Reader's Journal #11- Sidewalks: A Short Story by Joshua Scribner

#11                                                Readers Journal                                             11/7/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            This week I completed the story Sidewalks: A Short Story by Joshua Scribner. I enjoy reading short stories, so I was happy to hear that we were required to read one this week.

            A passage that stood out to me while I was reading was:

            “’Don’t go off to graduate school. Come work with me. I’ll cut you in. We’ll get rich.

Mark had declined. Even though Dave’s plan sounded fun, and it did tempt Mark, there was no way he was going to give up what he’d already earned. His high GPA and entrance exam scores had earned him a hefty cash scholarship here.

Dave was persistent. He even sent Mark bus tickets, knowing Mark hated to fly. Mark had torn them up and left for South Carolina the next day.“ (KINDLE)

            This passage is significant to the story because it describes Dave, Marks cousin’s, personality. I chose it because it reminded me of my family’s personalities, especially my dad’s. When he wants something he doesn’t care about anything and will try his hardest to get it, just like how Dave wanted Mark to move to California with him and tried to get him to come.

            Throughout reading the book I used many different before, during, and after reading strategies. Before reading I read the reviews on my Kindle to see if others had enjoyed it. The reviews were all positive. Another strategy was that I set a purpose for reading. My main purpose was for my reader’s journal, but since I like short stories, my purpose for reading was also for my own entertainment. While reading I took notes on all the figurative language I could find and any literary elements. I also made predictions. One prediction I made was while reading these passages:

           

“The sidewalk ended on Miracle Drive…”

           

“’Come on, buddy,’ Dave’s relentless voice said. ‘I know you can find your way to me. I’ll be waiting right here.’”

           

“There was a pause. Then Dave’s voice was serious. ‘You locked yourself away, man. Now you the one who has to decide if he wants to be in the real world or-‘

‘Yeah Dave your right,’ Mark said, cutting his cousin off. ‘And I don’t want to be in the real world yet. I have to finish up my education first.’

‘All right’, Dave responded in a sad voice. ‘I guess you’ll come here when you’re ready.’”

While reading these passages I predicted that Dave wasn’t asking Mark to come to California. It was too coincidental that he drove down “Miracle Drive” every day, and normal people usually don’t say, “You’ll find your way to me.” People usually say that to their pets, but not their cousins. I wasn’t exactly sure, but after reading I was able to confirm my prediction with the following passage:

“Mark got off the bike and walked into the light.

‘Death is a hard thing to accept,’ Dave said to him.

They were in the sky, looking down through the ceiling and one of the hospital floors. There were people in blue scrubs trying to revive Mark’s body. The machine, which Mark now knew had been the source of the beeping, showed a flat line.

            ‘For me, it was your impending death that was hard to accept. I felt responsible. That’s why I killed myself, while you were still in that stupid

coma.’

            Mark looked at his cousin. Dave had the same ratty look here that he’d had on Earth.

Dave said, ‘For you, it was also your impending death that was impossible to accept. In the real world, your body clung futilely to life, as you created a world in your mind where you had never gotten on that bus. In this false world, you weren’t there when that bus crashed. You’d stuck to your original plan.’

 ‘Why then?’ Mark asked. ‘Why didn’t you just let me stay in my head?’

Dave nodded as if acknowledging that it was a good question. ‘You would have eventually figured it out. False realities have holes in them. They never last.’

Mark nodded. ‘All right. So what do we do now?’ Dave looked around. ‘You’ll see. There’s a lot to do here.’ He smiled. ‘This place ain’t so bad.’”

This confirmed my prediction that Dave wasn’t actually asking Mark to come to California, but that he was trying to get him out of his false reality. Also, after reading I used all my notes and highlights on my Kindle to help me write my readers journal.

The genre of this book is short story because it was shorter than a novel and focuses on one main character and plot line, and it was read in one sitting. The main character is Mark Waller. He is a protagonist and is round and dynamic because he goes through some sort of characterization. He starts out believing he is living in a world he made up but figures out that he was only living in a false reality. One foil character is the “old man in the red vest” who sold Mark a bike in the beginning of the book. He is flat and static because little is known about him and he does not go through any characterization. Another foil character is Dave, Mark’s cousin. He is round but static because the author describes him well, but he does not go through any characterization and is not the main character. The setting is in South Carolina in modern times. The weather was “generally warm” throughout the book. A social condition is that Mark was living in a false reality.

The plot structure was very short because it was a short story. The exposition explained who Mark and Dave were, and introduced the setting. The rising action was when Dave would constantly call Mark about him moving to California with him. The climax was when Mark was driving down Miracle Drive and stopped when he saw a white light. The falling action was when Dave explained to Mark what had happened to him. Finally, the resolution was when Mark accepted the fact that he had been living in a false reality and agreed to live with Dave in heaven.

The conflict was Man vs. Self. This type of conflict is internal. Mark conflict was with himself because he didn’t know he was living in a made up world. The tone was entertaining and the tone was entertained. This book didn’t have a theme or moral and since I haven’t read any other books by this author, I couldn’t identify a motif. The point of view was third person limited and the pattern of organization was climatic order. The author’s purpose for writing this was to entertain. The author’s perspective was unbiased or objective because he was not on anyone’s side.

I wasn’t about to identify a lot of figurative language because this book was a short story. I did identify, “And now, having forced them to peddle all the way up here again, they felt like jelly.” This is a simile because it compares how Mark’s legs felt after riding his bike to jelly. 

I enjoyed the part where Mark finally realizes that he belongs with his cousin Dave.

Overall, this book was an easy read and I enjoyed it. I would rate it an 8 out of 10 because although I liked reading it, I have read better books. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading an easy to read short story.

                                                                        Your Student,

                                                                        Bailey Levy 802