Repetition
is powerful and significant. It tells an audience what is important, what they
should pay attention to, what they should reread, and refocus on. Eileen Myles
understands the power of words and repeating them. She places emphasis on
certain phrases, and certain words within those phrases. I plan to mimic this
repetitive style in order to allow the audience to understand the thoughts
running through my mind. I often repeat myself for self-convincing purposes,
just as Myles did in “An American Poem.” Eileen Myles uses short sentences, with few words, but great meaning. For example, she states, “I am a Kennedy.”
She does not explain directly how she feels about being a Kennedy, she shows
through her actions, through her repetition and her tone of voice. She states,
“I am alone.” A simple and brief statement explains one of Myles’ deepest feelings.
I plan to use this technique, almost in a poetic fashion. I plan to use short
phrases, not always sentences, to explain a feeling or thought, and leave it
open for interpretation. I want to write about the strict religious family that
I grew up around; how they forced many rules and customs onto me and expected
me to accept them and grow into the person they imagined me to be. I want to
write about how I tried to fit in, and I tried to become the 8-year-old-jewish-girl
they wanted me to be, but I wasn’t that person. They pushed me away, but soon I
began to wonder if it was I who pushed them away. If it was my fault. I explain
my thought process as it naturally happens, so the audience experiences the
journey with me. I plan to inject emotion into the story related to the
pressures of becoming a part of a group that is so deeply rooted, so strict, so
orthodox. Emotions about how I feel: unable to escape and become my own person.
I also took note of the repetition that Myles uses. I think repetition can be used in a multitude of ways, but one constant is that the repeated word, line, or phrase, is always a point of emphasis. Her use of the Kennedy line was very unique, and I'm still not sure I can pinpoint exactly what her intention was. I think she was painting herself as the anti-Kennedy, which is completely okay. The idea of incorporating repetition into your story is a very cool idea. I think it can have a very powerful impact on the reader and can make for a very interesting piece.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of including emotion. My idea also surrounds religious customs as a child, so it's pretty similar to yours and I can understand why there would be a lot of emotion involved. I think it will be interesting to see how you convey emotion with the methods you're discussing above. I think you could do a lot with it, and I would be particularly interested in seeing how thoughts and emotion interact, if they do, in your piece. Sounds like you have a solid plan and are off to a good start.
ReplyDeleteI really like your story concept. I think it has a lot of strength behind it and I am excited to see how you choose to tell it. I think the idea of repetition is really powerful because you have the ability to choose what words or phrases resonate with the people listening to your story, which is a really powerful thing. I am interested to see which words or phrases you decide are the ones you wish to repeat. I think taking the repetition and poeticism that Myles used and incorporating it into your story about family and religion is going to be really powerful.
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