Blog introduction:
This blog post is a re-genre piece of the short story Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff. Re-genre analysis: Blue Suit Bank Robbers Strike Again At around 1:30 on Saturday, March 5th, Central Bank in New York was robbed by two men in ski masks and blue suits. There is one reported death, a book critic named Anders, who was apparently shot in the head. "I'm not surprised," one witness reported. "I was standing in front of him in line, and he wouldn't keep his mouth shut. It was terrible." Security footage from the bank shows the two men coming in, and one shot Anders after getting into a verbal altercation. The only other injury was to the bank security guard, who was handcuffed and kicked in the back. "I didn't see what went down, but I could hear the moron mouthing off to the robber. If someone puts a fricking gun to your head and tells you to shut up, you shut up," the guard reported. The mother of the victim refused to give a statement, but was willing to hand over a journal written by the deceased. Here is an early entry by the victim. “Heat. A baseball field. Yellow grass, the whirr of insects, myself leaning against a tree as the boys of the neighborhood gather for a pickup game. I look on as the others argue the relative genius of Mantle and Mays. They have been worrying this subject all summer, and it has become tedious to me: an oppression, like the heat. Then the last two boys arrive, Coyle and a cousin of mine from Mississippi. I have never met Coyle's cousin before and will never see him again. He says hi with the rest but takes no further notice of him until they've chosen sides and someone asks the cousin what position he wants to play. "Shortstop," the boy says. "Short's the best position they is." I turn and look at him. I want to hear Coyle's cousin repeat what he's just said, but I knows better than to ask. The others will think I’m being a jerk, ragging the kid for his grammar. But that isn't it, not at all - it's that I was strangely roused, elated, by those final two words, their pure unexpectedness and their music. I takes the field in a trance, repeating them to myself.”
4 Comments
10/10/2017 07:38:57 am
I love your title! :) It really captures the reader to read the article.
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Erica
10/10/2017 07:53:31 am
This is a great response! I really felt like I was reading a newspaper article. You got all the information into this article. I really like the way you made the baseball memory come into the story as a journal entry.
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Sabatino
10/10/2017 05:21:13 pm
I echo the comments made by Erica and Angela. This article provides specific details and word choice along with concise sentence structure to informs us. Really does read like a newspaper article, especially the first half of the story.
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Inayah
10/26/2017 07:11:34 am
You did a really good job on this assignment. You included all the information and I liked your use of dialogue.
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Elijah CarneyI will use this blog to explore course readings. Archives
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