Short Writing Assignment #1
1) "Ducks On A Pond"
2) Sometimes things in life don't always go as planned, accidents happen, and it is easy to look at the negative effects they may bring. I think the central message in the text is that when dealing with these past incidences, it is important not to regret the past, but move on from it instead. Then, you learn to enjoy everything else in life.
3) "But I knew better. My gut told me that I needed to be like him, and that the only way to accomplish that was to work the legs, tighten the screws no matter how much it hurt so that the bones would straighten. And for all those years of agony, the pay-off was slight. Eventually I got ride of the braces and learned to run, but never with his speed, his agility, his athletic grace. Although polio didn't cripple me, it did its damage." (pg. 258)
4) I think the sentence, "Eventually I got rid of the braces and learned to run, but not with his speed, his agility, his athletic grace," shows the progress Baxter made in his own attempt to recover from the polio. He realizes that he will never be as good of an athlete as his father was, but continues to work on his athletic ability even through his disease, rather than dwelling on it. Also, I noticed a recurrent pattern as Mixson tends to stray away from the topic of baseball; maybe it hits a sensitive nerve and he does not like to think or talk about it since he has moved on. The detail given by Mark Sibley-Jones for the impacts made in these lives, provided the reader with awareness of the characters' emotions.
5) The passage does not have significant instances of rhyme, rhythm, or alliteration.
6) Baxter's perseverance in attempt to regain his strength lost in his battle to polio, described in the passage I chose, contributes to the implied message of the text in multiple ways. Rather than hiding behind his limited ability to use his legs (living with negative thoughts), he continues to tighten the braces so he can get them off soomer, and move on with his life. The recurrent patters in Mixson's attempts of changing conversation topics whenever baseball is brought up is evidence that he might not want to think or talk about it in the case that it does, indeed, remind him of troubles in the past. He brings up topics that focus on the current times.
Thesis: Through Baxter's past and his journey to recovery (both physical and mental), the author conveys the importance of continuing to enjoy the happiness of life, rather than dwell on the regret of past incidences.
2) Sometimes things in life don't always go as planned, accidents happen, and it is easy to look at the negative effects they may bring. I think the central message in the text is that when dealing with these past incidences, it is important not to regret the past, but move on from it instead. Then, you learn to enjoy everything else in life.
3) "But I knew better. My gut told me that I needed to be like him, and that the only way to accomplish that was to work the legs, tighten the screws no matter how much it hurt so that the bones would straighten. And for all those years of agony, the pay-off was slight. Eventually I got ride of the braces and learned to run, but never with his speed, his agility, his athletic grace. Although polio didn't cripple me, it did its damage." (pg. 258)
4) I think the sentence, "Eventually I got rid of the braces and learned to run, but not with his speed, his agility, his athletic grace," shows the progress Baxter made in his own attempt to recover from the polio. He realizes that he will never be as good of an athlete as his father was, but continues to work on his athletic ability even through his disease, rather than dwelling on it. Also, I noticed a recurrent pattern as Mixson tends to stray away from the topic of baseball; maybe it hits a sensitive nerve and he does not like to think or talk about it since he has moved on. The detail given by Mark Sibley-Jones for the impacts made in these lives, provided the reader with awareness of the characters' emotions.
5) The passage does not have significant instances of rhyme, rhythm, or alliteration.
6) Baxter's perseverance in attempt to regain his strength lost in his battle to polio, described in the passage I chose, contributes to the implied message of the text in multiple ways. Rather than hiding behind his limited ability to use his legs (living with negative thoughts), he continues to tighten the braces so he can get them off soomer, and move on with his life. The recurrent patters in Mixson's attempts of changing conversation topics whenever baseball is brought up is evidence that he might not want to think or talk about it in the case that it does, indeed, remind him of troubles in the past. He brings up topics that focus on the current times.
Thesis: Through Baxter's past and his journey to recovery (both physical and mental), the author conveys the importance of continuing to enjoy the happiness of life, rather than dwell on the regret of past incidences.
posted by Brittney Queen at
9:58 PM
1 Comments:
Brittney,
Good start. So far, you have formulated the main point pretty well and chose a good passage for close reading. However, you still need to develop your claims about the passage and to show the connections and significance of this particular passage within the larger text.
What does “ I knew better.” Refer to? What about “My gut told me that I needed to be like him”? Who does “he” refer to here? Mixson or Baxter’s father? How do you know?
What is the role of the words “pay-off” , “grace”, “agility,” “polio” here? What about the last sentence? What kind of damage is he talking about? What does constant comparison with “him” mean to the narrator? And, again, how is it all connected to the overall message of moving on?
By
Anna Mkhaylova, At
February 13, 2008 at 9:56 AM
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