War of the Wall - A Reader of a Writerly Kind
The War of the Wall by Toni Cade Bambara
Review The War of the Wall. Identify your favorite parts. This is how we will begin our transformation process of becoming a reader of a writerly sort.
What are the story plots and story elements? Which ones are you impressed by? How do you intend to use these elements in your writing to make it better? How are intending to combine these elements with others to refresh your writing?
How does this exercise help you to better understand what a reader of a writerly sort is?
How does this exercise help you to better understand what a reader of a writerly sort is?
Savannah J. Hinton
ReplyDeleteThe way this piece affected my the way I already do/would like to write is in two forms: mystery and substance.
Mystery because not everyone needs to know what I’m passionate about, what I want to write about, and what my thoughts and feelings are until I have handed them over to them to read for themselves. Nobody gets a hint so that they may embellish it before I have had a chance to, just like the lady did with her writing. No one knew what she wanted to say until she was done. I wanted to know what she was painting too, and I was made for my protagonist because a piece of her childhood was being violated; but only because I didn’t know what was in store. I want my readers to feel that too.
Substance because once I am finished with my writing, it is necessary that it has layers and perhaps makes more than one point and tells more than one story in the same way the painter lady’s mural did in the story. Faces were flowers, and flowers were faces. She told many stories about black history with her strokes, and that’s what I want to do with my writing- give it layers, tell a story.
The author using the 9 year old girl as a protagonist really caught my attention because it makes a statement. Also another thing I loved about this piece of writing is the strong use of pathos. For the first two paragraphs it explains how upset and hurt the kids are about their childhood wall being ruined by this lady. The kids refer to the lady as a mean one with a beat up car from New York. The author proceeds to use pathos by explaining how the lady doesn’t care for the kids feelings and just keeps painting the wall anyways.
ReplyDeleteIsabella Krueger
Some of my favorite parts of this writing are all the details included. The author made it really easy to imagine what exactly was going on. The main story plot you are introduced to when you begin reading this writing is that this neighborhood and all the kids love this wall. They feel that this lady from New York doesn’t care about them and is ruining their childhood. I would love to use the visuals and dialogue that Toni Bambara uses because it helps you imagine the writing
DeleteIsabella Krueger
While reading this, I noticed some things about the way the author was writing. They write in very short paragraphs. From their word choices we are able to tell that it is from the perspective of a young child and probably from the south. This is because of their use of context clues and the style of words they chose to use. They use a lot of imagery and they describe everything in detail for better understanding. They were also able to put themselves into a child’s shoes and portray their attitude realistically. For my own writing, I would like to incorporate the detail use because it really kept me interested and I was able to visualize everything that was being said. Also, I want to incorporate the context clues and good word choice to show the reader where we are, who might be speaking, and what’s happening without having to directly write out everything that is going on because that just makes it boring and doesn’t make readers want to continue. This story makes you want to keep reading so you can figure out what is going on and to see what the girl will decide to do. -Gracie Young
ReplyDeleteThe plot was about an artist coming in to paint a wall that the children in the neighborhood had laid claim to. One of the neighborhood girls devises a plan to destroy the mural, but then she sees the finished product and changes her mind. Throughout, there was a lot of imagery, and it was told in first person through the perspective of one of the neighborhood kids.
ReplyDeleteGood
Imagery through vivid language
Cultural references
Sense of sympathy for characters
Loops back to reference that was made at the beginning
Not so Good
A little wordy
Not a long storyline, but a lot of descriptions
We don’t get to know any of the characters very well
I didn’t feel like every word was extremely necessary and intentional
This made me stop and consider how I would write the same story differently, how the writer used literary devices, the mechanisms involved in evoking emotions for the reader, and how the space is filled up. In this way, I read it like a writer.
-Brooklyn