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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
- From the "Comment As" drop-down menu, choose Anonymous, then click "Publish."
- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
This is my response
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed “ The Lady with the Little Dog”
The reading was really well written. I enjoyed the mystery to the story. I also enjoyed the characters in the reading. I especially liked the character of the lady, the description was really good. She was young sad and so timid. Her dog caught my attention too, how he was always with her. Gurov was also interesting he was an older man who had many love affairs, but he finally fell in love at his old age. You see and hear about these stories a lot. A love story where they have to be discreet about their love. The story was really sad. I didn’t like that they didn’t write more about why she was so unhappy. I know she wasn’t happy in her marriage but, I wanted to know why. Overall I really liked this reading.
In “Who’s Telling the Story” The chapter makes some pretty good points on how to write in first person, second, and etc. At times it can be difficult and confusing. When I write I usually tend to write in first person, as the narrator. I liked how it mentions that you can be detached from the story, and still write in first person. For example the Gatsby book was written by first person who was detached from the story, this was quite interesting. I want to practice doing these types of writings and the chapter really gave me some good tips on how to practice.
Lizette Garcia
My habit is to write in third person, but I had often been confused about terms like limited third person and omniscient third person. Sometimes I thought I was writing omniscient, but then other times I felt I was failing by getting too close into a specific character’s thoughts and actions. LaPlante’s explanation of the spectrum in third person POV helped clear up my confusion, as well as her description of limiting the POV based on the narrator’s knowledge. I suppose I was accidentally zooming in and out all over my story without realizing it. After reading this chapter I am tempted to entirely re-write my story because I’m now afraid that my story, Three Summers, is guilty of the “careless shifts in psychic distance” that John Gardner describes. However, I will hold off until after I’ve received feedback from classmates.
ReplyDeleteAnton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Little Dog is my favorite short story in the book, so far. I’ve fallen in love with this illicit despite my knowledge of them being limited to two things: Dmitri is a cynic and Anna is a romantic. Our point of view throughout the story is restricted to Dmitri for the most part and we witness his slow shift from cold hearted playboy to the love struck man who, for the first time in his life, is emotionally invested in his affair. As a cynic myself the transformation warmed my heart, but mostly because of how subtle and believable it was. Normally redemption arcs that turn a man/woman jilted by love into the kind of character who will spontaneously go out on a limb for their new romantic interest have a tendency to be extremely cliché and sappy and thus repel me as a reader/viewer. So when I see it done with this level of skill I’m really pleased. I feel as if my own cynical heart has thawed a little.
Andrea “Andy” De Llano
Reading this chapter gave me great insight into the different types of point of view. Personally, I typically tend to stick to first-person. It comes easier for me, even when writing, to develop the story through a character’s eyes. Although I would love to start working towards getting more experience in writing third-person point of view. Through third-person, it opens up the possibility to include a higher amount of details and information, as the narrator would have access to more knowledge about the world. I think this’ll help me more with my writing, because I always try and focus on creating a new world in most of my stories, and by narrating the story as a whole it can make it more believable.
ReplyDeleteReading “The Lady with the Little Dog” was also beneficial for me to help understand the different strategies of third-person. The point of view throughout the story mainly focused on Gurov and his perspective. The story could’ve been done in first-person through him, but by sticking to third-person, the narrator allowed us to see how Anna developed as well. Through this, I was able to see into both of the character’s thoughts. Reading it felt as if someone was sitting down and playing the role of storyteller, but the narrator doesn’t appear to be involved in the story. Chapter 6 informed us about how narrators can be emotionally attached or involved, and while emotions are definitely high in this story, the narrator doesn’t express his opinions on the situation.
Jesus Pena
Isaac J McCoy
ReplyDeleteResponse One
Narration has never been my strong point; at least, not for specific perspectives. I have never really thought about who my stories are for, specifically within the story. My stories have usually been that of an omnipotent omniscient being who watches the story unfold, who sees and shares all that happens. Only recently have I tried to write anything from a first person perspective. Second person perspective seems really trippy, to acknowledge the reader as a character within the story or, at the very least, an observer. It seems like something one would find in a Deadpool comic, a fourth wall break or something. I think I want to try to write like this sometime, not anytime soon, of course, but maybe for a short story or something in the near future. As for the third person perspective, I have never really considered the rules for the different perspectives. I have never taken into account that third person cannot really perceive the emotions of characters, only the thoughts. This enlightenment will require further experimentation. Furthermore; I have not considered the narrator to ever be an actual person, a real character in a story. I had always considered that to be part of a second person perspective. Now I want to try to create a new story where the narrator is able to add a part of himself or herself into how they tell the story or present the story to the reader instead of just flatly saying what happens or who said what and to whom.
Response Two
I like the phrasing of the narrator in “The Lady with the Little Dog”, it makes me feel like I am talking to one of my nosy aunts who likes to get up in everyone’s business. The wording and phrases used makes it seem as though the narrator is confiding in the reader; whispering, his or her, dirty little secrets about the new lady in town. The way that the narrator describes and introduces Dmitri makes me think that the narrator is a woman because of the way Dmitri is scrutinized and depicted within, presumably, his own intentions and perceptions. I like that the writer is creating an entirely different level of narration through the narrator rather than through himself. I like how the narrator inhabits the suggestions of the chapter and does not describe what each character is feeling, only what they are doing and thinking. It shows the third person narration quite clearly without adding any unnecessary dribble. I question, however, on page 212 how the characters, Dmitri ad Anna, are capable of being as self-perceptive as they are recorded to being. It seems highly unrealistic in human nature to be able to analyze one’s self to such a depth of clarity of mind. Granted, this is just personal preference, of mine, within the story; but I think even though fiction is not supposed to be wholly realistic, it should maintain, at least, some elements of realism within its pages. Also, I cannot tell if the roman numerals are acting as chapter notations or as acts like one would see in plays. They are quite odd to be putting into a short story.
Ch 6
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 6, Alice LaPlante focuses on the point of view of a story. Not only are there different ways to tell a story, but each point of view can be used differently, as well. Let's take first person; There are two different types I wasn't aware of before reading this chapter. There are two different kinds where the narrator is directly involved and the other where they are an observer. Using The Great Gatsby was a good example, because it involves Nick's "observant point of view. I've always been interested with obscure writing, and I've always wanted to do a story that's second person point of view, and reading this Chapter helps me get closer to the idea and ways to challenge myself as a writer. But I have realized that third person limited is the go to for stories. It's not completely detached or too close to the story where the reader is allowed to understand the characters and plot. Another neat thing I learned and thought helpful was the personality of a narrator. A narrator doesn't have to be robotic. Even in third person, the narrator can be anyone and have a quirk, instead of being bland like Cheerios without sugar.
The Lady with the Little Dog
This story fits the bill, because it gives off an understanding of two different characters. The point of view is third person limited with a focus on Gurov and Anna, but mostly Gurov. I got to read deep into Gurov personality, while also getting a taste of Anna's as they both have an affair to remember, lame pun intended. I also like the change of character, emotionally and physically, that Gurov notices as he begins to fall for Anna.
Kassandra Salas
This is definitely a chapter I have to bookmark. I will freely admit that I have trouble with POV issues (most of you are probably thinking “no s*** Sherlock”) and I think it was fairly evident in my work earlier this semester. As usual, there are the three types of narrator: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. I always found 1st person to be relatively easy, and 2nd person isn’t too difficult either. But 3rd person…well that’s just another animal entirely. I mostly write in the 3rd person because that’s what I grew up reading, so for me it’s just what I think of when it comes to fiction. But I’ve not always had the greatest of success with POV – specifically in the omniscient POV. One thing that LaPLante mentions in this chapter is that she distinguishes between “distance” and “knowledge” and that is something I’m going to look into further because I feel it can give my work a lot more substance (especially if it makes me look like I know what I’m doing – ha!). The idea that I can still be omniscient yet still keep a close distance with a character’s emotions and thoughts is interesting to me and I will explore that further. One thing I will point out about this chapter is that I noticed LaPlante talks about how other texts will list third person limited as being limited to one character and how she explains her own definition and elaborates more on this (I agree more with her definitions). It just makes me more wonder how many other definitions of things in fiction are not fully realized, and who is right or wrong? Food for thought.
ReplyDelete-Chano Martinez
My response
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 6, LaPlante writes about point of view and the variations each point of view has. Something that I found very interesting, and have never considered, is that as a writer I have the ability to set the distance of my narrator. I feel like I have done this subconsciously, but it has never been intentional. For example: in my piece for class, my narrator/protagonist is supposed to be detached from rationality and his emotions but, is also aware of the wrongness of his self-deprecation. There are instances where the narration is very intimate and distant. The section on the pros and cons of each point of view also intrigued me. I found it valuable to know that a reader may become bored if they’re getting the sense that they’re being tricked into feeling pity for a close first person narrator. I mostly write in first person to connect with a reader on a personal level but, I acknowledge that a limited point of view is not best for all stories.
I enjoyed “The Lady with The Little Dog,” mostly because of the point of view it was written in. I feel like the third person limited point of view allowed Chekhov to give his audience essential information, but not too much information, which worked well for the story. The narrator is limited to the thoughts and actions of Gurov and Anna, but paints a picture well enough to convey how each character is truly feeling. The story could have been written in Gurov’s first person perspective but, I don’t think it would have been as revealing and impactful if Chekhov had done so. It’s true that the story mainly revolves around Gurov and his thought but, Anna plays an essential role in creating the atmosphere of the story as a whole.
Michael E. Perez
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that writers can switch between perspectives in a story is totally new to me and appreciated. Drawing from the examples LaPlante provides, writing in second person seems to be the most potentially messy, and it would be good practice to try it, since I always write either from a first person or a close third person perspective. Reading samples of writing from each perspective was really helpful as well. LaPlante also suggests writing traumatic events in a third person perspective to avoid making the character sound self-pitying, which also was something I’d never considered and will apply to my own writing. I once took a class in which I had to write about a difficult time in my life, and the narrative was to be reviewed by the class—I dreaded it because I was so afraid it would come across as whiny. So I really appreciated this tip!!!
ReplyDeleteIn “The Lady with the Little Dog,” Chekhov writes from a close third person perspective, which I liked simply because it is my favorite perspective to read. The narrator describes the smell of Anna’s apartment and Gurov’s indifference when listening to Anna lament the affair, but we’re not totally in the minds of the main characters, which I found nice… I had a difficult time caring about Gurov after the first few paragraphs of the story gave a glimpse of what a tool he is, so first person from his perspective might have made the story an eye-roller (just from my perspective, of course).
-Nicole Hawke
Chapter six was straight legit. I never really thought out about point of view(POV). I have a hard time writing in first-person because I feel like the narrator shouldn’t know a lot or use big words, unless he or she uses big words. I’ve been reading a lot of Junot Diaz and I’ve become obsessed, with second person. I understand why it isn’t used as much, because it will get annoying and repetitive. The third person totally blew my mind away. I thought I was the narrator of the story. I never thought the narrator could be a character of the story. Not just that, but the narrator can be GOD. I love that idea of creating a GOD in my story and controlling what goes on in the story. I noticed that this chapter was about style. What style we most lean toward and the different styles of writers that we like. I like the style of Ernest Hemingway because its clean and brief.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady with the Little Dog, by Anton Chekhov, was an okay story I suppose. I get the reason why it was choosen but I hated the narrator of the story. I normally hate stories like these, but I like the characters and the dilemma of not being together. I just hated the POV. I saw a comment that made sense, that the POV should’ve been first person and I agreed. The narrator jumped from detail to detail and didn’t give me enough time to simmer the situation. I like the characters but not the POV of the story.
Mathew Betancourt
Chapter six was quite interesting and had a lot of useful content which I didn’t know about. For instance, I didn’t know how each point of view is more complex than what we think; in a first point of view, we have a directly involved character or an observer, for example. The examples for each section were very cool, “In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried” called my attention a lot, especially how functions very well with the point of view written on. The second and third point of view were another which consists of various ways to work with each point of view. For the second point of view, where the reader turns into a character reminded me a lot of Episode where the reader turns into a character of the story s/he reads. Also, what I grasped from this was how it’s up to the writer and their creativity how far or close they want to make their characters, there are no limits since a third-person can be close, or a first-person can be distant. As per the short story, that was an interesting, slightly weird story. Nevertheless, the story was an excellent example for point of view. I think it had an interesting plot, characters and ending as well, as I didn’t expect for the girl to leave back to her husband and then have that self-realization that she, indeed, missed the other man, and ended up starting something, or how this man, who had had multiple affairs before, fell in love! Great story!
ReplyDeleteLizbet Cantu
Chapter Six
ReplyDeleteThis chapter is extremely interesting. Point of view is something I always struggle with, and while I usually write in a first person, I would like to work with the other point of views. This chapter is really helpful with providing a pros and cons list of each point of view. I know for a fact that I would probably never write in second person because it looks extremely challenging and messy, but it would be an interesting challenge. The examples LaPlante provides are really good too. I particularly love the example with The Great Gatsby and Nick’s narration. I know with my short story, there were a couple of suggestions to use a third person point of view. Thanks to this chapter, I might end up trying to do that! It is nice to try different point of views.
The short story, The Lady With The Dog, is definitely a new favorite. I really love this short story not just because the plot is very interesting, but the narration. It offers a particular point of view without revealing everything at once. What had me irritated was the ending! It ends almost without resolution leaving the audience to infer. This is a short story that I feel could also work if it were in first person, but like the chapter mentions about pitting the main character with a first person point of view, that’s why I think this story works really well with third person. I wish there was more dialogue rather than massive detail but even then, the story is so intriguing.
Emily D’Gyves
Point of view is always a tough choice to choose when I am writing. I always knew that there were three distinct point of views: first, second and third. What I learned in this chapter is that these points of views are further divided. The point of view that I learned more about than the others was second person. The others I had used and read about before, but second person is my least understood point of view. I used to have some difficulty differentiating second person point of view, but LaPlante made it very clear. The thing that most stood out to me this chapter was the description of narrative distance. I had never heard of this narrative element and I am interested in using it in my writings. I’m glad Alice LaPlante included examples of narrative distance and some where it changed through it. The exercises were really fun to try out and I found them useful. Telling about the same incident in all three point of views helped me realize that I have a much easier time writing in first person point of view, which interestingly enough is what this chapter said about it. The story “The Lady with the Little Dog” is a great example of the use of telling a story through third person point of view. Thanks to this chapter I was able to tell when the narrative distance changed. This story, about the affair between two Russians, was told through an omniscient narrator. The narrator knew how both Gurov felt emotionally. I liked the story overall, although the ending left me questioning how the two lovers would solve their problems.
ReplyDeleteFlavio Hernandez
This chapter was enlightening in several ways. One, it provided a detailed definition of what a narrator truly is, and emphasized the importance of him in the story. Then, the detailed descriptions of the varying points of view, along with the abundance of examples helped create a vastly different picture of point of view than what I held before.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I thought first person point of view was best when writing character-driven narratives, for I can use that perspective to bring writers into my character’s mind, and fully flesh out his thoughts, actions and feelings. As true as it may be, however, this chapter showed me that perhaps first person is not the best to use if I want to garner sympathy/understanding for my character, for he may come of as too whiny or self-serving. Also, I held the belief that first person was only used by a character affected by the action of a story, not by someone witnessing the action. The excerpt coming from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, along with the subsequent explanation helped show that first person perspective can be just as effective when used by a witness.
Second person point of view is something that I have never touched before. It was always like that one character in a movie that’s always in the background, never given a chance to shine, while first person and third person were the heroes saving the day. I always felt that it was some sort of taboo, that I would not be effective enough if I wrote in this perspective. This chapter helped ease my worries about this point of view, though I still hold some reservations about trying it.
Third person is the point that I gravitate to when writing narratives. I use this perspective to create a detachment between the narrator and the characters, to provide a slightly more objective point of view, and give readers insight on what my other characters are thinking or feeling. My belief was that third person was best used for longer narratives like novels, while the others were best used in shorter ones. This chapter helped me understand that using something like third person limited can be just as effective as first person when writing short narratives.
I really enjoyed this chapter. It held an abundance of information on point of view, and presented some surprising little details that I hadn’t considered before. I will surely be visiting this chapter in the future to help me decide what point of view to choose for my story.
Pedro Cano
The chapter on point of view was very well written. The examples only strengthened the points it was making. This particular take on which POV we should as writers choose really helped me understand what I can and can’t do. It really opened the range for what I could do with a particular character. I really like how it spoke of things authors do wrong in order to better understand how to do it right. I specifically liked how there can be a change of view depending on the distance between the character and the narrator. It was really refreshing to see how there is a way to write in 2nd point of view even if it is not common it gave examples of how to make it work depending on how you are writing.
ReplyDeleteThe story of The Woman and The little dog, had an amazing point of view. The jumping was done almost effortlessly. It was such a smooth transition that most of the time I did not realize that there was a change until I was really deep in a different characters mind. Getting to know the difference between the two characters and how they both had responsibilities and how they still over looked those and fell for each other. Getting to know them through the jumping POV and also having the outside third person who could grasp their emotions as well as keep the distance really brought everything together. This was such an amazing read.
Every time I read one of these short stories I cant help but think that this is something that I would personally would want to teach with. Given that I would love to create little future writers and create a space for learning I fall in love with ever short story that we read out of this book.
EVELYN LOPEZ
Chapter six gave great insight on the different points of view in which a story can be written in. I usually write in first person or third person, but the chapter taught me that there are different categories in each type of point of view. What helped me the most was the examples given on attached and detached first person narrators. When the detached narrator was introduced I automatically thought of The Great Gatsby and I was pleased when LaPlante used the opening paragraph from Fitzgerald’s novel as the example for the detached first person. Throughout the story Nick is the narrator as he tells the story from his point of view. LaPlante states to never assume that the narrator is the author even when they say “I am writing this down for you. I am the author.” The Great Gatsby can also be used as an example in this circumstance. Throughout the novel Nick lets it be known that he is writing a book about Gatsby, “Reading over what I have written so far, I have given the impression that the events of three nights several weeks apart were all that absorbed me.” Although Nick is saying that he is writing about the events in the books, the reader knows he is not the author. There is a difference between a narrator and an author when it comes to fictional stories. As I continue to read stories throughout my life I will always remember to look for clues from the narrator for what the story really is about. The Lady with the Little Dog was a sweet and interesting short story. Gurov is a married man who carries various affairs with different women. Although he claims to despise the opposite sex calling them the “inferior race” he would much rather be accompanied by women rather than men because they make him feel more at ease. Gurov and Anna carry on a liaison and fall in love with each other. This story is based on adultery, but the love they have for each other symbolizes the color in the story like the lilac water.
ReplyDeleteMayela Montenegro