Question

Reading Response Category 23

Seeing the Sentences
Genre:
Fiction
Nonfiction
Directions:
You notice a sentence or group of sentences and they strike you as a deliberate choice of the author. Maybe the sentence is longer or shorter, choppy or flowing; maybe it uses parallelism, or is purposefully a fragment. Maybe something else.
Explain:
Why is the author doing this?
How does it contribute to the overall meaning of the piece?
Response Needs:
an original thought
-at least six
complete sentences
-a quote for the part you are responding to
-a citation with page number or line number
Use Chapter 1 of The Memoir The Other Wes Moore to do the assignment.

Answer 1

The author is using a long and flowing sentence in the first chapter of The Memoir The Other Wes Moore, “I’d heard of Wes before, not from our neighborhood but from the other West Baltimore, the West Baltimore of the newspapers and the nightly news.” (Moore, 1). This sentence is used to introduce the concept of “the other Wes Moore” and its juxtaposition with the narrator of the story. The author does this to create a sense of contrast between the two worlds that the two Wes Moores inhabit. The long and flowing nature of the sentence emphasizes the differences between the two worlds and further emphasizes the idea of duality that is present throughout the story. By using this sentence, the author creates a powerful image of the two different worlds and the dichotomy between them. This helps to set the tone of the story and show the stark contrast between the two Wes Moores. The author’s deliberate choice of the sentence helps to create a visual image of the two different worlds that the two Wes Moores inhabit and emphasizes the idea of duality that is present throughout the story.