Response to J.J,

            This story is about a young American boy who is traveling through Europe.  He meets and old man on a train on its way to Sorrento and the two have a conversation pretty much about life. The conflict in the middle of the story was unclear, it seemed the American boy and the old man just had different views on life. The real conflict didn’t really occur until the end. I wasn’t really sure exactly how the boy changed. I think the writer is trying to get across that you can’t always trust people or maybe that some just do what it takes to survive.

            I liked a lot of the descriptions in the story. I could visualize the old man light his pipe with his legs out in front, and leaning against the window. I though there, as well as other places the writer did a very good job of showing rather than telling. I also liked the image presented of the boy starring out the window and the attention to the type of gaze he had on his face. There were definitely some great descriptions in the story.

            While there was a lot of vivid description in the story I really didn’t connect with it. Nothing grabbed my attention at first and had me wondering the entire way through what was going to happen. I feel like the characters could be developed a lot more. The main issue I had was the ending. I got extremely confused because the conflict and description happened so fast.  I’m not sure it that was the intention or not but it really left me asking “what?”.  My main suggestions would be to develop the characters a little more. Tell us more about them, or show us through dialogue, otherwise you don’t make a real connection with any of them. Also, explain the ending a little better. Is the youth the thief, is the boy or the old man, or are they all trying to deceive one another? Maybe I read it wrong but that last bit just really confused me, so I would like to see it explained in much more detail.