A thin layer of dust coats the untouched books on the large, wooden bookshelves. The quiet library is filled with the aroma of books and old lady farts. The clicking of keys rings throughout the room. The only other sounds come from the ruffling of pages and the occasional whisper. The rows of grand shelves are packed with both fresh and musty, old books. The tables are packed with students who are hunched over their notes and textbooks in a last minute effort to study for upcoming finals. Those who aren't seated at a table are sitting at one of the many computers with gawking mouths. Their eyes are glued to the screens in front of them and begin to glaze over. A curly haired brunette sits alone in a corner and chomps furiously on her nubs for fingernails. A few tables over is a typical freshman boy. The only sign of a beard growing is a few hairs randomly sprouting from his cheeks. Other than that his face is covered with bright red acne, which has caused his face to resemble a pizza without the cheese. His head is resting on the wooden table top, and he runs his thin, bony fingers through his shaggy brown hair out of frustration. It's finals week; a time of pure horror for most teenagers, so of course they're stressed. What do you expect?
The audience and purpose of a written text greatly affect the structure, content and techniques used throughout the piece. The purpose of a travel narrative is to allow the reader to experience a certain place being described. In this case, a library filled with stressed out students is being described. The audience of this particular travel narrative are people who do not usually go to libraries or have never experienced the stress of finals week. In order to allow the audience to experience the library during this time period of tremendous stress, a common technique used is sensory detail. Sensory detail gives the audience the information needed to stimulate all senses so they can clearly imagine themselves at the library. Sensory detail also shows how something tastes or smells or feels without actually saying. Instead of simply saying, “The library smelled bad,” a certain scent was given, and from that the audience is able to come to their own conclusion that the library doesn’t smell the best. Another technique used to achieve the purpose is a comparison. The freshman boy’s face that is filled with acne is compared to a pizza without the cheese. This comparison wasn’t made to be mean, but to give the reader a better image of this boy sitting at the library. Since the audience is able to compare the boys looks to something else, it becomes easier to visual in their minds. Diction is also an apparent technique in the text. Rather than just saying that the girl was biting her nails, it says, “chomps furiously on her nubs for fingernails.” The use of the word chomp and nub not only give the audience a visual of what’s going on, but also allows the audience to experience the uneasy and stressful atmosphere of the library.
I really enjoyed reading this piece. It reminded me of myself struggling to study for upcoming finals week. The literary devices were very efficient in putting the person in the place of someone in the quiet library. It was a little unclear what “old lady farts” smells like. Could it be the stench of onions? Or like old lady perfume? Don’t worry though because one can get the smell of old lady with or without you describing the smell. Onto another aspect of your blog, I loved the way that the piece flowed throughout. I could picture myself walking around the library and looking at the stressed out teenagers “hunched over their notes and textbooks” and then those students “gawking” at the computer screens. It was well done as to describe one group of people, and then moving onto another. The only part that you really took focus on was the teenager with bright red acne covering his face. You compared it to a “pizza without the cheese”. I’m not going to lie, an image of a teenager with a pizza head popped into my mind when reading this. Overall I think this piece was great. The devices such as sensory details and diction helped to put the reader in that environment. As a way to end this short narrative, I think it was well done to end the piece with a rhetorical question.
ReplyDeleteKali’s use of sensory detail and imagery in her travel narrative was really good! She is sitting in a library describing what she sees, but she does not use the words “I” or “you”, which adds an unbiased feel to the travel narrative. When I was reading this, I flashed back to me sitting down trying to cram the week of finals; struggling, scrambling, stressed out. I could see myself as being that girl in the corner, chomping down on her finger nails as she stressing over her studies. I could see myself in her narrative, looking about, seeing what she saw, and smelling what she smelled. The sights she described really helped give me and whoever is reading this a feel for what the surrounding room she was in looked like. Even though it does not use the words “I” and “you”, everyone can still relate to this because almost everyone has been in the position where finals are coming and they are stressing and not ready!
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