When reading Hogg’s “I’m a Believer” I was initially surprised how much I was lured into the text. But lets face it, she had my complete attention when she began to talk about her childhood crush. All ages of readers can relate to her situation! At some point in our lives we have all suffered with a serious infatuation situation over a boy (or girl!). In Hogg’s case she was obsessing over a teen idol; we all have those too! I enjoyed her writing style.
She also throws in a little bit of wit and humor to her essays. For instance on page B8 “I am unable to move. I can’t stand behind Davy Jones and slop mashed potatoes on my plate while he pours gravy over his just ahead of me. I stare at him the whole time he fills his plate, except when I look around the restaurant to see if everyone else is staring at Davy. They aren’t. “ When reading this I had such a clear image of this happening in my head. I can see Hogg trembling while standing behind a door that looks into the dinning room of the hotel, drooling over Davy and trying to convince herself with reason as to why she should go in. Hogg does a wonderful job at keeping the reader entertained by throwing in completely unexpected text. Such as on page B5 “I remember that Davy came from poor beginnings, named his… Willie”.
When Hogg concludes the passage she leaves the rest the story up to the readers imagination. Normally I do not like when authors, or TV shows leave the viewer hanging. I want to know what is happening at that exact moment! But in Hogg’s case she is finally about to see her childhood crush, (or at this point her 50 year old crush) and ahs built up anticipation for many years fanaticizing about what she would so perfectly say to him when he was in her presence. She finally gets the chance to spend a magical moment in time with him and sadly nothing magical happens. When it is her turn to see Davy Jones she transforms herself into a normal everyday fan that is just standing in line such as everyone else, waiting for an autograph and a picture. In the last paragraph on page B10 Hogg comes to all realization. “I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all, and I, the daydream beleliever, am just a fan. I stand next to him, this man so familiar and foreign. He reaches up and puts him arm around me, and we both play our roles, smiling for the camera.” From this we can conclude that after the picture was taken and the CD was signed Hogg most likely returned to her life and would store this concert as an everlasting memory. Although in my mind I like to believe that Hogg and Davy do stay up all night and play in the casino together. I must admit I am a dreamer and I always like to apply the perfect scenario to situations such as these. I enjoy turning stories into fairy tales. Who knows maybe Davy Jones and Charlotte end up getting married!
In Blacks short story “The Joy of Mud” she really excels at connecting the reader with her text. Her writing style is very descriptive and she expands on each of her sentences, causing the reader to jump into her world. I really liked how descriptive she was when talking about Hawaii. When reading her story I felt as if I could close my eyes exhale and breathe in the Hawaiian air. I was transformed into Blacks personality when I hit the second paragraph. On page B11 “He soon scoops me up in his pickup truck and we drive north along the coast, presided over by the Windward Mountains in their wet, green glory. Entering the rolling pastures of Kahalu’u, traffic narrows into a single file line; orchid farms and cows replace the Burger King s and strip malls of concrete-encased Kaneohe.” Every noun she uses is backed up by a very descriptive adverb. She really stresses the importance of the feelings she gets when She makes it evident how important and life changing Hawaii was to her. She proves to all readers that it is important not to judge things before you give them a try. Her whole out look about Hawaii changed completely when she began her work in the lo'i fields.
Although Blacks writing style in my opinion is very different than Hogg’s. I feel like I can connect as a reader better with Hogg’s story vs. Black’s. I enjoyed reading Hogg’s up beat slightly humorous story more. Where as Blacks story was centered around one thing and was very elaborate about it.
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