Gutkind and "Fixing Nemo"
I was actually fascinated by the story “Fixing Nemo”, I thought I gave a new light on what may be to come in the future. I instantly had a connection because I recognized the author Rebecca Skloot as the author of “Henrietta Lacks”. I read her book and thinking back it really required a great deal of research for the reader to understand that story. Similarly, I noticed a style of writing that she used in the other book “Henrietta Lacks” however in this piece I felt that something was missing, purpose. Its fine and dandy that she is writing about a fish that received surgery but I didn’t understand why she was writing it. I was under the impression that you don’t typically write something without already being interested
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I didn’t even need a hook while reading this piece because the topic itself is enough to catch my interest and make me want to read on. Like “The Yellow Taxi” I thought there was a good balance between the factual information and narrative from her perspective. Surgery on a fish is not something that happens everyday and knowing what’s going on is key to keeping the reader engaged in this story. I also caught on her trying to connect the reader to the story by making the fish seaming more human. We love dogs because they remind us of ourselves. We consider dogs smarter than most animals and personally I find dogs dying in movies much more tragic than humans however in “Wolf of Wall street” a character puts a goldfish in his mouth and the audience thinks nothing of it. I felt that Rebeca Skloot knew that we don’t share that same bond with fish as we do with dogs so she needed to do something about it. I liked the quote she included "Which brings us to the human-fish bond, and people who gasp if you mention flushing because they swear their fish have personalities so big they win hearts." I thought this passage was trying to make us understand why this woman was going through all this trouble to save her fish. It really meant something to her and having the audience connect with that emotion helps this story have substance and …show more content…
In fact, I actually wish that I read this before I wrote my essays in this class because it is stacked full of valuable information about how to write a great piece. I usually do about two drafts and then a final finished work after that but I liked how this essay put it that you need as many drafts as it takes. I try to make mine only two drafts but in reality the paper suggests that you may need five before it starts to get good. Also the more drafts you have the better your paper will inevitably be so more is better than less and that is something that really stood out to me. Another thing that I liked was the literal definition of the word draft. It stated that a draft is a paper that has been written beginning to end and not something that is half way complete. The operational word was whole, so you don’t truly have a draft until you have completed your story, or essay until you have the entire paper finished. Lastly I thought the part about fast drafts and slow drafts were very important. This is something I actually wasn’t familiar with but I know where I fall when I write papers. Usually I find that I can get the entire paper done in one or two sittings. Once I start typing and get into the zone it actually becomes hard for me to stop. This is something that I am very glad I can do because when you break up your story into many sittings and start
In the article “Shitty First Drafts,” By Anne Lamott, she lets out the long held secret to good writing, there is never a good first run on a paper. It 's always starts off as a torrent of ideas unfiltered, ideas completely let loose. It is the draft that is never shown to anyone, the draft that holds all the dirty little thought that you have on a topic, and all the information that you may use later on. It does not matter if the draft is ten pages long filled with unreadable text in the end the good stuff you use could only fill up three pages.
Anna opens explaining how everyone has bad first drafts, even terrific writers. It is difficult to be able to sit down and create a perfect first draft. Even the published writers do not sit down and start flowing wonderful sentences easily. In order to get to a publishable essay is to begin with a bad rough draft. First draft is where you just get your ideas down to then revise later on. Anna wrote food reviews for a magazine. She states how even though she did it for years she would still stress when it came down to finally beginning to write the review. She would just write nonstop in her first draft. Even if it was bad she would just keep writing so that she had plenty to work with later. Her first draft would be excessively long and seem messy and boring.
...e does not discuss what she is writing, while she is writing it. She is afraid that if she speaks of it, it will wear out her idea. She says, “If you want to be a writer, I have two pieces of advice. One is to be a reader. I think that's one of the most important parts of learning to write. The other piece of advice is: Just do it! Don't think about it, don't agonize, sit down and write”.
The book has vivid imagery making the reader imaging as if her or she was their right beside him in his whole investigation. Such as “In the winter of 1978, through, a fierce blizzard hit southern Connecticut. Temperatures were often below zero and at one point it snowed for thirty-three hours straight. Perhaps it was the cold that killed the fish, or the copper sulfate I helped the caretaker drag through the pond the previous summer to manage the algal blooms, or maybe even the fishermen id noticed trespassing on the estate one day, scoping out my grounds. But whatever caused it, after that never again did I spot a living fish in that pond again.”(Greenberg 12-13). This quote shows how good his imagery, tone, and diction is, when I read it all I could think of is that storm and the pond. The author has an excellent writing style and keeps the reader wanting more. Even though the book has a lot of good things for it the only thing I would tell the author would to give more connections of him to the story. It says “The transformation of salmon and sea bass from kingly and holiday wild fish into everyday farmed variants is a trend that continues with different animals around the globe.”(Greenberg 195). In every chapter about each of the fish it gives some connections to him but it would make it even
...s among what appears as un-related items are involved opening the minds of readers to think more about what they are reading. This broadens the horizon for newer methods of writing, and at the same time it provides not just a lesson in writing, but also a lesson in reading and thinking. It helps readers to open their minds about the things they read even it is a strange way of going about writing. Although the technique and structure of her work is very peculiar, it is a lesson on reading, writing, and thinking. Without writers like Susan Griffin, new methods of writing such as the one she used would never exist rather relying on the more mundane methods. New avenues would not be explored, because connections not normally analyzed would never be presented such as comparing the past and present, public life and private life, an individuality and collective living.
As I look back into my high school years, I thought I wrote papers well. But then coming into a college environment, my papers were mediocre. By overlooking at my past papers, I found that they were unorganized, sloppy and had bad use of diction. From now on, I will use the tools I learned in English 1100-40 as a foundation for the future papers I intend on writing in college. Following the criteria of organizing ideas so that they flow, impacting the reader with diction and also by being creative, will help become an ideal writer. Following the criteria of staying motivated in short and long term goals, taking responsibility for actions and finally the ability to study well will help me develop into a supreme student.
There are many aspects for my mind to conceive while reading the articles why I write by George Orwell and Joan Didion. There are many different factors in triggering an author’s imagination to come up with what they want to write, and why they want to write it. In most writings a purpose is not found before the writer writes, but often found after they decide to start writing.
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
In fact, the fish story has become a metaphor reflecting the technique used by Finney for expressing the difficult thing beautifully, to compress a poem choosing what should be kept in a poem and what should be thrown away (Finney, “Interview with: Nikky Finney”), to express whatever difficult feelings she has without much noise or rage. Finney sees activism as a basic part of her work.
The poet seems to share the same pain with the fish, observing the scene and enjoying the detail just like enjoying an artwork. The poet lets the fish go because she is totally touched by the process between life and death; she loves life but, meanwhile, is deeply hurt by the life. In the poem, the fish has no fear towards her; the desire to live is in the moving and tragic details when she faces the death.
...rtant to be able to know how to use all of the sources provided to you that allow you to be an adequate writer. If you are not able to effectively express your thoughts and ideas in college, it’s really hard to be able to complete anything. From my experience, writing itself has never been much of a challenge. I found that the standard college essay is at least 3-4 pages. Some classes even require 1-2 pages. I’ve found that despite the length, the most important factor about a paper is its content. As a writer I hope to develop better time management. I tend to have writers block a lot when I write, but I think that’s mainly because I’m so picky with the way I want to sound when I’m trying to express a point or an idea. I know that the writing skills I have learned and developed are skills that will be used throughout my college career and even outside of school.
This article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott help me understand that every good writer struggle to write their first draft and it might not be perfect at first but with a lot of dedication and effort everything could be done as expected. know that even the best published book started out with “Shitty First Drafts” help me to not be too critical to my first draft and having a little bit more confidences about my writing. I would apply this lesson whenever I have a writing assignment and I am get frustrated on how to start my essay, I would remember that all writers went through this stage of anxiety and not comfortable about their first draft. I would definitely recommend this article to a student that is starting their first composition
A fish is a creature that preceded the creation of man on this planet. Therefore, Bishop supplies the reader with a subject that is essentially constant and eternal, like life itself. In further examination of this idea the narrator is, in relation to the fish, very young, which helps introduce the theme of deceptive appearances in conjunction with age by building off the notion that youth is ignorant and quick to judge. Bishop's initial description of the fish is meant to further develop this theme by presenting the reader with a fish that is "battered," "venerable," and "homely." Bishop compares the fish to "ancient wallpaper.
...nizes the fish because, just like the fish, people fight daily battles to survive in life. This humanization of the fish enables the speaker to relate and respect him, and therefore, ultimately leads to his release.
I learned the importance of making several drafts for one paper. Every writer can always make improvements because a paper is never perfect on the first draft. At least three drafts should be made before submitting. Secondly, it is important for ideas to be organized. One idea should smoothly transition into the next for the reader to easily understand the author’s arguments. Thirdly, it is helpful to have others give corrections on the student’s paper. Asking the professor or peers for critiques allows to see possible errors and ways to make the paper