Personal Responses to the Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Responses to the Essays - Essay Example The walk, it turned out, provided the essence and meaning of her entire stay in Japan – yet ironically, nothing was uttered or said during that brief (she could not even remember how many minutes) togetherness with a stranger under one umbrella, with the raindrops and the sound of their footsteps hitting the pavement providing the only effects in addition to the silence. The author concludes her narrative with a breath under suspension after the stranger disappeared instantly without a word leaving her in a state of â€Å"mysterious shock.† Shields is her usual self in finding the humanity in every aspect or event or place or circumstance where she ascribes meaning to even the most ordinary thing or activity such as sharing an umbrella with a complete stranger. One cannot resist admiring Shield’s masterful play of words and emotions as she moves from her treatment of ordinary, drab, inconsequential events and transforms them into meaningful â€Å"encounters.â₠¬  I am completely taken by her figures of speech: â€Å"†¦invaded me like a kind of flu†¦ a temporary vacuum that had nothing to do with Japan†¦ hypnotic walking†¦walking towards the unimaginable.† I photo-played the ordinariness of her stay in Japan based on her description and I could sense her dryness, or maybe the dryness of the event she was describing and felt her remorse as if I was there. It was as if she took me by the hand when she shifted to a colorful and rich description of that brief â€Å"rain walk.† I could even see or feel as being the towering stranger holding up the umbrella for a woman and walking almost gingerly with somebody he does not know from Adam. I could see myself as the stranger quickly disappearing from the woman’s view as soon as we hit the sidewalk of the designated hotel, at the same time experiencing the agony and perplexity of Shields after being left without any word, or cue whatsoever. It was Shields wi elding her power and ability to put the reader in a similar state of suspension. Essay 2: â€Å"Goodbye Muse, Hello Prada† by Goran Simic (Harsent 84)