In "General Apache,"the author, Dick Harrington, reflects on his experience with an old student that changed his point of view on war and life. Harrington seems to really respect and admire his old student, General Apache. He states, "What's so special about him, given his history, is his capacity to make peace with the world and his tremendous desire to communicate his experience." General Apache enlightened Harrington by showing him a new kind of person that Harrington had not seen before. Someone who was able to flip his life around and make it for the better. Someone who has been through so much in their life and has been able to overcome obstacles that many cannot. Harrington also reflects on how he gets "much more and better writing these days by learning what stimulates them to think and write," when talking about his students. They inspire him to write more and he realizes that now. Harrington even took his experiences with General Apache and wrote a poem about him. This shows how much his students' lives affect and impact his own.
I liked the essay "Simplicity" a lot more than "General Apache." I found it easier to read and I could relate to it a lot more. The author, William Zinsser, made good points in stating that writing has become too complicated and people never want to just put out what's on their mind. They feel as if they must complicate things in order to seem more sophisticated or to make their writing seem important. He also brings up the point that, "The man or woman snoozing in a chair with a magazine or a book is a person who was being given too much unnecessary trouble by the writer," he reflects that people do not need extra words and complication to enjoy a piece of writing. It's actually better to have simplicity; it keeps your audience on track and does not usually frustrate them like long, drawn out, unnecessary language can. Zinsser makes a good point that writing is hard and that clear sentences are difficult to write, but it's worth it.
Writing about writing, and reading others' writings about writing, seemed very strange to me at first too. It seemed very artificial to try to describe (in writing) the writing process, as if it were something that defied words like music, dancing or religion.
ReplyDeleteI am accustomed to it now, but your reaction reminds me of my own initial reaction.Even worse is reading bad writing about bad writing, which I have actually read too!
I totally agree with you about how the first reading was kind of confusing. At first I didn't really think it had a point to it, but in the end it was interesting to see how he took other people's experiences and wrote about them himself. It is like if you find something you want to write about it should be fun and easy.
ReplyDeleteLike you said the second one was defiantly easier to follow and relate to. I loved the quote that Thoreau said and how life is much easier when you make it simple. I like how this last reading was relatable to life and not just writing.