The author, Mary Karr, loads this book full of heavy and moving imagery. Through out the entire time we have been reading The Liars Club we have been discussing imagery and the role it plays. We have blogged about different images and how they make us feel about certain characters. For example, the father is a heavy drinker and a liar, but because of the way he is described and the imagery that is used I seem to like the guy. I believe imagery plays an especially important role in her writing when talking about her mother and her fits of nervousness. Her breakdown was what stuck with me the most after reading this assignment.
The first image of her mother in this reading section that really stood out to me was the following, "Mother turned around slow to face me like old Tony Perkins. Her face came into my head one sharp frame at a time. I finally saw in these instants that Mother's own face had been all scribbled up with that mud-colored lipstick. She was trying to scrub herself out..." (148-149). This is the part where you see how full blown crazy she really is. Before reading this I thought maybe she just struggled with occasional nervous breakdowns fueled by binge drinking. However, after this passage you can tell that she has absolutely lost her mind. Visually she strikes me as a mix between a zombie and the joker as portrayed by Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. I imagine her makeup and hair is just as wild and out of control as Ledger's. I see her movements in my mind resembling that of a zombie. She slowly turns her head around and incoherently stares at her daughter. This is a really creepy image that Karr draws up and is a little frightening. I can only imagine how a little girl would react to this. I'm sure it would be extremely scary and put a person into shock. This image sets a tone for the rest of her breakdown that day as she sets things on fire and comes in with a knife.
A second passage the I found to be very powerful was, "Then a dark shape comes to occupy that light, a figure in the shadow. She has lifted her arms and broadened the stance of her feet, so her shadow turns from a long thin line to a giant X. And swooping down from one hand is the twelve-inch shine of a butcher knife..." (155). This selection shows the full extent of the mother's "nervousness." We all knew that she was crazy and was even willing to drive everyone of a bridge, but I did not think that she had it in her to savagely butcher her own young daughters. This part of the book really had me on the edge of my seat wondering how far she was going to go. The suspense and curiosity I felt was because of Karr's ability to paint a vivid image. She does this extremely well when dealing with her mother and events that seem particularly frightening or gruesome. The first part of this quote that talks about her entering the room is probably the best part. It seems as if the mother is some evil figure whose darkness is so great that she absorbs the light. Rather than saying she walked in the doorway, Karr uses this description. This portrayal is way more powerful and better at painting the picture of someone who has lost everything including their own mind. The mentioning of a knife is scary in itself, but when she introduces the knife as a shadowy outline it is way more effective.
Mary Karr does a great job of creating and utilizing powerful imagery. Without her ability to do this The Liar's Club would not be the entertaining book that it is. Karr's writing is at the top of its game when describing and her family and in particular her mother. The scene and passages retelling the breakdown show how effective strong imagery can be. I hope there is more great imagery to come in following novels.
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First, let me start by saying that in general, your paper runs smoothly with your thesis statement. It all makes sense and stays on topic and your quotes clearly back up what your saying. Normally, if somebody chose the statement you did, they would probably end up summarizing, or saying something we already know. I thought this would be the case with you when I first started reading, but you using heath ledger and the zombie thing, and how she could have just said knife, but the way she says it is more captivating showed that you backed up what your were talking about with more than just quotes from the book. Great job.
ReplyDeleteBesides one small grammar issue (second sentence, read should be reading)when reading your first paragraph, the only thing you might want to consider changing is the thought that is your thesis statement clearly argumentative?
What I mean is, you've backed it up if someone did try to argue. But would anybody even disagree with what your saying. Its obvious Mary Carr uses powerful imagery that helps us understand. What if you said "Mary's book would probably be a bit boring if she didn't use imagery"? Just using that as an example. Do you see how somebody could argue with that because that statement isn't a general idea people already have? And then you could argue back with the rest of your paper and the examples you used? Just food for thought. Trying to be as helping as possible. Overall it was a very insightful blog.
1. Good thesis, it definitely presents a good argument and gets you ready for the two images presented later.
ReplyDelete1b. You got Mary Karr's name and the book name out right away, nice job. Only thing is that The Liars' club has the apostrophe right after the 's' ^ just don't forget about that. Also the name should also be either quoted or italisized if I remember right.
2. Good opener for both quotes that you used, the quotes are also very effective in supporting your thesis. The analysis naturally connects to the thesis since the quotes do the same pretty well.
3. The first few sentences after the quotes are where you summarized both times and they both work pretty well. There isn't too much to the point where that's all your doing but enough that the scene is set.
4. I'm not really sure anyone can argue that imagery is an important part of rounding out Mary's mother, since to me at least, it's quite apparent.
5. The only real errors I find are in the second sentence throughout would be one word and read should be reading. Also The Dark Knight might need to be in quotation. Not positive on that one though.
6. You pretty much had proof from the book to back up your opinions so you didn't really use your opinions as fact in my opinion.
7. You never really got off topic. The entire blog seems to be on track throughout.
Good blog overall the examples you used were really good
You may expand, but right now your first paragraph is too vague. You suggest that imagery plays a big role in the nervousness passages. Go the next step in your thesis and talk about how, to what extent, why, to what effect. Just another sentence or two of specificity should do the trick.
ReplyDeleteHi Bill!
ReplyDeleteOk first, awesome job of addressing the author and the book title early on! Your thesis is pretty solid. I like that you addressed the mother's nervousness because one of a great deal of the book is primarily about that exact topic. I think your quotes from the book also follow very well with your thesis about Mary's mother's nervousness; however, your essay didn't really bring anything that needed proof because it was easy said straightforward in the book that her mother had "nervous" issues. and You are basically proving something that is matter of fact. Her mother has mental issues, we all know that, so perhaps continue with the impact that these issues had on Mary. I like that you stuck to the topic of imagery and explored and analyzed the the meaning of the images and dove into how the images had an impact on you.