- What genre is this?
- This is like a series of epigrams. Which is your favorite epigram? How does it work w/ the epigram before? The one after?
- Which epigram puzzles you the most?
- What is the overall effect of reading all these epigrams together? Why is it called "Short Days"?
Sunday, May 13, 2018
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The genre is an essay due to it being non-fiction. My favorite epigram was when the author spoke about how the drunk girl would speak out to random people and ask them if they appeared to judge her. The epigram before this connects to my favorite one because it compares prisons and lifelessness (buildings) to the imperfect people today just as the drunk girl. She is imperfect yet her mortal heart must beat. The epigram that confused me the most was the one where she hadn't believed in ghosts but believed in "that ghost". What did she mean?
ReplyDeleteThe scenario that I picture when reading "Short Days" goes like this- the author sitting on a bus, taking a long trip to somewhere. As the bus moves along, she stares out the window and watches the scenery pass by. Everything that she sees causes a thought to appear, and each of those thoughts is a section of this "story". A lot of satire and cynical humor is used, and I think that lessens the impact of what she says. After reading through the whole set, I felt a little like the last line- "When the worst comes to pass, the first feeling is relief".
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to choose a favorite epigram. Part of what makes this such a successful hybrid work, to me, is that each epigram is so strong in itself. It's clear to me that Manguso spent a long time on ea. one so that the whole would create a certain effect. However, this is one of my faves:
ReplyDelete"When I run out of things to write I just kindle a little flame inside my chest and let it burn a little more of my anger, which is exhaustible. Would you like me better if I lied and called it love?"
I think I like this so much partly b/c it gives a hint of what this essay is about, it's about writing. Perhaps this is called "Short Days" b/c the days get shorter as you get older or maybe b/c writers feel an urgency to "make something of themselves" as they get older. Plus, this epigram has a sassy bit of anger in it which many of them seem to have.
What I like about "Short Days" is way is written in short paragraphs. Instead of a big paragraph with 10 lines or so, this essay has about 5 lines in each paragraph which makes the reader keep reading it because is short. It doesn't seem like a lot to read.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the thoughts in this essay didn't really connect to make a story that has a beginning, middle and end. The other essays we've read in this class had some kind of plot while Short Days was all over the place. Even though there wasn't one main idea, there was topics that kept appearing in most of the epigrams. The narrator seemed attached to love, war and writing. You could possibly create a story if you put the epigrams with the same idea together like, "I assume the cadets are gay, but then I see they are merely unafraid of love. They are preparing to go to war, and with no time to waste, they say what they mean." with "I used to believe courage was a man in uniform killing another man in uniform - and it is. But a mother's brain washes itself. Her courage terrifies. To her, it is as easy as walking into the next room." Both epigrams talks about soldiers and courage and putting them together make these two epigrams even more powerful and storytelling.
ReplyDeleteThis is non-fiction. My favorite epigram is where the writer states "some people ditch friends and lovers because it's easier to get new ones than to resolve conflicts with the old ones, particularly if resolving a conflict requires one to admit error or practice mercy. I'm describing ab asshole. But what if the asshole think's hes ditching an asshole?".The epigram before talks about us all being alike, all good, bad, abnormal. The epigram after talks about there being no role models for men or women. These three epigrams have to do with society and everyone as a whole. I really dont understand this epigram and would like to understand it more" I use to believe courage was a man in uniform killing another man in uniform-and it is. But a mother's brain washes itself. Her courage terrifies. To her, it is as easy as walking into the next room." The effect of reading all these epigrams together are different thoughts jumbled into one work. I believe its called "Short Days" because each epigram could be a thought occurring different days.
ReplyDelete" The dark owns everything, but our sun comes out often enough that we think the universe is half dark, half light." This is one of my favorite epigrams because in real life we can see "darkness" representing wars, crimes, physical abuse, murders, violations of infants, happening as if is something normal. Yet " Light" in real life is a representation of hope, change, people that are trying to help end these tragedies. For me it also symbolizes the type of people we can be. this epigram has a poetic sound which i like.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite epigrams was:
ReplyDelete"Some people ditch friends and lovers because it's easier to get a new ones than to resolve conflicts with the old ones, particularly if resolving a conflict requires one to admit error or practice mercy. I'm describing an asshole. But what if the asshole thinks he's ditching and asshole."
it's the ugly truth of pride within people. and I felt like Manguso kind of expressed that is how people in the modern day society really is.
the epigram before she spoke about comparing yourself to others, and that if you do that you'd be there all day long because there's so much people to compare yourself to, and you get no perfect result from it . if it kinda fits good with the epigram after that because i feel like people tend to compare themselves to others and it does completely damage there self esteem. especially in the society we live in now where social media make a Hugh impact in peoples lives. the epigram after was also connected to the epigram before because it also speaks of society and how there no one left to look up to because everyone is the same and not in a good way
This genre is a non fiction, the epigrams are closely linked and the expressed ideas and thoughts that are real. My favorite epigram is where she recall " I remember a girl who was famous in school for having woken from a drunken blackout and said to whoever was there, Are you my judges" All of her epigrams are linked to each other because in the previous one she mentions about the facility, I am assuming probably it is the facility members that caught her drunk sleeping. The essay is being called Short Days because all of her epigrams are short but together as her whole life experiences. It was an interesting essay because it tells how one can put there whole life experiences in different terms. The epigrams that puzzles me the most is " Of a page of perfect prose I read in a dream, I remember only this Thank you she said. Her simple answer concealed the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe genre is an non-fiction essay. My favorite epigram was the 9th one describing a person who would typically be considered an asshole, but made a very valid point. 'What if the person who was considered an asshole left those individuals because they felt in fact that those individuals are assholes. This was my favorite because sometimes when we're caught up in our feelings we might jump and do things that we would regret later like leaving a good person to avoid conflict. Also what if the person we'd consider an asshole is just trying to get away from people they'd consider toxic. I find it quite funny that if we took the time to look at both perspectives then we would see that no one is truly an asshole.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite epigram would have to be "Biographies should also contain the events that failed to foreshadow." in the epigram before its talks about her friend having a difficult time over the man she loves, so I think that saying what biographies should contain can mean a way of helping whoever may read it. It then goes into speaking about prison, art, and athletes. Maybe its talking about the possible outcomes someone could have. The one that confused me the most but it also stood out the most to me was "What's worse: Offending someone or lying to someone? Saying something stupid when its your turn, or not saying anything? Tell me which, and I'll tell you sex." To me it sounds similar to the stigma of when women should and shouldn't be allowed to talk and based on the certain answer you can tell weather its a man or women. The only thing is I don't know if its that literal or not or if that's even the message. To me its just sporadic thoughts similar to what anyone might have and how easily they can go from one topic the next.
ReplyDeleteIn this Novel 'Short Days' it is a Nonfiction story. My favorite epigram was the one with "I remember a girl who was famous in school for having woken from a drunken blackout and said to whoever was there, Are you my judges? It works with the epigram before because it relates to being in a prison, and when she screams are you my judges? It makes it relatable that she is held in a prison, and is being tried. The one after shows how her boyfriend became paralytic when he was in an accident. Being that she was paralytic her boyfriend wishes that he was than became it in an accident. It was ironic that it happened but also works with the one after because it was about being in a difficult spot whether you are being tried by judges or are paralytic. The epigram that puzzles me the most is "most bird names are onomatopoeic-they name themselves. Fish, on the other hand, just have to float there and take what's given". The effect of reading all the epigrams together is that they are like short stories but put into paragraphs separate from each other. Often times too they seem to talk about different things in some paragraphs.
ReplyDelete