Critique on "Cynthia"

Sara Angela Rodriguez

A415-002/Chambers

Student Critique/ Cynthia

4/26/2013

Cynthia, a told part in dialogue and part as a third person narrative, tells the story of two roommates and how their differences lead one, Cynthia, to kill the other with a steak knife. How the tension between the two begins is not show, but what we do know is that it has gotten to the point where Cynthia can’t stand to be at home, see Jill eat her Cool Ranch Doritos, or see Jill’s chapped lips. I feel that because we don’t see how the tension begins and we don’t see Jill doing anything too off the wall bitchy we get the feeling that Cynthia is crazy. I don’t think that’s the case. I think that Cynthia is just so fed up with Jill to the point where she snaps and does the only thing logical at the moment, kills her. Though I think that this is what really happened, there is no evidence in the story to support that. I really wish we could see a confrontation between Jill and Cynthia or we could see a flashback so we get an idea of where their relationship began (for comparative purposes). I also think that in order to better illustrate and justify Cynthia’s and Jill’s actions we have to see a little more of Jill; we have to see what she thinks of Cynthia, how she treats Cynthia, and why. I feel that if you just gave us a little more information about them as a pair that we would be able to see how they came to this point in their relationship and we wouldn’t think that Cynthia’s actions and her sentiments towards Jill escalated so quickly. Aside from that, I really like the structure and the content of the piece; the imagery especially. Keep up the good work.