6. 6/18 (due 6/22)

40 thoughts on “6. 6/18 (due 6/22)”

1. Crispin Thys
   09/20/2020
   ENG1121
   Prof. Street

   The Other Man, by Jesus Son, is a short story about a man who encounters a series of people throughout his day. Each of these people are people he finds interesting, people whom he gets to know throughout their encounters. However, during each encounter, there is a recurring theme that each of these people turns out to be someone other than the person he thought he was getting to know. This story shines light on the concept that things are not always as they seem, and people are not always who we think. In his first encounter, he meets a man on a ferry, a man who he comes to know as a Polish businessman. They get to know each other to a degree over some beers. The Polish man told the narrator of his experience riding a motor scooter after dark in a park, local to his residence in Poland. The Polish man continues on to describe the police response to those riding their motor scooters in the park at night, which is against the rules. This is a compelling story, and warrants no reason to question the story. After the Polish man gets up from the table, however, he returns and admits that he is, in fact, not Polish at all. Later on in the story, the very same narrator meets a woman. The narrator comes to know the woman to be someone who is lively, a member of the army, and they develop a real connection. He views the woman as a love interest, describing her as, “The perfect size,” and describing the makeup around her eyes as being outlined in black in a manner which he adored. It is only when he asks that she take him home with her that he, once again, discovers that this woman is not who he thought. She has a husband, and in her drunken state, she is willing to cheat on her husband.

   If we analyze each of these encounters, I think that it becomes evident that there are similarities that connect each of these passages together. I believe that these are purposeful similarities that Son includes to draw a parallel between each of the passages in the story. Describing the first encounter, the encounter with who the narrator believes is a Polish businessman, Jesus Son writes, “He bought me a beer, and explained that he was from Poland, over here on business” (Son, pg. 87). It was this initial sentence that formally introduced the character, providing information which the narrator used to help him make natural assumptions about the man. Assumptions that, “His jacket was lightweight and yellow. He might have been wearing it for the first time. It was the kind of jacket a foreigner would buy in a store while saying to himself, ‘I am buying an American jacket’” (Son, Pg. 88). The connection continued to develop between the two people. Son writes, “He was driving around in a rented car, with an expense account: a youthful international person doing all right” (Son, pg. 88). These phrases, while each different, each introduce the man as the narrator first perceived him. They pain the picture of an international businessman, in the area for a short time, and these assumptions attracted the narrator to the man. Son even writes of this attraction when he says, “A certain yearning attached itself between us. I wanted to participate in what was happening to him. It was just a careless, instinctive thing. There was nothing of his I wanted in particular. I wanted it all” (Son, pg. 88). This phrase here clearly reveals the allure of the person’s story, and the narrator’s assumptions about the man. There was a draw to be together. Each of these quotations force the reader into making the same assumptions about the man as the narrator made. There is no reason for the reader to question the degree of genuineness of the man, just as there was no reason for the narrator to question the man’s story. It is not until Son writes, “He came back with the pitcher and poured my glass full and sat down. ‘Ah hell,’ he said. ‘I’m not Polish. I’m from Cleveland.’” (Son, Pg. 89). It was at this moment that both the narrator and the reader realize that things were not as they seem. The man is not who we expected, and the story up to this point was based on falsities. This is the theme which repeats itself multiple times throughout the story, as I will discuss in just a little bit. A question about this first passage that I have was whether Son purposely wrote in a manner which would encourage the reader to believe that the man was Polish. Was it purposeful that Son described the man as saying, “Do you like some beers?” in broken English, much as someone not native to the states might say? This really sold the man’s story to the reader because it allows the reader to read the passage with a foreign accent in their head. For this reason, I was just as shocked as the narrator, when the man revealed that he was actually from Cleveland. At this point of the reading, I was left questioning what Son’s point in doing this was. What was the purpose of the man being someone who he is, in fact, not?

   It was not until an encounter further down the line that the author’s purpose and the theme started to come together for me. Son writes, “There was one woman in the place. She was drunker than I was” (Son, pg. 92). This first quotation introduces the woman to us. I believe that this phrase was written in a way which led the reader to assume that the woman was single, drunk, and having a good time. Things further developed between the narrator and the woman, and a connection, similar to the connection that occurred during the narrator’s encounter with the first man developed. Son writes, “I held her close. She was short, just the right size for me. I drew her closer.” Son continues, “’Let me kiss you,’ I pleaded. Her lips tasted cheap. ‘Let me go home with you.’ I said. She kissed me sweetly” (Son, pg. 92). This phrase here shows a mutual connection between the two people. I noticed that the feelings were mutual as Son wrote that the woman kissed the narrator sweetly. Just like the first encounter with the man from Cleveland, the assumptions made by both the narrator and the reader, turned out to be misleading. Son breaks this to the reader by writing, “She’d outlined her eyes in black. I loved her eyes. ‘My husband’s at home,’ she said. ‘We can’t go there.’” (Son, pg. 92). It was at this point that we realize that the woman is not single as we first assumed, and that the connection between the two might not be all that it appears to be. Although nobody can deny that this was in fact a genuine connection between the narrator and the woman. The language that the writer uses to describe the woman, reveals a genuine connection. Son writes about her makeup, her size, and the passion that exists between the two which makes this passage unique, and allows the reader to appreciate, and almost feel in a way, the passion between the narrator and the woman. Son ends the piece by describing the passion the two had for each other as he writes, “It was there. It was. The long walk down the hall. The door opening. The beautiful stranger. The torn moon mended. Our fingers touching away the tears. It was there” (Son, pg. 93). This quotation in particular shows that there was a deep connection between the two, even after the bombshell was dropped on us that the woman was married. This quote, however, does lead me to question what actually ended up happening between the narrator and the woman.

   Both of these passages, while different in content, and different in ultimate ending, represent the consistent theme of “The Other Man”; The theme which is based on the reality that people are not always who they seem to be. The first man in the story, turned out to quite literally be a different man than who we first got to know, “The Other Man” if you will. The woman at the end of the story, while not the single woman we assumed at first, turned out to have a husband, who you could also refer to as “The Other Man”. Both of these passages utilize the innate human trait of assumption to lead the reader into believing one thing in the beginning, which ultimately turns out to be false.

   Works Cited
   Son, Jesus. The Other Man. 87-93.

   Reply

   1. (USED ESSAY #2 DRAFT TO INCORPORATE THE 9 STEPS )
      (I ALSO ADDED SOME THINGS THAT WERE NOT IN THE ESSAY PREVIOUSLY)

      The short story “The Money” by Junot Diaz, is about a Dominican immigrant in his preteens. It starts off with both his mother and father who are not financially stable, as his mom does not have a permanent job and his father always loses his job. He mentions his mother sends 200 to 300 dollars to his grandparents in the Dominican Republic. They live in a small apartment located in a dangerous neighborhood where people get robbed. One summer they decided to take a vacation as a family, but upon their return they found the front door of their home open. They have seen that their home was messy, and that his mother’s savings were all gone including his Dungeons and Dragons hardcovers and a portable radio. His mother began blaming him and his siblings for the robbery thinking they had told any of their friends about the money that they had saved. Later on into the story, Junot mentioned he had been hanging out with a few of his friends which he had told about the robbery that had occurred at his home. At that moment, he started to realize that his friends were the thieves who stole from his house. He came up with a plan in which he would steal his belongings back from his friends. As an excuse to get into his friend’s home, he had told him he needed to use the bathroom. Upon entering his house, he had got into his room and stole his belongings back.
      While analyzing both events in the text, it is clear that there is a similarity in both robberies which can be interpreted as ironic or maybe even hypocritical. In the text when Junot and his family return home from their vacation, Junot states, “..Still we took the burglary pretty hard. When you’re a recent immigrant, it’s easy to feel targeted. Like it wasn’t just a couple of assholes that had it in for you but the whole neighborhood-hell, maybe the whole country” (Diaz 2). Junot seems pretty upset about the robbery that had occurred in his home especially his family. This event had led him to express his feelings/thoughts by speaking with his friends about the robbery. “Except that a couple of days later I was moaning about the robbery to these guys I was hanging with at that time…I realized that these two dopes I called my friends had done it. They were shaking their heads, mouthing all the right words, but I could see the way they looked at each other, the Raskolnikov glances. I knew ” (Diaz 2). At that moment his feelings/thoughts had led him to realize that those friends he was hanging out with were the thieves that broke into his home. He refers to “Raskolnikov glances” based on it being a suspicious look that gave their guilt away. “It’s not as if the robbery came as a huge surprise. In our neighborhood, cars and apartments were always getting jacked, and the kid stupid enough to leave a bike unattennded for more than a tenth of a second was the kid who was never going to see that bike again. Everybody got hit; no matter who you were, eventually it would be your turn” (Diaz 2). This statement led me to question myself that even if Junot knew the neighborhood well, why would he trust his friends including why his family trusted that the money was safe at home. Junot’s statements provide insight into how he feels about the robbery through which he used that and his common knowledge of the neighborhood he lives in to find out who the thieves were.
      Throughout the text, Junot mentions stealing his belongings back. “Now, it wasn’t like I could publicly denounce these dolts or go to the police. That would have been about as useless as crying” (Diaz 2). This statement led me to raise a question for myself over this text. One being why does Junot not feel the need to contact the police instead of stealing his belongings back? Does he not trust the cops as well? To me, it is ironic how he trusts that his belongings are safe in his home knowing that he lives in a dangerous neighborhood, rather than the cops who could help find the culprits who broke into his home. I believe that the author meant to use this phrase as a way to make the reader assume that the cops are not really present in that neighborhood; which is why it lacks control and gains a negative reputation according to Junot’s description. “..And if mine had been a normal neighborhood this is when the cops would have been called and my ass would have been caught burglarizing” (Diaz 3). Junot’s statement seems to be profiling himself as a criminal. This led me to believe that Junot is a hypocrite as he justifies burglarizing his friend’s house to get his belongings back, but was previously upset about them burglarizing his home. This might change the reader’s views or question the character’s morals as he is doing the same negative action that had made him and his family upset. Although, the readers might congratulate him for stealing his belongings back as a form of revenge for upsetting his family. After Junot stole his belongings back, he seemed to be unsure about returning the money to his mother. “It took me two days to return the money to my mother. The truth was I was seriously considering keeping it” (Diaz 3). By considering keeping his mother’s money, he demonstrates that he is like his “friends” who stole from him and kept them at his home.
      It seems that what makes this text unique is the moral ambiguity of the main character. The text starts by showing off the character as a victim to robbery, leading it to him coming off as a criminal by burglarizing his friend’s home as a form of revenge for stealing his belongings; even considering keeping the money from his mom. Hence, this leads to my assumption where I previously stated above that the main character comes off as ironic and hypocritical in his decision making to recover his belongings. In addition, I find similarities like differences in these two important main events in the text. The similarities being the robbery, and setting. The differences are two perspectives on the reason for robbery and characters. Furthermore, the author conveyed the actions and ethical/moral boundaries that a reader might have upon reading this text.

      Reply

      1. Really interesting work going on here, Kelly–I’m excited to read the final essay!
         A couple things:
         –Can we move your last paragraph (with your thesis-y stuff on the moral ambiguity of Diaz’ narrator) more toward the beginning——perhaps after your summaries but before you begin quoting and analyzing passages from the text? That will help you frame for the reader and for yourself which passages you want to discuss (as they pertain to your thesis) and what you want to highlight for the reader in those paragraphs. There’s several elements of the story your thesis suggests you might show (perhaps in different paragraphs–not necessarily in the order outlined below):
         –the moral ambiguity of the narrator
         –the context/culture/economics of the neighborhood
         –the police presence/absence in the neighborhood & the community’s relation to the cops

         Also: I believe you allude to “both texts” at different moments in this posts, and I’m wondering what the other text you’re referring to is. “The Purloined Letter”?

         Lastly: be sure to fully unpack terms in your quotes. I think you can go further with a term like “Raskolnikov”–just Google it!
         Thanks.

         Reply

   2. Crispin,
      Always a pleasure. Some thoughts for revising this:
      –Author’s name is Denis Johnson; book title is Jesus’ Son; short story title: “The Other Man.” (You refer throughout to the author as Son, but will change this to Johnson.)
      –Denis Johnson is famous for creating very innovative and “unreliable” first person narrators. The text you’ve chosen is no exception.
      –Let’s clarify in the first couple paragraphs what your thesis is–that is, what you find unique about this text. I think part of my confusion currently involves your use of the term “assumptions”; it would be helpful if you define this term early on (say what you mean by it) and perhaps consider using a different word at times, depending on what you’re trying to express at different moments in your analysis.
      –Here’s what I’m thinking your thesis might be: What makes Johnson’s text unique is the way he uses deception in multiple ways to trick us into assuming certain parts of his story are true whereas by the end of the story we are made to question such matters. One of the ways he does this is through using an unreliable first-person narrator who is fooled into believing certain assumed truths about first the Polish man he meets on a ferry and then later the woman he meets at a bar.
      –Does that make sense? Ask me via email for clarification.
      –Lastly, please unpack the word choice in each quotation a bit more. For instance, it seems significant and relevant to your point about deception that the narrator describes the woman as “drunker than I was,” her lips as “cheap,” her makeup/eyeliner as pronounced—all of these words/details point in the direction of deception but you haven’t yet explain these connections.
      –Similarly, you might explain more how the narrator’s perceptions of the “other man’s” jacket convey to the reader the assumptions he’s made (and the self-deception entailed thereby).
      Thanks

      Reply

      1. Ok, I will revise HW week 5. Thanks for the recommendations.

         Reply

2. The story of Junot Diaz and The Purloined Letter have many things in common. They are the crimes of robbery which have caused negative impacts on people’s lives. The acts of stealing of the property that belongs to the right owners have led to the broken trusts, respect, and shattered the dignity of the people who have worked hard to build up their lives. They are similar in terms of stealing. The only difference is that in Diaz’s case, the people who stole the money are common people of whom the family treated as friends. In the Purloined Letter, it was a higher ranking official of the government that committed the crime, the crime is that he stole a document that can ruin the life of another government official. The crimes committed are the same, but different nature. In Diaz’s case it is like a low-profile crime, in which the suspects kept the evidence in their apartment. In the Purloined Letter, the crime that was done is done like in the military way that they never leave any trail. The similarity is that the main character have persisted on searching for the truth, and taking back is rightfully their property.
   1. The Purloined Letter, Poe has moved away from violence, and used intelligence to solve crimes and corruptions. In the story, Gupin the detective was asked to assist in the investigation of a robbery that involves a higher ranking official of the government. When the police were investigating the apartment of the alleged suspect, they never found evidence that can be used against the alleged suspect due to the fact that the suspect knew how the police were working. When Gupin paid Minister D a visit, he lured him into talking, and observed the surroundings until he found the letter. When Gupin executed his plan, he successfully did it, by replacing the letter with a similar letter, and the evidence was obtained.
   2. The repeating theme in both passages is that crimes can be committed by any person like family, friends, government officials, and many more. I have noticed in both passages that they both have criminal acts of stealing, and acts of taking back things that the rightful owners deserve. The people that stole the property of another person like in Junot Diaz, and The Purloined Letter, can or may ruin the lives of the owners whose livelihood and lives depends on those things.
   3. In The Money, Diaz wrote “ We kids knew where the money was hidden, but we also knew that to touch it would have meant a violent punishment approaching death.” which means that whatever does not belong to any person, must not be touched because it is a property that has a purpose to be used on.
   4. In the passage of The Money, the specific theme that shows us that money is a necessity that we must work in the right way to obtain them. The truth will always prevail, and justice will never go blind. Diaz wrote “ The truth was I was seriously considering keeping it. But in the end the guilt got to me. I guess I was expecting my mother to run around with joy, to crown me her favorite son, to cook me my favorite meal. “ which no matter what happens, the good will always win over evil things.In this passage, we see that the repeating theme is the truth that is referred to as investigation which is finding the truth.
   5. The unique term used in The Money is Investigation. Diaz has investigated who stole the money that belongs to his mother. Diaz has done certain things to return the money that his mother has worked to sustain the family’s needs, and the needs of the extended family.
   6. Diaz has used his imagination on how to investigate things. He has become a detective in which he is teaching the readers to think critically, and investigate thoroughly. Diaz is also teaching us to be clever, and be wise on things. Diaz is also showing how to catch people lying, and by doing undercover work to obtain evidence that will be used to convict the suspects of crimes they committed.
   7. The question in this passage is why did Diaz have not given back the money he took back from the burglars, and reported them to the Police? How did he do things without getting caught? How did he approach his mother about him stealing back from the burglars their properties?
   8. In the Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe, similar acts of what Diaz have done is to take what is needed as evidence, and return them to the rightful owner. At the end of the story, the evil acts have not succeeded because of the fact that Diaz has acted as a detective to gather all evidence he needs, and return them to the owner,
   9. a. In the Passage The Purloined Letter, Poe wrote about the corruption in the French Government. When the Police failed to do their job on investigating, they went to Gupin, a well known detective. Poe wrote that the truth is always making itself visible no matter what. As it mentioned “ There are numerous other mathematical truths which are only truths within the limits of relation” which the truth cannot be buried with lies
   b. The specific theme in the passage of The Purloined Letter is that the truth will speak for itself whether there is investigation or not.
   c. The unique term used in The Purloined Letter is simplicity, it is a way to find things simply by not making things complicated. Poe is telling that simple things will be great without any hesitations.
   d. Poe is teaching the readers how to conduct an investigation by thinking critically, and thinking outside the box. It is also showing us that if we persist in searching for the truth, the truth will find its way to be visible to people, and the people who deserve the truth.
   e. The question on the passage is that why did the police have complicated their search for the evidence? Why have they not thought outside the box?

   Reply

   1. Jesse, hi.
      SO much going on in this post. I will try to focus on a couple essentials–your (potential) thesis and the way you can work with quotation & analysis to support it.
      OK, so your thesis here will be what you think is most unique about the text you’ve chosen—which I take to be Diaz’ “The Money.”
      –Your thesis will also help you focus your essay so that it doesn’t go all over the place. All you need to do is focus your essay on developing the ideas you put in your thesis.
      –You state that “investigation” is a unique term in Diaz’ text, but I’m not clear on what exactly this means, and it’s a bit too focused on a single word for this to work as a thesis/interpretation of the text as a whole.
      –You could say that you find something about Diaz’ choice of words to be what makes it unique; still, you’ll want to be specific: what exactly do you notice about Diaz’ choice of words that distinguishes his vocabulary from Poe’s? I think both writers use the term “investigation” so I’m not sure that word along will help us discuss what is unique in Diaz’ text. However, there’s also material in your questions that can be used in your thesis, more below.
      –In 7 you generate good thesis questions: “The question in this passage is why did Diaz have not given back the money he took back from the burglars, and reported them to the Police? How did he do things without getting caught? How did he approach his mother about him stealing back from the burglars their properties?”
      –Using these questions, you can argue that what makes “The Money” unique is the way it presents the narrator as a kind of thief in his own right—a thief who uses his suspicion of the police to justify breaking into his friend’s house. His ability to do so perhaps suggests he has broken into other homes before and his reluctance to give the money back to his mother further signals his propensity to steal.

      –Let me know if you have questions about the above-suggested thesis. The quotations you choose to support this thesis will focus on passages that show the different parts of this thesis:
      —-the narrator’s suspicion of the police
      —-his strategy for breaking into the friend’s house (and how this suggests he’s done similar things before)
      —-his reluctance to return the money to his mother

      –When analyzing quotes, include any summary/context BEFORE the quote and then AFTER the quote carefully re-examine the language of 2 words/phrases inside the quote. For instance, in #4 you might look at the phrase “I was considering keeping it” and the word “guilt” when you analyze the significance of key words in the quotation AFTER you introduce it.

      –You’ll have to figure out exactly what the connection to Poe’s text is; there are probably more differences than similarities between these two texts, so don’t feel like you have to necessarily suggest that the stories are all that similar. For instance, although Dupin “steals” back the letter from the minister, he isn’t really presented as a thief in that story the way Diaz’ narrator is; Dupin is simply a very clever investigator. However, like Diaz, he does use the strategy of distracting the thief so as to retrieve the stolen property.
      Thanks.

      Reply

3. In the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz, the boy with his family immigrated from the Dominican Republic. They are living a tough life because they are poor. However, parents are saving some amount of money to send it to family in the Dominican Republic. One day they are going on a small vacation, but when they come back they find out that they have been robbed and all the money has gone. The boy, Junot, suspects that his friends from school did that, so he sneaks to their house, finds the money, and brings it back home.
   In the text “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Poe, one important letter has been taken from the royal apartment in Paris. The Parisian police know who has taken the letter, Minister D. Dupin, detective, asks Monsieur G, the Prefect of the police, where they have searched for the letter and they tell them that they have searched everywhere in Minister D’s hotel but have not found the letter. One month later, Monsieur G tells that the reward has increased, they will pay anyone who finds a letter 50,000 francs. Then, Dupin tells them to write him a check and hands them the letter. Dupin explains that he found a letter by sneaking into Minister D’s hotel and using a strategy called “even and odd”. Minister D hid the letter in the most obvious place, but police looked only in places where they thought they might hide it.

   The repeating idea I have noticed in both passages is that something valuable and important was stolen. Then in order to take the stolen thing back, someone breaks into the house/apartment where the stolen thing is located. At the end, the valuable object has been returned back to its owner.

   3.Diaz writes, “…and when we returned to Jersey, exhausted, battered, we found our front door unlocked. My parents’ room, which was where the thieves had concentrated their search, looked as if it had been tornado-tossed. The thieves had kept it simple; they’d snatched a portable radio, some of my Dungeons & Dragons hardcovers, and, of course, Mami’s remittances… And that summer it was ours. Still, we took the burglary pretty hard.”

   4.The repeating idea in this passage is the word “burglary” which means to enter into a building/house illegally committing a crime.

   5.I think what’s unique about the content of the passage is the word choice and comparison. Ex: “burglarizing”, “looked as if it had been tornado-tossed”, “no kidding”.

   6.Diaz’ word choice creates an atmosphere of Jew Jersey, which shows the readers Jersey’s slang and how they communicate with each other.

   7. At the end of the story when Junot returned the money back to his mom she was not happy. Why might she have no joy on her face? Why did not Junot tell his family who stole the money?

   8. Diaz writes, “Ran to the dope’s apartment, slid open the bathroom window, and in broad daylight wriggled my skinny ass in.” This quote shows us that the thief now is Junot. He sneaked into his friend’s house to get his mom’s money back as well as his books.

   3.Poe writes, “ At length, in taking leave, he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but, of course, dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the third personage who stood at her elbow. The minister decamped; leaving his own letter-one of no importance-upon the table.”

   4.The repeating idea in this passage is the word “purloined”, which means to steal something.

   5.I think what’s unique about the content of the passage is the French word choice and French slang.

   6.Poe uses the Parisian words in the text which may affect French readers because those words can give them more understanding about a passage and create the atmosphere as well.

   7.In the beginning of the story the Queen saw that Minister D switched the letters and took the Queen’s one. Even though she did not want to call attention to the act because of the third personage, she knew that her letter was very important. She could have told someone else while he was taking it. Why didn’t she do that?
   Why did not police find the letter if it was hidden in the obvious place?

   8.Poe writes, “In the meantime, I stepped to the card-rack, took the letter, put it in my pocket, and replaced it by a fac-simile, (so far as regards externals,) which I had carefully prepared at my lodgings; imitating the D– cipher, very readily, by means of a seal formed of bread.”

   Reply

   1. Galina,
      Some intriguing quotations and thoughts in here–a pleasure to read through this. There’s much work to be done, however; so I will try to be as concise as I can below:

      –We first want to clarify what your thesis regarding the uniqueness of Diaz’ text will be. What seems to be important to you to discuss is the way his style conveys “the atmosphere of New Jersey” while also presenting the narrator as a burglar himself. Can we place those things into a sentence that declares these two aspects of the text that you find unique?

      –Another angle to consider for the thesis is the influence the mother has in the text–which you allude to in your questions. You could make a separate argument/thesis/interpretation that even though the mother doesn’t appear all that much in the text itself, her influence is strong… For instance, does the fact that she doesn’t reward Diaz for returning the money have some bearing on why he considers keeping it for himself? (Perhaps he knows her to be rather stingy…). This isn’t the only way of interpreting the role of the mother; perhaps you have other ideas…

      –When quoting and analyzing passages, I want you to go further with your analysis. You’re right to pull out several key words from your passages to look at—e.g., you’re right to follow a quote with something like: A couple key words stand out here for the way they convey the atmosphere of the New Jersey town we’re in—”no kidding” and “burglarizing.” But go further: explain HOW these words do that! You could consider other synonyms Diaz could have used instead in order to show how the words you’ve selected are uniquely suited to produce the effect you are claiming they do.

      –With Poe’s text, you don’t necessarily need to show how it’s unique if you don’t feel you have a full grasp of it. Just be sure you show how it is similar to and different from Diaz’ text in several ways.

      Reply

4. Marcus Robinson

   “Wild Swans” by Alice Munro and “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian both follow the same idea through smart word choice used by the authors. “Wild Swans ” is about a young girl named Rose who is getting on the train by herself for the first time going to toronto. Even though back at home her Flo (Rose’s mother) warned her to be careful of the white Slavers who commonly disguise themselves as ministers of the Church. These people would commonly go around the country seducing young girls. Rose chose not to believe what her mother said until she got on the train to Toronto by herself. A man next to her in his fifties carefully and quietly seduced her on her train ride. Even though he was years older than her and uncomfortable, she went along with it and I will explain why. “Cat Person” is a short story about an obsessive and tempting realshiop between A 20 year old girl and a 34 year old man. The story only escalates during rapid conversation between Robert(the man) and Margot (the women). The two build a decent connection after weeks have past of the first meeting at a movie theater. As the story goes Robert can be found as obsessive as he doesnt stop texting this girl. Margot does have a friend who tells her to pay him no mind and she doesn’t listen. Margot eventually comes to her senses and does the right thing by not contacting him anymore. Between the two passages the repeating idea is being taken advantage of. The themes that I interpreted between the two are temptation and curiosity.
   In the passage “Wild Swans” by Kristen Roupenian you can see the repeating theme of curiosity and being taken advantage of when it states “ But there was more to it than that. Curiosity.More consistent, more and imperious than any lust.A lust in itself, that will make you draw back and wait, Wait too long, risk almost anything, just to see what will happen. To see what will happen.” In the text Flo Warned Rose about the ministers of the Church, how they would seduce young girls across the country. An older guy sits next to the young girl, while pretending to be asleep he slowly puts his hand up her skirt. Even knowing it’s wrong she doesn’t say anything out of tempatan. She simply wanted to know what was going to happen next and the same for the old man. He took more advantage and control over her by knowing she was young. At the end of the text when the train ride was over he got up, smiled, then left. Most people like that know a girl her age would not be in the right mind to do nothing about it. She was also curious like her looking out the window because she never traveled somewhere alone before in the text. It’s the excitement of something new that makes you want more. Words like began also helped give a clear image of what happened on the train. The imagery and word choice are the most unique to me. When the author talks about the train ride in one paragraph then transitions into how she feels or about what’s outside makes the text very descriptive. The effects this passage has on me is to always be careful and resist temptation when it’s not right. My only question to the text is because of the dangerous temptation Rose faced on the train will she want more or become more curios to sex like Flo talked about? How Rose acted to be seduced also leads me to question how she would react in the future? Another passage that shows the idea of the abuse of power is when the train was stopping, “In the darkness under the station the united minister, refreshed, opened his eyes and got his paper folded together, then asked would you like some help with your coat. His gallantry was self satisfied decisive. No, I replied.” That shows how he uses his power, to take advantage of how a young person doesn’t know much of anything.

   “Cat Person” by Kristen Roupenian shows a theme of curiosity when Robert says “Ok confession stand girl. Give me your phone number, he said,and,surprising She did.” Prior to this, not knowing much about each other, Robert and Margot constantly talked and hit off well. They were both also tempted by each other’s looks. What kept them curious and entarnied was the fact they would always tell each other jokes when greeting them. The Arthur would allude to a pack of red vines as something that brings happiness in their realshiop. Compared to later on in the text when she found out Robert was twelve years older. Margot always is attempting to learn more and Robert, while in some cases Robert can be seen obsessed with the girl. The text states “she was starting to think that she understood him, how sensitive he was, how easily he could be wounded.” Throughout the text her curiosity grew stronger for him to the point where she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even what she found out his age she still proceed into having sex and wainting to know more about this mystery man. What I find unique is how the author uses his words to quickly change the mood or setting of the text. A questions I have on the text are, will the girl go back to Robert considering the fact he gave her something she never had before?

   Reply

   1. Nice reading you, Marcus. This is going to be a great essay, I can tell. A bit of work to do though–see below!

      –Break into a new paragraph whenever you’re switching gears. For instance, you move from your summaries to discussing themes in this line: “The themes that I interpreted…” // Make a new paragraph here because you are switching from summarizing to forming an analysis.

      –We need to focus more carefully on the language in the passages you quote and analyze. Notice how you go back into summarizing AFTER your first quote. I would suggest including the summary about Flo/Rose for context BEFORE the quote and then explaining where in the story the quote happens and then finally quoting. AFTER the quote, I want you to ANALYZE the words in it. “Curiosity” here is described as “a lust in itself”: this is a powerful, figurative declaration that Munro’s narrator makes, and it’s open to interpretation what exactly this means and how curiosity could be understood as a form of “lust.” It is essential that you do the work of unpacking these questions and explaining how you interpret the meaning of this idea (curiosity = lust).

      You begin to do this when you write “words like “began” also helped give me a clear idea of what happened on the train” but you don’t explain how the word “began” does this for you. You may decide that this isn’t the word choice you want to focus on, but if you do want to focus on this word choice, it would be helpful if you explained more about HOW it effects you.

      We need to clarify which of these texts you think of as unique–and why. It strikes me that one possibility would be to argue that you find Munro’s text unique for the way it plays with “imagery” and “setting”: one very unique thing that Munro does (which Roupenian doesn’t really do) is to use her imagistic descriptions of the settings passing by outside the train car as a way of depicting the sexual arousal going on in Rose’s mind. This also leads to a confusion about where reality is: is Rose imagining all of this–the scenery as well as the minister’s hand? We’re not sure. All in all, there is much more ambiguity in this text, and you might discuss this as part of what makes it more unique than Roupenian’s text. Email me for clarification as needed.
      Thanks.

      Reply

5. 1. In “The Money,” by Junot Diaz it involves a story about what happened to Diaz and his family when he was 12 years old. The story starts by describing how his family is Dominican, how his mother didn’t have a regular job other than caring for him and his four other siblings, how his father had a very unstable job working on and off at forklifts which made it an unsteady flow of income for his family. They lived in a small apartment and could barely make ends meet. Despite the fact that they didn’t have enough money to sustain themselves, his mother managed to save $200 to $300 to send it to Dominican Republic for her parents. One day they went on a family vacation and when they came back, they saw that their apartment got broken into and the money was stolen. The thieves took all the money that his mother had been saving to send it to her parents. Instead of his mother being mad at the thieves she was mad at him and the rest of her kids, she wanted to blame them for the robbery. A few days after the robbery he was telling his friends about the robbery and he noticed something suspicious in them that made him question if they took the money, immediately he knew it was them that stole the money. He decided to do the same thing and break into the thieves’ house to get the money back and he successfully was able to retrieve it. It took him two days to return the money to his mother because he wanted to keep it, but he was feeling guilty, so he decided to give it back to her. He expected her to be happy because she got her money back, but she didn’t react that way at all.
   2. The repeating idea/theme I’ve noticed is that ironically both sides are wrong for stealing. The neighbors stole from his mother but he also stole back from them. After he stole back the money from the thieves he contemplated keeping it for two days before returning it back to his mother.
   3.Diaz writes, “Everybody got hit; no matter who you were, eventually it would be your turn” (Diaz 1). Diaz also writes, “It took me two days to return the money to my mother. The truth was I was seriously considering keeping it” (Diaz 2).
   4. These two passages show the repeating idea of how in the neighborhood it is expected that everyone will eventually get robbed and that no one is exempt. The second quoted passage shows and repeats robbery because after Diaz was robbed he stole back the money and contemplated keeping it.
   5. I find these two passages unique because he explains how important the savings was for his mother yet he contemplated stealing from her. It’s interesting because he himself was a thief in all of this for stealing back the money. No one is innocent.
   6.The passage affects me as the reader because I find it ironic and hypocritical how as the family returns home they are shocked that they were robbed even though he explained how that neighborhood is dangerous and everyone will eventually get robbed at some point.
   7. I found it odd that he was so upset that someone broke in and stole his mother’s money yet he contemplated stealing it for himself. It’s odd that it took him two days for him to return the money back to his mother.

   Reply

   1. Melanie, nice to read you.
      –Your summaries are strong, but I’d like to see twice as much text where you’re quoting and analyzing passages; I’ll focus on this and your thesis.
      –Your thesis can be clarified somewhat: is what you’re arguing that what makes Diaz’ text unique is the way it shows us how stealing to get one’s stuff back can be wrong in itself (even it seems justified)? You’ll want to focus on the specifics of these passages that show Diaz incriminating himself–and also the passages that show how little actual evidence he has before he breaks into his friend’s house.
      –When quoting and analyzing passages, I want you to write about at least 2 specific word choices in each sentence you quote in your analysis AFTER the quote–e.g., “everybody” indicates that the narrator thinks theft is rampant in his neighborhood; “hit” suggests a kind of unexpected or violent quality to the theft experienced by families in this area; etc.
      –Your insight in #7 belongs with your thesis. He has presented himself as inconsistent/hypocritical in this story–perhaps this is part of what makes it unique?

      Reply

6. “The Purloined Letter” By Edgar Allen Poe is a detective piece of writing that takes place in Paris in the 1800s. We are introduced to the narrator of the story along with the detective Auguste Dupin and ‘Prefect of Police’, G in the first paragraphs of the story. The big picture we see here is that there’s a letter that has been stolen from an unnamed female being blackmailed by a certain minister D. The letter contains information that could harm a powerful person and in the story, we learn that the cops ask Dupin for help with the case that sounds simple yet they weren’t able to find the letter in the residence of the thief that’s when Dupin ask them to search again. A month goes by in the story, Dupin and the narrator are sitting when the prefect of police arrives to tell them that they still haven’t found the letter and that the reward has been increased to 50,000 francs for anyone that finds the letter. Dupin tells G to write that check for him on the spot which he does and Dupin hands him the letter. The prefect of police then rushes to give the letter to the rightful owner and Dupin proceeds to explain how he obtained that letter which in itself is a huge portion of the story.

   The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe and The money by Junot Diaz have similar ideas and repeating themes to them. In both stories thievery are a repeating idea here, in one is a more professional and clever approach to analyzing and solving the case and in the other is more of a little boy having a right hunch about who stole his mother’s money and where they hid it also a clever way of stealing it back. In ‘The Money’ Diaz writes, “ My parents’ room, which was where the thieves had concentrated their search, looked as if it had been tornado-tossed.”, here we see when and where the thievery is first taking place. The unique content of this story is how Junot himself steals back and the word choice of the author throughout the story. He knew that he was “burglarizing” when he stole the money back. Diaz’ storytelling speaks to me because I can relate to the mother sending money back to her family in DR. My mother is a caring person, she sends boxes to our family back in DR full of food, clothes, and utilities from time to time. She loves making sure everyone back in DR is happy and that they have all their necessities. A question that comes to mind when talking about “The money” is why would he expect to see the joy in her mother’s face when he gives the money back? Knowing that her mother most likely knows what he did to get it back.

   The purloined letter’s repeating theme is thievery and also cleverness. Poe writes, “Why, yes; and not exactly that either. The fact is, we have all been a good deal puzzled because the affair is so simple, and yet baffles us altogether.” here we can see how the letter itself is hidden in such a simple place yet no one can find it but Dupin with his clever thinking. What’s unique about this story is the use of french phrases and words which seem to have a clever impact on this piece of writing. The impact that this story has on me is how things can be so easily hidden yet we miss them on a regular basis, the way Dupin thinks and acts here is also very unique and impactful. The question that arises in my head about this story is how is it possible that the letter was simply hidden but no one found it before Dupin? They search the whole apartment where it was hidden with dozen of men, is just mind bubbling thinking about that.

   Reply

   1. Good summaries, Starlyn. I want to pay close attention to your thesis and close-readings of the passages here:
      –Your thesis about Diaz text could be made a bit more specific: what exactly is it about the “word choice” in the passage that you find unique? Also, I’m not sure that Diaz “stealing back” the money makes this story unique given that more or less the same thing happens in Poe’s story. Can you be more specific here regarding what you think makes Diaz’ text different?

      –There is more to be unpacked about the word choice in the passages you’ve quoted. After you’ve quoted please pick a couple of words to think about the significance of in each quotation.

      –Your question about the minister’s “hiding in plain sight” of the letter is a good one. In a sense he is a much more “clever” thief than the one in Diaz’ story, who hides the stolen goods in the exact place the narrator expects him to; Poe’s minister, however, “hides” the letter by not hiding it, which plays with the psychology of the cops (who think: he’d never just leave the letter on his table in plain sight and so don’t even think to look at it…).

      Reply

7. – In the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz he talks about a boy (Junot) and his family who immigrated from the Dominican Republic. Junot lived in a not so good neighborhood as people broke into homes and did petty crimes. Even though Junot and his family struggled financially, his family saved money within the apartment. When Junot and his family left their home for a trip, they come back to find all the money that was saved in the home was stolen. Junot suspects one his friends as the culprit and goes to their house to steal the money back. In the text “The Beggar Maid – Wild Swans” by Alice Munro it is about a young woman’s figurative and literal journey. The main character Rose is a young impressionable girl who has an older confidant named Flo. Flo seems to be more experienced by living in Toronto. In the text Flo warns Rose about the dangers of sexual predators (White Slavers). Rose embarks on a journey to go to Toronto and is introduced to a gentleman who makes small talk with her. He claims to be a minister yet as the story progresses it appears he is groping her legs beneath his newspaper and her coat. Rose seems torn, a part of her is disgusted and feels violated but another part of her seems curious and confused. The story ends with Rose making it to her destination… transformed.

   – The repeating theme I noticed in both passages were untrustworthy. In the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz. they never once felt they can trust where they lived. In the text “The Beggar Maid- Wild Swans” by Alice Murano the uncertainty and fear of not being safe also resonated amongst then main characters.

   – Diaz writes, “In our neighborhood, cars and apartments were always getting jacked and the kid stupid enough to leave a bike unattended for more than a tenth of a second was the kid wo was never going to see that bike again.”
   Murano writes, “But she saw plenty else. She saw a man cut another man’s stomach with a knife, just pull out his shirt and do a tidy cut, as if it was a watermelon not a stomach.

   – In this passage we see the repeating idea of untrustworthy turn up again in Diaz as he steals the money back from his friend and also internally questions himself on if he should keep the money.
   “The Beggar Maid- Wild Swans”:
   In the passage we see the repeating idea of untrustworthy as we try to understand in the beginning of the passage if Flo’s advice is genuine or led to mislead an already naïve and young mind?

   -In the text “The Money” by Junot Diaz I think it’s unique that he used the worked jacked.
   In the text “The Beggar Maid- Wild Swans” the comparison of opening the stomach to watermelon was unique word choice.

   – The effects this passage has on me as a reader is I wonder why he chose to use the word jacked. In my mind I think if an old school verbiage. In my own form of speech, I find myself using old school verbiage with words such as groovy, and outta sight.

   “The Beggar Maid- Wild Swans”:
   -Did the priest actual have his hand on Rose or was that all in her imagination?
   “The Money” by Junot Diaz
   -Why did Junot contemplate stealing the money at the end?

   Reply

   1. Brittney, great reading this and glad someone is writing about Munro’s “Wild Swans” (you can just refer to the story as “Wild Swans”; it appears in a collection/book of stories published in the US as “The Beggar Maid,” but people know it as “Wild Swans”).

      OK, so your link between Diaz and Munro is the theme of a certain betrayal of trust that takes place in both stories–or, as you put it a certain “untrustworthiness” of a couple key characters.

      There is more to be unpacked about the word choice in the passages you’ve quoted. After you’ve quoted please pick a couple of words to think about the significance of in each quotation.

      As far as your thesis goes, I think I can see a really powerful thesis about the uniqueness of “Wild Swans” coming through in your question at the end of your post: Munro structures her text so that it is impossible to confirm whether or not Rose’s encounter with the minister takes place in reality or in her own fantasy. Arguments/interpretations can be made in either direction. What I think you could do that would be an *amazing* way to connect this facet of “Wild Swans” to your observation about “trust” is to think/write about how Munro, in producing a text that is ambiguous in this way, is playing with OUR trust as readers: she doesn’t let us know for sure what actually happens on the train between Rose and the Minister. Is she playing with our trust in this way? Regardless of whether you say “yay” or “nay” here, you can argue that by raising this question for the reader, Munro’s text plays with our “trust” as readers, just as the minister plays with Rose’s trust inside the story. Does that make sense? Email me for clarification.
      Thanks

      Reply

8. 1) The text, “The Money”, by Junot Diaz is about a Dominican family that immigrated to the United States. Though they are in a wealthier country, Diaz and his family are burdened by poverty. With the small amount of money they get, they still have to send some money back to support their grandparents in Dominican Republic. While away on vacation. One of Diaz’s friends breaks into their house and steals Diaz’s Mom’s secret stash of money. Diaz’s friends found out about the stash of money from a conversation he had with Diaz when hanging out together. His so called “friends” secretly despise Diaz without his knowing and talk about him behind his back. When Diaz and his family return from vacation, they find the stash of money missing, and their door was unlocked. During another conversation between Diaz and his friend, he gets a feeling that his friend stole the money because of his behavior. Diaz then breaks into his friend’s house and takes back his mom’s stolen money.
   In Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Purloined Letter”, a valuable letter is stolen from Paris’ royal apartments. The Prefect Monsieur G and the Parisian Police search the entire premises and fail to find the stolen letter in Minister D’s hotel. Monsieur G increases the reward to 50,000 francs a month later to whoever can find the letter. Detective Minister D. Dupin requests Monsieur G to sign him the check and then hands him the valuable letter.
   2) In both of these passages, something of value and importance is taken from someone’s property, but then gets retrieved back to its rightful owner. This repetition can also be conjoin by the the action of thievery. Meaning that both passages contain a level of burglary in order to steal and retrieve the stolen items.
   3) Diaz writes, “I, who could take the change out of my mother’s purse without thinking, couldn’t have brought myself even to look at that forbidden stash”. Diaz also writes, “And if mine had been a normal neighborhood this is when the cops would have been called and my ass would been caught burglarizing”. Finally he states, “I popped up the dolt’s mattress and underneath I found my D. & D. books and most of my mother’s money…And that was how I solved the Case of the Stupid Morons”.
   4) When analyzing the first quote, we could see that the thought of stealing came through Diaz’s head regarding his mother’s money from the phrase, “I, who could take the change out of my mother’s purse…”, and the phrase “…my ass would have been caught burglarizing “. These phrases show how thievery is universal in everyone when the opportunity presents its self. Diaz uses the word “burglarizing” to emphasize that no matter if the if the money was his to begin with, stealing is stealing. Diaz had a thought of stealing his mother’s money but hesitated when realizing the consequences of those actions. Thievery seems to be the primary repetition in this passage.
   5) This passage is uniquely written because it displays both the good and bad sides of burglary. It also showed the perspective of what people are willing to do when an opportunity is given to them. Being poor and in poverty makes people desperate and negative. The fact that the story is written in Junot Diaz’s perspective shows us how he was thinking, and also displays to the reader the significance of his mother’s money. Since we know that his family sends money back to Dominican Republic even though they are poor, that helps readers to see how valuable the stolen stash of money was to is mother because they were already struggling to pay bills.
   6) The action of betrayal, fake friends, and struggle deeply relates to my own experiences and how I feel living in a minority neighborhood. I’ve had people around me as a close circle of friends, and witness the people I considered friends and family betray my trust for their own selfish agendas. I also understand the feeling of being apart of the “have-nots” because even though my mother has a great job, her money only stretches but so far to take care of all the bills. My dad didn’t really have a stable job , so all the finical pressure was put on my mom growing up. I also know the feeling of a son needing to protect his mother and family from the negativity of then outside world. The same way Diaz broke into his friend’s house to steal back his mom’s stash of money, that would’ve been the same thing I would’ve done if I found out that one of my so called “friends” did that to me. Being in lower class neighborhoods leaves anyone who loves there susceptible to crime.
   7) The odd thing I noticed in this passage is the way the mother had no reaction towards the retrieval of her stole n cash. One would think that she would be excited to have the extra cash back in her possession due to their financial status.
   8) In the last passage of “The Money”, Diaz states, “It took me two days to return the money to my mother. The truth was I was seriously considering keeping it. But in the end the guilt got me”. This is the second time Diaz accuses of himself of thievery without committing to the action of stealing.
   9) Diaz states, “Except that a couple of days later I was moaning about the robbery to these guys I was hanging with at that time and they were cursing sympathetically…”. The repeating theme expressed by this passage is the accusation of thievery. Being that Diaz trusted these “two dopes”, people he considered friends, their odd behavior lead him to believe that they were the ones that stole the money.
   The irony is that he uses the words “cursing sympathetically” to describe their attempt to avoid suspicion. Its unique how the outer appearance of Diaz’s friends displays innocence, but we know internally that they are guilty. Also, it’s unique how Diaz was able to write a passage that portrays the how his friends’ body language compromised their innocence. The play on who’s innocent or guilty makes this passage much more unique then the rest of the story. It shows how a person’s dialogue is not always a full representation of their actions. Why would a so called “friend”, steal from his “friend” that shows nothing but trust and kindness? How can a person look another individual in the face and be able to pretend to be in their best interest at heart, but secretly despise that person of whom they see everyday? I’m glad Diaz was able to show this part of people. These creations acknowledge that on both sides of poverty, people, good or bad, are all capable of thievery if given the opportunity it benefit from it.

   Reply

   1. Jamal,
      Great summaries, quotes, and discussion/analysis. A couple things:
      –See if you can leave out the numbers and piece together 1-9 as 2 or so paragraphs of fluid prose.
      –Fabulous evidence of Diaz’ propensity to steal…
      –You have a thesis in the making here: What is unique about Diaz’ text is the way it shows us not only the bad but the good sides of burglary… BUT can you go further / make this language (“good and bad”) a bit more specific? What does this actually mean? Does the text show us how, in a poor, crime-ridden, “minority neighborhood” (as you call it), it is sometimes necessary to steal? Perhaps this can be connected to Diaz’ thought that going to the police would be “as useless as crying”? If so, then maybe the text is also suggesting something unique about the narrator’s relation to the police? They aren’t exactly brutal in this text the way they are in so many places in reality (and in Serpell’s text), but perhaps the police are brutally absent in Diaz’ text? It also seems that the police are simply inept in Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”–and this is a comparison you could draw: how are the police viewed/represented in both of these stories?
      –Good thesis material here: “These creations acknowledge that on both sides of poverty, people, good or bad, are all capable of thievery if given the opportunity it benefit from it.”
      –I still think it could be very interesting for you to bring some reflection on the role of the police in all this (who themselves are capable of thievery although perhaps we don’t quite see this in Poe or Diaz). Are the police complicit in the crime in Diaz’ neighborhood by their being absent and/or not enforcing the law / protecting families? Just throwing out possible connections here…

      Reply

9. HW 6. 6/18 (due 6/22)——– Indeevari K.

   Q 1 ) “The Money” by Junot Diaz describes a story about an immigrant family that came to America from The Dominican Republic. The family had five kids. Mother was a housewife, and father was a forklift driver. The beginnings in a new country were very tough. Their mother usually saved and put aside some money to later send it back home to support her elderly parents. However, one day that money went missing. Later little Junot did his own detective work and recovered the money.

   “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Poe describes a detective-type story about a letter being purloined from a Royal house in France. In the story it shows how Duplin did the detective work and recovered the stolen letter from Minister D’s hotel. The story explains that police had checked the apartment and could not find the letter themselves.
   Q 2)
   Both stories share similarities about an important item being stolen. In both stories the item has been eventually recovered. In both stories, the item is stolen by someone who was close to the victim of the theft. The difference is that these stories took place in a completely different social environment. In “The Money”, the theft took place in a poor neighborhood, while the story “The Purloined Letter” took place in an upscale neighborhood.
   Q 3)
   In “The Money” Diaz claims: “Everybody got hit; no matter who you were, eventually it would be your turn”.
   Q 4)
   “Still, we took the burglary pretty hard”, Diaz reminiscences while telling us that in his neighborhood everybody “got hit” sooner or later, and that particular Summer was his family’s turn.
   Q 5)
   What caught my attention was the slang that Diaz used to describe the thieves. “Now, it wasn’t like I could publicly denounce these dolts or go to the police. That would have been about as useless as crying. Here’s what I did: I asked the main dope to let me use his bathroom (we were in front of his apartment) and while I pretended to piss I unlatched the window”. Narrator calls his phony friends “dolts” and “dopes”. Dolt is a term used to describe a stupid person or a dull person. Similarly, term dope could be used in reference to a stupid person, a fool, or an idiot.
   Q 6)
   By calling his friends “dolts” and “dopes”, and by describing how he unlatched the window while pretending to use the bathroom, Diaz gives this story full authenticity. He uses the language of a typical city teenager who is aspiring to be a wiseguy. I can easily imagine any teenage boy from my Brooklyn neighborhood telling a story like this in his exact words.
   Q 7)
   In “The Money” Diaz writes “Now, it wasn’t like I could publicly denounce these dolts or go to the police. That would have been about as useless as crying”. I find his notion odd, just because of the fact that the narrator thinks it is pointless to report the robbery to the police. He describes calling the police to be as “useless as crying”. When reading this passage, I questioned his innocence. Especially as he followed up with the description of him outsmarting the thief and unlatching the window for his upcoming ‘hit’. I questioned if maybe he himself had done some burglaries in the past.
   Why would he be so convinced that police would not help?. Isn’t that what police are for?
   Q 8)
   “When you’re a recent immigrant, it’s easy to feel targeted. Like it wasn’t just a couple of assholes that had it in for you but the whole neighborhood—hell, maybe the whole country”.
   In this passage, Diaz shows his distrust not towards the police, but towards everyone around him. He uncovers that sad truth about the ‘Me against the world’-type of mentality, which is adapted by so many new immigrants.

   Q 3)
   In “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe, “”It is clear,” said I, “as you observe, that the letter is still in possession of the minister; since it is this possession, and not any employment of the letter, which bestrows the power. With the employment power departs”.
   Q 4)
   The repeating idea in “The Purloined Letter” is the theme of a stolen property. Poe uses the term “purloined“ which means ‘stolen’, but since the story takes place in the elitist circles, Poe uses appropriate vocabulary to give the story authenticity.
   Q 5)
   “ Any man is a dolt who permits a ‘.secret’ drawer to escape him in a search of this kind.”
   “you are quite au fait in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing often before.”
   Edgar Poe used French words and some slang here and there in the content.
   Q 6)
   “you are quite au fait in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing often before.” By including various French phrases, the author makes the story authentic and makes it easier for me to imagine the European, aristocratic surrounding in which the story took place.
   Q 7)
   Poe’s use of French phrases often brought my reading to a halt as I don’t speak French, and it is easy to lose my grasp on understanding of certain passages.

   Reply

   1. Indee,

      This is really fabulous work you’re doing in your analysis of the passages you cite in #6-7.
      Also, thank you for calling my attention to the use of the term “dolt” in Poe’s text as well. Not only is there overlap at the level of plot and theme but at the level of word choice as well.

      That said, I think (but am not yet sure) that you are claiming that the slang in Diaz’ text is what makes it unique. Are you also saying that what makes it unique is the way Diaz’s narrator incriminates himself in the ways you mention? My main recommendation is the clarify what your main thesis is going to be regarding what makes the text unique and then focus on passages that show us this.

      Lastly, when assembling this for Essay 2, please try to link together in prose/paragraph form your different numbered responses. You will likely want 2 or more paragraphs. Also, be sure to introduce the quotation from Poe’s text adequately. In “The Purloined Letter,” the narrator observes that “It is clear…that the letter is still in…” But also ask: why quote this passage? How does it contribute to the comparison and argument being made in your essay? If it doesn’t, then quote another passage!

      Reply

10. Introduce the title and author of the text and summarize the “big picture” of what it is about.
    In “The money” by Junot Diaz, is a story based on a lower-class family who had migrated from the Dominican Republic. The story’s main points are that even though they didn’t have enough money they used to save up to send money to their family back in the Dominican Republic, which their kids knew not to touch the money. Until one of them, Junot mentioned to his friends about the money which days later this family left for a mini-vacation someone had stolen the money. Junot ends up figuring out which of his friends was and sneaked in his house and stole the money back for his mom.
    In the “Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allan Poe talks about and importance of a letter being stolen which the author is the one trying to figure out where the letter is but is like he taking advice from Dupin which leads him to wrong clues. Later on, he steals the letter back.
    2. The repeating idea from both of these passages is that both of the main characters had something stole from them, where they end up find out who and where the person who took it was hiding which eventually they break in and take it back just like the thieves did.
    3. “For no reason whatsoever I realized that these two dopes that I called my friends had done it… and while I pretended to piss I unlatched the window and then we all headed down to the community pool as usual. But while they dove in I pretended to forget something back home. Ran back to the dope’s apartment, slid open the bathroom window and in broad daylight wriggled my skinny ass into his apartment; his mom was of course at work.”
    This explains the reference to “burglarizing” at the thieves, reason why Junot sneaked in his friend’s house it was because he knew important that money was and it sucks that your own friend was the one who took it which made him do the same.
    4. I think is unique because it gives the reader a more clear visualization on how the room looked after the thieves had taken the money because the work “burglarizing” is more straight up and doesn’t have too much impact as explaining it thoroughly
    5. The use of Junot new jersey slangs to me brings more like a perspective as if you were there while he was telling the story since which using the slangs and wording it tells you more where the person is from more than introducing it into the beginning of the story.
    6. To me, it seems like Junot mother wasn’t happy because she probably had thought that he was the one who had stolen, rather than him being straight up and explaining how was the money and how he got it back but then again I could think as living in a Hispanic household his mother probably would get more mad at him for burglarizing in other people house.
    7. I think he had thoughts on keeping it because that’s how kids are we want money to buy candy or something else we know our parents wouldn’t.

    Reply

    1. Emily, nice to read you.
       Careful with your interpretations of these two stories: it isn’t the case that both narrators have something stolen from them. In fact, there are multiple narrators in Poe’s story–the Prefect/police chief and Dupin (a private detective)–neither of whom has been robbed: they are tasked with finding a letter that has been stolen from the Queen; it is she who has been robbed.
       Good point in #2.
       In #3, be very careful to analyze the words in the quote you’ve chosen. A good rule of thumb is to discuss at least 2 word choices made in any quotation you introduce. Here, there is something very significant to analyze: the narrator says that he suspects his friends of robbing him “For no reason whatsoever.” This raises questions about his decision to break into his friend’s house: does this raise questions about the narrator’s morality/ethics? Does it make him more of a “thief” himself that he enters his friend’s home without much evidence to go on? It’s complicated… He doesn’t exactly “break in” to the friend’s house; he DOES ask to be let in… But regardless of your view, you ought to discuss this…

       Work on the wording in #4–I can’t quite understand you here.

       5. The use of “NJ slang” could be a main part of your thesis about what makes this text unique.

       Please combine 1-7 into paragraph form (not a numbered list) with connections between each of these sentences. Also please add 8-9 as a new paragraph.

       Reply

11. 1.The short story “The Money” is about a lower middle class family that immigrated from The Dominican Republic to Newark New Jersey. When they go for a road trip and come back, they learn that they’re savings had been stolen. Our hero tells his friends what had happened and finds out it was them. He later breaks in to their house and takes back his belongings. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”, a detective is approached by the prefect of the Paris police to find a letter that is stolen by a minister. The letter contained information that could hurt someone important. Although they know minister had taken it, they do not know where it is, which is where Dupin comes in. A month later, Dupin gives the letter back and explains how he retrieved it. He did so by noticing there was something off about the bunch visiting cards at the Minister’s home,and realized the letter was in there. He came back the next day and arranged for something to happen outside, that would divert the minister’s attention, and takes the letter.
    2.Something I noticed in both these stories is that something important was stolen and the main character successfully gets it back.
    3.In “The Money”, Diaz writes” I popped up the dolt’s mattress and underneath I found my D. & D. books and most of my mother’s money”.
    4. Here, the narrator states how he found his parents and his belongings.
    5.Something unique about this story is how he says that it was a common occurrence in his neighborhood.
    6. Personally, I could relate to this story. Although my family has never been robbed by backstabbing friends, I know the importance of saving money for the rest of the family. They depend on us and expect nothing less than our financial support. And we make it our duty to send a certain amount at least a few times a year.
    7.One question I have about this story is that what would he have done if he did keep the money? I’m pretty sure his mother find out eventually that he was in possession of the money based on his actions.
    8.In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”, a detective is approached by the prefect of the Paris police to find a letter that is stolen by a minister. The letter contained information that could hurt someone important. Although they know minister had taken it, they do not know where it is, which is where Dupin comes in. A month later, Dupin gives the letter back and explains how he retrieved it. He did so by noticing there was something off about the bunch visiting cards at the Minister’s home,and realized the letter was in there. He came back the next day and arranged for something to happen outside, that would divert the minister’s attention, and takes the letter.
    9.
    a.”…five or six visiting cards and a solitary letter…No sooner had I glanced at this letter, than I concluded it to be that of which I was in search…stepped to the card-rack, took the letter…”.
    b. Here, Dupin spots the letter and takes it.
    c.Something unique about this story is that the person who took it is already known. Usually in these kinds of stories, the main character spends time looking for the main suspect.
    d.I usually like mysteries, and so while I was reading, I was trying to think of places the Minister hid the letter.
    e. I have no questions regarding this story.

    Reply

    1. Haziq,
       I encourage you to find questions where you think there are none… It may be easier than you think to find a question to ask… In fact, you’ve found a very good question in #7.
       OK, so I would actually center part of your analysis on this question of what may have happened had the narrator of “The Money” kept it for himself. However, in order to properly analyze this question, you need to closely analyse and quote from the passage where this event occurs (toward the end of the story). What evidence is there in this passage that might suggest what the narrator would have done? There are actually multiple versions of this story floating around, but I would recommend finding the longer one (read Aravis’ post above) and looking at what the narrator thinks he could do with the money…

       But then you might also consider the question of why he returns the money to his mother… Perhaps it’s because he himself has asked your question and responded similarly to you, thinking that his mother would eventually find him out. It’s clear from elsewhere in the story that he has a hard time distancing himself from his mother (again, please read Aravis’ post above), which is perhaps another factor in why he chooses to give the money back. But again, you have to look at and quote from passages in the text that show this in order to make a compelling case…

       To tie things together a bit more: you are right that in both stories, the thief is (more or less) already known (although exactly how/why Diaz “knows” it’s his friend is unclear–he’s sorta going on intuition/assumption here). However, this assignment asks you to think about what is UNIQUE about one of these texts. So you will want to show how/why you think “The Money” is unique–ie, different from “The Purloined Letter.” Perhaps this has something to do with Diaz’ narrator’s self-interest in the money, his closeness to his mother, etc.

       Lastly, please remove the numbers and put this into prose/paragraph form rather than a numbered list. And when choosing passages to quote, please pick those with language you want to pull out to analyze. The only reason to quote (at least for this class) is to carefully examine the wording of the quotation in your discussion that comes after it. So if you wanted to use the quote you have, you’d want to be discussing questions like: why does Diaz refer to his friend as a “dolt”? Why “dolt” rather than “jerk”? What effect does it have that he writes he “popped up” the mattress rather than saying more simply that he “lifted” it up?
       Good luck!

       Reply

12. I analyzed two passages from the short story, “The Money” by Junot Diaz. In this story we see the theme of crime and “redemption” explored.
    The repeating idea/theme I repeatedly saw throughout the text was the theme of crime. First being when Junot was robbed by a “so-called” friend. Then secondly again when he “steals” his mother’s money back. And again towards the end he contemplates keeping the money for himself.
    Diaz writes, “Because if mine had been the normal neighborhood this is when the cops would have been called and my ass would have been caught burglarizing—oh the irony—imagine me trying to explain that one to my mother….I popped up the doll’s mattress and underneath I found my AD&D books and also most of my mother’s money. The dolt had thoughtfully kept it in the same envelope. Walked out the front door and on the run back to my apartment I kept waiting for the SWAT team to zoom up but it never happened.”
    In this passage, we see the theme of crime when Diaz’ references his actions as “burglarizing”.
    What I notice in this quotation is the fact that Diaz’ still chooses to break into the house even after recognizing it as a crime regardless of origin and perceived outcome.
    Diaz’s use of the term, “burglarizing” makes us acknowledge that he understands that even though he is rightful in wanting vengeance, he could still get into trouble. No wrong makes a right.
    What is strange about this passage is the way the author presents himself as guilty of crime by stating that stealing back his family’s stuff is “burglary”. He’s essentially his own Robin Hood.
    Another passage where Diaz presents himself as a thief is at the end of the story where he tells us he has contemplated keeping his mother’s money for himself.
    Diaz writes, “Took me two days to return the money to my mother. Truth was I was seriously considering keeping it. I’d never had that much money hand and who in those days didn’t want a Colecovision? But in the end the guilt got to me and I gave it to her and told her what had happened.”
    In this passage we see where Junot does not steal from his own mother but plays with the idea of it for self gratification.
    What I notice about this quote that Junot shows a lot of restraint that speaks to his character. He displays a lot of integrity even though at the end his mother does not reward him in a way that he sees fit. By doing absolutely nothing.
    As a reader we can relate to Junot being young and wanting to have items. But he shows us that he has virtute by giving the money back to his mother. Then we feel for him when he does this and his mother does not repay/ reimburse him in any way. It makes us wonder if it was a valiant effort for his family? Is it even pitiful that he expected a reward even though it was due partially to his mouth and the company he keeps?

    Another thing I noticed was how Diaz respects the opinion and wants the approval from his mother. When he considered that he would be caught stealing and imagining his mother hearing about him stealing made him second guess going back to the friends apartment. And even after going through the process of bringing the money back he again feels a bit slighted that his mother did not reward him. This goes to show how important his relationship to his mother is. And we also see action versus consequence.

    Reply

    1. Aravis, good to read you. Some thoughts for revising this/Essay 2:

       –I see you’ve made line breaks after each #, but I think what you have here could be combined into about two paragraphs; one key paragraph break would go before you transition into your analysis of passage two (“Another passage where Diaz…”).

       –A couple things here: you are quoting from the extended version of this story, so it could be interesting to examine some of the differences between this version and the one in the PDF–e.g., in your version, Diaz inserts an interjection–“oh, the irony”–into the passage where he says he would’ve been caught burglarizin’. What is the effect of this sort of addition? This one could actually point you in the direction of thinking about irony in this text–crime that attempts to right crime, etc. Is “irony” something that makes this text unique? You could discuss this in your thesis?

       –Before I get carried away, though, the other thing about the version you’re analyzing: I think you’re right to pick upon Diaz’ rather fraught relation to his mother that is even more emphasized in this version. Perhaps you want to say loud and clear in your thesis that what makes this text unique compared to other crime stories is the narrator’s closeness with his mother? There is some tension/irony here too: he seems both overly concerned with what she thinks of his deeds and also is totally willing to do stuff he knows she’d look down on (break in to his friend’s, keep the money, etc.). What to make of this?

       –Lastly, in your analysis of passage 1, you write that “no wrong makes a right.” Do you think this is true in this story? Can you either develop this claim by connecting it to the text more–are you saying Diaz is wrong to steal his family’s things back from his friend–or perhaps you could reconsider whether you think this to be true, always…
       Thank you!

       Reply

13. The two passages from one text that I want you to find to closely read and analyze will involve some sort of repetition that links them together. I’ve already repeated (!) this example from “The Money” countless times, but think of the passages in the money involving thievery; there are at least 3:
    –the friend’s thievery
    –Diaz’ thievery when he breaks into his friend’s house
    –Diaz’ thievery when he considers keeping the money from his mother.
    Once you’ve identified two passages that repeat the same idea or theme, I want you to post them in your response below. I want you to:

    I know that we are meant to write about “The money” and “The Purloined Letter” as the two passages but I must say, I found there to be more similarities between Poe’s story and my first story from Essay 1, “The Machine”. Since my Essay story was based on the Money, I thought it would add to my HW prompt if I included it in my answers as well.

    1. Introduce the title and author of the text and summarize the “big picture” of what it is about.

    “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allen Poe. In this story, the Prefect (a police officer) was commissioned by a lady of royal status to find an explicit letter that was stolen from her. She knew who stole it and the Prefect was informed of this. He frantically and “thoroughly” searches for the letter, inch by inch, when the culprit isn’t at his hotel but doesn’t find it anywhere. In his disappointment, he confides in two of his friends about his predicament. They try to give him some advice resulting in a second search which also failed. In the end, one of the friends he confided in finds the letter and gives it to him for a reward. The friend then explains his thought process regarding how he came to find the letter! The story involves a lot of thievery and lies when it comes to this letter.

    “The Machine” by Stephanie Dirani. In this story, the daughter creates an involved plan to get back some very important blueprints that were stolen from her mother. In this story, the daughter confides in the audience (the readers of her story) of how she knew who stole the blueprints. It was a matter of her father’s health and well-being! The daughter talks about the backstory of how the blueprints came to be, and what the blueprints will do. They allow her father to walk again! She tells the audience her plan, and how it plays out. In the end, she is able to get the blueprints back and returns them to her mother!

    “The Money” by Junot Diaz. In this story, Junot tells us the backstory of why and how his mother saves up money to send home to her family. After going on vacation, they discover they have been robbed only for Junot to find out his friends did it! He creates an intricate half-baked plan that ends up successful. He gets the money and other stolen items back and after some internal struggle, returns the money to his mother.

    2. Describe the repeating idea/theme you’ve noticed in both passages

    In all the passages the repeating ideas are:

    -there is a robbery of some kind where the item that is stolen has great value to its owners.
    -someone other than the owner is responsible for getting the item back.
    -there is a plan involved to get the item back without the robber’s knowledge. (Thievery again)
    -The plan succeeds
    -The item isn’t immediately returned to the owner due to one of these factors: internal struggle, an ulterior motive of getting something in return, and/or expecting some kind of reward for their actions.
    -The item is returned to the rightful owner.
    Basically, the two main themes are thievery and plotting.

    3. Transition into the quotation using a signal phrase (e.g., Diaz writes, “[quotation].”)
    Transition out of the quotation by explaining again how it shows us the repeating idea/theme you’ve noticed. Refer to specific words/phrases in the quoted passage (e.g., In this passage, we see the repeating idea of thievery turn up again in Diaz’ reference to “burglarizin’.
    4. Discuss what you think is unique about the content of the passage, including its word choice (e.g., Something I notice in this quotation is the slang version of the term “burglarizing” that Diaz uses.)

    Now for the evidence, starting with the first repeating idea:

    -there is a robbery of some kind where the item that is stolen has great value to its owners.

    Poe writes on pg 8, “…a certain document has been purloined from the royal apartments. ”
    Stephanie writes on Page 1 end of the second paragraph, “I distinctly remember the anguished scream that escaped from my mother’s throat when she noticed the heavily armed door…left open.”
    “Diaz writes on his 1st page last sentence, “…they’d snatched a portable radio, some of my Dungeons & Dragons hardcovers, and, of course, Mami’s remittance.”

    In the above passages, we can see that the valuable item was stolen. In Poe’s passage, we see that it’s stated as a fact that the letter had been purloined. Furthermore, the rest of the passage also states “The individual who purloined it is known…he was seen to take it.” Beyond a doubt, we know the letter was stolen because it was witnessed!

    In Stephanie’s passage, we see the moment of realization that there was a robbery.

    In Diaz’s passage, we know for a fact what was stolen.

    -someone other than the owner is responsible for getting the item back.

    Poe writes on pg 9, “In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the matter to me.”
    Stephanie writes on pg 2 end of paragraph 3, “I had to create a plan.”
    Diaz writes on the last page, “I popped up the dolt’s mattress and underneath I found my D. & D. books and most of my mother’s money.”

    In the above passages, we can see who was responsible to get the item back. In Poe’s passage, it’s the Prefect is responsible. In Stephanie’s story, it’s the daughter. And in Junot’s story, it’s Junot who ends up getting the items back.

    -there is a plan involved to get the item back without the robber’s knowledge. (Thievery again)

    Poe writes on pg 9, “My first care was to make thorough search of the minister’s hotel…searching without his knowledge.”
    Stephanie writes at the end of page 2, “ I remembered his go-to dessert was tiramisu and I knew I needed a way to mix alcohol with enough Xanax to knock him out without him knowing…A piece of cake should have him out for about three hours, plenty of time for me to snoop, make a mess, and swap out the cakes for the normal one.”
    Diaz writes at the end of page 2, “Here’s what I did: I asked the main
    dope to let me use his bathroom (we were in front of his apartment) and while I pretended to piss I unlatched the window. Then we all headed to the park as usual, but I pretended that I’d forgotten something back home. Ran to the dope’s apartment, slid open the bathroom window, and in broad daylight wriggled my skinny ass in.”

    In the above passages, we see that in all three stories there was a factor of plotting to “steal back” the stolen items. Even though in Poe’s story it’s a cop doing it, that doesn’t make it right. There’s no warrant to search the property, the owner isn’t present to allow for the search. In my opinion, it’s still technically illegal regardless of the fact that it’s cops and being done for royalty. No one should be above the law. In Stephanie’s passage, She’s also doing something illegal. She’s drugging another human being. Of course, she could have gone to the police since she had evidence of the whole thing on her cameras, but she felt the need to do it herself because of what the blueprints meant to her, just like how the Prefect knew what that letter meant to the royal, and just like Junot knew what the money meant to his mother. In Junot’s passage, something similar to what happened in Stephanie’s passage occurred. He also engaged in an illegal plan in which he was “burglarizin’” He was breaking into his friend’s home to steal back his stuff. He talks about how he can’t involve the cops because they basically wouldn’t give a shit considering the neighborhood he lives in and felt he had to take matters into his own hands. One could even argue that in all three stories, the person responsible for getting the item back was giving their respective robbers “a taste of their own medicine”. Therefore, we are seeing “thievery” again.

    -The plan succeeds

    Now in Poe’s story, the plan of the Prefect fails partially in the sense that his search turned up nothing, but it (unknowingly to him) succeeded in the sense of going to his friends for help in which one of them was able to get the letter back for him and therefore the Prefect returns it to the royal. On the other hand, the plan of the friend who got the letter back succeeded. Poe writes on pg 14, “…took thence the letter and gave it to the Prefect.”
    Stephanie writes on the last page, “My plan worked like a charm!”
    We read earlier that Junot found the items under the friend’s mattress but furthermore, Diaz writes on the last page, “And that was how I solved the Case of the Stupid Morons.” So we know he made it out.

    In the above passages, which speak for themselves, we see that they were all able to successfully get the items back one way or another whether it be themselves or with a friend’s help.

    -The item isn’t immediately returned to the owner due to one of these factors: internal struggle, an ulterior motive of getting something in return, and/or expecting some kind of reward for their actions.

    In Poe’s story, there’s a factor that plays a role. We know the Prefect runs to return the letter, but due to the events that happened, it was the Prefect that didn’t get the letter immediately and by default, the royal didn’t get the letter immediately. This is because the friend had a bit of an ulterior motive and I’ll talk a little more about this below. Poe writes on pg 14, “ ‘You may as well fill me up a check for the amount mentioned. When you have signed it, I will hand you the letter.’”
    Stephanie will write something along the lines of this in her final draft of the story, “I struggled for a couple of days about whether or not I should make a sketch of the blueprints to give to my Dad’s ex-partner before returning the prints to my mother. After all, his wife is innocent in all this and she deserves a chance to walk too.”
    Diaz writes on the last page, “It took me two days to return the money to my mother.”

    In the above passages, we see that there was a delay in the return of the letter. In Poe’s story, the friend doesn’t return the letter to the Prefect, who would return the letter to the royal, until he received the reward money. In a way, this is also illegal. He’s giving an ultimatum to the Prefect in order to get money out of him for a letter that isn’t even his. This shows us the constant theme of illegal activity. In Stephanie’s story, her conscience is poking at her to think about the wife. Although, the ex-partner did the family wrong by stealing the prints rather than make amends and get the blessing of the mother to use the chip on his wife; the daughter feels that the wife shouldn’t be punished any further by being denied this opportunity to walk. But she realizes, in the end, it’s not up to her, but up to her family. Junot faces a similar dilemma. He debates keeping the money for himself, after all, he was the one who got it back. But, his conscience also gets to him and he finally returns the money to his mother. Both Junot and the daughter go through an internal struggle regarding the matter.

    And finally, -The item is returned to the rightful owner.

    Poe writes on pg 14, “[the Prefect]…scrambling and struggling to the door…rushed at length…from the house…”
    Stephanie writes on the last page, “I returned the plans to my mother and told her everything starting with my suspicions (again), and ending with how I got the plans back.”
    Diaz writes on the last page, “It took me two days to return the money to my mother.”

    In the above passages, we see that they speak for themselves. In the end, the items were returned, nevertheless, by the means of illegal activity, thievery, and plotting.

    What I find unique about each story is the style of writing. Of course, the time it was written in plays a factor, but so does the way the writers were raised to speak. Poe wrote in the way of his time. It was tough to understand some of the more formal writing compared to the modernization of the English language. But it adds to the feel of the story. It’s the same way when a writer from the 21st century writes in the vernacular of the 19th century, etc. Stephanie writes in a formal modern style, and Junot writes in the slang used in the neighborhood of his story. It all adds to the time and setting of the story to make you feel like you’re actually there with the characters.

    6. Discuss the effects this passage has on you as a reader (e.g., Diaz’s use of New Jersey slang here speaks to me and probably many other readers who’ve grown up hearing vernacular versions of English being spoken on the street.).

    I believe I also answered this when answering #5 in the paragraph above.

    7. Discuss questions you have about the passage (e.g., Something odd about this passage is the way the narrator presents himself as guilty of a crime by characterizing his act stealing back his family’s stuff as a form of “burglary.” Why might he have done this?).

    I think in all three stories, the characters incriminated themselves regardless of actually saying they are committing a crime. Junot says he’s “burglarizin’”; the daughter says she’s going to “knock him out without him knowing” and the Prefect says he’s “searching without his knowledge”. In all three stories, they incriminate themselves. What’s unique is that the characters know they’re incriminating themselves with the readers. They’re aware that what they’re doing is illegal. Well, at least Junot and the daughter are aware. The Prefect, on the other hand, seems to be oblivious to it all. This raises a question to me: Why did Poe write him as an oblivious man who has a lot of things just “fly over his head”. The friend, that stole the letter back, points out a few things as part of the story. He mentions how the Prefect didn’t think it suspicious that the hotel room was empty every night he went to search. Why didn’t he find the letter despite using a microscope to search every inch of the property? Why wouldn’t the Prefect profile the thief correctly, if he even attempted to at all? The friend that stole the letter profiled the thief and knew to search for the letter as if it were hidden in plain sight. It was literally out in the open. I think that the Prefect was written that way in order to provide the opportunity for the friend to find the letter himself, in a clever but criminal way, and then return the letter to the Prefect, also in a criminal way.

    8. Transition into the next passage you’ve found that repeats the same idea (e.g., Another passage where Diaz presents himself as a thief of sorts is at the end of the story where he tells us he has thought of keeping his mother’s money for himself.)

    I think in all three stories, the characters repeatedly incriminate themselves. In Poe’s passage, I want to focus more on the friend here, the friend repeatedly incriminates himself, first when he says he’s spying on the thief (I understood he was spying at first with the green glasses?), again when he switched out the letters during the distraction, and a third time when he embezzled money from the Prefect in exchange for the letter. In Stephanie’s passage, the daughter incriminates herself the first time when she says she put up cameras without anyone’s knowledge; again when she puts the drugs in the rum; again when she drugs the ex-partner, when she steals back the blueprints, when she vandalizes the son’s room, and again when she keeps the blueprints that aren’t hers until she returns them to her mom. And finally Junot, he incriminates himself repeatedly as well. First, when he lied to his “friends”; then, unlatched the window with the intent of robbery; then, when he actually breaks in and is “burglarizin’”; and finally when he keeps the money for a few days.

    One thing I want to add about the similarities between “The Purloined Letter” and “The Machine” is the fact that in both stories, getting the item back involved direct contact with the thief. In Poe’s story, the friend visits the thief “as a friend” and discovers the letter followed by another plan on switching them out. I couldn’t quite make out if the distraction was planned or just a happy coincidence but in Stephanie’s story, there also was the happy coincidence that the house was empty because of the mother-son retreat. These coincidences allowed the plans to be successful and aid in not getting caught.

    Reply

    1. Professor, I misnumbered numbers 3,4,5 as only 3 &4 (number 4 is actually number 5 and number 4 is in the middle without a number.

       Reply

    2. Stephanie, this is immense (as I’ve come to expect from you)–thank you for this generative post. Might I recommend that–because there is so much material here–we try to whittle it down to its essence? What I have in mind is this:

       –You mention in several different ways something about Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” that makes it unique: the peculiarly motivated status of “plotting” in it. Can I recommend that you focus your thesis (and the comparisons you make to your other texts) on this aspect alone? Here are some thoughts you might follow with regard to this:

       —-There is an ambiguity to the term “plotting”; on one hand, it literally means “scheming” or in the case of these tales, “planning to get even with” or “planning to exact justice of some kind.” But it (“plotting”) is also (less literally or commonly) a literary term used to describe the act of making a narrative (or “plot”). In the case of Poe’s text, which is a framed narrative (a narrative passed from one narrator to another via hearsay) but most of which is told from the first-person perspective of Dupin, the narrator “plots” in both ways: he schemes to exact justice and he also creates the form through which the story is told. I would *love* to see you play with this aspect of the text (which, given that it is a “framed narrative” makes it unique compared to your others): what is the significance/effect of Poe’s narrative framing? It could be argued that the narrators of “The Machine” and “The Money” also “plot” insofar as they make their own version of the stories in which they “plot” to get even with those who rob them; however, the framing in Poe’s text perhaps allows us to “see” more clearly how Dupin (at least in the opening/frame) is himself a character in the plot with his own private motivations. Because neither “The Machine” nor “The Money” contain a narrative frame like this, we may be less inclined to see their narrators as also characters with their own motivations (which in turn impact their storytelling in ways that could make them “unreliable”); it’s possible for us to surmise this, but there is no formal structure in these stories as there is in Poe’s which forces us to confront this aspect of the narrators.

       –This is a lot I realize, so I’ll stop there; e-mail me with questions!

       Reply

14. The story “The Money” by Junot Diaz It’s about a life event that happened when he was 12 years old. He started his story by explaining the economic condition of his family, his mother had no steady employment, and his father had also lost his work. Despite the fact that they didn’t have enough money to support themselves, his mother managed to save $200 to $300 to send it to the Dominican Republic for her parents, one day they went to a family vacation and they came back to see that their house was a mess, it was obvious that someone broke into their house to steal. The thieves took all the money that his mother was saving to send it to her parents but instead of his mother being mad at the thieves she was mad at him and the rest of her kids, she was blaming them for the robbery. Days after the robbery he was telling some of the stories to his friends and he noticed something suspicious. He saw that they weren’t taking him seriously so immediately he knew it was them the ones that stole the money. So he decided to do the same thing and break into the thieves’ house to get the money back and fortunately he did. It took him two days to return the money to his mother. He wanted to keep it, but he was feeling guilty on his conscience so he decided to give it back to her.

    The story “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Poe It’s about a letter taken from the Paris Royal Residence. In the story, Gupin was asked by the detective to assist in the investigation of a robbery involving a senior government official. When the police investigated the apartment of the suspected suspect, they never found evidence that could be used against the suspected suspect because the suspect knew how the police worked. Once Gupin paid a visit to Minister D, he persuaded him to speak and watched the surroundings until he found the message. When Gupin executed his scheme, he was successful in replacing the letter with a similar letter, and the proof was collected.

    2. The theme in both stories is the crime of theft. I also found in both passages that both of them have strong acts of theft, and of taking back the items that the rightful owners deserve. Those who steal the property of another person, like Junot Diaz, and The Purloined Letter, can destroy the lives of the owners whose livelihoods and futures rely on such things.

    3. Diaz wrote “ The summer I was twelve, my family went away on a “vacation”—one of my father’s half-baked get-to-knowour-country-better-by-sleeping-in-the-van extravaganzas—and when we returned to Jersey, exhausted, battered, we found our front door unlocked… The thieves had kept it simple; they’d snatched a portable radio, some of my Dungeons & Dragons hardcovers, and, of course, Mami’s remittances.”

    4. The repeating idea/theme in this passage is the word “burglary”, which shows the reader what the content and what is all about in the story.

    5. What is remarkable about the substance of the text, I believe, is the use and contrast of words. Something I found unique was the word “burglarizing” because it gives the reader a more understanding of what’s going on in the reading.

    6. It affected me because I could relate more to his story because I’m also a Dominican born and raised, then my family decided to come to the USA and my mother also sends money from my homeland in DR to my grandmother. I also could see the same style of living but different situations.

    7. The question I have been wanting to know about the character Diaz, was why he did want to give the money to his mother? And why did I have to feel guilt to give the money back? Why did he think he was going to be praised by his mother for bringing some of the money back?

    8. In the Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe, Similar actions by Diaz are taken as proof and reinstated by the rightful owner. At the end of the day, the evil deeds did not work as Diaz worked as an investigator to collect all the information he wanted to return it to the owner. This is why both of these stories are really similar to each other.

    Reply

    1. Emanuel, hey! Good work so far; here’s what I’m thinking as far as improvements:

       1. See if you can combine 1-7 into paragraph form. You may have multiple paragraphs, but not one for each #. That said, make sure whenever you make a new paragraph you are doing so because you are shifting from one thing to another thing (e.g., writing about Poe’s passage to writing about Diaz’ passage).

       2. OK, first and foremost, let’s develop your thesis about what is unique in “The Money.” You seem drawn to the use of the term “burglarizin’.” This is Dominican slang. To make your thesis about what in this text is unique, you could say something like: What makes Diaz’ text unique is the way he uses a classic crime story plot but tells this story through a multi-faceted style that incorporates Dominican-American slang.

       3. If you do the above, you still have to find passages that show us this slang at work and closely analyze the s*** out of them! Fortunately for you, passages like the one you’ve chosen in #3 are chock full of slang. BUT you have to write way more about the specific slang words in each passage and how they effect you. What’s so great (to you) about the slang phrase “half-baked get-to-know-our-country-better-by-sleeping-in-the-van extravaganzas”? Wait, no, back up: what, in the first place is “slang” about this? What is a more “formal” (not slang) way Diaz could have expressed this thought? Why didn’t he express this thought in a more formal way? What are the effects on you as a reader of his decision to use slang here? Is “extravaganza” also bilingual slang? (Does that word exist in SpanisH?) Is this significant? Why/not? These are but a few of the questions this single phrase can open up for you (and that your discussion/analysis of this passage–and other passages you discuss in your essay–ought to address).

       Reply

15. 1. Introduce the title and author of the text and summarize the “big picture” of what it is about.

    In the short story “The Money” by Junot Diaz, a boy and his family immigrated from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey. The family are living a difficult life because they were poor. The boy’s parents used their leftover money to send it back to their family in the Dominican Republic.

    In the short story “The Purloined Letter” by Edgar Allen Poe, a detective named Auguste Dupin was trying to solve a high-end crime from the French Queen. A thief had stolen a letter from the French Queen and starts blackmailing her.

    2. Describe the repeating idea/theme you’ve noticed in both passages

    The repeating ideas I noticed in “The Money” and “The Purloined Letter” is that both narrator’s important items were stolen from thieves. Both stories are crime related stories. Both stories have the narrator’s important items stolen from thieves. Thieves are known for committing crimes and to steal for others. The thieves that stole the items in “The Money” and “The Purloined Letter” can create a huge impact on the owner’s life.

    3. Transition into the quotation using a signal phrase (e.g., Diaz writes, “[quotation].”)

    In “The Money”, Diaz writes “ The summer I was twelve, my family went away on a “vacation”—one of my father’s half-baked get-to-know- our-country-better-by-sleeping-in-the-van extravaganzas—and when we returned to Jersey, exhausted, battered, we found our front door unlocked.”

    4. Transition out of the quotation by explaining again how it shows us the repeating idea/theme you’ve noticed. Refer to specific words/phrases in the quoted passage (e.g., In this passage, we see the repeating idea of thievery turn up again in Diaz’ reference to “burglarizin’.

    In the passage, we see the repeating idea of robbery in Diaz’ reference to “stealing”.

    5. Discuss what you think is unique about the content of the passage, including its word choice (e.g., Something I notice in this quotation is the slang version of the term “burglarizing” that Diaz uses.)

    Something that I think is unique to about the passage is the slang term of the word “thief” that Diaz uses.

    6. Discuss the effects this passage has on you as a reader (e.g., Diaz’ use of New Jersey slang here speaks to me and probably many other readers who’ve grown up hearing vernacular versions of English being spoken on the street.).

    Diaz’ use of accents reminds me that there are a lot of people that use different accents when speaking English. There are a variety of English accents that is still being used.

    7. Discuss questions you have about the passage (e.g., Something odd about this passage is the way the narrator presents himself as guilty of a crime by characterizing his act stealing back his family’s stuff as a form of “burglary.” Why might he have done this?).

    One question I have about the passage is Why did the narrator steal his family items and belonging? What was his intentions and motive for all of this?

    8. Transition into the next passage you’ve found that repeats the same idea (e.g., Another passage where Diaz presents himself as a thief of sorts is at the end of the story where he tells us he has thought of keeping his mother’s money for himself.)

    Another passage where Edgar Allen Poe presents himself as the detective that had successfully solved the crime at the end of the story by searching for the queen’s letter in the thief’s apartment. He later returns the letter back to the queen.

    3. Transition into the quotation using a signal phrase (e.g., Diaz writes, “[quotation].”)

    In “The Purloined Letter”, Poe writes “For its practical value it depends upon this.”

    4. Transition out of the quotation by explaining again how it shows us the repeating idea/theme you’ve noticed. Refer to specific words/phrases in the quoted passage (e.g., In this passage, we see the repeating idea of thievery turn up again in Diaz’ reference to “burglarizin’.

    In “The Purloined Letter”, we see the repeating idea of principle shows up again in Poe’ reference to “objective”.

    5. Discuss what you think is unique about the content of the passage, including its word choice (e.g., Something I notice in this quotation is the slang version of the term “burglarizing” that Diaz uses.)

    Something that I think is unique in the passage is the slang version of the word “unprincipled” that Poe uses.

    6. Discuss the effects this passage has on you as a reader (e.g., Diaz’ use of New Jersey slang here speaks to me and probably many other readers who’ve grown up hearing vernacular versions of English being spoken on the street.)

    Poes’ use of words such as “lamp” and “smoke” tells me that in the present time period, we still use lamps for reading and to use it for work. People smoke because they have a habit of smoking or they want to relax themselves by smoking.

    7. Discuss questions you have about the passage (e.g., Something odd about this passage is the way the narrator presents himself as guilty of a crime by characterizing his act stealing back his family’s stuff as a form of “burglary.” Why might he have done this?).

    One question I have is that why does the minister hide the letter in his apartment? What will the punishment be when detective Dupin finds the letter?

    8. Transition into the next passage you’ve found that repeats the same idea (e.g., Another passage where Diaz presents himself as a thief of sorts is at the end of the story where he tells us he has thought of keeping his mother’s money for himself.)

    Another passage where Jacob Diaz present himself as the narrator that plays himself as the thief. He unlocks his parents’ house and steal his parent’s leftover money without anyone noticing him. When the parents got home, they noticed that the door was open. They were wondering who had open the door.

    Reply

    1. Good to see your work, Victor. Some thoughts:

       1. See if you can combine 1-7 into paragraph form. You may have multiple paragraphs, but not one for each #. That said, make sure whenever you make a new paragraph you are doing so because you are shifting from one thing to another thing (e.g., writing about Poe’s passage to writing about Diaz’ passage).

       2. By 2 passages, I mean two excerpts from the same text——in other words two quotations from Poe. Or two quotations from Diaz–whichever text you’re focusing on as the “unique” one.

       3. I’m interested in your proposal that “objective” is a repeating idea/word in Poe’s text; however, I’m not seeing evidence of this in the passages you are discussing. Can you find passages that show this repeating word/idea and discuss those?

       4. I’m also interested in your observation that Diaz uses “accents” in his text. You could focus on “The Money” as your primary “unique” text and argue that what makes this text unique is the way he combines classic crime story form (a la “The Purloined Letter”) with Dominican vernacular style. The key word here is vernacular (slang); Diaz uses it; Poe (contrary to what you say) does NOT. (Poe writes in a peculiar style, but it can be stuffy and formal; it’s really not slang.)

       Reply

16. 1. The big picture about Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” depicts a man who out-meanuevers police detective work via cross-examining procedures from the Parisian Chief of Police and was able to use unorthodox but calculated methods to retrieve the document. This unorthodox way of thinking which supersedes traditional police investigative technique had made its way to “The Money”by Junot Diaz by showing the protagonist sneak into the thieves home and stealing back to the belonging.

    2. A repeating theme would be solving a crime by committing a crime.

    3. Edgar Allen Poe writes, “The disturbance in the street had been occasioned by the frantic behavior of a man with a musket. He had fired it among a crowd of women and children. It proved, however, to have been without ball, and the fellow was suffered to go his way as a lunatic or a drunkard. When he had gone, D-came from the window, whither I had followed him immediately upon securing the object in view. Soon afterwards I bade him farewell. The pretended lunatic was a man in my own pay.” and Diaz states in his passage Now it wasn’t like I could publicly denounce these dolts or go to the police. That would have been about as useless as crying. Here’s what I did: I asked the main dope to let me use his bathroom (we were in front of his apartment) and while I pretended to piss I unlatched the window and then we all headed down to the community pool as usual. But while they dove in I pretended to forget something back home. Ran back to the thieve’s apartment, slid open the bathroom window and in broad daylight wriggled my skinny ass into his apartment; his mom was of course at work.”

    4. The repeating idea that I noticed would be the concept of fighting fire with fire instead of letting or trusting the authorities to handle this case the common conception in these two stories would be to take matters in to their own hand because the police have been proven to be ineffective.

    5. The uniqueness of these texts definitely stems from how they take the mystery genre and curve it to be more direct instead of suspensefully drawn out and it almost seems as these two stories are generally more straightforward than need be in regards to genre identification.

    6. These passages as a reader were entertaining to read because I wasn’t expecting it to be this direct but also take a left turn so hard, a kid breaking and entering to retrieve stolen goods and then a man who incites a public shooting to steal back and forge the document replacing the stolen property. A lot of excitement in such very short stories and I appreciate the writers for their bright ideas.

    7. My only question is towards the Edgar Allen Poe story and why he censors out the Minister’s name, maybe due to the historical context of the time this was made or perhaps to immerse the reader into the story by showing how dire the situation is and critical the balance of power was at stake to the point where names in this high level situation couldn’t even be disclosed.

    Reply

    1. Nice reading you, Miguel. A couple thoughts for this (and the Essay 2 it will form):
       1. See if you can combine 1-7 into paragraph form. You may have multiple paragraphs, but not one for each #. That said, make sure whenever you make a new paragraph you are doing so because you are shifting from one thing to another thing (e.g., writing about Poe’s passage to writing about Diaz’ passage).

       2. As per the above, I’m imagining 1-2 pargraphs (at least) discussing your close reading of the passage from Poe you’ve chosen——then a transition and another 1-2 paragraphs dealing with the passage from Diaz and how Poe’s is different.

       3. In your analysis, please pay closer attention to Poe’s word choice (and Diaz’ word choice). For instance, you could discuss the phrase “whither I had followed him immediately upon securing the object in view”: what is this word “whither”? What does Poe’s use of this word signal about the style he’s writing in? When he refers vaguely to “the object in view”, what is he talking about? Why might he refer to this “object” in indirect terms rather than more directly calling it what it is? Is there something “mysterious” about this style which perhaps relates to the “mystery” plot at the center of the story? Discuss!

       Reply

17. Kwame Manuh
    due 6/22
    Prof. Monroe.

    “The Money” by Junot Diaz is a short story about a young boy who lives with his parents in a small town in New Jersey. Diaz’s family were not wealthy and so his parents had to support him and his four other siblings. In addition his mother had to support their grandparent who was living in the Dominican Republic. Diaz did not have a stable job thus made it hard to support the family when. His mother also suffered the same faith not having a stable job. Diaz’s mum saves money to about $200 so he can send it to his grandparents at the end of every 6 months. The neighbourhood they live in was not exactly what was not exactly the best neighbourhood. Oneday Diaz and his parents went on a vacation and upon returning their home was burglarized. Their mother’s room was the main target whereas Diaz’s room was also targeted. The money their mother saves to send to their grandparents back home was stolen along with Diaz’s D&D game. Diaz’s mother was very pissed at his son because she knew that his son dragged his friends to tell them their mother hides money somewhere in the house. Diaz’s mother flipped out and yelled at everybody in the house.The next day Diaz went to the park to meet his friends and upon meeting them they acted in a way which wasn’t normal. Diaz immediately knew that they were the ones who burglarized the house. He asked to go to the main coperates house so that he could use the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom he unleashed their window and pretended that he was using their bathroom. When they were returning to the park, Diaz pretended to have left something at home so he left the group and headed to his friends apartment in broad daylight. He entered the apartment through the front of the window he slid open. He searched the house and found his mother’s savings and also found his D&D game. He took them all and went back home. He contemplated on keeping the money but as he taught about his mother he couldn’t help but give the money back to her. Days later his friends came to the park complaining that they had been robbed of their life savings.
    In the short story the repeating idea of the story is a burglary. This happens to Diaz’s family and his friend’s house. They both were broken into and their belongings were taken. Although technically Diaz’s friend didn’t own the money and D&D game it was still in his possession when it was stolen. Diaz states that, “Everybody got hit; no matter where you are eventually it would be your turn.” In this quote we see the idea of burglary repeating itself. Diaz and his neighbors know that their neighbourhood is eventually going to be burglarised someday and somehow they just didn’t know when. By saying “It is not as if the robbery came as a huge surprise.” He understands that someday it will be his turn to get robbed. Although it came when he was least expecting it he understood well the environment he lived in and what the people did in order to make money.
    While reading the passage I found the content used words straight to the point it made the words concise and reading the passage smooth. Some parts of the passage I find unrelated like the mentioning of the CSI. Although this was not there was no investigation conducted to find the burglar. I also found this sentence which struck me which was that “ The thief kept it simple…. It’s pretty ironic when a robbery is considered simple in other words most of the robberies hit hard and they take such valuable items that it affects an individual decades into the future.
    In reading this I don’t particularly take it hard because I live in a neighbourhood where crime rate is 15 per 1000 houses in a year and even if you were robbed they take your TV and other valuable goods. So in playing the odds plus living on the top floor of my apartment I don’t think this affects me in any way. But this plays a role in society where crime rates in a neighbourhood forces the overwhelming presence of police and because they know our reputation they tend to treat us rough.This burglary in the story connects to many big cities in America where theft is linked to homicide and many disastrous outcomes.
    The question I have about this passage is that in society when we live by an eye for an eye everybody goes blind. (Gandhi). If we hurt somebody they hurt us or kill somebody that killed our relatives then there will be no one left on earth. I think that this story somehow is promoting some sort of tict for tact situation which I vehemently disagree with.
    “Run to the dope house slid open the bathroom window and in broad daylight slid my little ass into the house”. Although in the robbery of Diaz’s house the front door was broken into in reverse it is the same idea. The house was broken into and the valuables were taken. Diaz and one of his friends were the main coperates in the robbery story.

    The Purloined letter by Edgar Allen Poe is a similar story to “The money because they both involve taking something that didn’t belong to them. “Well I may venture as far to say that the paper gives its holder a certain power where such power is immensely valuable.” This phrase shows that duplin the thief who stole this book is acted dumb in order to have power. Although they could have arrested him on suspicion they knew that if they did such a thing he would tell everyone what was written in the paper. Unlike the story “The Money” Duplin is holding the paper and the queen hostage with the paper she has and wants money in return. It’s repeating the phrase of holding hostage by saying collecting the 50,000 francs and returning the check to perfect. I think what is unique about this passage is that a detective searching an entire house and finding nothing for three months. I mean whether a well organised search a week should do it searching every corner and finding nothing for three months was a waste of labour in my opinion. For me as a reader this passage shows me that I can blackmail somebody for a lot of money but knowing that it is probably not going to happen in real life I wouldn’t try to do that in real life. Most people who are put in a position to blackmail are mostly people in power and also people who have top secrets. Personally I don’t think I will be put in such a position and even if I am I will not blackmail anybody.
    The concern I have about this passage is that Duplin was able to go free after getting the check signed. I don’t think this is possible in society right now and even if he put the letter out he was going to be considered a villain. Most whistleblowers in society nowadays are likely to be rejected by society even if they are reporting the right thing they are still perceived as not trustworthy.
    Another passage where Duplin holds them hostage is when the queen states that whoever has the paper has control over me. In this saying it illustrates that duplin had the paper and he had already committed everything to mind and the investigation that was going on by G would yield anything because Dupling was smart enough not to keep the letter in the house.

    Reply

    1. Kwame, great post. A few thoughts for revision:
       –Can you dive deeper into the language of your quotations? One word that stands out to me as worthy of exploring further is Diaz’ indication that everyone in the neighborhood got “hit”—can you unpack more of why this might be a significant word choice? How is it different than were he to say “robbed”?
       –CSI DOES seem relevant… On one hand there will be no “official” investigation of the robbery; however, Diaz seems to conduct his OWN CSI-style operation, no? Discuss this.
       –Transition into and introduce the second quote/paragraph by explaining the connection more–i.e., Another passage that emphasizes the “tit for tat” structure of Diaz story is the one where he describes breaking into his friend’s house.
       –Watch out in your reading of “The Purloined Letter”——Dupin is the detective; the Minister is the one who steals the letter from the Royal Bedroom.

       Reply

18. Queneau’s “Exercises in Style” retells the same short story, each in a different style. Each story or ‘exercise’ takes place in the S bus, discusses a vacant seat and a man wearing a ridiculous hat who later needs another button on his coat. Queneau uniquely uses many literary devices and narrations to retell the story differently each time. In the exercise “Retrograde” Queneau states “You ought to put another button on your overcoat, his friend told him” while in “You Know” he says “He was with a, you know, pal’, and he was telling him, you know, the pal was: You ought to get another button put on your coat. You know”. While both sentences have the same statement, Queneau uses a different way to express it each time. In retrograde he simply states what the friend told the man. Then in “you know” Queneau purposely adds the phrase “you know” repetitively throughout that exercise to emphasize the title “you know”. I enjoy reading Exercises in Style every time, and I enjoy reading each creative way Queneau uses word choice and style. His strategy allows the reader to see different points of view and how exactly one story can be interpreted or even told. Even the way he titles each exercise and then applies that style into the text can be considered as unique. Triptych by Namawali Serpell retells the story of a 2015 incident between a police officer and a 15 year old girl at a pool party in three different narratives. The first of a teenager at the party, the second of the police officer and the third of witnesses and bystanders of the incident. Like Queneau , Serpell uses specific word choice and style to develop the story. One style that can be noticed in Texas Pool Party is Serpell’s use of imagery. “Splish splash, we brush off the platinum drops jeweling our skin” (Triptych: Texas Pool Party). Serpell uses descriptive language and imagery to create a visual image for the reader. Rather than just saying we brush the water off our skin, she chooses her word choice carefully. It becomes clear throughout the story that like Queneau Serpells uses such writing style to uniquely develop the story.

    Reply

    1. Good start, Chelsea.
       Might I recommend a more direct way of introducing your thesis:
       What makes Queneau’s text unique is the way he uses [many literary devices and narrative perspectives] [ ] In the exercise “Retrograde,” …

       Pause after each quote and focus on the middle steps in the guidelines; pick apart the word choice, pose questions, fully unpack anything of interest in the quote. For instance, go further with your discussion of “You know”: why might Queneau have repeated this phrase over and over in this version? Is he making fun of the way some people talk? What’s the effect this has on us? Do we eventually become desensitized to this phrase? Is this what he wants?

       Also, you may want to begin with the quote from “You Know” and focus your first 1-2 paragraphs on that, followed by another 1-2 paragraphs on “Retrograde” in which you will likely want to discuss not so much the word choice (although you are welcome to) as much as the plot form (things moving backward in time; you may want to choose a couple sequential passages from “Retrograde” that show this happening).

       Same thing with Serpell–you really have so much more to unpack in your discussion after the quote. Don’t simply tell us there is imagery in this quote and let it speak for itself. AFter you quote, you want to point to the images that stand out to you. You will notice in “Summertime” that the image of “platinum” repeats itself over and over again. You could pick this out of multiple passages and discuss why you think this image is repeating… Is it the preoccupation of teenagers with “platinum” records? Money? Is it a reference to the “silver” screens of phones (another repeating image in this text and very crucial to its content, given the phone recording that documents this moment of police brutality).

       Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.