Here are the guidelines:
- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 350 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 10pm on the day PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
“The Hit Man” was so confusing to me, the more I read it the more I tried to make sense of it. The way that Boyle writes out the Hit Man’s life is choppy and only highlights pivotal moments. I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction, and it wasn’t hard to after Boyle talks about the Hit Man’s three-headed dog. What I took away from the entire story was the loneliness that Boyle depicted that the Hit Man lived through. The abuse that he received as a child from everyone in authority around him, and even from his fellow classmates is what gave him his hard shell. Even when his mother is dying of cancer, he doesn’t see her, but is instead off shooting pool. He is disconnected from people and the work, by the bag he wears over his head, which eventually becomes a mask. This mask is his protection, and what makes him the hardened man he is. The only thing that seems to make him happy and cut into his life is the birth of his child. It makes him even happier when his child becomes as hardened as him and is equipped with training. All this he does only to die alone in a hospital room. The mask of the Hit Man never comes off, and he never shows his true self.
ReplyDelete“A Kind of Flying” was a clever piece. I liked the way Carlson wrapped a story around the finishing statement. When reading he tied in the “take away” of the story into the moral finish. The reflection was a perfect way to tie in the disaster-wedding story. As I read this I didn’t see the analogy coming. I was hoping something bad would happen to pessimistic Linda, but instead the narrator showed class and was still determined to marry Brady no matter what Linda said. Carlson kept the narrator intriguing even though he depicts himself as a boring carpet man. The narrator is seen as the knight in shining armor, while Linda’s husband might be seen as prince charming, the reader can’t help but think that the narrator actually comes to the rescue. With his selflessness to his wife to let her live her dreams and travel the world, he is the true hero.
Claria Buddle
I found “The Hit Man” to have a really interesting format. It really distanced him from me as a reader and made me picture the events from a bird’s eye view or from the view of a security camera in a corner, if that makes sense. It also made his life seem bolder in a way. I wasn’t bogged down with details about scenery or background characters that were not really important. It was easier to focus on the main events that made the Hit Man who he is. It was the sum of a man’s life (and an interesting one at that) in but a few pages. I admire the skill it takes to be able to do this within the constrictions of a short story. I found the story lonely in a way, likely because of the lack of dialogue and how cut and dry the Hit Man came across. I like how nonchalant they describe his murders: “He wasted him.” It highlights how casually he is able to end someone’s life and it makes you wonder if there would be anything he felt bad about. However, after about the third or fourth time I began to find the phrase comical, which I also liked, strangely enough.
ReplyDeleteAs for “A Kind of Flying,” I found to be dreadfully boring. I honestly found myself not really caring what happened to the characters. I can’t really pinpoint whether this was due to the subject matter, the writing style, or more specific aspects like the dialogue or characters. I did find it a bit endearing though how the narrator says that he laid carpet so his wife could be a photographer. It’s the type of sacrifice that tends to be found in good marriages. I also liked the way the raven was described with the groom figurine. I pictured it the way films tend to portray these types of important micro-scenes. I don’t think it was a terrible piece or badly written, it just simply is not the type of story I tend to enjoy and I can’t judge it too harshly because of this.
Jessica Rodriguez
“A Kind of Flying” by Ron Carlson sets up a sense of longing from the groom by dividing the story into two halves (Side note: Notice how the groom, the protagonist, is not names. Although this could also occur since he is the narrator of the story). The first half of the story sets up the “stakes” if Brady and the groom get married: Brady would be live an average ordinary life; this was downplayed by the allegory of the crow taking the groom from the cake. The second half of the story is accelerated twenty years and expands the allegory. As the groom states “Though she’s done the traveling and I’ve stayed at home, whenever she sees any bird winging away, she says to me: There you go (Starkey 154).” The allegory has become a physical substitute for the groom. Thus, birds and traveling are objective superlatives the writer has prescribe to the protagonist. In its entirety, the story is linear in its character development and exposition.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, you have “The Hit Man,” by T. Coraghessan Boyle were the story is also linear. Boyle even separates the story paragraphs with a title for each simulating a storyboard. The story is linear in that it presents the entire life of the hit man, who is not named similar to the groom from “A Kind of Flying,” The set up allows for a kick delivery of story that echoes the quick cold executions committed by the hit man. An objective superlative can be found in the story, the hood. It is encountered in the weeding of the hit man all till the ending with the son of the hit man “trying on his first hood (Starkey 152).” I felt a sense of dread knowing the indifferent murdering would continue at the hands of the son. This could be what Boyle wanted to transmit, however it remains highly up to the reader. The conflict in the story is of major concern. While the story is flooded with conflict over conflict, there was not a major unifying conflict that could be found. The protagonist, lives his life and is eventually replaced by his son. Personally I was aching for more. Nevertheless, it did not take away from reading it.
-Alejandro Sanchez
I enjoyed reading the “The Hit man”, not only because it very mysterious, but the way it was structured with different life phases. That is what caught my attention. It was not just going to be a simple story of a certain time or place, but it was based on life events. From a child that he was to a man who I had thought died. Another thing that I had noticed is that it was said through the piece that the nameless “hit man” would “waste him or her”, I wondered as I was reading if it was harm the individual would do or if he would actually the person. I can honestly say that this story did catch my attention just by the way it portrayed certain thoughts into my mind without knowing the true meaning behind it.
ReplyDeleteAs for “A Kind of Flying”, I liked it more than the previous story. I liked it because I was able to identify allegory and all through out this piece from my own perspective. I know this has not been the first time I’ve heard that marriage can be connected to it bird or even a dove, but this is exactly the way Carlson revealed it to me. Another thing that made me enjoy this reading is that he was very descriptive about what the prognostic was feeling in his whole life. There was even actual dialogue to understand each character that had been in the story. I know that I was able to understand it way better because it felt like he was going piece by piece of the complications of marrying a woman the protagonist wanted to be with. Not only the way this story was written but it was because I tend to enjoy readings that are based on marriages and how beautiful they can be, my favorite pieces from this story was, “For years I laid carpet so my wife could be a photographer and now she’ll be photographer,” and “Sometimes it inches like a births mouth, it is definitely flying, it definitely is a kind of flying.” I believe the author was demonstrating that there doesn’t always have to be something negative, but there is always something worth it in the end despite the bad times in it.
-Aliza Longoria
From all the other stories we have read “ The Hit Man” by T. Coraghesshan Boye, I thought it was a good short story. It was used in a chrolongical order,it is broken down by events leading up to his life as a hit man. Boyle gives us a good visual of his surroundings in each timeline. As I was reading this story there was a break in each block that the made the tone darker and I would see this character transform himself as a serial killer. From his past, he was mistreated as a kid, it lead me to believe that his past influenced him to be the person he chose to be in the future. I was a bit surprised that Boyle did not emphasize on any of the characters just the main character himself which I preferred. The author does not elaborate on what the Hitman looks like. Instead the author points out clearly at symbols. For instance, the priest and the hitman both wear black. Separately from these characters, the priest blesses someone that has past away and the hitman takes away a life or “wastes”them. He wears a black bag over his head with only triangular hole in it for his eyes. To me he somewhat symbolizes the death reaper throughout his life. One of the things I found amusing as that he is “wasting” people so easily yet he has a family. Like really? A person that his job is to kill, has a family? I guess, but of course this is fiction. He is portrayed as a good guy and a bad guy. His love was for Cynthia was pretty interesting to me, it led to believe he was more human than just a killer. Boyle’s use of third person point of view which helped us readers visualize what the killer’s mind was going through. At the end, as his son is all grown up, he mentions that he is trying on his first hood, in my interpretation he wants his son to follow his footsteps as a killer. The second story did not interest me as much as the first story. “A Kind of Flying” it’s about a wedding, weddings don’t really interest me. There was a realistic feel to it compared to A Hit Man. In my opinion, I preferred the Hit Man over A Kind of Flying because the structure of the story was interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Espericueta
Two great selections for required reading this week. I really enjoyed both pieces very much so. “Hit Man” by Boyle and “A Kind of Flying” by Carlson.
ReplyDeleteWhere Boyle’s piece stands out the most is in the way his short-short was structured. It’s almost like a mini novel in the way parts are broken down; it’s sectioned well and sorted in a chronological point where we get to see the guy take a transformation. Just the name “Hit Man” had me thinking of Deadpool, Marvel’s recent release. There are certain similarities that come through on both stories.
Where Boyle’s piece seemed to lack just a tad is in the detailing department. I felt that there just wasn’t enough for me to grasp onto the character and really care about him. Still, Boyle does just enough to help the reader visualize surroundings according to the appropriate time line.
When it comes to Carson’s “A Kind of Flying” I must say the structure was much like what we’ve been accustomed to seeing over the course of classroom settings. While this conventional take is welcome, I found myself torn by who exactly was telling the story. There’s just an abundance of information being hurled the way of the reader that at times it feels like the groom isn’t the only one with a voice, but the bride is also explaining and fleshing out her own thoughts.
There were also some unnecessary characters thrown into the story like Linda’s husband and Butch Kistleburg to name a few. None of which really play an intricate roll in the story. When there are unneeded details in a piece of writing, it pulls the reader in several directions and makes it hard for them to follow a story.
Now I know that the main point of this piece centralizes around marriage, but there was one thing that I deemed more impactful than the art of marriage, for after all it’s a shaky institution isn’t it? Well the idea of living life to the fullest to prove someone wrong is the best way to go. In this case it’s Linda who is being proved wrong.
Overall, two very enjoyable pieces. I thought they were both good, and “Hit Man” and its structural take is something to ponder in my next take on a piece of fiction.
Lucas Zamora
Although this course has not been in progress for too long, we have certainly read a lot of stories. Thinking back to creative fiction I recall relatively enjoying most of the stories we read from that section as well as the ones we’ve just read under the fiction genre. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy either “The Hit Man” or “A Kind of Flying” story wise but stylistically and structurally I found myself interested.
ReplyDeleteThe first story, “The Hit Man,” by T. Coraghessan Boyle was kind of blunt and aloof. It wasn’t interesting to me. There was no dialogue, the setting was all over the place, the details were descriptive and I found it hard to travel with the character and the story as one rather than two. I had no idea what a Hit Man was nor what it meant to waste someone as is stated a few times in the story. It was kind of distant and secretive, kind of like the character himself was. Midway through the story I expected the character to go through drastic change and found myself feeling hopeful for the “Hit Man.” It was very confusing and therefore I found it distasteful. One element that did catch my eye was the way in which it was being structured. I am not sure what those “titles” are called exactly but I had never seen that done before aside from like a chapter book and I thought it was roughly interesting.
In “A Kind of Flying,” I was enchanted by the word “wedding” in the first sentence and expected something rather different from what I read. I felt that the characters were forced to be something they were not. They tried to hard in making them seem like two distressed people, so different from each other. One was an artistic photographer and the other a boring carpet man yet they still married. It’s kind of cheesy and frustrating. It frustrated me more when the crows represented symbols of evil and the bride was “distraught” but still married and later in the second half of the story she symbolically refers to a bird as her husband saying “there you go.” Structurally it wasn’t something I had not seen but the transition from the actual wedding day to “twenty years ago this week” provided that enchanting feel I found at the beginning.
- Mayra Lopez
The moment I read the title, "Hit Man", I honestly thought it was going to be about a mob boss or even some sort of assassin. I like how it states which part of his life is being presented at the moment. When it spoke about his black hood, it made me curious of what it could be. Is it just a black hood or is it something more meaningful? Could it be something that hides his face or the personality that he keeps a secret from the world? When it spoke about his first date with Cynthia, I was a little confused when he slips a twenty to her dad then I realize that it is possible that he paid the dad to date the daughter. As I read on, it stated that his parents die and he gets his first job. Confusingly enough was when they say that he hits people professionally and he said yes. It moves on to his marriage to Cynthia and having his first son, apparently teaching him to become a hit man. All of it leads to his eventual death where is as if he put on his first hood. I was blown away by the boldness whenever it states that he "wasted" someone. I also liked how it all traces back to his black hood. The structure was pretty unique and has that mysterious vibe that I appreciate very much. It was a pretty intriguing read and it was different in a good way.
ReplyDelete"A Kind of Flying" does have a surprising start with a wedding. It seemed like it would normally be a happy occasion, but it seems as if it were forced upon them. It had a traditional sense of style and has a complicated input within it. It was very confusing on the point of view along with what is going on. I am unsure if it was done on purpose or if it is meant to be a part of the story. It was a nice read and quite different from what I expected from the title itself.
The stories were excellent reads and fine pieces of work.
-Alexa Rodriguez
The Hitman starts off as if the author is just going to provide some backstory to the character but that backstory continues on throughout the entire story. It starts off by growing the character and makes it sound like the story will be a good one to read but as you get past the first paragraph, it is all the same. The style of how the paragraphs are set up doesn’t break the mold and you end up reading the story as small point in the life of the main character. That type of read is not enjoyable to do because your being told what that paragraph is about to start off. There is no build up in any of the paragraphs leading to those events because you already know what happens as the climax. The only build up is perhaps the tone of the story, it’s a dark tone because of the hitting he does throughout the story but with the paragraph breaks that tell you the result its not much of a dark tone anymore.
ReplyDeleteA kind of Flying is a flashback into the marriage day twenty years ago told by the narrator a man. I have not seen a point of view like this before, so that was a refreshing interests to see how this type of wedding scenario can be told through the narrator’s eyes. All this is a story of events of what happened that specific day, how something that doesn’t go according to plan doesn’t mean that the end result isn’t going to be something that is worth taking a chance on. The whole story is the incidents that lead to the end of the wedding day, but the ending when he is giving advice there is only what he can say he has been through. And that is to just get married and have your favorite song sang by your friend and that marriage isn’t like a cake. He relates what happened on his wedding day to his own true result of having a great marriage twenty years later. The style is pleasing to read because it follows traditional essay form. The tone is a happy feeling reminiscing with the character but there is a lack of climax to the story. Although for a typical wedding there isn’t much climax other than the little bit of things that are missing and in that case the mood to read is just mellow of a read with not much excitement.
- Victor Vasquez
This reading assignment consisted of two short-short stories, the first by T. Coraghessan Boyle and the second by Ron Carlson, two American writers. Boyle is currently an English professor in Southern California and has published numerous short stories as well as fourteen novels. Ron Carlson is about the same age as Boyle and has written four novels and many short stories as well.
ReplyDeleteTC Boyle’s The Hit Man is an experimental work of short fiction utilizing numerous unconventional typographical layouts. The Hitman consists of 17 chronological segments representing a significant event of the protagonist’s life each beginning with an emboldened. The first character of the first paragraph of each section is enlarged leaving a list of large letters down the left side of the page. While it be nice if these series of letters spelled something, they do not (TTTATPTTTCTAHTHAH); it seems to exist merely for show but also to express the significance of the protagonist.
The initial segment regarding the Hit Man seems fanciful since we don’t know who he is. The idea of a young man attending school while always wearing a black hood seems like we’ve started off reading some kind of exaggerated, flippant story of some young man similar to the last story we read, Aimee Bender’s Loser. Yet as we go on, we begin to realize exactly who the protagonist is and the connection he has with the title of the story, The Hit Man. Toward the middle of the story I began to understand just who the main character was and why he always wore a black hood, etc. This relieved the ideas of an exaggerated caricature of life that seemed imminent in the first paragraph and I came to appreciate the story as being mildly intellectually amusing.
Carlson’s A Kind of Flying is typeset in the traditional fashion with indented first-lines of paragraphs with no breaks between successive ones. The narrative jumps into the middle of things as Starkey advised by telling about Brady and Butch’s approaching wedding day, two people we previously had no clue about. An amusing narrative takes up the majority of the story leading toward their big day and once that day occurs, the author shifts the time twenty years later where the author, Butch apparently, talks to someone else about getting married relating that life is similar to that amusing incident related earlier.
A Kind of Flying is written in the firs- person whereas The Hit Man is written in third-person omniscient. The first person makes A Kind of Flying read like a memoir and although it is marked as fiction there is nothing in it particularly unbelievable. On the other hand The Hit Man is a total farce since the main character is death personified as a real person. Placing the story in the third-person seems to require less imagination than would be necessary if it were first-person whereas first-person seems necessary in A Kind of Flying since the main character is ultimately trying to convey his opinion regarding marriage. First-person therefore makes this opinion come across as chummy which seems difficult to do in the third.
Elizabeth Barham
A way to interpret T Coraghessan Boyle’s The Hit Man by the priest and the hitman are alike, besides both wearing black. A hit man is hired and then performs the job, and a priest performs with words from God. A priest is mentioned again when the Hit Man and Cynthia get married, all that is noted that the priest says, “Till death do you part” because that’s is probably what would catch the Hit Man’s attention the most, since his job is to perform death upon an individual (Starkey, 151). The last time a priest is mention is at the end of the story, like when his mother is close to death, he is present when the Hit Man is in the same condition his mother was. It shows that a priest is seen as something that is good, but as his profession he sees the bad as well. It is ironic he would care about the death of a Hit Man, when a hitman does not care he kills, and shouldn’t have a priest present for the bad he has done. It is also interesting when he is close to death, he stays at “Mercy Hospital”, because as part of his career he gives no mercy to a person he is hired to waste. (Starkey, 152). The Hit Man’s father’s occupation as a mortician can be compared to a hitman, because it deals with death as well. His son will continue with death, because he will become the next hitman.
ReplyDeleteA way to see flying as a way to escape, since humans cannot fly it is an escape from reality. Although humans cannot fly, the protagonist in A Kind of Flying sees his reality as a kind of flying. Flying for him is realizing that nothing has to be perfect and that’s what has always made his marriage so great. When birds fly there are the ones controlling, the way he has control of his life. It was a big having to work hard for his wife’s career, but it was something he wanted to do. He may not have the greatest job or be the wealthiest man, but he is happy.
(Sandra) Melaine Villarreal
“The Hit Man” was a different style of formatting which threw me off at first, but I read it a few times and I still cannot get used to the style. The paragraphs were really short so I guess that made it a bit easier to read, the overall story was different, but it was a good story. I think the main reason why I don’t understand this is because it is written in 3rd person, and that is just something I am not used to. I like how you can tell that the author put his time and effort into this piece, which it was really thought out; still doesn’t take away the fact it was hard to read. I like how it did take me a while to realize that there was little to no dialogue. The word “waste”, “wasted”, and “wastes” was thrown around a few times throughout the story, once on page 149, twice on page 150, and lastly twice on page 151, I like the repetition kind of brings the story together, in my opinion.
ReplyDelete“A Kind of Flying” was really boring and I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, or by its title, but the title did not grab my attention at first. To me with the wife and husband being very different they are still married, and I can tell the man loves his wife because “I held my tongue” (Starkey pg. 154), even though you can tell that she did irritate him. Kind of shows how relationships are, reminds me of my most recent relationship, even though me and her were very different, I still loved her even though we got on each other’s nerves. We were still together. Even though it was boring at first I still find interest later on, this wasn’t too hard to read, just I feel the author could of broken it down a bit better. I think this story to show even though you’re married, you will disagree on things, but you still will (well should) love your significant other, and this is a good lesson to a couple thinking about getting married.
-Roberto Rodriguez (Bobby)
When first reading “The Hit Man,” I did not like the format of the story, but I got used to it. Boyle wanted us to understand the hit man’s character from the beginning and in order for us to understand he created a time line. I appreciate how the author created headers for every different situation in the story because without the headers I would be more confused. Setting this story up like this made the story choppy for me, but they were all main events in the characters life so I understand why Boyle did it. If I were to set up a story like this I would have an intro paragraph, then the bits of important event and end the story with a complete paragraph conclusion. The conclusion did bring a bit of a surprise since the son decided to follow his father’s footsteps. It was easy to read and understand and had an effective ending, but I just wish the story had a smooth flow when reading it. Now that I think about it, I have realized that the set up of this story is how people tell stories in face to face conversations.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the title “A Kind of Flying” I thought the story was going to be about angels or something inspiring. This story was like the hit man, explaining a chain of events in this man’s life before leading up to his marriage. I like that Carlson stayed around the time of getting married explaining the set up before and their life after marriage. Leaving out how they met and the engagement would have lost the point he was making in this short story. I thought they weren’t going to get married because of the sign the bird gave them, but Carlson made his point around that scene. Carlson bringing up the feeling of flying with the example of the crow lifting away the groom toy was a satisfying ending to the story. The ending pulled the story all together and I felt was a good representation of marriage because it involves the pinch of a beak, to happy up lifting moments if you’re lucky.
Bianca Salinas
"The Hit Man" was not a piece I enjoyed reading, and neither could I appreciate the writing style or technique. It is written in a way that I have seen before in short stories: the story is broken into pieces, like snapshots of the character's life. Sometimes, these kinds of stories are told in chronological order like "The Hit Man," but sometimes not. Most of these stories, however, are better than "The Hit Man." There is nothing wrong with experimentation, but it was difficult to work through the story while knowing that I had previously read pieces written in a similar style that were superior. I suspect that even if I had not read those other short stories, I still would not have cared for "The Hit Man." The titular character is an unlikable one, but a main character does not necessarily have to be likable for the story to convey a message. In fact, a detestable character may work well in delivering an unhappy story about an unhappy topic. However, the problem is that I, the reader, am entirely sure what "The Hit Man" is on about. If there is some meaning or purpose or commentary about some aspect of society, human nature, death, the world, etc. - then it is hidden to me. Or maybe, it does not exist. In this case, the story ends up being a sub par one with sloppy writing.
ReplyDelete"A Kind of Flying" was an interesting story about a couple's wedding day and the husband's subsequent opinion on the making of a successful marriage. It was humorous and fun to read. Because it was told in an almost conversational manner, the story feels more tangible and relatable. I was reminded of my parents' wedding day story (coincidentally, their cake top groom disappeared as well) and the way that my father would tell that story. There is something to be learned from these kinds of stories: love and happiness and dreams. The bride's sister had predicted that Brady would be tied down by her more introverted husband, but instead, through mutual love and support, she fulfilled her dreams of becoming a successful photographer and traveled the world. In a way, even though her husband remained physically at home, because he gave her his love and support, he was able to travel with her.
-Doris Tolar
“The Hitman” was an interesting story. I didn’t very much like it because I couldn’t make sense of what it was happening. It was like the author was putting everyday life situations for the hitman that made him like any other person, but then would turn around and make a scenario that wasn’t very likely to happen. I’m a very visual person and the way this story played out in my mind made it seem comic book like. Some parts seemed to be important to explain who the Hitman is but then others just seemed unneeded. As if they were put in for comic relief, but to me it didn’t work. The outlandish scenes where the Hitman does things that would normally be frowned upon yet almost go unnoticed just throws me off. I found the layout interesting and I feel like the narration of the story was like a voice over in a movie but I just wasn’t quite grasping what it was getting at. The Hitman lived his life like any other person he just did some unorthodox things.
ReplyDelete“A Kind of Flying”, was a more feel good story. Having been married myself I can understand the man’s point of view when it comes to the balances of marriage. I too sensed that Brady was going to get run over trying to take that picture. And when it got to that part, I was telling myself, “ha I knew it, she’s going to get run over.” But when she didn’t and the story went on the other direction of what it seemed was an omen. I thought that was interesting. I like how the author played my assumptions. I also loved how the song of El Paso came up. I like how the author put in the quirkiness of the characters. These weren’t just one dimensional people. They had passion in the things they did in life. Even something as simple as being a carpet layer. The way he made an honest living to support his family so his wife could do what she loved made these characters so real. That’s what I liked most about this story. This story could have been told to you by anyone you know.
-Diana Zepeda
The Hit Man was story that, to me, was giving the character more depth and was able to give a story at the same time. While reading it, I actually was able to connect with him because I was able to get a backstory to who he was and also see how he became the person he was till he died. The story was just more of a journey of a single character and expressing how he became the adult he was known today. To me, what is very different from this story is that there is a sub-heading for each story, basically introducing a new paragraph, a new part of the story. To me, that is what an essay normally does, but using it for a short story is very interesting because it is trying to tell the reader that there is significance in every moment that was mentioned in the story. This was to pinpoint what the author believed to be important for the character’s development over the years, to show the audience how his personality and also how the events corresponded to him becoming the person he was known as.
ReplyDeleteA Kind of Flying appeared to be a story that may have resulted in tragedy to a marriage due to what the character, Linda, was saying to her sister, Brady, about Brady’s future husband. Linda was making all kinds of comments about different symbols and legends about marriage and also the wedding itself. One particular mention was when Linda said something negative about the groom when the groom figurine from the cake was taken from a crow. Reading the story, it may appear to be a metaphor for something bad happening to the groom because usually dark birds, like crows usually, are used to represent death. But as I continued to read the story and when Brady asked her future husband that if he believed in symbols, it was believed, by the reader that something bad may happen to the groom in the future or after the wedding. However, as the story continued on, it appeared that groom and Brady lived a happy loving life and that despite Brady managing to go everywhere around the world, the husband was happy and would someday like to take off with his wife and have an adventure with her. To me, this symbol was metaphorical foreshadowing of how happy Brady and the husband would be and their love would take off and basically soar through the years far and wide. They would be together for a long time. To further confirm my claim, it also happens that when the husband’s niece came to him and asked for advice about her own future marriage, he told her that marrying someone is like flying.
- Andrea Serrano
The format on "Hitman" was different than the other stories we have read. To be honest I had mixed feelings on it. For one part, I liked that it was something different and that probably made me want to read it. However, I did not think that the format was good. I have seen this type of format before, but I believe that it was used ineffectively in this story. For the most part, I like a normal flow of the story instead of just snaps of it. To me, this format is telling the story with photos instead of a video like all the others. The story itself wasn't appealing either, and I had a hard time reading it a second time.
ReplyDelete"A kind of flying" was a lot different when compared to "The Hitman". This one kept me more interested and actually got me to feel a few emotions. It made me think about my wife and how I am as a husband because in some ways, I am similar to him. Unlike the other story, I feel that this one had a good flow and was told better.
-Erik Ramirez
The Hit Man by T. Coraghessan Boyle is a structured story. It tells the stages different stages of life of a hit man. At first I was not sure, what the full story was trying to say. Was this about a real Hit Man, or just a regular man? I did know what a Hit man is, but I still had to look up the formal definition. I researched a little about the author. It is an obscure story, based on a character written in 1980. There are parts of the story that are explicit and straight forward. While others are defining the character such as the peas instances. It gives the impression he is not a patient man, however seems respected by others.
ReplyDeleteA kind of Flying by Ron Carlson is a more enjoyable story. Is about the moments before the wedding, and the adventures before it. It describes the feelings of Brady, and all the different opinions surrounding the wedding. The story starts describing the plans of the wedding, and how the sister of the bride, Linda, has mixed opinions about the layout or organization of the wedding. The story carries on telling about the idea to get a picture of the cake with the perspective of photographing the actual couple on top of the cake, and a bird ruins part of the cake and takes the groom figurine. They replaced it with blue frogman figurine, with movable arms and legs. In the last part of the story, twenty years later, the couple is happily married and Linda is seeking advice and Brady uses the analogy of the bird carrying the groom in the beak, flying him away. A way of saying the husband, and her did the necessary sacrifices to do what would make them happy, by allowing her to travel as a photographer, and developing her book.
Francisco J. Aboytes
In “The Hit Man”, Boyle's style of writing this piece was very unique. At first I thought that the way this short story was written was rather strange, but when I went back to read it for a second time I started to understand. I believe that by creating a timeline or rather montage of the hit mans finest moments of life, you got to see who his character was. Though at times it did seem very: A to B to C, it still managed to capture and keep my attention to what was going on. The hit man never really had a proper name, but Boyle showed us the type of man he was by writing him through his actions so descriptively. Even though he was typecast by society as the bad guy, or the outcast. You in way almost feel bad for this character, who you know isn’t real. But because he was written so well it almost made him seem as if he was a really person. Looking at his character development you see that he isn’t a bad guy he was just born into a bad situation that made him the way he was.
ReplyDeleteSo can I just say how much I loved “Kind of Flying”! Not going lie, the part that got me hooked on this short story was that Marty Robbins “El Paso” was referenced in this! Sorry… I’m kind of a dork for the oldies. Anyway that isn’t the only reason I really liked Carlson’s story. I enjoyed how the narrator, (who just like the hit man was never properly named), told his story in such great detail. It kind of made me wonder how many times this character told the story of his wedding day. The dialogue was written in a way that you, as a listener to this story, could believe that there were actual conversations that happened between other people. The character of the narrator seemed, at least to me, as if he had a good sense of humor. Especially when it came to having to deal with his future sister in law. Which seems like a real thing that would happen between joining families.
-Victoria Walls
I’m not sure if I genuinely enjoyed “The Hitman” or my lack of understanding makes it more fascinating than if it had been written in a straight-forward manner. The story made me uncomfortable and irritated at the fractions the writer provides into the life of the hitman. Why did he always wear a hood? My first thought was that it’s an allusion to the reaper. The way death is personified as a faceless entity who only wears black is obviously the allusion projected by the hitman. Another thing that bothered me was that I’m not sure if the hitman was a hitman or if it’s just a metaphor. What is it exactly that the hitman does? This story leaves more questions than answers it provides. I actually did enjoy “A Kind of Flying”, the story was straightforward and I didn’t have to assume anything else was going on because it provided everything I needed to understand it. The story was sweet and like the type you hear friends telling about their wedding day. I like the style to author takes, like he's telling this story to a very intimate friend. Like I said, I didn't have any questions because everything that I could wonder about is already cleared out in the story.
ReplyDeleteMaria Fajardo
I took down notes as I read "The Hit Man" by T. Coraghessan Boyle. I understood that the chronological nature of the story gave it structure. I found it kind of neat how Boyle put titles to every paragraph. Reading the paragraphs alone serve as reference, they are delicately woven together. The narrator referred to the Hit Mans murders as laying them to "waste". It seemed the Hit Man had very little regard for human life. The Hit Man did not seem human to me in the way his physical appearance was described. His life was presented in an ordinary way. He is employed, has a family, works very hard for his employer (Porfirio Bunoz) and eventually retires. Not the typical life I would envision a hit man to have. I would normally imagine a hit man to be a cold person that has nothing to loose. The Hit Man Boyle gives us is much more complicated and difficult to understand. Boyle definitely knows his character much deeper than I do. He develops the hit man through out the story, just without the details we crave. Boyle shoves the hit mans character down our throats whether we like it or not. In the end I left off with believing the Hit Man was much more human than I originally believed.
ReplyDelete"A Kind of Flying" was well put together, but the ending was not as interesting as I thought it would be. It was a bit of a let down. The narrator is down to earth and simple, he works while his wife is away doing what she loves and he enjoys the fact that she can have that luxury. The conflict between the narrator and his sister in law is put to rest with both of them having a piece of what they wanted. How is his niece suppose to take his advice on marriage? I think this story was written to confirm a truth about marriage. It is a mystery.
- Abran Garcia
Hit Man
ReplyDeleteI had to read through this piece a few times to even kind of try to understand it. I really don't know what to make of it. I think the format is really confusing to me. When I read through it the first time I really had no idea what it was about, but I could sense something below the surface that interested me. I had the feeling that there was a really powerful message that the author was portraying, I don't quite know what it is, but I am pretty sure that it has to do with the son following in the footsteps of his father. Altogether, this is probably my least favorite piece that we have read this semester. I find the format hard to follow, and I really can't understand what is happening. If I were to try and guess what it is about, I would maybe say it is about a gangster of some sort? Then it throws me when he mentions being on a tv show. It just didn't appeal to me much at all. I wanted to like it because the author took the risk of making it in a unique format, but in the end it was just all over the place.
A kind of Flying
The format of this piece is definitely more traditional that the previous. I think something that made me really enjoy it a lot more is the fact that the subject was marriage. For some reason when I read something about weddings or marriage, it peaks my interest. Perhaps it's because I want to get as much advice as I can while I am still young and unmarried. But anyway, I really did enjoy this piece and loved the fact that he tied in the beginning and the end really well with the idea of the bird. I also loved the fact that this piece feels personal. I get to see into his memories and how it went from that to his day to day life and there was something very comforting about that to me. Overall, I liked this reading.
Erin Valdez
“The Hit Man” by T. Coraghessan Boyle was a very interesting piece of writing because of its flamboyance. Written in present tense,Boyle’s literary work attracts the reader through colloquial language. Incredibly, the narrative’s syntax is very simple and Boyle prefers short sentences while still choosing his wording carefully. His diction plays an important role in his writing as he is quick to narrate without forgetting adjectives as well. To be honest, I thought to myself at first “how could this piece be part of Starkey’s textbook?” Nevertheless, I learned not to underestimate the strategic style that Boyle utilizes as it is his most powerful tool. His writing appeared to me as elementary when I immediately identified different sections labeled more as ideas such as “First Child” and “Work.” There’s no quotation marks in the dialogue, but the author is not interested in grammar as much as he is with the dark theme. The characterization of the hit man (whose identity remains throughout the narrative) is exemplified with his actions rather than his words. Indeed, the hit man is “moody” and “unpredictable,” and sketchy.Furthermore, I was astounded to see how Boyle is able to juxtapose a weapon with the child that is born from the Hit Man. I was able to see how the Hit Man’s character was dangerous enough to create almost a replica in his offspring. Boyle uses repetition both literally and figuratively to create a superb art, “The priests wears black. So does the Hit Man.” I find it fascinating how creative Boyle is as to place a priest and death in one paragraph placing the reader in a tense atmosphere almost tying the audience in suspense. Perhaps the most intriguing thing I have found while reading “The Hit Man” is the art of using short sentences, sometimes even fragments, and incomplete thoughts to knit a piece like this together. I would like to think about my wording twice to create an effective writing as Boyle’s.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Kind of Flying” by Ron Carlson, the hyperboles create a piece of dramatic narrative, but an insightful one at the end. The way that Carlson describes the marriage and the chronological series of events is amazing. What interested me was that the narrator was actually a male, and I wondered why it wasn’t narrated from a woman’s point of view, as marriage (I think) is a bigger deal for females. Still, the characterization found in this writing allow the reader to see the dynamic characters and how their experiences have shaped their life, particularly marriage.
If I can dissect an effective element from Carlson’s writing it would be symbolism. For example, the bird in the narrative and the comparison to crows since both can fly but can take different flights. Also, the cake symbolized how sweet and attractive a wedding “should” be and how fragile it stands.The irony in flying as used in “there you go” describes the freedom that the narrator has in the end to make their wedding memory a memorable one or a miserable one. Moreover, the “flying” that Carlson speaks about through the weds conversation deepens and unifies its theme. The carpet throughout the story is also a symbol for welcoming new ideas even they are unpredictable such as the narrator's career. Also, from a first person perspective, the narrator speaks personally and draws a strong connection with the setting Stevens Point and how his oldest niece is about to marry. In all, I feel that Carlson organized this story in a very careful way through the effective method of symbols.
- Julio Manzano
The first story, “The Hit Man”, by T. Coraghessan Boyle was pretty interesting. I liked how it was outlined into different times of his life. It flowed easily from beginning to end and was easy to understand the different points of his life. It is very chronological and we see the hit man’s behavior even while at school and for every time that I assume he beat someone up he would say he “wasted” him. I tried looking up the word but none of the definitions really fit. I think this man was the perfect portrayal for what a movie depicts a hit man to be. They lead a normal life with a family, a job, neighbors, etc… Like I’ve seen is certain movies the hitman is cold on the inside to his job, but when it comes to family they are a soft spot. When the hit man’s son is born it says he peeks over his playpen and then we see that he teaches him several skills and is proud of the son. I think this made him less scary and more relatable to me. I found it almost like a happy ending in a scary way that his son wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.
ReplyDeleteThe next story, “A Kind of Flying”, by Ron Carlson had me a bit confused from the beginning because of all the different characters that were a part of the story. I got confused because it was hard to keep track of who was who. Towards the middle it became clear. I really enjoyed reading this because it reminded me of when I was planning my wedding and my wedding day. People, like Linda, would criticize and try to give their opinions on certain things that we wanted to do or how we wanted to decorate. Overall, it was a learning experience and the learning doesn’t stop. I like how the narrator not once second guessed himself or ever felt like he let down his bride. He likes the fact that his job is simple to support his wife and her dreams. It was a very heartfelt story. I enjoyed it.
- Cassandra Martinez