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“Only You” Reader Response

“ 'What would you like?' she asks, knowing that whatever he says, she wants to give it to him. Even if what he wants is sex, she wants to give it to him, never mind Henry, never mind her own well-known lack of interest, which is at this very moment dissolving. Alvin tells her that what he wants is to dress in her clothes, in her lingerie, that she is so beautiful he wants to feel what it is to be her, to be even closer to her. He looks right into her eyes at first, but he ends by looking down into the courtyard. Marie has no idea what to say, she refuses even to think the hurtful words that Henry would use. Whatever Alvin wants, she wants to give him. She nods her head, hoping that that is enough.”

I'm not gonna lie, this story took an unexpected turn. It wasn't unpleasant though. I didn't really connect with anything personally in the story. As an overarching theme of finding beauty in unlikely places, this story was executed really well. This story definitely challenged my views. I found myself wanting the story to choose where it wanted to go as far as whether Alvin was gay or whether he liked Marie too. Don't get me wrong, I know its possible for Alvin to be Trans and still like women. I just didn't see that coming. That plot twist alone has taught me to be more mindful of an individual and their unique intersectionality when it comes to how they are able to express themselves. It didn't address anything that resonated with me personally, I felt it was more entertaining than anything else.  

Overall, This was a good read. It was mysterious enough to keep the reader intrigued until the end where it gave you the truth and those conflicting emotions that developed during reading were made plain and your feelings afterwards are yours to deal with. 

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“The Empathy Exams” Reader Response

“I heard making this up as an accusation that I was inventing emotions I didn’t have, but I think he was suggesting I’d mistranslated emotions that were already there – attaching long-standing feelings of need and insecurity to the particular event of this abortion; exaggerating what I felt in order to manipulate him into feeling bad. This accusation hurt not because it was entirely wrong but because it was partially right, and because it was leveled with such coldness. He was offering insight in order to defend himself, not to make me feel better. But there was truth behind it. He understood my pain as something actual and constructed at once. He got that it was necessarily both – that my feelings were also made of the way I spoke them. When he told me I was making things up, he didn’t mean I wasn’t feeling anything. He meant that feeling something was never simply a state of submission but always, also, a process of construction. I see all this, looking back. I also see that he could have been gentler with me. We could have been gentler with each other.” (Jamison, 14)

This essay was amazing. I mean, at first it was hard to get into because it was confusing. But once she began to relate the little anecdotes to her personal dilemmas, the story came alive. My relation to this story is somewhat scattered. I cant relate to any situation she described in her writing as a whole, but I do relate to bits and pieces of it. For example, I've considered myself an empathetic person, had trouble connecting with my significant other, and I actually had the same heart procedure she wrote about. This reading didn't challenge what I believed as much as it broadened my thinking when it comes to if empathizing is as “intimate and compassionate” as we’ve always sold it to be. Or is it self-indulgent and wrong. This paper was very personal to the writer and her own experience. That being said, I don't think it really addressed anything as much as it told a singular story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this essay. I'm a poet so the figurative elements of this essay were definitely appreciated. 

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“Black Men in Public Spaces” Reader Response

“Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care, particularly late in the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particularly when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans. If I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, I may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem to be following them. I have been calm and extremely congenial on those rare occasions when I've been pulled over by the police.” 

This quote from Brent Staples’s article is one of the most eye-opening paragraphs I’ve ever had the privilege of reading. Not because its surprising. In fact, the whistling seemed logical. But, the thing that got me about that quote is the fact that I DO THE SAME THING. I mean not exactly whistling but, the same way Staples finds himself always trying to diminish the threatening presence he has just because of the color of his skin, I too have to be cautious of my reactions and bite my tongue when it comes to interacting with anyone who isn't a black woman. I would even go as far to specify, a dark skin black woman. This is because the experience I have with being labeled angry, ugly, dumb can only be understood by them. Hell, I was told by a stranger on the bus that I was a welfare queen in training. I was 15 at the time. So I have spent a long time alone trying to figure out how to mold myself after the Eurocentric style. I would have to say this text is pretty consistent with my worldview as far as it applies to the vilification of minorities and the effect anti-Black propaganda can have on society. It addressed race and the role it plays in everyday interaction in a very original way, but in a way that way that is plain for readers of all backgrounds to be able to relate to the text. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this reading. I would definitely read more of his work in the future.

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A Cheater’s Guide to Love

Unfortunately, many aspects of this story were very relatable to me. I’ve been both the cheater and cheated on. Also my dad was a lot like Yunior (he still is at times). It reminded me a lot of the boys I grew up around. Their only goal seemed to be (excuse my bluntness) getting their dick wet. They didn't care how much collateral damage they left in their wake. All that mattered to them was that they felt “manly”

This text definitely clashes with what I view as morally correct simply because Yunior seems to use people with no remorse or any real desire to stop. You can really get a sense of this when you read his reasoning to why he’s ok with his ex leaving him. “At first you pretend it doesn’t matter. You harbored a lot of grievances against her anyway. Yes, you did! She didn’t give good head, you hated the fuzz on her cheeks, she never waxed her pussy, she never cleaned up around the apartment, etc.For a few weeks, you almost believe it. Of course you go back to smoking, to drinking, you drop the therapist and the sex-addict groups and you run around with the sluts like it’s the good old days, like nothing has happened“ (Diaz 2-3).

If I'm being honest, this story was not resolved enough for me. It angered me because although Yunior went through all these “pitfalls” in his life, he still didn't learn not to treat women as disposable things or burdens. Like I said before it reminds me of guys from my neighborhood and just like with those guys, we’re supposed to feel bad because they had a hard life and they dealt with mistreatment as well. I just cant find it in myself to feel sorry for someone like that.

Overall, this text was entertaining if only for the really unique blend of second and third person perspectives. Although I did have problems with the main character, it almost felt like having a problem with myself, which puts the reader in an interesting mindset. So kudos to Junot Diaz for writing yet another thought evoking and well executed piece.

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Narrative response

1. What is your favorite part of your narrative, and why?

My favorite part was the end. It sounds kinda bad but I’ve read so many stories with these neatly wrapped happy endings. There was none of that in my story and it was cathartic in a way to not be forced to make my experience a “moral lesson”

2. In your opinion, what are your essay’s weaknesses or what do you think you could have done better?

I think I could have developed the story more. I really wanted to include as much background as possible. Unfortunately it was at the cost of some key character and plot development.

3. What writing techniques did you try? For example, did you use dialogue or scenes? Did you try a new POV (point of view)? Did you use descriptive or sensory details? Did you emphasize imagery? Etc. etc.

A new technique I used was adding including dialogue into my essay. I’ve never used dialogue in any essay really. So it felt awkward to try and incorporate it. Looking back I wish I would have added more.

4. What did you find most difficult about writing this piece, and what made it difficult?

It might seem weird but I had no difficulty other than having to sit down and actually write it. That situation was one that I had processed and forgiven all parties involved with it. So the paper flowed pretty easily.

5. In your opinion, what do you think is working really well in this essay? What is its best quality or feature?

I think the movement of the story went well. I really wanted to keep the story moving towards the climax.

6. What are 2 or 3 things you’d like to do to improve the piece, if only you knew how to do it?

The imagery and adding more dialogue.

7. Why did you choose to write about this particular experience/object/person? In other words, why was it important for you tell this story?

I think it’s a story that was equal parts entertaining as it was informative so I wanted to tell it.

8. What do you want the reader to take away from your piece? How do you want them to feel or what do you want them to understand?

Honestly I’m not sure. I really wrote it quite selfishly. I would hope that the reader would enjoy it.

9. If you could ask your reader one question, what would it be? (Example: “Should I include more backstory?” or “Where do I need the most improvement?” or “Did you understand the point of my story?”) Any question you come up with is fine.

How did you feel about the climax. Is there anything I could have done differently with it?

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Breana Miller

If you are in my ENG 1320 MWF 10-10:50 class, please post a comment below with your full name.

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1. Heroin/e by Cheryl Strayed

If this wasn’t a required reading, I don’t think I would have been drawn to read it. I am glad that I did though. After reading the passage, the title really stood out to me. The reason it was “Heroin/e” could be seen as very surface level as referring to the drug and her mother. What I found to be interesting was that they could be one and the same. It was mentioned in passing, but when her mother got sick she changed her school schedule around in order to see her mother more. Now this is a normal reaction, but the wording used “… racing home, to my mother. I could not bear to be away from her.”  The same way she rushed home to see her mother, when she was using heroin, she would do anything to get to it. I believe that her mother was her first addiction. I was quite surprised to find that I actually found similarities with the woman in the story. The first similarity I recognized was our coping mechanisms. Although I’ve never struggled with addiction to a drug in the traditional sense, there was a time where I tried to cope with trauma by isolating myself and actively putting a stop to doing anything productive. I see this when she says “Heroin was different. I loved it. It was the thing that worked. It took away every scrap of hurt that I had inside of me.”  This resonated with me a lot because she is seeking some type of numbness. She wanted an escape from the traumatic experience of her mother’s death and the heroin did that for her. I was also looking for an escape when I stopped interacting with the outside world. I also related to her falling into a toxic relationship. Ironically, my partners name was actually Joe too. As I read her description of him throughout their journey further into the heroin addiction, it seemed like he was as addictive to her as the actual drug. In my situation the addicting quality about my Joe was his confidence. Which, considering she met him at a really low point in her life, could have also been what attracted her to him. Then when she describes the difference in his appearance from being a “… smart, sexy, simpering man…” to being just “… a junkie.” It’s almost as if she was finally seeing him in the absence of his confidence. This is the first passage I have read by Cheryl Strayed. That being said, I really like her writing style. I'm am a poetry enthusiast. So, her use of extended metaphor and imagery makes this passage that much more enjoyable to read. I also loved the way she alternated the order between experiencing her mother dying in front of her and her dealing with the aftermath with the heroin because it highlights the parallels between the two women. At first, they were both putting up a happy façade. Her mother did this by commenting on her daughter’s clothes when she found out the news. The woman did this by refusing to accept her mother’s dying. Another parallel is between her mother’s desire for morphine foreshadowing leading to the death of her mother and her own desire for heroin foreshadowing her journey leading to death. Luckily that journey took a different turn.