Showing Versus Telling: A Range of Strategies for Description ENG 1101

PEER REVIEW GROUPS—D335 1 Nohemi, Joseph, Gilbert 2 Janeth, Guang, Gabriella 3 Malika, Ahmad, Jiacheng 4 Mitu, Xiao Min, Stephannie 5 Xu Chu, Alexander, Carlos 6 Jun Tong (Janice), Mohammed, Niera 7 Kevin Y., Juliette, Jeremy, Bryan 8 Abdullah, Erica, Zhong

Appropriate for some purposes, but sometimes a bit boring TELLING SHOWING Quick, often abstract Appropriate for some purposes, but sometimes a bit boring Examples: “I am hardworking.” “My family values perfectionism.” “I could tell she liked him.” Takes more space, but is often more specific and precise Examples: “I built my family’s house from the foundation up while also caring for my grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s.” “When my mom saw that I’d spelled hypothesis incorrectly on my science fair project, she tore the entire poster to pieces—never mind that I had assembled it over weeks and weeks.”

“Showing” Often Reveals Even More Than “Telling” From “There Are Distances Between Us”… Rather than… “When I returned home, I walked into a perfect bedroom. The wallpaper was covered in little cornflowers. There was a canopy bed covered in gauzy material, draped perfectly. I loved to stare into the canopy and forget about all the ways I felt broken.” My parents loved me very much and tried to comfort me after a trauma. They decorated my bedroom with sweet, girly décor. My family was middle class (they could afford to re-do my bedroom in this special way; I had my own bedroom). I had a hard time recovering from the trauma.

Showing & telling work together… From “Superman & Me”… “We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to those expectations inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside. They struggled with basic reading in school but could remember how to sing a few dozen powwow songs. They were monosyllabic in front of their non-Indian teachers but could tell complicated stories and jokes at the dinner table. They submissively ducked their heads when confronted by a non-Indian adult but would slug it out with the Indian bully who was 10 years older.”

Anecdotes Anecdotes are little stories we use to entertain or make a point. Including an anecdote may be one way of showing rather than telling Anecdotes work best when they are introduced with a clear transition (“Just last week…” or “I was reminded of this one summer, when…”). It’s usually a good idea to remind the reader what the anecdote is supposed to reveal (“the kind of English I use with my family”; “the reason my father’s ‘I love you’ is so meaningful” etc.)

Anecdote from “Mother Tongue” “Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using….We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: ‘Not waste money that way.’ My husband was with us…, and he didn't notice…. And then I realized why. It's because…I've often used that same kind of English with him….It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.”

Description of a Significant Detail/ Creating a Symbol Sometimes picking a particular thing to describe in focused detail is a great strategy for showing The key is to pick the right thing to describe and to describe with a purpose (if you describe the bag as orange and awkwardly shaped, do it because you want to reveal something about the owner of the bag).

“My father is a civil engineer “My father is a civil engineer. He is always concerned with infrastructure, the strength of holding the world together.” “In one panel, Superman breaks through a door. His suit is red, blue and yellow. The brown door shatters into many pieces. I look at the narrative above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that ‘Superman is breaking down the door.’”