Reading Response 1, Week 1

P. 98 of ABC Madden uses this short sentences to show the reader the relationship between Carol and her kids. When Jack hits Tim Carol says “ Tim ran out of the house, whimpering. Not to me. Just away from him.” When I read this I stopped and had a wow moment to myself; with fourteen words and three sentences Madden shows how Carol and Tim do not have the relationship that you would usually see in a boy and his mom when the father is acting up. I would like to start writing short sentences that can still pack a punch, but what I noticed was Madden’s build up to the situation, with Jack hitting Tim. I find that the story moves so slow because there are a lot of short sentences, as opposed to these long descriptive fast paced sentences, that usually come in when there is not as much dialog or descriptions of people talking. Another point I saw this was when there in the name of the search party leader Thyre Mann. Carol feels that the world of men constantly approach women as objects, and here we have a woman leading the search party for a missing woman and her name- at first reading- sounds like They are man, or their man. There is the reversal of roles in the little details he decides to choose. Madden is really making me look at the little parts and mechanics of building a story.