Creative Writing
ENG 1141
Formal Critique
Reviewer’s Name: Sarvinoz Erkinova
Title of Piece: The Water Dancer
Author’s Name: Ta-Nehisi
Plot: I liked how the author of the story descriptively used to share the stories of his childhood memories and people he knew. At the beginning of the story, he talks about the bridge that he always avoided because it was “stained” with the memories of people he knew. Then at some point, he talks about his mother and the way she danced by looking a certain way such as with an object on her head and barefoot, and interestingly no one saw her but him. He also talks about his brother Maynard that always depended on him, and because of slavery, he wasn’t able to learn how to swim that eventually lead to his downfall.
When he mentioned that he avoided the bridge because it was stained with the memories of many mothers, uncles and cousins, does he mean that they were lynched there during slavery?
Characters: I liked how the characters in the story were broad, meaning that the story contained more than one or two characters. It made the story more vivid in a way that every character mentioned contributed to the beauty of the story. He mentioned his mother dancing and how his father fell in love with her and because of that, he came to life added a beautiful description.Â
Was the author really trying to forget his mother when he said “I had pushed my memory of her into the “down there” of my mind”?
Point of View: The point of view is the first person narration. As we mentioned many times in class we cannot rely on this piece of information so much because it’s all about the author’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings. However, it’s not wrong because that’s his perspective and we have to look at it through his eyes.
Setting & Context: I enjoyed reading the story because I liked the context and setting it took place. It was in Virginia, and he mentioned places like the river, bridge, hills, valleys, green woods, and mountains. It made the story very rich and full of images in which as a reader I was very drawn into it.Â
How would this story feel to the reader if it took a place in a specific and designated setting such as maybe school, workplace, train, or bus?
Voice & Style: I liked how the story is by a first-person narration. Since the author uses his emotional state, opinions, and feelings about his experiences, it makes the story more descriptive, authentic, and understand the emotional state of the author more closely.Â
By mentioning slavery, and how the author’s brother dies due to that, is the author’s main target audience white or racist supremacists?
Dialogue: I really enjoyed the dialogue. It shows the audience how the author actually lived to tell the tale. He describes the horrors and beauties that the situation had to offer.Â
Hey Sarvinoz, I love how you added that the author did a good job expressing the emotions and feelings through texts. In fact the author did, with his great details and skills, it was written in person, almost like a diary.
Sarvinoz, great response. I agree with you that the stained bridge the narrator describes in the beginning of story, contributed to the story’s plot. For instance, it gave us a hint that it symbolizes a place where torture took place and people were chained. This gave us a hint to the time period the story line is written around.
Hello Sarvinoz, i like the way your explain the story with precision ,detail and precision. For someone who didn’t even read the story will understand it through your critique.
Great job.