Writting Assessment

 

 

Writing Assessment

Iyana Zimmerman

Period 4

The two  stories we read are called “A Dark Brown Dog” by Stephen Crane, and “The Day I Got Lost” By Isaac Singer.

    The point of view of “A Dark Brown Dog” is third person omniscient, because the author conveys everyone's thoughts. What i mean by conveys is that the author explains everyone's thoughts and point of view in the story and not just the main character. The point of view of “The Day I Got Lost” is 1st person because the narrator refers to himself in the story by using the word “I”. The difference between these two stories is that in the text of “A Dark Brown Dog” it stated “he looked so comical on his back, and holding his paws peculiar, that the child was greatly amused and gave him little taps repeatedly, to keep him so” not only is the author explaining what the dog is doing but he is also explaining what the child is doing, therefore this would be third person omniscient. In the story “The Day I Got Lost” the narrator stated “I've been living in New York city for over forty years, yet whenever I want to go uptown, I find myself walking downtown” in this sentence the narrator stated I've, and I many times referring to himself which makes this story first person.

    The tone in these two stories are very similar a little sad but then a little humorous. In the story “A Dark Brown Dog” it was very sad because of the things that were going on, but then at parts of the story I find myself thinking that they were joking around and trying to put it in a humorous way so that it wouldn't effect the sadness part of it so much. What I mean by this is that in the story “A Dark Brown Dog” the author wrote “In appearance she was like a gagged prisoner” when I read this sentence I thought well that's a little harsh and mean to say about someone but then I thought the way they had stated it seemed as if they wanted to put it in a joking matter which kind of made it more humorous than mean. In the story “The Day I Got Lost” it was also sort of sad because the man couldn't find his home, it was his birthday, it was raining outside and he was all alone, but then it was a little humorous because I've never heard of a professor that doesn't remember where they live so it seemed a little silly to me. What I mean by this is that in the story “The Day I got Lost’ the narrator said “what a night! I've forgotten my address, I've left my briefcase in a taxi. I've lost my umbrella, and don't know where my rubbers are.” When the narrator said this I thought wow that's kind of sad that a grown man that is a professor loses so much stuff but at the same time I thought that's a little funny.

    The word choice of these two stories are actually very different. “A Dark Brown Dog” is very dark humorous. What I mean by that is in the text the author would say something funny but in a serious situation, for example in the text it stated “the child beat his pursuer with a small stick he had found. The dog lay down and prayed until the child had finished, and resumed his journey.” This sentence started out by saying that the child was beating the dog which is a serious matter and then this sentence ended with the dog laid there and prayed which is humorous because you never hear of a dog laying down and praying. In the story “The Day I Got Lost” the word choice is very humorous in a kind of silly situation. For example in the text the narrator said “I don't know, I said finally. I found him in the street. Lets just call him Bow Wow for the time being.” In this sentence its very funny because people who usually see pets or animals in the street don't take them in but not only did the professor take the dog in but he named him Bow Wow which is a pretty silly/humorous name.

   The effect of these two stories where very different for me. In the story “A Dark Brown Dog” was third person omniscient dark humor which made me feel very sad that they were being or trying to be humorous when it was such a sad situation. In the story “The Day I Got Lost” which was 1st person humorous didn't really have a crazy effect on me, i thought it was a great story very funny and one that I would love reading.