Jeramey Kraatz’s story “The Biography of Blake Stone” depicts a story that many people can relate to, in a sense that many people might have done something kind of like this when they were kids.
Kraatz uses perfect detail in describing the chat room that Blake Stone was apart of. One could almost picture oneself in this online banquet chatting it up with all the wizards and beautiful online ladies. It is unbelievable how much detail he put into the entire essay. Kraatz builds this fine tooth image of “Blake Stone” you can almost see this person cruising down the street in his 2-door BMW smoking a cigarette. This detail in his writing helps readers know exactly what he wanted to be and what he thought the perfect guy was. When someone has this much detail it is hard not to keep reading. It helps the reader easily follow what is going on and flow through different ideas.
Kraatz takes this boring experience and turns it into a perfect example of how this changed his life and how he used to view a perfect guy. The way he described the chat rooms it almost makes me want to jump into this virtual world and cast some magic spells of my own. The moment when he starts making friends and has online girlfriends in the chat rooms really shows how something so innocent can turn so real. It is so intense when Blake and “AzraelAsh1” begin to fight over the one girl. It’s almost a little weird and twisted but he makes it seem like its perfectly normal for something like that to be happening. And when you think things couldn’t get better she chooses the Ash and is going to get married to him. Once he sees the picture of the girl he finally sees her for what she actually is. I think he realizes what he has actually been doing. He is just pretending to be some big show suave man but is actually just a little kid, and she is not the pretty woman he thought she was. Instead she is just an ordinary lady. At this point he understand that none of those people are who he thought they were just like he wasn’t who they thought he was. And he left the banquet room for good.
In this personal essay Kraatz tries to show us that not everything is always what it seems and I also think it is about childhood innocence. He shows through the end of his story that through his experience of trying to become a cool cat that he actually led this woman to believe he was interested in her and wanted a relationship. When in fact he was just a kid and just wanted escape reality and learn how to talk to girls. I can understand how some kids would find their way to chat rooms like this and how it is very relatable. I am sure a lot of kids when AOL first came out went searching on chat rooms for something kind of like this. Unfortunately the only chat room I have been on is for school. So I don’t have any experience in something like this. He tries to deliver this message to try and inform people to be themselves and to not mislead.
“…not everything is always what it seems.” I really admire the way you summed up the narrative. Jake, I entirely agree with you when you say that you could almost see Blake cruising down the street in his BMW. I was happy to learn that you appreciate the details mentioned. I also agree with you that Kraatz realized what he was doing when he saw the girl’s picture.
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