There is an article called “How to Write a Memoir” by William Zinsser that contains three main pieces of advice, think small, be yourself, and speak freely. I read a book called “Guts” by Gary Paulsen that follows two of these pieces of advice. In chapter two of “Guts” Gary follows Zinsser’s advice on writing as you speak. He talks about the time when the carburetor in the Cessna he was in froze over. The pilot landed the plane on a frozen river covered with snow, as the plane was equipped with wheels and skis.
The book that I have chosen for this semester was “Life in motion”, an autobiography by Misty Copeland. I personally chose to read this book because it is about a dancer and I am a dancer. This book stood out to me because she is my inspiration and has been for a long time. I look up to her and I decided well, to read a book about my inspiration.
In the memoir’’ How to write a memoir’’, written by William Zinsser, Zinsser goes into specific detail for beginner memoir writers on how do you write a memoir. He encourages each of them to ‘’ Be themselves’’,’’ Tell their own story and they should write about what they want’’, and ‘’ Think small, don’t over think what you are writing about. ’’(Zinsser’s memoir pages 2,4,6) This advice tells beginner memoir writer to express who you are and say as much as you would like to say. In the memoir ‘’ Bad Boy’’, Walter Dean Myers gives a lot of insight on what his childhood was like.
It is often said that you shouldn't let other people's opinions dictate how you think of yourself and how you live life, but in this case, it ends up leading the protagonists to self discovery. In the stories, “The Pose” by Anwer Khan, the girl acts as a mannequin to find out how people truly feel about her. On the other hand, in “Mirror Image” by Lena Coakley, Alice gets a brain transplant and is conflicted trying to find out whether she's still Alice or Gail. Throughout the stories, “Mirror Image” and “The Pose”, the girls both struggle to find self acceptance. As the stories progress, the opinions of others end up guiding them to value their
One will eventually come across the day where they are able to figure out who they truly are as a person. A discovery like this will lead to new chapters of life and start new beginnings. Although finding one 's identity can be difficult to understand and accept, it is crucial in life to discover oneself. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a teenage girl, who had to overcome and deal with an awful tragedy, takes readers on the long journey she walked before finding meaning and value in who she is as a person.
The Glass Castle is the story of Jeannette Walls and her family. Constantly short on cash and food, the family lives a nomadic lifestyle. For the first part of Jeannette’s life, her family lives in various mining towns on the West Coast. As Jeannette grew in these towns so did her imagination; she was enchanted by nature and the fantasies her father dreamt up for her and her siblings. Life in the desert ends when Rex 's alcoholism worsens; they leave the desert and relocate to Welch, West Virginia, the town where Rex grew up.
In the poem "Ode to Dirt" by Sharon Olds, the speakers complex attitude toward dirt evolves from one of disgust to one of admiration and even approval. Olds uses a variety of word choices and figurative language to convey this growth. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes dirt as "mud / and dust / and dirt / clods / that stick to your shoes. " The use of these simple, plain words conveys a sense of disgust and disrespect for dirt. The speaker goes on to describe how, as a child, they were forced to clean the dirt off their shoes and wash their hands "as if God / and the germs would be angry with us."
When you decide that success is something you want out of life, there should be an expectation of sacrifice, as well age is no exception. Annie John is a 17 year old from Barbados, she's the main character in the story, “A Walk to the Jetty” by Jamaica Kincaid. Marita is a 12 year old from the Bronx, NY, and is the main character in the essay, “Marita's Bargain” by Malcolm Gladwell. These two girls are completely different but oddly enough the same as well. In this essay I will be justifying and or explaining why this is so.
The short story Updike's by John Updike is narrated by Sammy, a young teenage boy who works as a cashier at a local grocery store called A&P. However, Sammy like many other people in the world, tries to make some money by working in a small town, unlike other people, Sammy refuses to be stuck in the same job for a long time. Sammy is attracted by three young teenage girls who walked in the local grocery store with their bathing suits on, but nothing else. Sammy is fascinated, he describes them in a elaborate details. However, when he see the three girls he nicknames the Queenie.
I was able to become proficient in this through the three different essays. These essays included a personal narrative, an analytical and argumentive essay. When I first began my personal narrative, "Learning to Ride A Bike," I dreaded it. For me, writing about a personal experience is difficult. The main purpose of a narrative is to express yourself, but I also had to keep in mind that I had an audience as well.
Why do people write memoirs? The most obvious answer is that to share their unique journey of life with others. However, it goes far beyond that. By writing memoirs, The writers can also reveal things in their life that they never notice before, some reminisces that become meaningful after time went by, and some decisions that were made subconsciously but profound. The memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City written by Nick Flynn tells Flynn’s arduous journey through life, having a father who never shows up and a mother who committed suicide during his time in college.
Still life #30 by Tom Wesselmann Figure 1: Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #30, 1963. Oil, enamel and synthetic polymer paint on composition board with collage, 122 x 167.5 x 10 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York (Gualdoni 2008: 40-41). In Still life #30 you find a depiction of the ideal post-war suburban American kitchen, aesthetically and clinically sound.
“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie In Sherman Alexie’s autobiographical essay, he uses an extended metaphor to compare and contrast himself and a fictional character Superman. Illustrations that was used by Alexie made a huge impact on this essay. It helps the readers better understand what is being said in Alexie’s “Superman and Me”. On this essay, Alexie mentions how he can see his family being a paragraph. Also, one of an extended metaphor that was used is how Superman and Alexie broke down the doors.
As said by Louise J. Kaplan, “Adolescence represents an inner emotional upheaval, a struggle between the eternal human wish to cling to the past and the equally powerful wish to get on with the future”. In the story “The bicycle’’, by Jillian Horton, Hannah is going through her adolescent age which brings a lot of emotional changes in her life. Hannah was a very devoted, ignorant and hard working girl in the start of the story. When she was 15 years old she slowly changed and now wanted to be independent and didn 't like to follow the rules anymore. By the end of the story, she broke all the rules and wanted to follow her heart 's desires.
Music in general touches everyone, but too many there will always be that one song that they can really connect with. That “story” is their story. The first step in writing a song is simple, a songwriter needs to know what they want to write about. For most it is easiest to write about something they have experienced.
