Key Features:
-
Essential:
o A
conflict/ personal struggle
o Self-reflection
o Creating
something extraordinary from something seemingly ordinary
o Defining
moments in one’s life
o Inner
strength
o Writing
to cope
o Creative
description
-
Non-Essential:
o Harsh
realities faced
o Brutal
honesty
o Acceptance
of self
o Cynical
voice
o Self-deprecating,
yet uplifting/humorous voice
o Finding
positive in the negative
o Conflict
resolution
“Out There”- Jo Ann
Beard
In this
piece, Beard is very descriptive, and writes almost as if she is telling a
fictional story. Despite the underlying
seriousness of her impending divorce and being chased by a derelict, she carries
a sarcastic undertone throughout that is nothing less than entertaining,
mentioning her delusions of alligators and digging into the element of suspense
with her highway car chase. She faces
her personal struggle by taking time to self-reflect, honing in on her inner strength and in turn coping with the
situation at hand.
“Portrait of My Body”
– Phillip Lopate
I found
Lopate’s short story to be the most descriptive and humorous piece of the
four. His absolute brutal honesty when
reflecting on his thoughts about himself and his self-image is just a snapshot
of how self- deprecating someone’s views of themselves can be. We all carry some element of self-loathing
and, in contrast, self-confidence as evidenced by Lopate’s love/hate
relationship with himself. His work is
written less like a story and more like a diary or autobiographical confession,
touching upon subjects as serious as attempted suicide and as disgusting as his
questionable acts of belly-button sniffing.
I found this piece to be uplifting and, at times, inspirational. Lopate’s emphasis on one’s self-worth is
commendable; I believe we all take ourselves too seriously.
“Some Things About
That Day” – Debra Marquart
This was,
by far, one of the most depressing and unsettling works I have ever read. Marquart’s short, cryptic and almost rigid
style of writing mirrored the mood of the subject matter. Her choppy sentences were very cold, monotone
and numbing. Marquart was clearly
writing to cope, not just with the loss of her unborn child, but with the
choice, the process and the reaction of her husband which makes the reader
question their relationship. This is
obviously a defining moment in Marquart’s life, and a symbol of her inner
strength, even if she hadn’t much of a choice but to be strong.
“I Think I’m Musing
My Mind” – Roger Ebert
Ebert’s
short story seemed to be written more like a magazine article. It was autobiographical and reflective in
nature, but did not dwell on the conflict at all. Instead, he turns his inability to speak into
a conversation about why he loves writing and that his writing talents seem to
more than compensate for his lack of verbal speech. His continuing positivity throughout the
piece is both uplifting and inspirational, showing how one man’s short-comings
can be overcome by perseverance and shifting one’s focus from the dwelling on
the negative to celebrating the positive.
Differences in Form: Short vs. Long
In
comparing the short pieces to the longer ones, I find that the primary
difference is that the longer pieces seem to be written more for the reader’s
entertainment than for the writer. It is
clear that the author’s of these two works deliberately chose the descriptive
words and ideas that they did in order to evoke a chuckle from their audience
at the appropriate times, etc. Both
Beard and Lopate’s writings seem to be more imaginative, whereas Marquart and
Ebert tend to be more straightforward and precise. Marquart’s writing really struck a chord with
me. It felt as if I were seeing the
clinic as she described it through her choppy, monotone sentences. Her language is steady, blunt and numbing,
much like the way she was most likely feeling throughout her entire
experience. As I previously mentioned, I
felt that Ebert’s piece was written like an informative magazine article, as if
someone said to him, “Hey, Roger! Think you could talk to us a little bit about
your speech issues and how you’ve overcome them?” His work was more like a long answer to an
interview question, than a story like Beard’s and Lopate’s.
I feel that
all four stories, as with most, if not all, creative non-fiction, were written
as coping mechanisms for the author’s.
Whether directly or indirectly, I feel that anyone who writes creative
non-fiction is telling a story for a reason, usually in order for themselves to
accept it and move on; for once it’s written down, it can be, in a sense,
forgotten. I don’t mean that it
necessarily has to be a controversial issue or something unsettling, but people
write about things because they are important to them and writing it down is
comforting to the soul.
JUST FOR FUN:
I read an interesting New York Times article about a creative writing workshop for Veterans. I can only imagine the stories that are being written!
Here is the link for anyone who is interested:
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