Danny: Crank

By -
                Crank is heavily reliant on its formation to create its story. Without the use of form poetry, this story would quickly fall apart. Through the use of form poetry, Crank is able to easily recreate the thoughts of an adolescent, a conversation between two or more people, and even a poem that holds within its stanza a double meaning.
                A great example of the view into the mindset can be seen in ‘My Mom Will Tell You’ on page 10. The back and forth between the two opposing lines shows a clear definition between a statement and her personal thoughts. She says, “it started with a court-ordered visit./The judge had a God complex” (Lines 1-2). Kristana’s thoughts and knowledge are clearly separated, yet work as one poem. It shows the thought process of someone of her age, how they think multiple things at once, whether it be factual or opinionated.
                An example of a conversation is ‘He Worked in a Bowling Alley’ on page 31. Though Katrina doesn’t speak, she uses her personal thoughts and observations to serve as her dialogue. The other column works as the dialogue as her father. The poem reads, “Under the table,/so I don’t screw/up my disability./Unsticking stuck/balls, fitting stinky/shoes, collecting/cash from the crop…” (Lines 1-7). Her father speaks to her, then she observes and infers based upon what he has told her.
                Finally, the poems allow for ambiguity to come into play. I believe that the best example of this can actually be found within the first poem, ‘Flirtin’ with the Monster,’ on page 1. While the poem, by reading it fully, reads as a foreshadowing, the second poem within it does the same, only stronger. The hidden poem reads, “the monster./was great./for a little while” (Lines 4, 7, & 10). It recaps what the entire poem reads, but in a choppier manner, creating an ominousness about the events to come.

                All in all, Crank was a wonderful book of poem. It is the first prose book that I have subject myself too and I can say that I have enjoyed it. The poems allow for creativity and opens the imagination for the reader, but also allows the author for some unique and different approach to telling a story.

Comments

  1. KeyCNovember 13, 2017 at 9:24 PM

    I think the poems were my favorite interest of this book . I love how they allowed thoughts to just flow and the effect that each poem gave while reading it. I think the use of poetry allowed readers to connect more easily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 14, 2017 at 10:19 AM

    Danny, I agree with your point about the formation of the book completely. I thought it really added an important element to the story that wouldn't have come across quite the way it needed to without that structure.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Taylor SimmonsNovember 29, 2017 at 12:56 PM

    The poems are my favorite part, and it really helps the story develop. In my opinion, if this was written in the traditional way of a novel, I don't think the effect would be the same.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more