Fiction text: "The English Lesson"
Fiction reader: Joan Lynd

Nonfiction text:  "Going Home:  Brooklyn Revisited"
Nonfiction reader:  Sylvia Duncan

 (Recorder:  Mary Cardenas) 

Joan on fictional elements in "The English Lesson"

In "The English Lesson", written by Nicholasa Mohr, fictional form is demonstrated in many different ways.  To begin with, the classroom setting is a place we all know and Mohr uses this familiar territory to tell most of the story.  This seems to cause the story to "stand still" as the reader becomes a part of the setting.  She also keeps the characters very simple.  Mohr's creative gender bending is illustrated through the character's dialect.  She is able to bypass the need for a narrator and translate realistic immigrant experiences the reader can identify with. In addition, the character's voices permit the reader to easily understand their viewpoints without critical examination.  

In contrast with "Going Home", the author Barbara Harrison's nonfiction essay tells her account of a "real life" memory. The elements used that most resemble nonfiction include the following.   She uses the first person narrative and asks the reader to absorb many details.  She includes specific  dates, numbers, times and names.  She also uses the main character, a journalist, to tell the story in a commentary form that also lends itself to nonfiction.  Next, she gives specific histories of the characters, creating a distance the reader finds difficult to identify with, prompting the reader to analyze different viewpoints and arrive at their own conclusion.  Lastly, since the setting is a real place, we are inclined to treat the message more objectively, which is more likely in nonfiction.

Sylvia on nonfiction elements in "The English Lesson"

• The most blatant elements of nonfiction deal with the narrator of this story. When he or she is speaking, there is not really a ‘connection’ to the other characters in the story; there is a relaying of information. These sections offer the reader snippets of reality outside the emotional dialogue of each individual character (examples on pages 22, 28, and 29). On page 22 the narrator is basically listing information about the structure of the class (28 students, etc). On 28 and 29, however, the narrator is giving the reader additional background information. Each of these segments is written with emotional detachment and is basically listing important details about the Lali and Rudi.

Open discussion of fictional and nonfictional elements of the text.

• Fiction lifts the reader out of time. In other words, it does not directly date itself.

Sylvia on Nonfiction elements of "Going Home"

• Marker - This work was written in first person. She provides vivid detail in regards to her emotions and perspective about the situation.
• >From the very beginning of the work she seems to be struggling with what fiction is in her own experiences and how this fiction defines herself and her reality. The inner conflict within the author actually lends itself nonfiction. This becomes thematic of the entire work.

1. An example of this is seen on page159 with her attempt to escape myth.
2. How do we create fiction (or stereotypes) out of our own reality? She finds that her reality is almost hopelessly intermingled with the fiction of "finding the enemy." (page 163).
3. Throughout the work you can see and feel her struggling with these issues. It is her story, not a story.
4. There is no real dialogue, just blurbs to advance her agenda in figuring out her reality.

• Nonfiction seems to age more. It is dated and formed from experiences from that period of time or specific event/events. This is seen on page 164 with the references to "James Caan playing Sonny" and on page 169 with the reference to "Terry Mallory"--references to movies from the 1970s and 1950s with which readers today may be unfamiliar.

Joan on fictional elements in "Going Home"

In EL, Mohr, through the characters, she describes many different experiences and viewpoints of real immigrants.  The character's attitudes and behaviors  well represent a variety of true immigrant's reactions to their unfamiliar new world.

In GH, as with fiction, the narrator almost becomes a character herself, as a way to resolve personal issues of her past.  Harrison also reflects on specific past memories in a "story form".  For instance, Joan Smith, the only black girl in her class, winning "Most Friendly" without ever speaking.  Here, we could identify and visualize the scene and the simple name. Also Arnold Horowitz, the past teacher that helps her to believe in herself and have hope. Again, somewhat typical, could be fictional.

6. Open floor to search for both elements.

• One of the main elements noticed in "The English Lesson" and "Going Home" is that it appears that fiction enables the reader to interpret the work more. That is to say it is not "in your face" with a message. In "Going Home," Harrison often tells the reader the message. It is not inferred. This is especially evident on page 167 when she says "-- children, victims, if you will, of manipulation and polarization, of carefully nurtured ignorance and insularity and paranoia." Alternately, in "The English Lesson," as each immigrant tells the reader their narrative, they are not telling the reader what exactly is supposed to be gleened. When Stephan Paczkowski is speaking about his situation (page 26-27), he is not giving the reader a specific message. The reader is given the latitude to figure it out for his or herself.