Thursday, December 10, 2015
Personal Narratives
Personal narratives are hard. I remember feeling a sort of relief when it was announced that a personal narrative would be our final paper. After spending a good week stuck in regards to what topic I would write about, I know now that I'm pretty clueless about myself. I finally decided to just write about a recent good memory, one that I very thoroughly documented and thus won't forget any of the details (which happens a lot). I still haven't gone in and made any changes to my first draft yet, but it was a really cool experience to see my own personal memory be communicated to other people. Their opinions are really helpful, and I am working to write in a way that my memories will be preserved.
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I agree with this completely!! I was so relieved that the personal narrative was our last essay because before I had always found talking about my first-hand experiences simpler. After going through the rest of the semester in this class however, I'm much more aware of my place in the world and how my analysis comes across to my readers. It made writing about something that happened to me personally significantly harder because I had to take my analysis to a place that would reveal something different not only to my reader but also to myself. I'd have to take something embedded in my memory and turn it on its head. I thought the exercise was healthy though, because it taught me that more or less, every paper we write is a research paper. You must delve into any subject or even a fictional piece with the purpose of finding something new.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's nice to have the personal narrative as our last essay. After writing analytical papers and discussing personal and social identities, we have a better and broader understanding of our own experiences. When we recall a memory, we first think of the overall feelings during the experience, and then details like time, place and process occur to us. For example, if I tell my friends I had a fall, I will complain it is painful and then tell them where I hurt my knees and how careless I was. We can also organize the essay in this way: first set up the emotional tone, then add details and relate to our identities, and finally reach the conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI too had a sense of relief when we had a personal narrative as our last essay, however I personally knew exactly the moment I was going to write about that changed my life. I did not know however know exactly how I was going to communicate (basically my life story) into words and make it understandable to someone who did not go though what I went through.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think personal narrative are harder than analytical essays in some ways, but also easier in some ways. It can harder to write about yourself, but easier to write about something you are familiar with firsthand.
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