Aspects of Voice in "On the Importance of Kindness"

In George Saunder's "On the Importance of Kindness" There are many themes and messages that George conveys about a girl in 7th grade that stood out from everyone else with ladybug glasses or 'grandma' glasses and was insulted for chewing on her hair and eventually moved out. I'm going to focus on some aspects of voice that Saunders employed.

During the video, Saunders employs certain techniques of narrative that influence his story-telling. The audience is listening to Saunder's voice while examining constellations of stars that form pictures of certain details that is associated with Saunder's story. Looking at the pictures make you think how beautiful it can be to look up at the sky during the nighttime and try to connect the dots. It is unusual but yet very creative that in the middle of the video he all of a seems to end the story he was telling with the word fin, but then comes back and explain the good that came out from the story. Plus, there were lines of dialogue that went around one whole idea, such as this line of dialogue, "What I regret most in my life, is failures of kindness," This line brings together what the point of the story was about.

Saunders also exhibits perceptivity within his story. He closely payed attention to the girl, as describing her as, "She had a habit of taking a strand of hair in her mouth and chewing on it," He always saw that she did this when she was nervous, like when somebody was making fun of her. Among other things, he noticed that this girl tried to stay as secluded from other people as much as possible. He understands why it was like that. She wouldn't leave her house so that she could avoid all the insults that she would've received. And one other thing that he noticed about her, was that nobody said anything nice about her but him.

Saunders also delivers surprising information through the story. The girl would never leave her house, chew on her hair, be called names such as "How does that hair taste?" and so on. But Saunders never really antagonized her throughout the story and was neutral about her when everyone else didn't like her. The brief pause that follows the end of his story allows you to think for a couples of seconds about the story he told and make your opinions and conclusions about it. And the pictures goes well with the video, like after his story, when stars slowly filled the screen to fill in all the gaps about what his story represents about how important kindness is.

Catcher in the Rye chapters 15-16

In chapter 15 of Catcher in the Rye, Holden is at Grand Central Station when he notices someone else with a cheap looking case and this makes Holden remember a story when he was at Elkton Hills, when somebody always switched Holden's bourgeois suitcase with his cheap ones. The moment that really stands out from Holden's story was near the end, when he said that he really started missing the kid. He talks about his feelings afterward, when Holden said this after he moved out, "The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs...It's one of the reasons why I roomed with Stradlater." This moment implies to the reader that some of the little things that characterize a person, like what he wears or how the quality of his suitcase compares to yours, tells you a lot about how another person takes care of himself, how wealthy that person is and that influences what you'd think about them. If there was more explained about the boy that lived with Holden, other than his suitcases, we would know much more about how Holden judges people at first glance.

Catcher in the Rye 9-10

Blog Option One

In the article, "Your Rattle No One Else Can Hear?" the author and her husband hears a rattling noise coming from their car that others can't hear, such as the guy from the dealership. The dealer couldn't understand what was wrong with the author and her car when they were taking a drive and probably considered the author to be crazy. The rattle that the author hears symbolizes her and her husbands personal problems that is still lingering in their lives. It's a challenge for them to have to battle and deal with theses problems, as it is said in the article, "The chronic pain that doesn’t go away from a long ago injury. The brain injury that doesn’t show on the outside, but completely rewired you and your life forever. The cancer you survived, but leaves you feeling unsettled." These events seemed to be fixed over a short time period. Inside though, those events can't be resolved easily and lasts over a long period of time with lingering consequences.

 This gets into what else the rattle represents. It also portrays how others not close to the person can not understand their problems. They won't understand them if they haven't known you for a long time and can share or relate to the physical or emotional pain that they suffer from. For example, when Holden wrote about the baseball mitt that represents his brother, Allie, he writes deeply about how much that mitt represents his brother. He indirectly explains in the composition that he's writing for Stradlater of how he is still affected by his brother's death and what that baseball mitt symbolizes about him and what emotional tie it has with Holden.  However when he presents the composition to Stradlater, he is unimpressed and doesn't understand why the composition is centered around a baseball mitt, as he explains in chapter 6, "Holden, this is about a baseball glove....You always do everything backwards" (Salinger 41). You can imagine that Stradlater is confused by Holden's rattle. Yes, the outside of the rattle may be colorful, shiny, and untouched to everyone viewing it. In reality, the components (these would be the events in Holden's life) inside the rattle may have damaged it and the inside of the rattle is really the most complex thing in Holden's life and the inside is what matters the most, yet Stradlater simplifies the inside of Holden's rattle so that he can understand it when that is not possible.

If Stradlater had written the composition himself, then his story would make much more sense to himself than if Stradlater wrote someone else's story. This would probably spark the same reaction Stradlater gave to Holden when he saw what Holden wrote for him. Thus, this exhibits that everyone has their own personal rattle. As explained in both of the pieces of text, the only people that can understand your rattle is yourself and others very close to you. You can't get help from anyone if they weren't there with you in those life changing events.