In the book from Ron Gutman's Smile: The Astonishing Powers Of A Simple Act, Gutman goes on a journey, exploring what makes different people, in different areas in the world smile. In the opening chapter of the book Gutman wrote that when "It was time to pull out the special power," he smiled. He explains that while traveling around the world, he wasn't always able to understand the many languages, so he would smile at everyone. The cheerful and positive tone of his language is both inspiring and admiring. It suggests that smiling is a type of language that all people are born knowing. Gutman starts this passage off, "Amidst the unknown, in a unfamiliar place, confined on the bus with nowhere to go and with no apparent way to communicate..." which suggests a sort of hopeless and lonely atmosphere but goes on to say, "Whether people looked at me or not, I smiled at them. Although no one responded to my smiles, I started to feel better." which shows his unbelievable optimism. He writes with a lighthearted and down to earth passion as he humbly proclaims his love for smiling and how it makes him feel better.
This book just underscores the mammoth effect optimism has on life. A smile making someone's day is just one of those fundamental human quirks, I think. I agree with Nighthawk, however, in that you are letting your quotations go a bit too long and in so doing letting them speak for themselves rather than them speaking for you.
I love this post. Your analysis of the book makes me want to read it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great artifact. Remember that quotations should be short and not introduced with "he said" and other variations of that.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described the language inspiring and admiring. I would be careful not to say "he said" and maybe shorten up the quotes.
ReplyDeleteThe way you described it was really good, although I would go back and try to fix any long quotations or "he said"s
ReplyDeleteThis book just underscores the mammoth effect optimism has on life. A smile making someone's day is just one of those fundamental human quirks, I think. I agree with Nighthawk, however, in that you are letting your quotations go a bit too long and in so doing letting them speak for themselves rather than them speaking for you.
ReplyDeleteShort, sweet and, simple. Very well done. That first quotation was very long. You made it work but, be careful about that.
ReplyDeleteThis is well written, but try to make the quotes shorter. Also if possible include a specific excerpt from the book! The diction is good, though!
ReplyDelete