at the end of the story, and with utmost empathy, the reader secretly hopes that when they get to the end of the story they will read otherwise.