Narrative Reading Response

-These essays differ from the writing I usually do, but they are simliar to some of the reading I did when I was younger. When I was in middle school, I was addicted to the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. These are quite similar to the narratives that I had to read for this assignment. I haven't read them for almost seven years, I automatically thought of them when I read these essays. The writing I usually do is analysis based. I am an English major and I focus primarily on literature. Some may think it's pointless and they can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned. I want to go to grad school and teach English/literature at a collegiate level...so why wouldn't I do this? Another option I am considering is becoming a drug rep...all I need is a bachelor's degree in SOMETHING. Why not in something that matters to me? Rant aside, this writing is different for me in many ways. I find it odd that grammar and technicalities are unimportant. Actually, I am still not convinced of this becuse I think presentation adds a lot of credibility to the writing. I'm not going to read anything that is poorly written or full of crap-head mistakes! So I have actually struggled with this type of writing. I think I will be better at this narrative assignment becuase in previos essays for this class, we have been writing rebuttals and things that I kinda cared about. In this essay, we will still have our audience in mind, but we will be writing about a personal experience and adding a more creative writing aspect to our papers. The thing I am most worried about is the personal information shared in the essay. I am not used to opening up like this in a class, but I think it could be a good thing, for my writing and for mental healing (at the risk of sounding crazy).

-I think that "Paths Changing" was written to an audience of young people trying to discover who they are. When you are young, it is hard to develop an identity without the influence of others. There are so many people that get stuck in a dictated lifestyle and waste all of their potential. This essay speaks to those people, struggling with the issue of a dictated way of living. So I guess that "coming of age" group of young people would be a primary audience, but it also speaks out to all ages if people are trying to break the mold in which they were placed. Some issues (sexuality, religion besides Mormon, acceptance, etc) are quite different, but can still be relevant to the context of this story.