tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703718213453635254.post100364915797186441..comments2012-12-05T22:45:25.859-08:00Comments on Introduction to Short Fiction: Tits-up in a DitchProfessor Crystal Benedickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17356748083537416572noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703718213453635254.post-5791193426217057872008-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:002008-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00I would have to agree with the majority of the com...I would have to agree with the majority of the comments made by Patrick. One of the more difficult parts of the story was trying to predict what was going to happen next through the text. Dakotah starts off being left by her mother;with the stories that we have read previously i would have concluded that she was in for a rougher life. It seemed that during her childhood the hardest thing for her to adapt to was a lack of affection from her grandparents. Growing up in a rural area, and being raised by grandparents who tried to correct where they went wrong with their daughter, made her live a life of solitude. Well solitude from outside influence. They didn't even keep around her mothers things as a memory. Patrick makes a good point about the connection that the grandparents have of Dokatah and her mother. They treat her extremely different than the way they treated their daughter. <BR/><BR/>One thing i felt was important was how easy it was for people in the story to leave family. In the very first page you are told that Dokatah was left by her mom, and was forced into her grandparents home. Then Sash and her decide on a divorce after a few months together. Then soon after her child is born, Dokatah decides to go to the army in order to provide for her child. But is that the best thing for her to do, leave her child alone with her grandparents? In a different way she does what her mother did, but justified it by heading to the army. The loss of love ones is a common theme throughout the story. As a reader you don't get a sense of compassion for another, or true love until the end of the story. And even at that it is an awkward gather of emotions. I don't know what the author was going for in this story, but i hope it wasn't to tell us about how dysfunctional rural families can be.Benjamin Humphreyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10493917167466318864noreply@blogger.com