ENG1141
Creative Writing
Formal Critique
Formal Critique: Angelica Hernandez
Title:The First Day Author:Edward P. Jones
Plot: The story is written about a five year old girl who is getting ready for her first day of kindergarten and when she arrives with her mother they are told that she isn’t allowed to get into that school. The story then reveals the solution to that issue which ends up with the girl attending another school.
Characters: The two main characters in the story are the five year old girl and her mother.
Question: How does the girl feel about her mother not being able to read or write?
Point of View: Jones writes from the point of view of a five year old girl going to her first day of kindergarten. We get to read about
Question: Does the author write this about someone else’s perspective or is this a scenario he made?
Setting & Context: The story takes place during a september morning as it says in the story. It also is set in New Jersey Avenue.
Voice & Style:I really like how descriptive Jones was throughout the reading. The reader gets to create a full image of the story. Jones really put in effort when putting in his details, like by describing movements and the positing of the hands.
Dialogue: their dialogue in the story that shows the conversation between the girl’s mother and the lady outside the school. For example āI want her to go hereā.Question: Is there a reason why the girl doesn’t have any dialogues?
Hi Angelica, I couldnāt agree more with you when you said Jones really put in effort when describing every moment, I think we were all able to picture the auditorium, the little girlās outfit and the both of the schools thanks to the description.
Hey Angelica, I like how you added on your formal critique the description of the style the author was writing in. Jones indeed had put in a lot of effort when it came to details, nice observation.