Please post your blog response to the story here. You can feel free to respond in any substantive way you choose (that means going beyond superficiality: likes, dislikes, summary, et cetera; none of that will be acceptable or given credit), but some starting points to consider are the style of the story, the way in which it uses repetition, the effect and themes of the story, the language and craft, et cetera.
Anything less than 250 words will not receive credit. Do not forget to respond to one of your peers' posts as well.
The story, "Somehow Form a Family", was very touching to me. I identified his tone even sad at times, but it also showed a theme of focusing on something you love. During the story I learned his love of televisions and even some of his favorite shows, which suffered through variations throughout his life. He also shares this television love with his sister, Shelly. Later in the story we find out Shelly dies when he is only a freshman in college which shows a big difference in his family, as his father also moves out (a second time during the story). His neighbors, who were also a big part of the plot, start to pass away or even move away which adds to the already many changes in his life. And although he mentions considering suicide, losing a sister, losing important people from his childhood, he still manages to keep pushing. He repeats many times during the story that he lived in a split-level ranch-style house and grew up in front of the television to emphasize how important that was for the unfold of the story. He ends up building a career for himself, finding a wife and even keeping a connection with his mother and father, who did end up together after all. His love for television never went away and seemed to always help him through good and hard times, which is the reason why he emphasized it so much. The author did a great job on making it interesting to read and I enjoyed the style of writing.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way when you say that he mentions the fact that he grew up in front of a television and in a split style ranch house to help the story unfold. I believe without television he would not have been able to cope with all of the tragic things that happened throughout his life.
DeleteI agree with what you said about his love for television and how it always seemed to help him through everything. I thought it was his escape during the hard times, especially through his sister's death since they both enjoyed it together. It became such a huge part of his life that he eventually started bringing it off the screen and into his own reality.
DeleteI enjoyed the connection you made with the split ranch styled house and the way life changes throughout the story. I like how the house, the repetitive constant in this story represented the change. Making the connection to suicide is also something I hadn't noticed while first reading this passage and the way you explained it made it very comprehendible.
DeleteTyla Dolezel
ReplyDelete"Somehow Form of a Family" begins with short sentences on the narrator's thoughts of his neighbors. It is interesting the way he compares himself to the other families, using things such as his black and white tv or the White's paved driveway to indicate that he was poorer than that family, or the fact that the Brady's did not have southern accents showed that they were richer. When they transform their house into a split level ranch style house, he sees himself as rich finally and he consistently mentions the fact that he has that type of house throughout the story. When they get a color TV, it is interesting that they only have four channels, but you can tell how proud the narrator is to have it. By comparing many of his life events to the events or characters in TV shows, his love for television is evident. He is influenced by this, and his actions start to show it throughout the story. It seems as if he compares his life events to the events from TV shows, which might be helping him cope with the tragic events such as losing Shelley or Mrs. White. The way he speaks, he acts as if he knows these characters. The fact that he could not think of anything to talk to Alice about in the real world other than things on The Brady Bunch just shows his obsession. He used television as his escape from reality and that is the reason that was all he could ever talk about.
The story's structure is pretty much the same throughout, those short bursts of sentences with his thoughts about whatever he was witnessing. I do agree with you on the fact that television was indeed an escape for him. He was constantly trying to find comparisons between him and his situation, with those he saw on the television.
DeleteI agree with you in many of your points. I, too, sensed him seeing himself as "rich" with the transformation of their house and how proud he is of the new TV that had color for a change. His escape is absolutely the tv shows he watches especially when he loses loved ones as you said.
DeleteIt definitely shows throughout the story how the main character distracts himself from what is going on around him through his love of television. The way you said that it was a "escape form reality" perfect describes what the character was doing.
DeleteI agree with your statement about the main character using the television as an escape from the tragedies of his life. On several occasions, he would briefly state a tragic event like his father leaving and then quickly follow it with a list of shows he was currently watching.
DeleteI agree with majority of the statements above. The structure was something I had never seen before, which what made the story interesting. Also, noticed that the narrator did make connects with each character. These connections were their "escapes" or almost like their comfort zones
Delete“Somehow Form a Family” was a very interesting story to say the least. It demonstrates that each person has something that brings comfort to them, whether it’s a food or another person. Tony Early’s was simply television. He and his sister, Shelley, both have a shared love for television. The story is written in a way that is extremely easy to decipher, it had understandable language. The story is very descriptive and provides tons of imagery in that Early is describing a lot of different scenes that occurred. Whether it was him flipping his sister off or him and his sister admiring television satellites and how modern/technological they were. One thing I liked, and found particularly different about his writing was the fact that he always seemed to include what was going on in the TV show that he would be watching at the time, and relay it back into his real world/life. Some transitions were abrupt, but I honestly kind of liked that. For example, when he introduced the sad fact of his sister passing, before that, there was no hint of his sister dying. He was discussing how they both always watched M.A.S.H. when they got to high school. Then all of a sudden, he brings up his sister passing away by crashing his mother’s car. The transitions were so abrupt, that it was almost eerie. But there must have been a purpose to that. He also explains how he somehow forms a family. He gets married and manages to preserve his relationship with his parents, while being unable to preserve relationships with other people of his past. All in all, it’s an interestingly emotional endeavor, using modern day/easily understandable language and personal anecdotes in order to grasp the reader’s attention.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that he just abruptly changes topics instead of introducing them, but that must be how his brain works. It did bring a sense of mystery to the story because you didn't know what was going to happen next. Shelly's death completely shocked me because he didn't say anything about her passing earlier in the story! I'm also very surprised that he got married considering that he cannot channel his emotions towards any topic.
DeleteThis story sparked my interest because it seems obvious to me that there’s something deeper that this speaker has been dealing with for most of his life. It wasn’t ever directly stated, but I think that most readers would find it obvious that the speaker is suffering from depression or some other mental illness. I found “Somehow form a family” to be very difficult to follow. The main character is somewhat random in the way he speaks/writes. It seems as if just when the reader is finally understanding what he is talking about and what we should get out of it, he is jumping right in to another subject. For example, when he spoke about having a crush on Jan Brady to telling the reader that Mrs. White died and that his mom was embarrassed because their dog was barking, it was all within the same paragraph and I found that these words and ideas did not flow very well. Also, I feel like there might be some things that are missing or aren’t explained in enough detail in this passage. One example is that he never said why his dad left in the first place. It may have been implied somewhere in the story but I wasn’t ever able to catch it. Repetition is very prominent all throughout this story. His family’s split-level ranch style house was brought up numerous times along with something about the television. I thought that the speaker had a very strong fascination with the TV and I noticed that he always tended to compare the people in his life to the different characters on the shows he watched. Therefore, I found that one of the apparent themes dealt with television.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on the speaker being random; at one point I thought this could be due to his possible mental illness. I also noticed the repetition of the split-level ranch-style house and thought it could have had something to do with the main characters simple-mindedness and how his worldly knowledge seems to come only from television and his immediate surroundings.
DeleteAlexandra Lewis
DeleteI agree with how you feel the author had a deep rooted issue such as depression. I also think that the stories were randomly said, his thoughts were not completely together at some places.
The short story “Somehow Form a Family”, created an experience that allowed it’s reader to observe the scene unfolding around them in what felt like a noninvasive way. The immediate detail presented in the story gives a clear description of the “average” life that the narrator leads. He describes his own family as well as those around him using short, choppy syntax. This structure presents a direct and purely informational feel; a naïve tone is set. As the narrator continues to describe his simple family, there is a shift in tone when the new television arrives. The narrator is immediately infatuated with every detail. He begins to describe everything about the television in depth compared to the simple descriptions of those around him. Whereas he describes many of his neighbors using very vague descriptions like “college graduates”, “old and deaf” or “cousins”, the first image of the antenna is described as a “tall and young tree..like a praying mantis”. This immediately illustrates where the narrator’s interests lie. As time passes, the author includes the obvious repetition of the line “we lived in a split-level ranch-style house”. This line is what the narrator first hears from his father as he was renovating the home. This repetition exemplifies the narrators simple-minded thoughts about the world and his own life. The author also covers up his own emotions through his obsession with television. Many major life events such as his parents relationship trouble and his sisters premature death get blown over and the focus returns to the television. The line towards the end of the story stating that television “could keep me from hearing the silence inside my own heart” reveals that although the narrator’s obsession with tv seemed superficial it had a much deeper meaning for him as an individual. His worldly knowledge was characterized by what he saw on television, creating an overall naïve character and tone in the piece.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the narrator lead an "average" life at the time, and at the end of the story the repetition of the line, "I grew up in a split-level ranch-style house outside a town that could have been anywhere" shows almost his remorse for living such an "average" and simple life. All of his thoughts were centered around the ideas and connections through his television shows, and how they were much more exciting and enticing than his own life.
DeleteI felt the exact same way when the narrator described the life events very briefly even though they were very severe and then the television shows in more depth and detail. It seemed to be a way he coped with the major life events and hardships he had to deal with. I also did not realize how much he repeated "split-level each-style house" but once you pointed that out its very obvious that he obsessed over that concept as well and like you said how simple minded he really was.
DeleteThe expert from the story "Somehow Form a Family" was very interesting yet odd. The style of the story went from the narrator explaining his childhood and his surroundings, to switching the topic of the story to what he was watching on television. For example, when his sister Shelly died, he briefly mentioned it, then continued to say "I stayed up late and watched the Pope deliver the Christmas mass from the Vatican." (pg 15). He is extremely unfocused which has me believe he has some kind of ADHD or Asperger's disease. No matter at what point of his life he is talking about, television shows are always more detailed. The repetition of what is on the television at that moment in time makes me believe that he is more interested in the characters rather than his own life. Earley always goes back to the fact that he grew up in a split level ranch style home outside of a town that could have been Springfield, that is how he recognized himself. The television was always there for him, even when his Dad moved out, and his sister died, every night he would sit in front of the television and pretend like nothing else was going on in the world. One possible theme of this story could be denial. Earley is denying all of the terrible occurrences that happen in his life by using the television as an escape. I think that he also doesn't understand how inconsiderate he is being to his family members nay disregarding them with the television shows he is watching. His whole life basically flashed before his eyes, and while everyone else was living it, he was watching it through the TV.
ReplyDeleteGreat point made when you talk about how the characters are more important to him than his own life. Alternatively, the characters could just be the way he chooses to express himself.
Delete"Somehow Form a Family" started by having a very dull, informative tone to it. It explained in a small amount of detail nearly the same characteristics of each of his neighbors; such as where they were in relation to him, their names, jobs, how they were associated with the narrator, and a little quirk about each one. The descriptions felt very repetitive, and short in the way they were described. Each description felt very flat, and there did not seem to be a lot of dimension when describing them, as if it were written by a child. There are a lot of metaphors and similes to support the idea of creativity from a child's point of view. The way the story is written also has a sense of an old theme to it. The details are not very in depth, but they get to the point and describe the story in the light that it was an older, simpler time than no w. The tone changed from a poor, simple, black-and-white-colored television life to a fancier, more eventful, colored-television life in the middle of the story. This tone change showed transition into the future of more advanced technology and how the narrator’s family kept up with it, even though it was expensive. The creativity continued throughout the story, but instead of relating to real world aspects, it connected to television shows, and a majority of the storyline was centered on their new, richer life. They stopped going to church, and spent money on more luxuries, and were changing as a family dynamic to keep up with the new and advanced times. The family got increasingly lazy, and very enthralled with their technology, seeming to forget about their past, simple lives all together.
ReplyDeleteI like how you compared the tone of the author before and after the colored TV. I did not pick up on the more colorful language after he got the new television. Once you explained it, it made sense to me. I feel sorry that the creativity was in direction to the TV shows and not the characters own life.
DeleteFirst hearing the title, “Somehow Form a Family” I did not know what to expect from this as a story or what direction it would go in. Within the first few pages I started to see a theme of television in a lot of what the narrator was saying in the beginning like, relating the neighbors he was describing to characters in the latest shows he watched. The main theme of the overall story was television and it seemed to be this boy’s whole life and what he grew up doing. He didn’t just love watching television I think he obsessed over it. The way the story was told was a way that his actual life seemed to be his side story. He would tell us about what shows he was watching but just throw out a brief statement about his life like his daddy leaving or his sister dying. These big things that were going on in his life were only minor details in this story compared to the television shows he was watching. He would rather forget about those sad, painful memories and focus on something happy like his favorite TV shows. What I thought was that his shows were a way for him to recognize the timeline of his life and when things were happening according to what shows he was watching. I also found that his tone was very sad throughout the entire story. A lot of his life was depressing but he seemed to push through it all with the shows he would watch and the schedule he made from it. Overall, I found this story very touching but even to this day children are living the same way glued to televisions and revolving their lives around a TV.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your comment on the title. I thought it was very peculiar but truly tied into the defining content of the story. I do however think he should have related the title to the address of his house because that element gave the story a cohesive feel.
DeleteMichael Busck
ReplyDeleteThis story was told in a style unfamiliar to me. Throughout the story, the author continuously relates back to television shows in which he watched, and then the events that happened at the same time he was watching the shows. I had to reread a few of the parts just to understand the concept the author was using. "Somehow Form a Family" is told in a way in that instead of expanding on the events that happen, the author only states the events on the narrative. The narrative is somewhat opposite to most in that the events of the life are only told in context of the television shows. The only explaining the author seems to give is his unusual interest in television. One recurring theme is the main character seems to hide away from the events happening to him by delving himself into his shows. I found the tone to almost be unemotional in the way the author wrote this story, in the main character did not seem affected by the events that happened, such as the death of his sister. It might be possible that the character cannot bring himself to confront his emotions over these tragic events. Evidence of this is shown by his inability to sleep at night. Overall, I though the story was different from any other short story I have read before as it focuses much less on the life of the character, but more on how the character is seeing his own life.
I had to reread some parts of the story as well, so I can relate to that. I do feel though that deep in the story there was an emotional connection, but instead of expressing it the narrator just buried it deep into his connection with his television.
DeleteI definitely agree with the aspect of the writing style being unfamiliar. However, I do think that because of the different approach in writing, it made it special and even more interesting. I also agree with the part where the television provides a deeper meaning more than just a hobby. It's safe to say that it was the constant in his life that he compared his life around.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the short story "Somehow Form a Family". The voice in the story was deep; it allowed the reader to truly feel the emotions of the author and connect to the story in a deeper way. The informal language also did this as well. The authors use of "Mama" and "Daddy" gave a clearer image of what their home life was actually like. Another example of this is found on page 5. The writer begins the paragraph with "Eight, maybe 9 months later..." (5). As for the structure of the writing, the choppy split up stories with the long length of time in between allows the story to focus in on the important elements of the story. The ending refers back to the house which makes the story go full circle. This adds a cohesive element to the story and makes a reference to the importance of these small tales. When the author talks about Jan on page 9, his repetitive voice gives the reader a clear image of their similarities and why he likes her. He does this also by explaining the relationship statuses and how people feel about each other in the group. This allows the reader to get an overall vibe of the group dynamic without overpowering the text with useless information. The overall vibe, content, and structure of “Somehow Form a Family” gives the reader an insight into the life of the author and how he has dealt with many situations that shaped the person he is today.
ReplyDeleteSomehow Form a Family is a very interesting title for this story. It makes one wonder just how dysfunctional the family that will be read about will be. In the beginning, there is no sign of dysfunctionality as they seem to be a happy family living together. Things even look bright in their future as the dad is expanding the house and a new TV is brought home. However, the happiest they ever were was before the TV and house expansion. The main character immediately get sucked into the world of television. He lives the rest of his life around the TV. The repetition of the shows mimics his real life. He keeps watching TV over and over and as his life around him seemingly falls apart. The TV is his comfort, raising the volume while his parents argue was the prime example of how he used TV in his life. Although he seems to just want to watch TV his life he still marries and forms his own family. He keeps up with his mom and dad, buying them a new TV and watching TV with them. The language used throughout the story is very straightforward in an odd way. He mentions the passing of his sister with little emotion. He tells us how the neighborhood he grew up in no longer is the same. He doesn’t seem to care much about all this change which does not seem right. Finally, what does bother him is how a TV show actress had a life outside her show and couldn’t tell him to cheer up or recognize him.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you picked up on the title and the shift in his family and their dynamic. I was so focused on the main character that I didn't even notice how the family seemed to split apart after all the "should be" good changes.
DeleteThis read had a rather emotional side to it and helped me to connect with the same sort of experiences as the main character. Talking mainly about hardships, he always had something to fall back on and get him out tough situations and take him back to a place where he felt safer. This is something I feel we can all relate to when going through tough times, knowing that we have that one person or one thing that we put all of our security into, knowing that it will never screw us over. The television was definitely his sense of security, as he always went referred back to it after something bad happened. Using a television as his security seems odd but in a way smart because it has such a huge venue to choose from and such an easy escape from reality. The repetition in the story was mainly about his television, but he also liked to mention where he came from and never forgot his roots. I did get confused a couple of times while reading though. I felt as if the main character would start something and go pretty deep with it and then the next paragraph would about something totally different which confused me a lot. There was a good amount of detail though, which helped to place the reader right there in the story and pick up the full sense of what is happening. To me, this felt like a huge thing of vignettes which ultimately came together to develop the theme of the story.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said you were able to connect with the main character. You won't be able to do this with everything that you read, but since you did I feel like you were able to understand this story better and on a much deeper level. I never really thought the TV as his "sense of security," but you are right. We do tend to have our own when we go through hardships. It was quite indeed very emotional.
DeleteAlexandra Lewis
ReplyDeleteIn the story “Somehow Form a Family”, I first got the sense that the overall tone would be nostalgic. The author began setting the scene by talking about his house and neighbors, and this gave me the impression that the story would be based on fond memories from his childhood and how they shaped him into the person he is today. As I continued reading, I noticed the tone was sad in some places. Once the TV was brought into his family’s house it seemed like his life revolved around it and he was constantly comparing people and situations to shows he watched with his beloved sister. He reminisced on the good times he had with Shelly, like watching a show with her in the afternoons after school, but once the story got deeper he mentioned his family was almost falling apart, his father had moved out, his neighbors started passing away, moving to different cities, and getting remarried. When he reflects back on these instances you can tell that he misses the times when life was a lot simpler, and when his family and neighborhood was more familiar and united. When Shelly dies he does not touch on the subject much, however to me he still shows how traumatized he was by the fact she would not be around anymore. Reading this story, I was sad for him, I felt like I was experiencing the family problems with his parents separating multiple times, and the heartbreak of his sister passing in such a tragic way. The whole time I was reading I sensed that there was a deeper issue that would appear once I got more into it, and it turned out the deeper issue was that things around him were changing and he was finding ways to cope with that.
The story written by Tony Earley was truly a unique memoir. The way that he portrays and shows the reader his life experiences is truly like no other. He is somehow able to reflect his family life and environment through his home life in front of the TV. The simplicity and stereotypical symbolism of the TV as family, friends, and an outlet is prominent in this composition. The structure of his story consists of a memoir and a vignette at the same. He talks about his life while simultaneously including multiple scenes in his life that come together into one story. His transitions were sometimes random however as he was moving throughout scenes in his life, it was somehow still connected to his TV which made it that much more unique. The TV serves as his outlet but also symbolises different points in his life, for example his progression of wealth over time. The details that he embeds into his writing definitely pulls the reader in and makes it feel like a first hand experience. I also found it interesting how something as simple as a TV was his outlet. Most people enjoy hands on hobbies such as writing, playing sports or even drawing. However, Earley had a different approach. Personally, I enjoyed this composition because of the way that he portrayed his life and how it’s different from other memoirs. His approach in writing was unlike anything that I am normally exposed to which made it that much more enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe story “Somehow Form a Family” was very interesting. As the story builds, we learn that TVs and watching TV is quite important to his family. He seems to use watching TV as a distraction and something to help him cope with the events in his life that made him sad or disappointed him. In the story, the main character quickly states a sad event such as, “Daddy finished the new part of the house and moved out soon after” (Earley 8) and then lists the shows that he was watching at the time, “We watched Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and The Wonderful World of Disney…”(8). In the story, he mentions and emphasizes several times that he lived in a split-level ranch-style house and that he grew up in front of the TV. When discussing the work being done on his house he says, “I loved the words split-level ranch-style. To me they meant “rich”” (5). I think that he does this to highlight how his family was not actually rich, yet had nice things. To further demonstrate this, he also says, “I knew we were poor only because our television was black and white” (3).
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the language and structure used in this story, the author keeps the word choice simple and keeps the sentences short and simple. Overall, the author created an interesting read that was not difficult to decipher and had deep meaning imbedded throughout.
“Somehow Form a Family” helped me capture what the author was trying to express and his fulfillment of thoughts. The television played a big role in his life. You could tell by this because he starts off with comparing himself to Opie in The Andy Griffith Show and ends with “I grew up in front of a television.” Also, he got so excited to switch the TV that showed only black and white to actual colors. His language consisted him comparing people or actions to television shows, which portrayed repetition throughout the story. Even though the narrator did not explain his surroundings, actions, etc. clearly, I was still able to feel for him like someone I knew in my current life. For example, on page eleven, he says, “But Shelly and I fought like Thelma and J.J. on Good Times, and on page thirteen he says, “She wore her hair like Farrah Fawcett Majors on Charlie’s Angels.” The narrator does experience tragic things in the story, such as losing his sister Shelly. At one point, he wants to end his life, however, the television helps him get through that. The television seems to be there for him through good and important times too. There is a mix-up of shows being watched as time goes by in his life. It is interesting how an ordinary object, like a television, can make a big impact to someone’s life. His life may seem “normal” and “unimportant” to many people, but his descriptive use of words made me think that each person’s life is unique and valuable.
ReplyDeleteI also thought the television played a huge role in his life. He is constantly bringing up the television and tying it in to the things that are going on in his life.
DeleteI enjoyed reading the story “Somehow Form a Family”. I think it had a pretty simple writing style, in that the author did not really go into much detail when describing things, and the sentences seem pretty basic. There is also a lot of repetition. The way he writes the story, he will casually say something important like my sister died, then he will go on talking about what he watched on tv. He repeats that throughout the story. I think the theme of this story is the author's love that he has for his television. He brings up his television constantly through out the story, even more so when his family gets a colored tv. He is always talking about what shows he watches at that point in his life, and it the way he writes it makes it seem like the shows he watches are more important information than the other things happening in his life, like when his dad moves out, and when he moves back in, and when his sister dies. When he talks about things happening not related to tv, it is a short sentence, and then he goes back to talking about what tv shows he is going to watch, which to me clearly says that tv is a very important part of his life. Near the end he says “even a bad television show could keep me from hearing the silence in my own heart”, further illustrating his love for television and how much it helps him.
ReplyDeleteTo Somehow Form a Family was a bit different to say the least, I truly enjoyed reading the story, although sometimes it made it a bit difficult to follow what he was trying to say. The flow was a bit random, with not much structure of what he was trying to say. The sentence structure was simple, and easy to read, but what made it difficult was the flow. It was almost like random thoughts coming into his head, as if he had a mental illness. Once when you finally understood what he was saying, he would throw in a random situation, like the passing of his sister. What I found most interesting was the constant comparison and detail the author used, which made me feel like I was there in the story. The main character does this throughout the story of comparing himself to other characters. One example is the comparison of the TV. The main character uses TV as his outlet. He somehow uses TV to act “normal” or feel normal. He would always compare what was happening to him, to something he saw on the television. This was his comfort zone, unlike other characters, the narrator describes all their comfort zones. For him, he shared the same comfort with the television with his sister, something they could bond on. Though he goes through his hard times, almost like the end for him, you find out that he comes through it. He continues his life, with a happy marriage, family life, ands career for himself.
ReplyDeleteThis passage was so creatively written through the evolution of television and television shows. The theme of change was constant and repetitive in this story; the way the television turns from black and white to color, the way the house turns into a split ranch- styled house, the changes of the main character’s television show likings as time passed, the passing and remarriages of his neighbors, and the relationship of his parents that was always changing. The theme of love is what connects the reading together. The main character considers suicide after his sister, Shelley, who he was close to dies in a car accident. His drive to find a wife and have a career, his love for life, is what kept him pushing through. The unsteady relationship of his parents eventually steadied out because of the love they had for each other and the love their son had for them. His love for television helped him overcome obstacles because he could escape into another world and another life through the story lines of the television series. The way the author is able to reflect on his life challenges and then show how he is successful in his career and in love, by finding a wife, is truly mesmerizing. It gives the audience a chance to feel as if they have a front row seat to his life and essentially live a part of it through his memoir. The language is simple and straight- forward which makes the passage easy and entertaining to read.
ReplyDelete“Somehow Form a Family” is an almost timeless story. It's ironic that the author put the months and years of different times in the narrator’s life, because besides the old television shows and old-time details (like the black-and-white television), this could've been any time. This is a relatable story with a universal theme: finding comfort in familiarity. The author creatively depicts this throughout the story by using repetition. As the narrator grows up, his living situation and his social status changes, but he establishes a sort of routine. He becomes accustomed to watching certain television shows at specific times of the day and sometimes with certain people, like his sister Shelly. The author shows us the narrator’s different stages of life and puberty by his change in attitude and new responsibilities, and different television shows, but he remains the same viewing schedule. Then the changes really hit. All the descriptions from the beginning - his house, his family, his neighbors - everything flips over. The author uses blunt, choppy sentences to illustrate this sudden chaos. Through it all, however, the narrator continues a routine of watching television. After he goes off to college, he comes home to everything he once knew being gone, but he still keeps this mundane routine. In the last scene of the story, the narrator’s wife unknowingly introduced him to an old television star he used to go to school with. But, when she didn't recognize him or provide him the comfort of the role she plays on television, it leaves him upset. The narrator was living in a world where these actors and television stars provided him a certain familiarity and comfort, and for the first time, he didn't have that. He's stuck with his reality.
ReplyDeleteI like how you phrased the theme of comfort in familiarity. I had noticed a similar trend, but I didn't know how to describe it. The main character definitely found comfort throughout the negative parts of his life by watching TV, and it helped him make it through those times.
Delete"Somehow Form a Family" was a very interesting read. It wasn't hard to read, and it was easy to follow. It was interesting to see how the main character developed throughout his childhood and into adulthood. He encountered many obstacles, and matured as he grew. I noticed a lot of repetition, from the ranch style house, and Television references. This repetition is about things that are most meaningful to him. To oppose the dark aspects of the story, such as death and his parents’ unstable marriage, the main character uses TV to almost shield himself from the negative things. As a kid, he immediately grew to love his television. As he grew older and the television improved, his love for television only grew stronger. He seemed to overcome all of his challenges and obstacles with ease, because of Television. Television is his way to cope, further down than just for entertainment. It was his staple. no matter what happened in his life, he always had television to look forward to. Personally, I am the same way, in terms of always needing something to look forward to. The writing style of this story was also unique. It seemed as the writing was insignificant at times, such as describing all of his neighbors. It was almost like some of the story was full of meaningless details. It was very scattered, even though it still managed to flow chronologically. The snippets the writer chose still managed to display his life fully, and his ultimate success in the end, having a happy life
ReplyDeleteI completely agree when you say that it seems the story has meaningless details because I initially thought the same thing. I was confused at first because their seemed to be no point to the story, but eventually it came to be more understanding as I started to look at it from his point of view. The same as you, I noticed that he uses TV to hide his true feelings as I also use various things to hide my true feelings. As I look back, this story is very relatable and not so random at all.
DeleteSayawni Lassiter
At first glance "Somehow Form a Family" seems like a random, repetitive story told with a cold heart. I came to this understanding through the constant back and forth from a line about his life then an immediate transition to talking about TV. His extensive talk about TV seems to make the story random as it seems it has no real point, but as I dove deeper into the story and analyzed it more, I understand the meaning of all the TV talk. His talk about TV seems to give him a distraction from what is really going on in his life. The TV talk provides him with a way to cope with the hardships in his life. I noticed this through the way he talks about his sister dying as he says, “Shelly died on Christmas Eve morning when I was a freshman in college. She wrecked Mama’s car. That night I stayed up late and watched the Pope deliver the Christmas mass from the Vatican” (14-15). When I first read this, I was struck by the seemingly randomness and abrupt transition to talking about TV after he drops a bomb like his sister dying. I was struck because I thought that with that type of event in someone’s life, one would feel emotions of hurt, sorrow, and weakness, but Tony does not seem to display this. I dove deeper into the meaning and realized that with such a traumatic event such as this I personally would want to be distracted from it as well and talk about anything other than my sister dying. I began to notice that he is constantly doing this throughout the story. To give another example, he also does this when he talks his dad moving out the house. He says, “Mornings, before school, we watched The Three Stooges with Mr. Bill on Channel 13. Mr. Bill worked alone. The school year Daddy moved out, Mr. Bill showed Bible story cartoons instead of The Three Stooges” (9). The randomness of talking about TV then transitioning to his dad moving out hides his true feelings and emotions about how he feels about his dad leaving.
ReplyDeleteSayawni Lassiter
I agree with you, at first the story seems extreemly random and repeats things that seem to be insignificant details. It seems to have no point of talking about TV over and over again. However as the story goes on you start to see that the speaker uses TV as a distraction like you said. When you talk about how you were struck when he blows off his sister dying was how i felt too. I was actually upset because he wasn't showing any sadness or sorrow about his loss. It was at this point that I knew this kid was using TV as something to hide from reality.
DeleteWhile reading "Somehow Form a Family," it felt pleasurable, but to an extent. The author is see's things for what they are, through the naked eye. He's not afraid to show it in that manner either. Instead of showing expression in his face, he instead copes with TV. Depending on his age, where he's at with his life, and the events occurring around him, there is a TV show that he watches to help him cope. The way I see it, the author likes to express his emotion through the characters on TV, rather than expressing it in human interaction. Although at first it may seem like a healthy coping mechanism, but as Earley grows, so do his thoughts. In regards to the story in general, the structure was very new to me. I've very often seen authors use repetition when writing stories, however, not in a consistent way such as this story proved. From my understanding the theme is set to neither happy or sad in my opinion, but rather truthful. I think in at some point through the story, he loses a sense of reality, and can only think about perceive life through television. To sum up, this is a brilliant piece, that keeps the reader at the edge of their seat.
ReplyDeleteWhen i first started reading "Somehow Form a Family" I was really confused. It didn't make much sense to me and seemed very random. I didn't really know why the speaker was telling us about who lived around him. As the story went on it didn't really help much but i started to see that the speaker was somewhat detached from reality it seemed. He didn't focus much on what was actually going on around him but rather he was focused more on what was happening in the TV shows he was watching at the time. He seemed to be more worried about the TV series he was following to really show/ talk about how his sister had died. He didn't really seem to understand why his dad had kept moving in and out of the house over the years. The speaker didn't seem to know how to show expressions, he would use TV to hide from that. The story used a new form to me, I have never really seen a story with as much repetition as this one. I didn't really catch onto a solid theme of this story. Some parts of the story had a sad and depressing theme but at some points in the story it seemed happy and upbeat. In my opinion i didn't really enjoy this story as much just because of the fact that the author was pressing the fact that the characters watch a lot of TV. I understand that the point of the story was that the character was using the TV as coping method but I just felt that it was to repetitive at times. Other than that i did like the message the story was telling. The young kid grows up with a life that is overrun by TV and he is so absorbed by it that he becomes detached from reality and loses sight of the more important things in life like his family.
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