We began by reading Vera's version of the "Killing Alec" ending.
- chronology (linear, reverse, flashback)
- how/when to reveal information
- how to end the story
The idea of having different endings and keeping these endings led to a discussion of Choose Your Own Adventures stories.
Your homework:
Complete your CYOA story as a group. Write as a Google Doc (complete with links and bookmarks). Please also provide an outline/map of the story.
Read and Respond (as a comment to this post): Martel's "Manner of Dying" (link at right)
It’s very innovative for the writer to write about one scenario overly but with nine subtly different plots. Through changing of the meal the criminal named Kevin eats, his behaviors and emotions before hanging, his choices and actions in meeting the Father Preston, the way he walks to the gallows, the writer presents different manners of dying of a condemned man. The writer is constantly making slightly different choices that illustrate the different mindset of Kevin. One potato can contain a conspiracy of self suicide, while a fancy meal containing caviar and wine seem to show that Kevin is grasping the last chance to enjoy his meal and being alive. It’s puzzling to tell which way the criminal dies at the end or which way he dies more real, but it provides enough space for readers to imagine. Beside, the writer adopts a first person point of view to write in the eye of a warden, which makes the scene more real and tangible.
ReplyDeleteI think this story if a different kind of interactive fiction that allows the reader to fill in the blank of the background of the story. Through building of different characters and/or crimes committed by Kevin, the reader will relate to each of nine scenarios and understand Kevin's actions.
This piece is original to have 9 different plots in details under the same setting. Provided the title, the audience is told the prisoner Kevin is certain to die finally. But it does not destroy the audience’s curiosity because it offers another way for the audience to sparkle their imagination on the way of Kevin’s death. We cannot tell or decide which way Kevin dies more persuasive and convincing. In addition, the narrator of this story is the warden of the prison in the first-person point of view. When he is observing Kevin, his words might be more objective and elaborative.
ReplyDeleteFrom an editor’s perspective, this piece is also similar to the editing process. When editors are editing writers’ work, they may be stimulated to generate their own thoughts of the subject. Although editors are not allowed to change main plots, characters, and themes, they can discuss about their thoughts with writers and list both two sides of work. Editors and writers may analyze pros and cons of two pieces and decide which one wins to be published to the audience. But this literatures might be a good experiment to publish both editors’ and writers’ work, which allows the audience to choose the better work.
The title of this series of stories “Manners of Dying” is very effective in attracting readers’ attention. When I read the first story, I was curious to know what would happen to Kevin before he died. I was surprised to learn that “death is not brought by strangulation but by the snapping of the neck.” Also, I felt this story a little ironic as the narrator wrote in the letter “your son Kevin Barlow died painlessly,” but on the contrary, the description of Kevin before he died shows how painful and panic he was.
ReplyDeleteIn generally, the processes before Kevin died are very similar, and the only difference is Kevin’s reaction. The good thing is when the narrator describes Kevin’s different psychological status before he dies, it also makes me wonder what I would do if I was sentenced to death. What kind of food I would order and what is my last words. However, as I read, I felt the stories a little boring. Despite the different reactions of Kevin, he was hang to death at last. Except the two situations that Kevin died of swallowing a potato and cardiac arrest, as a reader, I expect more unexpected things to happen. But as a whole, this series of stories provide us a good example on writing CYOA story.
The writer applied nine different writing styles to the letter which is written for Mrs. Barlow whose son died of death penalty. It is a creative idea to produce a work in this way. Also, I find it interesting to compare and contrast the nine letters which seem like written by nine persons with different characteristics. For example, the first one, which I think is relatively suitable for a mother who lost his son, has a lot of emotional things. It seems like the letter writer tries to comfort Mrs. Barlow by emphasizing his son did not suffer a lot and avoiding the description of the process of death penalty. I do not like some of these letters that always refer to something useless, such as referring to “laugh” or “play backgammon” from the beginning to the end. It is cumbersome but less significant, and one of them is not solemn that cannot show respect for the mother. In my opinion, the letter destroying the atmosphere is even worse than the second letter which looks like a simple list.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think this work is a good sample for us to be careful about word choice and tone when we are writing. We need to keep the balance between objective description and emotions. We need to make the readers know what is happening as well as arouse their thinking or resonance.
There are nine stories to describe the manners of Kevin’s dying. The scenario is the same: Kevin is sentenced to death penalty by hanging. It is a normal background. However, I am surprised by so many creative ideas. Kevin shows different characteristics before his death. He is agitated or clam. Even he is agitated, the behaviors or appearances are different. What he eats, drinks, asking are diverse. It seems there are nine disparate persons who are facing up death. But every description of manners is detailed and vivid. For example, Kevin resists to walking out and struggle with guards. In addition, Kevin relieves himself. I think these manners are written carefully. It is interesting. These vivid descriptions shows how important the details are in order to attract readers.
ReplyDeleteThis series of stories is also related to our group work: open-ending writing. There is no saying that every scenario only has one plot or ending. An attractive story depends on our imagination. The inspiration is the source of writing. I think the important idea for inspiration is that we should pay more attention to our daily life. As we see in these 9 stories, every manner is related closely to small things happening around us.
“Manners of Dying” is a very creative literature. The story is presented in the form of a letter. This is an interesting choice. This story is about Kevin’s emotion and behaviors before his death. The author uses the letter that a warden writes to inform Kevin’s mother Kevin’s death to convey this story. There are nine both similar and different letters. I’m not sure whether I should call them a series of letters, because I think the setting and main structure of the story in all the nine letters is same. Kevin was going to die in the prison, he ordered his final supper, talked with Father Preston, he did something at that night, and he was killed the next morning. However, Kevin’s emotions and behaviors are different in the nine letters. There are also some changes in detail, such as the food Kevin orders for his last supper, and the time that Kevin and Father Preston’s talk lasts.
ReplyDeleteIf the author only writes one letter, and most audiences will read it and accept what happens to Kevin in that letter. However, the author gives nine different possible plots of the story. Audiences will read them, compare them, and choose favorite Kevin from the nine Kevins. Besides, some audiences will also create their own Kevin. This literature makes audience think and create.
Although the story describes the same scene and the same thing for nine times, it successfully attracts my attention because the author focuses on depicting various details. The different focuses on details actually make a great difference to shaping characters and emotions of the criminal. For example, in the fourth letter, the author describes Kevin's behaviors a lot, such as "shouting 'yesyesyesyesyes." The detail makes Kevin vivid, and it satisfies the purpose of this letter, to describe the death of Kevin for his mother. Even though I do not like some repetitive words like "impatient," I still think that the excessive details are reasonable but not just to shape a vivid character for readers.
ReplyDeleteI can see some of me as I look through each letter, and this is what good literature should do. It should set up a common ground for readers to attach, but the author also needs to be careful about the balance between touching the audience and presenting personal creative ideas. Otherwise, it can easily become a cliche.
Although the author only mentions nine different scenarios, there are countless hypothetical scenarios because the ninth scenario is named “the manner of dying 1096”. A small change in the beginning, like the type of food, will totally influence the end. For example, at the manner of dying 760, he offered only a pear. Then, his behavior is extremely clam. He even writes a lot to his mother to comfort her. The author may point out that no one can against fate. Even in few hours, there are countless possibilities. Furthermore, if a little change happens in Kevin’s life before, he may never be related to execution. It likes the butterfly effect and parallel space theory.
ReplyDeleteI think this story has potential to become an interactive fiction. The interesting part is that the narrator is like doing an experiment but not adventure. It is like that “if I offer this kind of food, what will happen?” or “if I say no to play chess with him, what will he do?”
I pretty like the setting of the series of manners of dying. Each story has similar beginning and endings, but the details make the stories quite different from each other, especially the image of the character – Kevin. I am quite interested in the food Kevin orders in each story, which initially I regard is nothing special to the entire story, but after finish reading them, I deem that the food has some meaning behind it. The first paragraph in each story is the same, and so as the endings. The first difference comes in the food Kevin orders and his attitudes towards them. For example, in 18, what Kevin orders is common meal in common family, and later he acts normally to face his death comparing with the others. However, in 213, Kevin only orders boiled potatoes, which triggers his death in the later development. In 760, Kevin orders only a pear and does not eat it. He writes throughout the night, and what he writes turns out to be sent to his mother. I think maybe the pear has some connection of their common memories. Some food he orders seem not have direct relationship with what is going to happen next, but I am sure that they have interconnections. Another thing I notice that is interesting is the number in each story’s title. The numbers seem random, but they are like the room numbers of different cells in the prison. There are lots of Kevins who are having the similar experiences at the same time in different cell rooms. It reminds me of each family in the world, because every family is like a single cell in the world with random room numbers. They live in different area, but they are experiencing the similar tragedy with different reactions. Not necessarily to be executed in jail, but various life dilemmas. Perhaps I am one of them, and I am not alone.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Manners of Dying is a special and creative literary piece. There are nine letters describing the procedure of Kevin’s execution. The pattern for those letters follows the same process: last supper, father’s visit, periodic check, and the final execution. What’s difference is Kevin’s behavior and response at different stages. This kind of writing style is brave, and meanwhile encourages us to create new ways of writing.
ReplyDeleteIt is not difficult to find the similarities among these letters, but what we should focus on is the author’s use of language. Martel is good at shaping one’s personalities. Almost in each letter, I can find words like “pale” and “agitated” because these are common emotions for people who are going to receive death penalty. Though conveying same emotions, Martel can express differently. He achieves it by depicting subtle differences about Kevin’s behavior. It’s like both A and B feel sad, but their sadness is impossible to be totally the same, and a successful writer is able to show the difference. Also, Martel always makes the behavior of a person to be consistent. For example, listing what Kevin orders for supper seems meaningless, but actually it is evidence to show the character’s personalities. So, this literature is good to tell us: write what the character is.
In this article, nine different manners of dying are introduced and described. These nine manners are written as the letters that Cantos Correctional Institution send to Kevin Barlow’s mother. In these letters, there are specific descriptions about Kevin’s last supper, what did he do during the last night, speculation about his mood, and his performance before execution. From these parts, we can understand what he might think before the execution.
ReplyDeleteI am not very clear about the aim of this article. Is this just the descriptions about different manners? Or is this actually the letter that needs to be sent to Kevin’s mother? If this just describes the manners of dying, it does not matter to write all the facts, whether cruel or not. In order to describe the manner of dying specifically, we need to write everything down. However if this is the letter for Kevin’s mother, it is very important to choose what kind of facts can be written. The letter should give comfort to the mother, and relieve her pain. Therefore some cruel facts or extremely bad mood of Kevin cannot be mentioned. For example, the Manner of Dying 541 describes that Kevin has acute behaviors toward the execution. He was not acting in good faith, and even wanted to get away. As well as the Manner of Dying 319, it writes that Kevin said nothing but laughed crazily. In my opinion, these behaviors of Kevin cannot be known by his mother. If knowing Kevin cannot accept the execution totally and behaved even crazily, his mother would feel more sad and painful. On the other hand, it is also inappropriate to write that everything seems fine, such as the Manner of Dying 213. Kevin was calm; he lied down on his bed and apparently fell to sleep. However, Kevin took his own life finally. The beginning and ending make a huge change that Kevin’s mother may cannot accept and bear.
In my opinion, I think the Manner of Dying 18 is the best letter for Kevin’s mother. There is neither a too cruel fact nor the false calmness. In this letter, Kevin presents his fear to death, and he still accepted it unperturbedly. Therefore I think this letter will make his mother feel a little comfortable and relieve her pain.