Thursday, October 11, 2007

Zach Bush's essay, "Rattle Lung: Scattered Memories from Childhood"

"He coughed so hard that he grabbed his chest. He leaned over the plate and sprayed the mash potatoes red."

I love this line in Zach's essay because it takes something very frightening and tells it in a distant/shocked kind of way that's all visual, but still graphic enough to show us what's going on. I think that the use of the word "mash" instead of "mashed" illustrates an attention to the child's voice. I also think the use of the word "spray" is an interesting choice here. The word itself seems so innocuous--like it shouldn't be associeted with someone's mortality.

No comments: