Orlean's tone is very understanding and almost sympathetic. This tone develops throughout the course of the article because in the beginning, she seemed more unsure about taxidermy by saying: "The championships were held in April at the Springfield, Illinois, Crowne Plaza hotel, the sort of nicely appointed place that seems more suited to regional sales conferences and rehearsal dinners than to having wolves in the corridors and people crossing the lobby shouting, "Heads up! Buffalo coming through!"
Then towards the end, after having seen so many different pieces and hearing so many stories, her idea about the competition being at the same Crowne Plaza hotel shows more clearly: "The mere experience of waiting for the elevator -- knowing that the doors would peel back to reveal maybe a man and a moose, or a bush pig, or a cougar -- was much more exciting than the usual elevator wait in the usual Crowne Plaza hotel"
Seems to be a more positive response than before, aye?
Orlean seems to picture her readers as people who aren't exactly opposed to taxidermy, but naturally find it morbid; for God sakes it involves composing art of dead animals. But she lets us know: "To be good at taxidermy, you have to be good at sewing, sculpting, painting, and hairdressing, and mostly you have to be a little bit of a zoology nerd."
Now this is different from just saying "you have to be a zoologist" because the term "nerd" seems to be universal. In addition, "nerd" adds emphasis because not only are you intensely studying animals (zoology), you are obsessed with it. You adore it; you have a passion for memorizing the name of each tooth in a panda's mouth (do panda's even have teeth?)
This article enabled Orlean to express the amount of time and detail taxidermists put in to the profession. It may be more difficult for her to comprehend/ place detailed facts behind reasons accountants love their job.
I like the distinction you're trying to get at with those first two quotes about the location, but it is not as clear to me as it could be. Instead of letting the quotes speak for themselves, maybe unpack them a little bit. Was it a certain word that made the distinction for you? The images? The surrounding sentences? I know you have some great ideas, so make sure to slow down and explain them for your reader!
ReplyDeleteI can see by reading this that Orlean's perspective of the stereotypical general use of the Crowne Plaza Hotel had changed over the course of understanding taxidermy. At first, she saw it a place for business meetings. Then, after several conversations with some of the taxidermists, she realizes this IS a business for them, which readers realize as well.
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