Whether the story is true or fictional, a good author can get someone to feel a specific way about a scene or event through the creation of images. Mary Karr does a phenomenal job with creating imagery in her memoir, The Liars' Club, because she delivers everything needed, from her graphic language to the enticing detail, to get the reader to feel the emotion in the story without holding back. Mary Karr dives deeper into detail upon significant events in her life, as well as when she is on the topic of her father. She uses a great deal of detail in the simple images regarding her father in order to convey that she is longing to be with her father and that she cherishes her memories of him, because he is the only stable adult figure in her life.

Mary Karr is holding on to every possible ounce of memory of her father because it seems as if she makes it a point to recall every ounce of detail about him and he is the only adult to truly care for her and love her, even though he does not make the best decisions all the time. "I hear about Daddy doing this kind of meanness, and I see guys shy away when he strolls over to a pool table, but he handles me like I'm something glass. Even his spankings are mild enough to be symbolic. When I got up cold this morning before we set out for the bayou, he warmed my socks over the gas heater before I pulled them on....My daddy buys me whatever I ask for and tells me he loves me better than anybody about fifty times a day. I've seen him fight, but I've never seen this sneaky meanness he talks about in the Liar's Club. I look at him scrubbing the blood out from under his fingernails with a pale blue plastic brush and wonder about it."(169)

In this passage Mary Karr expresses how much she loves her father and how much he loves her. She emphasizes how she could never see him being characterized as having a "sneaky meanness," and that he handles her with the utmost gentleness. This passage creates the image that though her father can be characterized by others as having a meanness, he would never express that side of himself to Mary because he loves her and would do anything for her. She becomes curious if he could really be that mean because she has seen him in fights but she has never seen him take on such a meanness that he speaks of to his friends. It could be that her father is making up stories about his meanness to his friends to try to make himself have a harder exterior. It also could be that he actually had that ferociousness inside of him however he refuses to express that side for the love of his daughters. Mary is possibly curious about this side of him because she wants to know as much as possible about her father because he is the only adult which she feels a strong love and connection to.

Mary Karr also fills her memory with details about her father's exterior and appearance down to the labels on his clothing. "There in the headlights shining across the empty stall, stood the lanky,big-handed figure of Daddy in loose khakis. He had on a baseball cap with Lone Star State embroidered on it. Under the logo was a yellow star that caught just enough moon to make itself seen. I rode toward that star. Under the brim lay a broad pit of dark. His face stayed in the dark. and the quiet that came with it, all he way home." (191)

This is evidence that Mary Karr strives to remember a great deal of details about her father. She remembers what he wears, what his face looks like, what he says, and when he is silent. She searches for comfort in her father and she strives to hold on to all possible emotions and bits and pieces of information about him because when she is with him she is comfortable. When she is with her father she feels loved and secure, despite the fact that he is a drinker because his drinking does not get in the way of his love and his life. It seems as if Mary Karr wants the reader to see her father in the beautiful light that she sees him in, despite his flaws. He loves her and that is all she needs.

Fathers, Sons, and Brothers- Its just the beginning- fixing it up

I did not enjoy the beginning of Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. It was far too simple and realistic for my personal taste. I usually prefer stories that are eclectic and adventurous. I just seem to be bored with the intricate detailing about the garages, and newspaper delivery. As much as I hate to compare books because I believe that each one lives on as a separate entity unless they are part of a sires; I must say that I was much more quickly drawn into the Liars' Club than I am Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. I think it Liars' Club was set out to be a quick attention grabber, and Fathers, Sons, and Brothers seems to be a story that may develop over time. I think the author, Brett Lott, maybe pointing out some significant facts of life in the fact that sometimes, or a great deal of the time, life is not an adventure story, or filled with romance, or pain. Sometimes life is beautiful in its simplicity and need not be exaggerated.

I feel I may grow to enjoy this book because the transitions are rather smooth and easy to keep track of. I believe that the author will dive deeper in to the relationships in his life and I am curious to understand more details about how he relates to his brothers from the times when he was young and living in California and knew his brothers as best friends, to their move to Arizona when they began to grow apart and faced their awkward stages of puberty, and then how they relate in their teenage years. One statement that I picked up on was how the author referred to his new location as being so foreign that it could be a distant planet. I noticed this because he wrote that twice with in three pages and I am curious so see if this foreign difference becomes a recurrent theme. I think I will grow to enjoy this book but right now I find it to be rather slow.

The last paragraph at the end of the chapter titled Atonement, holds a great deal of truth and wisdom which I feel is very meaningful and gives emphasis to the small pleasures and simplicity of the book. "There are days like today. Days with no story, really, other than, the misstep, the idiot words and gestures, the sincere belief for a moment, however blind, that all this yelling might actually do some good, when the world and Velcro sandals seem somehow malevolently aligned against you. Then the right word, the right gesture. The lunch at Wendy's, atonement after confession. No story, really, other than that of being a father." --- and i am not quite finished---

If I can remember...

1. Every Christmas eve my whole family gets together at my grandmothers house and it is always full of laughs, sobs, fights, hugs, and, of course food! I have had numerous wild Christmas eves and each one of them could live on as a separate adventure.

2. I have injured literally every part of my body from head to toe at one time or another. I am quite an adventurous risk taker and quite a accident prone. Not a good combination at all. One injury that sicks out to me is when I split my lip entirely open to my chin when I was 1 4 while skateboarding and my grandmother had to take me to the hospital because both of my parents were out of town. She has always been a nervous woman but I have never seen her so calm and put together than at this instance. I must say that it has healed quite nicely!

3. I ice skated competitively from the age of 3 til I was 13. Those 10 years ice skating are loaded with memories both wondrous and traumatizing. I have numerous memories of injuries of both my self and others, as well as memories of medals and trophies. One such competition, I placed third and I was pleased with my performance, I was not that disappointed or elated about placing third, it was what I expected. What sticks out to me is that I am rather tall and I have always been on the tall side especially for a figure skater. When I was standing on the third place podium, I was taller than all the girls including the ones on the first and second podiums which are significantly higher up. I just remember my coach and the other coaches are parents just laughing at the humerous scene, I as well thought it was funny and I just went with it.

600-800 word blog.

Without the creation of images, any work of writing would become extremely boring and commonplace. It would be simply reading words off a page without the opportunity to understand beyond the text, lunge into the fantasy of a story, become submersed in the author’s emotion, or even be drawn in enough to continue a book past the first couple pages. Even text books create images to try to put a picture in to one's mind and lead to a deeper understanding of the topic. Authors get into the habit of creating images to keep the story fascinating and to encourage feelings in the reader. Good authors, in a sense, are masters of emotion. Whether the story is true or fictional, a good author can get someone to feel a specific way about a scene or event through the creation of images. Mary Karr does a phenomenal job with creating imagery in her memoir, The Liar's Club, because she delivers everything needed, from her graphic language to the enticing detail, to get the reader to feel the emotion in the story without holding back. Mary Karr dives deeper into detail upon significant events in her life, as well as when she is on the topic of her father. She uses a great deal of detail in the simple images regarding her father in order to convey that she is longing to be with her father and that she cherishes her memories of him.

It seems as if Mary Karr is holding on to every possible ounce of memory of her father because it seems as if she makes it a point to recall every ounce of detail about him and he seems to be the only adult to truly care for her and love her, even though he does not make the best decisions all the time. "I hear about Daddy doing this kind of meanness, and I see guys shy away when he strolls over to a pool table, but he handles me like I'm something glass. Even his spankings are mild enough to be symbolic. When I got up cold this morning before we set out for the bayou, he warmed my socks over the gas heater before I pulled them on....My daddy buys me whatever I ask for and tells me he loves me better than anybody about fifty times a day. I've seen him fight, but I've never seen this sneaky meanness he talks about in the Liar's Club. I look at him scrubbing the blood out from under his fingernails with a pale blue plastic brush and wonder about it."(169)

In this passage Mary Karr expresses how much she loves her father and how much he loves her. She emphasizes how she could never see him being characterized as having a "sneaky meanness," and that he handles her with the utmost gentleness. This passage creates the image that though her father can be characterized by others as having a meanness, he would never express that side of himself to Mary because he loves her and would do anything for her. She becomes curious if he could really be that mean because she has seen him in fights but she has never seen him take on such a meanness that he speaks of to his friends. It could be that her father is making up stories about his meanness to his friends to try to make himself have a harder exterior. It also could be that he actually had that ferociousness inside of him however he refuses to express that side for the love of his daughters. Mary is possibly curious about this side of him because she wants to know as much as possible about her father because he is the only adult which she feels a strong love and connection to.

Mary Karr also fills her memory with details about her father's exterior and appearance down to the labels on his clothing. "There in the headlights shining across the empty stall, stood the lanky,big-handed figure of Daddy in loose khakis. He had on a baseball cap with Lone Star State embroidered on it. Under the logo was a yellow star that caught just enough moon to make itself seen. I rode toward that star. Under the brim lay a broad pit of dark. His face stayed in the dark. and the quiet that came with it, all he way home." (191)

This is evidence that Mary Karr strives to remember a great deal of details about her father. She remembers what he wears, what his face looks like, what he says, and when he is silent. She searches for comfort in her father and she strives to hold on to all possible emotions and bits and pieces of information about him because when she is with him she is comfortable. When she is with her father she feels loved and secure, despite the fact that he is a drinker because his drinking does not get in the way of his love and his life. It seems as if Mary Karr wants the reader to see her father in the beautiful light that she sees him in, despite his flaws. He loves her and that is all she needs.

Images!

1"...Grandma's pale arm with the ants would rear up behind my closed eyes. With it came a low humming in my head- a sound like a crazy cello player sawing the same note over and over, or like a zillion bees coming up from the ground."p.103





-This image shows how much of an impact the sight of her grandmother with the red liquid and ants had on Mary. This could emphasize the building of tension in Mary's family and also show that even though Mary's grandmother has passed on, she still has not recovered from the pain she has caused her and that it might impact her for the rest of her life.



2. "He also said that it wasn't the coldness of a dead man's skin that gave you the willies but how the skin went hard all over so that touching him was like touching wood or concrete." p.104



-This image created was said by Mary's father and it shows how much of an impact that his mentality had on his daughter. Her father was not afraid to speak honestly and bluntly about the nature of life and death and this had a profound impact on Mary in her nature to speak bluntly about life as well.



3. "He had his black swim trunks on and black basketball Keds. He's put on a red Lone Star baseball cap and was slipping into his blue work shirt while he came toward us. He had the easy glide of men who labor for an hourly wage, a walk that wasted no effort and refused to rush. His barrel chest and legs were pale. THere was a wide blood colored scar up one shin where one of Lee Gleason's quarter horses had thrown daddy......He had an amused squint on his face."p. 110


- THis in depth description shows that Mary wants to savor every moment that she spends with her father down to the very last detail. She wants to keep his exact image with her and so she describes him down to the details of his scars because she wants to keep him with her forever.



4. "I'd never seen a shark up close before, and what struck me was how chinless it was, its mouth drawn low down where its neck should have been. This gave it a deep snaggle toothed frown and kept him from looking very smart..."p. 111


- This description of the shark seemed to be similar to the ways she described her grandmother and It seems as if she is identifying the shark she is seeing wither her grandmother because of how cruel her grandmother was.



5. "I spied a huge cabbage-headed jellyfish on the sand. It was a dull white color. It looked like a free-floating brain knocked out of somebody's skull. p.114



- I noticed that Mary always described things in a very negative light and makes a great deal of references to death. Hence, associating the jellyfish to a brain knocked out of a skull. She is very dark in her descriptions even before knowing an outcome as good or bad.





6. "I was getting that tight buckled-down feeling in my stomach like I's had during the hurricane. I wrapped my arms around my knees, bowed my head, and prayed to a god I didn't trust a prayer that probably went like this: Please let Lecia not die. Make Daddy think of something fast. Don't let them chop off her leg either....But all of a sudden there was that humming noise again, running underneath the prayer like an electrical current in my head." p. 115



-It seems as if Mary is developing some sort of anxiety through this description of the humming she is hearing. Its obvious that she loves her sister and doesn't want anything bad to happen to her sister. Also, does she associate a sort of evilness in losing a leg because her grandmother was missing a leg because of cancer and she was a heartless person?








7. "Ahead of us, in the green water, I can see Lecia's pale white feet like the neon tailfin of a mermaid slipping away just out of reach"p. 117


-Mary shows an obvious fear of losing her sister by the image of this dream. She wants her sister with her. She also associates her sister with something beautiful because she associates her with a mermaid.





8. "What's rolling around in my head at this time is all the dying and near dying I've run into lately. I can picture Grandma the way I found her all slack-jawed in the bed, then Lecia glassy-eyed on the sand. For a minute, I even think about Mother propped up in her bed night and day next to a tower of books that only seems to get taller and more wobbly. Then it's her face slack jawed I see in place of Gramdma's, her arms hanging down that the ants are running on."p. 124

-Mary is extremely traumatized by the deaths and injuries that have occurred around her. She is envisioning her mother in the same fashion as her grandmother before she died. This could be a foreboding of her mother's death or also that her mother is turning more evil just as her grandmother.

The garage door made its usual welcome home announcement to my mother's car as returned from her visit to the doctors office. I knew what was wrong from little hints and putting together puzzle pieces, I was a quite inquisitive child, however I didn't understand the reality of the situation. I knew my mother had cancer, and I knew she was about to tell me, but I sat on the couch watching cartoons as happy as any other child. She walked in the door and my dogs started barking as always to say hello and to rival the noise of the garage door. My dad was in the kitchen warming up cold pizza and my six-year-old sister was enjoying the hilarious cartoons with me. My mother put her purse down on the kitchen table and my father greeted her with a simple "Hi," void of emotion as usual. Then she asked me to join her in the laundry room. I walked about 10 feet and turned into the well lit, narrow room. We had complete privacy aside from the grumbling of the washer and dryer. I stepped in some water that was evident that the utility sink was leaking yet again, and I turned to face my mother with the dark wooden door as her backsplash. This may seem like a rather odd place but it was the easiest place to get total and complete privacy. I staired through my brown bangs into her watery blue eyes and I knew that tears would fall. I wanted to tell my mom I knew what was wrong. I wanted to say "I know you have cancer," then hide in the closet to her right. However, I let her speak. It was her story to tell, not mine. Simply and straight forward, she said it, "I have breast cancer." I knew it for weeks but it all became real when she then said, "I am going to fight it." Then that vivid memory comes to a close. My mother did indeed fight of brest cancer for two terrible years and she is now in remission

A. Please write specifically about Mary's feelings about her grandmother. What are some of her grandmother's habits? What does she suffer from? What does she think about Mary and Lecia? What does she reveal to Mary about Mary's mother?

If you cannot remember the answers to these questions, don't despair. Write as much as you can about the relationship.

B. Briefly, What causes Mary and her family to run from Leechfield? What happens on the bridge

Answers
A. Mary does not speak to highly of her grandmother. She notes on some of her positive qualities and her strength but she typically did not have the best ways of showing love or affection. Her grandmother never sugarcoated her opinions and she said exactly how she felt. She openly stated her distaste for Mary's father and she demanded a great deal out of her grandchildren. She made some cruel remarks about Mary's inability to tie shoes at a young age and about the way Mary and Lecia were raised. Her grandmother suffered from cancer and first had her toe nail removed, then the toe, then foot, and up to her entire leg. The cancer ate away at her grandmother's body and mind. Mary's grandmother does not like the way Mary and Lecia are brought up. She tries to change their whole style of living, from eating to hygene and this causes Mary to become a nervous nail bitter. Her good attempts to improove their way of life just went south. Her grandmother told Mary and Lecia that they were disobediant children and desirved to be shipped away. Mary's Grandmother tells them that they have siblings from their mother's previous marriages.

B. Mary and her family are forced out of Leechfield due to a deadly hurricaine . Her grandmother ignored warnings of the hurricane so Lecia called their father to remove them from the site that would soon be ravaged by the hurricane, however the phone line dropped dead and a guardsman had to remove them from their house. He forced their grandmother to go with them and they all climbed in the car to try to find refuge. They where attempting to go to their Aunts house to get away from the storm but on the bridge to leave town they got into a car accident due to Mary's mother's "nervousness."

Reflection and memory

Mary’s mother was much more involved in these pages of the liars club and we also received insight to her grandmother as well. Mary told of time spent with her grandmother and the cancer she had endured and died from. Mary also guided us through the pain of her childhood molestation and more stories of her mother’s “nervousness.” Despite these dynamic occurrences, one passage that had a profound impact on me was the description of how Mary felt when she was with her parents.

"With Mother, I always felt on the edge of something new, something never before seen or read about or brought, something that would change us. When you climbed in the car with her, you never knew where you'd end up. If an encyclopedia salesman happened to knock on the door, she might spend a month's salary on books you would pore over all day. With Daddy and his friends, I always knew what would happen and that left me feeling a sort of dreamy safty."

This shows that Mary is longing for that safety she feels with her father and sort of fears what could happen when she is with her mother. This is noted by saying “if you climbed in to a car with her, you never knew where you’d end up.” This hints more toward Mary’s mother’s nervousness and shows how unpredictable she can be. What could Mary’s mother be capable of doing and how can that relate back to the opening occurrence. This also shows more of Mary’s desire to be around her father and his friends because with them she was happy. The Liar’s Club was her refuge.



My moment.

Eleven-year-olds typically do not understand most of life's mysteries and they still retain the innocence that allows them accept life as it comes with out trying to contort it to fit their ideals. An eleven-year-old does understan when their life is about to change forever.

The garage door made its usual welcome home anouncement to my mother's car as returned from her trip to the doctors office. I knew what was wrong from little hints and putting together puzzle pieces, I was a quite inquizative child, however I didn't realize the reality of the situation. I knew my mother had cancer, and I knew she was about to tell me, but I sat on the couch watching cartoons as happy as any other child. She walked in the door and my dogs started barking as always to say hello and to rival the noise of the garage door. My dad was in the kitchen warming up cold pizza and my six-year-old was enjoying the hilarious cartoons with me. My mother put her purse down on the kitchen table and my father greated her with a simple "Hi," void of emotion as usual. Then she asked me to join her in the laundry room. This may seem like a rather odd place but it was the easiest place to get total and complete privacy. Then she it, simple and straight forward, "I have breast cancer." I knew it for weeks but it all became real. All I remember is her saying "I am going to fight it." Then that vivid memory comes to a close. My mother did indeed fight of brest cancer for two terrible years and she is now in remission.

The first reflection of The Liar's Club

I found the title of The Liar's Club to be extremely intriguing. I was drawn in. I wanted to read it, and I was not disappointed by the first couple pages. I was a little bit confused but none-the-less curious as to how the story would unfold. The author began with an unnerving memory of childhood and I was mesmerized by the troublesome tale. Then however she decided to start on a new topic and get back to the memory and she lost my concentration. I liked to understand the back ground of her family and the story of her nervous mother's many marriages, and the life of her father; but at the point when her focus changed I was drawn into her memory and I was anxious to here what happened so right now I am filled with anticipation to get back to that traumatic time. She lost me a little in the trasition to family back ground but I caught up again because she kept that interesting as well. I did not find the skipping between tenses to be all that confusing probably because I tend to do the same thing. I could sense the honesty and passion when it came to Mary Karr talking about her family and I thought the facts where very honest and interesting. Her mother was a little bit out there and I liked her approch to her desctiption of her. I happy to understand the significance of the title early on in the story with her father's group of friends being deamed the Liar's Club by one of his friend's wives and I am interested to learn more about the Liar's Club. I though it was interesting that the author's father would bring her along to Liar's Club meetings and that she would be the only child there. I have not really heard of too many fathers open to bringing there child with them when they are with thier friends. This book has my attention and I actually want to continue reading it. I enjoy reading but usually books lose my attention early on.
The Memoir and The Memoirist did not retain my attention. I found it VERY difficult to focus on and I found my self rereading paragraphs because it not retain my concentration. I thought it was very informative but a little confusing and slow. There where specific quotes however that I thought where especially profound. Through reading I came to understand what a memoir acually was and I have built the opinion that there is no wrong way to write a memoir as long as the whole heart is placed on writing things as they are remembered. What is remembered also may not be what happened because everyone one remembers things slightly differently and I think it is quite interesting to see the different views of the same situation. I have also come to understand the difference between the memoir and the autobiography in the simple quote "to write memoir is to be selective; to write one's autobiography is to be indesciminate." I guess a memoir is to reveal who you truely are and not to explain one's expierences. The auther was obviously a loved teacher so I am interested in reading more, I simply hope that it becomes more interesting and easier to focus on.

Hello all! I am Danielle. I have studied English in school for a good twelve years and my enjoyment of this subject has varied greatly between utter hatred and pure love. My enjoyment of English over the years has had a great deal to do with the various teachers, topics, friends in the class, and the amount of grammar we had to focus on. Basically, I am not very good at grammar; especially punctuation as you probably can tell by my writing in this blog. I have not enjoyed the English classes I have had in which our entire concentration was grammar.

I absolutely adored English in both my freshman and sophomore years of high school, and my favorite class by far was an elective creative writing class that I decided to take during my junior year of high school. My teacher was unbelievable my freshman year. She knew what she was doing when it came to teenagers. I had a passion for both of our topics which varied from 1960's rock'n'roll and Shakespearean plays. I also had some of my best friends in that class. Need I say more?

I loved my sophomore year again because of an awesome teacher, good friends, and the fact that we cover poetry. I am a big fan of writing and reading poetry. I had a great teacher my senior year as well and I found that class to be extremely interesting. Most of my other English experiences have been terrible, to the point where skipping class was definitly on my mind.

Creative Writing was awsome. I had the same teacher that I had for my scophomore year English class and she honestly became one of my best friends. Yeah, I would eat lunch with a teacher by choice sometimes. The class was just awesome! End of story.

I honestly do not have any real expectations for English 152. I am just ready to take this class as it comes and hopes for the best. I enjoy reading but I hope there is not an absolute ton of it. I am not interested in sleep deprivation. I am really happy that our topic family because I have a great deal of venting I could do about my family and I am interested to hear how my peers relate to their families.