My Friend the Protagonist Talks about the SAT
I could see the sun rises from the peripheral of my vision. It seemed as if it was beckoning all the citizens of Christiania onto the streets. How they judge me. Stop! I must not get distracted from my work. This is useless. Futile. How does this test show who I am as a person? What gives this test the right to denote who I am? Aren’t I more than a number! I got up in a fury and began to vehemently rip the paper into pieces. The scraps of paper falling from my fingers brought my joy. I stomped on the scraps of the paper. Oh, that will show College Board, I thought. I can imagine the administrators now. Oh no kind sir, why did you rip our test, what did we do wrong!? Hahaha, I would reply smugly, tests like this do not accurately asses someone of my standard. Yes my position. In fact, if anything, your test is nothing but an insult. How dare you! Who do you think you are! People like you are what is wrong with society! The rough wood floors began to irritate the bare skin on my feet.
Hi Asim,
ReplyDeleteThis pastiche is excellently mimicked. You have included many elements that I find are relevant and absolutely necessary. Firstly, when you stated: "How they judge me". In "Hunger", Hamsun constantly gave the impression that the protagonist is very aware of his status in society and that statement you wrote touches on that nicely. Secondly, how the protagonist is questioning himself implicates a sign of insanity and Hamsun does use this device to exaggerate his insanity in the book. Thirdly, his random exclamations and out of the blew anger characterizes his character in which readers feel that the protagonist is very easily angered at the slightest things. Lastly, I love the conversation that you have written the protagonist having with himself. Overall, you have included many key elements and writing styles Hamsun used in "Hunger" to convey how the protagonist feels about the SAT. However, short one word sentences? I don't quite see him saying or thinking "futile". Altogether, you did an amazing job at this pastiche!
One of my biggest pet peeves is a connection made between two distant, disconnected points. In this case, the style of writing matches that of Hamsun and his protagonist in Hunger, and yet you're using it to denote a story of your own. In essence, it is a plagiarization. The hungry protagonist could never have known what CollegeBoard is, nor could he have ever been present for such.
ReplyDeleteHowever, your writing is a mimic of his own. Your use of "I," as well as your tendency to deviate from a topic, are both representations of the pure source. In addition, you think highly of yourself, higher than you believe other people to think you. I would argue every person does, but we know only of who say so. Many stay quiet rather than speak their views, and this is what separates normal people from those labeled mad: Mad people are not afraid to voice their opinions. Your pompous self-confidence is clearly discernible in this piece, which is also quite present in the protagonist.
Hopscolly
Really good job on the mimicking thing. I think you really capture the essence of the character, especially when he says "how they judge me". I think you also got the structure of the writing spot on too. The way he imagines things that would happen just flow in with the things that do. However when you do talk about the things that he imagines, he never talks about what he would do, he talks about them as if they are happening.
ReplyDelete