October 3 , 2003
English 1A Study Notes

For today's readings, we want to apply the same methods we employed in our last class meeting. So as we looked for examples of Rodriguez's narrative technique in the "Preface," now we want to look for examples of his descriptive technique in "Chapter 1".

I also want us to keep Rodriguez's purpose in mind. Consider this section from the preface:

"This work is an argument for the reorganization of American society--not where a few benefit at the expense of the many, but where everyone has access to decent health care, clothing, food and housing, based on need, not whether they can afford them. It's an indictment against the use of deadly force which has been the principal means this society uses against those it cannot accommodate..." (10).

Rodriguez makes explicit what other writers often leave as implied: his purpose or thesis. His text provides us a compelling reminder that effective writers do not merely tell stories for the sake of telling stories. Instead, they select and craft time markers, temporal transitions, and specific narrative action to stear a story toward a purpose or what the SMG likes to refer to as "a dominant impression."

In the same way writers use the narrative techniques we discussed in our last class, writers use the descriptive techniques we read aboaut in chapter 15 in order to create a mood, tone, or dominant impression in their prose. For this reason, we should focus Friday's discussion on the question of how Rodriguez uses naming, detailing, comparing, and sensory description to create a dominant impression that somehow advances what he describes as his "argument."

Annotating: A few students asked me about annotating a text after class yesterday. I have provided one example of how to annotate your textbook in my "study notes" for September 29. You can find a much better example of annotation techniques in SMG, "Chapter 12: A Catalog of Reading Strategies." The chapter begins with a detailed example of annotation of Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." You should annotate Always Running at least as intensely as the writer of this sample annotates the famous King letter.

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Page last updated: 3 October, 2003