What does it mean to be a writer? How do we “become’ writers? This is a big question, of course, and there are many answers. What it means to “be’ a writer is unique to every writer. You are a unique person, and your experience as a writer will be unique. There is no “right’ way to be a writer, and following a formula will stymie the kind of exploration that helps you develop your own voice.
Perhaps try to freewrite for five minutes or so on this question, or make a list. Consider your preconceived notions about what it means to be a writer from your unique perspective. Consider the role of the writer in the world, and in your culture. Consider the responsibility you ascribe to writers. But most of all, consider why you read. Do this exercise in the second person (addressed to You), as if you are giving instructions.
Then, head over to Blackboard to read Lorrie Moore’s short story titled “How to Become a Writer,’ and see how your ideas intersect and diverge with her narrator’s, as well as how your approaches to the question differ.
Moore’s “instructions’ may be fiction, but they have real world applicability, in that they remind us how personal the act of writing is. And so we’re starting with nonfiction for a specific reason: because our personal memories are our primary fuel for imaginative writing. Even the most wild, fantastical novel will make use of memory in some way. For example, how something tasted to us may help us describe how it tastes to a character, or we may reconstitute an interaction we had with another person for a character, or a childhood experience that changed us be a catalyst for our character’s development. Similarly, a poem might use a memory as a launching point for an idea; a memory of a sensory experience may help us construct a memorable image or metaphor.
Barrie Jean Borich (in your handout, available on Blackboard) defines Creative Nonfiction as “memory-or-fact-based writing that makes use of the styles and elements of fiction, poetry, memoir, and essay. It is writing about and from a world that includes the author’s life and/or the author’s eye on the lives of others. . . . the world as seen through the scrim of each of our personal experiences.’
But of course, not all personal experiences will hold meaning and significance to us, and sometimes the memories that stick with us will surprise us. The first time I was stung by a bee, I was in nursery school sitting on a slide; it had landed on my arm, and I remember that I held as still as possible, and yet it still stung me. I remember these thirty seconds in nursery school very clearly. But I do not remember my graduation from nursery school, or my first day of kindergarten, or the first day I read aloud a sentence. Sometimes, we have to let go of these assumptions that we are “supposed to’ be writing about specific events that the world deems important. Tiny moments open vast worlds.
So how do we find memories to fuel our writing?
Head over to Blackboard (to Course Materials) and read the poetic essay “I Remember, I Remember’ by Mary Ruefle. Note how the piece moves associatively from point to point, like a mind in the process of imagining. Note also how both tiny and momentous memories are all–by nature of appearing on an unranked list–placed on the same level of significance, illustrating how even the seemingly smallest moments in our lives–e.g. a memory of a scent we can’t forget, a letter we received–can be important for our writing. You do not need to start big— a death, a birth, etc.–you just need to start somewhere.
Your first homework assignment is to write your own “I Remember, I Remember’ piece. You will submit this to Blackboard. More details can be found under Homework Assignments.
Your reading response is due on Thursday in the comments section below. Please respond to either “I Remember, I Remember” or “How to Become a Writer.” Shoot for about 200 words.
Devin Byrd
As I understand it, the primary message behind Ruefle’s piece is that each author’s writing style is a product of their own psyche, which is in turn a culmination of all their experiences throughout their life. I enjoy her pacing, and believe she strikes a fine balance between imagery and progression, but I find her tone distractingly conceited. I understand the purpose of the work is to demonstrate how one’s writing evolves alongside one’s life, and it’s fitting then that the writing primarily focuses on her life experiences from her perspective and excerpts from her own thoughts during those times, but the way she regards anyone who wasn’t an inspiration to her with a dismissive, almost condescending tone, as if they were dumb animals, while describing her own epiphanies and treasured moments throughout her life as though they were the trials of Christ, is reminiscent of the autobiography of a fourteen year old without a single mote of self-awareness.
I assume the negativity of my opinion regarding Ruefle’s piece is mostly due to my own strong aversion to melodrama more than the author’s lacking maturity. In reflection, I suppose if her intention was to demonstrate exactly how strongly an author’s work embodies their personality, she succeeded in her goal.
Sarah Corbett
Reading Response 1: Lorie Moores ‘How To Become a Writer’ struck a chord with me because I don’t write creatively anymore. Most of my writing is done for school purposes: essays, reports, etc. It’s something that I’m really good at, but it means that my only good writing skills are very factual, persuasive, and to the point. I’ve always felt very silly whenever I try to stray away from argumentative essays, or MLA format – worried that my writing style would be laughed out of the room. I don’t know when that worry devolved though, because I used to confidently write and share my own poetry and short stories on a regular basis early in high school. Over time though, small embarrassments added up, and that doubt kept me from picking up the pen one day. This doubt is what I connected with in ‘How To Become a Writer’; their continuous struggle for someone to understand the way they wrote, their faltering confidence at times – but despite others doubting them, they still found their writing to be genius. I often found myself laughing out loud, and connecting with the very dry and silly humor that the author was writing about in this short narrative. It was right up my alley, and really helped me understand how other people might approach the writing process – something that as an adult I have only really approached with a very clinal mindset, whereas others might approach in a much more wild and organic way. And it may sound a little silly, but this peak into the life of a writer made me feel so much more confident in anything I might come up with, even if other people don’t always enjoy or understand it. It helped ease a little of the pressure I feel to create and present a ‘perfect’ piece of writing. Because there isn’t such a thing as a perfect piece of creative writing, this isn’t like writing an essay with strict rules; it’s much more personal and flexible. It looks different for everyone. And I get the feeling that will be the biggest thing for me to overcome with my creative writing.
Sara Johnson
“It helped ease a little of the pressure I feel to create and present a ‘perfect’ piece of writing. Because there isn’t such a thing as a perfect piece of creative writing, this isn’t like writing an essay with strict rules; it’s much more personal and flexible. It looks different for everyone. And I get the feeling that will be the biggest thing for me to overcome with my creative writing.” — This is a great observation and so important! The biggest hurdle to creative writing is anxiety from internal pressure, that feeling that what you’re doing isn’t good enough. Both these pieces were assigned to help you all feel more comfortable just exploring your own creative talents without all that pressure of being “good.”
Miranda Reynolds
I have chosen to respond to “I Remember, I Remember” by Mary Reufle. When she describes her relationship with Little Brown and Company, she uses the same memory to illustrate both a comforting moment and an unforgiving one, which I find particularly interesting and worth experimenting with. Reufle uses the specific language as a transition between two parts of her life. She starts with nostalgic language, like “they could read minds” and her relationship with Laura Ingalls Wilder, to fit with the childish memories at the beginning. However, she slowly transitions into adult memories of her parent’s deaths, describing the picture she was sent by the publishing company. She notes her unfamiliarity with the term “threshing machine” as a child, implying, by including it as a one-sentence paragraph before later events, that she understood it at a more mature age.
Reufle also uses a subtextual theme as her title inspiration. On page 230, she notes that to finally understand a particular allusion, she read “I Remember, I Remember” by Philip Larkin, suggesting this was the inspiration for her title. Furthermore, her juxtaposition of the title inspiration with the allusion of poetry as either ahead or behind its time implies that her whole piece is grappling with this theme.
Namely, she comments on what is or is not okay to remember and how that shapes a person. This is obvious with her memory of reading to the cows in Switzerland and how it was serious to her except that later, she wondered if the inclusion of cows allowed it to be somber. Similarly, another teacher showed her class a baby picture of Yeats and she did not know whether to feel amused or not. I am hoping to experiment in my own piece with the dual themes that Reufle uses.
Ainsley Smith
I chose to respond to Mary Ruefle’s piece, “I Remember, I Remember.” Ruefle’s writing shows the reader that the experiences and the memories that a person has greatly impacts their writing style. It is evident because throughout the pages, each stanza would connect her personal experience to how she would grow as a writer and how writing was greatly impacting in her memories. For example, on page 231, she is writing about a young girl name Lizette in high school, who she was afraid to befriend due to her being an “outsider.” In the stanza, she talks about how poetry was their best way to speak to one another, letting the reader know that poetry greatly impacted her relationship. She even mentioned that even though they marveled at writing, she was afraid to start a relationship with Lizette. In the next stanza, she mentions that she remembers thinking about what could have happened to the girl. The two stanzas resembled a theme of regret in her past because she mentions looking back onto a possible relationship that could have started.
Her piece as a whole acted like a reflection into her soul. She poured out her inner most thoughts that have existed since she was a young child. It allowed the reader to watch Ruefle grow in her maturity as a person, which impacted her success as a writer today. She uses strong imagery, especially when talking about her memories of her youth. She mentions, “I remember I was a child, and when I grew up I was a poet. It all happened at sixty miles per hour…” (Ruefle 242), showing the reader how fast the time goes past her. Her use of nostalgia throughout the piece is captivating because it reminds the reader of their own memories that they forgot about. People are reminded of the smaller things in life that impacted the way they grow up.
Her writing in general is a piece to think back through the past. What were some of the most impact memories? Which ones are remembered the most? Which ones are the most dear? Mary Ruefle does a splendid job of using imagery and flashbacks to take the reader through her mind. Her writing is a time capsule showing how poetry has influenced her and how much the memories have influenced her poetry.
Nadezhda Finley
I decided to respond to Mary Ruefle’s “I Remember, I Remember.” This poem was not what I expected it to be, particularly as it was described as partially internally disassociated. I was expecting to find a poem with no particular meaning or purpose other than to bring back familiar memories for the author. Instead, I found that the memories flowed together (also as previously described) to create a picture of Ruefle’s life yoked to her journey of growth and maturity in understanding the world of art. Ruefle uses the non-chronological structure of her piece to insert pertinent points of her growth and understanding as she discovers that artists are not all famous, there is no one way of creating art, and not all art will draw out the same intense spark of inspiration for everyone.
Within the overall structure of flowing memories all beginning with “I remember,” Ruelfe makes use of long, sauntering sentences. Sentences that feel like run-ons if you are not already immersed in the reading but enhance the feeling of reminiscence when read in captivity to the work. This fluidity of both sentence style and overall piece structure help communicate that art is not meant to be made by following specific cadences, syntaxes, forms, or shapes; rather, art is something unique to each item given. Art can be as strange as reading poetry while shooting oneself in the head with a cap gun, as awe-inspiring as ancient-looking furniture, or as soul draining as words conveying feelings of helplessness and despair.
“I Remember, I Remember” struck me as a poem of thought– external processing, if you will. The piece saunters and brings up some points (such as Ruefle’s “getting” Rilke’s Duino Eleges and weeping uncontrollably) that have more meaning to the author than the reader may ever understand. This kind of writing is such that invites others into the life of the author, that opens the doors to those willing to decipher the author’s world.
Sara Johnson
Yes, and note that this flow of her memories in “I Remember, I Remember” is non-linear. Artistic journeys are rarely linear or straightforward. (Nor is memory.)
Johnny Bishop
So reading I remember, I remember got my imagination to bring back so many memories from my childhood. The way she portrays herself is so innocent and a little naïve depending on the memory. She uses different transitions of language between what a child would say and what a young adult would say that I think tied together like a string of memories in a memoir. It was like an entire lifetime in a book. Reading through this poem made me realize it doesn’t matter how you write, because your style of writing is unique to you. It doesn’t in anyway mean that your way is wrong. Even when you get that “rejection” letter from someone it doesn’t mean your style is wrong. I’ve never realized that there was no right or wrong way to write. You create your own and that right there makes it unique.
Kyleigh McArthur
I’d like to respond to Moore’s “How to Become a Writer” because I myself have struggled with this idea of what a writer should be. I’ve felt I’ve always struggled as a writer because I’m not creative with my words and I can’t put a story together without taking ideas from someone else’s already very well put together story. My mind isn’t quite wired correctly to be able to form put together stories in my head and then turn it into something worth reading. I thought that’s what it took to be a writer for a long time. I figured because I wasn’t necessarily very good at creating stories that I wasn’t a good writer, but I don’t believe that is the case. I feel like after reading Moore’s interpretation of how to become a writer, I might struggle just as much as any other person. A writer is unique in their style and there shouldn’t be one specific mold that a writer should try to fit into, Moore made that clear to me. A writer should be confident in their own voice and should write what they want to write; write for who you want to write for, don’t try and write for everyone. Moore found what she liked to do and found her voice and began to write because she enjoyed it. She wrote what she liked and what she found interesting and with that she became her own audience.
Gabriel Miller
When reading “I Remember, I Remember,” I was immediately reminded of “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien as both stories have the same relationship to exaggerated reality. In “I Remember, I Remember” this exaggeration is used to make a more romanticized view of a growing poet while “How to Tell a True War Story” focuses on a similar use of exaggeration to show the lack of importance that truth has when in context with reality. Both stories rely on the emphasis on warping reality so as to get the respective ideas across as “I Remember, I Remember” specifically uses this to strength its message of how a someone becomes a writer while “How to Tell a True War Story” uses this in particular to exemplify the horrors of war.
I think that if I had read “I Remember, I Remember” without knowing something similar to it, I would have a lot more appreciation to it. It’s hard not to compare different stories together, and I personally think that “How to Tell a True War Story” used this concept of creative license more impactfully. Regardless, I liked the Künstlerroman of the character in “I Remember, I Remember” because of the way it’s written. This structure of the story helped to enforce the relevance of writers and poetry in the story due to that poetic structure as well as its descent into creative license, and I like those sort of parallels in writing. I also liked in particular the part with the pop guns as a means to transition in writing, as it as both a nice ironic complement to Hemmingway as well as it being an interesting concept in its own right.
Zofia Sheesley
I am writing in response to Mary Ruefle’s “I remember, I remember”. Ruefle’s stream of consciousness storytelling was so engaging because of its contradictions and how it jumps back and forth through her life’s timeline. I really loved how she would remember something and then her next memory was in direct contradiction of the previous one. This made me think about how in life overtime we contradict ourselves so often. We say things like “I would never do that” or “I don’t like that food” or “I won’t lose contact with you” and then months, years, even as short as day and weeks, we do the exact opposite of what we said. She explained that pattern that is in everyone’s life without even having to explain it. I found her shorter stories almost more powerful than some of her long ones. I liked how blunt she was without being abrasive. Her writing seems very matter of fact and polished. Her piece inspired me not only to write my own version of this but to work on all of my poetry and writing endeavors in more detail and with more passion. I really loved that she connected multiple, typically conflicting emotions to the same memory at the same time. I feel that she has a great grasp of her own range of emotions and that she really understands herself in that deep emotional way. I think that she tells stories and explains emotions and feelings in a very easily digestible format.
Christy Barrett
My initial response as I was reading “I Remember, I Remember” by Mary Reufle, was a smile. It spread across my face unexpectedly as I read her excerpt about Little, Brown and Company and how the people there must have had the ability to read minds.
The rhythm of the writing in this poem seems so child-like, which I enjoyed so much because she is recalling memories from her childhood. It suits the work, and I appreciate that aspect of it. It proves that it is not all about what you say, but also how you choose to say it.
Another memory of Mary Reufle’s that I loved was that of her father’s violin. This resonates with me, as I recently lost my dad. But also, she feels such empathy for the instrument that must be lonely without her father. This is so beautifully written as I believe this is how most children think at a young age. I appreciate how genuine her writing feels; you believe it.
Later, she writes: “I remember (much later) wondering what ever happened to Lizette.” This is relatable because we all have wondered whatever happened to someone along the way.
I love this poem. It flows so beautifully, and it feels like a beautifully written story that leaves all the irrelevant parts out. I’ve always been a fan of poetry. I wrote so much of it in high school, which was later lost. I remember wondering whatever happened to that little book of poetry…
katie hopper
I was fully LOL’ing while reading “How to Become a Writer,” especially the line about not going to law school and then telling everyone how you decided not to go to law school (this is a hobby of my own). I especially appreciated Moore’s advice about first trying literally anything else and fail miserably. Failing, gracefully or not, is key to being a writer. You can’t be a writer if you’re too scared to try. A few lines really got at the self-imposed anxiety of asking the question of who/what is a writer: “Begin to wonder what you do write about. Or if you have anything to say. Or if there even is such a thing as a thing to say. Limit these thoughts to no more than ten minutes a day; like sit ups, they can make you thin.” I’ve been looking back at my old journals and I’ve found that so much of it is just me worrying about whether or not I’m a good writer or “a writer” at all, but I’ve realized that all of that doubt just sucks up energy, energy that could be put into creating something instead. It seems like Moore is saying that you just need to write. Don’t sit around all day, moping and wondering what to write about. Instead, live life, try things, fail, and you’ll find things to write about.
Jewel Blanchard
I am reflecting on, ‘How To Become a Writer’ by Lorrie Moore. I felt I was able to relate to the author well. Writing is something I enjoy but struggle greatly with. Moore’s becoming has helped me realize that all writers struggle with becoming and being understood, but I have always felt that I have stood out for how poorly I articulate my essays. I have not written a poem since middle school, I have not written a creative essay in quite some time. If I write, it is solely for school, and it is usually to inform. I have been longing to write about my human struggles but to create a piece that flows and makes sense to others I have found to be rather difficult. Moore’s becoming has opened my eyes in tremendous ways, I feel like I am able to breathe. Sigh of relief to hear that to become you need to fail and fail many times. Sounds cheesy and like a, “duh, how have you not figured that out yet.” But I am someone who needs to hear things more than once to put something together. ‘How To Become a Writer’ has made me realize that the becoming of a writer is to fiercely have confidence in yourself.
Casey Fetterhoff
I will be the first to admit that I struggle to view art, particularly writing, as much more than the words as I read them on the page. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to take this class-To hopefully gain a better understanding of what art, and reading, can mean outside of the basic meanings of words and their use to convey information. The work “I remember” in my opinion is a good example of writing which I find hard to interpret, but which conveys a very definite sense of feeling. While I struggle to find the direction of many sentences, paragraphs or patterns the author puts into the story, I do find that it is easy to feel both emotion and imagination through what she writes. I can easily imagine the author’s thanksgiving poem stapled to the school board, with orange paper leaves surrounding it. I struggle to identify the meaning beyond this image, but the image itself is clear.
Personally, I think that for people like me, who struggle with meaning and deeper understanding, the ability of an author to present images that help conjure emotions is a crucial one, and one that helps define a great author. I’m impressed by the ability of this author to draw me into a work which I know I would not otherwise have felt drawn to.
Sara Johnson
Yes. And I think part of what her memories of Little House on the Prairie demonstrates that nearly all contemporary writers began their literary journey with children’s books. My first books were Goosebumps and The Chronicles of Narnia. Many began writing fanfiction first, primarily through Harry Potter. The books you grew up reading — that made you love reading, which lead to your love of writing — are significant and not to be underestimated.
Ta'Mariah Jenkins
After reading both stories, I decided to write about, ” How to Become a Writer.” After reading the text, I found myself questioning everything and nothing. To be more clear, when reading the text I wanted to know a deeper meaning in the text and make some kind of elaborate interpretation out of it, and it was complicated for me. To write about the works of imagination ad to create something out of the knowledge of what’s around you and the facts of what you know astounds me. Then again, you could have to research specific things that fit into the image you want to create. I believe me of the key topics to writing and what is deeply used in, ” How to Become a Writer.” is imagery. Imagination is very important, but as an individual writes, they attempt to create a text worded image that can resonate with readers. In the text, you can see the writer uses imagery such as the end of the passage. Like the humane gestures such as looking at arm hairs during a date. What has little action, brings character and volume in the writing. In addition with the ability to create any character to whatever character set you believe fits your own writing.
Katherine Spencer
I am writing this response to Moore’s “How to Become a Writer.” I have always gone back and forth with myself on what a writer should or shouldn’t be. I thought writers had to have a certain style or a certain vocabulary or even a certain audience. I thought writers had to be able to succeed in any TYPE of writing such nonfiction, poetry, etc. I thought to be a writer, your mind had to work a certain way. That you had to be creative with what you’re writing no matter what it is. I like to write stories for fun. But I found myself struggling with the creative aspect of it such as coming up with a plot. Even after a plot was formed, I would struggle with every other step in the creative writing process. In the end, I never fully liked what I wrote because I didn’t think anyone else would enjoy it. To me it seemed that if nobody enjoyed it, that I wasn’t a real writer. Writers had to write something worth reading. However, after reading Moore’s “How to Become a Writer,” I see that really none of that actually matters. Each writer is unique and different and has their own voice. She made it clear to me that what is more important is being confident in your voice and your work. Write for yourself and no one else. That is what makes a writer, not whether or not someone else likes it. Confidence in yourself and what you do is key!
Timberly Kneebone
I am writing in response to Moore’s “How to Become a Writer.” At a young age we are told what writing is and what it could be. We are shown that writing can be used as a way to express a story, an emotion, or even just a point of view. As we grow up limitations are put on our writing in order to make our writing fit a certain format. Personally I felt almost embarrassed when writing personal narratives. I felt that story writing is something that millions of writers produce but was something that I shouldn’t be able to do. I honestly believe this is because of the amount of restrictions put on my pieces in recent years. When reading “How to Become a Writer” I continuously found myself connecting to the writer. The piece felt loosely put together in the best way possible. It really showed that there is no exact way of writing that is considered “perfect”. Each piece of writing is going to be just as unique as the writer is. The piece really showed that Moore was interested in what she was writing. It helped me come to a realization that writing doesn’t have to be for a certain audience to be considered good. The audience could just be yourself if you really wanted it to be. Overall I really enjoyed reading this piece and I would suggest it to anyone who has the mindset that there is one way to become a writer.
Andrew S.
What I gather from Lorrie Moore’s “How to Become a Writer” is that becoming a writer requires drawing upon what you know– and what you know will change over time, as you grow older, have new experiences, and begin to develop perspective. In a lot of ways I agree with that new experiences provide content to draw upon, and correlate with more in-depth storytelling capacity. However, I think even with limited life experience, or limited criticism, it is possible to hit a home run with the right amount of creativity. An experienced writer who has many published novels to their name might have some advantages over a high school student, but if you write for yourself and for your own personal enjoyment, even with limited perspective you can churn out something good. After all, S.E. Hinton was only 16 when she started writing The Outsiders, which to this day remains a classic. Who knows if she would have had the same mindset needed to write such a book had she waited into her 20s, 30s, or 40s, now with so many more experiences that it altered her thought process?
I agree with Lorrie Moore’s implication that failure, and learning from that failure, is all part of the process– but I think you’re already a writer by the time you start writing, not when you finally create a masterpiece.
Sara Johnson
A very important lesson from Moore’s piece is that failure is important and a major catalyst for growth. We can’t be afraid to fail when we make art, because that stifles our experimentation and play, and leads us to stay in our creative comfort zones. Good art often requires some degree of risk.
Adeline Knavel
I decided for the first reading response I would choose to use the piece “I Remember, I Remember” by Mary Reufle. When I started reading Mary Reufles’s piece it made me think back to my childhood and then made me realize I’m not a child anymore and my memories I’m making now are from my early 20s. The way she writes what she remembers made her seem so young and innocent yet somewhat naive or gullible to whatever someone could tell her. Mary Reufle uses different language transitions to write about her childhood memories and the changes she had in her childhood. She starts off by writing about her younger more childish memories and partnering them with Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie book series. Mary Reufles writing slowly transitioned from her younger child memories to her older more adult-like memories. Her writing is interesting to me, she transitioned from childish memories to adult memories and made them fit perfectly together. Mary Reufle connected many different emotions into her writing without sounding repulsive. After reading Mary Reufles’s “I Remember, I Remember” I thought to myself it doesn’t matter how you write because it is your own creative way to show things. Your creative way of expressing yourself through your writing could be the same as someone else or be completely different and still be a good writing piece.
Corbin
I love the way this was written. I would read a couple of lines and forget that it was about the author. I was able to visualize a lot of what was being said. I could relate to her a little bit. But in other ways, I couldn’t at all. No matter what happened she never gave up. It didn’t matter what comments she received for her writing and who it was from; she went right back to the drawing board. It is definitely a very admirable feature. What she did is the answer to all of success; to never give up.
I remember loving to write in elementary school. I would be completely indulged in my work. I even kept it up in high school too but I solely wrote poetry. I would get comments on it being very good to that I should go get psychiatric help. I absolutely loved writing. I started to do other things that took up all of my time; I really wish I would have kept with it. With it being ten years later I feel like I have lost my touch. I reckon it is never too late to get back on the horse.
Curtis Wolfe
Im responding to “I remember, I remember” by Mary Ruefle. I found her work to be intriguing. I haven’t been one to really sit back and think about what I remember from my childhood. But I caught myself doing that after reading only a couple of sentences. Unless I’m going out on a date with someone there hasn’t been much of a need to look back at my life because once you reach a certain age it seems like your life is just all about bills, the next project you have to do, or your next goal in life. Nothing but worries. But being able to read how she entangled all aspects in her life and make it flow was soothing. Her work was another great example of how to use senses in a way to connect with the reader. I am looking forward to sitting down and thinking back on my life and completing my own creative version of “I remember, I remember.”
Anna Johnson
I am responding to “I Remember, I Remember” by Mary Ruefle. As I was reading through the passages, I was thinking how much I was learning about a person I have never met before. Every time I started a new “I remember”, it felt like a new story that I was diving into. Something that I noticed was the age range of stories she told, she had something from about every step of her life it seemed like. Each memory was fairly short, but I noticed how some were just a sentence long. It was fitting because it kept my attention.
There were many points in her writing that made me very sad. What stood out to me was her mother’s death and the coaster that she made for her mother. Her use of words describing this memory and how the cup of coffee would burn her face on the coaster was a unique way to describe the memory. As vulnerable as the author was, it allowed me to feel sympathy for her and recognize her pain.
Overall, as unique as the author was with her writing, her experiences and memory has allowed her to write a very unique piece of writing. Her choice of words for describing her memories varied and some had more to them than others. This makes me think about the choices of what to bring up and share in a personal “I Remember, I Remember”. If I would feel comfortable sharing similar experiences as Ruefle did.