Under the Volcano Intro

As you mentioned in your e-mail response and I commented on in my cover letter, this novel is incredibly dense and involved. I attempted to write an essay that discussed both the specific style and language choices as well as glossed over the main points that I focused on in my reading. In itself, this was a difficult task to take on. Each character and their story would be enough for an involved essay, let alone all the style choices Lowry makes, the historical and political points of reference, and the setting of the novel which becomes a character and story in its own right. However, this essay is intended to show the effect the novel had on me as both a reader and a writer. I mentioned this in my cover letter as well, but when I read a novel like this, I am spellbound by the sheer vastness it is able to cover. When I sit down to write a short story, I usually choose a setting I want to work with or a type of character that I feel drawn to, either one producing a fairly simple story that I try to quietly morph into something of importance, or at least pertinence. It amazes me when a writer is able to tackle such a huge undertaking, especially when that writer is able to create such a beautiful story out of something that seems unbearably daunting to me. I felt the same way when I read Eugenides' Middlesex. I don't know if I am able to even apply that type of amazement to my own writing yet, but I do think that the appreciation I have for such a different approach is beneficial, that I am able to pick out techniques and language that speak to me from such a different place. And although I feel my essay may have ended up being a little scattered, that is what I was trying to accomplish, a record of my experience as both a reader and a writer taking the journey through the truly epic account of the human experience in Lowry's novel.