Anisa Perez, 20236859 The Witching Hour: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Reading the Witching Hour gave imagery as if to be a film. I pictured the aswang to resemble Venom from Spider – Man with the way she described her poster to have been drawn with the “tongue extended” & “being in the “twilight sky.” An aswang can be a relatable creature to humans who try and parade themselves to please society. Every morning we wake and try to dress ourselves in the most appropriate way to blend with the society we live in, while at night we remove our morning disguises to unveil our true selves. The innocence that Aimee shows as a child drawing her “endangered species” is the innocence we all once had as a child. We were once led to believe in fairytales like Cinderella and scary stories like the Boogey Man. I can’t say that I appreciate the way the teacher destroyed Aimee’s artwork because in a sense it was kind of the way as in destroying the child’s imagination. Doing so would only allow the child to lose focus in her creative skills insinuating that they simply just weren’t good enough. The teacher could’ve taken a different approach. The story started off great and then took a very unexpected turn for the worst. I feel that this short story started off as a great fiction piece with the aswang and then out of nowhere tried turning it into a heart-felt nonfiction piece about her teacher hurting her feelings.
Yesenia Betancourt The Witching Hour I enjoyed The Witching Hour because Nezhukumatathil wrote about a cultural clash experience in her childhood. Out of that negative experience the author was able to realize that she should take pride in her culture and its folklore and legends. That experience opened her eyes; it made her ask the question “…why was the very mention of an aswang so dangerous, so naughty?” Other folklore and legends were oaky to talk about, like Greek mythology, but not the aswang. I think this is something that many minorities in American can relate to. I also enjoyed the imagery in the story. I was able to picture the scene in the classroom; I could imagine a third grader crying at their desk while the teacher is looking at them with disappointment. I also believe the author organized the story well. She explained the aswang, described the event of Mrs. Johnson telling her to redo the poster, to how her mom would always tell her stories at night about Philippine folklore and legend, and finally to how she still drew the aswang, but this time Mrs. Johnson’s expensive marker set. It helped me to understand why the author first drew the aswang and why afterwards she asked for Mrs. Johnson’s marker set.
Didion wrote this essay in a simple way and she broke down for the readers what a migraine was and told us about her migraines in a way that I could feel her annoyance with them. So she did a good job at being descriptive about her illness. The thing I did not enjoy was that it was boring, to be honest. Even though this was an esay read, I struggled to read it because it did not really interest me. But besides that I felt like there was a bigger theme about the essay when you took a step back and analyzed it, you can easily relate her feelings towards her migraines to another illness/disease/struggle. And when she talks about how other people don't understand the struggle of migraines because they tell her to just take aspirin than can be applied to people who suffer from depression or anxiety and are told to "don't worry" or "be happy".
Adam Rivas The Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I throughly enjoyed this story being that I could relate to that childhood innocence and sense of imagination that I once had. The story changed from what seemed to be a horror story about the aswang to one about a little girl who competed in a class competition about the best drawing on an endangered animal. I felt it was great on how the author started off with an explanation of what the aswang is so the readers could get an idea of what sort of creature this child had a fascination of; whether it'd be fictional or nonfictional. I believe this author provided great detail and imagery from describing how her teacher looked like with her "unisex perm" and "pillow arms" all the way to how her mother told her bedtime stories at night; for example, "I loved playing with her long and lovely thick hair as she propped herself up on her elbow next to me in bed". I believe that the colored markers that Aimee won were a symbol of comfort considering the way her teacher acted about the aswang she drew. You can tell this by the quote, "I smiled as I gathered up my new shiny markers and carefully tucked them each into their special case" One thing that I wish the author could have done was provided more of an imagery on what the aswang actually looked like in the beginning of the story. Was it large or small? Did it hunch like a gargoyle? Did it have sharp teeth? What color was it? Overall, I found this to be an excellent story.
Andres Sanchez 20229480 The Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Throughout the reading, I enjoyed the use of imagery and the use of lore. Certain sentences are noteworthy in their use of imagery, such as this one: "Her oil-stiffened hair propels her into the night sky, a terrible helicopter in search of her favorite food: fetus." Sentences such as this one invoke many things in the imagination; for instance, the realistic depiction of the hair in contrast with the surreal depiction of the helicopter and the visceral image of the fetus serve to introduce many different ideas that play well together. Moreover, the first paragragh especially gave the feeling that I was about to start reading some horror novel, which I find was well done. Though, I will say that I found slightly amusing how after that first paragraph we move straight into the authors life in elementary school. A nice use of contrast.
I also enjoyed the use of lore in the sense that it was difficult to discern what was real and what was not. For example, the realistic depiction the author gave the aswang made it diffcult for me to tell if this animal/creature was actually made up or not. It was not until the aswang was later compared to other myths did I get my answer. Use of this imagery and contrast between real animals, to me, gives life to the aswang and had me engaged from the start.
Though, I would have liked to know more about the aswang itself, such as its origins and other details which may have added to the impact of the reading. A little peice of background information here and there sprinked throughout the reading may have improved it as a whole. However, this is a minor comment since the choice to withhold some information about the aswang did keep me intrigued about it more than it would with something like a Bald Eagle or a Blue Whale, which most people have a general knowledge over. Overall, the author's choice of Literary Devices and imagery made the reading engaging and added a sense of realness to myth.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is an Asian American writer who uses her Filipina and Malayali Indian background to help give her a different perspective on her writing. I was able to relate to this story because the way her mom told her bedtime stories my mom also did the same when I was younger. I really enjoyed the spirit of the story, the idea that even though the aswang wasn’t recognized as being real she still decided to draw it because it was part of her culture and she loved what it stood for.
Not only did Nezhukumatathil use detailed imagery to describe the aswang, but also the flow of the story was really easy to follow even as she went from the classroom to recalling her bedtime stories. She also used many similes, for example, “claws spring from her fingertips like a Swiss army knife…” to better paint a picture of the aswang to a reader who might not be familiar with the Filipino folklore.
Brenda Salinas (20228345) The witching hour was an amazing story. I was really able to visualize everything. Not only that but I can relate to the girl because I am too an artist and I gone through that. I know how it felt when something you work on, being torn apart. I remember in the first grade we had to draw and color a boat in the sea. I drew in some flying fishes because I was really fascinated by them. My teacher came by and saw that. She got my paper and threw it away. I had to redraw it. That was messed up because you put in a lot of work into the drawing. Then a person comes along who doesn’t agree with it, makes you redo it. The author wrote a lot of details about the aswang. I liked how she describe how it looked like and what it ate. She also wrote a lot of details of how the teacher looked, and how her drawings looked like. This was an nice story to read. The author did a good job.
In the Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s short story The Witching Hour, I really liked that the story was being told from a third graders point of view. I know that when I was a third grader I still believed in the Tooth fairy, Easter bunny and of course Santa Clause. So after reading this short story I felt like I could connect with the author. When you read this story you get a feel of what happed through a child’s eyes, and I personally feel like she made a great choice because it makes the text work perfectly because if she were to have told the same story from an adults perspective it wouldn’t have the same effect on the reader at all. In the sentence where Aimee was unsure if Ms. Johnson was going to get mad at her or seen her slip ( pg.227) there you can get a sense of her innocence, Aimee is not able to understand what her teacher is mad about. I feel like I can relate to this story because to Aimee the aswang was very important to her and her childhood kind of like the La Llorona story since I am Hispanic and this story is very well known in our culture.
Joan states that she "had no brain tumor, no eyestrain, no high blood pressure" there was simply nothing wrong with this women except for the fact that she has migraine headaches, all the time. The details she used to describe how her migraines felt were very sharp, even her actions spoke volumes on how dramatically the migraines affected her. She mentioned that she would "drive through red lights, lose the house keys, spill whatever I am holding" because of the severity of her headaches. Could you imagine being in this woman's shoes? I wouldn't want to that's for sure. The symptoms are quite drastic because she explains that when the migraine arrives, it "brings with it chills, sweating, nausea" which seems to really stretch her endurance to the breaking point. Think about it, you lose the ability to focus properly, you can't even complete proper structured sentences, on top of that you look drunk. You're properly going to look like crap for lack of a better word, yet can you blame this woman? She inherited this trait from her own bloodline. She was genetically prepped from the beginning of her framework, that she was going to have migraines throughout her lifetime. So what's there left to do? Own it. Simply own it before it owns you and that is exactly what Joan Didion does. She explains that she "no longer fights it" when it arrives because she goes grown wise and has accepted her flaws. She understands there is very little she can do about it so she toughens out the process because she realizes that after all this pain she's about to endure for "ten or twelve hours" she will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief because when the migraine goes away, "everything goes with it". I like that fact that she compares her migraines to a circuit breaker. This woman more than likely feels rejoiced and like a brand new person after she goes to war with herself.
Starting with a very expressive and detailed explanation of what a migraine is sets the tone for the rest of this short narrative. While it is not easy to visualize the blood rushing to the head (and I mean it from an inside perspective, not outside), it is easily relatable for me, for I am a sufferer of migraine.
Everything that happens to her is convincing, though there are moments when it feels a tad outlandish, especially with her throwing up in a washroom, stumbling home on instinct, and emptying ice trays onto her bed to try and make the pain go away. Then again, for all sufferers of migraine, the symptoms vary in terms of severity, so perhaps hers really do drive her to the limits of her endurance.
I get the feeling that this narrative is somewhat of a motivational speech for all migraine sufferers. This is emphasized by her mentioning of those she calls the "unafflicted", and how they tell the sufferers that it is all in the imagination and that they bring it upon themselves. It almost seems like she is giving them the proverbial "middle-finger" to them by telling them that it is not in the imagination, but in the inheritance. It is further emphasized by her acceptance of the migraine by treating it like a friend. For me, it feels like she is making herself look like a role model for those that suffer it, motivating them to come to terms with it since it will be with them for the rest of their lives.
Not the longest of narratives, and certainly not the most interesting, Didion's "In Bed" does a good job of expressing her dislike of her affliction. I feel, though, that she could've done a better job in general appeal (though I sometimes got the feeling that it was just a personal rant of hers). In any case, the narrative appealed to me, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
The author of the story gave clear detail in what a migraine is, and how it feels to actually have a migraine. “Almost anything can trigger a specific attack of migraine”, then the author gives different examples of what causes a migraine. Although the story was interesting, I felt as if I was reading a book on “What causes migraines.” Yes it gives good imagery, she mentions how instead of being outside on a beautiful day, she would have to stay inside with the shades drawn. A connect to how we spend our days when we have a migraine. As I was reading, all I could picture was me at work with a migraine listening and dealing with customers complaining and kids whining. I believe that if the story would of had more imagery and less information on migraines, that it would have made the story a lot more interesting.
When I read the title "The Witching Hour" I was expecting a full on horror story. What I read was completely different than what I was expecting and was a mixture of emotions. Nezhukumatathil interwines culture and the way we have to conform to what is "standard" at school. I especially love the way she goes about describing The aswang as beautiful young woman who drastically changes to this "fantastic evil" over sundown. It reminds me of when I was a kid that would play out until my mother would call me in a sundown and scare me with the llorna story in order to get me indoors.
I do want to go ahead and say her use of metaphors and similes flow great with the story, "Claws spring from her fingertips like a Swiss army knife...". Made me feel as if I was going to get clawed up any moment. With that being said I want to point out my mixture of emotions. Not only was I throwing daggers at Mrs. Johnson but I was clutching my heart for Aimee. Her aswang artpiece being torn apart is almost as if Mrs. Johnson was tearing apart her culture, who she is.
The text was bewitching and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The memories were lovely to visualize and I felt relieved when Nezhukumatathil continued her drawing of the aswang, it made me hopeful that such cultures can thrive on in the type of society we live in.
Gabriela Canales The Witching Hour In the Witching Hour, Aimee uses wonderful imagery throughout her text. What I enjoyed most was how relatable the story was. I found it particularly enjoyable because it is told from the perspective of a third grader, and reminiscing on how broad our imagination was at that age. At the beginning of the story when her teacher is giving the class examples of what animals they should focus on and Aimee doesn’t conform to those basic choices. She immediately thinks of the aswang, which is this grand mystical character that she sees as endangered. Now she says Mrs. Johnson “sometimes held my drawing up for the class to see”, but this time she didn’t, instead she ripped Aimee’s poster and advised her to select another more practical species. When I read this section of the story, it made me think of how society shuns people for being different. We are to conform, instead of expressing individuality. Now Aimee decides to abide by her teachers rules and she ends up winning the contest amongst her class, she opts to change her prize, skip recess, and begins to illustrate the incredible aswang leaving her classmates and myself in awe.
Joan Didion walks us through what her life as a migraine sufferer is like. She describes from the symptoms to the science behind migraines in a way that makes us feel grateful we don’t suffer the same condition. While reading this I couldn’t help but empathize with the author I suffer of obsessive compulsive disorder, a disorder also tied to poor amounts of serotonin in the brain, and her description of how crippling her ailment can be pushed me to relive points in my life in which my disorder has kept me down. I especially enjoyed the part in which she speaks of how the “unafflicted” lack sympathy for people with migraines it felt to me as if this is a sentiment that is shared by many people with different conditions. Simply because when we are not familiar with a certain type of illness we tend to disregard people's symptoms.
The only fault I found with this is that at times it felt as if it was too much of a rant on her part, but other than that this felt very real. She perfectly walks you through all parts of her illness down to her acceptance for the condition which I enjoyed.
The Witching Hour was effective in informing the reader about an important event in the author’s life as well entertaining the reader with cultural anecdotes and comical, nostalgic imagery. I found it very relatable and the emotions that the author was conveying really came through the in story. There were some instances in the story that I found hard to believe. One that stands out as really unbelievable is that she didn’t really believe in the aswang. The way the character is described in such a terrifying manner and the fact that she drew it alongside eagles and a rhino means that she believes in it. The dialogue was well placed and it really added to the story by truly emphasizing how truly vile Mrs. Johnson was. The ending was truly satisfying and concise and it’s easy to see why this was chosen as an event to share with the world.
Didion suffers silently because she are afraid of the implications that her maladies may present. For instance, she examines how others categorize her illness as a personality disorder, “something that is the fancy of a neurotic imagination,” and how that might affect their perception of her. Although the migraines often leave her in debilitating pain, there is an air of condescension from those around her that what she is going through can be easily remedied. For someone who can relate to these reactions, Didion's experiences draws a great deal of empathy from me as a reader.
The migraines have become so rampant in Didion’s life that she personifies, to great effect, the headaches by describing them “as more friend than lodger.” Didion’s desperation is palpable throughout the story, particularly when she speaks about the pharmaceuticals that prevent the onset of the headaches, but their inability to be effective once the attack arrives.
For Didion, learning to cope with something as severe as migraine is a big step forward, and although there’s no way to rid herself of this illness completely, her journey towards acceptance is, in itself, a small victory.
“In Bed” is a very detailed account on the chronic migraines the author Joan Didion suffered from. From the beginning I was interested to see how someone can put into words pain that I have felt before. Although, after reading “In Bed” I don’t think I’ve felt the complete wrath of a migraine, I have been paralyzed with pain in my head and sensitivity to light, which are common symptoms of a migraine. I really enjoyed Didion’s use of diction to describe her condition. She uses very descriptive words at first and then moves to more medical jargon, used to describe what exactly is going on in her head. After all that we see that what is left is pain that leaves this person bed ridden and convinced that this will always be her life. Now instead of “fighting it” she rides it out and focuses on all the pain and getting through it even if it is hours later.
Nydia Preciado The Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil I absolutely loved this story it was a very entertaining and totally what I wasn’t expecting. When I first read the title of the story I thought it was going to be a creepy and dark, but to my surprise it was the total opposite. The beginning starts off with a sort of urban legend, which I think Aimee Nezhukumatathil does this to have us hooked and keep on reading. If she would just have started off the story of some project about endangered species in elementary school people wouldn’t have been drawn to that. Besides, starting off the story with a short description about an urban legend gives the reader background information of what an aswang is. I loved the way I could picture the story in my head, I could see her drawing and coloring the aswang and the teacher getting mad at her. It felt as if I was reading a fictional story because of how descriptive she was with her writing and I think it’s important for the reader to picture the story so they don’t get bored. Overall, this story had me entertained from start to finish.
This story, as told by the perspective of a spirited third grader, reminds me of what it was like to be carefree and imaginative as a child. Through the initial description of an aswang, which refers to a Philippine folktale, we are able to acknowledge the narrator's fascination with this creature. I had trouble trying to understand why the narrator was so interested in the aswang, until I realized that it was somewhat similar to the stories I have heard in my culture about lechuzas. I was especially able to relate to the following quote, “If anyone were to check on me later in the night, they surely would have seen a little girl sleeping with a smile on her face. Maybe clutching her stuffed bunny a bit tighter than usual, but with a smile nonetheless”. I recall being a child who was curious in the tall tales of my culture, and the author makes it possible to relate to by involving her mother as the story teller of legends and such. The use of imagery is made possible throughout the story by describing the manner in which the narrator draws the aswang. It helps the reader imagine this creature as closely as possible to how the narrator perceives it. I found it particularly interesting how the teacher immediately shuts down the narrator’s imagination as nonsense and invalid, and expects a cookie-cutter version of an endangered species, like the rest of the class, which eventually leads to the narrator winning in first place. Over all, the author successfully creates a notion of imagination, curiosity, and in a sense silencing (the teacher rejecting to accept the narrator’s version of an endangered species) throughout the story, which I enjoyed!
I enjoyed reading "In Bed" because I found the narrative relatable to my own experience. My grandmother, mother, and I each suffer from migraine headaches. Joan Didion explains in great detail what it feels like to have a migraine and what sufferers go through. Like Didion, I sense when a migraine is on its way, and if I dont automatically take medicine I'll be in excruciating pain all day. This narrative gave me a sense of relief knowing there's others who feel the same pain I do. I often hear "suck it uo and take some advil" from none sufferers. I would ask myself if maybe I was just being a drama queen and couldn't handle pain. The author explains that she "will drive through red lights, lose the house keys, and generally give the appearance of being on drugs, or drunk" while suffering from a migraine. Although I am not as incoherent as Didion, my migraines cause so much pain that I can't eat without feeling like I'll throw up, or sleep with the painful throbbing going on inside my head. I tend to walk around with a pissed off face and snap at anyone who talks to me. Having a migraine will definitely change my personality. I have learned to accept my migraines. I carry a bottle of Excedrin in my purse, backpack, and car in hopes that I'll stop a migraine when I feel it creeping up. I found this narrative to be a great motivational read for sufferers.
Francisco J. Guerra Jr. "In Bed," by Joan Didion As much as I enjoyed reading "In Bed" by Joan Didion, I hate migraine headaches, they are one of the worst pains I have physically felt in my life. I thought, the author did a good job in describing her feelings of pain, while having a migraine headache; I wonder if she was experiencing a headache when she wrote her memoir essay of this. When the author explained how she knew nothing was wrong with her, and that all she had was just migraine headaches, it made me rethink how I thought I had a tumor or something, when I experienced a migraine headache for a week straight. I thought the pain was never going to end and go away, but it did, and that is why I can relate greatly to Didion and her experience of having migraine headaches.
I found the story of "In Bed" rather interesting because I was able to picture something I have never experienced before. I liked how the author was able to make the reader understand the pain it is to experience a migraine and the frustration it causes in not knowing how to get rid of it. She mentions how annoying it can be to be told how a migraine can be considered rather self inflicted by someone who has never known the pain of it. I find this relatable because even though I have never personally experience a migraine, a small part of me always questioned if a person claiming they had a migraine were simply just exaggerating a headache. Reading the author's experiences and having learned how to cope with it, gives me a different perspective of migraines in general. While reading the story, I also wondered if she wrote her experiences while having a migraine, as she tended to focus on only that, or in the in between days she had before getting another one.
I enjoyed reading this story, and found them very interesting. I was a bit mislead with the title, I thought it had to do with Witchcraft or Witches.
When the teacher got upset because of what the author drew, I felt that the author was deprived from expressing her creative and artistic. I felt that the teacher jumped into conclusions and did not let the author express why she drew that monster.
When reading that the author drew an eagle, to me, it symbolized the American culture. I felt that it is true that once someone steps into this country, they voluntary or involuntary lose their culture, background, language and anything and everything that makes them unique.
I too can relate to he author. Coming from a bi-culture family, I have always tried to express one culture, only to have it looked down upon.
The way Joan Didion describes her migraines as an "imaginary" illness strongly emphasized the stigma she faced at the time. A stigma so strong that she believed that her pain was all in her head as she says "[I] cursed my imagination." She first directs her frustration with it internally, believing that there was some "chemical inferiority" within her that caused her the pain she experienced. The way she searches for further scientific explanation, after pushing past the stigma that tried to convince her that nothing was wrong with her, speaks of her increasing desperation for a cure. As was said in class, her description of her struggle with migraines as an illness, which can be substituted by an empathizing reading with other illnesses that have similar stigma and frustration, is well written in a way that allows the reader to understand her position. I have never personally experienced a struggle with any kind of illness, but I appreciate the window Didion created into her world, which helped me relate to her.
Anisa Perez, 20236859
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Reading the Witching Hour gave imagery as if to be a film. I pictured the aswang to resemble Venom from Spider – Man with the way she described her poster to have been drawn with the “tongue extended” & “being in the “twilight sky.” An aswang can be a relatable creature to humans who try and parade themselves to please society. Every morning we wake and try to dress ourselves in the most appropriate way to blend with the society we live in, while at night we remove our morning disguises to unveil our true selves.
The innocence that Aimee shows as a child drawing her “endangered species” is the innocence we all once had as a child. We were once led to believe in fairytales like Cinderella and scary stories like the Boogey Man. I can’t say that I appreciate the way the teacher destroyed Aimee’s artwork because in a sense it was kind of the way as in destroying the child’s imagination. Doing so would only allow the child to lose focus in her creative skills insinuating that they simply just weren’t good enough. The teacher could’ve taken a different approach.
The story started off great and then took a very unexpected turn for the worst. I feel that this short story started off as a great fiction piece with the aswang and then out of nowhere tried turning it into a heart-felt nonfiction piece about her teacher hurting her feelings.
Yesenia Betancourt
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour
I enjoyed The Witching Hour because Nezhukumatathil wrote about a cultural clash experience in her childhood. Out of that negative experience the author was able to realize that she should take pride in her culture and its folklore and legends. That experience opened her eyes; it made her ask the question “…why was the very mention of an aswang so dangerous, so naughty?” Other folklore and legends were oaky to talk about, like Greek mythology, but not the aswang. I think this is something that many minorities in American can relate to. I also enjoyed the imagery in the story. I was able to picture the scene in the classroom; I could imagine a third grader crying at their desk while the teacher is looking at them with disappointment. I also believe the author organized the story well. She explained the aswang, described the event of Mrs. Johnson telling her to redo the poster, to how her mom would always tell her stories at night about Philippine folklore and legend, and finally to how she still drew the aswang, but this time Mrs. Johnson’s expensive marker set. It helped me to understand why the author first drew the aswang and why afterwards she asked for Mrs. Johnson’s marker set.
In Bed
ReplyDeleteDidion wrote this essay in a simple way and she broke down for the readers what a migraine was and told us about her migraines in a way that I could feel her annoyance with them. So she did a good job at being descriptive about her illness. The thing I did not enjoy was that it was boring, to be honest. Even though this was an esay read, I struggled to read it because it did not really interest me. But besides that I felt like there was a bigger theme about the essay when you took a step back and analyzed it, you can easily relate her feelings towards her migraines to another illness/disease/struggle. And when she talks about how other people don't understand the struggle of migraines because they tell her to just take aspirin than can be applied to people who suffer from depression or anxiety and are told to "don't worry" or "be happy".
Adam Rivas
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I throughly enjoyed this story being that I could relate to that childhood innocence and sense of imagination that I once had. The story changed from what seemed to be a horror story about the aswang to one about a little girl who competed in a class competition about the best drawing on an endangered animal. I felt it was great on how the author started off with an explanation of what the aswang is so the readers could get an idea of what sort of creature this child had a fascination of; whether it'd be fictional or nonfictional. I believe this author provided great detail and imagery from describing how her teacher looked like with her "unisex perm" and "pillow arms" all the way to how her mother told her bedtime stories at night; for example, "I loved playing with her long and lovely thick hair as she propped herself up on her elbow next to me in bed". I believe that the colored markers that Aimee won were a symbol of comfort considering the way her teacher acted about the aswang she drew. You can tell this by the quote, "I smiled as I gathered up my new shiny markers and carefully tucked them each into their special case" One thing that I wish the author could have done was provided more of an imagery on what the aswang actually looked like in the beginning of the story. Was it large or small? Did it hunch like a gargoyle? Did it have sharp teeth? What color was it? Overall, I found this to be an excellent story.
Andres Sanchez 20229480
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Throughout the reading, I enjoyed the use of imagery and the use of lore. Certain sentences are noteworthy in their use of imagery, such as this one: "Her oil-stiffened hair propels her into the night sky, a terrible helicopter in search of her favorite food: fetus." Sentences such as this one invoke many things in the imagination; for instance, the realistic depiction of the hair in contrast with the surreal depiction of the helicopter and the visceral image of the fetus serve to introduce many different ideas that play well together. Moreover, the first paragragh especially gave the feeling that I was about to start reading some horror novel, which I find was well done. Though, I will say that I found slightly amusing how after that first paragraph we move straight into the authors life in elementary school. A nice use of contrast.
I also enjoyed the use of lore in the sense that it was difficult to discern what was real and what was not. For example, the realistic depiction the author gave the aswang made it diffcult for me to tell if this animal/creature was actually made up or not. It was not until the aswang was later compared to other myths did I get my answer. Use of this imagery and contrast between real animals, to me, gives life to the aswang and had me engaged from the start.
Though, I would have liked to know more about the aswang itself, such as its origins and other details which may have added to the impact of the reading. A little peice of background information here and there sprinked throughout the reading may have improved it as a whole. However, this is a minor comment since the choice to withhold some information about the aswang did keep me intrigued about it more than it would with something like a Bald Eagle or a Blue Whale, which most people have a general knowledge over. Overall, the author's choice of Literary Devices and imagery made the reading engaging and added a sense of realness to myth.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlexis Madrigal
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is an Asian American writer who uses her Filipina and Malayali Indian background to help give her a different perspective on her writing. I was able to relate to this story because the way her mom told her bedtime stories my mom also did the same when I was younger. I really enjoyed the spirit of the story, the idea that even though the aswang wasn’t recognized as being real she still decided to draw it because it was part of her culture and she loved what it stood for.
Not only did Nezhukumatathil use detailed imagery to describe the aswang, but also the flow of the story was really easy to follow even as she went from the classroom to recalling her bedtime stories. She also used many similes, for example, “claws spring from her fingertips like a Swiss army knife…” to better paint a picture of the aswang to a reader who might not be familiar with the Filipino folklore.
Brenda Salinas (20228345)
ReplyDeleteThe witching hour was an amazing story. I was really able to visualize everything. Not only that but I can relate to the girl because I am too an artist and I gone through that. I know how it felt when something you work on, being torn apart. I remember in the first grade we had to draw and color a boat in the sea. I drew in some flying fishes because I was really fascinated by them. My teacher came by and saw that. She got my paper and threw it away. I had to redraw it. That was messed up because you put in a lot of work into the drawing. Then a person comes along who doesn’t agree with it, makes you redo it. The author wrote a lot of details about the aswang. I liked how she describe how it looked like and what it ate. She also wrote a lot of details of how the teacher looked, and how her drawings looked like. This was an nice story to read. The author did a good job.
Ryann A. Gonzalez
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour By: Aimee Nezhukumatahil
In the Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s short story The Witching Hour, I really liked that the story was being told from a third graders point of view. I know that when I was a third grader I still believed in the Tooth fairy, Easter bunny and of course Santa Clause. So after reading this short story I felt like I could connect with the author. When you read this story you get a feel of what happed through a child’s eyes, and I personally feel like she made a great choice because it makes the text work perfectly because if she were to have told the same story from an adults perspective it wouldn’t have the same effect on the reader at all. In the sentence where Aimee was unsure if Ms. Johnson was going to get mad at her or seen her slip ( pg.227) there you can get a sense of her innocence, Aimee is not able to understand what her teacher is mad about. I feel like I can relate to this story because to Aimee the aswang was very important to her and her childhood kind of like the La Llorona story since I am Hispanic and this story is very well known in our culture.
Ruben Loa
ReplyDeleteIn bed by Joan Dibion
Joan states that she "had no brain tumor, no eyestrain, no high blood pressure" there was simply nothing wrong with this women except for the fact that she has migraine headaches, all the time. The details she used to describe how her migraines felt were very sharp, even her actions spoke volumes on how dramatically the migraines affected her. She mentioned that she would "drive through red lights, lose the house keys, spill whatever I am holding" because of the severity of her headaches. Could you imagine being in this woman's shoes? I wouldn't want to that's for sure. The symptoms are quite drastic because she explains that when the migraine arrives, it "brings with it chills, sweating, nausea" which seems to really stretch her endurance to the breaking point. Think about it, you lose the ability to focus properly, you can't even complete proper structured sentences, on top of that you look drunk. You're properly going to look like crap for lack of a better word, yet can you blame this woman? She inherited this trait from her own bloodline. She was genetically prepped from the beginning of her framework, that she was going to have migraines throughout her lifetime. So what's there left to do? Own it. Simply own it before it owns you and that is exactly what Joan Didion does. She explains that she "no longer fights it" when it arrives because she goes grown wise and has accepted her flaws. She understands there is very little she can do about it so she toughens out the process because she realizes that after all this pain she's about to endure for "ten or twelve hours" she will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief because when the migraine goes away, "everything goes with it". I like that fact that she compares her migraines to a circuit breaker. This woman more than likely feels rejoiced and like a brand new person after she goes to war with herself.
Pedro Cano (20049610)
ReplyDeleteIn Bed by Joan Didion
Starting with a very expressive and detailed explanation of what a migraine is sets the tone for the rest of this short narrative. While it is not easy to visualize the blood rushing to the head (and I mean it from an inside perspective, not outside), it is easily relatable for me, for I am a sufferer of migraine.
Everything that happens to her is convincing, though there are moments when it feels a tad outlandish, especially with her throwing up in a washroom, stumbling home on instinct, and emptying ice trays onto her bed to try and make the pain go away. Then again, for all sufferers of migraine, the symptoms vary in terms of severity, so perhaps hers really do drive her to the limits of her endurance.
I get the feeling that this narrative is somewhat of a motivational speech for all migraine sufferers. This is emphasized by her mentioning of those she calls the "unafflicted", and how they tell the sufferers that it is all in the imagination and that they bring it upon themselves. It almost seems like she is giving them the proverbial "middle-finger" to them by telling them that it is not in the imagination, but in the inheritance. It is further emphasized by her acceptance of the migraine by treating it like a friend. For me, it feels like she is making herself look like a role model for those that suffer it, motivating them to come to terms with it since it will be with them for the rest of their lives.
Not the longest of narratives, and certainly not the most interesting, Didion's "In Bed" does a good job of expressing her dislike of her affliction. I feel, though, that she could've done a better job in general appeal (though I sometimes got the feeling that it was just a personal rant of hers). In any case, the narrative appealed to me, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Linda Ponce
ReplyDeleteIn Bed
The author of the story gave clear detail in what a migraine is, and how it feels to actually have a migraine. “Almost anything can trigger a specific attack of migraine”, then the author gives different examples of what causes a migraine. Although the story was interesting, I felt as if I was reading a book on “What causes migraines.” Yes it gives good imagery, she mentions how instead of being outside on a beautiful day, she would have to stay inside with the shades drawn. A connect to how we spend our days when we have a migraine. As I was reading, all I could picture was me at work with a migraine listening and dealing with customers complaining and kids whining. I believe that if the story would of had more imagery and less information on migraines, that it would have made the story a lot more interesting.
Selena Garza
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
When I read the title "The Witching Hour" I was expecting a full on horror story. What I read was completely different than what I was expecting and was a mixture of emotions. Nezhukumatathil interwines culture and the way we have to conform to what is "standard" at school. I especially love the way she goes about describing The aswang as beautiful young woman who drastically changes to this "fantastic evil" over sundown. It reminds me of when I was a kid that would play out until my mother would call me in a sundown and scare me with the llorna story in order to get me indoors.
I do want to go ahead and say her use of metaphors and similes flow great with the story, "Claws spring from her fingertips like a Swiss army knife...". Made me feel as if I was going to get clawed up any moment. With that being said I want to point out my mixture of emotions. Not only was I throwing daggers at Mrs. Johnson but I was clutching my heart for Aimee. Her aswang artpiece being torn apart is almost as if Mrs. Johnson was tearing apart her culture, who she is.
The text was bewitching and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The memories were lovely to visualize and I felt relieved when Nezhukumatathil continued her drawing of the aswang, it made me hopeful that such cultures can thrive on in the type of society we live in.
Gabriela Canales
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour
In the Witching Hour, Aimee uses wonderful imagery throughout her text. What I enjoyed most was how relatable the story was. I found it particularly enjoyable because it is told from the perspective of a third grader, and reminiscing on how broad our imagination was at that age. At the beginning of the story when her teacher is giving the class examples of what animals they should focus on and Aimee doesn’t conform to those basic choices. She immediately thinks of the aswang, which is this grand mystical character that she sees as endangered. Now she says Mrs. Johnson “sometimes held my drawing up for the class to see”, but this time she didn’t, instead she ripped Aimee’s poster and advised her to select another more practical species. When I read this section of the story, it made me think of how society shuns people for being different. We are to conform, instead of expressing individuality. Now Aimee decides to abide by her teachers rules and she ends up winning the contest amongst her class, she opts to change her prize, skip recess, and begins to illustrate the incredible aswang leaving her classmates and myself in awe.
Gabriela Montfort
ReplyDeleteIn Bed by Joan Didion
Joan Didion walks us through what her life as a migraine sufferer is like. She describes from the symptoms to the science behind migraines in a way that makes us feel grateful we don’t suffer the same condition. While reading this I couldn’t help but empathize with the author I suffer of obsessive compulsive disorder, a disorder also tied to poor amounts of serotonin in the brain, and her description of how crippling her ailment can be pushed me to relive points in my life in which my disorder has kept me down. I especially enjoyed the part in which she speaks of how the “unafflicted” lack sympathy for people with migraines it felt to me as if this is a sentiment that is shared by many people with different conditions. Simply because when we are not familiar with a certain type of illness we tend to disregard people's symptoms.
The only fault I found with this is that at times it felt as if it was too much of a rant on her part, but other than that this felt very real. She perfectly walks you through all parts of her illness down to her acceptance for the condition which I enjoyed.
Valerie Garcia
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour
The Witching Hour was effective in informing the reader about an important event in the author’s life as well entertaining the reader with cultural anecdotes and comical, nostalgic imagery. I found it very relatable and the emotions that the author was conveying really came through the in story. There were some instances in the story that I found hard to believe. One that stands out as really unbelievable is that she didn’t really believe in the aswang. The way the character is described in such a terrifying manner and the fact that she drew it alongside eagles and a rhino means that she believes in it. The dialogue was well placed and it really added to the story by truly emphasizing how truly vile Mrs. Johnson was. The ending was truly satisfying and concise and it’s easy to see why this was chosen as an event to share with the world.
Christian Martinez
ReplyDeleteIn Bed by Joan Didion
Didion suffers silently because she are afraid of the implications that her maladies may present. For instance, she examines how others categorize her illness as a personality disorder, “something that is the fancy of a neurotic imagination,” and how that might affect their perception of her. Although the migraines often leave her in debilitating pain, there is an air of condescension from those around her that what she is going through can be easily remedied. For someone who can relate to these reactions, Didion's experiences draws a great deal of empathy from me as a reader.
The migraines have become so rampant in Didion’s life that she personifies, to great effect, the headaches by describing them “as more friend than lodger.” Didion’s desperation is palpable throughout the story, particularly when she speaks about the pharmaceuticals that prevent the onset of the headaches, but their inability to be effective once the attack arrives.
For Didion, learning to cope with something as severe as migraine is a big step forward, and although there’s no way to rid herself of this illness completely, her journey towards acceptance is, in itself, a small victory.
“In Bed” is a very detailed account on the chronic migraines the author Joan Didion suffered from. From the beginning I was interested to see how someone can put into words pain that I have felt before. Although, after reading “In Bed” I don’t think I’ve felt the complete wrath of a migraine, I have been paralyzed with pain in my head and sensitivity to light, which are common symptoms of a migraine. I really enjoyed Didion’s use of diction to describe her condition. She uses very descriptive words at first and then moves to more medical jargon, used to describe what exactly is going on in her head. After all that we see that what is left is pain that leaves this person bed ridden and convinced that this will always be her life. Now instead of “fighting it” she rides it out and focuses on all the pain and getting through it even if it is hours later.
ReplyDeleteNydia Preciado
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
I absolutely loved this story it was a very entertaining and totally what I wasn’t expecting. When I first read the title of the story I thought it was going to be a creepy and dark, but to my surprise it was the total opposite. The beginning starts off with a sort of urban legend, which I think Aimee Nezhukumatathil does this to have us hooked and keep on reading. If she would just have started off the story of some project about endangered species in elementary school people wouldn’t have been drawn to that. Besides, starting off the story with a short description about an urban legend gives the reader background information of what an aswang is. I loved the way I could picture the story in my head, I could see her drawing and coloring the aswang and the teacher getting mad at her. It felt as if I was reading a fictional story because of how descriptive she was with her writing and I think it’s important for the reader to picture the story so they don’t get bored. Overall, this story had me entertained from start to finish.
Damaris Cantu
ReplyDeleteThe Witching Hour by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
This story, as told by the perspective of a spirited third grader, reminds me of what it was like to be carefree and imaginative as a child. Through the initial description of an aswang, which refers to a Philippine folktale, we are able to acknowledge the narrator's fascination with this creature. I had trouble trying to understand why the narrator was so interested in the aswang, until I realized that it was somewhat similar to the stories I have heard in my culture about lechuzas. I was especially able to relate to the following quote, “If anyone were to check on me later in the night, they surely would have seen a little girl sleeping with a smile on her face. Maybe clutching her stuffed bunny a bit tighter than usual, but with a smile nonetheless”. I recall being a child who was curious in the tall tales of my culture, and the author makes it possible to relate to by involving her mother as the story teller of legends and such.
The use of imagery is made possible throughout the story by describing the manner in which the narrator draws the aswang. It helps the reader imagine this creature as closely as possible to how the narrator perceives it. I found it particularly interesting how the teacher immediately shuts down the narrator’s imagination as nonsense and invalid, and expects a cookie-cutter version of an endangered species, like the rest of the class, which eventually leads to the narrator winning in first place. Over all, the author successfully creates a notion of imagination, curiosity, and in a sense silencing (the teacher rejecting to accept the narrator’s version of an endangered species) throughout the story, which I enjoyed!
Mayela Montenegro
ReplyDeleteIn Bed
I enjoyed reading "In Bed" because I found the narrative relatable to my own experience. My grandmother, mother, and I each suffer from migraine headaches. Joan Didion explains in great detail what it feels like to have a migraine and what sufferers go through. Like Didion, I sense when a migraine is on its way, and if I dont automatically take medicine I'll be in excruciating pain all day. This narrative gave me a sense of relief knowing there's others who feel the same pain I do. I often hear "suck it uo and take some advil" from none sufferers. I would ask myself if maybe I was just being a drama queen and couldn't handle pain. The author explains that she "will drive through red lights, lose the house keys, and generally give the appearance of being on drugs, or drunk" while suffering from a migraine. Although I am not as incoherent as Didion, my migraines cause so much pain that I can't eat without feeling like I'll throw up, or sleep with the painful throbbing going on inside my head. I tend to walk around with a pissed off face and snap at anyone who talks to me. Having a migraine will definitely change my personality. I have learned to accept my migraines. I carry a bottle of Excedrin in my purse, backpack, and car in hopes that I'll stop a migraine when I feel it creeping up. I found this narrative to be a great motivational read for sufferers.
Francisco J. Guerra Jr.
ReplyDelete"In Bed," by Joan Didion
As much as I enjoyed reading "In Bed" by Joan Didion, I hate migraine headaches, they are one of the worst pains I have physically felt in my life. I thought, the author did a good job in describing her feelings of pain, while having a migraine headache; I wonder if she was experiencing a headache when she wrote her memoir essay of this. When the author explained how she knew nothing was wrong with her, and that all she had was just migraine headaches, it made me rethink how I thought I had a tumor or something, when I experienced a migraine headache for a week straight. I thought the pain was never going to end and go away, but it did, and that is why I can relate greatly to Didion and her experience of having migraine headaches.
Naomi Munoz
ReplyDeleteIn Bed by Joan Didion
I found the story of "In Bed" rather interesting because I was able to picture something I have never experienced before. I liked how the author was able to make the reader understand the pain it is to experience a migraine and the frustration it causes in not knowing how to get rid of it. She mentions how annoying it can be to be told how a migraine can be considered rather self inflicted by someone who has never known the pain of it. I find this relatable because even though I have never personally experience a migraine, a small part of me always questioned if a person claiming they had a migraine were simply just exaggerating a headache. Reading the author's experiences and having learned how to cope with it, gives me a different perspective of migraines in general. While reading the story, I also wondered if she wrote her experiences while having a migraine, as she tended to focus on only that, or in the in between days she had before getting another one.
The Witching Hour
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this story, and found them very interesting. I was a bit mislead with the title, I thought it had to do with Witchcraft or Witches.
When the teacher got upset because of what the author drew, I felt that the author was deprived from expressing her creative and artistic. I felt that the teacher jumped into conclusions and did not let the author express why she drew that monster.
When reading that the author drew an eagle, to me, it symbolized the American culture. I felt that it is true that once someone steps into this country, they voluntary or involuntary lose their culture, background, language and anything and everything that makes them unique.
I too can relate to he author. Coming from a bi-culture family, I have always tried to express one culture, only to have it looked down upon.
In Bed
ReplyDeleteAndrea De Llano
The way Joan Didion describes her migraines as an "imaginary" illness strongly emphasized the stigma she faced at the time. A stigma so strong that she believed that her pain was all in her head as she says "[I] cursed my imagination."
She first directs her frustration with it internally, believing that there was some "chemical inferiority" within her that caused her the pain she experienced. The way she searches for further scientific explanation, after pushing past the stigma that tried to convince her that nothing was wrong with her, speaks of her increasing desperation for a cure.
As was said in class, her description of her struggle with migraines as an illness, which can be substituted by an empathizing reading with other illnesses that have similar stigma and frustration, is well written in a way that allows the reader to understand her position.
I have never personally experienced a struggle with any kind of illness, but I appreciate the window Didion created into her world, which helped me relate to her.