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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 200 words.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
All three of these stories were written in a surrealistic way, each not really making much sense structure wise. But that style of writing is intentional after a few rereads, each story having an unreliable narrator telling the events that unfold. In Tuuguska the narrator follows the very questionable perspective of the child as he does things that are unsafe and unnerving. This is all mixed with what can be considered normal behavior, but written in a way that makes you question what he really did. In Shoes the story follows both the husband and wife, the husband having an unusual habit of picking his own nose, describing the sensation as ‘scratching his itch.’ He has this habit to stay in the basement an tends to dose off for hours, perhaps being lost in his thoughts. Later it is learned that his wife’s mother arrives to sign legal papers to obtain compensation for her father’s death, who was revealed to have molested her. As payment for the deed the mother was to wear special shoes that the husband keeps secret, hinting at a much darker incentive. The story ending with the mother unable to defend herself. And Hollywood Ends is a script that seems to be a fever dream within itself. The scenes jumbled around with little to no context of reasoning to dialogue, actions, settings, or purpose.
ReplyDeleteDavid Rodriguez
After reading all three stories, they were quite confusing nonetheless very interesting. With “Tunguska,” the young boy goes into his own world and his mother finds him with scissors in his hand while covered in blood. The boy seems to be obsessed with what he can read from the subtitles of what I believe is the TV. By the end of the story, my main question is what he was doing when his mom found him, however I’m not sure how important that is to the rest of the story not does it mention what happened. It was very mysterious, and it reminded me of the film titled “the shining.” “Hollywood ends” is a script of five scenes. Jack and Gloria are the main characters. I couldn’t tell if they were actually going on this “dream” of theirs or if they were just discussing it. I noticed that in scene five, a lot of the dialogue was cut to emphasize what was mentioned. Personally, I just thought it was very confusing mostly because scripts and scenes are not my cup of tea when It comes to reading. There was a lot of dialogue between jack and Gloria which I enjoyed because It helped me make sense of what was going on however, it was still difficult to read in between the lines.
ReplyDeleteMarissa Sanchez
The stories all had some points in common with each other, and sometimes were very different from each other. One such connection is with "Tunguska" and "Shoes" is that they both include blood, and cartilage is mentioned in both of them although in different areas of the body. I didn't really understand "Hollywood Ends" all that much though. "Tunguska" dealt with watching television and cutting the tail off a cat. And I'm assuming in the end of "Shoes" that they will kill the mother. The shoes were made in such a way as to not allow escape. The only thing I can tell about "Hollywood Ends" is that it's talking place during a war, but as for the choice of title, it could all be a TV show or movie shown in Hollywood, or I could be missing something.
ReplyDeleteNicolas Ortiz
These reading were pretty confusing for me while reading them. Even though I read them a couple of times, I was still unsure as to what was the message or the plot of the stories. The first story, “Tunguska” seemed like a dream the child was having. The chronology between one scene to the other is quite blurred, and there are no linear events. However, I took the liberty to look for what Tunguska is, and it turns out it was a large explosion that occurred in Russia. This makes me think that the little boy was not taken care of as he should. He was perhaps allowed to watch TV with no supervision and ended up seeing images that were not age appropriate. He then went on to have these dreams, where he had scissors and bloody hands he needed to wash off because he cut off the cat’s tail, which later on he saw with his mother. Also, perhaps what he was obsessed with were not the actual words of the television screen, but the images and what it made him imagine in his dreams. Even though it was a confusing piece, I could see how everything that was written had a relation in different parts of the story and it was interesting to decipher them.
ReplyDeleteAna T. Flores
“Tunguska” seems to me is like about a young boy who has some type of medical issue I think this because of how it explains that the boy is drooling and the way he is learning. We see how he is watching tv and watches everything with closed captions so that he is able to focus on the words. We also see an odd encounter with the family cat The story “Shoes” was an interesting yet mysterious reading. It was very descriptive with all sorts of images. The amount of detail in the story made the use of symbols a bit clearer to understand. Brudos has a type of foot fetish Cynthia feels anger towards his mother for allowing her father to hurt her yet it all comes down to her revenge. Although it doesn’t quite elaborate on what she did as a reader I think we can get an idea of what it is that happened. I think that based on Brudos past actions it was him that murdered Cynthia’s mother. The reading “Hollywood Ends” was a difficult read since it was in a script based on the life of actors and roles they play. Even though I read this twice I did not really understand it
ReplyDeleteMarlen Garcia
The energy of “Tunguska” by Robert Moreira had me at the edge of my seat the moment I finished the first sentence. It was incredibly foreboding and the elements of dialogue and character development truly made this piece stand out. The details of the child’s odd acts and The entire time I was reading I felt like the equivalent of watching a rubber band being stretched to the point of breaking. Finally the climax occured and the aftermath of the event leaves unsettling imagery. The author describes the mother “hanging on the kitchen table.” The ending was truly chilling as just a quick google search revealed the horrible real-life tragedy of the Tunguska event. The same author wrote the chilling piece “Shoes” that continues the dark energy that the previous piece had however it lacked in the semblance of innocence. The two main characters we are introduced to are right of the bat sinister. As the piece continues, everything unravels at the seams much like the couple’s furniture. The pace of “Hollywood Ends” is very erratic and the seemingly vapid romantical occurrence that happens between two individuals fuels this pace. The last piece was quite the read as it took more than once to understand what was going on, and even then some things are still unclear.
ReplyDeleteNick Torres
After reading so many short stories from Starkey's textbook and my peers, I appreciate that you finally allowed us to read a few of your works. The readings were unique and interesting. I think I kind of understood the beginning of “Tunguska,” but then got a bit confused towards the end. It seems like the boy is being kept away from doing the things he enjoys. You state at the beginning of “Tunguska” that the boy had dreams that “more often than not scurried away in the morning light like the cat that once dashed out the kitchen window after snipping off its tail with his mother’s scissors” (Moreira). When his mother washes his hands, it makes me feel like she is really washing away his freedom. Furthermore, I really enjoyed reading “Shoes.” It was unique. As I read that story, I felt like the main character, Brudos had an addiction. Throughout the story, the narrator draws attention to how Brudo’s nostrils twitch. I also got the impression that Brudo is the serial killer who murdered all those people the news reporter mentioned on T.V. I also got the impression that maybe his wife was helping him. Finally, the final essay is the one that left me confused. I didn’t really understand what was going on in the play. It is probably due to the fact that I don’t read many plays. However, it was different, and that is good.
ReplyDeleteJulissa Balderas
In “Tunguska” I had a difficult time understanding what was going on. Nevertheless, the imagery used to describe the television and the channels the boy saw appalling. For example, the story states, “Tall-toothed great whites piercing out of the shifting blue-green for an oblivious seal.” I like the way the description is given, so that indirectly as the reader we can assume it is talking about a shark. I was confused as to what occurred when the boy entered the mother’s room while she was asleep. Also, I liked the way the ending tied in with the title Tunguska. I did not quite understand what happened or how the cat fit in. In “Shoes,” I found the dialogue between Cyn and her mother because it progressively revealed the truth about Brudos. Even though it does not directly say Brudos is the one taking the women’s feet, the reader can assume he is the one because of the dialogue between Cyn and her mother. It tied the beginning to the end. In “Hollywood Ends” I was confused about the plot at first, but then I figured that they were actually acting out the scenes. I liked the inclusion of several references that I understood such as “Pretty Woman” and “Julius Ceasar.”
ReplyDeleteKevin Esparza
I found all the readings to be particularly interesting in the way that they're structured and told rather uniquely . Unlike most of my fellow classmates, I found "Hollywood Ends" as the most interesting piece of the three, as it's structure gave way for a wonderful presentation. It's vagueness adds to the overall character of the piece. I found a lot of joy in reading "Shoes", as it must have been fun to delve into the character of a serial killer as a writer. There were a lot of Freudian themes that I caught, especially in scenes involving the mother and feet, as most serial killers, according to studies using Freud's view on psychoanalysis, have an under developed relationship with women, often sourced at their lack of a developed relationship with their mother. It was also a very funny read, in the sense that it was very twisted. Brudos is a character that carries an addiction and the normality of it reminded me of "Hit Man." In "Tunguska," I enjoyed the overall feeling of a child, not knowing what was going juxtaposed with a very specific emotional detail of exactly what was going on. I liked the subtle biblical allusion, as his mother washes his hands of his freedom, like Pilate washed his hands of Jesus after giving him away for crucifixion.
ReplyDeletePadini Paolo Santiago