Reflection – Wolf in White Van

Wolves by flickr user AdamHallArt

Thought is an unruly gust of wind frantically pushing us towards the limit of our minds. It refuses to obey the helm despite numerous efforts to keep it in control. While inspiration and invention often participate in such mental flourish, its capricious nature at times worries us with anxiety and irresistible impulses, leading us towards unforeseen tilt — accidents — or even devastating outcomes such as suicide.

My analysis on John Darnielle’s Novel, Wolf in White Van, centers around the transformation of Sean from unable to resist bad thoughts, resulting in the traumatic event of he shooting himself, to controlling his imagination and resting it in his game, Trace Italian, through which he slowly recovers and gains access to the outside world.

The assignment helped me improve my critical thinking and reading resulting in writing skill. I learned to use ideas from the work as a way to analyze the book from my own perspective. I integrated the author’s point of view into my essay and bridged the gap between his interpretation and my argument. Another learning outcome is rhetorical composition. This assignment is very different from Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern and therefore I had to compose it in a different way. I assumed that the audience didn’t know much about the novel so I tried my best to guide them towards getting a sense of what it is about while at the same time understanding my main argument.