Ted Sanders' "Obit" - Technical Reading Response

Daniel Contreras
Professor Neal Blaikie
Creative Writing ENGL P140
1 September 2010

Three Observations:
1. Ted Sanders manages to start the story with a future event that is yet to happen.
2. The author also uses very descriptive methods to paint a mental image.
3. Sanders also used a unique form of repetition throughout the story.

Discussion Question:
How is this story significant to you?

Three Observations (Extended):
1. The story started off with the character at a young age, describing his death in his adult years in a random location, which turned out to be a restaurant of some sort. This was an unusual story setup that had me reading it over a couple times to make sure that I understood what the author was trying to tell me.
This method was one I couldn't quite capture and familiarize myself with so knowing the flow of the story was difficult to me. I give the author points for the approach, the story was that bad, but it did leave me with thoughts towards the end which means the story is successful; just not my cup of tea.

2. Sanders used very descriptive details to tell the story and setting. One part that really stood out for me was the tree in the front yard of the yellow house. The author painted the tree's image clearly in my mind and I could really picture it almost if it were real. You could almost recognize the tree. From experience, I used to have a big tree, similar to the one Sanders wrote about, which was in our old home's backyard. I used to stand against it and compare my tininess to its giant body. So the details in the story were all in all superb.

3. The repetition is kind of hidden. It didn't stand out like it usually does in other stories, but I liked kind of like that it was hiding. The repetition of the author's foreshadowing of events was quite noticeable, but there was another use of repetition that caught my attention reading the story over the second time. At one point of the story the author introduced a new character; the new wife. He described her as the woman who smelled like "well water". I thought that was quite hilarious since he mentioned her like that multiple times in the story.

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