Response to 3 essays

The first essay I read was "The Stunt Pilot".  This essay first had an abstract that explained what Annie Dillard was researching in order to write this essay.  This essay reminded me a lot of what we are assigned to do in this English class.  Dillard used a lot of the "rewriting" tactics in this essay.  She used her observations to give the reader an example of what she saw when flying with Rahm.  She also uses quotes towards the end of the essay when summing up her observations.  These quotes, along with references to other artists such as Jackson Pollock and Beethoven, help to show a comparison between the stunt pilot and other arts.  I also liked the structure because she told it like a story, yet it was organized into sections and easy to follow.

The next essay that I read was "Ali in Havana".  This essay was also sort of an observation essay and did not seem to have as much objection as the last essay.  For example, when Talese describes Stevenson's wives, he simply says "His first wife was a dance instructor.  His second was an industrial engineer..." rather than giving his opinion of how many wives this man had and how different they were (266).  This essay is also a story because it starts out with several pages of background explanation, which is then followed by dialogue.  It has an introduction, dialogue which is the thick of the action, and then ends with the ending of their conversation.  This helps to make the essay a story and more readable.

The main characteristic that I see different in "Silent Dancing" is a lot more objective speech.  Ortiz describes the events that she observes, and in between observations adds italicized sections with what she saw on the home video.  This gives this essay a different organization, but definitely helps the reader to get a sense for her perception of the past through how she observed it at the time compared with how she observes it on film.  Ortiz uses examples such as Odysseus searching for his dead mother in Hades to help her work on this essay.  This is definitely a tactic we learned in Rewriting.  The ending of this essay is very unique and not as objective as the rest.  Ortiz talks of seeing herself in her father's face, and adds in her own thoughts as an ending to this essay.  This gives the end of the story and sums up her observations.