Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Thoughts on Allison and her style

Allison tells her story in a very unique way to me. The way she tells her story is all through what seems to be memories of her past and the life that she has lived. This book, in many ways, is similar to an autobiography. She is talking about her life and how her family has struggled. However, this book is much more story like. For one, she states out right that she is a story teller and that she sometimes fabricates her stories for the purpose of making it more interesting for her audience. I feel as this make the book much more interesting because of the fact that it keeps the reader thinking all the way through the book. This is because she states at one point in the book that she can tell you anything. “All you have to believe is the truth. I think this was a good tactic in writing the book because I am always questioning her accounts of things that have happened and whether or not they are completely true.
She also uses pictures to tell her story which I also think is a good tactic. I think this because it makes the entire story more real, because it now not only uses her descriptive writing for your imagination, but it now adds pictures to make the story more real.I guess the most striking moments in her book are when she is describing her family members. For instance when she is talking about the men in her family and how they all have this sort of stoic look. While she is talking about this, she strategically places two pictures in these pages. These pictures directly relate to what she is describing and play a huge part in getting her point across to the reader. This also happens when she is describing the women in her family. She adds in a picture of the women in her family and it shows their hard, worn down, not-so-beautiful faces. It is very helpful to me when she does this and it seems to make the words that she writes much more meaningful.

1 comment:

Geoffrey Bateman said...

Yes, I would agree with you that both her ethos as a storyteller and her use of photographs enhance this text, make it more interesting, and ultimately work to make the text an effective one.

I'm curious to hear a bit more about each of your response, though. Why do you think her invitation to be slightly skeptical or questioning of her is a good tactic? It seems to me that it might disconcert some readers. For you, though, it seems to inspire respect or confidence in her. Why is that?

Similarly, with the inclusion of the photos, I would agree that it lends a certain realism to the text and make it more meaningful. But as a follow-up question what do you mean by meaningful? How do the photos help achieve this quality for you?

Just some things to think about. I think you're definitely responding to important issues in the text.