Compare and Contrast - Max

I chose the piece El Toro Rojo to compare and contrast with The Only Rule That Counts. I really enjoyed how both pieces give us inside information into the lives that we see in these stories. Long gives us intimate details of the relationship between him and his best friend. Moore gives us the inside information about bullfighting and some of the mechanics of it. I think this pulls the reader in closer as a result.

The tone in these two stories is very different. The Only Rule That Counts is much longer, and details are developed slower as a result. I think this gives the effect that this story means a lot to Long; he is telling us a painful story about his best friend and he doesn't want to get a single detail wrong. Moore is much quicker with his approach. He places us In Medias Res and wastes no time giving us the action of bullfighting.

Another interesting difference is the perspective. Long's story is in the first person, and it works. We get the personal take on his loss and he reveals the details at his own pace. The shocking ending of his piece would not have had the same effect in the third person. Moore has an interesting choice of a second person point of view. When we become the subject of their story, the action in the story becomes much more real. It makes his work more 3 dimensional because we more closely experience what he is telling us. It also works to make us feel the emotions of whoever this main character is supposed to represent. Moore writes, "In your own life, death has lingered. Your father, for one." There is so much agency in these sentences. I think it really shows how short and sweet writing can be.