Summarizer (with a twist) Chapters 7 and 8-Stephanie LaPointe

Chapter 7

           Right away Perry explains how he turned down a chance to be in a parade.  A lot of this chapter is dedicated towards explaining how the author is almost ashamed of being a writer.  He is ashamed because writing isn't considered to be "manly" in his neck of the woods.  Most of the people in New Auburn either work on a farm, or have another manual labor job.  Perry then goes on to give examples of how some of the ambulance runs he goes on turn violent, like the episode with the man who had a heart attack.  He also mentions he has had some bad books, like How to Hypnotize a Chicken.  Perry also dedicated a large part of this chapter to the comfort of having "rough hands".  He talks about how having rough hands allows you to fit in his hometown.  At times Perry is ashamed of his "soft hands" from being a writer.  Perry ends this chapter with a scene of him watching "Home" by Sheryl Crow, and how it relates to his life. 

     

Chapter 8

           This chapter mainly focuses on death.  Perry starts out by describing a talent he has, which is seeing people as a corpse.  Perry goes on to explain how bodies don't bother him, except for the body of a state patrol women one time.  Then Perry gives examples of all the different death scenarios he's been involved in.  He talks about when the Tracy dies and how deaths bring a community together.  He then goes on to to give a list of the strange deaths New Auburn has encountered, like the man killed by his farming machine.  During this chapter, Perry describes the difficulties he has with making decisions on whether people are dead or not.  Perry then throws in the scene about sleeping in the woods, and how its a unique experience.  He then ends with the story of when his brother died. 

How Perry Wrote these Chapters

            The author acts as a narrator in some parts of these chapters.  Most of the time he is in the role of a story-teller, like when he is telling the stories of his ambulance calls.  He also tends to skip from story to story, but connects them in the end.  When he tells a story, he starts with the scene, then moves to the main character, and then how he reacted to the scene.  Perry also includes his thoughts and opinions while telling stories, and analyzes them at the end.