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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
I think I may have used many of the points that LaPlante has discussed in chapter 10. There is some work that has to be done, especially the idea of “surprise” and the unexpected. I have the base of my characters and who and how they are. But it’s when they are dropped into an environment or situation that expels their persona towards the reader. In other words, putting them to action, much like the piece I’m currently working on. It’s a process returning to a character and picking at them to materialize him or her out the pages.
ReplyDeleteFor Mukherjee’s “The Management of Grief,” that feeling of being stuck after a tragedy is put in very well throughout the story. Kusum seemed to get a sort of peace or reconstruction living away from Canada and back to India. But then you have the protagonist, Bhave, grieving for her husband and two sons and just wonders on. As read in the story, not many people would cope with the lost. It would take time to understand and let go of their pain or have ill intentions for self-harm, must like Bhave had thoughts doing so. She’s a strong woman and does her best to avoid the religious or political grasp for her family.
Hector Dimas
In chapter 10 of “Method and Madness”, LaPlante describes to us the importance of characters and how they improve the connection the reader has to the story. For example, she states that characters exist in two forms, which are flat and round. Round characters are characters that we should try to write, as they are believable and fully developed. Flat characters are seen as the basic stereotypes that plague certain groups of people. Of the various ways to make a character more believable, they have to be seen as able to have their own sense of emotion and their own hopes and dreams. These aspects allow them to behave in a way that gives them personality. While it may take a while in the story to grasp whether or not a character is believable or not, when it becomes apparent, it can reveal the the meaning behind their actions of the entire story.
ReplyDeleteA excellent example of this is in Bharati Mukherjee’s “The Management of Grief”. Shaila Bhave is at first thought to be flat character as she does not show any changes in emotion upon hearing of the plane crash that has killed her two sons and husband. However, as the story progress and we see the context of her behavior when compared to that of Judith Templeton, a canadian social worker, we see that her actions actually hold significance in context to her religion and her own personal beliefs. She has reasons to not show grief or to not want to find her son’s bodies. When these come to light, we can see that she has been a round character the whole time as there is reasoning behind her motives and actions. Thus, we are able to see that she is a round character and believable in accordance to LaPlante’s rules of character development.
David Leal
This chapter on crafting characters very much reminded me how many aspects a character can have that can have a major impact on your story. Sure, when I’m writing I’m vaguely aware of the consequences of the character’s actions, or how the way they speak and move and describe things gives the reader a specific impression of the character and how the story is going, but only vaguely. Enough to know the perceptions the readers might have, the reactions they expect and don’t expect from the character. This brings new light to what I write however, brings it closer to the forefront of my mind so that I’m more aware of how the character’s quirks, relationships, actions, and words form the story alongside their presence.
ReplyDeleteI see the same implementation of the suggestions of the chapter in The Management of Grief, the kind of carving out of the characters- in this case, the main character, Shalia Bhave- to lead the story and give a path for the reader’s mind to track and follow. It’s interesting how Mrs. Bhave’s character in the story is set as this atypical character, and this is something that I think is present in reality- the person whose grief presents differently than everyone else’s. In the midst of death and mourning characters, Mrs. Bhave is grief-stricken in silence, in detached numbness. Her characterization gives her story and her reactions to what is happening around her and happening to her more dimension, more heartache in a strange and unknown way.
Lauryn Flores
In Chapter 10, LaPlante gives us some tips and techniques when writing about our characters in fiction. I absolutely agree when she says "we want to create real people: characters that live and breathe and act in believable ways". (326) She also mentions how when in story telling, we as writers need to think what is both surprising and fulfilling when developing our characters. What I also found interesting was the paragraph on "Ways of Defining Character". LaPlante says "you can create characterizations by either showing or telling, or using some combination of the two". (329). There really isn't a right or wrong way to express to the reader who your character is.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Management of Grief", Mukerjee shows us readers how he sets up a scenario with many characters then takes us further in with their emotions. Each of the characters mentioned had their own way of coping with their lost ones that once were alive. To me it was very believable reading because some of the characters were full of either hatred, sadness, or complete madness that this happened to their loved ones. If everyone was just grieving, it wouldn't have been as believable. Murkerjee as well writes beautiful sentences. For example on page 354 "I hear my boys and Vikram cry, "Mommy, Shaila!" and their screams insulate my ears like headphones. Reading this one liner sentence, I knew exactly what the character meant.
-Illiana Luna
I enjoyed this chapter of the book; I like you she expands on character, more specifically the difference between flat and round characters. I also like the examples she used to express her point. The excerpts helped tie it all together. I like how it gives you methods on how to explore and expand on your character and allowing you to make them more believable and relatable, more surprising in the eyes of the readers. Like that activity where you “empty the pockets” of your characters, I never thought about that and thus I will try it! I enjoyed reading the story but at the end of it I found myself asking what had happened. The flow of the story was good but it also confused me a little bit. I understood the plot but it wasn’t until I went online to find out more information regarding the accident, did it all tie together in my mind. Apart from this I enjoyed the read. My eyes watered a little bit at the end, I felt relieved and also sad. I mean she had no other choice but to move on. I felt she’d given up on her grief and decided to go on with life never forgetting her family.
ReplyDeleteAlejandra Rodriguez
In the short story “The Management of Grief” It becomes apparent that the main character Mrs. Bhave is considered to be a “calm” person despite the tragedy that befell her and many others. But instead of becoming a flat character due to this, we get to see multiple sides of her. As readers, we can see how she as a character struggles, as well as her growth from shock, hope, denial,and even acceptance. This not only shows her as being a well rounded character, but it also relates to one of the many different ideas of character driven stories mentioned in Chapter 10.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I feel the entirety of “The Management of Grief” is based on the idea that situations that happen without the cause of a characters own independent actions can cause the plot to unfold in a story. When reading the short story, we don’t read about the climax of the plane crash, or how Mrs. Bhave, or other people found out, all we know, as a reader, is that she is struggling, and must try to figure out what to do with her life now after the death of her family.
Kathleen m. Salinas
In LaPlante’s chapter “Recognizing People”, she gives us multiple ways for us to create well-rounded, “real” characters. I really enjoyed this chapter because it’s easy to see all of these tactics in everything I have read previously, as well as the examples she gives us. The example I enjoyed the most was under the subhead “What the character looks like.” Where LaPlante showed how the character “Granny” in the excerpt from Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves” was introduced more by the things she used and where she lived.
ReplyDeleteMukherjee’s “The Management of Grief” was very good at getting across the fact that everyone mourns in different ways. The main character Sheila was struggling to really grieve at all, but to Judith, Sheila came across as someone who was already done grieving, and that was not the case at all. I really found Sheila to be amazing, because while she was using Valium to actively repress her devastation, she still somehow manages to move on at the very end, even though it has been extremely difficult for her. I thought it was very cool how LaPlante chose to pair this story with her chapter, because it was filled with very rich characters who were all different but all extremely well-rounded, even those that had passed in the bombing such as Pam’s younger sister and Sheila’s husband and sons.
Ayesha Crutchfield
In chapter 10 it is understood, a character is one of the most important aspects of a fictional reading. It establishes whether a character is flat or round, which is a concept I did not know about. It is a great exercise to learn and understand these points in order to better one’s writing. Most times, and at least myself when writing, I do not focus on the characters. I establish or introduce characters, but I had not paid the proper attention to one of the most important parts which are the characters, and their explanation or in other words, their weight on the story. I learned during the workshop for example, one of my characters was very and had an impact on the reader. However, I was very careless and should have focused more on at least one character. This exercise should allow growth to be able to expand a story properly. In The Management of Grief, I believe the characters are very well developed as reading from their conversations. When they are in the bay and talking to the doctor, the detail of the flowers, the roses, the thought process, the way the conversations take place, and lady's thoughts themselves, say a lot about the individuals in this story. Parallel details that do not have anything to do with the story, help the reader get a sense of the personality of the character.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco J. Aboytes
The way I see character development is much like how chapter 10 describes. To me characters are developed through the things around them. I imagine it like a mirror, the writer is seeing his or her character, and like a mirror, the writer reflects those images, sounds, scents, and objects back onto the character. What I particularly enjoyed about chapter 10 is that is gives lot of good examples on how to write about and create a rounded character. From the examples in the chapter I got a good idea of how a character’s personality can be shown in different ways, like using dialogue in a light hearted manners shows that two characters are friends, or by having a character do something that would reflect his or her personality. Now in “The Management of Grief”, the author does an excellent job of reflecting character traits through dialogue, for example the author writes this, “Leave me alone. Kusum Yells. “You know what I want to do? If I didn’t have to look after you now, id hang myself.” Pam’s Young face face goes blotchy with pain. “Thanks,” she says, “Don’t let me stop” (Pg. 354 – 355) What I can analyze from this quote is how the author can show complex emotions like sarcasm and also being able to set a a morbid yet humorous setting amongst two characters.
ReplyDeleteMark A. Benitez
In the chapter, LaPlante brings up how "Actions speak louder than words," then goes on to say "How a character behaves, both alone and in response to actions from other characters, is a critical aspect of characterization." Mukherjee describes the characters actions and what they're going through in really believable ways, but there was one particular action described in the story that was rather odd. On page 356, Ms. Bhave says "Four days later, I find Kusum squatting on a rock over overlooking a bay in Ireland. It isn't a big rock, but it juts sharply out over water." In class we had talk about how every detail mentioned in a story, especially a short story, has a meaning and holds a significant purpose, but what is the purpose here? Why not just say she was standing beside or near the rock since it juts sharply out of the water? Was it supposed to imply that this is somehow part of her grief management or does this mean she was trying to hurt herself in a really disturbing way? I feel like this action doesn't help give an insight to Kusum's character so what exactly is the purpose of sharing this detail in the story?
ReplyDeleteKarla Olvera
I found chapter 10 to be immensely informative and full of useful tips for writing better stories. I especially enjoyed the excerpt of Gustave Flaubert on page 328. It was possibly the best explanation of characterization I read in the chapter. It illustrated that the description of a character, or their persona, should not be done so with generalities but rather it should be a complete picture of a real living person that is individual and carries a history of joy, pain, success and failure and those figurative scars are made visible by the writers words. And the importance of encapsulating the essence of a character is imperative to generating a story that carries the power to provide a sense of catharsis and ultimately sell the particular theme. Additionally, a character must be multi-dimensional and dynamic. This was probably the most pertinent instruction I found in this chapter. In my own writing I have noticed that some characters have little development that is shown or described to the degree that is necessary in order to make them seem “real”, so I think this aspect was most valuable and useful to me. The short story was an excellent example of characterization. Mukherjee was able to create a world that was so vivid and full of life that one could swear that the people that were being described were real.
ReplyDeleteAndres Trevino
Mukherjee’s “The Management of Grief”’s characterization mirrors most of what Laplante details as “characters that live and breathe and act in believable ways”, through Mrs. Behave’s language and interactions, her dreams and flashbacks of a family lost, the physicality of everyone in her eyes, what they look like and wear, what they do for a living and how they live all form a fleshed out world of people in the midst of loss and grief. The story begins at the end of one phase and the begining of another. A plane crash that alters the lives of the protagonist and many of the others around her. The event pulls and uproots them, each facing grief in their own personal way; the plot, yet another tool towards characterization and humanization. Mrs. Behave, for example, outwardly copes calmly, a model of composure; while within, it’s all a swirling mess, “I want to say to her, I wish I could scream, starve, walk into Lake Ontario, jump from a bridge...I am a freak. No one who has ever known me would think of me reacting this way. This terrible calm will not go away.” (356)
ReplyDeleteRobin Turrubiates
Chapter 10 in LaPlante's book was very eye opening in my opinion. Although what she provides in this chapter I knew to an extent,there was also a lot of information on character crafting that I never really put into perspective. I'd always thought that great writers would be able to write great characters no matter what type they chose to write, but after reading LaPlante's chapter I realized that is a completely wrong assumption. I learned that a (believable) surprise element is needed to form a round character. A Writer can come up with the perfect character and still have it be flat. Realistic characters are human-like and humans are hardly ever like those perfect characters.
ReplyDeleteIn Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief" there are so many great examples of round characters. It is amazing to see how the author not only formed one perfect character (which is what I usually go for), but various. I really admired the how she managed to clearly depict characters who had already passed away in this story. The main character, Mrs. Bhave was the perfect example of a round character. Throughout the story the reader sees that to others she is this strong, almost emotionless person, but we also see her more in depth. We see that she is not holding up as well as others think, she is suffering just like the other relatives and having a hard time accepting the death of her family.
Diana Gonzalez
"The Management of Grief" is very relatable story in regards to suffering a loss. There's one question that often comes to mind about this subject: Is this something you can ever truly get over? Based on what I read with this short story, more than likely not fully. You can move on, but not truly ever get over it. I like how the stages of grief are stated, though they are different than what I have seen before. The stages of loss and grief that I am familiar with are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While these are touched upon in the story, another stage is brought up: reconstruction. How do you go forward with your life after accepting a loss. I like how Shaila's future regarding her acceptance isn't fully stated. It shows that this is a question that we can't find a direct answer to. But as the story shows, a tragic death can be coped with. "The Management of Grief" doesn't directly show her coping with the death in the end, but we know that she can.
ReplyDeleteMichael McCormick
The topic on this piece touches on is one beyond difficult to talk about. Everyone loves to enter a story looking for temporary feelings of suspense, love, or even happiness. Grief is one that is the hardest to address. My favorite is the introduction, first sentence. “A woman I don’t know is boiling tea…” I sense a feeling of being lost. Right after the passing of a loved one, grief encompassing you and leaves you with confusion. You look around you and everything seems off, nothing seems right. It’s almost like something is missing. That how the protagonist feels in the first paragraph. There are people around her but she feels completely disconnected. The introduction gives a good foundation for the story.
ReplyDeletePedro Trevino
Chapter 10 gives us tips on how to write convincing, good, characters. This is, like sated in the chapter, a crucial part in writing good fiction. So much can be accomplished in fiction with the crafting of a good surprising character. I like that the chapter goes into detail and gives specific ways on how to write a good character. For example, the writer can develop a character by his appearance, what he says, what he does, and what he thinks or feels. Without these, the character might come off as flat and predictable. I know this was very helpful to me and I’ve already gone back and started editing my own story and character. Page 356, “I have my Valium.” This is probably my favorite sentence in the whole story. With only four words, the writer showed us what the character was literally thinking at that exact point in the story, but also showed us what the character was going through. The character doesn’t say, for example, “I’m sad,” or “I’m anxious.” This goes in hand with what the chapter says about showing what the character feels. There are more examples of this throughout this great story of course, but this is probably my favorite.
ReplyDeleteMiguel Galvan