Question #1
I began by reading the story to myself, and found this to be a very strange experience. I was in the library at the time, and it was a little bit embarrassing because I kept mumbling the words to myself. I did not even realize I was doing this at first, until a friend pointed it out to me. I then read the story to a friend, and this felt a lot more natural. For one thing, the story often begins sentences with the word “and.” While it is possible to do this in written speech, it is not very common and feels odd to read; as it is technically incorrect grammatically. Beginning sentences with the word “and” is far more natural and common when speaking orally; so what felt unnatural and often jerky to read to myself, flowed far better when I read the story out loud.
Another aspect that pushed the story towards an oral rather than written structure was the many sentences that seemed fragmented when simply read to oneself. For example “The boat supposed to go very fast. Special. And they want them to get closer” (Robinson 65). In a written story-telling tone, these words would probably be written as something more like, “the boat was supposed to go very fast. It was special.” However, that type of narrative voice distances the reader from the action of the story and is therefore less engaging than the one used by Robinson. Robinson’s voice makes it seem as though the ones telling and listening to the story are experiencing it as the story unfolds. This is furthered by the fact that although the story takes place in the past, the narrator often uses the present tense. This makes it more active and I felt like a performer when I read it out loud.
In addition, sentences such as “And the cook, they run and open the door. And they see this man. Jump. Kinda scared” (Robinson 68), when read to myself, felt fragmented and odd. They seemed, to me, to beg for some kind of facial or bodily gestures to emphasize meaning. The “jump” part feels like it needs to be said with an actual jump. Indeed, when I read the story out loud, I found myself making dramatic gestures when I read these parts, without planning to do so ahead of time.
Finally, the story contains a lot of repetition; “God sent the Angel to Coyote. Sent the Angel” (Robinson 66). This gives it a ritualistic quality. I found it somewhat uncomfortable to try and read these parts to myself, but when read aloud, they encourage the speaker and the listener to really participate in a kind of story-telling ritual.
WORKS CITED
Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. 64-85.