For anyone who writes, there is always a question of whether or not the end product is any good. In “From The Art of Fiction,” American writer Henry James implies that the secret to good writing is to infuse it with experience, whether vast or limited, authentic or cultivated through imagination. James reiterates that the writer’s process of gaining inspirational experience is never complete. Furthermore, he affirms that genius lies within the writer’s ability to openly collect experiences, and he notes how those “on whom nothing is lost” may take even the simplest of moments and develop them into stories worth reading (“From The Art of Fiction” 909). He uses the example of a “genius” female English writer who “having once, in Paris, as
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The narrator of the story is a sixth-grade boy and one of three African-American students in a predominantly white class. The boy endures, if wearily, the racial alienation he faces at school and the loneliness he feels in the absence of his father who is serving in the Vietnam War. In his critical descriptions of other classmates and his teacher, the narrator recalls even the smallest of details, revealing that these individuals have made lasting if negative impressions on him. One wonders if the narrator’s vivid memories may reflect personal experiences of the author himself. In a particular case, the narrator points out the disgusting habit of one of his African-American classmates, Marvin Pruitt, who would “[spit] on his right arm, juicing it down till it would glisten,” then “rub his spit-flecked arm with his left hand, rub and roll as if polishing an ebony pool cue,” and huff the scent of dried spit on his arm until he fell asleep (McKnight 387). The meticulous description of Marvin’s grotesque ritual reflects the narrator’s sharp observation in the classroom. Additionally, it hints at the narrator’s disdain for Marvin as a gross individual, the obligation he feels to defend Marvin as one of the other two black students in the class, and the harsh realization that he feels shame toward his own
The narrator of the story is a sixth-grade boy and one of three African-American students in a predominantly white class. The boy endures, if wearily, the racial alienation he faces at school and the loneliness he feels in the absence of his father who is serving in the Vietnam War. In his critical descriptions of other classmates and his teacher, the narrator recalls even the smallest of details, revealing that these individuals have made lasting if negative impressions on him. One wonders if the narrator’s vivid memories may reflect personal experiences of the author himself. In a particular case, the narrator points out the disgusting habit of one of his African-American classmates, Marvin Pruitt, who would “[spit] on his right arm, juicing it down till it would glisten,” then “rub his spit-flecked arm with his left hand, rub and roll as if polishing an ebony pool cue,” and huff the scent of dried spit on his arm until he fell asleep (McKnight 387). The meticulous description of Marvin’s grotesque ritual reflects the narrator’s sharp observation in the classroom. Additionally, it hints at the narrator’s disdain for Marvin as a gross individual, the obligation he feels to defend Marvin as one of the other two black students in the class, and the harsh realization that he feels shame toward his own