Emma, having read several posts now about how the firing of the gun actually occurred, your post has resonated with me the most. We are inside A's head and he is not fully focused on the gun, therefore we are not focussed on it either, Arnold is trying to follow Eugie deftly through the fence, and on living up to his brother's "almost a man-ness."
Emma, having read several posts now about how the firing of the gun actually occurred, your post has resonated with me the most. We are inside A's head and he is not fully focused on the gun, therefore we are not focussed on it either, Arnold is trying to follow Eugie deftly through the fence, and on living up to his brother's "almost a man-ness."
This thread has been quite an education! As someone who doesn't know guns at all, nor the one in the story, the mechanism question didn't occur to me. It has helped me understand as per comments above, that a writer will convince some people with the way they handle an object, the description of it and how it is used, how much detail they add; and they will not convince others. A question of life experience?
A great lesson in any case: as a writer you will not please everyone.
Emma, having read several posts now about how the firing of the gun actually occurred, your post has resonated with me the most. We are inside A's head and he is not fully focused on the gun, therefore we are not focussed on it either, Arnold is trying to follow Eugie deftly through the fence, and on living up to his brother's "almost a man-ness."
This thread has been quite an education! As someone who doesn't know guns at all, nor the one in the story, the mechanism question didn't occur to me. It has helped me understand as per comments above, that a writer will convince some people with the way they handle an object, the description of it and how it is used, how much detail they add; and they will not convince others. A question of life experience?
A great lesson in any case: as a writer you will not please everyone.