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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- This reading responses is due by midnight on Wednesday, March 18.
The most interesting thing about Brownies is that it starts off with reverse racism. These young girls were brought up not really knowing anything about “Caucasians” only that they were these beings that had caused their ancestors a lot of suffering. Arnetta, the ringleader, was pretty much itching for a fight from the get-go and looking for a way to bring others to her way of thinking. They never thought for a moment, with the exception of the narrator, that there could have been a misunderstanding. These were children that wanted to prevent being hurt and so acted out. In the end, they had to swallow their own prejudices, though not all of the girls were willing or able to.
ReplyDeleteThe process of “showing and telling” seems to be more complicated than some may have originally thought. Hills Like White Elephants is interesting in that there is a whole other story happening behind the scenes, though nobody actually tells the reader what it is. The reader is expected to interpret whatever images are being passed through and should somehow be able to “read the atmosphere”. I personally think that narration is the most important to any good story, and yet there is something to be said about a story that can balance both showing and telling.
- Areli Garza
I enjoyed “Brownies” by ZZ Packer, because it was in a perspective that we don’t always see. Rarely do we see situations unfolding when a young child is independent in the midst of their peer group. We don’t get to see the conversations that they have, or the compromising situations that they may be in, and how they get out of them, or what even leads them to being in that situation in the first place. The conversations between these girls made me laugh because they sounded so grown up, I could definitely place this conversation in a group of teenagers and it would work out just fine. This reminded me that sometimes we don’t give credit to young children for comprehending serious conversation, and “Brownies” was a great example of that.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5 LaPlante says, “After all, readers have the natural desire to be present when the drama heats up—they tend not to be satisfied by having key scenes summarized for them”. The scene when the girls confront Troop 909 in the bathrooms, was a perfect example of this. In the story the reader enters into the bathroom with the rest of the girls, and that seems to be the moment of peak tension, when we read that all the young girls form the troop are cowering and scared. We then see that scene play out which is important so that emotionally we become invested in the fact that Arnetta was so wrong, and then wonder how the girls are going to get out of this situation that had gone horribly left. Had the author told us about the encounter through ‘Snot’s” inner monologue, after the fiasco, like maybe when they were on the bus for example, them confronting the other troop would not have been as impactful, we wouldn’t have been as invested, or shocked by what was going on if we heard about when it was all over. Being in the moment was important in this instance.
Aisha Teegarden
Chapter five is certainly going to be a useful chapter for me to go back to every once in a while since it gives an expanded definition to the meaning of "Show, not tell." Instead of saying that telling is always wrong, it simply says that it's a summarization of an event, and showing is a dramatized version of said event. They both serve different purposes to a story, just as any writing advice should be. Showing is best used in moments of high tension or high emotional impact. As stated, there is a balance. You can't show every moment, and you certainly can't tell all of it either.
ReplyDeleteIn the story "Brownies" shows us a shade of racism that is usually hushed up. A group of girls laughing at another group for the fact they were white, picking fights where there is no reason to pick them. It's childish and something one would expect from teens who want to feel a sense superiority with any excuse within their means. When caught in a lie, Arnetta was quick to to point to her next victim and still insisted that she was being made fun of. Laurel looks at these events and it's made clear she's uncomfortable about it, and when she told her story, she understood the cruelty of people when one is given the opportunity to take advantage of them. I haven't been on the end stick of racism so this short story doesn't hit home for me, but I have witnessed how ugly it can get, especially when one hurts another person for the sake of righteousness.
-Airam Sandoval
I do like the grey area Chapter 5 presents that is the difference between Showing and Telling. What I took away from the reading is that creative writing will always have showing and telling to some degree but it is also a matter of a writer's skill in rendering those aspects well. I did find it odd that whenever I heard the advice of "show, don't tell" I immediately remember highly regarded stories where the narrator goes back to reflect on some particular aspect of a character or describing a setting. I often get caught up in pausing a scene to go on about a particular scene because sometimes actions alone can just feel actions happening. I feel like telling helps provide some sort of context for the characters actions. I also feel like, depending on the perspective, can also give some insight into the narrator or a character’s thoughts at points and add further context to their actions.
ReplyDelete“Brownies” was an interesting read. I have a soft spot for stories about kids dealing with more mature topics like racism or mental illness and it's told from the perspective of a child. I do like how it was tackled and the reality that kids don’t understand what is different about Troop 909 and their rude and racist behavior is just that they don't know any better. It was a very realistic coming of age story, and I’m interested in exploring more of ZZ Packer’s works.
-Marc Fuentes
I think my least favorite word of advice when talking about writing is "Show don't tell" so when I first started reading this chapter, I felt a little apprehensive that this chapter was going to be just as vague as the advice that it was trying to explain. Instead I found this chapter very helpful and informative. I never really thought of narration as telling, though thinking of it in that way changing how I viewed telling. Telling is not necessarily bad, only when it summarises something that readers could be interested in and add more depth to the story. I found the chapter to be very helpful with the examples that they gave and explaining that telling is narration and that is not necessarily bad only when the writing is bland. I really liked when LaPlante said to ask how objective the information being presented is and then to ask if the "clock" of the story has to be stopped. I have never thought to ask those questions while writing and I definitely will start doing so now.
ReplyDelete"Brownies" is still one of my favorite stories to read and this time was no different. I loved how through this it showed that racism is not something inherent in people but something that has to be taught and passed down from one person to another. I loved the narration where she mentions that the characters are excited to find words that are three syllables and sound dirty. I thought that that made the characters seem more real than anything else. I also like the little tidbits that essentially said that her troop was jealous of the other troop and that was a lot of the reason for the friction other than the thought that they called another girl a slur.
-Tiffany Joissin