Accawi, Aldrich, Barry

Accawi – Language  Accawi’s essay is particularly enjoyable for its humor in the way natural disasters and the inhabitants of Magdaluna are presented. Where do we find humor in the essay?  Humor makes us closer to the villagers and what they experience in this brief time we spend with them.  It is also what helps underscore the loss to the village with the arrival of the telephone.

Accawi - Structure  “The Telephone” is a reminiscence of the author’s childhood village. Is it merely a cluster of random memories?  How are the incidents ordered, thematically, chronologically, or both?  What effect would the elimination of the first two paragraphs have on the essay?

Accawi - Perspective  The essay details a particular time in the author’s life. Through whose perspective is the picture of Magdaluna shaped, the child or adult Accawi?  What effect might a child’s vs. an adult’s perspective have on how the reader views the details of the essay?

Aldrich - Language  The author uses vocabulary to direct her reader’s reactions.  Notice how she describes her mother’s visits to the hairdresser as “treks” and the “bedrock” of her week, or her tones as “confessional” or “conspiratorial” when she speaks to her hairdresser.  How does such word choice construct meaning in the essay?

Aldrich - Structure  With what images does Aldrich begin and end the essay?  Is her essay told as a straightforward history?  How does she move from paragraph to paragraph?  How does she construct and reveal herself in the essay?

Aldrich - Perspective  Aldrich depicts her family in the essays through hair and reactions to their mother’s view of hair. However, she does not let the members “speak” for themselves.  For example, Aldrich writes, “My mother wanted her hair to be fashioned into an event with a complicated narrative past (44)”.  Is this what Aldrich’s mother would say about her own hair?  How does Aldrich use her mother to present Aldrich’s own views?

Barry - Language  Note Barry’s combination of verbal and visual language.  What does Barry mean when she writes, “the lines made a picture and the picture made a story”? What does this quote reflect about the connection or relationship between the visual and verbal languages?  How do art and words interrelate in Barry’s work?  What is language according to Barry?

Barry - Structure  Barry’s narrative sets out the chronology of the author’s having something such as a skill or a gift, losing it, and then regaining it.  This structure is common to many literary or other art forms or even life in general. How many of these narratives are you familiar with in your life?  How does the essay move toward an epiphany or sudden illumination?

Barry - Perspective  How would Barry’s personal essay be different if the visual language were left out?  How does the layout of the visual design as one in which the reader may start reading at any place on the page, affect the view that Barry wishes to communicate about her life and life in general?  How does the non-sequential order of the visual frames communicate a non-linear story?