Jess Row's "SMSG" - TRR

Daniel Contreras
Professor Neal Blaikie
Creative Writing ENGL P140
8 September 2010
Three Observations:
1. Jess Row told a story that HAS to be read more than once to fully understand it.
2. The point of view and tense used in the story makes it really odd story.
3. After fully reading the story, it painted a picture, almost like a memory.
Discussion Question:
What was the author’s message he tried to convey in the story? (If any)
Three Observations (Extended):
1.) If you read the story only once, and you can fully understand it, you must have cheated by looking on the internet/back of the book for an author example. Or you are an alien counterpart of Lady Gaga. Either one is probably why. The first time I read it most of the story made absolutely no sense to me. The second time around I was getting an idea of to what was occurring. The author tells the story in a way in which events and ideas just fit themselves together, awkwardly & un-neatly. That calls for the story to be read at least twice to grasp what the author is writing about.
2.) I couldn’t tell what the point of view the entire story was really. It was everywhere. He wrote some of it in first person for the most part, and the tense really threw me off course as well. The two made the main character seem like an outsider, a complete outcast if you will. Even though he is experiencing a tough situation and is getting support from townsfolk he still seems like a roaming shell, living both lost and emotionless.
3.) The author set a mood in the story, which I felt was a bit melancholy. The protagonist is dealing with the death of his little daughter; also the memory visits him, even if he likes it or not. He is like the center of a bunch of negativity. He retires early (wait isn’t that a good thing), his wife is away in business trips, he finds out one of his kindergarten friend whom was later-to-become a homeless man froze to death in the middle of the busy city, and to top it all off – his daughter dies. The whole story is like a newspaper article. There are the occasional jobs, social problems, and deaths.

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