Reading Response 3

     First, I'd like to address Burroway's guiding principles on character. I especially appreciated the example she used from page 94-95,

"'I feel that civilization is encroaching on nature, and that the greed of the developers will diminish the valu of all our lives' [...] 'They should lock up that builder. He's massacred the enighborhood. I remember how the lilac and wisteria used to bloom, and then the peonies, and the daffodils. What fragrance in this room! but now. The smell the sink of that site next door. It just makes me sick'"

Burroway succinctly expressed a great way to reveal character in this one example. The first quote is a belief  that serves as the logical underpinnings of the second quote, which is emotionally charged and viscerally felt. The character is far more realistic because it appealed to emotions, something that most of us have. I found this to be a nifty reminder to expand upon any character's psyche with detail. The vibrancy of a character stems from detail.

     Secondly, I read JohnJohn's World by Yamanaka. Within the second passage, the reader becomes aware that JohnJohn must be an off-kilter toddler who channels his hyperactivity by uprooting gardens. Lo and behold, he is autistic. The author portrays the character through an action, and because of that, the reader can catches on that this kid is different. The narrator's single greatest weakness is JohnJohn, because in the same section that she describes how she has never been earnestly told that she is loved, she also recalls the first instance JohnJohn said "I love you" to her. Without playing the audio clip of emotional reasoning, the author successfully manages to imply that JohnJohn's affection means a lot to her. Lastly, in one of the final passages,  when JohnJohn spells the words "Universal" and "Dimensional" out on the fridge, the author drives home the idea that JohnJohn may truly have more than what is seen at face value.