Comments by Philip Segal Most recent public comments by Philip Segal https://nowcomment.com/users/13066 I agree but... https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=331208 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=331208 I think when she wrote the Bell Jar, the main character attempted to commit suicide in a similar way. Sylvia Plath had attempted suicide before correct? Maybe for her that's how she always saw her end. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:52 -0500 Just enough detail is needed. I think by saying he left for London and returned occasionally to see the children makes it seem like he moved far away rather than in close proximity to his wife and kids. https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329339 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329339 I think that adds to a sense of abandonment that Sylvia claims to feel in the days coming up to her suicide. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:48 -0500 Not formally https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329336 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329336 There is not a formal introduction, such as when her mother might enter a room. Instead she is introduced only when she is a part of the narrative, when you attribute a statement of fact as coming from her. In this case she is introduced because she witnessed Sylvia violently ripping the phone line out of the wall out of disgust for her husband's mistress. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:48 -0500 An explanation of sorts https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329335 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25279?scroll_to=329335 Chronology in this paragraph and in this whole piece puts together the narrative. This is not just the story about how Sylvia Plath committed suicide, but how the last months of her life took her for a ride to her inevitable suicide. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:52 -0500 The news from her mother was short but powerful. I think that the short paragraph is used to portray the same effect on the reader. https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325712 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325712 Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:44 -0500 She is different from everyone else, maybe the current society norms, an outcast. https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325711 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325711 Being bored at an early age of her environment and inner life, I think shows a little ambition. I have an image of a young Susan Sontag eager to enter adulthood. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:44 -0500 I think that remembering is in quotes because it is about something that happened so long ago. https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325708 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325708 Maybe using the quotation marks hints to readers that the statement is a recollection not a report of fact. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:44 -0500 I think the first paragraph introduces Sontag as a woman, who even the age of four, is unusually curious. How many words does a four year old know, a lot of words must sound interesting to a toddler. https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325702 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25280?scroll_to=325702 I also thought it was interesting that her Irish nanny is in her earliest memory and not her parents. I think maybe the writer is trying to get across to readers what it might be like with 'out of the picture' parents. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:44 -0500 Observing the British https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323340 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323340 The writer reads a little bit of Slyvia Plath's writing he has found where she is making an observation of a British household. The writer in this diary entry has been making observations and passing judgments about English folk all along. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:40 -0500 it means a gesture using your hands and face https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323339 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323339 Obviously you were getting annoyed by all the Library's rules that you seemed to find obstructive. By 'cocking a snook at the staff' you are showing your feelings towards the records office, staff and rules. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:40 -0500 reply https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323338 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323338 I think this is very interesting, because when the reader think back to London, 1963 when Sylvia Plath passed, the biographer might have thought, "well I was in London just six months after that, I know exactly what it was like back then." Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:39 -0500 Philip Segal https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323337 https://nowcomment.com/documents/25283?scroll_to=323337 I think the writer is trying to put themselves in Plath's shoes when she first arrived in London. What might have captivated her? What was profoundly different about the people? People crowding around an entrance as opposed to waiting patiently and neatly says a lot about the culture. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:39 -0500 Question https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320886 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320886 I understand the relationship made between suicide and escaping to the sea. Does this mean Ismael has no intention of returning? Or is he leaving his fate into the hands of the sea? Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:33 -0500 Are readers supposed to know who Milton was, and his passion for Shakespeare and the Bible? Understanding the context of who Ismael is in the Bible puts the story in a deeper context in the first sentence. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320876 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320876 Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:54 -0500 reply https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320872 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30622?scroll_to=320872 I agree with those who say that depression is the underlying reason for escaping to the sea. He describes 'a damp, drizzly November in my soul' which I think directly attributes depression with a longing to go to sea. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:33 -0500 I wouldn't say that the heath does something to time, but time effects the way the land looks by way of different light of day. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=315636 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=315636 Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:24 -0500 What does Domesday have to do with the heath? https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314943 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314943 I agree that Domesday is the final day on Earth. I just think that the heath is a representation of what Earth will be like after the Domesday. That is expansive and only able to sustain a 'furzy, briary wilderness.' Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:21 -0500 In this paragraph space and time are being manipulated to give the reader imagery with depth. I especially liked the last sentence where he used the space of the heath with times like dawn, noon, and a moonless midnight. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314940 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314940 Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:24 -0500 Philip Segal: I agree, I thought of a story about someone going on a journey, and maybe how that experience changes that person and how differently they now see their home. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314938 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30619?scroll_to=314938 Tue, 10 Feb 2015 21:40:00 -0500 I know what he's talking about. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314055 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314055 I feel like sometimes I'm in the middle of two books at the same time. Even if I've read one of those books already, you can still gain from reading passages as you read. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:19 -0500 21st century problems. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314053 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314053 I'm writing this on a laptop with literally ten different internet tabs open and a random movie is on TV. I don't have that distraction problem normally, and sometimes I need outside influence to get inspiration going when I write. But I understand the idea of isolating oneself during the process of writing. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:19 -0500 I don't know. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314051 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314051 I had a journalism professor say, "Don't worry about too many association's like 'he or she said this or that' because readers glaze over those words anyway." Obviously I'm paraphrasing, but when you are presenting 800 words of original reporting and expert quotes, I feel like readers really are glazing over those intro phrases, even if it's an adverb like 'quietly' or 'loudly.' Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:18 -0500 Agreed. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314050 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314050 In regular journalism I think that reporters should always aim to write as concisely as possible. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:18 -0500 I like the passive voice https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314049 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314049 I completely understand being perceived as timid, but in reporting I feel like a writers personality can get in between information and the reader. Op-eds have a significant place in the media. I think that sometimes news is boring by nature. Journalists are required to record and report about which they are assigned. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:18 -0500 Writing for yourself is the entire point. https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314019 https://nowcomment.com/documents/30612?scroll_to=314019 I think that the process of writing is to fully understand the subject about which you are writing. Writers go through the full process of telling a story. Writers shouldn't work with the intent of pleasing a crowd, the audience that appreciates' a writers' work is what determines success. Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:46:18 -0500