fict writing

I really enjoyed the reading (Galveston Bay) for Wednesday’s class. The imagery and personality of it was what kept me interested. When we talked about Galveston Bay in class I had a few realizations about the story from other people’s perspectives than I did while I was reading it, which is always something I find interesting. What I observed during our discussion was that even though there were tons of images there was a good deal of thought that went with them. I used the example of the scene during the storm when Old Bull is describing the horses and other men flipping and twisting around him. The scene is so abstract that you need to stop and think what exactly is happening. Although it did not occur to me when I was reading the piece the night before in class I realized an undertone of comment on what Native Americans think of one another as uncivilized. I felt that Old Bull and his friends related more to the white man than the Indians they met while traveling to the ocean. I got this sense after we noticed the descriptions of the new Indian’s dances, face paint, and lifestyle. The writing exercise we did at the end of class was a good parallel to the story. I felt that Old Bull described the ocean as something new that he had never seen before very well and I felt that in order to do that the author must have looked at this experience through Native American eyes. I think as young writers we don’t always remember to talk through our character and simply talk as ourselves. It is important to remember this exercise over the semester and for future writing.