CNF CC from Madalyn

Madalyn Watts
English 2267

CNF Compare and Contrast

The first CNF piece that I read was “The Only Rule That Counts”, probably one of my favorite techniques used in this work was the use of a plot twist in the end.  “I lacked the sack to respond to it in kind, and in doing so I’d overlooked the fact that the New York office of his family’s shipping business was in Tower One of the World Trade Center.  It only took a minute to find a website listing the victims of 9/11, and Jeff was on that list.”  I think that this ending brings lot of surprise and emotion to the piece.  For me, the emotion comes from deeper than the surprise, because when you think about it, John Longs failure to write back to Jeff ultimately resulted in him never regaining contact with a friend that he had a very special bond with.  A tremendous feeling of guilt and sadness followed this creative non-fiction for me.

The second work, and perhaps my favorite of the two, was “The Witching Hour” in Four Genres In Brief.  Following the aspiration and desires of a young girl, we find that the only thing she really wants to do is draw a fictional creature, the Aswang.  Seemingly insignificant to the grand scheme of things, we find out at the end that this urge and passion comes from her mother and her love of telling stories.  The theme of persistence and love are two major players in this piece, and they are very well portrayed in my opinion.  Ultimately Aimee does not except the first place prize of a pizza, she requests the third place prize of markers.  Only to turn around and use them to draw what her teacher had destroyed in the first place.