preview

Essay about Boys: Short Story Analysis

Decent Essays

“Boys” By: Rick Moody Rebeca Montesinos February 10, 2011 Micheline Maylor English 1118 Energy is one of the single most important concepts to keep in mind when writing, it can make even the most insignificant occurrences interesting. Energy plays with the reader’s senses combining subject matter, leaps/ spacing and words into one to create a fascinating piece of work. “Good writers choose a topic they know a lot about—relationships, travel, growing up, bedrooms, hotels, restaurants, the synagogue on 42nd Street—and they trust that they will discover things about the topic as they work.” (Sellers 71) Rick Moody author of “Boys” has taken a relatable topic the process of growing up and has turned a thirty year frame into a condensed …show more content…

The sharpness that the italics create plays an important role in the energy and pace of the piece, forcing you to slow down when encountering an italicized word changing the variation of the story as you read. As you read not only has wording made an influence in the piece but also incorporated is a different point of view. “Boys” is introduced to us in third person offering us a long distances shot of the progress as the boys age. In an interview Rick Moody states that the third person is the mother of the boys, narrating the story in an “understated way, she is the perceiver, their mother is the center piece of the story.” (Rick Moody) Viewing the story from a higher place gives the reader a sense of intimacy with the narrator being able to perceive the lives of the characters the “boys” in a different light, the reader becomes a witness to the events in the progression of the “boys’” lives. The different styles of writing and wording that Moody used throughout his piece created and maintained a continuous pace. This pace allows the reader along with the narrator to become a part of the ‘boys’” aging process. Lastly, his choice of topic adds to the energy of the story, he begins his piece inspired by someone else’s, creates a variation of sentences based on the phrase “the boys entered the house” and then writes what he knows and incorporates personal aspects of

Get Access