Weblog 7

Why are writers driven to write, according to Tobias Wolff? Also, what does Wolff say should be our motivation in reading short stories?

On page seven, Tobias Wolff says, “Writers can never be sure, in the act of writing, if anyone will pay that price for the company of their words. We proceed on faith but in doubt, dreaming uncertainly of readers who will justify this lonely work by passion equal to our own.” This says that when writers write, they do not know if anybody will be isolated to read their (the writers’) words. It then says that they, the writers, continue to write in doubt, only hoping readers will admire the writing as much as the writers themselves. This is an explanation for the motivation for writers to write, so that they can receive the satisfaction of satisfying the readers. Also, writers write because they want to share certain experiences they encountered in their life, hoping to find a commonality between the readers and themselves.
This search for a sense of commonality between the writer and the reader thus leads to our motivation in reading short stories. On page 8, Wolff says, “… so convincing in their portrayal that the reader had to acknowledge kinship. That sense of kinship is what makes stories important to us.” Here, Tobias Wolff states that the sense of kinship or commonality makes us read more, because we care about it and we know what the writer is feeling. He also says, “ Those are the stories that endure in our memories…” By this, Wolff meant that the sense of kinship causes readers to remember the stories because the both writer and reader share something. In addition to this, Wolff goes on and says, “But when we read we are alert and undefended, and liable to be struck hard.” This sentence states that when reading, we, the readers, are able to be struck hard and be excited, which motivates us to read.