Tag Archives: Joseph Mitchell

Joseph Mitchell’s is very descriptive in his writing and paints a clear picture of Joe Gould. Mitchell’s first draft Professor Sea Gull is written as a feature story. The writing is descriptive, but the language in this piece is dated at times. “Once in a while he trudges up to Harlem and goes to one of the establishments known as “Extensions of Heavens” that are operated by followers of Father Divime, the Negro evangelist,” is an example of Mitchell’s use of dated language. His references to African Americans, prices of things and describing Gould as a Bohemian keep the writing trapped in a time period.

The language in Mitchell’s rewrite, Joe Gould’s Secret, is more lively and timeless. The overall flow of the rewrite is that of a novel and not a basic feature. The descriptions are more compelling and the piece is organized different from Professor Sea Gull. This allowed Mitchell to develop Gould in a chronological order with more detail about his background. The reorganization further allowed the reader to connect more with Gould’s character. As a result, Joe Gould’s Secret is longer than the original. In this case, longer is better because the writing is more contemporary and easier to read through. The downside is that the essence of the time period that is written becomes blurred, but the reader is reassured by the mention of dates and specific historical events.

Mitchell’s writing clearly matured in between the original and the rewrite. He seem to have learned more about Gould the second time around. Mitchell’s opinion is clear because both pieces seem to be written from his point of view. Joe Gould’s Secret contains more of his opinion than his original. Mitchell’s uses first person in the rewrite to personally describe Gould. In Professor Gould, he is more neutral describing the situation in third person, but not from specific personal opinion. This is what makes Joe Gould’s secret more of a novel or modern feature.