Response Prompt #1

My sister recently gave me a book to read and it’s full of concrete details and imagery. The beginning of the book was a difficult read but eventually I realized how well written it was and caught on. This paragraph by Chuck Palahniuk’s book “Pygmy” is a great example of concrete details and imagery:

“For official record, squirrel maze of retail distribution center puzzle of competition warring objects, all improved, all package within fire colors. Area divided into walls constructed from objects, all tinted color so grab eye. All object printed: Love me. Look me. Million speaking objects, begging. Crown American consumer with power king, to rescue choose and give home or abandon here for expire. World label blow sharp into ear, loud into eye. Pander hand to take. Dying objects. All here, useful life winding down in clock ticks. Dying objects. Dying buyer. Dying slave woman “Doris”. Desperate how sad.” (Chuck Palahniuk, Pygmy, p 10)

Keep in mind this quote takes place in a Wall Mart coming from the mind of a thirteen year old Chinese secret agent spying on the United States. I believe the writer did a great job setting up a tone for this character. The word choice makes it sound as if a foreigner is making these statements because the author removes certain words from the paragraph. For example, instead of “Look at me.”, it says “Look me.” This paragraph brings me into the kid’s cold world and creates an almost robotic atmosphere. Even with the “flashy” imagery he uses you can’t escape the narrator’s precise, calculated, emotionless inspection of this Wall Mart. For instance, in the first sentence he uses the words squirrel maze and puzzle, the reader gets a sense of how overwhelming and confusing this store is to him. The sentence goes on to talk about “…warring objects, all improved, all package within fire colors.” When he refers to “fire colors” I got a sense that these objects were similar to how we the reader would view fires; bright, intriguing, and powerful. By the second half of the paragraph the writer turns a “Crown American consumer...” into a hopeless materialistic fool, creating a dramatic and dreary scene. Words like “dying” were used four times in four sentences further adding to the scene. Overall this book is incredibly descriptive and a great read.

Edward Zakoor