1. Idea – “primary”
This story made me think. (spoiler alert) The ending has a lot of parallels that foreshadow the ending of the lighthouse man. He's all alone, but frees himself. Before he does that, he frees his gold fish from its bowl into the salt water of the ocean. That fish is going to die. I'm not for sure if I should be happy or sad at the end. I think in any case, the lighthouse man's fate outside the light house cannot be worse than that of staying in a confined solitude environment no matter what happens to him in the end. The world will more than likely destroy him in some way, but he will be happier all the same.
2. Rating: PG. This story has high emotional intensity. It has a battle scene (pgs. 126-127). There is also an awkward creeper moment (pgs. 207-210). There is also a character that has a face that may or may not scare small children.
3. Springboard: The writer would have to know about light houses, and French/vocabulary. The story parallels some of "The Hunchback of Notre Dam" as well. An example of word choice would be monocotyledone. I had no idea what that was in English. Apparently, It's a kind of flowering plant. Knowing that changed a lot of the meaning for me in a particular profound scene. There's a particular significance to the meaning of words and definitions in this story.
Concerning your number 1 (It is incomplete): Explain what the "Idea" is and how and where the story supports this "idea"; what is the significance of “freeing himself”, and how is that significance built or pointed to in the beginning and middle of the story? If it is primary, than the majority of the plot choices made by the author are going to point to the "idea". So point out the idea and point out how the author is pointing to the idea. Your focus was too much on how the book made you feel in the end, as well as story telling elements that dealt mostly with denouement, which is fine as a general critique. People enjoying literature, after finishing a book, generally focus on what ‘taste’ the book leaves in your mouth. But what will help you authoring your own stories is to analyze what ‘ingredients’ the author brought together to reach that particular taste. Good job Paul, I just ask that you keep going a little farther.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that I was going to finish that last, but I forgot before I posted it up. I updated it immediately after the fact.
ReplyDelete