Assignment 4 Part 4

Kyle Reszczynski
English 101 8AM Section
October 11, 2008
Assignment 4 Part 4
Peter Ho Davies is an author who writes a story called “What You Know.” He is able to create several emotions of his aim toward violence in his work. His violence is a technique that he uses to engage his audience. As a reader of Davies’ piece I am able to interpret his ideas and thoughts, along with his purpose, targeted audience, and context. I am also able to vividly see what matters to Davies and the choices he has made.
Reading Peter Ho Davies for the first time my initial impression of his purpose is pretty surprising. First of all, I believe the purpose of the short story is to realize that there is violence occurring all the time. The first couple paragraphs seem to shock me in a way especially when he states talking about his students that, “The good (writers) ones are bad, and the bad (writers) are tragic.” What this means to me is that there is never a writer that is perfect. Audiences tend to think writers are good and/or bad depending upon the circumstances like what the topic is and the ideas involved in the overall purpose. Peter Ho Davies emotions of violence are also a main factor of my initial impression. I feel that the way he teaches is the way he writes. He is teaching about violence to a point where his students don’t realize what is right and wrong so they literally act upon his teaching. This results in numerous types of people looking down on him or thinking he is unusual. Also, Davies states, ‘”Don’t stop yourself writing it because you think it’s too personal, sexual, violent”’ (84). This statement gives me a mindset to be open minded and not care what other’s think of you whether in general or in your writing. He probably said this statement because this is one of the ways he writes and he is trying to persuade someone to think the way he does. Lastly, another quote that appears to me as striking is when he talks about the violence with his father and him and states, “He’s dead now, my father, and as I empty the gun I’m thinking of naming my son after him” (87). This is striking to me because I see main parts of the story aim toward violence and the fact that he was able to touch base and mention someone he may admire and love is touching. This shows how difficult it is to talk about suicide.
However, after reading Peter Ho Davies’ “What You Know” a second time I found that there are a few specific moves and features that he seems to be making. The moves that I pointed out consisted of his title, repetitions, tone of voice, structure, and ways of addressing his readers.
The first move that came to my attention was the his title. Why does he call the story “What You Know?” The reason I believe so is because Davies’ is a teacher and is teaching students how to read and write. He intended to make his readers not know what will happen next in the plot. This title was interesting to me because it made me think that I didn’t know how to write and students tend to always write about something disturbing like suicide. This move helped envision his purpose because he has contemplated students writing about suicidal events. Another move that came to my attention was his various repetitions. Peter Ho Davies repeats numerous things in his writing that consist of violence, how bad of writers most students are, and rhetorical questions. These forms of repetition were used to emphasize what he is really trying to say. He would ask a rhetorical question to get his audience thinking about their own feelings compared to what he is actually stating or visually thinking. This method worked for me because it kept me involved and always critically thinking about what could happen next. The choice of repeating aspects of his writing show a topic of teaching that he wants his audience to understand more clearly because they are used so often. Along with Peter Ho Davies repetition his tone of voice seems a bit unique. The reason I say this is because it seems as if he is yelling at his audience as he is writing. But why is that he would be yelling? I believe he is yelling because he is making fun of his students. For example, when he is experiencing what it is like to shoot a gun he shoots at his neighbors target and states in slow motion, “A. Mis. Fire.” (87) I believe that Davies used this to make fun of his students because he actually never knew about his students so he is making fun of them. This may also relate to why the short story is called “What You Know” because he actually doesn’t know about his students. Davies was able to choose and produce a very distinct structure. Why is there only a picture on the first page? I believe to draw readers into reading what they know about writing. He also writes like he teaches. An example occurs directly after his talk with CNN when he says, “Don’t stop yourselves writing something because it might hurt someone--your family, your friends.” (84) This also makes me think that he was trying to write like a student experience to his own. Other readers may have reacted to his moves the way I did because his purpose of violence and making fun of his students creates visuals and many of the same ideas.
After reading the context by Peter Ho Davies a second time made me think of his purpose and his moves or choices a lot more. I found that Davies was contemplating students writing about suicide and the violent acts. It was clear both times that it was read and I got a similar interpretation as to what I believed when I first read “What You Know.” His strategies appear to give his audience a clear understanding of what his purpose is.
As a writer what did Ho Davies hope to achieve? When Peter Ho Davies wrote this story the aspect I believe he hoped to achieve was an understanding that it is tough to write about violence. Violence occurs aimlessly and unexpected at times. Kids or students don’t understand what can happen when you toy with danger and violent acts. For example when one of his students, “shot his father in the head across the breakfast nook, rode the bus to school with a pistol in his waistband, emptied it in his homeroom, killing two and wounding five, before putting the gun in his mouth and splashing his brains all over the whiteboard” (83). This is a passage from the story that shows how Peter Ho Davies students act. This would bring a great deal of disturbance to a parental. Another aspect I believe he had hoped to achieve was to make his audience think more about his work after reading the last page or last line. He wants his audience to think loosely and endlessly after reading. So as Davies continues to write the story and circle it around violence, the audience is able to see what type of writer he is. All in all, Peter Ho Davies hopes to receive many different interpretations and thoughts from his work.
As Davies wrote this short story he had many types of readers in his mind. Reader’s that are interested in violence, ones that teach writing, schools that are strict when it comes to violence, and aspects that correlate to that. I firmly believe he imagined his readers that would contradict him because of the emotional view towards violence or ones that have been involved in forms of violence throughout their life. I would describe the readers he imagined as parents who read this saying, “How could you teach a student to act violently?” or students saying or thinking, “He sounds like an interesting teacher.” Also, the fact of knowing what is right or wrong could play a role into who his readers consist of.
Peter Ho Davies did a pretty good job is keeping it fairly straightforward and understanding in my opinion. However, the only part of the context that I didn’t understand too well is why does he teach if he is going to make fun of his students. Does he like it that much? Is it because he knows a lot about writing? I also think its ridiculous to see a student do what his teacher said and have the result end up consist of violence leading to a suicide. These are the few ideas that didn’t fit my understanding to its full extent.
In conclusion, reading the context of “What You Know” by Peter Ho Davies twice gives me a vivid understanding of what the authors purpose is and his moves used to support his purpose. His constant, repeated emotions of violence shows how this short story can be interpretated differently. It was interesting to see how and why he wrote this short story. It was also interesting to see how he creates thoughts and feelings that are near endless to lead his readers on.