Literary Analysis Of Jim Brandenburg's 'Northwoods Journal'

747 Words2 Pages

The “Northwoods Journal”, is about Jim Brandenburg’s quest that takes place in Ely, Minnesota. Brandenburg wanted to challenge himself by taking one photo every day for 90 days. He will not have a second chance to change his F/stop or shutter speed to get the photograph correct. In the “Northwoods Journal”, he has many strong paragraphs, but the one that stood out to me was paragraph three. Brandenburg uses three writing strategies, descriptive words, sentence variety, and prepositions, to create a strong paragraph and engage an audience.
Throughout the “Northwoods Journal” Brandenburg uses descriptive words. Descriptive words help the author paint a picture for readers to visualize while reading. The reason why paragraph three stood out to me was because of the descriptive words Brandenburg uses. The first descriptive word Brandenburg uses is ‘quest’. The example from the journal is “Quest was both …show more content…

In paragraph three, prepositions are being used. Prepositions are used to introduce information to the reader where something took place, when or why something took place, and general descriptive words. Examples of preposition phrases being used in the paragraph are outside, and to. An example would be “Rigid in that once engaged, the constraints I had chosen would force me to examine myself and my art in a manner I 'd never before attempted”. ‘To’ is the preposition of this sentence. After ‘to’ is ‘examine’, Brandenburg wanted to examine himself through the quest. This explains why he decided to do this. Outside is another preposition phrase Brandenburg uses. “The wild and isolated place in which I live, outside the small, end-of-the-road town of Ely, Minnesota, would never look the same to me”. This sentence he is explaining to his audience where he lives. Brandenburg live just outside a small town. Brandenburg used prepositions to tell his readers where his quest took place and why he was doing

Show More
Related

  • The Grotesque Gem of the American South: Different Approaches to the Okefenokee Swamp

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    With an evident attempt at objectivity, the syntax of Passage 1 relies almost entirely on sentences of medium length, uses a few long sentences for balance, and concludes with a strong telegraphic sentence. The varying sentence length helps keep the readers engaged, while also ensuring that the writing remains succinct and informative. Like the varying sentence length, the sentence structures vary as complex sentences are offset by a few scattered simple sentences. The complex sentences provide the necessary description, and the simple sentences keep the writing easy to follow. Conversely, Passage 2 contains mostly long, flowing sentences, broken up by a single eight word sentence in the middle. This short sentence, juxtaposed against the length of the preceding and following sentences, provides a needed break in the text, but also bridges the ideas of the two sentences it falls between. The author employs the long sentences to develop his ideas and descriptions to the fullest extent, filling the sentences with literary elements and images. Coupled...

    Read More

  • Catcher In The Rye Dialectical Journal Essay

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    1) This quote is an example of an allusion because Holden is referring to the book, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Moreover, it doesn't describe it in detail, its just a brief comment.

    Read More

  • Tone And Irony In Junot Diaz's How To Date A Brown Girl

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    The writer has used a combination of narrative and descriptive styles of writing. He has used the descriptive style to give a step by step illustration on what a man should do, how he should behave and lastly what he should say from the beginning to the end of the story (Meyer 45). The narrative style comes into play as he adds in his characters, the conflicts they will face or words they will use and the settings and or challenges they will encounter throughout the short story. This

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'On The Sidewalk Bleeding'

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Body Paragraph #1: Within one incident in the story Andy transitions from thinking like an adolescent, to a realistic view by recognizing the seriousness of his situation and the world

    Read More

  • In The Woods Character Analysis Essay

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, there are several means of distinguishing the untrue in In the Woods: the construction of its language, Rosalind’s speech patterns, doubling, and concrete medical documentation. What connects this to Robert’s differentiation of anticlimactic and irrevocable is mainly the fact that some readers will notice these cues, and others will not, possibly because of their dissimilar

    Read More

  • Perelandra

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    The fragment we were given is a three paragraph narration that has longer sentences at the beginning and little by little begins shortening them until by the final paragraph they are very short. The long sentences being used to slow down the time that will be very important in the passage and hence to build up the suspense and tension in the ambience until the sentences become short and speed up the time in the story, building the tension more and more to a point where it seems like something is coming or something will occur. The story is also told by a protagonist narrator which we know thanks to the use of the first person and the direct access to the character’s mind along with his feelings and thoughts. This narrator is retelling us the story (“I have naturally no wish to enlarge on this phase of my story. (…) I would have passed it over if I didn’t think that some account of it was necessary for a full understanding of what follows”[line 19-20]) of his trip over to Ransom’s house, a path which will trigger his paranoia and fear. The style of the writing is very direct as the narrator is practically in a one-sided dialogue with his readers.

    Read More

  • Faulkner's Literary Tactics

    403 Words  | 1 Pages

    William Faulkner was a well-esteemed author of the 20th century who used many literary techniques to display messages in his writings. In his short story, A Rose for Emily, he used literary tools such as point of view, physical plot structure, and symbolism to develop his theme that the past is always wound into the present.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mark Twain Corn Pone Opinion

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    The anecdote that Mark Twain inserts to the beginning of his essay adds a personal example that helps develop his argument. The anecdote absolutely does not detract from the essay. In fact, it adds to his essay because it furthers his argument. In the South, slavery was strongly supported. Due to this Jerry was unable to preach. But why did everyone support slavery? The answer is simple and is answered throughout Twain’s essay. One person supports slavery, then the “neighbor notices this and follows”, before long the whole neighborhood supports slavery. The addition of the anecdote adds an example of conformity to Twain’s essay whic...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Morgan Scott Peck's 'The Road Less Traveled'

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many talk about the road less traveled; however, words mean nothing without the follow through of commitment. The rare person who is able to follow their true calling in life, must be totally focused on their goal and objectives without distraction, walks alone.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Frederick Douglass

    281 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author's diction manages to elicit emotional connotations of genuine happiness and well-placed helplessness as he depicts the chronological events of his chance to live a better life in the north. As the road Douglass takes unwinds before him the "loneliness" follows him in pursuit like a "den of hungry lions"

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout this semester I have written several essays and journals using techniques both important and unfamiliar to me. This class helped me use these techniques and steps that are involved in creating and formalizing an essay. The writing process of an essay includes information gathering, creating ideas, and writing it on paper to create a cohesive and organized paper. In complete certainty I can say I lack many of the skills necessary to create such a paper, but during this course I have learned some writing methods which I believe have improved my essays. The essays and journals in this portfolio reveal both my strengths and weaknesses in my writing and how I have both continued to make the same errors and improved in other areas.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Mark Twain Corn Pone Opinion

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    Are personal opinions made up from your own personal thoughts or are they developed from what others think or feel? The essay Corn-pone Opinions by Mark Twain, shows how corn-pone or every day opinions are formed. It was written in 1901, but was not published until after his death in 1923, in Europe and Elsewhere. The author’s main argument is that opinions are developed from conformity with what their family, neighbors, and society around them thinks. In general, people have a need for self-approval.

    Read More

  • Isolation in Faulkner's Light in August

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    In William Faulkner’s Light In August, most characters seem isolated from each other and from society. It is often argued that Lena Grove is an exception to this, but I have found that I cannot agree with this view. Consequently, this essay will show that Lena is lonely too, and that the message in Faulkner’s work on the issue of human contact is that everyone is essentially alone, either by voluntary recession from company or by involuntary exclusion, and the only escape from this loneliness is to have a proper family to comfort you.

    Read More

  • Analysis of an Excerpt from Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi"

    328 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Two Views of the River," an excerpt from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Twain comes to the realization of the realities of the river. After a life along the river and knowing "every trifling feature that bordered the great river as" well as he knew his alphabet, (Twain 1) Twain sees the reality behind the "beauty" (1) and "poetry" (1) of the river. A comprehensive analysis reveals Twain's argument questions the value of learning a trade, as his images of "the majestic river" (1) and the peril it may cause for the steamboat, show the comparisons of the beauty and the reality of the river.

    Read More

  • Faith in Faulkner's Light In August

    1642 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion is a big part of the southern world that Faulkner creates in Light In August. It is also a major theme of the novel. Most characters seem to use “Lord” and “God” very often in their dialogue, which shows that religion is never forgotten by the members of this society. Light in August portrays a type of religious fundamentalism. In this fundamentalism, among the people of the south, there is only one proper way of following and implementing religion in one’s life. Characters are constantly trying to justify killing, hatred, and racism through their faith. The creation of hatred and racism is the result of each character’s belief that theirs are the only genuine beliefs and therefore, it is their responsibility to carry out the work of God in their own personal way and through their own reasoning.

    Read More

More about Literary Analysis Of Jim Brandenburg's 'Northwoods Journal'

Open Document