Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Final Thoughts on "Cheers" and Stories in General
Share your final thoughts on "Cheers" and the qualities of stories in general. Have your opinions on “Cheers” and the characteristics of a story changed or been reinforced? How and why? Please refer to specifics of what was said in small and large group discussions, the handout on plot, and the piece of writing ("Cheers") itself.
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My first opinion on "Cheers" has only been reinforced my our in-class discussion. Not only were some of my/my group's points taken into consideration and used as points in why it's not a story, but other's points were given as well; points that I had not at first seen. Did I just use a semicolon correctly? Anyways, I didn't even give a thought to the "thing" having a conflict/resolution, which is now one of the """Hottest Topics""" in class. Now about the handout. That handout is ridiculously overdoing things...like "Is the sewing woman lonely?" They're crossing the line, in my opinion, by making assumptions like, this woman is not married or is lonely...I don't know. Not a story. Still.
ReplyDeleteI'm with danny on this topic, like him my opinion was reinforced with the in class discussion. Also some of the points that were brought up were a little hazy because some stories can have conflict and others don't so there is no real fine line. As for the handout it seems like they bring up a lot of good points however I don't think that a very short story like this needs all this much thought about it.
ReplyDeleteBefore our class discussion today I was convinced that "Cheers," was a piece of a story, or vignette of some sort. After hearing some of Josh's points about it not being the best story, but still being a short story like some of the stories we may say to our friends in the hall; I started questioning my view a little bit more. I do think that this is a story just a veryyy bad one with no conflict/intro/resolution. In the handout they talk about digging deeper into the story like; "what is the old lady's dreams," and "what does the future hold for her." I did not really think of that when i was reading it, but if i did ask myself these questions while reading it maybe i would have found it a little bit more interesting, and would maybe consider it to be a short story.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion in class today did not change my opinion about "Cheers." Unfortunitely I had to leave before I heard anyone argue that it was a story but I don't think it would of changed my mind. I think "Cheers" is a long vignette and unless a vignette is a story, it's not a story in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI still have the same opinion about "Cheers." I think Cheers is not a story it doesn't have all the qualities of a story. A good story needs a plot and a conflict. Cheers didn't have either one. I still think its a scene from a story.
ReplyDeleteYesterday in class i felt that everyone was ganging up on me. I was the only one to think that "cheers" was indeed a story. After reading the handout we recieved in class, i even strongly think it is a story. People it is not the words alone the writter provides that makes a story, it's the readers imagination, history and belifes that make the story grow. Writting comes in all different shapes and forms and dosent nessasarily have to be "Propper" or "Correctly Punctuated" or all that jazz. I am not the person to gloat especailly on a class blog BUT, i was right, hahahaha, x10, ha.
ReplyDeleteMy view on "Cheers" has changed since I read it the first time. When I had read it the first time, I had thought that it was a section of a story, that it was not a story by itself. After our class discussion and reading the plot handout, I have to say that i would call it a story now, a very short story. In the handout it brought up the point that some stories are so short that "the actions can take place in a single scene"- the story itself was one scene with two characters and the surroundings. Their is not a lot of action but it is still a story, i guess.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Danny. I still believe that this reading is not a story. I can't really seem to find a plot to Cheers. Another reason I feel that it isnt a story is because I dont really see any elements of fiction applying here, such as the post card on the wall, how are we supposed to know if that's a memory or not... I don't know
ReplyDeleteI think that you have to have an obvious conflict(s)/problem(s) to call something a story. It can be subtle, but not nonexistant, like in "Cheers". I don't think that all this business about questioning what the author doesn't say is absolutely ridiculous. I feel that the plot is a part of the story, not something you try to resolve by asking the story questions. I think a story also needs to have something happening to keep readers interested, if "Cheers" was longer, nobody would ever finish it, except maybe English teachers, because it would be so boring. I don't care about an "oblique method". It's just an attempt to make it credible to call plotless writings stories.
ReplyDeletePersonally I still think that "Cheers" is not a story. Althogh our class had a debate about the subject it doesn't change my mind. A story must have some sort of plot or point to it, all I see here is a few paragraphs from a huge story. The handout that I read didn't convince me that "Cheers" was a story. All it gave me was some information on fiction on plot which didn't change my decision.
ReplyDeleteI guess this could be a story because there doesn't have to be a big conflict. There are two people who are in an activity (sewing the costume)and the lady does this for her job. I can get some information from the reading but I still have questions like:
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to make the lady do sewing for a living? Why does she say she has children and no husband?
This is a really short story. It probably takes place in a few minutes. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, just a little bit. It's the kind of story where you have to imagine what happened before or after the part you read.
Now that I have more insite as to why this could be a potential story, I have changed my opinion. There are noticable characteristics of a story in this reading. The only reason this would be difficult to realize at first, is that the story is so short. People assume, myself included, that stories consist of at least a couple pages with a detailed plot. Now I realize that stories truly come in different forms.
ReplyDeleteI agree with meredith. Another reason why it is difficult to tell that "Cheers" is a story is the subtlety of the conflict. The many questions that you are left with at the end do not take away from the fact that it is a story. The open ending adds the the story's creativity.
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