TOW #10 - Dog Days and Starlit Nights (written)

     Dog Days and Starlit Nights is a nonfiction short story written by Angie J. Mayfield. She is an English professor at Vincennes University in Indiana. This short factoid helps to establish her credibility as a writer. This short piece is about her finding a stray dog on the side of a road and taking it in as her on. She recollects on her children's first reactions and hers and how the dog adapted to its new home.
     It is a short story that is directly to the point but filled with just enough to keep the reader intrigued. One of her strongest strategies with this piece is her imagery. Mayfield really paints the scene and describes every happening with great detail. In such a short piece it is important to be concise yet thick. What I mean by this is that it is called a short story for a reason, because it is supposed to be exactly that. But this does not mean that simplistic language is necessary nor that the content has to be weak. Even the shortest of stories can be powerful, such as this one.
    Branching off this idea of the how powerful this piece is, is the way that Mayfield appeals to pathos. She creates this appeal through her previous mentioned descriptions. She mentions the withering state of the dog and how easily her family welcomed such a poorly appearing creature into their home. Right there we have two major elements that create an emotional reaction. The mention of family and dogs are usually things that spark some type of feeling. Mayfield takes advantage of this to connect to her audience.
     I believe that the audience of this piece is people as a whole. To get them to realize that even the most broken looking of things have the ability to heal. This idea also relates to he purpose. An example of how she appeals to both audience and her purpose is when she first found this dog it was scavenging for food and was stick thin but that didn't stop her from welcoming the creature into her home to be taken care of. Every creature deserves love and compassion and the chance to be repaired and I think that is her purpose in writing such a piece.

http://www.backhandstories.com/non-fiction/dog-days-and-starlit-nights-by-angie-j-mayfield/#more-253