|
Chutamas
Chandchai
2202234
Introduction to the Study of English Literature
Acharn
Sorn Nangsue
June
21, 2010
Reading
Response 1
A
Symbiotic Story
For
many, stories begin with “Once upon a time,” establishing
setting and mood for the characters and plot that follow.
In Sherman Alexie’s “A Good Story,” the story
begins with the narrator’s mother telling him, “You should
write a story about something good, a real good story” (140).
It is the reader, not the writer who starts the story.
But Alexie provokes us further.
Junior responds to his mother’s request by putting
forward his own: “Okay…If you want to hear a good story, you
have to listen.” The
successful making, or “quilting,” of a story depends on the
reader’s participation.
Alexie
claims that he is not trying to “pull that Indian shaman crap
on” the reader with exotic Indian Americanness in telling a
story (xii). This
is, after all, a modern Diet Pepsi drinking, potato chip
munching, sandwich eating, HUD house dwelling tribe of Indians,
not the Disney Pocahontas running through the forest singing
“Colors of the Wind” type.
Yet, this very image of basketball playing half-braided
brown youths looks very exotic against the stereotype.
Junior’s earlier demand comes back to chide us: “If
you want to hear a good story, you have to listen”—a good
story is a good story with the proper cooperation of parties
involved. The
proper names of things are proper because we make it proper.
“Uncle Moses sat in his sandwich chair eating a
sandwich” (141). It is proper that one should eat a sandwich in a sandwich
chair. His
“it-is-a-good-day song” is what it is because he hums it and
makes it so.
The web of a story is spun
out for us in this interdependent way.
Arnold’s straight words to Moses in response to why he
hid from going on a field trip, “Because I wanted to see
you,” is an “unplanned kindness” and, for Moses, “a good
thing” (143). When
Arnold asks for a “good story,” his story—his actions that
leads him to Moses sitting in front of the house, and his
kindness—therefore, is what is told.
This “good story” is a proper name for it, fulfilling
as it does the request of the willing and attentive listener,
Junior’s mother, who responds, also properly, with an
approving “it-is-a-good-day song,” which in turn finishes
the story quilted of diverse pieces of material fitting together
in a symbiotic relationship.
Chutamas—
The
title of your response, “A Symbiotic Story,” is good, but I
think you should also have a one-sentence introduction stating
the main idea of your response before proceeding to the
discussion.
The
first paragraph is clearly and logically developed. I like the
way you picked up on Alexie’s use of the communal activity of
“quilting” as a metaphor for the cooperative way in which
stories are made.
In
paragraph 2, a topic sentence outlining the main idea of the
paragraph would be helpful to the reader. Otherwise, the
paragraph starts well and your marshalling of details from the
story to describe the modern Indian tribe is well executed.
However, clarity becomes an issue when you introduce the word
“proper.” It is used three times in one sentence alone and
its meaning becomes unfixed. You need to establish early on your
understanding and employment of the term “proper.”
Paragraph
3 begins with a good topic sentence. However, the slippage in
meaning in your use of “proper” continues to affect clarity.
The conclusion is nice and you return to the term
“symbiotic,” but apart from the title this is your only use
of that word. It should be explicated early on in the response
if it is central to your discussion.
Overall,
an insightful response but for the full effect you need to
clearly explicate key terms used in your discussion so that
clarity doesn’t become a problem in conveying your thoughts to
the reader. Furthermore, in fully responding to the question in
the ‘Weekly’ you should refer to the Aristotelian tradition
as background in discussing Alexie’s innovations in the short
story form. Also, have you directly addressed the final part of
the question, i.e. “how [the story] has affected the listener
and teller”?
A final point is that in paragraph 2, you tantalizingly
raise the issue of conscious exoticism and how Native American
products are viewed by non-Indians, but leave it hanging. It’d
be great if you could elaborate further on this point. |
