Blog post # 2 : Moving the Reader
By: Josh Blake
Due: Monday 25, 2011
Ass Burger:
1) “Oh, and I went to a psychologist, and she said I have Asperger’s syndrome.” I think I don’t hear him. “What?” “She said I’ve had it my whole life, and it explains why people think I’m weird.”
This particular short passage from the piece ‘Ass Burger’ moves me emotionally because of the nonchalant way John breaks the news to his brother. Its like nothing has changed for John. But for Augusten it is a major shock to the system. All this time he has been thinking that maybe he was the weird one. But now finally someone has come along and said, “No, no your not weird your brother is.”
2) Dennis was nervous… My brother climbed from the car and walked over to us. I introduced them. And my brother moved in, and he hugged Dennis. I’d never seen anything like it. I was stunned. I could do nothing but stand there on the sidewalk next to the car and stare.
This short passage at the end of the ‘Ass Burger’ chapter moves me emotionally because it shows that John cares about his brother. When John gives Dennis a hug it symbolizes that he cares about the person who is looking after his brother. I think that is a great sign of brotherly love. Having a brother myself I can relate to that feeling.
After the Falls by Catherine Gildiner:
1) Finally he said in a voice of pure disgust, “Girls that chase boys come to a bad end. You looked like the kind of girl I don’t want for my daughter.”
This short passage moves me emotionally because it shows what her father expects from her. When she chases Donny Burns she thinks it is what one should do to get the attention of a boy. When he father scolds her about chasing Donny I feel sorry for Catherine for not being able to initiate a conversation with her love.
2) Late that night, when we were lying silently in the dark in Fran’s twin beds, listening to WKBW radio, the deejay said he was going to play a new song from the Shirelles called “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”
This passage moved me emotionally because it was just after she had come back from the gang rape of Veronica. She was lying in her bed thinking about what had just occurred and then this song came on the radio. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow is symbolic because she knows that none of those boys will love Veronica tomorrow. This made me feel sorry for both Veronica and Catherine because they had to go through the rape physically and emotionally for Veronica and more emotionally for Catherine.
