The Writer As Explorer

Reading Girl with a Pearl Earring, the reader quickly becomes acquainted with Griet’s fascinating personality and way of thinking. Right off the bat, Griet is presented as a relatively mature individual, clever and perceptive of the world around her. She knows when she is being tested by others and chooses her words carefully (especially around […]

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This week we took a deep dive into the novel Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier. We are put into the shoes of a teenage girl named Griet whose life is impacted and changed forever. The way Chevalier describes Griet in the beginning of the book gives the reader the impression that she […]

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Alongside there are very obvious and often abused gender differences, there are clear status differences presented as well. Much of the conflict of the story revolves around varies social classes. The premise of the story begins with Griet’s family needing to make extra money to compensate for her father’s blindness. He’s unable to paint and thus, unable […]

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“The Truth About What Happened” is a very short story, told from the perspective of an FBI special agent who has just come out of his deposition for an unspecified case. From the very beginning it is clear that he has something to hide, as one of the first things he does is to go […]

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The first chapter of Audubon’s Watch consists of a letter written by John James Audubon, to his daughters Lucy and Rose. He begins with the claim that “they” believe his mind is in ruins, and his mind dulled. He is bedridden, but demands the windows stay open to allow him to hear the rivermen as […]

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In a world that is often filled with a fear of becoming your parents, “Soir Bleu” by Robert Olen Butler takes it to the next level as we watch a neurotic artist, Vachon, slowly turn into his father, a man who was less than kind to the ones he loved.  When Vachon is watching his […]

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This story was strange from the very beginning, which made it much more intriguing, and as a reader, I wanted to keep reading. Early on we find that the story is from the perspective of Monsieur Vachon, who is an artist attempting to sell a painting to a man named Colonel Leclerc using his female […]

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I read “The Truth About What Happened.” I found it interesting. The mystery element was good, and the twist at the end was amusing.

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This story reminds me of a fable or a biblical story because of Gregorio’s accident. An artist losing his hands seems like a divine punishment, as if he had stolen and got his arm axed. I didn’t expect there to be much of a story after his accident. What was he to do? I thought. […]

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While reading “The Truth About What Happened” by Lee Child, there were a few things that popped out at me (especially after reading “Soir Bleu” right before it).  Some of these were very obvious, such as the author’s choice to use dialogue for the primary structure of the piece, but there were other details and […]

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“Soir Bleu” is told through the perspective of the beret-clad artist, Vachon. He observes his surroundings in a pessimistic manner, chiefly his model, Solange, whom he claims as his Muse. Vachon exhibits intense egotism throughout the story, boasting that Solange has ‘fallen deeply in love with his genius’ and that ‘she no longer exists except […]

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In chapter one of Audubon’s Watch, we follow the point of view of a father. The father goes in between talking about himself, his life, the people around him, and birds. He often intertwines these factors throughout the story. Upon my first read, I found that there is a slight feminist agenda taking place. We […]

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This week I have decided to write about “Soir Bleu” by Robert Olen Butler. Butler starts off with the setting of a hotel lobby where three people are the center plus a peculiar clown, Pierott, who is later revealed to only be seen by the narrator. There is a deal to be made on one […]

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As I’m not here to critique or comment on my super personal views on this story, I wanted to try and discuss what works in this story and what ultimately doesn’t. I wanted to find a reason for this method of storytelling, as it is quite different than what we’ve read so far. Something initially […]

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Carrie Brown’s “Miniature Man” takes us into the life and mind of Tomas Xavis, a doctor in a small town in Spain. When his family member,Gregorio, is injured we are given a story about obsession and family. Gregorio is a man who is obsessed with art specially making miniature figures. His whole family is against […]

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George’s interaction with Picasso tells a story about how meeting someone you admire, and interacting with them, changes you. Or how it doesn’t. It speaks to the way people fantasize and laud people they look up to and how that often transforms into a cultivation of unrealistic expectations. I think maybe George didn’t tell his […]

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Based on Edward Hopper’s painting of the same name, Megan Abbott’s short story “Girlie Show” follows a woman named Pauline as she experiences a turning point in her unhappy marriage. Pauline’s husband is a painter who, after hearing from a friend about a particular exotic dancer, becomes obsessed with painting her. He enlists Pauline to […]

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  In the story “The Girlie Show,” we are introduced to a woman named Pauline, a wife cheated on by the husband whom she loves and who abuses her. The story has many hints of abuse that we pick up through Pauline’s eyes. A few quotes that we receive from Pauline that give us those minute […]

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Ray Bradbury is known for many of his strange and intriguing stories, though “A Season of Calm Weather” seems very normal in comparison. There are many aspects of this story that I find interesting, including the title  and the point of view in which it is being told. This whole story is being told from […]

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This week’s reading, “The Girlie Show” by Megan Abbott, brings us the character Pauline. Pauline is a middle-aged woman who is in a  bad marriage with man who both abuses her and cheats. The beginning of the story shows us that Pauline is a woman who works hard to provide for herself and her husband while […]

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In “Girlie Show,” the setting of the story is never stated, but the painting used as the ekphrasis foundation was created in 1941 and based on the description of Pauline’s clothing on page 5 (dress, stockings, slip, brassiere, step-ins), it would be logical to assume that the setting is the same period. The 1940’s were […]

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While I was initially taken aback by the drawn out sentences and near lack of punctuation, Ray Bradbury’s short story really intrigued me at its end. We learn throughout the story that our protagonist, George Smith, is quite the dreamer and often in his own head. Alice Smith, his wife, is quite the opposite. I’d […]

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The story that I decided to write about this week is “In A Season Of Calm Weather” by Ray Bradbury. In this story Bradbury creates the character of George Smith who is an avid lover of art, but mainly of the artist Picasso. George seems to see the world through Picasso’s eyes which, in my opinion, […]

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