In this project I used a writing style that gave the perspective of multiple characters. The narrator was one that was omniscient, which allowed us to get a glimpse into both the thoughts and emotions of Janie and her mother. I used my past experiences with children as a reference for how children interpret situations. Also, I recalled my personal relationships with kids to better describe the relationships that I believe they have with one another. I also drew on information that my mother gave me about being a child during this time period, since she actually lived through this experience herself. Although we are exposed to lots of information about this historical event, it is hard to get a good grasp on what it must have truly been like. Having only been alive for 20 years, I have never experienced anything quite like this. It was very helpful being able to ask my mother all sorts of questions about her personal experiences as a schoolgirl.
Foer often would present a conversation in which he would not always include “he said” or “she said”. Often the speaker was implied from the context of the novel. In my original narrative, I used this technique. I found it helpful when narrating a conversation between children. Often, they use very short sentences and questions to one another. It can become repetitive to continually use phrases indicating who is saying what. Therefore, I tried to be effective about implying who was speaking at the moment. I left the ending of my original narrative rather open ended, just as many of the narrators we studied this semester. It was not nearly as uncertain as, say, the Crying of Lot 49. Yet I did intentionally leave it unanswered as to whether the mother would do anything about the relationship, or what would become of their relationship as they got older. This experiment was definitely unique compared to all of the narratives that we read and wrote this semester. We were able to include visual images (like Foer), but we could also employ audio and visual clips. The affect of a visual clip includes senses not typically found in literature. I really enjoyed this aspect.
