Journal Three - Jack

Jack A. Hardin

English 1109 at 5:25, Fri

September 11, 2020

 

Journal Three

     So far, I have no complications with highlighting, making notes, vocabulary, or reflections. The only problem I have is making constant observations. In Cisneros’ memoir, it is easy to make observations and take notes since she has written it in intricate ways. With Clarett’s, however, I have found it difficult to make observations about his writing. But that did not stop me from comparing his book with the Hero’s Journey and record my thoughts about some of the plot points in his story. Mango Street is easy to catch up with and to have a good time reading. One and Done, on the other hand, is a bit hard to gather all of the details about his game and the people Clarett meets along the way. His story is nonetheless intriguing, but it sort of drags on with the amount of detail he had written. 

     With Mango Street; Cisneros retold her life through smart metaphors, sense details, and vivid imagery. Her views of society, race, family life, friendship, and violence is one of a kind. She keeps you engaged throughout her book, even through some parts that would be boring if it was not for her style of writing and choice of words Yet it does have its weaknesses: the themes of the book to me are smashed together, which makes it very difficult for me to point them out. Clarett gives us a clear, “straight to the point,” perspective. An honest and thorough story. However, it is very difficult for me to follow. As I said before; the book adds a lot of details in one paragraph that could have been summarized in a sentence or two. There were also a. A lot of details that he didn’t need like the scores of the games he played that were not plot points. He could have said that he won a few games here and there and go further into detail where the story actually progressed

     One question that I have was if he was freelancing a lot of the decisions with some milestones here and there or if he had a thought-out plan where there were milestones around every corner? He had goals, yes, but did he have a plan for the smaller things, or was paying all of his attention to the stars? 

     One thing that I found very important in Clarett’s memoir was how football changed him. As a kid, he was mischievous and did a lot of bad stuff. When he really started playing football, almost all of that criminal life was behind him. He had found a new way to win attention instead of doing criminal things. With this; I could tell that he was progressing towards a better life. Perhaps not a good one, but one that was better than the criminal life. Yet that progressiveness would be his downfall which was hinted at in the prologue.