Think Philip Roth

It's difficult to put thoughts together about writing something you didn't write. It seems so easy to get caught up in just thinking of what YOU personally think of the writing and not what the actual author was pondering. It's strange to think about what they had on their mind and what they were listening to, eating, drinking, smelling etc...you could go on and on. All of these things can influence the writing slightly no matter how minuscule they seem. Philip Roth has a reason for everything that he has written down on these pages and a meaning for most everything, and it is intriguing to sit here and try and figure out what he felt when he was putting that meaning together.

As I was rewriting this passage or page I tried to imagine that I was Philip Roth himself. This is really the only way I could go about it without feeling like I was just copying down words. This passage flows really well to me and as I was typing it out it felt very fluid and all of the description was easily in place and beautiful. Of course, this is because I was typing what was already written, I can imagine that the actual writing process required a lot of hesitation and rereading and rewriting. I tried to imagine Roth deciding to put the "we should go" part in italics and deciding what the true meaning of that phrase was supposed to convey. The dialogue at the end is very short and this makes a statement. Everything said is very to the point and clear and the whole novella so far seems to follow this pattern. This style is interesting for a novella since you have to really get to know the characters more than a short story. Despite this, I think Roth does a great job of explaining who they are not only through the snippy dialogue but also through actions and thoughts.