On Being a Westerner at 100MPH

These two readings, to me, were a treat to read. Honestly, they were both sort of dark, or at least a little more than we've been reading, but i enjoyed them thoroughly. First off I'll start with "On Being a Real Westerner" by Tobias Wolff. As Tom stated in class, the main reason this reading was great was for the fact that it was wrote by Tobias Wolff. On a more serious note thought, this selection was very well written. For example:"Roy was stingy, and slow to take a hint, but I'd put him under siege." This quote makes me think about knights laying siege to a castle in order to gain the thing he most wants. In this case the .22 is the castle, and as it states in the next line, "I had my heart set on that rifle". One thing that really stood out to me was when he started a paragraph with this line: " One afternoon i pulled the trigger." This quote alone creates suspense, but he follows with talking about how he was following an old couple with his sights, and you immediately think he killed them. However, with his great writing skills he somehow mangaes to twist your mind back to reality, and you realize all he shot was a squirrell. Now as for the other reading, I had more of a personal connection. I own a muscle car like that. I have a Mustang GT with a body kit. It's my baby. Throughtout this whole reading all I could think about was myself and that car because it just rang home so much. The descriptions of reving the engine and how it felt to feel the trembling of the wheel as you squeel down the road. Rick Bragg nailed these descriptions right on the head. Two great readings.