Close Analysis Essay - Day of the Dead by Skip Horack
Close Analysis Essay - Day of the Dead by Skip Horack
“http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/spring-2014/day-dead-skip-horack”
INTRODUCTION THESIS STATEMENT
This is a close analysis essay of a random 9 page selection from Spring 2014 Narrative, focusing on an interesting, but flawed sliver of life of a man named Wayne. I shall point out the good and bad points, and argue them, concluding with a final observation to ponder.
The Day of the Dead, has a decent vocabulary structure, but a few passages were slowed down by a few obscure words.
The use of "lespedeza" slowed me down in the first paragraph, and "The dogs were blinkers, or so the Hattiesburg man had said", in the second paragraph and "The lemon was the first to play dumb, blink.", and "acting too birdie" had no meaning for me, missing a clear definition and further slowed the story.
A very descriptive piece, with passages like "The field was slick with dew, and he had his jeans tucked down into his boots" kept me going, but the informality set in with "Wayne already had a hen quail from his flight pen" now informing me of the liberal use o f hunter's slang.
In the dog psychoanalysis session in paragraph 3, wasn't Wayne being a little too presumptive
In paragraph 6, the shock value of Wayne's wife and indiscretions were bizarre, but effective like a Danielle Steele romance novel, but now had me wondering what the plot is, if there is one,
Suspense begins in paragraph 8 with a "hawk pecking at that hen, then a scene change to his grandson Justin's football game, leaving us to wonder the outcome of the hen and hawk, and now the game too.
It takes till paragraph 12 to find out we are in Mississippi.
Finally in paragraph 20 we find our first reference to the title of the story, "A black girl in a black dress was sitting on the trunk of a sedan parked next to Justin’s Ford, laughing into her cell phone. Her face was painted white, and Wayne took her to be a vampire or some
“http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/spring-2014/day-dead-skip-horack”
INTRODUCTION THESIS STATEMENT
This is a close analysis essay of a random 9 page selection from Spring 2014 Narrative, focusing on an interesting, but flawed sliver of life of a man named Wayne. I shall point out the good and bad points, and argue them, concluding with a final observation to ponder.
The Day of the Dead, has a decent vocabulary structure, but a few passages were slowed down by a few obscure words.
The use of "lespedeza" slowed me down in the first paragraph, and "The dogs were blinkers, or so the Hattiesburg man had said", in the second paragraph and "The lemon was the first to play dumb, blink.", and "acting too birdie" had no meaning for me, missing a clear definition and further slowed the story.
A very descriptive piece, with passages like "The field was slick with dew, and he had his jeans tucked down into his boots" kept me going, but the informality set in with "Wayne already had a hen quail from his flight pen" now informing me of the liberal use o f hunter's slang.
In the dog psychoanalysis session in paragraph 3, wasn't Wayne being a little too presumptive
In paragraph 6, the shock value of Wayne's wife and indiscretions were bizarre, but effective like a Danielle Steele romance novel, but now had me wondering what the plot is, if there is one,
Suspense begins in paragraph 8 with a "hawk pecking at that hen, then a scene change to his grandson Justin's football game, leaving us to wonder the outcome of the hen and hawk, and now the game too.
It takes till paragraph 12 to find out we are in Mississippi.
Finally in paragraph 20 we find our first reference to the title of the story, "A black girl in a black dress was sitting on the trunk of a sedan parked next to Justin’s Ford, laughing into her cell phone. Her face was painted white, and Wayne took her to be a vampire or some