Assignment 6: Choices

One of Susan Orleans first writerly choices was going into depth about taxidermy. I think she chose to do this because she wanted to give insight to her readers to what she was talking about. She wanted us to know the history of taxidermy so we can see that it is something that people actually take serious.

A second writerly choice that Susan Orlean chooses to portray is quoting a lot of taxidermist conversations at the taxidermy convention. A woman in the whitetail division told Susan Orlean that she loved deer and that they are her “babies”. This weirded me out. I feel that Orlean wanted the reader to feel this way though. She wanted her reader to feel a certain way about taxidermy and the people who partake in this hobby without verbally incorporating her feelings.

A third choice that Susan Orlean chooses to incorporate was her tone. She had a very neutral tone. Orlean was more of an informer in this piece. She gave background information on the topic and informed her readers on what all happens with taxidermy and at the conventions. She didn’t give her own opinion about how she felt on taxidermy. This would have made the article less appealing to the reader because it would have been bias. We would have automatically sided with her if she went on and on about how gross taxidermy was.  Instead, she keeps the reader interested.