Reflective Essay 'Show Don T Tell'

After contemplating the purpose of a memoir several things came to mind. I believe it can serve to be cathartic for the writer as they can be set free by working through certain events in their life. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, I think a memoir can serve as a way to for the writer to tell their story in a vivid way that allows the readers to feel like they are living the experience and perhaps to learn a valuable lesson from their story. Therefore, I chose to analyze two memoirs they were Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie and “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. I concentrated on trying to determine the purpose of each piece in order to indicate what pivotal aspects were employed that either helped or hindered them in achieving that purpose.

In “How to Write a Memoir” William Zinsser gives very detailed and important advice to writers interested in writing a memoir. He gives the specific advice of “Be yourself,” “Speak Freely,” and “Think Small” (Zinsser, 2, 4, 6). These tips advise writers to not only think about what they want to say in their story but also how they want to tell their story. Many memoir authors choose to follow this advice and write their story using these points, but many do not. In the memoir “A Summer Life”, Gary Soto follows Zinsser’s writing advice through his use of writing from the point of view of a young child, speaking freely about his early life events, and writing about his life in small structure chapters.

The story of my history as a writer is a very long one. My writing has come full circle. I have changed very much throughout the years, both as I grew older and as I discovered more aspects of my own personality. The growth that I see when I look back is incredible, and it all seems to revolve around my emotions. I have always been a very emotional girl who feels things keenly. All of my truly memorable writing, looking back, has come from experiences that struck a chord with my developing self. This assignment has opened my eyes, despite my initial difficulty in writing it. When I was asked to write down my earliest memory of writing, at first I drew a blank. All of a sudden, it became very clear to me, probably because it had some

I was in high school the first time I had to write a narrative. I was a freshman. This was Ms. Bradley’s first time teaching at Union Christian Academy. On her first day, she gave us our syllabus and said, “I do not accept late work, especially on writing assignments.” We, literally, sat there stunned. My freshman class had it very easy during eighth grade year. We were not expecting this. As I looked through the syllabus, I saw that our first assignment was due in a week and it was a narrative. At this time, I did not even know what a narrative was. Ms. Bradley explained that a narrative was an account or story of events. It could be either true or false. Our narrative had to be true. It had to be a true account of something that happened to us over the summer. She wanted to gauge how are writing skills were. Our narrative had to be at least two to two and a half pages long. I chose to write my first ever narrative on my trip to Fort Worth, Texas. Once again, I was plagued with writer’s block. I had the story in my head, but everything I

In Zinsser’s “How to Write a Memoir” he gives you three pieces of advice, be yourself, speak freely, and think small. I’m going to be comparing these three pieces of advice to my memoir I’ve read ”Guts”. I will be writing at least 5 paragraphs minimum for my essay. Now that I told you what I’m going to be doing, lets get right to it!

A good story is always structured with details that are easy to follow while intriguing readers with reality and emotions. Edwidge Danticat’s memoir has proven her ability to use descriptions that allows the text and the readers to connect. Through her writing, she is able to get the reader involved in her situation, so that it is as if they are experiencing it too. Adding on, Danticat cleverly writes each type of description in a way that makes them distinct from each other. This connects the two which adds to her message. Descriptions bring life to her story and stresses the real events that happened to her and her family which displays her message effectively. That being said, without objective and subjective descriptions, any piece

For this assignment we were asked to write a memoir about a significant event in our life. We were graded on our ability to create an engaging opening, write a powerful storyline with a complex self-awareness, and create a piece with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It was expected that we followed MLA format and at least two pages long. For my memoir I wrote about a time I injured myself. I think the main purpose of the assignment was to get us to think about how events in our life impacted who we are today. It was also meant to encourage us to analyze how we reacted to a certain situation and why we reacted in the way we did. Overall it was meant to help us analyze who we are as a person and better understand how we came to be that

It all started when I was the new girl in sixth grade at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. It was the third day when I first came in and I didn't know anybody. I had math in 8th period and I sat next to Becca. The first time I talked to her is when I needed a pencil and asked her to borrow one. It was really awkward at first because we didn't know each other and we were both really shy. Later, me and Becca started talking a little more everyday from “This class is boring” to “Sit next to me at lunch”. After me and Becca started talking more we started to realize we have almost every class together. We then started to partner up when we could for partner projects. Then we were pretty much good friends

The creation of memoirs by writers who have gone through traumatic experiences, or just experiences that are worth remembering are necessary for humanity to move forward. Ranging from the first childbirth creating a new mother, to survivors of one of the greatest terrors in history: the Holocaust, memories are required to be recorded for the sake of mankind. Memories are valuable in the fact that they can be lost so easily and forgotten that they ever existed. There are things that you have said, things that others have said, experiences you've lived through that you will never remember again, as if it never happened. Days that you can't even recall the simplest details about. The memory of my birth is important not in the sense that it was

I think the best part of my narrative is my introduction and conclusion. My introduction sets a mysterious tone by stating “I always wondered how would my life…” By starting the

In grade school, my teacher scribbled on my paper in bold red ink, “Great story! You should be an author. Do you know what that is?” My dream to write a Memoir was born.

have made mistakes or are cautious about taking risks. That is, because my memoir includes me doing something I have never done, yet the results for anyone in any situation wont always be negative like mine. To connect to the reader, I have written in first person perspective.

I attended the "Fathering Word: The Making of an African American Writer" lecture by E. Ethelbert Miller, Miller is an advocate for the arts and a Howard University graduate. Miller started his lecture by saying that being an author was a lonely job, but it was worth it because he enjoyed getting the opportunity to attend events all over the country and meeting the many audience members. Miller says that literature takes you behind the scenes, for example, he talked about how in reality his father was an average working class man, but in his stories his father was elevated to seem like a "Greek god". Miller also mentioned how literature allowed him to reveal secrets of your life that you wouldn 't necessarily want to say out loud. After his opening remarks Miller went on to talk about the important factors that are included in a memoir, he said that a memoir is a collection of someone 's memories and their thoughts of the events. Miller also made an interesting point about if a person has the right to remember or erase a memory from their memoir, but before you make that decision you should ask yourself, "what can a person learn from your life.” (Miller) A memoir is about storytelling and what have you been a witness to. The magic should start on the first page and it 's very important that the first sentence grabs their attention because you want to make people who don 't know you want to read about you.

My six word memoir is about my significant other. I wrote my memoir about her, because not only does she make me super happy. She also has been a really big help over the past few months. Over the recent months she’s helped me get job interviews, and she’s helped me get my life set back on track. She’s also been one of few people that actually hung out with me over the summer. That, and honestly she makes me so happy by honestly doing

A memoir is based on a specific and significant memory of the author’s choosing. In How to Write a Memoir by William Zinsser, Zinsser advocates those who are planning to write a memoir themselves and many of the suggestions given relate to Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes. Zinsser motivates the writers to be honest with their memories, to use their memoir as a way of healing, and to recapture their past in great depth.