- Davy Rothbart is a good writer and so we get a pretty clear description of all of the characters in the essay. However, since he's the narrator, no one can describe him. How do you envision him? What kind of person is he?
- His friend Chris is a convict and a car thief. That's a pretty serious crime. How do you picture Chris by the end of the story? What is your reaction when he almost gets arrested?
- What is interesting about Davy's friendship with Vernon?
- In the big paragraph that runs between p. 86 and 87, we learn that Davy and Lauren Hill would only last a couple weeks, and that Vernon will die in the coming summer. How did you react from this news? Why is this information important to the essay?
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Human Snowball
Why is the essay called "Human Snowball"? What makes this an essay? How would you read it differently if it were labeled a short story? Other questions:
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The dialogue, the description, the plot are really more like the kind of stylistic devices we expect in fiction rather than an essay. However, this narrative essay rivals--and really surpasses--any fiction we've read this semester in terms of describing a real place in a real historical time. I think, though, if it were labeled fiction, I'd say it was too unbelievable. The fact that it's NF makes me believe it. Surely the author wouldn't dare to make all t his up and then say it's true if it weren't?
ReplyDeleteI still don't really understand how this is considered an essay only because it really does seem like a short story. The way that the characters and scenery is described gives off that vibe of story. I feel like the events that did happen in the story are true but they are not Davy's actual stories. The way I envision Davy is as someone whose an open book, but also very insecure. When he meets Vernon, he's very open with him he later on goes to say something along the lines that he felt like he knew him for a really long time. But, I also feel he's insecure because of the thoughts he has about him and Lauren, he's very almost negative it seems. Saying he'd probably need a bed in the Front Park Inn with Vernon. Throughout the story I never envisioned Chris as a bad person despite the fact of him being an ex-con because he seemed like someone who wrongfully followed his sibling. Like he got the short end of the stick someone who tried to be tougher than they really are.
ReplyDeleteAfter knowing that Vernon was going to die, I feel sad and at the same happy. Happy because Vernon got to see his granddaughter before he died. He wanted to do something nice for her at least once. The sad part was that Vernon was going to died in the summer. This was like a stab in the back because he was trying to spend more time with her but the was almost over for him. This makes you think about the time you have with your loves ones and how you spend it.
ReplyDeleteRob heaps- Davy
ReplyDeleteAaron Paul- Chris
Morgan Freeman- Vernon
Imogen Poot- Lauren Hill
when reading this story these were more or less the people i imagine, that the characters would look like.I loved the essence of this essay, because of how it flowed. I loved how Davy's character was a hopeless romantic and how social he was.I loved how easily Davy became friends with a man who was 110 years old. So when I read that long paragraph in pages 86-87 I was kinda disappointed because Davy put his feeling on the line and did something brave to see lauren hill, that not a lot of people has the courage to do. So i would've love to see them last longer than a couple of weeks, and i grew to love vernon and was very let down when i read he was going to pass away, but it's what would happen in real life things like this happens all the time. vrenon was 110 years oold i couldnt have expected him to live 10 more years.
"Human Snowball" is a perfect title for this short story due to the events getting bigger and bigger like a snowball would. Along his journey to surprising Lauren, he encounters multiple people who play a role in his quest. When his friend Chris almost got arrested, I felt as if they were all screwed and that Davy would never be able to meet Lauren at night. As one of my classmates stated, Vernon and Davy both are the perfect image of a father and son figure. Davy's encounter with Vernon only made him boost his confidence by asking him what to do with Lauren since he definitely had experience in his lifetime. I felt that knowing Vernon's death was soon to come and having limited time with Lauren were both important. The question I have is why wouldn't Lauren breakup with her boyfriend for Davy if she truly is in love with him?
ReplyDeleteI was sad when Vernon died at the end. Even though, the protagonist met him once, but he became very close with him after the bus ride. At the end, Davy stated "Because you can take away Lauren Hill, you can take away the love we had for each other, but you can't take away the feeling I ha at night at midnight." From my perspective, I think he doesn't want to loose the memories he had with her, and he wants to treasures them.
ReplyDeleteFrom the reading Davy seems like a very laid back "chill" person I envision him as being kind,friendly as he was open to help and meet new people he encountered. chris's criminal image was described in the beginning but changed through out the story because he was still very helping although he was considered a theif.in my opinion davy was fascinated by what vernon was sharing with him which made their relationship meaningful and interesting davy took into consideration vernons age and all he'd already lived; he did open up to him about the things he felt and was taking feed back from him. Towards the ending they didn't make it a fairy tale ending because in reality the happily ever after doesn't always truly happen.
ReplyDeletei think this essay is called " Human Snowball" because literary, its snowing in Buffalo. But further than that, i think that each character is going through a specific situations and the snowball is symbolizing kind of like their life. How in the beginning they are building the snowman and how as the essay developed, reality hits every character. It was hard to see this work as an essay just because as i read it, the scenario, the plot, the description going along seemed like a short story to me. i see Davy Rothbart as an observer. while he tells the story, you can see how he is observing the things around him and how he have thoughts about them. I also think he has a perseverance characteristic. iv also think he is an open minded character.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the essay was called human snowball because as the story progresses more and more characters are added into the story.If this essay were labeled a short story I would most likely not expect much from it because through my experiences short stories tend to try to be wrapped quickly even if it is several pages long. I envision Davy as a averaged sized man, maybe around 5'8", short brown hair that looks fine but you can tell he just shook it out in the morning time, his build would be about medium not to big or to small. Davy seems to be the kind of guy to act on his thoughts now and question it later, he seems like a guy who does not believe that he should wait around and wonder what if. Even though he had his doubts coming to see Lauren he still hopped on the bus to buffalo irregardless. I picture Chris actually turning his life around and maintaining a stable job. I was concerned that he was gonna go to jail. Davy's relationship with Vernon is interesting because they only meet a few hours before yet they instantly clicked with on another, sharing stories as if they were old friends catching up. The news of all of this information being put onto my shoulders really made me take a second to step back and reread that section of the story because it was so shocking. Yes this information was important to the story because even though this information was very shocking it gives the reader know how everyone progressed from that night moving forward and I believe it answered a lot of questions that we the readers had along the way of the story.
ReplyDeleteIn the essay the "Human Snowball" Davy Rothbart captures the moment in a extraordinary way where he describes and analyzes everything that he is able to be aware of by utilizing his five senses, drawing some type of conclusion either from the environment, person or moment in time. The way that I envision Davy Rothbart is that he is a soul who find himself in a moment of time where he is missing a girl who takes the resemblance of the one who got away. Davy seems to be an open minded person with a mindset of great determination when it comes to the people he loves. A demonstration of this is not only the long trip he took to meet up with Lauren Hill, but as well all the times he showed up at the standup comic for his friend Chris, Davy seems to recognize the attributes, traits Chris has of being a convict and a car thief but still remains to be a friend of his without criticizing or judging his actions as he sees a compassionate side to Chris. Finally the way that I've come to react to the length of Davy and Laurens relationship was in shock because it appeared as they were going to have a happy ending to there story since all of the events kept falling into place for there love to be reunited, and as for Vernon his death
ReplyDeletebrought closure to the relationship he had with his granddaughter as he was living in regret for all the times he came to hurt her.
I like to think the essay is called "Human Snowball" because a snowball is built, then thrown and then destroyed but you can always rebuild it again as long as there's snow on the ground. There were many suspenseful moments in the essay where things weren't looking good like Anthony getting fired, the fear of the granddaughter not accepting Vernon and Chris getting pulled over. Those are the moments where a snowball has been reduced back to just specs of snow. However, all those moments ended up having a good ending for the time being and in this case the snowball has been built again to it's glory to hit the next challenge. Once summer rolls around, the snow melts and so does the snowball and it disappears. In the essay, when summer rolls around and the happiness has died since Vernon passed, the Chinese restaurant was out of business and the narrator and Lauren never made it.
ReplyDeleteThis essay is an essay because it's based off of true events and not fictional like a shorty story would be. If it was a short story, I would have definitely read it differently. I wouldn't have been so invested to find out what happens to the people in the story if it was a short story because they would have been fictional characters that I wouldn't dwell on too much since this was a reading for class. Knowing what I read really happened in real life, I felt more of an attachment to the characters because whatever happened to them can't be change or analyze to be something different like in fiction.
I don't get the point of this being an essay because it seems just like a story and I think whatever way someone would read it, it would still come off like a story instead of an essay. I feel that Davy has a more relaxed personality and is a person that may not say much but observes everything. To me Chris got caught up in the wrong scenario and got stuck with it but never came off as a felon in my eyes. I think the title "Human Snowball" is just a way of saying that people have stories and events that happen in their lives but not only one but multiple ones that start and end.
ReplyDelete