Response to "Professor Incognito Apologizes: An Itemized List"

1.    Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so, what are they and how are they used?

I don’t see much symbolism. The only thing I can think of is maybe threat, love, and evil. When reading his apologies I kept thinking that you never know if someone you know, or the person next to you, is inherently “evil”. The fact that he is keeping secrets and is “evil” may just be a metaphor about keeping secrets and how it will only hurt the people who are close to you.

1.    What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.

In this story I liked the fact that it was easy to read, and it was as if the guy was really talking to the audience. Although this is a made up story with made up events, he makes it seem real by the way he talks and describes the events and his feelings, or lack there of. Also, I like the fact that the character was sort of confessing to his girlfriend about what happened and what went wrong. It gives him a sort of human aspect. Like, he is evil and does thing that we can’t connect to, but the fact that he has a girlfriend and is talking about their relationship, it is easier to connect with the characters.

3.    What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

While I was reading this story I kept picturing almost like a live-action version of the Incredibles, because of the evil person confessing like the evil kid does, mixed with Star Wars, because of the hologram. If I were to recreate this story in to another medium I think it would be film. I don’t see another way of showing all that needs to be shown. The entire story is of the guy as a hologram, flashing back and confessing to his girlfriend. I can see this as a film that is essentially made up of a lot of flashbacks that are patched together.

Graphic Novels

Throughout my life I didn’t read many graphic novels. I have always read some of the “funny section” in the newspaper, and I read a few Archie comics, but nothing like these graphic novels from class. I must say that I was not a huge fan of the experience of reading graphic novels, other than the ones I read as a kid. I discussed this feeling with a couple classmates, and we came to the conclusion that we don’t really like that a graphic novel gives you all the information. The great thing about books is that you can use your imagination and think about what the story and characters look like. We felt that the graphic novels kind of took away that experience.

I read a handful of graphic novels, including Optic Nerve, Hate, Bone, Acme, and Wimbledon Green. There were a couple that had similar tones and voices. I would like to talk about Optic Nerve and Acme specifically, though. In these two stories the tone is not necessarily angry, but it is most definitely not happy. There doesn’t seem to be any chance of happiness in them. I really think the author’s voice comes out through the characters. Normally authors try to stay out of the characters a little bit so they are not all the same, but in this case I think there are so many similarities between the character’s attitude that I think it is the author’s voice more than anything.

The characters in Optic Nerve and Acme are very unsettling. They do not seem to care about anything but their selves, and they almost seem to be searching for happiness, but they won’t find it. In Optic Nerve one of the characters is depressed and thinks that finding a woman will make him happier, but he just stays depressed because he can’t stop comparing himself to a self-centered man who just uses women. In Acme the main character is this child who talks like an adult. He does not want to listen to anyone and he just tries to control people. All of these characters are very much in to themselves and the way all of them talk is very similar. Since the way they all talk is very similar in a lot of ways, I think they are the author’s voice. All of these stories are very interesting because they are all so unhappy and just strange.

Tone and Voice

When reading a novel, or writing about it, it is very important to know the difference between tone and voice. Tone shows the author’s attitude towards the subject, and voice is the writing style of the author or the way their personality is expressed in the writing. In Sleep Donation by Karen Russell, there is a society with a shortage of sleep. In order for some people to get sleep others must donate. Throughout the story there is a baby, called Baby A, who is being harvested for its sleep.

Karen Russell’s tone is quite sympathetic toward the baby and her family. They are all suffering from lack of sleep in order to help others, but the main character also understands why it must be done because her sister died from not sleeping enough. There are many people in the society who are also in that situation. In this society, sleep is a precious thing and is hard to come by. Karen Russell’s tone is sympathetic, as well as understanding.

Even if I didn’t know that the author is a woman, I think I can tell through her voice in the writing of the story. The way she sympathizes for the baby and her parents seems like it is from the perspective of a woman, or even a mother. Even the way she describes the characters and setting, in some cases, sounds like it could be a woman writing it. It is hard to explain why I make that connection, but knowing how my friends and I describe things, and having read many novels written by men, it just seems to have a woman’s voice. Some times when reading a novel it is difficult to tell if the author is a man or woman, but other times, like now, I definitely feel that the voice of the author is quite feminine.

Level Up

You are stuck in the safe zone at one of the thousands of identical, massive school campuses. Every one of them is the same and separated by green fields, parks, and rivers.  The never-ending green view has become rather boring, and there is nothing for you to do other than gain experience points. The more experience points you have, the faster you can move on. As soon as the bell rings you enter the hallway, looking for someone, but you don’t know whom yet. The only way you can earn experience points at this level is to hitch a ride with another avatar to other planets where you can survive. You see a user in the distance walking toward the front doors. They are moving on. Your shoes slide across the tile floor as you rush to catch up because you don’t know how much longer you’ll have to wait before you catch another ride.

As you approach a newbie-level gaming zone on another planet, you see in the distance a couple of medium size orcs. Orcs, along with other monsters on this level, are too weak to kill you. When you kill one of these monsters you will either drop some coins for you to collect, or they will drop an item. This is where you received your sword, shield, and armor. You attack, and win. After you have collected as much as you can, you count your fare to make sure you have enough to get back to school. You don’t. You are now in danger of being expelled because of how many unexcused absences you have. If you get expelled you have to return your Oasis console. You must find an after-school job in order to get back to the school to avoid expulsion. If you, a third-level gunter, are seen here by the other gunters you will surly be made fun of. They already think you are a noob, so you need to try to be discrete as you work.

Danticat's "The Dew Breaker"

After reading a few stories in Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker, I soon realize how the characters are related, and how they fit in to their environment. The characters seem to bond throughout the stories because they are from Haiti. They tell stories of the past, which leads me to the stories entitled Seven and Night Talkers. In Seven, the characters are all living in a basement together. This is where a handful of the characters are introduced. Dany, who appears again in Night Talkers, explains his story. He traveled from New York back home to Haiti to visit his aunt who ends up dying before he can finish telling her his story of how he found and was going to kill the man who murdered his family, but he chickened out.

The stories all together do a good job at bringing the characters together, while still allowing each character to develop in their own setting. With that being said, the environments that the characters are put in are all different, but at the same time they are similar. Although they are in different places, all the characters connect in some way, whether it is friends, family, or mutual acquaintances. Most of these characters though, are living in New York and trying to adjust to living in a new place. All of the characters are from Haiti too, which creates almost a setting inside a setting. All the characters are in their own settings and environments, but they all love to talk and think about Haiti and where they belong. Every one of them is trying to find their place and where they belong, since they are far from home.