The two writing pieces, Brain Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras and Mandy Len Catron's To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This, have some similarities and differences between their essays. The two authors have very different writing styles, for example, Doyle’s text is full of facts that are entertaining and catch the attention of readers where Catron writes by telling a story, but also has the fascinating factors as well. Both authors can be compared by how their writing style is intriguing and pulls the author in to where the reader wants to keep reading. The intended audience from what I can tell can be a variety of age groups because the text is not too complex for younger readers to be able to comprehend. The main purpose of Joyas Voladoras is that you get out of life what you put in. A quote that exemplifies that is when Doyle says, “Every creature on Earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in their lifetime. You can spend them slowly… or you can spend them fast…” In To Fall in Love… author Mandy makes a common point of how love is something you have to go looking for and that it isn't going to fall into your lap one day. She quotes at the end, “Love didn't happen to us. We’re in love because we each made the choice to be.” A common theme from both writings can be compared to the simple fact that we have to go looking for something in order to get something greater out of life. The settings of both stories’ climax moments take place outside somewhere. The context makes the reader have to think and make a connection between nature and real world examples in Brian’s essay where as in Catron’s essay, she just tells you flat out how it is.
The New York Times article “To Fall In Love, Do This” and the short essay “Joyas Voladoras” each have one striking similarity and one difference. Their similarity comes in their purpose and underlying meaning written by their respective authors: examining and exploring the idea of connecting with others. In “Joyas Voladoras”, Brian Doyle uses different animals throughout his writing as a conceit to create the perspective of time. Doyle uses this to set up his main idea of reaching out and creating bonds with others, when states, “We are utterly open with no one … We open windows to each … Perhaps we must.” Similarly, Mandy Len Catron explores connecting with others. But, she writes about using a psychology experiment to explore the idea of love. Catron used Arthur Aron’s experiment on whim, stating, “ ‘Actually, psychologists have tried making people fall in love,’ I said, remembering Dr. Aron’s study. ‘It’s fascinating. I’ve always wanted to try it.’” Through her simulation, she describes her emotions and feelings over the interaction. But unlike Doyle, Catron’s exploration is more interpersonal and revealing, much the theme of the experiment and article. While they may be similar, their difference lies in their intended audience. For example, Mandy Len Catron has her article published in the New York Times while Brian Doyle’s short essay was published in the American Scholar. Catron’s “To Fall In Love, Do This” was meant to be read by more general audience, towards the average American. Doyle’s “Joyas Voladoras” was instead published in an academic magazine, targeted towards a specific niche group.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of Mandy Len Catron’s To Fall In Love With Anyone, Do This was to share the idea that love is more tangible than most people tend to acknowledge. I often hear people saying they don’t know what love is or they haven’t experienced it or even that they don’t believe in it, but this essay challenges that because it is filled with living proof that two people can essentially create their own love by simply allowing themselves to. The last paragraph of Brian Doyle’s Joyas Voladoras starts with a lot of negative examples of the outcomes of emotions, however, his essay is actually encouraging us to love openly and deeply. Doyle states, “...all hearts finally are bruised and scarred… no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall.” In other words, stop putting up walls in the first place because it is inevitable that they will fall. Both essays are in favor of intimacy and serious relationships and both also rely heavily on science to share their messages, Catron uses personal experience and primarily positive examples while Doyle relies primarily on the hypothetical and utilizes negatives to makes his point.
ReplyDeleteIn the podcast, Catron tells us that you can use the questions to build any type of relationship; you can start a romantic relationship, build a friendship, or even enhance an already existing and intimate relationship. Thus, her audience could be anyone willing to build a relationship of any sort. Doyle’s essay was originally published in the American Scholar so its first intended audience would be that of intellectuals. However, his examples of husbands, children, and animals suggest that his essay is also intended for a variety of people.
The first difference I noticed immediately while reading Doyle and Catron’s pieces were that they addressed and caught the audience’s attention differently. Doyle presented a very interesting fact about a Humming Bird while Catron simply began with a personal experience. In my opinion, it shows how comfortable they are with the audience.
ReplyDeleteIn Doyle’s context, I see he had many nature comparisons. Or I guess you could say everything he mentioned was relatable to things in nature, I admire the connections he made and the diversity of his facts. Now Catron to me is more straightforward. Her piece went straight to the nitty gritty, whereas in Joyas Voladoras the meaning of the text was a bit dragged out.
The only similarity I understood was that they both intend to be talking about love and how to acquire it , even though this was in very different ways. But as you said above it is something we have to want to do.