{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27871093","dateCreated":"1285966753","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"danielx_184","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/danielx_184","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27871093"},"dateDigested":1531973805,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"minimalist","description":"Minimalism is defined as a movement in which the author or artist where the work is limited to the most essential part. It is a movement characterized into allowing the viewer, or in this case the reader to interpret the piece of work on his own. It leaves lots of room to questions and various interpretations. Tuesday Night falls into this category, it is a story that involves no concise flowing details or description but it is rather an amount of different situations that help the reader understand who the characters are, mainly the main character.
\nThis type of literature works when writing shortly stories because it keeps the events that are needed and gets rid of all the rest. Contrarily it would not work on a novel for in a novel the reader needs more information than that provided by this type of writing. Looking at it from the readers perspective however it might be a little tiring to read because it needs lots of thought, yet (at least in my case) that makes it more intriguing that if everything was said
\nThe idea that Beattie\u2019s short story is on bits of information might seem confusing at first however as they are looked upon closer the reader is able to see that they all share a connection. The words that the author uses to reflect the main characters attitudes are mainly negative a pattern that goes all through the story. The audience experiences her reluctance when she is asked by her daughter to take the avocado tree, or how she does not really wants to bake the cookies. The reader also see\u2019s how she envies the relationship between her daughter and her ex-husband. Both of which are indications of personal problems
\nActions are heavily stressed on this story for they are what build the characters. The author does not wander into description, once again sticking to minimalism. This allows the reader to focus into the important things such as the depressive life of the main character cause by her loneliness. The story shows that nothing and no one seems to allow the character to be her own causing her an incessant unhappiness. The fact that nothing goes out the way is just a detriment to her already \u201cterrible\u201d condition.
\nAnother show of minimalism is the lack of formal use transition. The author jumps from subject to subject without any necessary connection. She talks about Dan\u2019s interest in nutrition when he talks to Bobby and all of a sudden she just mentions that Bob is a pot consumer and that he likes to play with his green yo-yo. yet this is not bad at all it helps the author make sure that the reader will focus on what the author wants the reader to focus on.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27959433","body":"Thanks Daniel,
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\nWebster","dateCreated":"1286220177","smartDate":"Oct 4, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27835563","dateCreated":"1285912207","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"tammy_sev","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/tammy_sev","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1285868666\/tammy_sev-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27835563"},"dateDigested":1531973805,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Tuesday Night","description":"Many times in literature some stories come up, which scarcely tell us the details that we need to know, these stories are minimalists. Although not much information is given about the characters feelings we can make millions of inferences based on what they say and think. The short story \u201cTuesday Night\u201d, by Ann Beattie is an example of these types of stories. \u201cTuesday Night\u201d talks about a dependent, na\u00efve, housewife who is insecure of herself, and because of these decides to take a night for herself every week to rest from her daily life. Ann Beattie jumps from idea to idea without pointing the main points of each. The character narrates events that happen or have happened and doesn\u2019t go in depth in telling her emotions. But we come to see that in a minimalist story the author is not only telling us what is on the page, and although she doesn\u2019t go in depth with everything, \u2018we\u2019 can do it by the few information given to us. For example, from this text we can infer that the main character, whose name is unknown, is na\u00efve because she doesn\u2019t know how to set a mousetrap. The mousetrap is symbolic to being a trap for her husband. She is not used to being a manipulative person and because of this she is unable to set him up, maybe setting him up to look bad in front of their daughter, just like he has done to her, because he \u2018is\u2019 one of these persons. We can also infer that she is insecure about herself. She has been dieting because she feels intimidated by the thinness of her brother, ex-husband, husband, and daughter. We can also make inferences on something that happened or will happen but was left out of the story. Like her friend Dianne for example, the narrator says that she knows her friend is planning on having an affair with her brother. We can imply that her marriage is not very happy but also that sooner or later it will fall apart. From the description at the end we can deduce that she is getting another divorce. She compares her current marriage to the one before and what Henry used to say when he brought up the topic, \u201cone morning he had driven over a hill and had been astonished when at the top he saw a huge yellow tree, and realized for the first time that it was autumn,\u201d (pg, 347). The hill represents a bump in the road that is her life one where she has to stop and think. As in autumn, things are falling apart, so is her marriage. She comparing the topic of divorce in her current marriage to the tree and autumn proves that there is no hope, and that eventually they are getting a divorce. This method of writing could prove to be effective in this story because it is as if the reader could participate more in it, making his or her make their own inferences. This helps the reader get more involved with the story and intrigued about what is going to happen. For me this type of method would work perfectly in novels, since many readers don\u2019t like reading long descriptive paragraphs, by using minimalism the reader will play closer attention to it and the story will awaken an interest in the reader\u2019s mind. I do think this style of writing will work in novels, but not in stories that talk about a character\u2019s profound feelings, since a more descriptive way of writing will be more useful in expressing the characters feelings and senses.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27868127","body":"Thanks Tamara,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285962449","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27835133","dateCreated":"1285909503","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"julibarca10","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/julibarca10","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1269448814\/julibarca10-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27835133"},"dateDigested":1531973805,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"tuesday night","description":"Tuesday Night Wiki
\n
\nMinimalism isn\u2019t always a wise choice to be used for a novel but for short stories in the most part it works perfectly. With a novel, minimalism would not work because part of a novel is trying to develop all aspects of the writing, for example create characters with a lot of depth or to be able to stress more on the setting. For a short story it is perfect since it gives the story itself more depth since the reader is forced to find the hidden meaning the story carries. Tuesday Night by Ann Beattie is a great example of how this works. In Tuesday Night we are left to infer many things, some are left out and some are implied. For example when we read \u201cI remember Henry saying to me, as a way of leading up to talking about divorce, that going to work one morning he had driven over a hill and had been astonished when at the top he saw a huge yellow tree, and realized for the first time that it was autumn.\u201d(pg. 347) Here there is a lot going on at the same time, first off we get a hill, which is literally a bump in the road. Then he mentions autumn and autumn means leaves falling down, life falling apart. What we could infer is that he is trying to say he noticed that he came to a bump on the road of life and that things are falling apart, the marriage isn\u2019t working. Another inference we can make is that the main character is trapped in a vicious cycle, \u201cWe select a paper with yellow bears standing in concentric circles.\u201d (pg. 341) Here she SELECTS a paper with bears standing in concentric circles, as we all know bears are believed to be cute and nice but they are actually powerful creatures, then the circles are mentioned, circles tend to stand for a cycle, and the circles all share the same center or problem, what can be interpreted is that there is a cycle in her life that has always shared the same foundation and that it is caused by apparently harmless things. What Amy Hempel is very true (at least for this story) since the topic of this story is hidden, we might believe that the topic is just simple life, a midlife crisis of a rich woman, when actually we are seeing a woman\u2019s life begin to fall apart. The message is hidden and this enriches your reading experience since it gives you a motive to read because you are looking for a message of some sort. We know that the relation of Henry and the main character is left out and that the author for some reason doesn\u2019t consider it important she only mentions Henry nowadays \u201cThe men I know are very friendly with each other. When Henry was at the house last week, he helped Dan, who lives with me, carry a bookcase up the steep, narrow steps to the second floor.\u201d (pg. 340) The story even though open to interpretation always follows one same line that is gently implied throughout the story which makes it even more enjoyable to read because you do get that sense of coherence of what you are reading.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27868009","body":"Thanks Julian,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285962304","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27834779","dateCreated":"1285907964","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"maaayyyaaa","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/maaayyyaaa","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1222817730\/maaayyyaaa-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27834779"},"dateDigested":1531973805,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Tuesday ","description":"In many ways, Ann Beattie\u2019s \u201cTuesday Night\u201d may be considered minimalist. The writing is succinct, almost terse. The reader receives only splashes of information. Sometimes these bits are detailed and sometimes they are just hazy hints. This text is almost like stream of consciousness. The author simply writes down the bare facts as they come to mind and doesn\u2019t include the formalities of background information and context.
\n
\nHowever, we can infer what parts of her life are of more or less importance to her based on the amount of time she devotes to explaining them. For instance, she spends a while describing her memories of high school with her boyfriend. \u201cHe would drive partway up their long driveway in the woods and then pull off onto a narrow little road that trucks sometimes use when they were logging the property\u2026 Sometimes the boy would drive slowly along on the country roads looking for rabbits\u2026\u201d She often reminisces about the past, and we can infer that her current situation is so miserable that she longs to go back to those times when she could drive anywhere and make out anytime and do anything. In this paragraph about high school, the emphasis is not on her boyfriend\u2014she refers to him only as \u201cthe boy\u201d\u2014but rather the sweet innocence of youth. The rabbits represent springtime, a time of fertility and vivacity and radiance.
\n
\nThe underlying event that is the backbone of the entire story may be the main character\u2019s divorce with Henry. The divorce is never elaborated on, and all that is mentioned is that \u201c[they] fought. [They] didn\u2019t get along.\u201d We have no idea how the main character and Dan came to be married, and why Henry and Dan are such good friends. In this story, the lack of background information may lend itself to a stronger piece. If the character\u2019s past had been described, the reader would have a definite picture of the character and her relationships. Rather, the reader must gather conversations and scenes and then infer from them the greater picture. We know that Tuesday nights represent an escape for her. At one point Joanna is arguing with her. \u201c \u2018You yelled at me,\u2019 she says. \u2018I did not\u2026\u2019 \u2018You raised your voice,\u2019 she says. Soon it will be Tuesday night.\u201d The main character can\u2019t wait for her night of solitude. It might seem that she wants to escape her pestering daughter, or her ex-husband, or her current marriage that is falling apart. But is she really avoiding these things? Or is she trying to escape herself, her countless insecurities and anxieties, and the constraints she sets upon herself?
\n
\nWhen I finished reading the story for the first time, I thought something along the lines of: \u201cHUH? What?! Nothing happened! \u2018I\u2019m fat, I\u2019m gonna get another divorce, I hate my life,\u2019 and then it ENDS? This story has no point.\u201d Then, of course, I went back and read it more carefully and realized how clever this minimalist style is. Although a precise \u201cending\u201d is not explicitly stated, the reader can get a pretty good picture of what happens next based on the clues and symbols throughout the story. In this story, the author provides; the reader receives; it is in the transaction of giving and getting that inferences are created, conclusions are drawn, and meanings are discovered.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27867905","body":"Great Maya,
\n
\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285962143","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27834183","dateCreated":"1285906326","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"helojello","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/helojello","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27834183"},"dateDigested":1531973806,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Minimalist Response","description":"The short story Tuesday Night is a very minimalist story. Amy Hempel uses those minimalist details to keep the story simple and yet captivating at the same time. She uses simple writing and simple language, but those common factors are what make the story more interesting. She is able to portray many hidden ideas and meaning in between the lines of the story, and in a way that makes you have to think about what those meanings could be. An example of this would be water. Throughout the story the main character mentions water a lot, and it could be random since there is water everywhere, but in this case the water symbolizes something. She mentions rain, which washes away thoughts and feelings, she mentions taking a shower, which could mean cleansing of some sort, but she says it in a very simple and minimalist way. She also mentions the seasons as a metaphor of how she is feeling and how her life is. She mentions how she remembers that her and her boyfriend used to chase rabbits, and rabbits are a sign of spring and youth. At the end of the story, she mentions how \u201cand [he] realized for the first time that it was autumn\u201d (page 347). This is a metaphor for how her life is falling apart, just like the leaves of the trees do during autumn. In the birthday wrapping paper, there were bears in concentric circles. Apart from having the bears mean cute little kid\u2019s wrapping paper, the concentric circles can mean a vicious cycle. One possible vicious cycle is her love life, which doesn\u2019t work. She got her first divorce, and now her second relationship is going badly as well, and she thinks she\u2019ll get another divorce. The author portrays the main character as a very insecure woman, but she doesn\u2019t say she\u2019s insecure; she shows signs of her insecurity. She compares herself to women in magazines, to her best friend, and she constantly judges herself. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and decides to go on a diet, she can\u2019t keep a marriage, and she feels that her daughter like her father more than her. There is no passion left in her marriage, and you can see this because the author uses the heart shaped cookies without red food coloring to portray this. Cookies with food coloring are a pretty simple idea, but it can symbolize how her heart is brown and without passion, since red is a color that represents passion and love. Also, the way her husband forbids her to use the red food coloring shows how bad her marriage is since forbid is a very heavy word. Amy Hempel\u2019s writing is very minimalistic and it makes her stories different yet very interesting to read.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27840753","body":"I meant Ann Beattie instead of Amy Hampel, sorry Mr. Webster.","dateCreated":"1285937526","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"helojello","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/helojello","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"27868203","body":"Never apologize, Heloisa,
\n
\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285962539","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27825247","dateCreated":"1285894005","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"teagvest","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/teagvest","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27825247"},"dateDigested":1531973806,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Tuesday Night","description":"The story is considered minimalist because the author doesn\u2019t elaborate on really anything. She mainly just puts out the subject, the main topic, and lets it speak for itself. For example, she talks about having burnt the pie crust. Basically that was all she said; she didn\u2019t elucidate on smoke filling the kitchen or the burnt taste. She just said that the crust was burnt, think what you may. In a way she writes from a stream of consciousness perspective. Even though she writes about actual events (technically, because the story is fiction), she writes them right as they happen without adding much context. From this text, we can infer several things: to name one, the woman is quite insecure as she strips in front of the mirror, looks at dirty magazines and Vogue, and decides she needs to go on a diet. Then she goes and drinks a chocolate milk shake. Another is that she reminisces the past. Even though one part is dedicated to a past experience, it doesn\u2019t detail anything. However, though, it shows that she is thinking about it and remembers what carefree days they were, comparing them with the bitter and stressful current ones. She dated a guy in high school and they necked on a back road. Now her second husband is contradicting and not agreeing with her, instead getting chummy with her ex. The three of them (including her drugged up brother) are so close that it scares her, but that is also an inference. What the story actually says is that they go Christmas shopping for her and all order the same dish. Um\u2026 a little strange? Yeah, she thought so too. This type of writing works well with this kind of story. It\u2019s about a woman who\u2019s experiencing her midlife crisis and is not on good terms with the world. The story is told from her point of view: she is obviously going to be cynical and blunt. She doesn\u2019t want to linger on anything. Even though some things are good, she is, again, cynical and doesn\u2019t quite see the good in them. This technique wouldn\u2019t, however, work well in long pieces of literature. For example, in a novel, there is enough room to describe characters in great detail, as well as places. It simply wouldn\u2019t do to leave the reader with some random stranger and have them go through 600 pages with that character. One needs to flesh them out and provide context. Short stories, however, do not leave enough room for elaborate details, so this technique works best in them.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27867733","body":"Thanks Teag,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285961889","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27823423","dateCreated":"1285892411","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"caro3arias","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/caro3arias","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27823423"},"dateDigested":1531973806,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Minimalism in writing ","description":"Tuesday Night is extremely minimalist in the way that we are told about the concrete actions the main character takes but we are given hardly any background on her motivations or her life before the time frame of the story. The reader is forced to make inferences on what this woman is like and what her life constitutes of on a few random episodes and thoughts. The reader manages to gather some information but her general life remains a hazy picture.
\n
\n Tuesday Night is like is like an interview a reporter has with some totally obscure person having his\/her 15 minutes of fame. The person will no doubt drop in a few anecdotes about their life, mention people they are close to, share a few of their spiritual\/political beliefs. Then the reporter must piece these all together so that the reader can feel like they know this person well enough to judge them. Ann Beattie is the reporter and the woman in the story is being interviewed.
\n
\n A reader can infer this woman is insecure about her daughter mother relationship with Joanna. She may feel like she is losing control of her daughter to Henry and Dan. Henry lets Joanna break the bedtime she had set and call her father by his first name, something the mother looks down upon. He lets Joanna eat escargot, and dance in high heels of other woman even though her mom doesn\u2019t like this. Dan also seems to contradict the woman\u2019s authority. When they are making cookies he \u201cforbids\u201d the woman to use food coloring and dumps bran into her recipe. Then he allows Joanna to take the avocado tree to school even though the woman doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s reasonable. The reader can infer that she feels out of control of her daughter\u2019s life.
\n
\nOne of the tools the author uses to make the writing minimalistic is to give symbols a large portion of the storytelling. Symbolism is subtly used many times so the author doesn\u2019t have to go into much detail. The avocado tree symbolizes Joanna because Dan and the woman disagree about what should be done with it, the way that they struggle over who has authority over Joanna. The red zinger and watermelon diet, the staring in the mirror and then skipping a meal, the whole-wheat craze represent the insecurity of this woman. The same can be inferred about her need for Tuesday nights because she can\u2019t do certain things around her family, possibly because they make her self-conscious. She\u2019s uncomfortable in her aging body next to her slender and healthy husband and beautiful daughter. The memory of her ex husband mentioning autumn as he proposed a divorce symbolizes that the end of her second marriage is coming soon. Autumn represents things falling apart and that is exactly what is happening in her current marriage.
\n
\nSome minimalism can definitely have a positive effect on literature. It allows the reader freedom to come to their own conclusions about characters or events. It also creates suspense. Too much minimalism, though, can cause some confusion or just leave the reader feeling as if the story was incomplete. This is how I felt about Tuesday Night. I would have appreciated a little bit more detail on the main character\u2019s past or her thoughts so I could feel that I knew her better.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27867621","body":"Thanks Carolina,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285961762","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27821503","dateCreated":"1285890559","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"MaFe1595","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/MaFe1595","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27821503"},"dateDigested":1531973806,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Minimalist writing in Tuesday Night","description":"Tuesday Night may seem like a very simple story about a normal woman surrounded by dysfunctional people. But there\u2019s more to it than meets the eye. The character doesn\u2019t describe her feelings about what\u2019s going on around her. We have to read between the lines to figure out that this story is actually a character analysis of a woman that can\u2019t even make decisions for herself. She is bossed around by a man that doesn\u2019t really care much about her; a man that actually tells her what is right and what\u2019s wrong. She has been married twice and at the end we can infer she will have another divorce. This woman doesn\u2019t have a personality. She looks at girls in magazines and tries to starve herself to look like them. She does what her husband tells her to do and she doesn\u2019t have the confidence in herself to be independent. She needs her husband to make a trap for a mouse. She also says that her husband forbid her from putting red food coloring on the cookies. She never actually tells us, \u201cI feel like that asshole is driving me crazy and I\u2019m sick of bossing me around.\u201d She never tells us, \u201cI wish I could make my own decisions. \u201cThe author just puts things that symbolize her feelings. At first sight, this story is not descriptive. But if we pay attention to the symbols and analyze them, we discover the main character\u2019s feelings. This is minimalist writing. The author doesn\u2019t give us direct description of the main character. We have to look into details, and we have to be able to make inferences to know what\u2019s going on. To get to know the character better. Not only the symbols are used to describe the character, but also the way the woman interacts with people. This type of writing is good when making about that centers around a character analysis. For example, this short story. This short story is the description of a character. Minimalist writing also makes a text more interesting. It gives writing a certain mystery. It\u2019s no all cut and dry for you. You, as a reader, have to dig deeper to understand what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s a very symbolic type of writing and the author has to choose her\/his words very carefully for the readers to interpret what message is the author trying to convey. Minimalist writing is open to different interpretations. Depending on the reader, we may infer more than one thing. Fore example, some people may say that in this short story, when it is raining, this may be a foreshadow that something bad will happen. For others, rain may be the cleansing of the soul. I think that minimalist writing may be weak for this reason. Because the message isn\u2019t very clear, so if we want to make a statement to society for example, minimalist style isn\u2019t the best style to provide one clear message. It\u2019s very ambiguous and easy to misinterpret because the author never tells us what the right conclusion is. The author just puts clues in our path, that we have to connect to understand the setting and the characters.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27867501","body":"Great MaFe,
\n
\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285961565","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27772195","dateCreated":"1285822747","smartDate":"Sep 29, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"Ingrid89","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ingrid89","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1228179242\/Ingrid89-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27772195"},"dateDigested":1531973806,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Tuesday night","description":"The story \u201cTuesday Night\u201d, by Ann Beattie is a short story written in a different way than the ones we\u2019ve previously read in class. In this story, fewer details about the history and the main character herself are said, giving the reader room to infer on the feelings of the character, with given situations on her and her reactions to them. This is minimalistic writing because instead of having details straight forward, Ann Beattie is making us look deep into insignificant situations, and surface description, in order for us to infer things about her personality and her life. Ann gives no specific interpretations, hence we, as readers, step in, and interpret the character ourselves as we please, based on her acquaintances with various people and situations. Given the superficial ideas of this character, nothing is stated straight forward, therefore one is lead to infer. The reader can infer, for instance, that Dan, Joanna\u2019s father, is not really the ideal parent one would like for their children. Joanna\u2019s mother is discontent with him, as he overpowers her authority in her own house. When Dan brings Joanna home after eight, which is of course past a ten year old\u2019s curfew, she is supposed to go directly into bed, but Dan, challenging the authority of Joanna\u2019s mom, insist she should do what she wants for a while. Dan, butting into situations and decisions that have nothing to do with him, still has something to say about everything, and disrespects Joanna\u2019s mom. Joanna can learn many things from this insignificant situation. She can learn, for instance, that it is perfectly fine to disobey her mother\u2019s rules, as her father has done so in front of her, and this can lead Joanna to, in more important situations, meaning dangerous maybe, or just any other situation, start going against the word of authority, and disobeying.
\nSome of the things that were probably left out by the author were the detailed, background information of our main character. We have only random, simple situations or complications that come up, during random days, to the mother of Joanna. There is room to infer there that the author definitely has a purpose into writing minimalistic, probably to maintain the focus narrowed to the same kind of theme. Confusion and loss of power, for instance, could be a theme followed along the story. Joanna\u2019s mother\u2019s confusion of marrying Dan and Henry, as a matter of fact, and her confusion of how to really be a brave, and powerful woman, to interpret the role of a good mother for instance, proves a consistent theme throughout the short story. Without Ann Beattie telling this to us directly, the reader then infers many different stories, or feelings about the narrator. One could be confusion because she cannot impose order in her home, as she is confused as how to do so; when she imposes what she thinks is right, it is Dan\u2019s opposite; he then manipulates her into losing power, doing what he says, and hence giving an example to Joanna for the future. Another example is when there is a mouse in her home and she needs to set a trap to catch it; she has no voice in her own house and receives no help at all from the two men doing nothing, another sense of her having no say and power into anything, since men are the overpowering in this story, thus if they say no, there is nothing she can do. These are clear examples as to how, without being written straight forward, one can infer what the character is feeling, and the theme behind this story. If the situations happening to our main character weren\u2019t relevant to the theme being followed, then minimalism would be employed mistakenly, thus it is used for imagination of the reader with evident, indirect details, rather than having random scenes which have no say in the course of the story. This way of writing is very complex, as if it doesn\u2019t fit in right, it ruins the story.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27823331","body":"Mr. Webster, i wasn't really happy with my old response so I made another one. Here it is:
\nAmy Hempel makes a great point expressing that the main theme and focus of this, or whichever story, may not be described or referred to in such, or at least not straight forward. With this writing, such as Tuesday Night, by Ann Beattie, not much is said directly about the emotional focus of our main character, just as Amy expresses. Since Beattie gives us memories and actions, but not details of our main character mind in her story, this can be called minimalistic writing. We get the superficial, or the surface of all that is going on, and we are led to use inferences to dig in deeper. Beattie writes more with hidden meanings, rather than straight forward. One example can be when the narrator expresses, \u201cI remember Henry saying to me, as a way of leading up to talking about divorce, that going to work one morning he had driven over a hill and had been astonished when at the top he saw a huge yellow tree, and realized for the first time that it was autumn.\u201d (pg 347) Here she is about to have a conversation with her husband, and this memory appears in her mind. Just this one sentence tells us many things, particularly towards the end. We understand the process of her divorce with Henry here, as she tells us what happens, but within the story, different meaning lay. The hill he drives over on his way to work, for instance symbolizes an obstacle, a bump, and it expresses slowing down, which is what Henry is doing, slowing down on his life, getting to a peek, and then speed up, getting past that obstacle, which in this case would be his wife. Another hidden meaning implied would be autumn. Autumn as a season marks the beginning of the end, where everything starts to die, just like their marriage.
\nSome inferences we can make from this story is that our main character is being oppressed and bossed around by all the main figures she is around with. For instance, Henry \u201c[forbade her] to use a dot of red food coloring in the sugar-cookie hearts\u201d (pg 341) Henry isn\u2019t just asking her not to use it, but instead forbidding her to do so. Into this situation, there is also a meaning hidden behind. Red is the color of passion, and Henry forbids her to use it, denying passion and love between them, thus they are divorced. We can also infer that Joanna\u2019s mom is very insecure. Other than her not standing up for what she thinks is right and her being manipulated, she is insecure with herself as well. \u201cShe looks] in the hall mirror and [decides] to go on a diet.\u201d (pg 342) She is insecure with her body and of her authority. Symbolism takes important roles with her insecurity, because since she burned the pie crust, which is the foundation of a pie and the entire thing, it may symbolize her own pie; her foundation of security and power, which is burned and cannot be used anymore. Tuesday nights have a more deeper meaning than just a Tuesday, or so we can infer, since this day is not just a day to be free of husband and child to not have as much pressure, but of actually discovering one\u2019s true self, and letting loose of all, and recovering sense, hence not allowing her being bossed around.
\nThis method of minimalism works strongly in this situation because it works together with the symbols she uses, and with the setting she creates. Beattie uses simple, yet complex writing, as what she puts describes little, but what reads between the lines means much more. It wouldn\u2019t work well if Beattie was to write about a situation of the characters past, but that such had no relevance what so over to the followed theme. For instance, of her taking about her first bra, and relating to it in winter. The experience and the symbolism do not fit into the story, as bras mark a beginning, while winter strikes the end. Out of this story, minimalism could not work in a novel. Here, the character must be very complex and filled with adventures and details. Having the reader infer wouldn\u2019t be a good case, thus ones inferences could not match up with the authors plot. Hence minimalism should be used, in order to work better, with short stories, such as this.","dateCreated":"1285892322","smartDate":"Sep 30, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"Ingrid89","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ingrid89","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1228179242\/Ingrid89-lg.jpg"}},{"id":"27866993","body":"Thanks Ingrid,
\n
\nGood work,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285960886","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"27770639","dateCreated":"1285818092","smartDate":"Sep 29, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"ad.ri","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/ad.ri","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1283992059\/ad.ri-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/27770639"},"dateDigested":1531973807,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Tuesday Night","description":"Beattie starts by acquainting us with her daily life in \u201cTuesday Night\u201d. She jumps from one topic to another, never deepening our knowledge of those topics. She goes from telling us that \u201cHenry has been a good father\u201d to how the \u201cmen [she knows] are very friendly with one another,\u201d (340). Then she skips from talking about her attempt to lose weight to how she got \u201croped into baking cookies\u201d to her friend Dianne\u2019s love for her showerhead. She continues by informing us that she decided to have Tuesday nights to herself to do whatever she likes, which isn\u2019t that much of a break from what she does every day. At first look this story seems to miss something, a plot, until the very last page, where we get a glimpse of what her relationship is going through. Furthermore, Beattie doesn\u2019t describe the characters and our minds are free to imagine whatever they want. For these reasons, giving only glimpses and hints of her life, it can be assumed that Beattie wrote this story with a minimalist aim.
\nMuch can be inferred from this text, which doesn\u2019t emerge in the story in black ink but hinted by the written words. It is \u201c[known] for a fact that Dianne is thinking of having an affair with [Bobby],\u201d (341). From this we can deduce that Dianne is not having a great marriage and isn\u2019t loyal to her parsimonious husband. We can also assume that she does not have a grudge against her ex-husband since she mentions him so much in her house and is friendly to the man who lives with her. From what Dan says about their relationship going sour the plot is presumed to be their relation and where it will get to, though we are never told. We can assume, though, that it doesn\u2019t end well since the relationship \u201cmust have turned so sour for him the he doesn\u2019t even want to fight\u201d (346), and she remembers at the end of what Henry had said to her \u201cas a way of leading up to talking about divorce,\u201d (346).
\nThe ambiguous gloomy way for Beattie to lead up to this unfinished end, helped build the atmosphere for us to be able to assume what happened after. If she had only told us about her relationship we might not have got that the story is aiming for a disheartening ambience, therefore she includes all her miserable days guiding toward the inevitable failure of her bond with Dan. This minimalist technique makes this a stronger writing because the end is not as palpable, and it concludes with a big boom as we grasp that it all ends up bungled. This technique would work best for other short texts, like poems and stories, to build up an atmosphere for the end. It might be used in a novel in a small scale, but it\u2019d be quite unfeasible to write a minimalist novel because the characters should be more developed and the main plot well structured for the reader to understand the purpose of it.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"27867413","body":"Highly creative and thoughtful, Adrianna,
\n
\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1285961431","smartDate":"Oct 1, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]}],"more":true},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}