Writing Log 3B Hotspots

In the first story, “The Lottery” I chose my first hotspot on page 62. “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” I chose this hotspot because throughout the whole story you have no idea what the “lottery” is and then when they finally say this line, you are shocked. When I think of the lottery, I think of winning money, not death. This was just the last thing that I was expecting and shocked doesn’t even begin to describe what I felt when I read that. It made me think about how cruel the world can/used to be. Even though this story may not be true, it made me think about all the terrible things that do happen in the world that make no sense and are just plain senseless.

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her (62). This was the other hotspot I chose. I liked this line because it makes you feel the desperation that she must have been feeling when all this was happening. She is pretty much begging to stay alive, and it’s as if no one can hear her or even cares. When I read this line it made me think about how people must feel in desperate situations. Even if it’s not a life or death situation, it’s the feeling someone must have of being stuck and not being able to get out. When reading this, you can just feel her pleading for life and it really makes you sad. It also made me think of how people in war must feel when they just want to be home and safe with their family. Overall this was just a very sad ending that left me completely shocked and speechless.

The next writing was called “How to Tell a True War Story.” The first hotspot I chose was on page 94 and it says, “If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very terrible lie.” I liked this line because I haven’t had anyone I’m really close with go off to war, so I really don’t know what happens when they come back. This line got to me because it made me think about how hard war must really be. I never took the time to think about what goes through a veterans mind when they go to tell a story. It must be hard at times to tell the whole truth when what really may have happened, is something no one else could even imagine unless they have been through it.

“In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen” (96). After this opening line, the rest of the paragraph goes on to explain how when something like a booby trap explodes you close your eyes or when someone dies, you look away for a moment and then look back. This can make it hard to know what actually happened because you may not have seen it all. It also made me think that some people may chose to believe it happened in a different way. The truth may just be too hard that they could have tried to block out the real memory from their mind. It also made me think about how hard it would be to have numerous experiences like these. With so much death and injury happening around these people, it would get overwhelming and confusing to be able to keep track of what happened versus how you chose to remember a specific experience. You would also get stuff confused.

Writing Log 2a

Nader Roheny

Graysmith

English 151

6 April 2011

Writing Log 2a

Reading through chapter one gives the reader many insights on how to be a better writer. Writing is more then just rules of grammar to memorize and the amount of things to consider when writing a paper can help immensely.

The first hotspot I came across began on page nine. Two texts of non fiction prose are introduced. “A Festival of Rain” by Thomas Merton, and a letter written by David Rockwood. The author notes “David Rockwood’s letter and Thomas Merton’s mini essay are both examples of nonfiction prose. But as these examples illustrate, nonfiction prose can vary enormously in form and style. From the perspective of structure, we can place nonfiction prose along a continuum that goes from closed to open forms of writing.” These open and closed forms of writing are examples of how writing can be styled in so many ways. In a closed form of writing, a writer can draw its reader in by introducing their thesis, followed by points that support it. They can also go the other route and leave the audience in suspense with a sort of “lets think this through together” mentality, giving the thesis towards the end of the paper. More open forms of writing seek to ask a question rather than state a thesis. They end up more poetic and abstract than closed forms of writing and usually violate rules of closed-form prose.

The second hotspot I encountered was on page nineteen. A good writer writes with a purpose and this purpose can be broken down under the concept of rhetorical aim. There are six different rhetorical aims of writing: “to express, to explore, to inform, to analyze and synthesize, to persuade, and to reflect.” These aims give a writer a whole arsenal of techniques to utilize when writing.